Latest news with #India-centric
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
India's IT ecosystem employs over 6 million people: Govt
New Delhi, India has a strong information technology ecosystem which generates annual revenues of more than $250 billion and provides employment to more than 6 million people, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Global rankings such as Stanford AI rankings place India among the top countries in AI skills, capabilities, and policies to use AI. India is also the second-largest contributor to GitHub AI projects, showcasing its vibrant developer community, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Jitin Prasada said in a written reply in Lok Sabha. He pointed out that India's AI strategy is based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to democratise the use of technology. It aims to address India-centric challenges, create economic and employment opportunities for all Indians. India's AI strategy aims to position India as a global leader in artificial intelligence. The government launched the IndiaAI mission in March 2024. It is a strategic initiative to establish a robust and inclusive AI ecosystem aligned with India's development goals. The minister highlighted the seven-pillar strategy that the government is implementing under the IndiaAI Mission, which includes IndiaAI Compute Capacity aimed at providing high-end compute power (GPUs) to all, including MSMEs and startups, at an affordable cost. IndiaAI Foundation Models project has also been launched to develop India's Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) trained on Indian datasets and languages. This is to ensure sovereign capability and global competitiveness in generative AI. To develop large datasets for training AI models, AIKosh has been developed as a unified data platform integrating datasets from government and non-government sources. IndiaAI Application Development Initiative has also been launched to develop AI applications for India-specific challenges in sectors such as climate change and disaster management, healthcare, agriculture, governance, and assistive technologies for learning disabilities. IndiaAIFutureSkills project has been rolled out to develop AI-skilled professionals in India by increasing the number of graduates, post-graduates and PhDs in the AI domain. It also envisions setting up Data and AI Labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India. IndiaAI Startup Financing has been set up to provide financial assistance to AI start-ups. Besides, the Government is laying emphasis on safe and trusted AI to balance innovation with strong governance frameworks to ensure responsible AI adoption, the minister added.
Hans India
6 days ago
- Business
- Hans India
India's IT ecosystem employs over 6 million people: Govt
New Delhi: India has a strong information technology ecosystem which generates annual revenues of more than $250 billion and provides employment to more than 6 million people, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Global rankings such as Stanford AI rankings place India among the top countries in AI skills, capabilities, and policies to use AI. India is also the second-largest contributor to GitHub AI projects, showcasing its vibrant developer community, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Jitin Prasada said in a written reply in Lok Sabha. He pointed out that India's AI strategy is based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to democratise the use of technology. It aims to address India-centric challenges, create economic and employment opportunities for all Indians. India's AI strategy aims to position India as a global leader in artificial intelligence. The government launched the IndiaAI mission in March 2024. It is a strategic initiative to establish a robust and inclusive AI ecosystem aligned with India's development goals. The minister highlighted the seven-pillar strategy that the government is implementing under the IndiaAI Mission, which includes IndiaAI Compute Capacity aimed at providing high-end compute power (GPUs) to all, including MSMEs and startups, at an affordable cost. IndiaAI Foundation Models project has also been launched to develop India's Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) trained on Indian datasets and languages. This is to ensure sovereign capability and global competitiveness in generative AI. To develop large datasets for training AI models, AIKosh has been developed as a unified data platform integrating datasets from government and non-government sources. IndiaAI Application Development Initiative has also been launched to develop AI applications for India-specific challenges in sectors such as climate change and disaster management, healthcare, agriculture, governance, and assistive technologies for learning disabilities. IndiaAIFutureSkills project has been rolled out to develop AI-skilled professionals in India by increasing the number of graduates, post-graduates and PhDs in the AI domain. It also envisions setting up Data and AI Labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India. IndiaAI Startup Financing has been set up to provide financial assistance to AI start-ups. Besides, the Government is laying emphasis on safe and trusted AI to balance innovation with strong governance frameworks to ensure responsible AI adoption, the minister added.
The Hindu
20-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
‘A useful tool': annual share of abstentions in India's U.N. votes at all-time high
An increasingly polarised world has led to India altering its voting strategy at the United Nations in such a way that the proportion of abstentions every year has increased while the 'yes' votes have reduced, an analysis has found. According to former diplomats, this rise in the share of abstentions could in fact help India establish its own position on various issues. An analysis by The Hindu of more than 5,500 different resolutions in the United Nations that India voted on between 1946 and June 2025 shows that the annual percentage of 'yes' votes by India has fallen to 56%, the lowest since 1955. On the other hand, the annual percentage of abstentions has increased to 44%, the highest share in India's history at the U.N. The data also show that this change in voting patterns began around 2019. India's voting pattern remained volatile until the late 1960s, with the percentage of annual 'yes' votes swinging between 20% and 100% during this period. The percentage of abstentions also fluctuated between 0% and 40% during this period. The subsequent 25 years — between around 1970 and 1994 — saw the magnitude of this volatility decrease substantially. The percentage of annual 'yes' votes during this period ranged between a low of 74% and a high of 96%. Annual abstentions, too, ranged between 8% and 19% during this period. Between the mid-1990s and 2019, India's voting patterns in the U.N. became even more stable, with the share of 'yes' votes ranging between 75% and 83%. The share of abstentions ranged between 10% and 17%. According to former representatives to the U.N., the increase in abstentions is simultaneously a reflection of an increasingly polarised world, as well as a reflection of the fact that U.N. resolutions have become much more complicated. 'Abstentions a useful tool' 'This may best be looked at through a much wider lens than merely an India-centric one to better understand the pattern,' T.S. Tirumurti, former Permanent Representative of India to the U.N., explained. 'It is probably a reflection of greater polarisation between major powers in the U.N. This has resulted in a lesser incentive to make compromises by either side to strive hard for a consensus resolution, which was the case a decade or so earlier.' In such a context, Mr. Tirumurti further said, abstentions also provide emerging and middle powers like India the opportunity to express themselves more freely, rather than merely going along with the consensus or voting against it. Voting for or against a resolution has also become more fraught now because they have become very complicated, according to Syed Akbaruddin, former Permanent Representative of India in the U.N. 'Previously, resolutions used to be clear and focused on one topic,' he explained. 'What happens now is that contested resolutions are becoming like Christmas trees, where several different aspects and provisions are hung on the same resolution. So, there are situations where we might agree with most of the provisions of a resolution but not with some. In such situations, we cannot vote 'yes' or 'no', and so abstention is a useful tool.'
Hans India
13-07-2025
- Science
- Hans India
Subhanshu Shukla donning role of space farmer in ISS exciting
Special Indian menu for Indian astronauts travelling to space. Sounds interesting. After all, like all of us travelling abroad and craving for Indian food, the Indian astronauts in future too will like to satiate their craving for Indian food, while in space. Let's get ready. Indian astronaut Subhanshu Shukla's experiment with cultivating green gram (moong) and fenugreek (methi) in microgravity during the mission to International Space Station (ISS) marks the initial steps to prepare for longer missions for Indian astronauts. Food being an essential requirement, even travelers to space in future will prefer salads that satiate the Indian taste bud. To see Subhanshu Shukla donning the role of a space farmer in the ISS therefore is exciting. 'I am so proud that ISRO has been able to collaborate with national institutions all over the country and come up with some fantastic research which I am doing on the state for all the scientists and researchers. It is exciting and a joy to do this,' says a visibly thrilled Shukla. He was speaking to the Axiom Space Chief Scientist, as quoted in the media. I can gauge the excitement that the Indian astronaut is coming out with. Although the experiment he has undertaken in space is part of the India-centric space research aimed at developing food vegetable salads that meets the taste and nutrition requirements of the Indian aeronauts in future, the seed samples will eventually returned to India and go in for long-term research to examine changes in their genetics, microbial ecosystem, and nutrition profile, says an Axiom press release. In another experiment, Shukla also laid out experiments with microalgae to know of their potential to 'produce food, oxygen and even biofuels. Their resilience and versatility make them ideal for supporting human life on long-duration missions.' 'Right from doing stem cell research and looking at the effect of microgravity on seeds, evaluating the cognitive load on astronauts while they are interacting with screens on board the station. It has been fantastic. I feel proud to be this kind of bridge between the researchers and the station and do the research on behalf of them, said a beaming Shukla abroad the station. He certainly has every reason to be proud of what he has done abroad the space station. While Shukla has all the reasons to be proud of his accomplishments as a farmer in space, he is left with no worries if he was to be told that cultivating crops in space or on Earth is relatively easy, but the real problem only begins when the crop is harvested and taken to mandis. Indian vegetable farmers often face unexpected price fall during marketing of their crops. A sudden price crash in the market pushes many vegetable farmers into a severe distress. Nor do I expect the astronaut, during his return back home, to unnecessarily start worrying about the market price slump that farmers face once the harvest of vegetables and fruits is complete. Of course, it is none of his job to care about the price crash that farmers are often faced with forcing many of them to throw their produce, but somehow, I feel it will great if he can take out time and visit the mandis upon his return, and see for himself the plight and suffering that farmers undergo. His words about what he sees may help draw the nation to the human sufferings on the farm. A celebrity status helps being a voice for where the attention is lacking. The media will go agog with his visit to mandis and his words in sympathy will become talking points. Nevertheless, National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA) is known to have established a Space Food System Laboratory at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston. It was in 2006 that an official newsletter 'NASA Facts' explained the reasons behind setting up a space food laboratory. The newsletter is very revealing. For any student, it should come as an eye-opener. For instance, it says: 'John Glenn, America's first man to eat anything in near-weightlessness environment of Earth Orbit, found the task of eating fairly easy, but the menu limited.' Most astronauts who followed, found the food served in space, to be unappetizing and quite bland. Subsequently, when Skylab came, which obviously had more storage capacity, an elaborate 72 different kinds of different food items were served. At present, astronauts abroad the space station are served 200 different kinds of food items. I am not sure how sumptuous is the food spread for astronauts in space, but it is quite an elaborate menu from which the astronauts can pick depending on their personal preferences and liking. Since water has to be squeezed out while packing the foods in a shuttle, it can be added just prior to consumption. Most processed foods are kept freeze dried and also dry keeping the limitation of adequate storage in space stations. But over the past few years, space stations have begun to grow vegetables in what is called 'veggie gardens' for ensuring fresh supply of greens. Some experts believe that as the world begins to prepare for the Mars Mission, besides the salad crops, research will move to growing potatoes, sweet potatoes, wheat and soybean. This brings me to the issue of genetically modified crops. Now, before you say what is the correlation between GM crops and space foods, I must explain that during the time when the debate over the risks associated with GM crops was at its peak, that was sometime in the mid-2000s, I received an interesting email. This was in connection with sustainable livelihoods and food sovereignty that many of us were very vocal about. The email I received went something like this. Why are you opposed to GM crops, the sender asked me. What is wrong if food is produced by GM technology without the use of land or farmers? He then elaborated on the possibility of depending on GM foods for global food supplies in the years to come. And then after putting it all down, he introduced himself. 'I am leading the work in NASA on producing food in space for astronauts. If we can do it in space, we can also do it on Earth.' Eventually, he signed off the email, saying: 'We can request World Bank to subsidise food farming in space.' Well, I had to explain to how important it was to sustain farm livelihoods. And why it was important to let farmers produce food for the millennia. Perhaps it is the same kind of thinking that the film The Martian is based on. 'The Martian movie and book conveyed a lot of issues regarding growing food surviving on a planet far from Earth,' said NASA plant physiologist Ray Wheeler, who works at the Kennedy Research Centre. Very true, but the catch word is growing food on a planet far from Earth. But just because we can grow food in space or on Mars does not mean we have to do it on Earth. Let's continue with the romance of cultivating food and consuming what we grow here, on the Earth itself. (The author is a noted food policy analyst and an expert on issues related to the agriculture sector. He writes on food, agriculture and hunger)
India Gazette
12-07-2025
- Business
- India Gazette
SRMIST hosts the International Conference on 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing Technologies (ICEPAM 2025)
HT Syndication Chengalpattu (Tamil Nadu) [India], July 12: The Department of Mechanical Engineering at SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST), in collaboration with the Additive Manufacturing Society of India, inaugurated the International Conference on 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing Technologies (ICEPAM 2025) today at its Kattankulathur campus in Chengalpattu District, Tamil Nadu. Welcoming the participants, Vice Chancellor of SRMIST, Prof C. Muthamizhchelvan stated, 'Students need to create new knowledge by growing and learning beyond classrooms. Technology is meant to help not just the privileged but also our country's large rural base.' The two-day international conference and exhibition, being held on 11th and 12th July 2025, brings together global experts, academicians, researchers, and industry professionals to exchange insights and advancements in the field of 3D printing and additive manufacturing. The chief guest for the event Dr. Vijay Kumar Saraswat, Chancellor JNU and member of NITI Aayog, graced the occasion with his take on the importance of building indigenously enabled technology. 'Additive manufacturing holds transformative potential across sectors from healthcare and aerospace to automotive and consumer products. It is set to redefine the way we design, produce, and innovate,' said Dr. Vijay Kumar Saraswat during his inaugural address. He encouraged young innovators and engineers to embrace the power of digital fabrication and contribute to India's self-reliance in advanced manufacturing technologies. ICEPAM 2025 is set to showcase cutting-edge research, live demonstrations, and a platform for networking among stakeholders driving the future of manufacturing. The event underscores SRMIST's commitment to fostering innovation, industry collaboration, and academic excellence, reinforcing its role as a leading institution in science and technology education and research. ABOUT SRMIST SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST) is a multidisciplinary university recognised with an A++ accreditation by NAAC and classified as a Category I university with 12B status by UGC/MoE. In the 2024 NIRF rankings, SRMIST secured the 12th position nationally and holds a global '4 Star' rating from QS, along with the India-centric QS IGAUGE Diamond rating. Driven by a commitment to academic excellence, research innovation, and global outlook, SRMIST-KTR has emerged as one of India's most vibrant knowledge ecosystems. With over 500 active labs, 270+ crore in external funding, 600+ funded projects, and more than 53,000 research publications, SRMIST is a research-intensive institution. For more information, visit For more information, please write to: Devadeep Konwar, Director - Communications Email: [email protected] (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by HT Syndication. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
