No digital divide in my rule: Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi ruled out a digital divide in India under his rule while sounding confident of his party returning to power with a huge majority in the Lok Sabha elections.

Pointing to technology's role in sectors like agriculture, education, and healthcare, while stressing on rural empowerment through initiatives like “Namo Drone Didi”, while interacting with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, he reiterated his commitment to bridging the digital gap in rural areas.

Modi told Gates on Friday that he wants to allocate funds to scientists for local research in cervical cancer to develop vaccines at a minimal cost and that his "new government" will work to ensure vaccination, especially for all girls.

The Prime Minister also cautioned about a significant risk of misuse of a powerful technology like artificial intelligence (AI), especially when placed in unskilled hands and suggested that AI-generated content should carry clear watermarks to prevent misinformation.

Mentioning that it is not to devalue AI creations but recognising them for what they are, he stressed on the need to establish some dos and don'ts. “In the case of deepfakes, it is crucial to acknowledge and present that a particular deepfake content is AI-generated, along with the mention of its source. It is really important, especially in the beginning,” Modi asserted.

Discussing the issue of AI, the Prime Minister said it should not be seen as a magic tool or something people should resort to out of their laziness to do some work and explained how he used AI in the G-20 summit as an interpreter and also to broadcast his addresses in different languages at several events.

The Prime Minister stated that a technology like ChatGPT should be used to constantly improve oneself. Highlighting his use of AI, Modi asked Gates to take a selfie through his (NaMo) app and then showed him how it could be located through the face-recognition technology.

The Prime Minister said that he believed in the democratisation of technology, as it gives everyone an equal opportunity. He added that he is taking technology to villages.

On Gates’s query, Modi said that he is fascinated by technology but is not a slave to it. "I am not an expert but have a childlike curiosity for technology," he said.

Speaking of the digital revolution in India, the Prime Minister noted that he believed that nobody should have a monopoly over it and that it should be driven by the common people.

In this context, Modi highlighted the "Drone Didi" scheme for women to use drones in agriculture and the initiative to provide long-distance treatment to patients.

Modi pointed out that technology is being used to plug the shortcomings of teachers in education. He said digital technology will have a big role in the fourth industrial revolution and he is confident that India will do well.

The Prime Minister also talked about how India used the CoWin platform to provide Covid vaccination slots and certificates to people while the world was struggling to do it during the pandemic.

When Gates asked if the green approach could be made more affordable for easier adoption, Modi said that the world needs to adopt a two-pronged strategy — first, nature and climate-friendly innovation and second, environmentally friendly lifestyles.

Modi said: "Our current challenge is how we perceive progress. For example, a country's development is often judged by its steel consumption and energy usage. Based on these criteria, we calculate the country's economy."

"If we continue to rely on these parameters, we will consume more electricity and steel, resulting in increased carbon emissions. This means we need to change our mindset. We need to make lifestyle choices and measure progress in ways that are climate-friendly. Currently, all our measures of progress are detrimental to the climate," he said.

The Prime Minister suggested that the world adopt the concept of "Green GDP", which will be incorporated into the overall gross domestic product. "We need to change the global terminology," he said.

He mentioned that if people continue to consume excessively and waste electricity and water, the climate change problem cannot be solved.

The Prime Minister noted that his and Gates' perspectives on climate change closely align. Gates praised Modi's "Mission Innovation" launched at the 2015 Paris climate meeting.

Discussing India's rich history of environmental conservation, the Prime Minister said that recycling and reusing are inherent to the nature of Indian people and their ethos.

He informed Gates that the jacket he was wearing was made of recycled material.

Gates said that consumers should prefer clean products when they are buying a car or any other product. "Changing their food consumption, even if they don't go all the way to being a vegetarian, they can eat less beef, more chicken or less chicken and more fish, they can moderate quite a bit and we know that it also has some health benefits as well," he said.

To which the Prime Minister said that even a vegetarian diet needs improvement and this can be done through the inclusion of millets.

"We celebrated 2023 as the 'Year of Millets' with the UN. Millets have great benefits. They grow on barren land, need minimal water, and don't require fertilisers. They are a superfood. Promoting millet can be a big step forward," he said.