Suchergebnisse

As adoption of digital technology has accelerated in India, so too has demand for the minerals, hardware components and devices that collectively form the building blocks of the ICT ecosystem. Existing supply constraints are limiting India's ability to build out its digital infrastructure, pointing to an opportunity to expand a sustainable domestic supply chain for these materials. Assembly and fabrication of foreign components can provide easy wins for Indian manufacturing, urged on by high government incentives for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in semiconductor manufacturing. Chip fabrication remains an emergent industry within India, but Indian engineers have substantial expertise in designing chips which could be leveraged for domestic manufacturing. India also has substantial mineral resources for battery and semiconductor manufacturing which the nascent industry can take advantage of. Whether manufacturers choose to source raw materials from within India or from locations further afield, the Government of India (GOI) should coordinate with companies to build sustainable legal regimes around mineral extraction which minimize potential for corruption and maximize inclusive local benefits. This effort can go hand-in-hand with India's broader international development priorities, including international applications of Indian platforms for ICT-driven development in fields such as education and health.

For decades, Taiwan has demonstrated itself to be among the world's leaders in implementing e-government systems which improve efficiency, transparency, and representation for the entire population. Taiwan's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which leaned heavily on these e-government systems and was one of the best in the world, has amply demonstrated this. Specifically, Taiwan's whole-of-government approach to implementing digital innovations in all aspects of governance has caused it to stand out from the crowd. Its unique approach to ICT has encouraged greater civic participation and a partial erasure of the traditional boundary between government and the citizenry. By allowing government to take advantage of the latent ICT skillsets of its citizens, Taiwan has created a more responsive, effective policy formulation and implementation mechanism which can likewise be taken advantage of by other societies with similar human resources at their disposal. Namely, India, with its large national reservoir of trained coders, would benefit substantially from following the Taiwanese model in implementing its own e-governance initiatives.

For roughly a decade, Côte d'Ivoire has been bitterly divided by a civil war between its dry Muslim north and its fertile Christian south. Many commentators have attempted to ascribe cultural or social origins to this war, casting it as an example of wider conflict between the Christian and Muslim worlds, while others see it as yet another example of the failings of weak, divided and tribalistic African states. I go beyond these narrow categories to explain the civil war as the natural outcome of a series of rational economic and political choices.

The Government of India released its 2022 Union Budget on February 1, 2022. The new budget has drawn substantial attention for, among other things, its emphasis on programs in the domain of ICT-driven development. If the ambitions described within the budget are fully realized, they would allow India to make substantial progress in equitable human development. However, the budget does not detail the funding mechanisms that would support these ambitious programs, and similar efforts have floundered in the past due to this lack of specificity. If India intends to promote ICT-driven development at the central level through its budget, then these documents should provide states and ministries concrete information on the dedicated revenue flows they will have at their disposal so that they can proceed with these initiatives in a timely and efficient manner.

The Government of India released its 2022 Union Budget on February 1, 2022. The new budget has drawn substantial attention for, among other things, its emphasis on programs in the domain of ICT-driven development. If the ambitions described within the budget are fully realized, they would allow India to make substantial progress in equitable human development. However, the budget does not detail the funding mechanisms that would support these ambitious programs, and similar efforts have floundered in the past due to this lack of specificity. If India intends to promote ICT-driven development at the central level through its budget, then these documents should provide states and ministries concrete information on the dedicated revenue flows they will have at their disposal so that they can proceed with these initiatives in a timely and efficient manner.

India launched its National Smart Cities Mission (SCM) in 2015 with the goal of transforming urban areas into more inclusive, sustainable environments. The program was a response to the needs of a rapidly urbanizing population which requires a radical transformation of the built environment in order to realize a more prosperous and egalitarian society. A total tendered amount of 1.84 lakh crore (24.6 billion USD) has been approved under the project, with new developments receiving funding across the country. However, the SCM has so far failed to live up to its promise in a number of respects. It has disbursed its funding through a grant structure at odds with a national strategic vision for smart urbanization. Furthermore, by stretching the definition of "smart cities" nearly beyond recognition, it has become a catch-all umbrella for new government funding to urban projects, rather than a push to make India's cities digitized and more sustainable. This raises the question of whether it is appropriate for India to invest in smart cities right now, or whether this funding should instead go towards expanding the systems which provide essential basic services to the population first. Fortunately, the vision for the SCM can be modified in a way that new investments made under the program both meet the existing needs of the population and start building the foundation for a smarter, 21st century infrastructure. Indeed, this is necessary if the SCM and future urban development projects are to yield concrete benefits proportional to their costs.

In recent years, countries across the African continent have begun implementing solutions based on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for challenges ranging across the spectrum of sustainable development. The programs which have been implemented so far have produced impressive results, and in aggregate, they demonstrate the potential of a digital Africa which applies ICT to accelerate the improvement of human development outcomes in the pursuit of a more prosperous, equitable society. However, for these programs to live up to their full potential, they must be coupled with comprehensive, national digital identity systems. Digital identification not only boosts the efficiency of individual ICT-driven development initiatives, they permit seamless coordination between both public and private programs at all levels. While some African countries have established digital identity systems, but there is room for improvement in order to make them fully inclusive, transparent, and effective. In this, African governments can use India's Aadhaar digital identity system as a model for how to accomplish these objectives within the framework of a universal, highly integrated system, even under constraints of limited resources.

India launched its National Smart Cities Mission (SCM) in 2015 with the goal of transforming urban areas into more inclusive, sustainable environments. The program was a response to the needs of a rapidly urbanizing population which requires a radical transformation of the built environment in order to realize a more prosperous and egalitarian society. A total tendered amount of 1.84 lakh crore (24.6 billion USD) has been approved under the project, with new developments receiving funding across the country. However, the SCM has so far failed to live up to its promise in a number of respects. It has disbursed its funding through a grant structure at odds with a national strategic vision for smart urbanization. Furthermore, by stretching the definition of "smart cities" nearly beyond recognition, it has become a catch-all umbrella for new government funding to urban projects, rather than a push to make India's cities digitized and more sustainable. This raises the question of whether it is appropriate for India to invest in smart cities right now, or whether this funding should instead go towards expanding the systems which provide essential basic services to the population first. Fortunately, the vision for the SCM can be modified in a way that new investments made under the program both meet the existing needs of the population and start building the foundation for a smarter, 21st century infrastructure. Indeed, this is necessary if the SCM and future urban development projects are to yield concrete benefits proportional to their costs.

In recent years, countries across the African continent have begun implementing solutions based on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for challenges ranging across the spectrum of sustainable development. The programs which have been implemented so far have produced impressive results, and in aggregate, they demonstrate the potential of a digital Africa which applies ICT to accelerate the improvement of human development outcomes in the pursuit of a more prosperous, equitable society. However, for these programs to live up to their full potential, they must be coupled with comprehensive, national digital identity systems. Digital identification not only boosts the efficiency of individual ICT-driven development initiatives, they permit seamless coordination between both public and private programs at all levels. While some African countries have established digital identity systems, but there is room for improvement in order to make them fully inclusive, transparent, and effective. In this, African governments can use India's Aadhaar digital identity system as a model for how to accomplish these objectives within the framework of a universal, highly integrated system, even under constraints of limited resources.

In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly passed UN Resolution 70/1, making achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 official UN policy. Together, the 17 goals and 169 targets of the SDGs constitute a comprehensive agenda for sustainable development. The SDGs touch not just on environmental justice and intergenerational justice, but equitable economic growth and social stability, shaping development priorities around the needs of the disadvantaged, and designing just and robust institutions to strengthen coordination between sectors and build environments of accountability. India, for its part, has made great strides in meeting SDG targets related to climate change and sustainable consumption and production. More progress, however, must be made in reducing poverty and hunger, improving education, and promoting inclusive economic growth, and the country is seriously lagging when it comes to achieving gender equality and building inclusive and resilient infrastructure. Within India, the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu have come closest to achieving the SDGs, particularly when it comes to social and economic goals. Various mountain and northeastern states have also performed well on SDG environmental targets. The northern states of the Gangetic Plain, collectively known as the Hindi belt, have overall made the least progress towards achieving the SDGs.

India is currently going through the most significant economic slowdown it has experienced in at least the past 20 years. Prior economic slowdowns, such as the crisis of 1991, were driven by macroeconomic challenges. A successful series of reforms between 1991 and 2004 set the Indian economy on a basis of sound fundamentals, paving the way for rapid growth up to this point. But not all of the necessary reforms were put in place, and as a result, India's political and economic institutions have been unable to keep pace with the country's rapid growth. Inefficiencies and policy distortions have grown more severe, and a recent series of economic shocks and policy missteps have threatened to highlight the cracks in India's economic foundations and throw the country off its growth trajectory entirely – made abundantly clear by the difficulties faced by the export and manufacturing sectors. To return to a path of rapid, inclusive, and sustainable growth, simple economic stimulus is insufficient. India must return to its unfinished reform agenda, introducing policies concerning land acquisition, labor law reform, mobilization of capital and ease of doing business which will bring Indian economic governance in line with the realities of a rapidly growing power operating within a highly globalized world. If India does not summon the political will to implement these reforms, then it will very likely witness marginalization in global supply chains, continued unemployment and economic stagnation, and ultimately the sacrifice of its demographic dividend.

As the global economy has continued to suffer from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, pressure has mounted for local and national economies to reopen despite the danger of disease. Unfortunately, before robust medical precautions are implemented, any such reopening will eventually prove futile, doing more harm than good. Areas which reopen must at the minimum have universal testing schemes and the capacity to identify and quarantine all arrivals from outside. Without this, new outbreaks will spring up without advance warning, forcing economies to close down again. Even if such mitigation measures are successfully adopted, latent fear will prevent many from returning to the patterns of everyday life until a vaccine is successfully developed and adopted. Until such a vaccine is produced, countries will have to introduce policies to shelter both people and businesses from the potential permanent impacts of a lengthy period of shutdown. The policies needed to respond effectively to the coronavirus, if successfully implemented and maintained, would yield the kinds of substantial advances in governance, social welfare, business development, and workforce adaptation that would move adopters well along the path of sustainable development and an inclusive embrace of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). For instance, governments would have the means to provide rapid economic support to their most vulnerable groups, while ensuring that key social services such as health and education were provided at a high and equitable standard. Groups once excluded from the halls of power could make their voices heard through advances in e-governance which include them in policy and decision-making processes. Advances in remote work and the sustainable design of cities could reduce inequalities and promote decent standards for employment while dramatically slashing pollution in urban spaces. Finally, the partnerships which have emerged between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, if maintained, could develop into sources of strong, practical solutions to the full spectrum of challenges which will face society in the 21st century. Countries, in effect, have a binary choice between shielding their populations and preparing for their economic futures or maintaining status quo arrangements which will result in depression, unnecessary death, and lost competitiveness.

India is currently going through the most significant economic slowdown it has experienced in at least the past 20 years. Prior economic slowdowns, such as the crisis of 1991, were driven by macroeconomic challenges. A successful series of reforms between 1991 and 2004 set the Indian economy on a basis of sound fundamentals, paving the way for rapid growth up to this point. But not all of the necessary reforms were put in place, and as a result, India's political and economic institutions have been unable to keep pace with the country's rapid growth. Inefficiencies and policy distortions have grown more severe, and a recent series of economic shocks and policy missteps have threatened to highlight the cracks in India's economic foundations and throw the country off its growth trajectory entirely-–made abundantly clear by the difficulties faced by the export and manufacturing sectors. To return to a path of rapid, inclusive, and sustainable growth, simple economic stimulus is insufficient. India must return to its unfinished reform agenda, introducing policies concerning land acquisition, labor law reform, mobilization of capital and ease of doing business which will bring Indian economic governance in line with the realities of a rapidly growing power operating within a highly globalized world. If India does not summon the political will to implement these reforms, then it will very likely witness marginalization in global supply chains, continued unemployment and economic stagnation, and ultimately the sacrifice of its demographic dividend.

As the global economy has continued to suffer from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, pressure has mounted for local and national economies to reopen despite the danger of disease. Unfortunately, before robust medical precautions are implemented, any such reopening will eventually prove futile, doing more harm than good. Areas which reopen must at the minimum have universal testing schemes and the capacity to identify and quarantine all arrivals from outside. Without this, new outbreaks will spring up without advance warning, forcing economies to close down again. Even if such mitigation measures are successfully adopted, latent fear will prevent many from returning to the patterns of everyday life until a vaccine is successfully developed and adopted. Until such a vaccine is produced, countries will have to introduce policies to shelter both people and businesses from the potential permanent impacts of a lengthy period of shutdown. The policies needed to respond effectively to COVID-19, if successfully implemented and maintained, would yield the kinds of substantial advances in governance, social welfare, business development, and workforce adaptation that would move adopters well along the path of sustainable development and an inclusive embrace of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). For instance, governments would have the tools to provide rapid economic support to their most vulnerable groups, while ensuring that key social services such as health and education were provided at a high and equitable standard. Groups once excluded from the halls of power could make their voices heard through advances in e-governance which include them in policy and decision-making processes. Advances in remote work and the sustainable design of cities could reduce inequalities and promote decent standards for employment while dramatically slashing pollution in urban spaces. Finally, the partnerships which have emerged between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, if maintained, could develop into sources of strong, practical solutions to the full spectrum of challenges which will face society in the 21st century. Countries, in effect, have a binary choice between shielding their populations and preparing for their economic futures or maintaining status quo arrangements which will result in depression, unnecessary death, and lost competitiveness.

In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly passed UN Resolution 70/1, making achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 official UN policy. Together, the 17 goals and 169 targets of the SDGs constitute a comprehensive agenda for sustainable development. The SDGs touch not just on environmental justice and intergenerational justice, but equitable economic growth and social stability, shaping development priorities around the needs of the disadvantaged, and designing just and robust institutions to strengthen coordination between sectors and build environments of accountability. India, for its part, has made great strides in meeting SDG targets related to climate change and sustainable consumption and production. More progress, however, must be made in reducing poverty and hunger, improving education, and promoting inclusive economic growth, and the country is seriously lagging when it comes to achieving gender equality and building inclusive and resilient infrastructure. Within India, the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu have come closest to achieving the SDGs, particularly when it comes to social and economic goals. Various mountain and northeastern states have also performed well on SDG environmental targets. The northern states of the Gangetic Plain, collectively known as the Hindi belt, have overall made the least progress towards achieving the SDGs.