DIRECTIONS: Read the passage and answer the questions that follow.
India missed the first and second Industrial Revolutions in the 19th and early 20th centuries as it was then fodder for colonial industrialisation. It also missed the third technology-driven one, since it came at a time when India’s economic policies were not conducive to technology. But India has been lucky to be at the forefront of leading into the Fourth Industrial Revolution — a digitally driven one —with speed and scale. Today, 99% of Indian adults have an Aadhaar identity number. The government further interlinked the identity system with bank accounts and mobile numbers, resulting in the JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-mobile phone) trinity. JAM has become the fundamental digital architecture ushering in holistic financial inclusion.
The Bharat Interface for Money-Unified Payment Interface (BHIMUPI), with over 600 million transactions in January 2019 alone, is the interoperable backbone connecting all banks and consumers, and is being front-ended by many national and international digital platforms.
The open digital innovation by the government has been leveraged by the startup community, making India now the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world. Indian retail brokering, e-commerce, food delivery and ride-hailing startups are competing as equals with the largest platforms in the world. By designing unique and frugal solutions that are being enthusiastically consumed by the local market, India’s innovations and startups are growing with an ambitious approach of serving customers globally.
While every industrial revolution brings with it speculation about destruction of jobs, what primarily changes with every transformation is the nature of jobs. India’s ‘New Economy’ is augmenting jobs rather than replacing them. The ride-sharing industry is a great example of this. The digital revolution of India is unique, as it ensures that not only the connected but also those who are yet to get on the internet highway are equally benefited and empowered by the fruits of the New Economy. Over 318,000 Common Service Centres (CSCs) located in various parts of the country provide entitlements to beneficiaries: soil health cards to farmers and Jeevan Pramaan certification for pensioners, in ‘assisted-mode’.
Rural India has been both the beneficiary of the rise of the New Economy and the labour force driving its growth. India is at a watershed moment. Digital has the potential to create a countrywide Pareto improvement, where every citizen gains and no one is left behind.