The world used to think we are a land of snake charmers and black magic. But our youth has surprised the world with its IT [information technology] skills.

AI is developing at an unprecedented scale and speed and being adapted and deployed even faster. There is also a deep interdependence across borders. Therefore, there is a need for collective global efforts to establish governance and standards that upload our shared values, address risks, and build trust. But governance is not just about managing rifts and rivalries. It is also about promoting innovation and deploying it for the global good. So we must think deeply and discuss openly about innovation and governance.

I dream of a Digital India where high-speed Digital Highways unite the Nation.

If you go back to 1800, everybody was poor. I mean everybody. The Industrial Revolution kicked in, and a lot of countries benefited, but by no means everyone.

Technology transforms people's lives. From mitigating poverty to simplifying processes, ending corruption to providing better services, technology is omnipresent. It has become the single-most important instrument of human progress.

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.