Niti Ayog

Niti Aayog’s new report on India’s preparedness for global trade offers useful cues and insights, but its focus on states and districts misses the picture that matters. It might aid the reform agenda of Indian states, but export success demands a wider view.

Plans are in place for artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate India’s economic expansion and bring ‘developed country’ status within reach. The harder test lies elsewhere: can AI boost productivity and efficiency without widening disparities and ensure that the gains are equitably shared?

With courts burdened with 52 million pending cases, justice delivery needs acceleration. Giving alternative dispute resolution a role could help grant people accessible and affordable justice—as India’s Constitution promises.

We should resist the temptation to create our own AI models from scratch. As with previous tech disruptions, greater scope for value generation lies in deploying artificial intelligence in unique new ways that could create whole new markets.

As artificial intelligence (AI) storms the world, India’s education system clearly needs to adapt. But the stakes in this field are profoundly high. Given the risk of AI tools going out of alignment with our best interests, AI adoption at the school level must satisfy the strictest of safety tests.

In a shift from pure carrot to also stick, Niti Aayog has mooted higher taxes, stricter emission norms, and costlier registration for fossil fuel vehicles to fast-track EV adoption. The push comes in the wake of India lagging global EV growth, and facing supply-chain risks.

State-level Viksit Rajya plans are being drafted under the Niti Aayog’s aegis as part of the Viksit Bharat mission. While this envisioning exercise has its value, statist models of development are best avoided. Let the private sector drive India’s economy.