This article is an edited version of an address by Abdul Waheed Khan to a Special Convocation at Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi, on 4 January 2005. Professor Khan identifies major societal trends and likely future developments, with particular reference to India. He argues that knowledge will play a central role in shaping economic growth, social development, cultural enrichment and political empowerment. He stresses the importance for a developing country like India of ensuring widespread access to educational opportunities, from early schooling to lifelong learning, and of the part that information technology can play in achieving this end. He provides an assessment of where India stands today by comparison with other nations and how it can exploit the knowledge revolution to build a more inclusive and powerful knowledge society.