15 September 2022, NIICE Commentary 8263
Aditya Kant Ghising
As governance models across the board have increasingly adapted to digital transformations within the last couple of years, it is becoming commonplace for technology-driven solutions to be regarded as an integral component of foreign-policy formulations at a diplomatic level. Although ongoing efforts at a global scale to curb the digital divide amongst populations is indicative of this domain of diplomacy which so far, has remained as a subsidiary to its other forms, it may soon start to be viewed as a diplomatic tool on its own. The term ‘Techplomacy’ is largely associated with the Government of Denmark and more notably with the works of the Danish diplomat Casper Klynge, regarded as the world’s ‘first tech ambassador’. In layman’s terms, it is the art of using technological prowess and minimizing the policy-digitalization gap to further diplomatic interests. In more ways than one, this term has garnered enough attention to be considered as being significant in academic circles, given the rise in the scope and role of technology-driven policies across the globe in the last five years, facilitated to a large extent by the ever-widening reach of internet service providers. Japan is one of the forerunners in the adaptation of technology with policy, with its newer policies promoting the use of high-technology robots in its workforce to offset the population misbalance, this having accelerated post COVID-19. Closer home, India’s National Digital Communications Policy, Digital India Bhashini, Digital India Genesis and the Digital India Policy are seen to possess enough potential to push forward India’s rise as a knowledge economy by 2047. Various studies point towards the potential of digital technologies to support ‘green growth’ through innovations such as smart and digitally enabled energy grids, transport networks, agricultural practices, as well as cities built on digital enablers for green development which can facilitate a more efficient use of resources through traceability, predictability, and flexibility. This then begs the question: Could these developments bring about a transformation in the growth story of South Asia?
Traditionally, India’s engagement with her neighbours has been based on shared interests and strategic calculations. These ideas were codified under the Gujral Doctrine in the year 1996 as a set of five principles aimed at India’s immediate neighbours with one basic premise: “India’s stature and strength cannot be isolated from the quality of its relations with its neighbours.” The recent Neighbourhood First Policy adds another layer of importance to India’s immediate neighbours. With the major scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic behind us, the permeation of new technologies at a societal level has become more of a norm in policymaking. In this regard, Indian states have seen varied rates of success over the last couple of years with pandemic-induced lockdowns affecting work rate across sectors. Nevertheless, installation of solar powered and LoraWan based LED lights in locations such as New Town (Kolkata) has been carried out with the objectives of improving safety and security in the area, reducing dependence on the use of energy inefficient conventional lights, reducing expenditure of the city authority, reducing carbon offset from the project, controlling the lights remotely to switch on automatically based on the outdoor luminosity level, auto dimming based on traffic movement beneath the lights as well as remote diagnostics. Another recent initiative in this regard has been the installation of an AI/ML-based image processing algorithm that detects mask-less persons and plays an alert/ audio clip at the time they are detected, especially in areas with larger footfalls. The result has been a dramatic decline in the daily rates of COVID-19 cases in the area. Elsewhere, in the town of Namchi (Sikkim), a mobile application “APADA SEWA” developed by Namchi Smart City Limited along with the National Informatics Centre, has significantly eased the overall process of claiming relief due to natural calamity, particularly given the fact that this application possesses the ability to function even without an internet connection (in offline mode) at remote locations. These are two examples, one from a hilly region and another from a plain area, of the use of tech-based solutions to societal problems at the grassroots level in post-pandemic India. As of this writing, there are many such initiatives either functioning wholly or being beta-tested across India, which could bring about much needed reforms in achieving the status of a knowledge economy. Some scholars have gone so far as to call the pandemic an opportunity in disguise which has necessitated and permitted such actions at the global level.
At the regional level, it is widely believed today that digitalization can foster inclusive economies by removing physical, cost-based, and other barriers to economic and service opportunities for both people and businesses. As a case in point, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pakistan’s government and private sector collaborated in using their foundational identification system, digital payments, and the social registry to rollout the ‘Ehsaas Emergency Cash’ program to protect the livelihoods of at least 12 million families. A policy document on South Asia by the World Bank suggests that the region could further optimize its use of digital technologies to turn the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity to address some of the region’s most pressing challenges and promote inclusive and services-led growth. Taking techplomatic considerations a step further, India and Nepal recently announced the launch of the Indian RuPay card in Nepal making it the second SAARC member to do so, the other being Bhutan. As per media reports, these cards would be functional on about 1,400 Point of Sale (POS) machines in Nepal. This, of course, is aside from other agreements reached between the two countries in matters ranging from hydro power and transport to healthcare and border issues. This year also saw India and Sri Lanka sign MOUs on the tech front, including the implementation of Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity (SL-UDI) programme with India’s grant assistance and the establishment of modern computer labs and smart boards with customised curriculum software in two hundred schools in Galle District, on the sidelines of the 18th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting in Colombo. During the India visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in September 2022, out of seven MOUs signed between the leaders, the one between the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India and Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) was signed in an effort to rejuvenate the scientific relations between these national research institutions with common visions and missions. In this context, India’s space-exploration abilities are of profound importance to South Asian nations.
Although it is noteworthy that the digital domain has come to encompass some critical elements of modern human existence including development, digital education, e-healthcare, cyber-crime, e-governance models as well as emerging transnational security threats, considering the fact that all of the South Asian countries are reeling from the effects of the pandemic coupled with the global socio-economic disruptions brought about by the Ukraine crisis, technology-driven initiatives or tech-diplomacy/ techplomacy may not be an absolute priority at the regional level for now. As more urgent fiscal and business related policies to secure basic necessities at a minimum are expected to take the centre-stage globally, at least for the foreseeable future and exacerbated by fears of a looming global recession, the members of SAARC would sensibly prioritize their goals as has been the case largely since 1985. However, this is not to undermine the emerging potential of employing technological prowess and digitalization capabilities for furthering diplomatic agendas in the near future. The post pandemic global society has emerged more reliant on the use of technology and digitalization than it ever was. Therefore, it would only make sense for governments across the spectrum to formulate policies designed to harness the potential of techplomacy, particularly in a region as diverse as South Asia where in the last couple of decades, most of the other efforts at integration have not been as successful as projected.
Aditya Kant Ghising is an Assistant Professor at Dept. of Political Science, City College, Calcutta University, India.
