This is a post authored by Mr Abhivardhan, our Chairperson, based on his LinkedIn post.
Recently, the term "Whole-of-Government" in the realm of Indian public governance is gaining popularity.
IndiaAI reported about it in the context of #digitalpublicinfrastructure (& #IndiaStack), the Prime Minister stressed about the need to adopt this approach for the Health Ministry and the National Disaster Management Authority to collaborate.
Nevertheless, what is this "whole-of-government approach"?
This approach was initially mentioned in the 2023 Proposed Digital India Act PPT, which was discussed under the Indian G20 Presidency previous year in Bengaluru.
In simple terms, whole-of-government approach as a concept implies that ministries, statutory bodies, departments and divisions across the Union Government (Government of India) will coordinate to deliver effective digital governance.
We already have instances of this approach - such as Digilocker, Ayushman Bharat, the JAM Trinity (Aadhar + Jandhan + Mudra) and even the NSWS service.
Why does it matter for India's constitutional and technology governance setup, especially for #artificialintelligence or any digital technology?
1️⃣ Although different ministries and bodies act uniquely within their scope or mandate, this approach binds them (if not obligates them at a policy level) to coordinate equitably among one another. This means that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, MeiTY and the Space Commission may have to coordinate whenever possible (for example) (read our analysis of the Digital India Act proposed in 2023 at https://www.indicpacific.com/post/the-digital-india-act-and-the-strategic-partnership-on-icets).
2️⃣ In technology law, India is yet to figure out two key issues which are sensitively effective for our economy, such as the (1) safe harbour principles; and (2) anti-trust. While (2) can be dealt with a reasonable Digital Competition Bill (you can read our feedback of the Bill at https://www.indicpacific.com/post/new-report-draft-digital-competition-bill-2024-for-india-feedback-report-iplr-ig-003), (1) is a tricky mess which cannot be even resolved by the Digital India Act, just yet. Although, I am of the firm view that India has a golden opportunity to build a strong and fair civil law framework for safe harbour issues for #intermediaries sooner.
3️⃣ This explains that India must accept that artificial intelligence or any tech governance is not merely about safety or security guidelines or regulations. The larger emphasis must be given about developing effective jurisprudence unlike an amateurish AI advisory, which never had a public copy at the first place.
4️⃣ Standardising use cases of technologies is the way forward to examine public policy mandates of the Government of India in imparting digital governance as a form of service.
This also explains that just because you know M&A and company law, does not warrant you to understand tech law.