Beginning right from Industry 0.0

In India there are some isolated idyllic rural corners which haven’t seen the original Industrial Revolution. Before the current power augmentation drive, there were many local industries which couldn’t reap the benefits of electricity (2.0). Other industries were yet to see the basic benefits of computerization (3.0). As 4.0 is being rolled out, it is fair to say that very soon all four industries are going to exist at once. (India is such a bundle of contradictions). So if we have to fully adopt 4.0, we will have to do 1, 2, 3 or 4 revolutions simultaneously, depending on the type of industry we are talking about.

While the concept of Smart Homes has been around in India for ages—just ask the super wealthy—the concept of Smart Cities is being explored both by the government and private sector in India. The Smart Cities Mission plans to develop 100 cities. Smart Industries are also just about catching on. Another thing that will help is 5G. How soon can we implement it? That may run into trouble due to the financial status of the telecom industry and global concerns over the new technology. India still has to cross many hurdles before fully embracing 4.0.

One component of 4.0 is people-less dark factories. That raises concerns of the loss of jobs. Headlines like “40% jobs to be lost due to AI and robots” are very common in the media. But the history of mankind has shown otherwise. After the hunter gatherer revolution, one man could hunt and kill food for dozens. After the agricultural revolution, a few dozen people could grow food for thousands. The rest of the people did not stay idle and simply went about creating more job types.

The original Industrial Revolution. The computer revolution. The mobile revolution. They all led to the loss of certain types of jobs but the creation of many many more. The net sum has been always positive. Always. Newer and newer professions are being created all the time. You can be sure that even if AI can do the job of 40% of the population in the near future, new job types will be created. It will be a gradual process and the tech industry will keep adapting accordingly. We cannot apply the rules of today to the world of tomorrow.

None of us who grew up in the 1980s could even imagine the changes that Liberalization, India’s IT and mobile revolutions would bring. While India has set a goal to become a US$5 trillion economy, a push towards complete digitization and multiple revolutions being conducted simultaneously might just do the trick.