[Answered] Analyze the significance of India’s transition from a ‘dependent user’ to a ‘sovereign shaper’ in the Artificial Intelligence landscape. Examine the strategic imperatives of this ‘railway moment’ and the policy interventions required to ensure technological autonomy and global leadership.

Introduction (32 words)

Artificial Intelligence, like railways in colonial India, is a General-Purpose Technology; with NITI Aayog and IMF projecting massive productivity gains, 2026 marks India’s decisive ‘railway moment’ in the Intelligence Age.

AI as a ‘Railway Moment’

1. Civilisational Significance: Economic historians such as Carlota Perez describe technologies like railways and electricity as General-Purpose Technologies (GPTs) that reshape state power, markets and institutions. AI in the 21st century plays a similar role. According to PwC, AI could add nearly USD 15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, with India’s potential estimated at USD 450–500 billion. Thus, AI is not merely a productivity tool but a determinant of geopolitical hierarchy, economic sovereignty and social capacity.
2. Dependent User vs Sovereign Shaper: The Strategic Divide: A ‘dependent user’ relies on proprietary, opaque (‘black-box’) AI models controlled by foreign Big Tech. This creates data colonialism, linguistic exclusion of India’s 22 scheduled languages, and perpetual economic rents. In contrast, a ‘sovereign shaper’ controls the AI stack—data, compute, models and governance—enabling ‘Digital Constitutionalism’, where technology aligns with domestic law, ethics and democratic accountability, as envisioned in the Puttaswamy judgment (2017).
3. Strategic Imperatives of India’s AI Transition:

• Economic Resilience: As global outsourcing faces AI-driven automation, McKinsey (2023) warns of white-collar disruption. Owning AI intellectual property allows India to capture productivity rents rather than merely exporting labour.
• Social Inclusion: Indigenous ‘Frugal AI’ can address market failures—AI-based crop advisories, rural diagnostics (eSanjeevani), and personalised learning—areas often neglected by profit-driven global platforms.
• National Security: AI-enabled deepfakes, cyber warfare and autonomous systems pose asymmetric threats. Sovereign AI enables domestic guardrails, auditability and alignment with the DPDP Act, 2023.
• Global South Leadership: India can offer a ‘Third Way’ of AI governance—between US techno-libertarianism and China’s state surveillance—enhancing soft power.

Policy Interventions: Building Technological Autonomy

1. IndiaAI Mission: With a ₹10,300 crore outlay, the mission operationalises compute sovereignty (38,000+ GPUs), datasets (AIKosh), and indigenous foundation models—addressing entry barriers identified by the OECD.
2. Compute and Data as Public Goods: Similar to Digital Public Infrastructure (UPI, Aadhaar), AI compute and datasets must be democratised to prevent monopolisation.
3. Human Capital (FutureSkills): WEF (2024) highlights India’s 40% AI skill gap; training over one million professionals is essential for absorptive capacity.
4. Institutional Architecture: A mission-mode programme with PMO-level oversight—akin to ISRO or the Green Revolution—can overcome bureaucratic silos.
5. Ethical and Legal Guardrails: Following UNESCO’s AI Ethics framework, India must ensure transparency, non-discrimination and accountability without regulatory paralysis.

Way Forward: From ‘Action’ to ‘Impact’

Public–private–academic collaboration, integration of AI with DPI, and outcome-based governance can enable ‘population-scale AI’. Hosting global platforms like the India-AI Impact Summit positions India as a norm-setter rather than a rule-taker.

Conclusion

As Justice B.R. Gavai noted, technology must serve constitutional values; India’s AI ‘railway moment’, if guided by sovereignty and ethics, can transform state capacity and global standing.