 The day is E4M DNPA digital media with that ladies and gentlemen We are all set for our second panel for the day on digital media and its social impact Joining us for the session once of course the stage is set will be our session chair Thank you Just doing my job right here and I hand over the session of course to the session chair to kindly take the discussion Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen good afternoon. My name is Pranayupadhyay and The the afternoon sessions in any such event are the most challenging one to hold the attention because they are prior to lunch and But I can assure you that if you sit tight for next 40 45 minutes You are going to have a very Interesting overview and very good takeaways because this is the most diverse panel one could have Because we have on one side Mr. Vijay Chedha who is who has almost lived three lives three professional lives an ex-army officer to Ambient air quality activists and on the other side we have Shreya Kapoor the youngest content creator so such a diverse experience we have and Most of them, you know very well. They are the known Influencers speakers, so I don't have to waste my time in in their formal introduction and Once he is vacant for Arjuna. We are waiting for Arjuna to join us, but let me start the discussion With this thing and I'll be throwing Questions of some the basic Housekeeping thing would be that our session would be divided into three segments one question to each of my panelists And then we'll keep it free for some of their comment and the informed audience here can also ask questions so in last Eight to ten years. We all have seen tremendous Change in terms of the technology and the digital landscape and today we are the one of the fastest Digitized economy the fastest digitized world and the most populous country probably we might be after the census so Mr. Arvind Gupta, I would want to start this discussion with you that with 84 crore or 840 million connected citizens We talk about building the digital highways in India and making it more like you know connected But is this digitally digitized India more inclusive and democratic or are we becoming more chaotic and divided So, thank you, Pranay. Good afternoon Two things. I think let me just give you a Little bit of a overview of what he was asked and in a few Comments number one India is of course the biggest free internet market in the world 850 million or 85 crore internet users globally in India with the with three clear Characteristics number one The lowest data anywhere in the world the data cost in India is the lowest anywhere in the world Also the highest per per Capital data consumption bandwidth consumption is the highest in India eight years ago this we used to be 155th So from 155th in the list We are now top in the list of lowest data highest data consumption lowest cost highest consumption to The clear trend in India and that's why it's inclusive and it won't be possible because 86% of the Indians don't speak Don't understand what I'm speaking The English language Right, so if 86% of Indians are on the digital highway They won't be without the three V's working the three V's are vernacular local languages voice and video without that this this revolution in And the third thing is this consumer is now spread all across all across the income pyramid So from the lowest strata of society's the below poverty line to the aspirational class to the middle class to the top class I mean the aspirational onwards everybody has a as a smartphone Even the lowest strata of the below poverty line. There is at least one or two users in a family who have smartphone connectivity very inclusive and I'll give you one two examples which will tell you that How many in this room how many in this room have not got their vaccines? The answer should be zero right, hopefully And and the reason and one of the things that we proud pride ourselves is that we can get our vaccine certificate on a WhatsApp connection Anybody knows that you can get your vaccine certificate on a WhatsApp Anybody if you not please figure it out the number is 9 9 0 1 3 0 5 1 5 1 5 you send a WhatsApp to that number you will get Message which says that get a schedule an appointment Download your certificate whatever whatever you want to do now why I say that here There are two things in that Pranay which are important one number one is India has built the biggest digital inclusion Platforms in the world today what are called digital public goods whether it's UPI Coven this is an example of coven Coven is our vaccination platform, but the front end is what's up now the one of the secrets to reach a billion 2.2 billion doses was the ease of using the small WhatsApp chatbot To get your scheduling done and get your vaccination certificates in your own language So the principles I just told you were applied here now it made it more inclusive Everybody in India who could not download an app did not know how to do that does know one thing how to send a message on what's up and Because they could send a what message on WhatsApp they could get their vaccine schedule and all now can get their vaccine certificate Given to so I think that's pretty include And and the last point I want to make and then I will rest is that India does 8 billion by the way 8 billion payments a month Now 8 billion is an unfathomable number if you look at it 800 crores Transactions a month on UPI if you analyze it if you analyze it we do about a hundred billion transactions a year 400 million Indians transact using digital payments every month Has to be included it is all across the pyramid in fact the poorest of the poor Use it more than you and me because we are using it for e-commerce and e-tailing Whereas they are using for remittances which saves them money So digital technology in India is absolutely no doubt about the benefits of the digital technologies or the Indians reaping the benefit of it But the challenge remains with the digital media or the media and its digital arm and having its impact on the society And here I want I guess I'm I's here who's with her Burani jeans and So Simon if you have any view on the thing The on one side we are all reaping the benefits of the digital technology, but as a society Are we becoming more inclusive or they have been debate about the algorithm driven eco chambers? So where do we stand because the radio was the traditionally old social media and we have you know Live that age of old radio listener clubs. So from that age to this age, where do you see the landscape moving towards? Thank you so much for having me here and good afternoon everyone I belong to the medium, which I officially called the first social media of the world radio and From radio to you know all the different social media platforms today one thing that I would absolutely agree with mr. Wind is that 100% it is a much more inclusive world. I think this entire digital revolution has given Every single person in our society a voice a platform to put his or her voice forward and Connect in his or her own chosen community. So I think That's that's definitely there 100% as everything has its perils. I think as a society while we have this platform, which is giving Hugely inclusive, you know opportunity to all I mean look at our tiktok stars and look at the strata. They belong to They could become stars in front of the world without you know without the the traditional struggle that they would have had to actually go through but I think It is a challenge and we'll have to see that The input that we have as far as information, knowledge, awareness is concerned. That's less and the output is more The base of connecting the consciousness with which the responsibility with which we should be connecting with each other The knowledge and the education That is less The sense of responsibility that comes with it. That is less And the output the will to Connect the will to display the will to go viral the will to go popular At the cost of anything sensationalism fake news Is going up. So the challenge is absolutely clear How do we build a digital world Where each one of us Also inculcate that sense of responsibility And go in the right direction of a responsible society Thank you very much. You actually rightly pointed out that every technology comes with its own set of regulation Also the set of responsibilities and here I want a nankupal rajan you are leading a very Dynamic newsroom of indian express and its digital arm and like we all follow indian express on on the digital platform On various things of yours are especially the explainers. I'm really fond of that but People lot of people talk a lot lot about this social media and social media often drives and dominates When we people talk about the digital media But something great is being done by the traditional media the mainstream media In content curation to fact checking putting across and reflecting the real picture of the society But what are your challenges in in a newsroom? Especially as a responsible media and you know reflecting the impact on the society when The things are often driven by algorithm or the clickbait journalism And when the virtuality is becoming the reality Yeah so I would like to start by giving a little bit of context and I think because I've covered technology Especially these platforms for many years now and I was a big votry of a lot of these platforms for many years I'm still am in a way, but I would also I've also seen how they've evolved and how they have impacted the society. So if you look at it You know this big surge we had in people coming online You know because of the very cheap data and the very affordable smartphones that india has And it's been happening for about four five years now And we had millions of in fact hundreds of millions of people who came online For the first time in the past five years and they came in without a lot of context of the internet, you know And and we had maybe you know Actually run out of people who had the context of the of the internet people who look at their mail and see inbox And understand the word inbox comes from something which was very physical once upon a time Right, a lot of people who did not have context of computers for instance because they just use smartphones Now what also happened is that a lot of these platforms, uh, you know, which were maybe there for communication or Messaging and also ended up being a hard core consumption platforms for a lot of people Because you know, maybe they were not even literate enough to you know type or have a conversation But they were consuming content and I remember for whatsapp for instance A lot of people joined groups where they were just sitting and consuming content You look into any whatsapp group You will see that not more than maybe 15 20 percent actually have conversations on those groups Which are like full to the limit. No others don't they just consume But it also meant that a lot of people were consuming news Which did not uh, you know Of course digital media and internet and social media democratized content it made everybody a journalist But then you know you also took away the editors the people who were filtering the content so that like you know A lot of content even if it is true, maybe it's not put out because of You know people taking a call that it could have a negative social impact You know those kind of calls were not being taken and of course they're Also brought in a lot of eyeball content, which doesn't have to be true Right people are creating content just because you are chasing likes and that's the only thing or you're chasing revenue Because there is an ad funded model you can cater to with any kind of content So, you know, so all of that, you know, I think it's been a few years of that We are maybe Coming down that peak of that kind of content because I think our our audiences are finally maturing They are also realizing that some things are maybe are not as true as they are being touted out to be and not Everybody can be trusted and I think that is also the opportunity for You know old school media where people actually come to verify things But the problem is that there is a lot of content which anybody can put out and anybody can accept Or assimilate without that filter going Yeah, absolutely really, thank you for this great insight and like I completely agree with you on that on that count that Like, you know, we really have to think about that where this thing is leading towards But let me move on to the new To the other side of the topic and I want Mr. Vijay Chathar to have his comment on You have seen the transition of of like you have witnessed almost major part of India's journey in last 75 years and While coming having the challenge of communication on from while serving at the frontiers of India To leading some kind of a campaign for the ambient air quality You have seen this entire journey But at a time when India is rapidly urbanizing with over 20 percent, we have a lot of challenges coming up So how do you see is digital media? Or the digital digitized media dissemination or information dissemination really coming as a help Or how do you see this transition as are we becoming more chaotic? Sorry for I'm being repetitive on this count But I really want to have a comprehension of your views on that. So so pranay. I think thank you for You know giving me this opportunity. I think I need to put things in perspective. I'm I'm neither media Nor am I a digital expert All I have with me is 51 years of work experience. I joined the national defense academy in 1968 As a professional soldier as a colonel in 92 and I retired I came into the corporate world and held leadership positions in in large multinationals and So and I saw I've seen the world changing right and I moved to the social sector In 2008 right when I joined bharti et al as ceo of bharti foundation So, I mean there are many here who are born in the 90s. So so in 92 When when I came into business, right? One of the businesses that I ran was DHL. It's a courier express company Growing phenomenally, right and we were opening offices almost every week Right and I was responsible for North India One of the reasons why we couldn't open offices was because we couldn't get telephone connections You couldn't get a telephone connection in those days, right? So it hampered business. It hampered everything. So that was the world So from there we came to a place where We started getting telephones, right? Then suddenly mobile telephony came in and then You know at almost the same time in the mid 90s you got on to emails, right? But even then when we started emails, right? I worked for a multinational. We were a jv, right? So people used to send emails and I said, yeah, I'll check it tomorrow Right. So that was the world. So today you expect a response immediately, right? So you came to that then we had something called y2k when the century was changing, right? 2008 when I joined Bharti, I used to attend all the Airtel leadership conclave So that's when I got a little exposure to digital and mobile mobile The mobile world, you know, even that has changed phenomenally, right? I mean When I think back, I just can't imagine that this is how the world has has transitioned, right in my 51 years of work life I'm fortunate that I'm working 92 when I came into the corporate world. Everyone said your colonel. I serve all this go And now when I run a foundation, I have youngsters working for me Kids who are a little older than my grandson say hi, Vijay. Can I can I come and see you as sure? So that's how the world has changed just the perspective the subject is actually the impact of digital media On on the social sector, right? So so I spent almost 15 years in the social sector Largely in education and Bharti foundation where we built 250 schools and villages And we ran them and worked with over a thousand government schools last three and a half years I've been running a foundation which works on air pollution I must share that Problem that I'll come to that in the end, but I think The digital media has been a lifesaver Right in terms of its social impact. We don't know what we would have done We all know what happened during covid All these schools I have also happened to be chairman of modern school barakambar road, right? So I've seen that transition even the most Premier schools as to how people had to change over to use of digital media to even to impart basic education I think it's a blessing in a moon, right? A lot of people talk about the various other issues around impact of digital media But without that, I think survival would have been difficult Right like it has been said, you know, I was also amazed at at our nation and our country The strength that we have as a nation the power that we have as a nation, right Where now almost every family has a phone how those phones were shared Even in my modern school, you have 25 percent EWS children Bharti foundation everyone is in villages, right as to how people adapted To using digital media in terms of education For the social sector Iran foundations, we always need money. We raise money The ability to raise money by using digital media The ability to convey the work that you're doing to the world that this is what it is right to take To take things to remote areas, right connect remotest of areas To a donor sitting in the us to say look, this is what is happening to the child Sitting in a small village in jharkhand because of the money that you sent to adopt the school I mean, look at the power of digital media Even this foundation that that I work in the air pollution action group We started this in June of 2019, right But in April 2019 along with the elections, a colleague of mine who was also the marketing director of air tail He ran a campaign to say for the elections in Delhi, you know, let's do Little clips to say pollution ka kaplan hai Right, so we ran that digital media campaign Which was funded by Ashish Dhawan my sponsor, you know cost about 40 50 lakhs at that time I mean we got about 30 40 lakh views A toll-free number which was set up. Then we said yes. I mean people are concerned about pollution So let's do something about it Today we are working in five states Without digital media. I don't know how we would carry on with our work We have a lot of funders and sponsors with whom we use digital media to You know To get money from them to tell them what we are doing to make our work more effective, right? So I think it's it's it's a great moon Especially in education. I mean the changes which have happened the transformation It was not a one-time thing just to take care of kovat. Yeah, I think it has now become a Part of education, right? So now you have people say, oh, that's online. We are offline So I'll just tell them no no, you know, what is offline is actually online. That's real education in the classroom Right, but what we call online that is an add-on, right? Yeah, definitely and kovat has actually transformed it. Absolutely online Education and consumption. So we're still in the learning curve I think there's much more to be done, but I think I'll stop my commensure. Sorry for telling you my life history But yeah, obviously and as being said like, you know, learning is a journey We learn all through our lives but I'll Take the cue from what you said like, you know the connectivity between a u.s. Donor and Indian development initiative has actually improved and here comes Arjuna Vyas who also comes with a unique philanthropic experience and She works with the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. So we all know that which foundation this is and who has promoted it so There also comes a responsibility and challenge Arjuna about the tech giants on one side Organizations we all talk about these tech giants their roles their algorithms and on the other side the developmental initiative So in the kovat times on one side, definitely it is there That we all have got the benefit which Arvind Gupta has mentioned or Saima or like Vijachar Dha has mentioned about it But on the other side, how do we have capability to contain this? You know the business model or the algorithm driven technologies or the tech giants They have becoming a parallel economies and are now our societies our lives are being controlled by these algorithms So where comes the balance? Thank you so much for the opportunity I don't know how much do people know about bill and Melinda Gates foundation, but the foundation has been working in India for 20 years The focus really is so first of all the fundamental belief of the foundation is That all lives should have equal value and everybody should have a chance of leading a healthy and productive life The foundation has been working in India for about 20 years now and Bill and Melinda actually come from Fundamental belief that if they have the wealth They wanted that wealth to be given away to improve lives of people So we work in the area of health urban sanitation agriculture productivity gender as well as You know other other areas that can help solve for problems The question that you posed in terms of technology and tech giants and their responsibility I think first of all, I would like to say is technology is today all pervasive That's why we are in this forum Today talking about its benefits, but also responsibility in terms of how You know with rapid explosion of technology The regulation also has to catch up with it, right because what's happened is the fact that government society people private sector Perhaps are are not keeping In pace with When it comes to to regulation and governance In in pace with how the technology is actually moving forward At the foundation, we look at technology for solving people's issues, right because it's not necessarily saying Okay, we will look at only technology based solutions only because bill comes from that background It's not one size that fits all kind of An approach, but definitely we think that technology can bridge certain gaps The areas that I spoke about which is either in the case of agriculture We know that you know, india is an agri agri- agri- agrarian society The contribution to gdp is about 18 40 percent of labor force actually comes from agriculture, but about 70 percent of The the workforce is actually small land-holding farmers And in India, at least about 50 to 90% inefficiency creeps in because they're using either primitive tools and therefore the production can actually yield can be made better if technology and its solutions were made available and those tools were made available to the farmers. I think for the past five years, there's been huge infusion of funding in agritech. And we're excited with that because I think if you look at the broad... You're funding the agritech in terms of the information dissemination reaching out to the farmers? No. Or how are you... So some of the solutions that we are funding is improving their productivity and not necessarily but also information dissemination because they do not have the right kind of information. They do not have market access. And if the tools can be predictive so that they're able to look at effects of climate change to be able to build for that resilience and to be able to look at their produce and yield accordingly, then definitely it helps the farmer. And I think likewise, we've spoken about benefits in health. We've spoken about benefits and financial inclusion. I think the last area that I would want to talk about is if more and more digital access can be provided to women, that can really change. It can have fantastic changes for a society's concern. We are about 50% of the population but there are still limitations in terms of digital access to women. One is because of literacy. The second thing is because they're not as educated because they're prevented from going to school, at the same time digital literacy then digital literacy becomes an issue. There are social norms that prevail as well. Woman is taken as primary. She's going to take care of the household as well as there are not enough women in STEM in science and engineering and medical. So if the one that the government is doing a lot, our Honorable Prime Minister has spoken about women-led development and there is definite belief as well as action in terms of how can we make change happen for women. So I think that's another area. Definitely. It remains a challenge for our economy also to how to increase the participation of women and like in last one decade we have seen the data which is suggesting like you know the participation of women has gone down which is really a challenge for us. But yeah I want Shreya you to come in and you are a unique example of a COVID era entrepreneurship model also the content creator economy which has come up as a parallel economy and especially it's largely a very encouraging sign that the women are like especially the those who are staying at home or the girls are exploring that possibility and it is a high revenue generating right now. But what has been your experience and since everybody is talking about some kind of a regulation what is your perspective because you are the youngest one on the on the dice. First and foremost thank you so much for having me here and before I deep dive into the pointers that you've mentioned I would want to clarify some of the points that I think came across in the panel. So there's this idea that you know the sensationalization of information is happening and this eyeball journalism while all of that is true I think just holding content creators accountable is not okay because I think the fact that these things are going viral shows the fact that that's something that the society is consuming more of. So I think it's echoing the society's sentiment more than just the content creators will. First and foremost not to say that content creators are not responsible but yeah I have to speak up for my plan. That being said I think there is not all bad there have been good things that have come out of digitization and of especially around the COVID era. The fact that 10.7 million team at accounts were open especially in the last two years which was sort of record breaking and I'm sure a lot of people in the room here started their investing journey probably in the past two years if not sooner. So the idea is that it's not all bad. I think a very big reason why that also happened was because of social media. I think because there was again as Saima said democratization of information and everybody was able to speak up about things they were passionate about no matter where they came from no matter what their beliefs were no matter the language right. I saw your mention that even if you speak in a vernacular language it's completely fine because you will find your tribe. I think that's something that social media brought to the platforms that no matter what no matter the language you speak no matter how you look you will find people who believe and look similar to you and have similar beliefs as you do. Now coming back to your question you mentioned that regulations are very essential and I don't think that we should shy away from this. I think because this space is still sort of figuring out what it is it's very new in comparison to say radio or television for instance. I think we are still struggling to figure out okay how do we regulate certain things. To give you an example when you see an ad on television you know that's an ad but when you see an ad on social media specifically say Instagram, TikTok, YouTube. A lot of times you won't even get to know that's an ad right whether it's an ad or whether it's a personal opinion of the creator you never really get to know about that. So I think stricter regulations around that is something that's need of the eye and it's already in progress as we speak. A lot of brands now are very proactive specifically in the finance niche that no you have to make it very clear that whatever you say is from a promotional perspective and does not show the opinions of the brand or the creator themselves and doing your own research is the need of the eye. So that being said I think social media while we all know has a very negative connotation to it especially in the millenials and the Gen Z segment but what I do want to say that it's not all bad as I said there's always two sides to the story and whatever's happening on social media is actually a very big indication of what the society as an average and as a whole wants. So yeah. Definitely yeah I think Arvind Gupta can add to this thing and but like the challenge remains that those who are emerging as a social media influencers how influenced are they what is the parameter to evaluate that and this could be out of ignorance also but how it become a challenge for the governance how it becomes challenge for the regulation and when government trying to regulate it there is generally a resistance from those are being regulated about it. So what's your perspective since you work with the government also and like you are CEO of the of the my gov. It was a citizen initiative but like lot of lot of ideas come to you then people want to participation in any democracy. So what's your take on that. So Pranay thank you two things two very quick two three quick points. Number one my gov is a digital platform of the Prime Minister which is which leads with the public participation so you know where the voice of the of every Indian and of course using analytics can be heard. We get so much responses. You talk about civic participation. The Indian postal bank that you've heard of is a creation of an idea that came from my gov. Even the whole Jan Dhan movement this Jan Dhan accounts India has done 46 crore Jan Dhan accounts more twice more than population of America by the way. That name Jan Dhan came through my gov. The sign of the rupee came through my gov at a 50,000 rupee cost not a 50 lakh rupee cost of hiring a design agency and doing it. So it's all you know public participation. Number one two you talk about influencers. I think this is where India is going to lead the world in two things and this is a very important topic because two things have happened. First of all we don't have tiktok influencers in India because we don't have tiktok in India. You call them that category but I just wanted to clarify. We don't have any Chinese platforms. Hopefully we have insta influencers. I call them insta influencers or social media influencers. Second thing is within this you know I think India will be one of the biggest content factories of the world and as we go towards that we need to balance between what is as you said and what you know what my co-panelists have said on what is really the content that you want to give out of your own personal belief and faith and what is sponsored content. What could be as really influenced either by money or gifts or awards. We don't know what the thing behind it because of the nature especially of the nature of the consumption in India. Everybody's talked about India has reached 850 million 85 crore users. We understand the literacy levels in that whether it's financial literacy, digital literacy, vaccine literacy can all be very very diverse as diverse as you can imagine. So if two social media influencers stand up and start saying the vaccines gave them instead of two three years and because XYZ I mean it could be many many things and you know what all has been sent against the vaccines or whatever else it actually creates a much much big trickle down effect very big trickle down effect. So I think same thing we've had instances of influencers gathering money from senior citizens and putting it in their own personal accounts and just you know disappearing in the virtual space because that itself was a so we have to balance and as we go forward we'll have to come out with better the regulation. So far the regulation is a very self-regulatory environment where advertisements the Advertising Council of India has put some certain restrictions really not enforced but as we go forward I feel this is an area where will the industry will have to work with the algorithms the algorithms means the platforms with the influencers and and the and the and the citizen rights groups to understand to make sure that there is a balance between the three we don't kill innovation we don't kill an industry but we also make sure the consumer is protected and lastly I want to just leave with a thought that you know and this is the motherhood statement everybody in the G20 year where India has a presidency is looking at what India does. Gone are the eras where and I know you have a session with ADIF in the in the afternoon gone is the era where some algorithms sitting in Silicon Valley where I worked for 20 years are going to dictate what happens in India and what how India regulates its digital media how India regulates big tech and I know the honorable MP from Australia is here Paul Fletcher I saw him somewhere and you know this is what India will do now gets a global voice whether it's the content industry or it's a fake news industry or it is big tech or algorithms or the competitive the anti-competitive powers that all these platforms have India is at in the eye of the global world to say hey let's understand what India is saying because not only we are we are doing the right thing from a bottom-up approach but we have the highest user base it's high time that we get our voice also. Shreyi what do you add something? Yeah just one quick point while I completely agree with what's said especially around the fact that India is such a big market also because it's such a diverse market right like every language like every vernacular language is a market in itself which I think isn't true for a lot of major economies that being said I do believe there's an increase of scams and like fake news as I mentioned and especially around the crypto space when it comes to finance right because again that's a very fairly unregulated market so in the past couple of years we've noticed that the NFT scam the bubble came around right the crypto bubble came around stuff like that largely unregulated and there were a lot of influencers that became a part of it and sort of supported it wholeheartedly but that being said I think the other side of the story is that such Ponzi scheme have always existed like from time immemorial we've always had such bubbles come around from like 1890s since the tulip bubble came around right so we've had Ponzi schemes come around since forever but I think because of social media and the impact it has on society now there's a larger discourse around these issues which I think is even more important scams aren't a thing that came around in 2020 they've been here forever but I think there's a discussion around it now if there's an overvalued IPO there's a higher probability that people will discuss about it and there they'll be discourse around it and people will you know voice their opinions because now even they have a platform to sort of voice their opinions and not just bigger corporations and you know bigger stars so I think that's where social media is a challenging part of the digital landscape that like you know the financial implication of it scams are there people are losing money out of it and definitely there comes a responsibility to explain people that where they should be putting and there comes a responsibility for the regulators also like RBI like SEBI and other people also but there is also a security implications and I want Mr. Vijay Chedha to have a quick comment on this issue since you come with a unique experience of having served in the military forces also we have seen during the Galwan crisis and as a journalist we have seen that how a map a satellite imagery coming from US or a technology platform changing the dynamics of it giving like everyday deployment scenario of it it actually brings a challenge for India to having taken the negotiation with with China resolving the issue and where like you know making a impression that the government is hiding something and something has happened how do you see this aspect of it it's an open domain US platform set sharing the satellite imagery and having implications on our ecosystem I think this is a very major issue like you said and it's becoming integral part of the armed forces strategy today right if you've heard the Northern Army command I think a couple of days ago he made a press statement that what is going to drive future wars is going to be technology right it's something that we can't be you know oblivious to it has to be integrated we have to be prepared to face all the challenges which technology brings it gives us a lot of benefits right gives a lot of information how we're going to use it of course the political part of it and how the media handles it that's a different domain altogether right because there are something like when I was in the army we felt that you know we were something special and what was inside the army could not be discussed outside the world like I said is no longer the same right everything is transparent like you see them satellites there they know everything that we don't know right so it took us many years to make the army headquarter in ADGPI to understand that like you know TV has a different need social media has a different need you're rightly pointed out so I think I think the armed forces needs to change yeah they have to adapt right it is in their own interest because it'll also help our national security we've got to meet all these threats we can only handle these threats if you're actually aware of what is happening you're transparent you're willing to listen right and you're willing to be changing continuously you know what changed once in 20 years is now probably changing every hour the world is changing so fast right so so it is integral it has to be taken cognizance of do we have to deal with this challenge sorry do we have to deal with this challenge like every now and then no I think I think it's being dealt with and I think feel secure you got the best one of the best armies in the world something to it not specifically to the defense issue but related is mistis information right so that's what we're discussing at this point in time that it has an impact in terms of society it hasn't so let's look at the covert scenario one the fact that everybody in India has 90% of us have got double dose now this happened only because there was a conscious there was consciousness ahead of time that mistis information can play a role that was a big part of government strategy in terms of you know they can be they can be vaccine hesitation but they can also be vaccine eagerness but hesitation was was a big issue that was handled proactively and to that extent I think tackling mistis information there's a lot of work that's happening globally by academics in terms of understanding how it can be tackled but at the same time there was willingness so you know we approach the big big tech right the source of this disinformation we know that can come from meta it can come from Google it can come from other sources as well but you know at that point in time those big platforms also realize that they have responsibility and they did come forward I have to say that but media also played an extremely responsible media came forward to debunk media came forward to actually disseminate accurate information so I I think that if different the stakeholders understand their own responsibility but also look at you know one one is responsibility there is huge amount of work that's happening in terms of debunking myths there is academic work that's happening so I I I still think that there is hope it it's not about there is hope but I think Simon wanted to add something and Simon if if you can take forward this argument that definitely tech giants or the digital regulators have their own responsibilities but by the time they step in something has damaged within the society because society bears the impact of it so if you can I think it's pretty simple you know digital world or digital revolution today is like fire we either learn how to cook food with it or the fire can destroy so I think our different departments areas have to work together as a country we need to have huge emphasis on education literacy awareness we need to have the same kind of revolution in education department while we have the digital revolution we know how to optimize on the digital revolution because everything goes viral everything happens rapidly there is no time so we as a country as a nation must know how to optimize on the digital revolution rather you know go towards the destruction and that can also happen you know as quickly as we kind of I'll just add on that that this awareness level of the country as a whole needs to go up that this is not something you can will live in this is the future we are living in this digital you know era and you know I just keep telling kids and all that like if smartphones have made all of us journalists now is the time to become editors too so please don't you know share anything saying as received on work on WhatsApp please don't share unless you're very sure about it and if that level of self-regulation comes into every single person then a lot of the virality for the wrong content will go away on its own thank you very much and this was really very interesting discussion and as Nankopal has finally concluded it that if you really want to become journalist yes you have part of this digital technology in your hands in the form of your smartphone but please try and be good editors also and use your own discretion before putting out something or before consuming something thank you very much for the for the panel and have a round of applause for our panel Thank you