KG Kenye*
Former MP (Rabha Sabha)
Excellencies Distinguished Ladies & Gentlemen, Friends, Greetings from India.
Just like the last year, I address this year’s World Forum 4.0 from Kohima, Nagaland but, as you would agree, much has changed in our world. 2022 has been a very paradoxical year so far.
While the world started slowly recovering from COVID-19 at the start of the year, there is a great risk that it will slip into recession again because of the ongoing conflict in Central Asia and the looming threats over the Far East.
Such scenarios usually bring their own set of great challenges that make us think out of the box to address them.
We have to overcome adversities jointly and build opportunities to fulfill our commitments, promises and responsibilities towards our peoples, and our constituencies.
Therefore, as policymakers, we have to see and ensure that the Fourth Industrial Revolution brings along with it an equitable growth and development.
We have to ensure that the rapid pace of automation and digitalization also matches up with securing the Sustainable Development Goals across the continents and for all the countries.
How the Fourth Industrial Revolution benefits and empowers the last man standing should be our foremost concern.
I recall reading a report about the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development some years back. It dealt with inequalities and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
As a responsible policy maker, what caught my attention was the very specific mention about inequalities.
It is a matter of grave concern when inequalities are generated by the existing institutional systems.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution operates globally and distributes rewards on a global scale, rather than at a local or national level so, a curious thing about the Fourth Industrial Revolution is that it operates under the old rules of ownership while setting new rules of the game simultaneously.
This characteristic has serious implications for the ownership, distribution, and jobs especially for the developing countries.
So for any policymaker this necessitates an institutional transformation and creation of new institutions which will redefine, redistribute and re-employ to meet our goal of equitable development and growth.
Another key area, which in my opinion is of a very high priority, and will play a very important role is Education.
In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the highly-educated will probably be at a particular advantage, so the main challenge for us will be- How to make quality education extremely affordable and accessible to all.
A term which is increasingly gaining currency these days is BLENDED LEARNING.
Our students have to focus on innovation and creativity which is the key to analytical thinking and complex problem solving.
In addition, interpersonal skills and qualities such as being resilient and emotionally intelligent and to have empathy and respect toward others will be an important aspect of blended learning.
So that while ensuring that our university graduates are suitably prepared to meet industry needs, we have also to focus on imparting our students what can be termed as GLOBAL CITIZEN SKILLS.
It will help our young generation to learn the nuances of how to work at a truly global level and adapt well to a future where workplaces will be more interconnected and employers will have more global peers.
But how to achieve all of this? is a key question as resources in our world are extremely limited. Not to mention extraordinary income disparity and wealth inequality that exists in the world.
We live in a world where one in five of the world’s richest people live in emerging economies, side by side with billions of poor people.
A study by OXFAM in 2017 noted that eight men hold the same wealth as the poorest half of humanity.
So how countries should move ahead to ensure that everyone gets an equal opportunity to participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and benefit from it? is a key issue that demands a detailed discussion amongst the policy makers at a global level. We have to discuss, sort out and establish modalities and mechanisms for the same.
Will Public-Private Participation (PPP) be the way and continued innovations and collaborations help lessen the cost of modern technologies?
Will the governments work with businesses that can have a direct role in creating economic opportunity for millions of people by investing in education and training programs for existing and potential talents?
Or a Cross-National Taxation could generate necessary global funds to drive the Fourth Industrial Revolution with a special priority for the developing countries. I wonder.
One way for cooperation can be that affordable and efficient technologies are shared with the world for the benefit and empowerment of our citizens.
I am sure many of the distinguished audience would have heard about India's digital initiatives like Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) which can immensely benefit other countries.
These solutions have a great relevance both for the developed and developing countries as they not only lower the cost of transaction but also provide a very safe and extremely efficient option.
Also the Reserve Bank of India is in the process of implementing the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in a phased manner for the wholesale and retail segments in India.
CBDC will be India's official digital currency and is likely to debut by early 2023.
So in about a year, it will mirror any of the currently available private company-operated electronic wallets but the CBDC will be a sovereign-backed digital currency.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, thus you see how technology is helping us re-imagine and revitalize our core sectors.
I am confident that those of us who embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies—such as digitization, artificial intelligence, robotics, and additive manufacturing etc.—stand to boost performance, shape new business models, drive sustainable growth and most importantly empower our villages and communities.
Earlier this year, I was approached by ALCAP’s Special Adviser Mr. Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. who has been a diplomat before, regarding the University of California- Berkeley’s SMART VILLAGE PROGRAMME in the state of Nagaland.
As you know, UC Berkeley is not only America’s but also the world’s leading academic institution.
Its Smart Village Program is a highly mature and scalable program that helps transforming people’s lives at the village level through technology.
Under the Program, over hundred leading global firms help in the verticals such as Healthcare, Agriculture, and Entrepreneurship etc. which are picked by the chosen states for the pilot phase.
Smart Village Program along with the state government helps transfer all knowledge and guides it to scale up to all the villages across the state.
Such programmes have a great relevance for a state like Nagaland and also for other states in the North Eastern part of India that have a very high literacy rate and a young population fluent in the English language that looks for an avenue to connect with the world and realise their potential and harness the opportunities offered by globalization.
We have seen how Korea’s mastery of manufacturing and electronics, for example, moved it into the top levels of world income and other benefits that are concomitant with the process.
So at a time when the fourth industrial revolution is greatly re-shaping the global economy, I am very glad that a platform like the WORLD FORUM is playing an extremely important role to bring the stakeholders from across the globe together to share their perspectives, and explore the ongoing transformation in detail.
The credit for the same goes to President Leonel Fernandez and the team of World Forum. Thank you President Fernandez!
I am confident that our discussions will contribute towards developing equitable policies that have empathy towards the concerns of the developing countries.
In summing it up we have to ensure that technical and societal challenges including lack of infrastructure, shortage of trained and skilled work force, lack of self-organization and self-actualization, lack of collaboration between government and civil society are properly addressed through suitable policy mechanisms and practical applications.
Thank you.
*Speech at the World Forum 4.0 on October 24, 2022
