Lok Sabha Question No. 4545 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-30
Subject: Artificial Intelligence
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Anubhav Mohanty

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 4545

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 30.03.2022

## ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

## 4545 SHRI ANUBHAV MOHANTY:

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

- (a)  whether  the  Government  is  planning  to  implement  any  program  for  upskilling  or  reskilling  of individuals in the field of Artificial Intelligence and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the aforesaid planning also caters to the individuals in two and three tier cities and rural areas  if so, the details thereof, State-wise;
- (c) whether the aforesaid program has a component of job placements after its completion and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) whether the Government is considering any provision or incentive for a person from economically weaker background  to avail the program and ifso, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEVCHANDRASEKHAR)

- (a):    Government  of  India  has  taken  several  steps  to  promote  upskilling  or  reskilling  in  the  field  of Artificial Intelligence which include the following: -
- i. Ministry  of  Electronics  and  IT  (MeitY)  has  initiated  a  programme  titled FutureSkills  PRIME (www.futureskillsprime.in)  in  collaboration  with  NASSCOM,  a  B2C  framework  for  re-skilling/ up-skilling  of  IT  professionals  in  10  Emerging  are  as  including  Artificial  Intelligence.  So  far,  7 Lakh  candidates  have  signed-up  on  the  FutureSkills  PRIME  Portal,  out  of  which,  1.2  lakh candidates have completed their courses. In addition, 524 Trainers and 4292 Government Officials have been trained on these technologies by NIELIT/C-DAC Resource Centres, and around 1.3 lakh unique learners have collectively earned 8.9 lakh 'badges' in recognition of having completed bitesized digital fluency content.Under Artificial Intelligence, 36,528 candidates are enrolled in deepskilling courses and 47,744 candidates are enrolled in Foundation courses.
- ii. Government  has  published  the National  Strategy  for  Artificial  Intelligence in  June  2018  and proposes  to  develop  an  ecosystem  for  the  research  and  adoption  of  Artificial  Intelligence  i.e. #AIFOR ALL.
- iii. Government has launched ' National AI Portal '  (https://indiaai.gov.in/)  which is  a  repository  of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based initiatives in the country at a single place. As on date, there are

1024 national and international articles, 655 news, 200 videos, 90 research reports, 279 Startups, 120 Government initiatives listed at National AI Portal.

In addition, various steps have been taken to promote capacity building in Artificial Intelligence which include the following:

- i. 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  in  the  country.  The  research  areas  under  the  scheme  include  Artificial Intelligence (covering 82 PhD fellows) and Machine Learning (covering 59 PhD fellows).
- ii. 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. In Phase I, 50,666 students and 2536 teachers from 2252 schools from 35 States and UTs attended orientation  sessions  on  AI.  In  Phase  II,  100  teams  have  been  short  listed  and  have  undergone extensive mentoring by AI experts. In Phase-III, Top 20 students have demonstrated their solutions in the national conference.
- iii. To foster innovation through research, government has created several ' Centres of Excellence ' on various  Emerging  Technologies  including  Artificial  Intelligence.  These  centres  connect  various entities  such  as  startups,  enterprises,  venture  capitalists,  government  and  academia  to  look  into problem statements and develop innovative solutions.
- iv. Department of Science & Technology is implementing the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical  Systems  (NM-ICPS)  to  promote  R&D,  Human  Resource  Development  (HRD), Technology Development, Entrepreneurship Development, International Collaboration etc. As part of the Mission implementation, 25 Technology Innovation Hubs (TIHs) have been established in reputed  institutes  across  the  country  in  advanced  technologies  including  Machine  Learning  and Artificial Intelligence.
- v. Government of India has also joined the league of leading economies including USA, UK, EU, Australia,  Canada,  France,  Germany,  Italy,  Japan,  Mexico,  New  Zealand,  Republic  of  Korea, Singapore as a founding member of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), which is an international and multi-stakeholder initiative to guide the responsible development and use of AI, grounded in human rights, inclusion, diversity, innovation, and economic growth.
- vi. Government of India organized Responsible AI for Social Empowerment (RAISE) in 2020 ,  a first-of-its-kind  global  meeting  of  minds  on  Artificial  Intelligence  to  drive  India's  vision  and roadmap  for  social  transformation,  inclusion  and  empowerment  through  responsible  AI.  It  was attended by 79,000+ stakeholders from academia, research, industry and government representatives  from  147  participating  countries.320  distinguished  speakers  from  21  countries participated in the event.
7. (b): The initiatives mentioned in reply to Part (a) above are focusing on digital enablement of citizensin the field of Artificial Intelligence including those belonging to the Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities.  Further, the FutureSkills  PRIME  programmefollows  an  'aggregator  of  aggregators'  approach  for  digital  skills training on a national scale and is hosted as an online B2Ce-commerce platform, thereby also enabling citizens in Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities to participate in the programme. To further strengthen the physical and digital  connectivity,  40  C-DAC/NIELIT Centres spread across the country are also institutionalizing blended-learning programmes, in a hub and spoke mode, as Lead & Co-Lead Resource Centres.

(c):  Further,  the  FutureSkills  PRIME  programme  targets  to  re-skill/  up-skill  aspirants  in  emerging technologies so that they  stay relevant  in  their  present  job  with  improved  prospects,  besides  finding new avenues in future job-roles.The programme also targets those whose may have lost their existing jobs  due  to  disruptive  and  emerging  technologies.  Towards  this,  the  programme  takes  into  account employment linkages, such as a 'Career Prime' web-page on the platform and an integrated 'Career Portal',which provides information on IT-ITeS jobs, internships, apprenticeships, hackathons etc.

(d):Under FutureSkills PRIME,  incentives  are  available to the trainees, including those from economically  weaker  backgrounds,  after  the  learner  is  successfully  assessed  and  certified.  The incentive  mechanism  is  aimed  at  motivating  the  learner  to  successfully  complete  the  online  upskilling/re-skilling programs.

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