Chennai: India has heaped praises on the role of technology in helping the country handle the coronavirus pandemic, and said the expedited development of a contact tracing mobile application and artificial intelligence-based testing kits enabled the country’s efforts.
Speaking at a virtual high-level debate on the Impact of Rapid Technological Change on the Sustainable Development Goals and Targets, India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Nagaraj Naidu, said new technologies like drones and tracing apps became more acceptable during the COVID-19 pandemic than they were before.
He spoke about the Aarogya Setu mobile app, launched by the Indian government on 2 April to help people assess their risk of getting infected with coronavirus and alert authorities if they have come in close contact with an infected person.
“New technologies offer incredible promise: from increasing the productivity of systems while lowering emissions and waste; to enhancing food security and efficiency of global supply chains, or breakthrough discoveries in areas like new medicines, or new materials,’ he said and added: ‘We have to remember that once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you are part of the flattened road.”
Speaking on the occasion, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned against the ungoverned use of digital technology. “Digital technology is central to almost every aspect of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, from vaccine research to online learning models, e-commerce and tools that are enabling hundreds of millions of people to work and study from home.”
At the same time, he said, Covid-19 has provided dramatic evidence of the threats posed by the ungoverned use of digital technology, from exclusion and inequality, to surveillance, human rights abuses and cybercrime.
“The pandemic has ushered in some of the most intrusive surveillance technologies we have ever seen, together with a significant increase in cynical ransomware attacks on hospitals and healthcare facilities. Meanwhile, the danger of digital fragmentation is increasing, exacerbated by geopolitical divides, technological competition and polarisation,” he said.