Technology empowers the less empowered. If there is a strong force that bring a change in the lives of those on the margins it is technology. It serves as a leveler and a springboard.

The pace at which people are taking to digital technology defies our stereotypes of age, education, language and income.

There's so much happening with the youth looking at local or national problems and solving them with innovation and technology. This is what startup success means.

For safe and responsible use of technology, balance regulation is needed. We want such global digital governance in which sovereignty and integrity remain intact. Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) should be a bridge and not a barrier. For global good, India is ready to share its DPI. For India, One Earth, One Family, One Future is a commitment.

Keeping technology at the forefront, we need to further speed up our defence programme & keep pace with the world.

We must develop open source systems that enhance trust and transparency. We must build quality data centres free from biases, we must democratise technology and create people centre applications. We must address concerns related to cyber security, disinformation and deepfakes. We must also ensure that technology is rooted in local ecosystems for it to be effective and useful. Loss of jobs is AI's most feared disruption, but history has shown that work does not disappear due to technology, only its nature changes. We need to invest in skilling and re-skilling our people for an AI-driven future.