"Technology is extremely powerful as a liberal force in its ability to empower citizens and minimise sway of the state. It would strengthen India's advantage as an open, democratic society and would ensure that information knowledge and services flow unimpeded," says Nilekani in his book 'Imagining India, Ideas for the New Century', which was released on Monday.
Nilekani's China reference though not direct is evident from his frequent use of the world 'open society'. He has quoted Thomas Friedman, noted The New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winning author, who says, "I don't think that this century can belong to a country that censors Google." Friedman was replying to a question if he saw China as the emerging superpower of the century.
Nilekani says this speaks "multitudes of how critical information technologies have become to a country's economic strength and how India's particular advantage -- its combination of open society and its positive attitudes to IT -- can transform our country in the coming years".
"India's potential here to become an open, wired economy, unregulated by any kind of 'intellectual licence permit raj' can be a strength difficult to beat in today's information age," says the best-known global face of Indian IT industry.
But there are conditions, according to Nilekani, to achieve this success rate from the usage of IT.
"Our open society is the ideal ground for the IT-led transparency in governance. But to realise this vision we have to take IT-led transformation from the sidelines of public policy and make it the centre-piece of our development and reform strategy," he suggests.
Nilekani has put a lot of faith in the talent of this country. The talent that made India the centre of global delivery in IT over the last 15 years has now developed the skills and experience it needs to apply these learnings at home, he says.
"In the next 15 years, these very skills can help us build the kind of politically and economically inclusive environment that can take India into a second phase of dramatic, technology-driven growth," he said.
The book outlines Nilekani's vision for a resurgent India, both economically and politically. It lays out the challenges and the opportunities that face us even as we stand in the cusp of history.
Even as state elections beckon, Nilekani believes that India's political landscape will change with education. Caste affiliations will get weaker as people vote with the economy in mind.
An alumni of the IIT-Bombay, Nilekani started with Patni Computers where he met N R Narayana Murthy. In 1981, Murthy, Nilekani and eight others formed Infosys Technologies. Nandan Nilekani has been a brand ambassador for Infosys. He was named by 'Time' magazine as one of the '100 most influential people in the world'.
