Rebooting India with Viral B. Shah

The 9th of February saw the young software prodigy Viral B. Shah address Rotarians on how we should all strive to move towards a ‘Cashless India’, which would result in saving enormous time, effort and money for the government, and more importantly, bring in the much needed convenience for the Indian layman to go about his daily life in a more effective manner – professionally and personally. Viral, a software expert who has created various systems for governments and businesses worldwide, coauthored a book with the illustrious Nandan Nikekani, titled ‘Rebooting India – Realizing a Billion Aspirations’.

The book is about a timely call of how to reshape government through technology. Viral took us through the book during his informative and thought-provoking address, bringing to light how technology can play an increasingly positive, revolutionary role in the way our countries are run – from Page 2 : In Camera Committee Holds Epic Event! Page 3 : Fund Raiser with Javed Ali at NCPA Pages 4&5 : Viral Shah Reboots India at RCB! Page 6: BY Students Go Crackers At Parle Biscuit Factory! Page 7: “Thank You Rotarians”, says Anila Mehta social security and fair elections to communication, infrastructure and the rule of law. It advocates that technology can reshape our lives, in both the developing and developed world, and shows how this can be achieved.

In India, for example, where many underprivileged citizens are invisible to the state, a unique national identity system is being implemented for the first time, which will help strengthen social security. And throughout the world, technology is essential in the transition to clean energy,” says Viral. Viral Shah holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and has worked at the intersection of policy and technology at the Unique Identification Authority of India, where he led the design of the government’s payments and subsidy platforms using ‘Aadhaar’. He is also the co-inventor of ‘Julia’, a programming language for big data analytics and a co-founder of Julia Computing, Inc.

He also co-founded FourthLion Technologies that focuses on building consumer facing products in government, politics and retail businesses. Though India is expected to become the world’s youngest country by 2020 with 64 per cent of its population, roughly 800 million people, of working age, we still wouldn’t be a global powerhouse, unless we resolve the contradictions and bridge the gaps that distort our society. The challenge is to enable every Indian citizen to realize their aspirations.

“The only way to do this is by using technology to radically reimagine government itself,” says Viral and goes on to explain how in his book, which determines numerous avenues as to how a citizen-friendly, high-tech public institution can deliver low-cost solutions to Indian challenges. ‘Rebooting India’ identifies the fissures in Indian governance and looks at remedying these problems with technology and learning gathered from the days of researching and shaping the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) that has given a new identity to every Indian. Technology makes things more transparent when it comes to government services. It will also be a critical part of the effectiveness of GST, which has been put forward as the next big thing for the country. Once accepted, its implementation will depend on how technology is able to steer the loose ends so as to bring about an optimal solution. Viral spoke of events like elections, which have now been technology-enabled, both in terms of voting and counting, have successfully managed to cut down on time and costs, besides bringing in transparency. To convenience voters, he feels that elections should incorporate UID as well, so that people can vote for candidates of their constituency from anywhere in the country. In fact, this might be just a couple of years away— the next elections could probably accommodate this requirement, which is growing significantly, given the migratory nature of labour in rural areas. Social media—using which candidates have been able to get closer to the electorate—being used for elections is another example of the success story of technology.

“Technology can also enhance efficiency seamlessly and ensure that things move faster. The electronic toll collection option at toll roads being another example of how technology has made life easier, extending the benefits to the legal and medical fields as well, which open up a plethora of opportunities for not just providers of these services, but also tech companies. Education is another area that is being transformed through technology,” he added’ Emphasising on the need for a cashless India, Viral explained how it would cut down on one of the biggest evils plaguing society and the growth of the nation – corruption.

“Technology replacing the middleman would drastically reduce the ongoing rampant corruption which is the number one illness which restricts the application and implementation of such progressive systems by the government. Having technology at the helm of affairs will drastically increase transparency in all the processes and cut down corruption in a major manner.” “Look at the Aadhaar example – the government will be able to send targeted subsidies for fertiliser, fuel and food directly to the intended recipients, bypassing corrupt middlemen. It should be possible for villagers anywhere, meanwhile, to receive such subsidies or pension payments in their bank accounts (instead of spending hours travelling to a bank branch), and withdraw money near their homes using ‘microATMs’. And the scope could extend to including road pricing, smart grids and even a government Expenditure Information Network (EIN) so that citizens can see exactly where their taxes are spent,” he explained. So what can the layman do to catalyse the process for the government to accept and implement technology in its practices?

“It is mainly the government which needs to take a strong selfinitiative towards this approach and businesses need to drive it. What the layman can do is increase his levels of awareness about how technological reform will convenience his life and insist on using cards and avoid cash transactions as far as possible. If citizens demand electronic payment, then businesses and the government will have to cater to imbibing technology!”