Although advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI)
will create new jobs and fears around job losses are misplaced, India
Inc needs to do more to equip people with the skills required to better understand
and use technology, the Minister
of Electronics and Information Technology, Mr
Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Mr Ravi Prasad said that technology by its
nature requires skilling and that there is a big potential for digital skilling
which, in and of itself will generate a lot of jobs. The IT Ministry is collaborating
with other departments like the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) on several of different areas of these technologies, and is also involved
with National
Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) on skill
development projects.
Mr Ravi Prasad noted that he has already established
a number of committees to study and understand the digital situation.
“Artificial
Intelligence (AI) should be used for governance…for improvement. We are
working quite closely with other departments like Niti Aayog," he added.
Although
much has been done regarding job creation for the IT sector, he said that while
NASSCOM is doing that, corporate India needs to more. The minister said that
though it is important for citizens to enhance their technical skills and keep
up with the digital advancements in the technological world, there should be no
concerns about jobs being replaced.
"If a person is not up to date in new
technology, then he may have a problem. You have to be tuned to the new
technology," he said.
He
noted that some 3,980,000 people are working directly in IT sector, while
indirectly the sector employed about 13,000,000
people.
Additionally, 1,000,000 people work with Common
Service Centre (CSCSC) that function
as access point for delivery of digital services such as healthcare, online
government services, education etc., while 450,000 people are involved in mobile
production for rural areas in the country, he added.
"All these numbers are excluding the start-up
and entrepreneurship movement. When a new technology comes, new skilling comes
in, it is going to bring more and more jobs, be very clear about this," Mr
Ravi Prasad said.
Industries have become more automated, making
existing jobs redundant and there have been reports of layoffs across several
IT companies and growing concern that technology will soon replace jobs.
NASSCOM
had denied the reports saying the IT industry continues to hire
people on net basis, but it is important that people reskill themselves to stay
relevant.
NASSCOM noted that tech start-ups,
e-commerce, Digital India and digital payments are creating new
opportunities for growth.
According to a press release
by the Ministry of Information Technology and Electronics, by 2025, around
three million new jobs are expected to be generated in the sector.