PM Modi pressured to hand over Indian data to foreign power: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Asserting that data is the petrol which fuels the AI engine, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that with the Indo-US interim trade deal, India will struggle to safely store the data of 1.5 billion Indians, and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pressured to hand over the country's prime resource to a foreign power.
In a post on X, Gandhi said the Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution is here – bringing both threats and opportunities.
"Our IT and services sector, a shining star of our economy, is at risk, and thousands of software engineers and professionals will lose their livelihoods if we do not prepare for the storm that is coming," he claimed, adding that there are opportunities too.
"Data is the petrol which fuels the AI engine. As I said in Parliament, India's greatest asset is our brilliant people - and the enormous data we create," he said.
Noting that in a few days, the government is hosting a grand AI Summit, Gandhi said it should have been an opportunity for India to assert leadership - to demonstrate how a country of 1.4 billion people can use its data to shape the global AI future on our own terms.
"Instead, a helpless PM Modi has surrendered to the US 'chokehold' in the trade deal. Under the pretext of 'clearing barriers to digital trade', every move to use our data for our own benefit will be opposed," he said.
Already, large foreign companies enjoy a near monopoly on our data through Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Youtube, Amazon, Android, etc., and with this deal, India will struggle to safely store the data of 1.5 billion Indians in India, get transparency in their source codes and algorithms and tax the profits they make using our data, the Congress leader claimed.
"It's a shame that our prime minister has been pressured to hand over India's prime resource to a foreign power," he alleged.
Earlier, participating in the debate on the Union Budget in Lok Sabha, Gandhi said that at the centre of this fight is the concept of AI.
"Everybody says that we are moving into the era of AI. I would like to warn the government that AI is going to have many, many consequences. One consequence of AI is going to be that something that we relied on, the Congress party and the UPA built the entire Indian IT industry, companies like Infosys, companies that are at the forefront of information technology are going to struggle, they are going to be challenged," he said.
The idea of becoming a software engineer, which is a very popular idea in India, is going to be challenged, he said.
"Lots of our software engineers are going to be replaced by AI. So, why I am saying this is, we are moving into a turbulent world, a dangerous world," he said.
"Now, when you move into a dangerous world, what is the first thing that you have to understand? What are your strengths, as a person and as a nation. So, I would like to say to the House, what I think are the strengths of our great country and I would say the central strength is our people - 1.4 billion people, brilliant, energetic, dynamic, who can challenge anybody in the world, they are our biggest strength.
"But, it's not only the people, because in the 21st century, a very interesting thing has happened – people create data. So, we have the biggest data pool on the planet – 1.4 billion people means a massive amount of data is being generated in India, and data is wealth," Gandhi said.
He added that everybody talks about AI, but talking about AI is like talking about the internal combustion engine without talking about petrol.
"The petrol for AI is data – meaning, if you have AI and you don't have data, you have nothing. Now, which are the two biggest pools of data on the planet - the Indian pool and the Chinese pool. They (China) also have 1.4 billion people; we have a bigger population than them. We allow more freedom, we allow our people to do more dynamic things, so we have, in fact, more interesting data," he said.
If the Americans want to remain a superpower and if they want to protect their dollar, the key to that is Indian data, he said.
"Why? Because the Chinese have a data pool of 1.4 billion people and you take European data, you can take African data, you can take American data – add it all up – still it does not compete with Chinese data," Gandhi said.
"So, the real fight that is taking place. I am saying – what are our strengths? I am saying – if India goes to the table, what do we put on the table, what do we say? Listen, this is what we put on the table and it's beautiful.
“What we put on the table is our people, their wisdom, what they do, their likes, dislikes, their imagination, their fear... This suddenly has got value in the 21st century, which it didn’t in the 20th century," he said.
“I remember so many people saying that population is a weight, population is a disaster. No! Population is the biggest asset you can have. It's a strength, but it's only a strength, if you recognise that data is important," he said.
The Congress leader also claimed that as part of the deal with the US, India gives up control over its digital trade rules, there is no need for data localisation, there would be free data flow to the United States, a limit on digital tax and there would be no need to disclose any source code.
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Punjab: 16 private schools in Mohali receive bomb threat emails
Chandigarh (PTI): Sixteen private schools in Punjab's Mohali received bomb threat emails on Wednesday, triggering evacuation and prompting detailed anti-sabotage checks by police, an officer said.
No suspicious or explosive material was discovered at any of the locations after thorough inspections, the officer said.
School authorities sent messages to parents, declaring a holiday. Students on their way to school were sent back home, they said.
Manav Mangal School, Shivalik Public School, and Learning Paths School were among the schools which received the bomb threat emails.
The police said they swung into action after school authorities reported receiving the emails between 7.30 am and 8 am.
Security was mounted at the targeted schools, and intensive searches were carried out, they said.
"The police teams led by superintendents of police, deputy superintendents of police and other officials were rushed to the schools along with anti-sabotage teams and bomb disposal squads," Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Harmandeep Singh Hans told reporters.
Around 300 policemen were involved in the search operation, and all targeted schools were evacuated, he said.
The checking of all schools was completed within about two-and-a-half hours with the support of additional force and specialised teams from neighbouring districts of Fatehgarh Sahib, Rupnagar, and Chandigarh headquarters, Hans said.
"No explosive material was found at any of the locations," he added.
The search operations were supervised by SP City Dilpreet Singh, along with SPs Navneet Singh Mahal, Mohit Aggarwal, Sukhnaz Singh, Ramandeep Singh and Talwinder Singh Gill; DSP City-1 Prithvi Singh Chahal, DSP City-2 Harsimran Singh Bal and all station house officers.
Schools covered during the search included Amity School, Doon School, Learning Paths, Gurukul School, Vivek High School, Paragon School, YPS School, Lawrence School, and Gem Public School.
An FIR is being lodged, and the case has been referred to the Cyber Police Station, Phase-7, Mohali, to ascertain the origin of the threatening email and conduct an investigation, Hans said.
The latest scare comes close on the heels of similar threat incidents in Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, and schools in Haryana, all of which turned out to be hoaxes.
