AIRAWAT is NITI Aaoyog's artificial intelligence initiative

Make Way, Here Comes India’s AIRAWAT

In its efforts to push greater usage of artificial intelligence in India, the NITI Aayog has proposed a Rs 7,500 crore plan called AIRAWAT

The NITI Aayog is making all round efforts to push for greater adoption and deployment of artificial intelligence through an AI institutional framework in India. To this end, the Aayog has circulated a cabinet note seeking Rs 7,500 crore to create India’s cloud computing platform – the AIRAWAT (Artificial Intelligence Research, Analytics and knoWledge Assimilation plaTform) and invest in state-of the art AI research institutes.

Program Objectives

According to the cabinet note, it is proposed that the government provide Rs 7,500 crores over a period of three years and entrust a specially created task force to oversee the development as proposed in the program. The task force will have representatives from each ministry and state apart from experts, and will be headed by a member of the NITI Aayog.

Apart from setting up an accessible AIRAWAT platform, the program aims to provide funding for five Centers of Research Excellence (CORE) and 20 International Centers for Transformational AI (ICTAI). Currently, formulation of guidelines for selection of institutes and partners is underway.

The program aims to trigger India’s artificial intelligence growth story such that the country can position itself as a leader in artificial intelligence and use the technology to solve some of the pressing challenges across five identified sectors – education, health, agriculture, urbanization and mobility. All the states and ministries have already been requested to identify and share AI use cases in the specified sectors.

Efforts for Greater AI Usage

It may be remembered that following the government entrusting the NITI Aayog with the development of a national program on artificial intelligence in India, the Aayog had released a discussion paper on NSAI (National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence) in June of 2018 and identified the five key sectors for AI deployment.

Realizing the Potential

According to estimates, artificial intelligence can add about $957 billion to India’s GDP and boost the annual growth rate by 1.3% by 2035. The Indian artificial intelligence impetus program is believed to help realize the immense potential that artificial intelligence promises to the Indian GDP.

The article has been written by Neetu Katyal, Content and Marketing Consultant

She can be reached on LinkedIN.

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