New Delhi / Gurugram, 13 July (Hindustan Times). Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah has said that India is a leading country in adopting emerging technologies at the grassroots level. Addressing the inaugural session of the G-20 Summit on Aspects of “Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), AI and Security in the Age of Metaverse”, Shah said that our aim is to bring modern technology to all sections of the society. Making technology more accessible and affordable. Today 840 million Indians have an online presence, and by 2025 another 400 million Indians will enter the digital world.
He said that internet connection has increased by 250 percent in the last 9 years and the cost of per GB data has come down by 96 percent. He said that 500 million new bank accounts have been opened and 330 million ‘Rupay Debit Cards’ have been distributed under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana. Shah said India is set to lead global digital payments with 90 million transactions in 2022 and UPI transactions worth Rs 35 trillion in India so far. He said that 46 per cent of the total global digital payments are made in India and the transaction volume has increased by 50 times since 2017-18. Shah said that under the Direct Benefit Transfer, an amount of Rs 300 million has been directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries, covering more than 300 schemes in 52 ministries. He said that about 06 billion documents are stored in DigiLocker. Under Bharatnet, optical fiber cable of 06 lakh kilometers has been laid. Shah said that the integrated mobile application Umang App has been brought, which has 53 million registrations. Initiatives for digital delivery of services have transformed India into a ‘Digital Nation’ in a decade.
Shah said that the whole world including India is fast becoming digital. In such a situation, it is necessary to make this digital world secure. There should be a joint effort for this work. Shah said that according to Interpol’s ‘Global Trend Summary Report’ for the year 2022, some of the cybercrime trends such as ransomware, phishing, online scams, online child sexual abuse and hacking are posing a grave threat across the world and there is a possibility that It is expected that in future these cyber crimes will increase manifold.
Shah said that in this context this conference is a new and unique initiative of G-20 Presidency and it is the first conference on cyber security in G-20. He said that G-20 has so far focused on digital transformation and data flow from an economic perspective, but now it is very important to understand crime and security aspects and find solutions. It is our endeavor to stay ahead in the era of NFTs, AI, Metaverse and other emerging technologies by responding in a timely manner to new and emerging threats in a coordinated and cooperative manner, he added.
It is notable that many dignitaries including Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra, Union Information and Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Union Home Secretary were present in this program. More than 900 participants including G-20 countries, 9 special invitees, international organizations, technology leaders, domain experts from India and across the world are participating in this two-day conference.
During the program, Shah flagged off cyber volunteer squads of seven premier educational institutions of the country. This squad will make people aware about cyber security. During the program, Shah also inaugurated an exhibition on cyber security.
