New Delhi, Oct 21 (Representative) Union Minister for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday said India cannot ensure achieving a five trillion dollar economy if national security is not ensured, as he talked about the contribution of technology in governance in India. The Minister was delivering a lecture on ‘Technology and National Security’ as a part of a memorial lecture series in honour of late Air Commodore Jasjit Singh. Talking about challenges faced by India from its northern and western borders, Chandrasekhar said, “India’s economic rise started in 2014. Just pre covid we were at 2.8 trillion dollars and had a road map to a five trillion dollar economy. But the road would not be unchallenged”.
“If we have to be a five trillion dollar economy, we need to invest in ensuring we have strong security. We cannot become a five trillion dollar economy if we are not strong.
The vested interests that have most to lose from our rise are those from whom we are at security risk,” he said without naming any country. The Minister said technology plays a key role in ensuring security, and cited the example of the Balakot air strike. He said the strike involved interplay of many technological systems which left significant impact on the enemy. He also talked about China’s growth in the field of technology and said they got it partially by hoodwinking the west. He said they got their technological knowledge through a combination of indigenous developed and dubiously proliferated technologies from the west. The Minister added that ‘new India’ is “firmly resolved to grow”.