“India has been able to lift 800 million people out of poverty over the last 5 or 6 years simply by the use of smartphones,” Francise said while responding to questions on FAO‘s “Accelerating progress towards ending hunger for the current and future generations” lecture.
Talking about the global digital impact, Francise said that the divide between Global North and Global south instead of decreasing it increased. he also said that the internet access to every people is still a dream. A lot of working class people have never seen the computer.
While highlighting the solution for development through digitalisation, the UNGA chief cited the example of India and said, “Rural farmers in India, who never had a relationship with the banking system, are now able to conduct all their transactions on their smartphones They pay their bill… 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty because there is high level of Internet penetration in India. “
He further said that in India almost everyone has a cellphone, which is not the case in many parts of the Global South.
At the FAO’s lecture he also talked about food security and raised concerns over hunger.
“Every year, hunger and related diseases claim the lives of 9 million people. Alarmingly, every minute, six children succumb to hunger; six innocents who have committed no wrong. Currently, 800 million individuals are unsure where their next meal will come from. Indeed, by 2030, the year in which we boldly committed to deliver the SDG’s and with the global population expected to reach 8.6 billion – an estimated 600 million people will still be facing hunger, unless we take decisive action now,” he said.