Bharat 2047: Bharat Today and the technologies that change the Bharat

The three industrial revolutions

During the 1^st Industrial Revolution and most of the 2^nd  industrial revolution, India was under foreign/British rule. India started thriving in the 3^rd industrial revolution around 1970, prominently driven by electronics and information technology. But growth was mainly driven by capitalism and globalization at the cost of the environment and ecology. All three industrial revolutions have helped to improve the standard of living and comfort for people but, unfortunately, have also negatively impacted the air, water, and soil, which are the essential elements of a better life. 

After independence in 1947, Bharat put tremendous effort into establishing physical, social, and economic infrastructure and achieved an economy of around 3 trillion USD today. But I firmly believe we have not yet unlocked Bharat’s true potential in the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd industrial revolutions. 

Bharat performance today

By observing around 50+ Global indices released by WEF, UN, World Bank, and other renowned organizations, we need to go a long way to become one of the top developed nations in the world. Following are a few indices that give a glimpse of Bharat Today. 

We can’t afford to have similar performance in 2047, and we must improve manifold to give a better Bharat to the next generations. But the rules of the game are changed. We are now in the 4th Industrial Revolution, and we missed the opportunity to become the global leader in the era of the 4^th Industrial revolution.  

Now the 5^th Industrial revolution has already started, and in the next 25 years, we may experience two more industrial revolutions 6^th and 7^th. Hence, we must proactively prepare to excel in the 5th, 6th, and 7th Industrial revolutions prominently driven by technologies.

Technologies that change the Bharat

We have a great opportunity now in the 4^th, 5^th, and future industrial revolutions to leverage powerful technologies to build a New Bharat.

Technologies have been creating a significant impact on human lives, society, the environment, industries, academia, and government. Following are a few technologies with the highest potential to take Bharat to a higher orbit by 2047.  

New Capabilities With Technologies to Build a Better Bharat

It is essential to identify the new capabilities that emerge from the latest technologies and their convergence. Unlocking the potential of these new capabilities is essential for Bharat to grow exponentially by 2047.

Technology Capability 1: Design Intelligent, Immersive, and Autonomous Future

Design a New World: Design two parallel worlds – the immersive digital world and the physical world, and people live, learn, and enjoy in both worlds

Design Contemporary Social Controls & Culture: Design new social fabric, social controls, culture, traditions, and customs aligning with technology-powered lives 

Design Vertical Cities and Farming: Design vertical cities and vertical farming to avoid deforestation and safeguard nature 

Design Technology Powered Democracy:

• Design a legal system that resolves the cases 100 times faster than the current system using different technologies with optimal human interventions 
• Design a legislative system using technologies at a rapid speed that can introduce new laws, acts, rules, and policies with high agility, aligning with national and global political, economic, social, environmental, technological, and regulatory trends
• Design a media driven by unbiased, intelligent robots as program directors, news readers, and many more
• Design an executive system with autonomous governance and human and humanoid coexisting policies to grow the country exponentially in different segments. 
• Design fiat and crypto currency-driven economy
• Design labor laws for the digital workforce (robots, chatbots, uncrewed vehicles, etc.)

Design Technology Powered Industries:

• Design 4D printed objects (e.g., water pipes) that change shape to adjust to the changing temperature, environments 
• Design autonomous products, machines, equipment, and assets to operate themselves without human interventions 
• Design bio and nature-inspired products, materials, equipment, infrastructure, and many more 
• Design decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) for peer-to-peer transactions with no or very minimal human interventions 
• Design digital twins, the replica of physical things like cities, villages, human bodies, machines, and others that help in predicting, designing, developing, and controlling the future
• Design new-age buildings to construct with energy-saving bricks which act as batteries

 Technology Capability 2: Acquire superhuman capabilities

• Simulate human brains on silicon chips and build the robots with these chips so that robots can perform the work as if humans were doing with similar thoughts, emotions, feelings, knowledge, etc. 
• Interface brain with an exoskeleton and advanced mechanical parts and become a cyborg to attain superhuman mental and physical abilities 
• Augment human intelligence with artificial intelligence to overcome the physical, mental, space, and time constraints
• Enable safe knowledge transfer with direct Brain-to-Brain communication
• Life after death with ethical human incarnation using AI, MR, and Brain Computer Interface

 Technology Capability 3: Enhance life expectancy

• Stem cell-based 3D printed human organs like liver, heart, kidneys for ease of transplantation 
• Control diseases like diabetics, depression, and others, which get inherited from parents by ethically configuring the embryos (DNA Editing)
• Safely insertable nanomedical devices for curing cancer and other complex diseases in the human body 
• Robotics and Augmented Reality (AR) driven surgeries for accurate treatment 
• Personalized medicines as per individual’s genetic profile
• Intelligent clothes for human body monitoring for preventive healthcare 

Technology Capability 4: Manage Phydigital Lifestyle

• Living in a physical and immersive virtual world simultaneously 
• Anywhere, Anytime, Any Devices to perform work, and get information 
• Buy online pick up in-store (BOPIS)
• Augmented reality glasses are the new eyes of humans 
• Immersive virtual sex in the metaverse 
• Robotic sex partners 
• Ventures for fertility tracking 
• Future of sex products

 Technology Capability 5: Leverage Human and Digital Human Collaboration

• AI-powered ammunition and warfare with no human army 
• Digital workforce (robots, chatbots, cobots with algorithms & virtual brains)
• Collaboration and cooperation between the human workforce and the digital workforce 
• Real-time contextual communication & collaboration from anywhere, anytime, using any device. 
• Robo teachers, mentoring, and coaching and a complete revolution in education 
• Entertainment with human and robotic sports and games 

Technology Capability 6: Provide Personalized & Contextual Experiences

• Mass customization and personalization of products and services to suit individual needs 
• Omnipresent (anytime, anywhere, any device) services 
• Virtual Universe: Imaginative, immersive worlds in which people in the form of Avatars do the things which are not possible in the actual physical world 
• AI, AR/VR, and Blockchain-driven Virtual Entertainment Theme Parks 

Technology Capability 7: Produce bio-friendly and healthy food

• 3D Printed Vegan Meat to avoid killing animals and other species 
• Circular food production & waste reduction systems
• Plastic-free and smart packaging 
• Personalized nutrition 
• Artificial proteins 

Technology Capability 8: Effectively Control Disasters

• AI-based algorithms, and predictive analytics to forecast, and control disasters 
• GPS for effective disasters management 
• Robotics-based disaster management in the field
• Flood control with solar-powered sensors to monitor water levels and air temperature
• Convolutional neural network computer learning for earthquakes prediction and control 
• Social media for real-time alerts and information on disasters 
• AI-powered law-and-order system to control crimes

Technology Capability 9: Establish High speed and comfortable Transportation

• Air traffic control (ATR) for flying drones and taxies 
• Autonomous / uncrewed Vehicles on intelligent roads 
• Intelligent and connected ports (seaports, airports)
• Hyperloop tunnels for national and international travel 
• Planet earth to space elevators to promote space tourism

The new technology-driven capabilities mentioned in this article may not be comprehensive enough. Still, it is imperative for India to leverage these powerful new capabilities to build a New Bharat, which will be Wealthy, Healthy, Blue, Green, and Compassionate and become a true Viswa Guru!

Jai Hind, Jai Bharat

The article has been written by By V Srinivasa Rao, VSR Chairman & MD, BT&BT Author – Lean Digital Thinking – Digitalizing Businesses in a World Order and Chairman – Open Digital Innovation, IET Future Tech Panel