Syllabus: GS3/Infrastructure
Context
- In the recently concluded India–United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement (FTA), formally known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), while much attention has been paid to traditional sectors like agriculture and labour-intensive manufacturing, one crucial domain — India’s digital sector — has remained curiously unexamined.
What Is Digital Sovereignty?
- It refers to a nation’s ability to control its digital infrastructure, data, and technology ecosystem in alignment with its laws, values, and strategic interests. It encompasses:
- Data localization and ownership;
- Regulation of foreign tech platforms;
- Cybersecurity and digital infrastructure independence;
- Protection of digital rights and privacy;
Why Does Digital Sovereignty Matters To India?
- Security: Foreign control over digital infrastructure poses risks of surveillance, sabotage, and data breaches.
- Economy: Without sovereignty, India becomes a digital colony — generating value for others while losing control over its own assets.
- Democracy: Algorithms and platforms that shape public discourse must be accountable to Indian laws and values.
- In essence, India’s digital sovereignty is about ensuring that India’s digital future is shaped by Indian priorities — not dictated by global tech giants or foreign governments.
What has been missed in the recent India-UK FTA?
- Reversal on Source Code Disclosure Rights: India has conceded the right to ex ante source code access — the ability to demand access to software code before products are marketed, even for critical digital infrastructure.
- It reverses India’s long-standing stance at global platforms like the World Trade Organization (WTO).
- Source code scrutiny is critical in sectors like AI, telecom, and healthcare.
- Open Government Data: India has agreed to provide equal and non-discriminatory access to Open Government Data to UK firms.
- However, in the modern AI age, data is a critical national asset — not just a transparency tool.
- Making government-held data globally accessible compromises India’s ability to develop domestic AI and guard against data weaponization.
- Free Flow of Data and Data Localisation: The FTA includes a provision requiring India to ‘enter consultations’ with the UK if it offers data-related concessions to any other country.
- This ‘most-favoured digital treatment’ clause weakens India’s leverage in future negotiations and could gradually erode its capacity to enforce data sovereignty.
Other Concerns
- Data Colonialism: Indian user data is routinely stored and processed abroad, and global platforms monetize Indian data without adequate accountability.
- Platform Dominance: A handful of foreign companies often operate with opaque algorithms and limited regulatory oversight.
- Content moderation and misinformation policies are shaped by foreign norms, not Indian realities.
- Weak Indigenous Alternatives: India lacks robust homegrown alternatives to global tech platforms.
- The absence of a national digital stack for social media, search, and cloud services limits strategic autonomy.
- Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities: India remains dependent on foreign cybersecurity tools and protocols.
- Critical infrastructure is exposed to external threats due to lack of indigenous solutions.
Consequences & Impacts
- Digital trade agreements establish permanent rules — unlike commodity tariffs, they are nearly irreversible.
- India risks becoming a rule-taker in the emerging global digital architecture, shaped by Western Big Tech interests.
- India’s digital policy is reactive, exposing it to systemic vulnerabilities, without a proactive roadmap.
Key Efforts & Initiatives Strengthening India’s Digital Sovereignty
- Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI): India has pioneered DPI as a foundational layer for secure, inclusive, and scalable digital services like Aadhaar, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), DigiLocker, and DIKSHA.
- These platforms exemplify India’s ability to build sovereign, citizen-centric digital ecosystems.
- Cloud Infrastructure & Data Sovereignty: Key initiatives include MeghRaj (GI Cloud), National Data Centres (NDCs), and Empanelment of Cloud Service Providers (CSPs).
- AI & Deep-Tech Leadership: Initiatives like DeepTech Fund of Funds, 10,000 Fellowships for advanced tech research in IITs and IISc, and National Centres of Excellence for Skilling focusing on AI, cloud, and automation skills.
- Cybersecurity & Strategic Infrastructure: Subsea Cable Expansion and TRUST Framework protect India’s digital backbone from external threats and ensure strategic autonomy.
- Digital Governance & Capacity Building: iGOT Karmayogi Platform, e-Office Initiative, and Government e-Marketplace (GeM) modernize governance and empower public servants to operate in a digital-first environment.
Way Forward
- Formulate a comprehensive Digital Sovereignty Policy that defines national digital priorities.
- Ensure trade negotiators are advised by digital policy experts with direct access to political leadership.
- Create institutional mechanisms to safeguard India’s interests in evolving global digital rule-making.
- Enact Robust Data Protection Laws: Finalize and enforce a strong data protection framework.
- Mandate data localization for sensitive sectors.
- Build Indigenous Infrastructure: Invest in Indian alternatives for cloud, search, and social platforms.
- Support startups through public procurement, funding, and incubation.
- Regulate Big Tech: Establish clear rules for platform accountability, transparency, and competition.
- Ensure that algorithms and content moderation align with Indian legal standards.
- Strengthen Cyber Capabilities: Develop indigenous cybersecurity tools and protocols.
- Create a national cyber strategy with clear roles for government, industry, and civil society.
- Foster Digital Literacy and Rights: Empower citizens with knowledge of digital rights and privacy.
- Promote ethical tech development rooted in Indian values.
Conclusion
- As the world’s largest democracy and a rising tech power, India has both the responsibility and the opportunity to lead with a model of digital sovereignty that is inclusive, secure, and self-reliant.
- India’s digital concessions in the CETA agreement with the UK reflect a critical policy oversight.
- As digital infrastructures shape future power dynamics, the cost of these concessions may far exceed any short-term trade gains.
- India needs to swiftly pivot from reactive diplomacy to strategic digital statecraft — or risk becoming a digital colony in a world governed by external tech rules.
| Daily Mains Practice Question [Q] Critically examine the concept of digital sovereignty in the Indian context. In what ways has India missed key opportunities to assert its digital sovereignty, and what steps can be taken to reclaim control over its digital infrastructure, data, and platforms? |
