GS-2: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests.
GS-3: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life
Data and A New Global Order
Digital Data Revolution – Strategic Implications
Military and civilian systems are symbiotic due nature and pervasiveness of digital data
Cybersecurity is national security, and this requires both a new military doctrine and a diplomatic framework.
Massive amounts of data generated by people & economic activities give a sustained productivity advantage to Asia.
Data streams are now at the centre of global trade and countries’ economic and national power.
India, thus, has the capacity to negotiate new rules as an equal with the U.S. and China.
China and Digital Sector
Innovation based on data streams has contributed to China’s rise as the second-largest economy and the “near-peer” of the U.S.
China’s digital technology-led capitalism is moving fast to utilise the economic potential of data, pushing the recently launched e-yuan and shaking the dollar-based settlement for global trade.
China has a $53-trillion mobile payments market and it is the global leader in the online transactions arena, controlling over 50% of the global market value.
China formed a joint venture with SWIFT for cross-border payments and suggested foundational principles for interoperability between central bank digital currencies at the Bank for International Settlements.
Dynamics
With Asia at the centre of the world, major powers see value in relationships with India.
India fits into the U.S. frame to provide leverage. China wants India, also a digital power, to see it as a partner, not a rival.
And China remains the largest trading partner of both the U.S. and India despite sanctions and border skirmishes.
India alone straddles both U.S. and China-led strategic groupings, providing an equity-based perspective to competing visions.
India must be prepared to play a key role in moulding rules for the hyper-connected world, facing off both the U.S. and China to realise its potential of becoming the second-largest economy.
