Atmaja Gohain Baruah

Both India and China are at the cusp of rapid digitalisation — India through its flagship Digital India initiative and China through its Digital Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In India, e-governance has evolved from basic computerisation of Government branches to fine-tuning various forms of governance, such as creating innovative e-governance applications and simplifying mobile governance. The Digital India programme encompasses such policy initiatives like MyGov Platform, JeevanPramaan, E-kranti, etc, which endeavour to make the application of e-governance projects smoother. They not only ensure that the strategic regulation of e-governance assets remain with the Government but also assure their continuity financially and technically.

For China, on the other hand, incorporating e-commerce and telecommunications within and outside the country is not new. Articulated first in the March 2015 with the release of white paper entited “Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road”, an “information silk road” was thought necessary for promoting digital trade and expanding communication networks across Asia. The USP of this programme is that faced with common developmental challenges of food security, environmental degradation, unbalanced urban development and disaster risk assessment, countries urgently need to collaborate in ecological monitoring, sea-level rise monitoring and urbanisation management. So, making use of Earth observation technologies, large-scale data can be obtained accurately and quickly. Based on the space data and ecological information obtained, scientific assessment and sound decision-making can be carried out successfully. Built upon an impressive premise that “countries have borders; Earth observations don’t” the Digital Belt and Road has already garnered more than 40 participants round the world.

The difference between both these initiatives of China and India is that while India is trying to look inwards, seeking to reduce the gap between its citizens and the Government, China is looking more outwards to further its digital expansion and facilitate freer flow of information from China to other South Asian or West Asian countries. The question then arises is: should India also collaborate with China in its strive towards big data coorporation? Having one of the most active digital technologies and making massive investments in artificial intelligence (AI), big data collection and financial technology (fintech) companies, China is headed towards competing with other digital giants like the US, Singapore, Sweden and Japan in developing digital infrastructure. India, on the other hand, at the cusp of the fourth Industrial Revolution, has to take advantage of all the opportunities it gets to leapfrog the many stages of development. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keen to hasten the use of technology, focusing on “minimum Government and maximum governance”, the question lies whether India is ready to collaborate with China in this competitive space.

Even though improving connectivity has led to strategic jostling between the major powers in the Indo-Pacific region, the Modi Government has outrightly red-flagged Chinese presence or investments, citing India’s need to be self-sufficient in implementing its own development projects. However, the challenge does not lie in being self-reliant but in pushing e-commerce and technology development within global ecological restrictions, while also taking advantage of the evolving global digital trends. In the same vein, India and China not only have a lot to gain from collaboration, but also a lot to lose from an open conflict. The demands of sustainable development further exasperates the chasm between the countries’ domestic capability and demands of the political institutions. Since India has not been able to bridge this chasm so far, it is time India looks for models outside the existing system which though might not appeal to everyone at the first go, will have better implications in the longer run.

As the popular adage goes, if you cannot beat them, join them, questions revolving around tackling India’s developmental challenges like poverty and environmental degradation suggest that India should not reject collaborating with the Digital BRI and also jointly set new multilateral rules with China. Part of this dynamic will include developing crucial facets intrinsic to smart-city applications, like developing smart-grid, forming green-energy optimisation, logistics and transport solutions, remote Wi-Fi networks etc. In fact, in the recent India–China Technology Transfer, Collaborative Innovation and Investment Conference held in November 2017 in New Delhi, there were talks of facilitating trade and technology transfer which might also help India in balancing its trade imbalance with China. Various potential niches of coorporation were explored such as agriculture and food processing, bio-technology, smart cities, hybrid vehicles, etc. These forms of selective cooperation might involve divulging India’s demographic attributes but the gains of partnering in disaster risk reduction and sustainable development will be far more. Moreover, India and China are already cooperating in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) — a mega trade pact comprising South Asian countries along with China, Japan, Australia, etc — the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, whose next meet is scheduled this month, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

While India’s digital economy is effortlessly pro-globalisation, without effective supervision, it can lead to sporadic demographic shifts and hence spearhead economic imbalances. So, the only way to avoid these downsides and harness a digital economy’s potential to the fullest, is by building smarter regulations and reliable social institutions which can protect property rights and safeguard local markets. In this regard, if India is to continue with its development of digital economy with minimum disruption, it needs its e-governance initiatives to have a more foolproof design. In most cases, because of half-digitisation, citizens not only have to face the struggle of adjusting to the new technology, but also are often left stranded midway after which they are compelled to resort to older techniques instead. For example the Digital India Land Record Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) aimed to comprehensively record land management in the country is running into problems because the process of land ownership verification has not been completely digitalised. Farmers still have to go to the patwaris whose work has not been digitised, and therefore are not entitled to put the records online. Another instance of inefficiency in digitising is the creation of eCourts involving computerising district and its subordinate courts. This project has only used 30 per cent of its total Rs 800 crore sanctioned funds. So, despite the Modi Government’s aggressive push for Digital India, reports suggest that India is still lagging behind its endeavours, especially in rural parts of the country. If India decides to cooperate with China digitally, digitisation might expedite as a second eye on the country’s digital performance might improve its competence.

One has to learn that if one cannot win against the tide, one must learn to sail it. Developing digital economy is one such area where India can partner with China in obtaining Big Data Information, with necessary precautions as might be expected, towards digital transformation and more transparent digital policy-making and cooperation. This will not only reduce the gap between citizens and the Government, it will also make solving ecological challenges more comprehensive and efficient. India, in this regard, should not restrain itself from engaging with China. It should also not be forgotten that digitisation is only a mode for delivering solutions, is not the solution itself. So, though it should be used to enhance outreach and ensure effective planning, consistency should be maintained if India seeks regional supremacy in digitisation.

(The writer, currently an intern at IDSA, is a research scholar with the East Asia Centre, JNU)

Courtesy: Pioneer: Saturday, 07 April 2018