PM Modi emphasises on use of technology for 'ease of living'

"We have to emphasise on 'ease of living' and think on optimum utilisation of technology. Technology for us is a medium to empower the people. 'Make In India' in technology will bring a sense of security and self-reliance," the PM said, while addressing a post-budget webinar on 'Technology Enabled Development'.

Citing that for his government, science and technology is not an isolated sector, Modi further said, "In the field of economy, the vision is linked with areas like digital economy and fintech. Similarly advanced technology has a huge role in infrastructure and public service delivery related vision."

"This webinar is a collaborative effort to ensure how, in the light of budget, can we implement the provisions quickly, seamlessly and with optimum outcome," he stated.

The PM highlighted the budget's emphasis on sunrise sectors like Artificial Intelligence, Geo-spatial Systems, Drones, Semiconductors, Space technology, Genomics, Pharmaceuticals and Clean Technologies to 5G.

"The budget lays down a clear roadmap for 5G spectrum auction. PLI schemes have been proposed for design-led manufacturing related to a strong 5G ecosystem. I appeal to the private sector to increase their efforts in this area," Modi said.

He further said, "Today, medical science is technology driven. Our focus should be on manufacturing medical equipment in which technology plays an important role to meet the demand and supply."

He also stressed on the importance of a robust data security framework for the country and called upon for a roadmap for setting standards and norms for that.