What will India look like 75 years later? (Part six)

We ask industry honchos to turn ‘Paul The Octopus’ and predict what the country will look like 150 years after its independence...

Aug 24, 2022 10:04:00 AM | Article | Campaign India Team Share -

S Subramanyeswar (left) and Sandeep Goyal

Campaign India released a print issue to celebrate India's 75th year of Independence. In this print issue, we asked industry heads to make outrageous predictions about what India would look like at 150 years.

In the final part of the series, read what S Subramanyeswar, chief strategy officer – APAC, Mullen Lowe Group, and Sandeep Goyal, managing director, Rediffusion, had to say:

S Subramanyeswar

We will control our own weather. The world-beating Indian engineers will master geoengineering and successfully control our own weather when we need to – make it rain in Rajasthan, reduce heat in Delhi, mediate floods in Orissa and many more. They’ll even master the entire earth’s climate.

We will fight wars with China and Pakistan through remote control. While we defeat the armies (our real enemies) through that way, we will make friends with ordinary people of those countries through electrical signals that communicate from one brain to the other, eliminating government and the armed forces in the process.

We will witness massive changes in the institution of marriage in our culture. Gay marriages will equal in number with marriages between a boy and a girl as we become more tolerant on this front. All marriages will be replaced by annual contracts, as people will start living beyond 100 years and perhaps even become immortal. And women will be routinely impregnated by artificial insemination rather than by a man.

We will experience every brand becoming a media brand, requiring everyone to consider how they produce, distribute and manage their ‘content ecosystems.’ Informing, educating and entertaining audiences will happen through channels that are controlled by the brands themselves, rather than channels they pay to advertise on.

We will see the death of value-chain companies and platform companies. The future will be about interaction field companies, where you do not have to target customers and attempt to get them in. Participants will join voluntarily because they see value creation for themselves, and it strengthens as more people join the field.

Sandeep Goyal

AI (artificial intelligence) based natural language processing (NLP) will bridge the language divide.

In 75 years, India will have over a billion social media users. However, 90% of them will still speak one or more native languages. To explore and express themselves online, they will have to be digitally included. And this will be made possible by NLP technologies.

As a sub-set of AI, NLP technologies will help machines understand the nuances of a language (any language) - both text and voice - in a manner similar to how the human mind decodes - which is by aligning to the context, sentiment and the intent of the message creator. By harnessing NLP, machines will be able to navigate through huge volumes of data in an efficient manner and analyse thought, emotions and sentiments.

NLP will allow AI platforms to derive an optimal translation output by enabling creators to post content in a language of their choice, and consumers to consume it in their own language - thus stimulating seamless engagement between creators and consumers in their respective native languages, something that is still theoretical today. This will lead to greater user gratification and will promote a more sticky user journey on social media platforms. The concept of unity in diversity will therefore gather more momentum and keep a highly diversified country still conversing and interacting as one.

The ‘inclusive’ approach propelled by NLP will champion digital empowerment in India, and democratise the voice of billions in this ‘techade’ ahead.