Editorial 2: The long march ahead to technological independence

Context

Today, independence is incomplete without technological sovereignty, for dependence itself has become a source of vulnerability.

Introduction

On August 15, 2025, India celebrated its 79th Independence Day, marking the nation’s hard-won political freedom. However, in the present era, independence cannot be measured by politics alone. True sovereignty today demands technological autonomy, as technology influences and shapes every aspect of modern life — from governance and economy to security and daily living.

Cybersecurity and Digital Sovereignty

• Geopolitics is growing darker, with wars increasingly fought using software, drones, and cyber weapons rather than traditional arms.
• The most damaging battlefield is cyberspace, where critical infrastructure is at risk.
• India’s banks, railways, and power grids depend heavily on information and communication technology (ICT).
• A small number of companies — mostly from a single foreign country — build and control these systems.
• This dependency creates a serious vulnerability for national security.
• If these companies were to shut down cloud or AI services, whether by government diktat or malicious intent, the consequences would be severe.
• Recent incidents, where cloud services were abruptly stopped, highlight that this is not hypothetical but a real threat.
• India must urgently confront and mitigate this risk to safeguard its digital sovereignty.

Building the foundation

• Technological autonomy is essential for India’s future.
• India currently lacks its own operating system, database, and foundational software, leaving it dependent on external sources.
• The path to independence is not as difficult as it may appear.
• The open-source model provides a practical solution.
• India can build secure, backdoor-free versions of Linux and Android.
• A dedicated team of professionals can achieve this.
• The bigger challenge lies in long-term support and maintenance.
• A large and supportive user base is critical for a viable home-grown OS.
• Even if slightly behind global products, such systems can be made competitive and effective.
• This mission requires India’s technology community to step up collectively.
• The issue affects everyone, but the solution lies with IT professionals who shape the digital world.
• No single institution can achieve this alone — success demands a united effort across stakeholders.

Hardware vs. Software Sovereignty

• Achieving hardware sovereignty is far more challenging than software.
• Semiconductor fabs require massive, long-term national investment in chip design, manufacturing, and supply chains.
• India must ask: do we have the resources and more importantly, the patience?
• A practical first step: focus on specific hardware components and build partnerships in chip design and assembly, even if fabrication is outsourced.

Path to Technological Independence

• India’s political independence was achieved through non-violence; its technology independence should come via open-source software.
• This is about self-reliance, not opposition to others.
• The global open-source movement has weakened; control now lies with centralised cloud platforms and external corporations.
• A renewed social movement for autonomy in software and hardware is urgently needed.

India’s Readiness

• India has the talent and capability to lead.
• What is needed is the collective will to act.
• Start with an urgent mission of planning, development, and execution before a crisis compels action.

First Steps in Software Independence

• Assemble a crack team to develop India’s own versions of essential software using open-source resources.
• Build client-side components: database, email client, calendar.
• Build server-side components: web server, email server, cloud server.
• Open-source versions exist, but teams must update, maintain, and innovate continuously.
• Teams should operate like product teams in companies, supported by a sustainable business model, not only government or private funds.

Changing Climate for Trusted Software

• Earlier, only strategic sectors worried about secure software.
• Now, even private companies and individuals are concerned about dependency on external forces.
• People already pay indirectly for open-source tools (e.g., through services).
• Transitioning to a model where costs are explicit and support trusted, self-reliant software is a small but vital step.

Conclusion

The immediate priority is to create a mission that focuses on implementation, not on research and development for academic communities. This mission must rely on strong development teams, dedicated support engineers, and an effective project management team to ensure smooth coordination. India already has ample expertise in both industry and academia to drive this forward, provided a viable model is designed. The government must play an enabling role, but the ultimate aim should be to establish a self-sustaining framework at the earliest. Together, we must embark on the long march toward technological independence, securing India’s innovation ecosystem for the future.