India Wants To Work With BRICS On Fourth Industrial Revolution: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 26, said that India wants to work with the BRICS nations on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and called for sharing the best practices and policies in the area.

Modi also said that technological innovations can help enhance service delivery and productivity levels. BRICS is a grouping of five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is the fourth major industrial era since the first Industrial Revolution of the 18th century. It is characterised by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres.

“India wants to work collectively along with BRICS nations in the area of Fourth Industrial Revolution and all nations must share the best practices and policies on this,” PM Modi said.

“Compliance with laws, the example of better delivery by direct payment technology to beneficiaries of social security and government schemes,” the Prime Minister added.

Modi said that the 4IR would have more importance than capital. “High-skill but temporary work will be the new face of employment. There will be radical changes in industrial production, design, and manufacturing,” he said.

The Prime Minister also emphasised the need for schools and universities to create curricula that will prepare the youth for the future.

Modi has been continuously supporting new-age technologies to lead the digital revolution in India.

The Modi-led central government reiterated its commitment to this during the Union Budget 2018 by allotting more than $480 Mn (INR 3,073 Cr) solely to Digital India programmes. At the time, government thinktank NITI Aayog was also tasked with initiating a national programme on artificial intelligence(AI). Centres of excellence were also announced on robotics, AI, the Internet of Things, etc.

Modi recently talked about use cases of new-age technologies in agriculture and also said that India is fast emerging as a global manufacturing hub. Now, by speaking of his commitment to 4IR on the BRICS platform, Modi seems to be promoting the image of Digital India at a global level.

[The development was reported by Livemint.]