Lok Sabha Question No. 5479 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-04-05
Subject: Standard Operting Procedure (SOP)
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Sukanta Majumdar, Vinod Kumar Sonkar, Bhola Singh, Rajveer (Raju Bhaiya) Singh, Raja Amareshwara Naik

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5479

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 05.04.2023

## STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (SOP)

## 5479.   DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR SHRI VINOD KUMAR SONKAR SHRI BHOLA SINGH SHRI RAJVEER SINGH (RAJU BHAIYA) SHRI RAJA AMARESHWARA NAIK

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

(a) whether the Government has Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to review the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to check for lapses or malpractices in various ministries and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Government conducts predeployment assessment and whether these reports are available in public domain;

(c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(d)  the  details  of  the  guiding  principles  for  implementing  in  the  Ministry/Department  while developing or deploying AI solutions;

(e)  whether the Government intends to introduce a regulatory framework to give effect to the Responsible AI principles published by the NITI Aayog or principles of a similar nature and if so, the details thereof; and

(f)  the  measures  taken  to  enhance  capacities  of  young  entrepreneurs  and  upskill  youth  in emerging areas such as AI, robotics, etc.?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a) to (c): AI  is  considered  asa  kinetic  enabler  of  the  digital  economy  and  innovation ecosystem. Government is harnessing the potential of AI to provide personalized and interactive citizen-centric services through Digital Public Platforms.National Program on Artificial Intelligence  -  IndiaAI  is  being  implemented  with  the  objective  to  establish  a  comprehensive program for leveraging transformative technologies to foster inclusion, innovation, and adoption for social impact. Itencompasses four broad pillars of the AI ecosystem, including Skilling in AI, Responsible  AI,  Data  Management  Office,  and  the  National  Centre  on  AI  (NCAI).Various central and state government departments and agencies have commenced efforts to standardize responsible AI  development,  use  and  promote  the  adoption  of  best practices. National Informatics Centre (NIC) also conducts assessments as a prerequisite to evaluate the feasibility of  AI  model  training  and  deployment.  These  assessments  include  a  data  readiness  assessment that focuses on the quality and volume of data, data stratification, and data provenance. These reports are not publicly available.

(d) No  Sir,  there  is  no  guiding  principles  set  for  the  implementing  Ministry/Department while developing or deploying AI solutions. However,  the Ministry/Departments while developing/deploying  an  AI  solution  may  have  a  clear  understanding  of  the  organization's objective and scope for AI deployment, aware of data readiness, visualizing data, anonymizing data, ensuring the context in which the AI model is developed and deployed, risk management framework, model validation and verification, and identifying potential retraining requirements for the AI model.

(e): Government is aware that the use of AI raises ethical concerns and risks. The series of papers  published  by  NITI  Aayog  on  the  subject  of  Responsible  AI  for  All  highlights  these concerns. Currently there is no regulation for Responsible AI.

(f): The  government  has  taken  various  measures  to  enhance  the  capacities  of  young entrepreneurs and upskill youth in emerging areas such as AI, robotics, etc., such as:

-  MeitY has initiated  'FutureSkills  PRIME'  a  programme  for  Re-skilling/Up-skilling  of  IT Manpower  for Employability in 10 new/emerging technologies. These include AI, Blockchain,  Robotic  Process  Automation,  Big  Data  &  Analytics,  IoT,  Virtual  Reality, Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, 3D Printing and Web 3.0.
-  Government  has  initiated  'Visvesvaraya  PhD  Scheme'  with  the  objective  to  enhance  the number  of  PhDs  in  Electronics  System  Design  &  Manufacturing  (ESDM)  and  IT/IT Enabled Services (IT/ITES) sectors including AI and Emerging Technologies.
-  Government  has  launched  Responsible  AI  for  Youth  2022,  on  July  30,  2022.  The Programme was designed to reach out to students from Government schools on pan India basis and provide them with an opportunity to become part of the skilled workforce in an inclusive  manner.  The  programme  impacted  52,628  students  across  35  States  and  UTs, empowering youth with necessary AI skillsets, who had limited or no access to the latest technologies and resources.
-  National  e-Governance  Division  (NeGD),  MeitY  in  collaboration  with  its  partners,  has launched 'YUVAi: Youth for Unnati and Vikas with AI'- A National Programme for School Students with the objective of enabling school students from classes 8th to 12th with AI tech and social skills in an inclusive manner. The programme will provide a platform for youth to learn  and  apply  AI  skills  in  8  thematic  areas-  Krishi,  Aarogya,  Shiksha,  Paryavaran, Parivahan, Grameen Vikas, Smart Cities and Vidhi aurNyaay.
-  To  foster innovation through research, government  has  created  several 'Centres of Excellence'  onvarious  Emerging  Technologies  including  Artificial  Intelligence.  These centres connect variousentities such as startups, enterprises, venture capitalists, government and academia to look intoproblem statements and develop innovative solutions.
-  Department  of  Science  &  Technology  (DST)  is  implementing  National  Mission  on Interdisciplinary  Cyber  Physical  Systems  (NM-ICPS). Under the Mission, 25 Technology Innovation Hubs (TIHs) are set up in premier institutes of national importance across the country  in  advanced  technologies.  Two  of  these  Hubs  are  working  towards  enhancing capacities  of  young  entrepreneurs  and  upskilling  youth  in  emerging  areas  such  as  AI, robotics,  etcwhich  are  AI4ICPS  Foundation  in  technology  vertical  "Artificial  Intelligence and Machine Learning" set up at IIT Kharagpur and I-Hub for Robotics and Autonomous Systems Innovation Foundation in technology vertical "Robotics & Autonomous Systems" set up at IISc Bangalore.

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