Quality of life improved because of digitization, infrastructure development: Amitabh Kant highlights India's progress in last decade

By Shivanii Sharma
New Delhi [India], August 14 : Amitabh Kant, former CEO of NITI Aayog and India's G20 Sherpa emphasised the significant transformations India has undergone over the last decade. He attributed these changes to digitization, infrastructure development, and energy transformation.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Kant said, "The most significant change which India has seen is the drive for a great amount of digitization. And that is that everyone today does fast payments on mobile. We can access schemes for wealth creation, that is, you can go to a stock market, you can take an insurance policy, you can get credit on your mobile on the go in 30 seconds to one minute, including fast payments. So that has been the real revolutionary step."
However, Kant also identified challenges for the future, including skill development, implementation of the New Education Policy, and sustainable urbanization. He emphasised the need for states to grow at a rate of 10-11 per cent and accelerate manufacturing.
Kant noted that digitization has revolutionized India, enabling fast payments, access to schemes, and credit facilities through mobile devices. He also highlighted the country's infrastructure achievements, including the construction of millions of houses, toilets, and piped water connections.
He added, "And what India has achieved through our open source, interoperable global model, no other country in the world has been able to achieve."
Kant further elaborated on the infrastructure boom, citing the construction of millions of houses, and toilets, and the expansion of piped water connections to doorsteps as milestones.
He stated, "I've seen a huge amount of infrastructure coming up in terms of million houses for people, close to about 130 million toilets being created, 255 million citizens getting pipe water connection, close to 88,000 kilometres of roads. These are all transformational infrastructures within one decade."
Emphasizing that the Bank of International Settlements acknowledged that India's nine-year achievement would have otherwise taken five decades, Kant said, "So as in the context of digitization, the Bank of International Settlements said that what India has achieved in nine years would have taken India 50 years to achieve."
In the energy sector, Kant praised India's push towards green energy, with 200 gigawatts of renewable energy and initiatives like clean cooking fuel and electric vehicles.
Kant stated, "India is going green. We've done 200 gigawatts of renewable energy. We've been able to provide vast segments of our women cooking clean cooking fuel. They used to cook on firewood and spoil their health. We're giving them clean fuel. And that we've been able to, you know, get electric buses, electric two-wheelers."
He added, "We're getting a huge amount of LED bulbs in procurement. All this is transformational to my mind and My view is that by 2030, we will have used solar energy to produce green hydrogen at a very low cost, cutting down the cost of imported fossil fuels.
While lauding India's progress, Amitabh Kant was clear about the challenges that lie ahead.
"I see a huge potential for better skilling of our citizens. Huge improvement in the implementation of what we plan for the new education policy," he noted, stressing on improvement of learning outcomes and overall educational standards.
Kant also emphasized the need for states to grow at a rate of 10-11 per cent and to accelerate the pace of manufacturing.
"I think that India as a country, we need to see our states growing at 10 to 11 per cent. I think we need to do very good sustainable urbanization. I feel that we need to accelerate the pace of our manufacturing. These are a few challenges before India which we must accelerate", he stated.
Kant's vision for India's future includes high-quality life, enhanced social indicators, and improved human development. He aims for good learning outcomes, health outcomes, nutritional standards, and a significant increase in per capita income.
Kant emphasised, "Our social indicators are extremely good, our human development index is high, every citizen of India should have good learning outcomes, we should have very good health outcomes, our nutritional standards must be very high and we should have taken our per capita income from the level of about USD 2600 to close to USD 18,000."
Kant's assessment highlights India's progress and the need for continued efforts to address future challenges and achieve sustainable development.