Lok Sabha Question No. 2555 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-11
Subject: Bridging of Digital Divide in North-East
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Gaurav Gogoi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2555

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 11.12.2024

## BRIDGING OF DIGITAL DIVIDE IN NORTH-EAST

## 2555.   SHRI GAURAV GOGOI:

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

- (a) the current status of the India AI Mission and key milestones which have been achieved this year;
- (b) whether the Government proposes to develop a comprehensive regulatory framework to govern  the  development  and  deployment  of  Artificial  Intelligence  (AI)  with  a  focus  on preventing the dissemination of false information and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the steps being taken to bridge the digital divide in the North-East and ensure adequate internet connectivity and digital infrastructure for AI-powered solutions; and

(d)    the  initiatives  being  undertaken  to  collaborate  with  local  Governments,  academia  and industry in the North-East to foster AI innovation and development?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a) to (d): The Government of India emphasizes the concept of 'AI for All,' aligning with the Prime Minister's vision to democratize the use of technology. This initiative aims to ensure that AI benefits all sectors of society, driving innovation and growth.

Union  Cabinet  led  by  Hon'ble  Prime  Minister  has  approved  the  IndiaAI  Mission  on  7 th March 2024, a strategic initiative to establish a robust and inclusive AI ecosystem that aligns with the country's development goals. This mission is driven by a vision to position India as a global leader in artificial intelligence by focusing on seven foundational pillars.

The Mission is being implemented by IndiaAI Independent Business Division (IBD) under Digital  India  Corporation,  and  key  actions  undertaken  for  implementation  of  the  IndiaAI Mission are as below:

## IndiaAI Compute:

-  IndiaAI compute  pillar envisions building a high-end scalable AI  computing ecosystem  comprising  AI  compute  infrastructure  of  10,000  or  more  Graphics Processing Units (GPUs).
-  Applications were invited for empanelment of agenciesfor providing AI services on Cloud on 16th August 2024. The bid submission was closed on 28th November 2024 and 19 bidders have submitted bids in response to the request.

## IndiaAI FutureSkills:

-  IndiaAI  FutureSkills  Pillar  envisions  to  augment  the  number  of  graduates,  postgraduate and PhDs in AI domain. Further, it envisions setting up Data and AI Labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India, to impart foundational-level courses in Data and AI.
-  IndiaAI  fellowship  are  being  awarded  annually  to  400  B.Tech  and  500  M.Tech students  working  in  AI  domain  from  All  India  Council  for  Technical  Education (AICTE) recognized engineering institutions.
-  Top 50 National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranked research institutes have been asked to take new PhD scholars under IndiaAI PhD fellowship
-  A  model  IndiaAI  Data  Lab  in  the  National  Institute  of  Electronics  &  Information Technology (NIELIT's), Delhi has been set up, which acts as a reference point for the infrastructure to be set up in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities as a part of the initiative.
-  All  the  36  States  and  Union  Territories  (UTs)  have  been  requested  to  submit  their nominated list  of  Industrial  Training  Institutes  (ITIs)/Polytechnics  located  in  Tier  2 and Tier 3 cities for setting up of Data Labs. Additionally, IndiaAI in collaboration with  NIELIT  plans  to  establish  27  data  labs  in  Tier  2  and  Tier  3  cities  across  the country, details of which are placed at Appendix I.

## IndiaAI Startup Financing:

-  IndiaAI  Startup  Financing  pillar  is  to  provide  support  to  AI  startups  at  all  stages. Multiple  rounds  of  stakeholder  consultations  have  been  held  to  deliberate  on  the scheme for supporting AI Startups at Pre-Seed, Seed and Growth stage.

## IndiaAI Innovation Centre:

-  IndiaAI Innovation centre aims to develop and deploy indigenous Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) trained on India-specific data
-  Multiple  rounds  of  stakeholder  consultations  have  been  held  to  deliberate  on  the IndiaAI's strategy for building indigenous Large Multi-model Models (LMMs).

## IndiaAI Datasets Platform:

-  The IndiaAI Datasets Platform (IDP) seeks to enhance access, quality, and utilization of public sector datasets to make them AI-ready.
-  A comprehensive plan has been created for developing platform and a feature list has been  finalized  after  evaluating  other  prominent  dataset  platforms  such  as  Hugging Face, Dubai Pulse etc.

## IndiaAI Applications Development Initiative:

-  IndiaAI Application Development Initiative aims to develop, scale, and promote the adoption of impactful AI solutions to effectively tackle significant problem statements.
-  IndiaAI  Innovation challenge was launched on 13th August 2024 for the themes of healthcare, agriculture, improved governance, climate change & disaster managementandassistive technologies for learning disabilities. The Innovation Challenge was open to Indian innovators, startups, non-profits, students, academic/R&D organizations, and companies. A total of 900 applications have been received across the five focus areas by the deadline of 30th September.
-  CyberGuard  AI  Hackathon  was  launched  on  17th  October  2024  for  Cybercrime prevention  in  collaboration  with  the  Indian  Cybercrime  Coordination  Centre  (I4C) and in response 263 responses have been received.

## Safe & Trusted AI:

-  This  pillar  enables  the  implementation  of  Responsible  AI  projects  including  the development  of  indigenous  tools  and  frameworks,  self-assessment  checklists  for innovators, and other guidelines and governance frameworks.
-  Eight  Responsible  AI  Projects  have  been  selected  to  address  the  need  for  robust guardrails  to  ensure  the  responsible  development,  deployment,  and  adoption  of  AI

technologies.  The  projects  cover  a  range  of  critical  themes,  including  Machine Unlearning, Synthetic Data Generation, AI Bias Mitigation, Ethical AI Frameworks, Privacy-Enhancing  Tools,  Explainable  AI,  AI  Governance  Testing,  and  Algorithm Auditing Tools. The details of the selected projects are given at Appendix II.

India is a founding member of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) and has  contributed  significantly  to  its  vision  of  advancing  Safe,  Secure,  and  Trustworthy  AI globally. India was elected as the Incoming Council Chair for 2023, Lead Chair for 2024, and Outgoing  Chair  for  2025.  As  the  Incoming  Council  Chair,  India  hosted  the  Annual  GPAI Summit in December, 2023 which was a landmark event attended by 22000+ participants. As Lead Chair, India hosted the "Global India AI Summit' and midyear GPAI Summit in July 2024,  in  New  Delhi  where  the  6th  GPAI  Ministerial  Council  was  held  and  the  event  was attended  by  12000+  participants.  Under  the  GPAI  New  Delhi  Declaration  2024,  GPAI members came to a consensus about the future of the GPAI and announced a renewed vision for GPAI through an integrated partnership with OECD bringing together all current OECD members & GPAI countries on equal footing, under the GPAI brand.

The G20 New Delhi Leader's Declaration commits to pursue a pro-innovation regulatory/governance approach that  maximizes the benefits and considers the risks associated with the use of AI. India is also a signatory to São Luís  Declaration adopted in Brazil in 2024, which also highlights the need for global cooperation for AI governance and encourages G20 members to advance and reinforce interoperability between AI governance frameworks.

Further,  India  has  actively  participated  in  the  discussions  pertaining  to  a  United  Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on AI for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and co-sponsored that resolution.

India is a member of the Hiroshima AI Process Friends Group which involves a collaborative effort  by  member  countries  to  develop  a  Comprehensive  Policy  Framework  for  Artificial Intelligence that includes guiding principles and code of conduct aimed at promoting the safe, secure and trustworthy advanced AI systems.

India is also a signatory to the UN GDC adopted on September 22, 2024. Grounded in human rights and international law, the GDC includes commitments on connectivity, online safety, and AI governance through the establishment of a multidisciplinary Independent International Scientific  Panel  on  AI  and  a  Global  Dialogue  on  AI  governance  in  the  margins  of  UN conferences and meetings.

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Appendix I List of Data & AI labs planned by IndiaAI in collaboration with NIELIT in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across the country:

|   S.No. | NIELIT Centre   | State/UT          |
|---------|-----------------|-------------------|
|       1 | Gorakhpur       | Uttar Pradesh     |
|       2 | Lucknow         | Uttar Pradesh     |
|       3 | Shimla          | Himachal Pradesh  |
|       4 | Aurangabad      | Maharashtra       |
|       5 | Patna           | Bihar             |
|       6 | Buxar           | Bihar             |
|       7 | Muzaffarpur     | Bihar             |
|       8 | Kurukshetra     | Haryana           |
|       9 | Ropar           | Punjab            |
|      10 | Haridwar        | Uttarakhand       |
|      11 | Bikaner         | Rajasthan         |
|      12 | Tezpur          | Assam             |
|      13 | Bhubaneswar     | Odisha            |
|      14 | Calicut         | Kerala            |
|      15 | Guwahati        | Assam             |
|      16 | Itanagar        | Arunachal Pradesh |
|      17 | Srinagar        | J&K               |
|      18 | Jammu           | J&K               |
|      19 | Ranchi          | Jharkhand         |
|      20 | Imphal          | Manipur           |
|      21 | Gangtok         | Sikkim            |
|      22 | Agartala        | Tripura           |
|      23 | Aizawl          | Mizoram           |
|      24 | Shillong        | Meghalaya         |
|      25 | Kohima          | Nagaland          |
|      26 | Leh             | Ladakh            |
|      27 | Silchar         | Assam             |

## APPENDIX II

## The details of the selected projects under 'Safe & Trusted AI' Pillar are as under:

| NAME OF THE THEME                  | SELECTED APPLICANT                                                                | TITLE OF THE PROJECT                                                                                                                                                              |
|------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Machine Unlearning                 | IIT Jodhpur                                                                       | Machine Unlearning in Generative Foundation Models                                                                                                                                |
| Synthetic Data Generation          | IIT Roorkee                                                                       | Design and Development of Method for Generating Synthetic Data for Mitigating Bias in Datasets; and Framework for Mitigating Bias in Machine Learning Pipeline for Responsible AI |
| AI Bias Mitigation Strategy        | National Institute of Technology Raipur                                           | Development of Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Bias Mitigation in Health Care Systems                                                                                     |
| Explainable AI Framework           | DIAT Pune and Mindgraph Technology Pvt. Ltd.                                      | Enabling Explainable and Privacy Preserving AI for Security                                                                                                                       |
| Privacy Enhancing Strategy         | IIT Delhi, IIIT Delhi, IIT Dharwad and Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC) | Robust Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning Models                                                                                                                                 |
| AI Ethical Certification Framework | IIIT Delhi and Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC)                         | Tools for assessing fairness of AI model                                                                                                                                          |
| AI Algorithm Auditing Tool         | Civic Data Labs                                                                   | ParakhAI - An open-source framework and toolkit for Participatory Algorithmic Auditing                                                                                            |
| AI Governance Testing Framework    | Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC)         | Track-LLM, Transparency, Risk Assessment, Context & Knowledge for Large Language Models                                                                                           |

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