Relevance: GS III (Science & Tech – AI) | Source: The Hindu / PIB
1. The Big Picture: A Global South First
India is hosting the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi (Feb 16-20). This is a historic moment because it is the first major global AI summit hosted by a developing nation (Global South).
- The Shift: While Western summits often focus on “Fear” (robots taking over), India’s summit focuses on “Hope”—using AI to solve real human problems like hunger, disease, and poverty.
2. The Plan: 7 Key Goals (Chakras)
To make AI useful for the common man, the summit is built around 7 Themes (Chakras):
- Jobs (Human Capital): Skilling youth so they can thrive in the AI age.
- Inclusion: Using tools like BHASHINI (translation app) so non-English speakers are not left behind.
- Safety: Setting up an institute to test if AI tools are safe before they are released to the public.
- Science: Using AI for breakthroughs, like the new MausamGPT for better weather forecasting.
- Environment: Ensuring AI computers are energy-efficient and don’t harm the planet.
- Cheap Access: Providing powerful computing power (“Compute”) to small startups at subsidized rates (<₹100/hour).
- Growth: Helping critical sectors like Agriculture and Healthcare become more productive.
3. Important Concept: Sovereign AI
The government is pushing for “Sovereign AI.”
- What it means: Just as a country needs its own army and food security, it must own its digital infrastructure (Supercomputers and Data Centers).
- Why: We cannot rely entirely on foreign tech giants (like Google/Microsoft) for critical technology. We must build our own capacity.
UPSC Value Box
| Term / Scheme | Relevance for Prelims |
| India AI Mission | A national mission with an outlay of ₹10,372 crore. Its main goal is to build a robust AI ecosystem in India through 7 pillars, including building 10,000 GPUs of compute capacity and supporting startups. |
| MausamGPT | An indigenous AI tool used by the IMD (Weather Dept) to act as a climate advisor, providing hyper-local forecasts to farmers. |
| AIRAWAT | India’s fastest AI Supercomputer, installed at C-DAC, Pune. It serves as the backbone for our Sovereign AI capabilities. |
With reference to the “India AI Mission,” approved by the Union Cabinet, consider the following statements:
- It aims to establish a computing infrastructure of over 10,000 Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) through public-private partnerships.
- The mission focuses solely on regulating foreign AI companies and does not support domestic startups.
- “AIRAWAT” is the AI supercomputer that forms a key part of India’s sovereign AI infrastructure.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Correct Answer: (b)
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