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[Music]
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uh welcome to knowledge Reon glad to
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have you here uh just wanted to start
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off by asking you so what is a minister
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of State for communication and it2 what
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are your responsibilities well I'm a
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minister in the department and um we
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have three uh government of India
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departments in this ministry which is uh
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the Telecom Department then the
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information technology department and
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the department of post so these are the
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three areas that we look after in this
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ministry okay so what kind of things are
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you responsible for well we look at uh
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like I said all those three areas of
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work um but primarily for the Telecom
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sector it's uh mobile services landline
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Services um any form of communication in
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India uh it comes under this ministry
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and for the it sector it's uh the
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software uh the hardware manufacturing
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uh all these soft it enabled software
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Services BPO so on so forth anything to
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do with electronics um and internet and
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with uh Hardware of uh it okay uh so you
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went from General Motors to the Wharton
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business school to politics and then you
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won your first election when you were 26
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years old so tell us about the
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transition and the lessons you may have
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learned uh from those transition when I
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look back it seems to have uh happened
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quite on its own but uh it is a fact
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that once I did my MBA at Barton I I
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went back to India and I took some time
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out to think uh what it is that I should
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be doing and I said to myself all that
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I've seen you know growing up in a
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family that had politicians in it all my
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experiences all what I've learned what
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I'd seen across in India traveling so on
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so forth I thought all of those could be
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used on a platform which is politics and
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be much more effective cuz I'd worked in
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the private sector I'd got this
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wonderful degree from won and uh I
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really wanted to put it to bet you
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choose uh therefore after a lot of
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thought I decided to run for elections
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and people were kind enough to have
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elected me u in 2004 For the First Time
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MH so what kind of strategies from your
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business school days are you uh using to
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solve problems that you Fe face today
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but I think good education uh always
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holds you in good stead uh especially
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from a college and university won and
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upen I think have really added uh to my
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worldview and how I've seen uh various
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things develop and the many challenges
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that we face because remember most of
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the challenges today are quite Global in
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nature and one one has to have a
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perspective that you know where the
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horizons are very wide and you're able
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to understand the issues so that you are
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best able to deal with it uh and best
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suited for the kind of policies that you
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want to initiate so I think the
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experience and the education I've had um
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especially with the faculty and the kind
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of exposur I had at won um I think have
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made me more well prepared to take on U
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you know the challenges especially in
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the in the economic Arena I think
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they've been quite beneficial and uh I
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think education of any sort helps you in
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policym whether you're a lawyer or
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doctor engineer uh but I think an MBA
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degree um has been very very useful to
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me yeah I I read somewhere that you
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spent a night in a remote Village in
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rajastan you slept on a wooden cart and
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had uh your meals with the Villagers
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what prompted you to do that and what
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did you learn from it well I while
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growing up I had always been doing it
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with my father when he was a member of
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Parliament and traveling across India
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because ultimately those are the people
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that I represent and I think by being
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with them spending time with them and
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you know understanding more of their
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sorrows and joys and being uh a partner
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to them uh I think it's very very
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important because in India the politics
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is U is it's very emotional it's very
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physical you know you have to be there
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with the people that elect you and uh I
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think a lot of people a lot of my peers
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a lot of other politicians do that uh it
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shouldn't really come out as a surprise
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as to why someone did that I think it's
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it's a very natural way of being
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Associated and being able to relate to
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the people uh who have put you where you
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are okay um I also read that you had
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said that India must Bridge the digital
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divide so that the other India can be
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the part of the growth story so can you
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tell us what prompted you to launch that
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project well you see in India we've had
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tremendous growth in the last 15 years
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uh but the Endeavor of the government
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and I also personally believe that we
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have to make sure that the goods and
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services of the government must be
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distributed equitably I think every
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Indian has a right to be a part of the
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uh Information Technology Revolution
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that we've had in the last 15 years it
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should not remain isolated to just the
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big Metro cities of Delhi Mumbai and
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Kolkata I think people in smaller towns
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in tier three tier four cities in
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smaller Villages have as much of a right
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to participate in India's growth story
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and how we can do that uh because I
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think uh the internet the information
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technology uh the Telecom Services can
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be a great bridge between people whether
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they come from urban areas or rural
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areas whether they're rich or poor young
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or old I think all these um divisions
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and all these fault lines can be
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transcended if you use technology and
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put it to good use and it and I think uh
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in the coming years we'll see more of
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this the it has to be used as a catalyst
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to be able to transform and change
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people's lives especially ones who don't
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have the resources uh to you know get
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access to that kind of services so the
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government is really working hard to
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making sure that there is no divide uh
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especially the digital div you know by
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giving people more access to Information
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Technology uh we hope we'll be able to
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achieve that so what kind of challenges
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are you facing in the project I mean
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India being the way it is with the lack
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of in infrastructure in some places and
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we've heard about the last mile issue as
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well so what kind of challenges are you
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facing but if you go back and look at
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1995 uh our teley density of T density
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basically is number of phone lines per
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100 people it was about 1.5% because we
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were dependent on wires being dug up or
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put out so that people could get
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Telephone Connections
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once Wireless technology came in and
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mobile phones penetrated the Indian
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market today we are adding about 15 to
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18 million mobile subscribers a month we
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have about 550 mobile users in India so
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it is really leap frogged India's
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connectivity because of the wireless uh
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mobile technology coming into India I
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think the same is about to happen uh for
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the it sector where we we will have
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Broadband access to all villages in
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India in the next 3 years um because
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once you're able to create that
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infrastructure without the physical
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infrastructure being present by Wireless
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Technologies by microwave Technologies I
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think that will really help us U uh
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surmount the challenges that you
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mentioned about lack of infrastructure
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uh the second point I'd like to make is
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that India uh is a country which has 22
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official languages so Hindi and English
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are dominant languages but almost half
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of the nation does not speak Hindi or
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English so we have from my Ministry uh
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try to give uh software and fonts free
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download uh of all these 20 languages is
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so that people are who speak Udu or
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banga or Canada or Cindi or guki they
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are also able to take advantage of
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having a PC and having you know
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information available because if you
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can't read off the screen it's really
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not of much use that's right uh let me
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switch back to the digital divide
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question for a second so you have two
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very disparate audiences that you're
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trying to address sort of the halves and
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the halves Nots so what kind of
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strategies are you using to get Buy in
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so that you can move forward in this I
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think the ones that you talk about the
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halves are the ones who uh have enough
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disposable income who have uh Mobility
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who live in large cities or or large
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towns um I think there the market forces
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will help deliver those Services there's
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enough private sector participation for
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us to meet our objectives it's the ones
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that have been left out of this uh those
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are the areas that we have to focus on
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so we have deployed uh enough funds our
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policym our budgeting our fund
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allocation our programs are quite
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targeted to those segments of our
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society uh which have not really you
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know seen the fruits of the economic
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growth that we've witnessed in the last
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decade and I can speak for this ministry
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that I working in the Telecom Ministry
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there are Villages that are sparely
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populated so uh private companies uh
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will only go to areas where there's
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profit to be made they will not go into
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rural areas rural parts of India that's
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why the Indian government has now
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decided to put up mobile towers and give
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the backbone infrastructure to areas
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which has population uh in villages less
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than 500 for example in areas like the
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Northeast part of India the hilly
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terrain areas the tribal areas the
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really poorer States those are the areas
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where the private operators you know
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really are not that comfortable going in
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but I think we as government have to
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ensure that even those people have a
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right to be uh you know a part of the
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Telecom Revolution and to that end we
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have got this fund which is more than $4
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billion and all of that money is going
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to be used to make sure that we ensure
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connectivity in bordering parts of our
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country in the desert areas in the you
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know the tribal areas um and so on so
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forth so um it obviously the private
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sector is important uh to the success of
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any uh Enterprise anywhere so I don't
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know if you've seen the world bank's
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report on doing business and said that
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uh the number of processes you need to
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start a business takes about 30 days in
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India while it's about 6 days in the US
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so what would be this one thing that you
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want to do that will spur Innovation and
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growth uh using that as a platform but I
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do think that uh it does take longer to
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establish businesses in India there are
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other uh hindrances like mentioned the
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infrastructure uh the deficiency of
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power and you know Road Network Etc but
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I can assure you that the government is
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fully aware of that fact and we are
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working quite aggressively ensuring that
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uh we are able to give the airports
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ports Railway Network the highway
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Network as as well as reforming our
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processes so that people don't face the
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kind of troubles uh that you had
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mentioned uh it's an ongoing process I
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think we've had some success uh but I
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think more needs to be done but we very
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well aware of it but we do have to work
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with multiple agencies so there's the
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central government the federal
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government then you have the state
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governments and then you have the local
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body governments so there has to be you
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know uh compliance of everybody uh but
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you know we are making sure that our
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bureaucracy and our Administration uh
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gets leaner and you know more efficient
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in the time to come uh you said in a
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recent interview uh I guess that you
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know if India is more wired then India
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would have fewer problems can you
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elaborate on that point a little bit
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well I think um a a lot of the issues
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that people have in rural India uh are
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more to do with getting U certifications
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or getting paperwork done or running
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from Pillar To Post to get you know a
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piece of document uh that really belongs
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to them that leads to a lot of um uh you
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know corruption at the lower levels and
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a lot of delays Etc I also think that
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people have in India many ethnicities
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many languages many cultural differences
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U you know different geographies
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different climates Etc but if you're
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able to get everybody to participate in
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the um in the it sector and really use
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the the digital mode to communicate and
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to meet and interact with each other I
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think some of these differences that
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people have tried to uh Tred to really
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uh work on I think they will also reede
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so a more connected India a more
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educated India a more exposed and uh uh
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an India that's more aware uh of the uh
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services that are being available uh
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being made available on the digitized
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mode I think will certainly change the
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way governance happens and if you're
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able to work with the government and
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have like you mentioned again the last
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mild delivery uh it's very very
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important that we partner with uh
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private entrepreneurs with NOS with
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civil society it has to be a
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collaborative effort I think no single
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government can claim to deliver all the
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services so we have to partner with
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people who are also equal
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stakeholders you had um so it's widely
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accepted I guess now that the Telecom
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sector success was a huge deal in India
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and then it has done it has made
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available to a lot of people the
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services that they ordinarily wouldn't
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have been able to get so what are the
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factors you think that contributed to
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that success when we first started off
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with Mobile telepon in India in early
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'90s it was uh prohibitively expensive
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the handsets were expensive the call
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rates were very expensive uh and I'm
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happy to say today that we have one of
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the cheapest call rates in the world our
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call rates average between 1 to two
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cents us cents a minute uh which is the
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lowest in the world um the the handsets
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have become much cheaper because the
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economies scale have made sure that
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there's enough competition and um even
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though the margins are less but it's a
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volume business now so people have
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really taken to mobile telephoning and
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our teley density today is uh more than
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50% as opposed to 1.5% in 95 so there's
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been a huge leap frog in our
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connectivity through the mobile
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telephones uh I think because of the
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call rates going down so low because of
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the availability of the infrastructure
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and people realizing how um how mobile
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connectivity is able to make their
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businesses their interactions much more
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effective and much more um uh efficient
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I think people have realized that so
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they've taken on to it uh very keenly so
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let me switch Gees for a second so where
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and how do you draw your entrepreneurial
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inspiration well I don't think I'm that
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much of an entrepreneur but I I do think
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that uh if you have the initiative and
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if you uh if you let people work
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together there's enough creativity in
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India enough young people have so much
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to offer of they have the capacity and
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the skill sets to uh perform and outbeat
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anybody and also the kind of
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self-confidence that I witnessed uh
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young Indians have today uh I think it's
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nowhere to be seen uh so that's a real
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uh advantage and a real bonus for a
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young country to have a Workforce that's
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talented that's committed and um you
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know I think there's nothing lacking
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except that we have to give the young
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people in India a platform and a
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Direction so that they can go in the
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right way so um what is the one so what
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is the one Untold success story that
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nobody's talking about from
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India well I think there are a lot of
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successes uh as also as um a lot of
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challenges we face but in the last five
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or six years we've been able to you know
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really focus on the priorities uh that
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the Indian people wanted us to focus on
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so we've had uh a law which is known as
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a right to Information Act where people
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have a right to know of all transactions
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of the government it's made the whole
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governance of India very open and
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transparent we've had um a compulsory in
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uh employment guarantee scheme in India
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the first of his kind anywhere in the
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world that you know every able-bodied
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person in one family one person will get
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100 days of job guaranteed by law I
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think these are fundamental pathbreaking
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legislation that we've passed in our
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government uh we working on a food
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security bill that ensures uh food
00:14:52
security for all the Indian citizens um
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we've got uh right to education bill
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pass so these are basic basic things
00:14:59
that you know uh should have been done
00:15:01
some time ago but you know India never
00:15:02
had the wealth and the economic strength
00:15:04
to implement some of these hugely
00:15:06
expensive programs so we have
00:15:08
affirmative programs we have the social
00:15:10
welfare programs um and our budget last
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year uh budget this year that's uh going
00:15:15
to be implemented is in the tune of a
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quarter of a trillion dollars just the
00:15:21
government's budget and uh a large
00:15:23
portion of that is dedicated to putting
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money into the social sector like
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education healthare Sanitation Rural
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Road network connectivity and so on so
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forth so uh looking back at the
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successes in the Telecom sector uh in
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your mind what does the Telecom sector
00:15:38
look like in 2015 and how do you get
00:15:40
there oh gosh that's difficult to say
00:15:42
because uh the Telecom sector changes
00:15:43
every month uh if not every week um so I
00:15:47
think the landscape uh looks pretty
00:15:49
bright to me I think there's enough
00:15:51
competition uh we still have uh a hunger
00:15:54
for connectivity it'll go on for a few
00:15:57
years um but the Challen like I said to
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you earlier is that the urban
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connectivity Urban tele density is 140%
00:16:05
that means there 140 phone lines for 100
00:16:07
people in Delhi Kolkata Bombay but in
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the rural areas it's 20% so there's a
00:16:12
mismatch there but we need to fix that
00:16:14
that's why even the private operators
00:16:15
now realize that there's money to be
00:16:17
made in in the rural market so they're
00:16:19
all after having saturated the pig
00:16:21
cities are now pushing towards the
00:16:23
smaller towns and Villages uh which
00:16:25
again I think is a good thing so I think
00:16:27
the Indian Telecom sector is B to grow
00:16:29
uh we'll have many more value added
00:16:31
Services we're looking at ways of
00:16:33
exploring mobile banking for example uh
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we have a 3G auctions going on right now
00:16:37
then you'll have you know video
00:16:38
conferencing live television uh all of
00:16:42
those things uh were never thought of 10
00:16:44
years ago it's an everchanging world and
00:16:46
uh I think it will only uh bear fruits
00:16:48
for the Indian society and the Indian
00:16:50
economy yeah on behalf of knowledge at
00:16:52
Barton I want to thank you for spending
00:16:53
time with us today thank you for having
00:16:57
me e
