Former Prime Minister of India - Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

PRIME MINISTER SHRI ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE'S SPEECH AT ASIA SOCIETY'S 12TH ANNUAL CORPORATE CONFERENCE – ASIA'S TECHNOLOGY FUTURE

Following is the text of the speech of the Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee at “Asia Society’s 12th Annual Corporate Conference – Asia’s Technology Future” at Bangalore today:

“It gives me great pleasure to be with you at the Asia Society’s 12th Annual Corporate Conference. The Asia Society derives its prestige from its record of regularly bringing together the best minds from around the world for a stimulating exchange of views on issues of great relevance to Asia and the rest of the international community.

I congratulate the organizers for both the theme of this conference and for choosing India to organize it in. It is difficult to talk about the future of technology, when we can barely keep track of its present developments. Technology is changing the social landscape so rapidly, that some weak-hearted persons fall back on Mark Twain’s humorous dictum: “I am all for progress; but it is change that I object to.”

Friends, it is not often that we come across a debate focusing on Asia’s technology future. Conventional wisdom perceives creation of technology to be the preserve of America and Europe. In contrast, Asia was generally considered to be a recipient and consumer of technology, and not its creator.

The past few decades have changed this notion. Most parts of Asia have overcome the historical disabilities caused by their colonial legacy. Many Asian countries have not only made remarkable progress in industrialization, but have also embraced the Knowledge Revolution. They have been able to liberate themselves from poverty and underdevelopment within a generation or two, thanks primarily to their rapid ascent along the technology curve.

Japan was the first to rupture the citadel of the West’s dominance in the domain of technology, with brilliant inventions ranging from consumer electronics to heavy engineering — in short, from chip to ship. Asia’s technology trail pioneered by Japan has, in subsequent years, been blazed by many other countries. South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, and in recent years, China have become powerhouses of chip design and fabrication and a wide range of computer and telecom hardware products. Some of them have also made great strides in modernizing traditional industries such as steel-making, cement, chemicals, and textiles.

Since our independence in 1947, we in India, too, have made significant progress in many areas of science and technology. However, international recognition came after the last decade showcased India's growing prowess in information technology. Many Indian cities have, in a very short time, emerged as major centres of software development and exports. Among them, Bangalore has come to symbolize the best of IT in India. It is, therefore, apt for the Asia Society, jointly with the CII, to have chosen this beautiful Garden City as the venue for this conference on Asia’s Technology Future.

Friends, I must confess that I am a layman when it comes to technology. The famous futurist Arthur C. Clarke was perhaps speaking for persons like me when he said, “Every new advancement in technology distinguishes itself by being indistinguishable from magic.”

What I do know, and what all of us here know, is that technology is a powerful agent of economic growth and social development. In India, use of science and technology has helped us to make a visible dent in poverty. Our self-sufficiency in agriculture is principally due to the transfer of farm technology from lab to land. Today India is the largest producer of milk and the second largest producer of rice, wheat, fruits, and vegetables in the world.

Similarly, some of our business houses have harnessed modern technology and management practices to run a steel plant with one of the lowest unit costs in the world, build global-size oil refineries, and produce a significantly cheaper anti-AIDS drug. We now have many promising biotechnology companies and research institutions that have begun to harness the opportunities provided by the decoding of the human genome.

Apart from traditional onsite software development, Indian companies have ventured into E-commerce and many IT-enabled services. In this, we are much benefited by the strong partnership between the highly successful IT professionals of Indian origin in Silicon Valley and those in India. We were among the first in Asia to legislate a comprehensive Information Technology Act. Soon, we will also enact a law that will facilitate the convergence of telecom, IT, and broadcasting technologies.

India will embrace technology even more comprehensively and confidently as we modernize our agriculture, industry, services, and governance. We are steadily increasing spending on R&D both in public and private sectors. We have set for ourselves the ambitious target of IT For All by 2008, whose centerpiece is “Operation Knowledge”. It seeks to universalize IT and IT-based education at all levels of the education pyramid.

We are acutely aware of the urgent need to bridge the Digital Divide, which can worsen the already existing inequalities in our society. Many innovative projects have been launched in India and in other Asian countries to reach the benefits of IT to rural and underprivileged populations. These include the Grameen Phone scheme in Bangladesh, the TARAhaat village kiosks for Internet-based information service in some parts of rural India, and a highly acclaimed similar project called “Gyan Doot” in our state

of Madhya Pradesh. All of us in Asia — indeed, all developing countries in the world — should learn from one another’s experience in this endeavor.

Friends, the debate on the future of technology, not only in Asia but also all over the world, has hinged on one big question — What is desirable for technological progress: competition or cooperation? Businesses will no doubt favor competition, because of its proven virtues. It forces enterprises to focus on cutting costs, improving quality, expanding markets, and enhancing consumer satisfaction. In the process, it both spurs technological innovation and finds newer commercial applications for it.

However, it seems to me that the world has not adequately adopted the virtues of cooperation, even though every episode of economic slowdown or crisis has reminded us of its imperative need for sustainable development. For example, it has now become obvious that the buoyancy of the economies of rich nations can only be sustained by the rapid all-round growth in the economies of the poor and more populous nations.

Let me elaborate this point. Technology is continually increasing the productivity of the businesses of rich nations. However, their own economies are growing too slowly to absorb the new additions in technology-driven productivity. This is resulting in the frequent cycles of recession, layoffs, and unemployment. This, indeed, is a paradox. Rich nations are witnessing a technology-induced crisis of abundance.

Developing nations can absorb this abundance by rapidly expanding their physical and social infrastructures and, thereby, improving the living standards of their populations. But they are starved of adequate financial and technological resources of their own. Also, multilateral agencies and multinational corporations have not yet evolved effective cooperative mechanisms to infuse greater investments and technological inputs from developed economies into developing ones. This is truly at the root of the shocking socio-economic inequities that we see in the world — and also in Asia — today.

In this context, I must mention that developing nations like India have sometimes been subjected to technology denial in a bid to thwart their progress in critical areas. Businesses have been barred from selling certain products to us. Of course, such unfair means have only encouraged our scientists and engineers to intensify our indigenous efforts and succeed against all odds. One of the best illustrations of this is the success story of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), which is also located in Bangalore.

In saying this, I am not invoking here the outdated “aid versus trade” argument. Rather, I am emphasizing the need for a greater cooperative approach towards global development, in which the rapid growth in developing countries serves as the stimulus for sustainable growth in developed economies. For example, the fast-growing economies of Asia are today the largest consumers of a wide range of new technology products, such as cell phones, computers and other Internet devices, processed foods, and consumer electronic items. This shows that Asia, which is home to more than half the world’s population,

can become the most reliable propeller of technology creation as well as technology consumption in the new century.

Asia’s technology future is bright, because it has nearly two billion young people who are ambitious and hard working. They are thirsting for new knowledge and for the opportunity to use it to live better lives. International as well as intra-Asia cooperation is the key to realization of their dreams.

Hence, the one theme that I would like your conference to consider is the need for greater economic and technological cooperation among the nations of the world and, especially, of Asia. For example, there are countries, including in Asia that spend 2 to 3 percent of their GDP on R&D. But they have relatively small populations. On the other hand, a country like India spends less than 1 percent of its GDP on R&D, but it has a huge potential market and also a large and well-developed base of educational and research institutions. By adopting a collaborative approach to research, development and business partnership, we can create a win-win situation for all.

The benefits of such an approach are already visible. Several American IT and non-IT companies have set up large design and product development centres in India. Many of them are right here in Bangalore. Similarly, some Indian IT companies with globally reputed brand names have outsourced their software development business by partnering with fledgling IT firms in countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Similarly, Indian IT education companies have opened training centres in scores of countries all over the world.

What all this points to, is the growing convergence of technologies, businesses, markets, and economies across Asia and the world. The new century now demands the convergence of the aims and objectives of all the countries on our common planet. We should not forget that the future of technology and business is only a subset of the future of humanity. Equally, we must remember that scientific and technological knowledge is the common heritage of the human race, whose true value lies not so much in the profits of individual businesses but in its ability to improve the quality of life for all the children of Mother Earth.

Can we, for instance, produce affordable vaccines and medicines for all the needy people in Asia and Africa? Can we devise new and low-cost means of providing drinking water and housing for all? Can the dramatic advances in information and communication technologies be brought to the reach of millions of people, who have not as yet either made or received even a single phone call? Can biotechnology help in providing nutritious food and in preserving our environment? Above all, can each and every Asian be enabled to develop to his or her fullest human potential?

It is my firm belief that Asia’s technology future — indeed, Asia’s future — lies in our collective ability to meet these challenges. It is with this belief that I inaugurate your conference and wish it all success.

Thank you”.