The Rs 10,372 crore IndiaAI Mission has been kicked off by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology by inviting fifty institutes from NITs and IITs. This is for students undertaking projects in artificial intelligence. This is as per a report by Moneycontrol.
Fellowships to work on AI projects will be reportedly made available to a limited number of students enrolled in B.Tech or M.Tech programs at the top 50 engineering universities, according to the National Institutional Ranking Framework.
Students accepted under the B.Tech course will be provided Rs 1 lakh in three installments by the government. The ministry would finance M.Tech students in four equal installments of Rs 50,000 each, totaling Rs 2 lakh.
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As per a letter addressed to the engineering institutes by Abhishek Singh, CEO of IndiaAI Mission, institutes have been requested to nominate 10 students under each category who are participating in the AI projects, according to the report.
The letter reportedly says, “This fellowship support will supplement existing fellowships and cover the duration of their project: one year for B.Tech students and two years for M.Tech students.”
The IndiaAI Mission received approval from the Cabinet in March this year as a step to encourage the development of AI in the country. Under the IndiaAI Mission, an AI supercomputing infrastructure will be available that can be accessed by start-ups, academia, researchers, and industry.
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As per a government statement, “This substantial financial infusion, slated over the next five years, is poised to catalyze various components of the IndiaAI Mission, including pivotal initiatives like the IndiaAI Compute Capacity, IndiaAI Innovation Centre (IAIC), IndiaAI Datasets Platform, IndiaAI Application Development Initiative, IndiaAI FutureSkills, IndiaAI Startup Financing, and Safe & Trusted AI.”
In terms of the eligibility criteria, B.Tech students must have achieved an overall 80 per cent mark or equivalent grade in the most recent semester. If they don’t have this grade, an explanation is sought from the institute. While M.Tech students should be engaged in postgraduate studies related to AI and should be working on a thesis focused on AI or related topics,.
