Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat Series | 2.Technology Adaption: What needs to be pursued ?

Dear Friends, The world has witnessed that Bharat is capable not only to adapt a technology but also it master it fast enough along with developing an eco-system of a particular technology side by side as in case of software development and then becoming a global leader in extending its related services globally beating the competition. It also could be seen in Digital Transformation as UPI has become top payment interface clocking nearly 50 % of global transactions each day. Nearly 1020 million people using mobile phones and 850 million people using internet and about 800 million possessing Smart Mobile Sets is a proof enough that Bharat adopt a technology and take it to a scale at a pace that is needed to be ahead globally be beating competition and along the way finds innovative ways to be the global leader. This credit goes to the talent that is nurtured in Bharat every year and Demographic Dividend is the biggest strength of Bharat as of now as median age of youth is just 28 years and it shall remain till 2036 but it shall continue to harness its dividends for the next 03 to 04 decades comfortably. Another biggest advantage with Bharat is that it has a visionary leader who understand the impact of emerging technologies on the economy of a nation and also on each sphere of life. So, he is pushing Research & Innovation, technology development & patent filing, adaption & use of technology and become self-reliant in technology development at a fast speed and scale in adaption. So, lets have a look what all technologies are crucial for Bharat to make it a Viksit Bharat by 2047.

1. Small Modular Reactors(SMRs) and Thorium Reactors: I recommended this technology at my LinkedIn portal through an article at my news letter two years back about this technology and also wrote in my #1bestselling book "A ViksitBharat@2047" that was released in May 2024. It was heartening that Hon'ble FM, made a financial provision towards Bharat Small Reactors (BSR) in Annual Budget she presented on 01 Feb 2024. NPCIL ( The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited) is pursuing it with Private Players as BARC & NPCIL have perfected an indigenous PHWR (Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor) design of 220 MWe and running them very successfully from last 02-03 decades and it come under Small Reactor Configuration BUT certainly not under Micro reactor as it cant be transported from one place to another and it is not small enough in size and also not in modular configuration of 10 MWe, or 20 MWe or 50MWe as many companies and nations are designing them and perfecting that technology. So, at present Bharat can go ahead with BSRs specially at locations where big Data centers of GCCs are coming up so that the Green Energy could be supplied to them as they will be needed a huge amount of energy and water for cooling, though there are designs that do not use water in colling of such facilities. I am sure BARC must be pursuing micro reactors design also so that they could be used at remote locations and various platforms specially moving platforms at road, rail, in air , space, water, submerged, floating ones. Thorium Reactors, must be a top most priority and 500 MWe FBTR must be made critical at the earliest.So, Micro reactors in modular form in configuration of 10 MWe, 20 MWe, must be developed for space mission and for India Space Station on Moon or Mars and also for remote locations to support defense installations and feeding GCCs & Big Data Centers.
2. AI, ML & DL and Gen AI and also QAI: AI Mission of India is being pursued with a focus in order to catch up with other nations as we are already behind many but we shall come up neck to neck in race as we have a largest pool of skilled & talent pool of aspiring youth of Bharat that shall make a difference. My recommendation is that we must sink in another $2 billion towards Fundamental Research in this technology as it is going to impact rather impacting each sphere of life on this planet. Any business or a nation that is not able to run this race or remains behind cant think of becoming a prosperous nation in times ahead. So, Bharat needs to do what ever needed but to lead in this technology. This mission is very close to the heart of Hon'ble Prime Minster Narendra Modi ji and an initial allocation of Rs.12,000 crore is already made for this mission. Bharat has to make sure a synergic transition from AI to Quantum AI(QAI).STEM, LLMs , NLP, Speech Recognition Analysis, translators, Computational Linguistics, Applied Linguistics and NLP Integrated Methodologies along with Data Management & Analysis are some skills that are emerging hugely in these technologies.
3. Robotics & Automation: It is essential to make mass manufacturing competitive so it should not be considered that Robotics & Automation shall eat way many jobs. Though, it is correct but with proper skilling in time the manpower shall move to other fields as to Data Management, online sales, ESG / CSR activities of the company and graduating to other sectors as Bharat shall be providing nearly 45% skilled hands / labor force to entire world by 2050. So, PLI must be scaled to make Bharat a manufacturing hub. This technology has to find many applications in Defense Platforms / Weapon Platforms / Future Warfare.
4. Quantum Computing: The Quantum Mission of India is also pursued very ambitiously as it is also very close to the heart of Hon'ble Prime Minister and adequate financial allocation has been made for this mission. My recommendation is that double the amount must go to the Fundamental Research in this technology and we must not leave any stone turned till we catch up the frontier nations in this technology. Our youth have capabilities so they must have the best of research facilities in Bharat itself with complete fellowship in par with the best globally. The institutions must be identified and they also provided adequate funds to support the needed research in this technology.
5. Fusion : Let me recommend that Bharat must pursue this technology independently also with adequate funding towards Fundamental Research in this field. Though Bharat is part of ITER with teams involved as part of Global Cooperation. MIT has perfected a design and it is going to make a Fusion Reactor of 400 MWe operational by 2030 and then making them in thousands. This technology is going to change the course of this planet in many ways and solve the energy problem for million years or centuries ahead. It is a most potent source of Green Energy and an ultimate solution to the Climate Change as it does not produce any kind of waste or radiation or side effects but pure green energy. MIT is able to develop / produce super magnets that shall confine plasma in order to harness energy out of it.
6. UAVs / Drones and Autonomous Submerged Vehicles (ASVs): These technologies are going to change the future warfare front completely in their favor as it is going to be cost effective, available in many configuration, completely stealth to give an utmost surprise, scale of attack, varying platforms to launch many type of weapons, easy to operate in stand alone so cant be prone to cyber attacks. So, I request Hon'ble PM to accord a top most priority to these technologies with outright allocation of needed funds so that we remain among the global leader.
7. Semiconductor Manufacturing : Hon'ble PM is already paying the maximum attention to ensure speedy start of manufacturing of Semiconductors but I request that further funds must be poured in to it as it is base for AI and later QAI so, we need to catch up with the best and then take a lead. So, funds allocation must not be an issue for this effort.
8. Nuclear Submarines: Bharat must have at least 15 Nuclear Submarines in a combination of 10 SSBNs and 05 SSNs and now onwards Bharat must develop them with 13,000 to 18,000 tones capacity with doubled the reactor power as that of INS Arahant and fitted with SLBMs with 7000 to 12000 kms range and some fitted with Nuclear weapons and some with MIRVs.
9. Some other technologies such as 5G, 6G and further Advanced Technologies, Nano Technology, Extended Reality(VR/AR), IoT and Hyper Connections, Hyper Sonic, Guided Energy Weapons & Laser Guided Weapons, Blockchain and other decentralized technologies, Green & Sustainable Technologies, Biotechnologies, Personal Medicines, and the center point has to be self-reliant component in all these technologies is a must.
10. It is the best time to pursue them to unleash full potential of the nation and of each Indian and if we cant do it when Modi is steering the nation we cant do later, so, lets do it as we have the best talent though skilling needs to catch up in these technologies at the earliest.
11. Jai Bharat Jai Bharat Jain Bharat