Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw guest at Express Adda today

As the Railways Minister,  Vaishnaw untangled the production deadlock for Vande Bharat, the indigenously manufactured, semi-high speed and self-propelled train. At present, as many as 17 of the Vande Bharat showpiece trains are running. He is also working on rolling out India’s first hydrogen-powered train by the end of the year.

Vaishnaw – who recently returned from a trip to the US where he met leaders of some of the biggest tech companies in the world, including Google and Intel – is overseeing big-ticket projects in his other ministries as well. As the Communications Minister, he deftly handled the sale of spectrum and introduction of 5G, avoiding controversies, and has overhauled the right of way regime to ensure that telephony equipment can be set up across the country at a record pace.

In IT, he has rolled out a $10-billion incentive package to kickstart semiconductor production in India. Once up and running, these fabs could play a major role in increasing India’s local production capacity significantly while cutting down the reliance on semiconductor imports from elsewhere. A renewed $2 billion policy to boost local IT hardware production has recently received the Cabinet’s nod.

Aside from the focus on infrastructure, as India looks to set the narrative while charting its own path in technology regulations – including a new IT Act and the data protection Bill – that impact some of the most consequential companies and have a bearing on fundamental rights such as freedom of speech and right to privacy, all eyes will be on how Vaishnaw navigates technology policy decisions to find a balance between citizen rights and innovation.

Vaishnaw is incharge of overhauling two major laws that will pave the way for reforms in the telecom and tech sectors. Under him, the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022 has been released that aims to replace colonial-era rules governing telecommunications in India. The IT Ministry is currently working on the draft Digital India Act, which will replace the two-decade-old Information Technology Act, 2000, India’s core law for the Internet.

Over the past couple of years, Vaishnaw has emerged as the government’s principal spokesperson on its ‘good governance’ agenda. With less than a year to go for Lok Sabha 2024 elections, his voice is keenly sought and heard.

At the Adda, Vaishnaw will be in conversation with Anant Goenka, Executive Director, Indian Express Group, and Anil Sasi, National Business Editor, The Indian Express.

Previous guests at the Adda include Union Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Health Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs and Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, election strategist Prashant Kishor and oncologist and author Siddhartha Mukherjee.

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