India should move out of agriculture into industry, services: Raghuram Rajan

Kochi [Kerala] : Former Governor of Reserve Bank of India Raghuram Rajan on Friday said the country should enable its workforce to move out of agriculture into industry and services, as income in the latter sectors is much higher.

He said the society has always found ways to adapt to changing times even when there have been fears of machines replacing humans.

"We have to try and give people the ability to move out of agriculture into industry and services, where income is much higher. We need to figure out ways to do this," Rajan said here.

"What jobs will humans be able to do in 10-15 years that are immune from threat? Jobs that require high intelligence and creativity; jobs that require human empathy and jobs where human working for us bolster our status in some way," he added.

The former RBI Governor in his address outlining the vision for India at #FUTURE Global Digital Summit organised by the Kerala government also expressed fears that Artificial Intelligence would take up jobs - both high skilled and unskilled.

He said that the country needs to embrace technology and become a leader in the digital transformation taking place around the globe.

Rajan also said that India needs to create good jobs because the job statics are not very good in the country.

"We can clearly do well and we should do more, not just for people who are going to enter the labour force, but for the people who are already in it," he said.

The Professor, Finance at University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, said India has fewer jobs to lose. "Many don't have the cushy jobs, which are threatened. But that is an opportunity. Change is happening and the change will threaten job. We need to make people capable of adapting."

The #future global digital summit, where hundreds of delegates, entrepreneurs, startup founders and CEOs took part in panel discussions, aimed at paving the way for the digital transformation of Kerala, where internet penetration is highest in the country.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan while inaugurating the two-day event on Thursday vowed to embrace digital technology as a means of bridging the gap between the rich and the poor.