BENGALURU: As Karnataka enters the 75th year of India’s independence, it stands wellpoised to exploit its advantages of being a technology hub. The aim? To improve a range of parameters from health and education to upping its gross state domestic product (GSDP) and per capita income, and almost everything in between.
As we are already increasing our dependence on a slew of apps and digital technologies to meet our daily needs and services, that very dependence could likely help meet the intended objectives justifying our rights enshrined in our Constitution — right to life, good health and education — and, in turn, fulfil the values of our long - cherished independence.
Heading towards futuristic technologies, this is increasingly becoming a world of apps, sensors, robotics and artificial intelligence. It is shrinking the wireless human society while expanding its seamless footprint.
Technology is already being used in health monitoring. It is also increasing its support in improving nutrition. Education apps in various languages are already making it easy for even children to access material that was earlier out of reach for them.
Sensors linked to apps can inform genetic make-up of an individual to warn them about predetermined diseases or health conditions to help pre-empt its onset and increase longevity.
There are apps that help in mitigating depressions and anxieties also. What is required is a body of experts to monitor and regulate developments of such apps and technologies and channelise them towards areas of needs on a larger scale to ensure people’s needs in even the remotest corners of the state are met.
Karnataka is well-poised because it is already home to the fourth largest technology cluster in the world with 34 operational special economic zones (SEZs) as of October 2020, according to a report by India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF).
With its exports in electronics and computer software reaching US $81.4 billion in FY20 and US $38.8 billion in FY21, respectively (until November 2020), it is accounting for 85 per cent share in the overall exports. The state is well in position to push for smart apps and technologies to improve conditions here to set an example for others to follow.
To resume from here on startup, nurseries need to be further encouraged to increase the number of startups and push technological frontiers for applications in human domains to improve health, wealth and happiness (the three are not always linked).
For world renowned historian and professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Yuval Noah Harari, in his book Homo Deus: A Brief History Of Tomorrow, the increasingly digitised world may be a cause for concern. Karnataka could flip the coin with an eye on achieving the principles of a welfare state.
KARNATAKA: A STATE OF POSITIVE GROWTH
Significant strides were made on the health and economy fronts
From 1947 to 2021, life expectancy at birth increased from 37 to 70 years for males, and from 38 to 72 years for females
Infant mortality rate declined from as high as 150/1,000 live births in 1947, to around 22/1,000 live births in 2021
At current prices, the state’s GSDP stands at Rs 18.03 lakh crore in 2020-21, increasing at a CAGR
of 8.47% between 2015-16 and 2021-22. Its Gross Per-Capita Income at current prices stands
at Rs 2,49,947 as of 2020-21
Literacy rate, which was under 12% around 1947, rose to 75.36% as per the 2011 census