Digital economy will require both technological and legal innovations, and law graduates have enormous opportunities to tap in the push for Digital India, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today.
The Minister for Law and IT delivered the convocation address at Gujarat National Law University here.
Prasad said law graduates will have new avenues opening up for them especially in the fields of "intellectual property, competition, data privacy, and a whole range of other innovative laws."
"Indian digital economy is going to become a trillion dollar economy in the coming 5-7 years. Communication, IT services, digital delivery, e-commerce, cyber security, digital payment, are also going to create new avenues for legal redress," he said.
"Digital coverage is good coverage, digital delivery is faster delivery, but this will throw up legal challenges, issues of privacy, cyber security, competition. Why? Because digital world is a virtual world, and the problems of the virtual world have to be addressed in the real world," he added.
"(Digital economy) will require not only technological innovations but also legal innovations. And there I see an enormous opportunity awaiting for you (graduating students) to tap in the field of intellectual property, competition, data privacy, and a whole range of other innovative laws," Prasad said.
"Once this digital profile becomes an important component of India's digital and commercial discourse, I see larger avenues opening for you," he said.
Prasad said that out of a population of 1.25 billion, Indians have 1.08 billion mobile phones, 1.12 billion Aadhar Cards, 50 crore people are connected to internet, and 35 crores own smart phones.
"India is at the cusp of a big digital revolution. And some of the transformative programmes that we have started under the guidance of Prime Minister -- Digital India, Make in India, Stand Up India, Start-up India, Skill India -- are all designed to make India an empowered nation," he said.
Stressing on the need for ethics, Prasad told graduating students that "legal profession demands a lot of ethical values. Ethical values are being articulated as a great component of your training, research programme".
"Our profession is very demanding, challenging. If you slip at one point, you may shine immediately but you will loose in the long term. Choice is yours. Be more focused on the ethical values," he said.
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