Nobel Laureate Professor Paul Michael Romer, during his visit to India, praised the country’s digital revolution, acknowledging a significant role played by the government to transform the lives of the citizens.
Professor Romer emphasised how India’s approach to digital innovation stands out globally, especially in its ability to transcend economic disparities and benefit all sections of society.
“Well, this is what makes the digital revolution in India so interesting, is that it’s been used by the government to actually provide benefits to all members of society. It hasn’t just created benefits for the lucky few. And this, I think, is very different from most other countries around the world. So I think the success here in India is unique, and other countries can learn from it,” Romer said praising the advancements in the digital landscape in the country.
Talking about initiatives such as UPI, Aadhaar, DigiLocker and DigiYatra, Romer opined that these developments have made day-to-day life more efficient and accessible.
According to Romer, these advancements offer valuable lessons for other nations, particularly those in the Global South. He stressed that India’s journey shows how countries can shape their digital future.
“I think one of the first things is that the other countries in the digital south should say to themselves, if India can do it, we can do it too. Countries need to have the confidence and the ambition to try something that hasn’t been tried before, the way India did by creating the Aadhaar number. So other countries could copy and learn from India’s experience, but they should also tell themselves, we don’t have to depend on rich countries. We may not even want to let the rich countries be the ones who are in charge, because they may not lead to the kinds of improvements in the quality of life that we really want for our citizens,” Romer added.
Speaking on the apprehensions earlier made about India’s ability to implement such sweeping digital reforms despite the digital infrastructure challenges, he stated that size does not determine success, citing the success of Asian countries such as China, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea.
“What matters is a country which has the capacity to decide what it wants to do, and to go where it wants to go. And that’s what India did with digital services. They decided how they wanted to do it, they did it, and they’ve succeeded hugely,” he added.
Reflecting on the essential role of the government in this transformation, Romer noted that India’s approach contrasts with the more hands-off stance seen in Western nations.
He believes that government leadership was instrumental in driving the country’s digital progress. “I think the role of the government is pivotal, and this is the lesson from the Indian success. In the United States, in the West, we’ve generally had a much more hands-off kind of laissez-faire market solution. Without the kind of cooperation between the government and the private sector, what we’ve seen in these other countries is that the digital revolution hasn’t generated the benefits that it could have, that many of us first anticipated when these new technologies came on the scene,” Romer said.
He drew parallels with the development of safe air travel, emphasising that government innovation is often necessary for the private sector to thrive.
“This is not a new lesson. Think back to the amazing discovery of the airplane. We didn’t get safe air travel because we said, let’s just let the market take care of air travel, air safety, or air traffic control. We had government leadership and government innovation and government discovery about how to actually run something as complicated as an air traffic system safely and move people all over the world. So there was a time in the West where we knew how to use the government to create the conditions where then private airlines and other private operators could operate. But we’ve lost that insight in the digital world. We’ve just stayed back. And the countries that have succeeded, like India, have been ones where the government went back to that older tradition and said, well, let’s do it again,” Romer concluded. (ANI)
