India’s G20 Sherpa said open standards, open API, and interoperability are the hallmarks of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure…reports Asian Lite News
Speaking at the first day of the second G20 Sherpa Meeting, Kant emphasised the achievements and huge strides India has made in the past few years in the digital domain and highlighted the potential benefit of adoption of DPIs globally, especially in developing countries and the Least Developed Countries.
Kant, along with NASSCOM President Debjani Ghosh, inaugurated the DPI Experience Zone in the presence of sherpas and delegates from G20 members, invited countries and international organisations.
Demonstrating India’s DPI success story, the immersive Digital India Experience zone highlighted key DPIs developed by India for addressing crucial issues such as digital identity, financial inclusion, and equitable access to education and health.
Various population-scale DPIs of India stack such as Aadhar, Co-Win, UPI, DigiLocker, BHASHINI and others were showcased in the experience zone. The experience zone also saw the presence of private sector enterprises such as Google, Microsoft, PayTM, Fractaboo, AWS and TCS, which showcased the innovation potential of DPI.
The special session, ‘Why DPI?’ started with virtual messages from eminent global leaders Nandan Nilekani, Co-Founder and Chairman, Infosys; and Thierry Bretton, Commissioner for Internal Market of the European Union, who addressed the participants on the utility of DPIs and India’s ambitious DPI agenda during its G20 presidency.
The special address included a joint presentation by Priya Vohra, Managing Director of Digital Impact Alliance, Washington, D.C., and Pramod Varma, ex-chief architect of Aadhaar and India Stack, CTO EkStep Foundation, who explained to the audience the transformational role of DPIs in diverse sectors and its architectural and economic aspects.
The day-long session ended with a closing by Joint Secretary G20 Nagaraj Naidu, who highlighted the tremendous promise that DPI holds in accelerating the achievement of the sustainable development goals — from cash transfers and food distribution to e-commerce and innovative models of education and healthcare delivery.
‘Ukraine war won’t affect G20 business’
India on Thursday said the Russia-Ukraine issue cannot hold other key topics back in the ongoing meetings being held under its G20 presidency. Quoting the statement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier, the Sherpa of the country, Amitabh Kant, however, reiterated that this is the era of diplomacy and not an era of war.
After holding an hour-long bilateral meeting with Russia on the sidelines of the second Sherpa meeting underway in this scenic village in Kottayam district, Kant said the world was facing many challenges post COVID-19 pandemic and G20 is responsible for addressing them.
“There is a challenge of the post COVID impact of 200 million people going below the poverty line, there is a challenge of 100 million people having lost their jobs, there is a challenge of global debts, there is a challenge of climate action; there is a challenge of recession in one-third of the economy; and there is a challenge of global debt impacting 75 countries in the world,” he said.
Kant said these are far more important issues impacting the rest of the world, and “we work with every single country” to address them.
“Afterall, the one issue, the Russia-Ukraine issue, cannot hold many other issues back”, he said.
Replying to questions on the Russia-Ukraine war and its impact on G20 business, Kant said, “We are friends with every single country that is a member of the G20.” “We openly raise our issues. They raise their concerns, and we decide to discuss them further and take things forward.
“We are still in the discussion stage with them. We have raised concerns of emerging markets, we have raised concerns about the developing world,” he said.
The Sherpa of India also said the war may have impacted a part of the world but there are many other issues for the rest of the world.
Kant expressed hope that Kumarakom meetings will provide “peace and serenity to all delegates ” attending them.
He also hoped that the “Kumarakom backwaters will enable” the member nations to take the challenges of the world forward.