AI is all set to shape global competitiveness over the coming decades, promising a strategic advantage to early adopters. As Mukesh Ambani, from Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), said at the RAISE 2020 event, “In the past, nations have competed on physical, financial, human, and intellectual capital. But, in the coming decades, nations will increasingly compete with digital capital.”

Thus, national governments, as well as international organizations, have begun the race to employ AI-targeted policies for leveraging the maximum benefit of this technology. The US had committed to invest around $6 million in AI research and development projects in 2021. Europe is expected to increase its spending on AI by 33% between 2020 and 2023.

India, too, has a unique advantage to harness its enormous digital capital for AI-driven development, which is “bottom-up and inclusive”. As Dr. Arvind Krishna, the CEO of IBM said, “I firmly believe that India can lead the AI technology revolution. India has the world’s largest community of developers, a large start-up ecosystem, and a strong scientific and engineering culture.”

And the Government of India has already embarked on this revolution with organizations like MeitY, NASSCOM, and DRDO having created the roadmap for AI in India. The Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) has already been established for AI-related research and development and the Digital India initiative is reaching its zenith.

The use cases of AI in the government of India currently include biometric identification, facial recognition, criminal investigation, crowd and traffic management, digital agriculture, etc. Let’s explore what other initiatives and strategies have been implemented in India at the governmental level:

The US-India AI Initiative

On 18th March 2021, the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) launched its flagship program, the US-India Artificial Intelligence Initiative. The activity will bring together key stakeholders from India and the USA to foster AI innovation by sharing ideas and experiences, identifying new opportunities in research and development, and bilateral collaboration.

AI Centers of Excellence

Principal Scientific Adviser K Vijay Raghavan declared on 18th March 2021 that the national Artificial Intelligence (AI) Mission will include creating Centres of Excellence (CoE). There will be a National Centre for Transformation AI and this will have a mandate of application-based research. "People have no hesitations on looking at AI in looking at maps or ordering food but it has not become prevalent into decision-making structures, particularly in governments, Central as well as the state. That needs to happen more," he said.

MCA 3.0

In May 2021, The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) recently launched a new version of its portal, MCA 21, version 3.0. It will leverage the use of the latest technologies like data analytics, AI, and ML, to simplify regulatory filings for companies. This was done to promote the ease of doing business and compliance monitoring. “The MCA21 V3.0 will not only improve the existing services and modules, but will also create new functionalities like e-adjudication, compliance management system, advanced helpdesk, feedback services, user dashboards, self-reporting tools, and revamped master data services.”

National Research Foundation

The Government of India constituted the National Research Foundation (NRF) under the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. NRF is an autonomous body established to boost research across segments, including AI. “Fifty thousand crore rupees have been allocated for this. This will strengthen the governance structure of the research related institutions and will improve linkages between R&D, academia, and industry”, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a webinar on 3rd March 2021.

AI in Schools

As part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, AI will now be a part of the Indian school curriculum. “The National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT) has initiated the process for preparing a new national curriculum framework for school education in pursuance of The National Education Policy 2020, during which the introduction of a new artificial intelligence course at a secondary level will be explored.”

Sources of Article

Photo by Studio Art Smile from Pexels

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