Bali, Nov 16 (Agency) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged G-20 leaders to take a pledge to work together for digital inclusion over the next decade and transform the life of every human being. “Can we take a pledge together that in the next ten years we will bring digital transformation in the life of every human being, so that no person in the world will be deprived of the benefits of digital technology,” he said addressing a Session on Digital Transformation at the G-20 Summit.Modi said that India will work with other G-20 partners towards bringing this digital transformation. “During its G-20 Presidency next year, India will work jointly with G-20 partners towards this objective. The principle of Data for development will be an integral part of the overall theme of our Presidency One Earth, One Family, One Future,” the Prime Minister added.
He said that the proper use of digital technologies can become a force multiplier in the decades-long global fight against poverty. “It is the responsibility of us G-20 leaders that the benefits of digital transformation should not be confined to a small part of the human race,” the Prime Minister said.” But these benefits will be realized only when the digital access is truly inclusive and when the use of digital technology is really widespread. Unfortunately, till now we have seen this powerful tool only from the criteria of simple business, keeping this power tied in the ledgers of profit and loss,” he added. Modi said that in India, the government is making digital access public but at the international level, there is still a huge digital divide. “Citizens of most developing countries of the world do not have any kind of digital identity.
Only 50 countries have digital payment systems,” he said.Giving example of India’s strides in digital revolution, he stressed that digital use can bring scale and speed in governance. “Last year, over 40 percent of the world’s real-time payment transactions took place through UPI. Similarly, we opened 460 million new bank accounts on the basis of digital identity, making India a global leader in financial inclusion today,” the Prime Minister added. Modi also highlighted that India’s open source CoWIN platform made “the biggest vaccination campaign in human history that was a success even during the pandemic.”