Lok Sabha Question No. 2109 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-02
Subject: AI Solution
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Sukanta Majumdar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2109

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 02.08.2023

## AI  SOLUTION

## 2109.   DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR:

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 pre-deployment assessment and if so, whether these reports are available in public domain;
- (c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reason therefor;
- (d) the details of the guiding principles for the implementing Ministry/ Department while developing or deploying AI solutions;
- (e) the details of the SOP for AI solutions/programmes deployed by the different Ministries to ensure safe, fair, transparent, and responsible use of AI solutions; and
- (f) the  measures taken by the Government 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  a  kinetic  enabler  of  the  Trillian-dollar  digital  economy  and  innovation ecosystem.  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. It encompasses 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) and (e): AI is an evolving field. 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.

(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 aur Nyaay.
-  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.
-  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,  etc  which  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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