Lok Sabha Question No. 1803 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-21
Subject: Artificial Intelligence
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Jayant Sinha

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1803

TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.09.2020

## ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

## 1803: SHRI  JAYANT SINHA:

Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:

- (a) the steps taken by the Government to boost the Artificial Intelligence  (AI) sector in the country;
- (b) the objectives that the Global Partnership on AI seeks to achieve; and
- (c) the steps taken by the Government to empower the youth with AI skill- set?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)

- (a): Sir, the following are the major steps taken by the Government to boost the AI sector in the country:
- i. Government has  launched 'National  AI  Portal' which  is  a  repository  of  Artificial  Intelligence  (AI)  based initiatives in the country for all stakeholders at a single place
- ii. Government has initiated 'Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme' with an objective to enhance the number of PhDs in Electronics System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) and IT/IT Enabled Services (IT/ITES) sectors including AI in the country. Presently, 908 Full time & 308 part-time PhD candidates are enrolled under the scheme at 97 academic institutions across the country.
- iii. Government has initiated 'FutureSkills PRIME (Programme for Re-skilling/Up-skilling of IT Manpower for Employability)' which aims to create a re-skilling/up-skilling ecosystem in emerging and futuristic technologies including AI.
- iv. To promote tech entrepreneurship through financial and technical support to incubators engaged in supporting ICT startups using emerging technologies, Government is implementing TIDE 2.0 (Technology Incubation and Development  of  Entrepreneurs).  The  Scheme  is  being  implemented  through  various  incubators  with  an overarching  objective  to  promote  incubation  activities  at  institutes  of  higher  learning  and  premier  R&D organizations
- v. To foster innovation through research in Technology, government has created several 'Centres of Excellence' on various emerging Technologies including Artificial Intelligence. The centres connect various entities such as startups, enterprises, venture capitalists, government and academia to look into problem statements and develop innovative solutions.
- vi. Government has developed API (Application Programming Interface) platform called National Data Highway (NDH) in March 2020 to enable quick and transparent integration with other e-Governance applications and systems thereby providing access to data and services and promoting citizen participation for the benefit of the community.
- (b): GPAI (Global Partnership on AI) has been created as a voluntary effort that will bring together countries and AI experts from all relevant disciplines and stakeholder groups including science, industry, civil society, international organizations and government, to support AI that is grounded in human rights, inclusion, diversity, innovation and economic growth, and societal benefit, while seeking to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
- (c):  The major steps taken by the Government to empower the youth with AI skill set are as follows:
- i.    National Programme on Responsible Use of AI for Youth : With the objective to empower the youth to become AI ready and help reduce the skill gap, government along with Industry partner has started this initiative to promote

AI  awareness  among  Government  school  going  children.  Presently  50,501  students  have  registered,  and  11,430 students have completed their first level of AI training.

ii. Future Skills : Government along with industry partner has started Future Skill programme to reskill the workforce especially from IT/ITeS sector to train on emerging technologies. This is to build capabilities in AI and allied areas.

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