India's Next 20 Years Crucial, Governance Must Adapt to AI Age: Chandrababu Naidu
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has called for a transformative change in India's governance systems to keep pace with the aspirations of its people in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Speaking at a Mission Karmayogi workshop in Vijayawada on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, he emphasised that the next 20 years are extremely crucial for India's development.
Mr. Naidu said that the IT revolution has given way to the AI era, and the country must adapt accordingly. "The next 20 years are extremely crucial for India's development. Our systems and institutions have to undergo revolutionary changes during this period," he stated. He pointed out that India has enormous opportunities, advanced technologies, a large young population, and growing aspirations. The key question, he said, was how effectively governance systems and institutions could respond to these aspirations.
The Chief Minister cited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's journey from selling tea at a railway station to becoming Prime Minister as an example of capacity building. He also mentioned an Andhra Pradesh teacher who had been able to come forward and address the gathering after undergoing capacity-building programmes. He said the objective should be to make the best use of the opportunities available in India.
Mr. Naidu highlighted that the Centre had introduced the iGOT-Mission Karmayogi programme through the Capacity Building Commission to achieve this objective. Online training through iGOT-Mission Karmayogi would enable government employees to continuously upgrade their skills, he said. Officials and employees, from the State level to the field level, needed regular training to improve the quality of public services, he added. Mission Karmayogi is a national programme aimed at enhancing the capacity of civil servants, and iGOT is its online learning platform.
Referring to China's economic transformation, Mr. Naidu said it had begun in 1978 and China had significantly enhanced its capabilities over the following decades. India had comparable opportunities and resources and needed to examine why it had lagged behind in utilising them, he said. He noted that the world once doubted that India, growing at 2 to 3 per cent, could ever be a developed nation, but now it is growing faster than any other country. He attributed this to the right time, the right leader, and the right place—meaning Narendra Modi, he said.
He said Indians had demonstrated their capabilities globally and that, irrespective of changes in political leadership, all Indians should work towards taking the country to the highest level. The aspirations of Indians had changed after the economic reforms, and governance systems should evolve accordingly, he said, adding that Indians were leading major global companies such as Google and Microsoft.
"The IT revolution came earlier, and now it is the age of AI. We have to change accordingly," Mr. Naidu said. He emphasised that the Jan Vishwas reforms had therefore assumed greater importance, and regulations too should be aligned with changing requirements. Unnecessary regulations that hindered progress should be removed or simplified, he said.
On Andhra Pradesh's initiatives, Mr. Naidu said the State government was using Real Time Governance to continuously monitor administration and the quality of citizen services. Systems such as the Data Lake and e-office were helping the government take decisions faster, and key performance indicators were being monitored continuously to issue directions at the field level.
He congratulated the State government machinery for completing two crore courses through the iGOT-Mission Karmayogi portal and said this had placed Andhra Pradesh among the leading States.
