11-Sep-2018: NITI Aayog, Intel and TIFR collaborate to set up a Model International Center for Transformative AI (ICTAI)
NITI Aayog, Intel, and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) announced on 7th September that they are collaborating to set up a Model International Center for Transformative Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI) towards developing and deploying AI-led application-based research projects. This initiative is part of NITI Aayog’s ‘National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence’ Discussion Paper that focuses on establishing ICTAI in the country through private sector collaboration.
Based in Bengaluru, the Model ICTAI aims to conduct advanced research to incubate AI-led solutions in three important areas – healthcare, agriculture and smart mobility – by bringing together the expertise of Intel and TIFR. It aims to experiment, discover and establish best practices in the domains of ICTAI governance, fundamental research, physical infrastructure, compute and service infrastructure needs, and talent acquisition.
Through this collaborative effort, the model ICTAI is chartered to develop AI foundational frameworks, tools and assets, including curated datasets and unique AI algorithms. The intent is to develop standards and support policy development related to information technology such as data-storage, information security, privacy, and ethics for data capture and use. The model Centre also plans to develop AI foundational technologies to promote applied research that can scale for national impact and will lead to the creation of a vibrant and self-sustaining ecosystem.
Another key area of its focus will be collaboration with industry leaders, startups, and AI services and product companies to productize technologies and IP that are developed at the model ICTAI. And finally, the goal is to support skilling and talent development for world-class AI talent.
The learning and best practices developed through this model ICTAI will be used by NITI Aayog to set up the future ICTAIs across country.
Anna Roy, Advisor, NITI Aayog, said “NITI Aayog had recommended ICTAIs for applied research in AI in the National Strategy Paper. Private sector collaboration is deemed to be essential in making fundamental research get adopted for solving actual problems India faces, especially in the five sectors identified in the paper – Healthcare, Agriculture, Education, Smart cities and Mobility. This collaboration with TIFR and Intel will help us experiment and establish the foundational governance practices required to enable such applied research institutions succeed in the long term.”
Nivruti Rai, Country Head, Intel India, & Vice President, Data Center Group, said, “Artificial Intelligence is going to be a transformative driver of economic growth and social progress, and Intel’s vision is to drive human-centric AI to benefit humanity in an inclusive manner. In India, through the AI-for-All initiative, we aim to deliver the twin goals of solving hard problems of humanity, and helping India achieve its vision of global AI leader, by bringing together a rich ecosystem of research, innovation, technology development and deployment. We take immense pride in being the Industry lead along with NITI Aayog and TIFR, and I believe the model ICTAI will pave the way for application-based AI research and solutions needed in India for critical domains such as healthcare, agriculture, and smart mobility.”
Professor Sandip Trivedi, Director TIFR, said, "This collaboration is a very exciting beginning where we plan to bring fundamental and applied research, innovation and technology development together to solve important problems facing our nation with potentially transformative effects on society. There are also a number of important issues related to ethics, privacy, etc., that AI and related technologies raise which are important to address. TIFR is excited to be in this collaboration; this center will be an important role model for future partnerships between industry, academia and government, which are the need of the hour in our country today.”
10-Aug-2018: Central Silk Board Notifies Recently Developed Races of Silk Worm Seed
Central Silk Board (CSB) has notified recently developed races of silkworm seed of mulberry and Vanya silk for increasing the productivity of cocoons and to increase the income of the farmers engaged in sericulture. Silk worm breeds for specific Agro-climatic condition are essential for increasing the productivity of cocoons.
Tropical Tasar Silkworm (BDR-10)race developed by the CSB have 21% more productivity than the traditional Daba breed. Farmers can get upto 52 kg cocoons per 100 disease free laying (dfls). This silkworm breed will help the tribal farmers of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
Multivoltine x Bivoltine Mulberry hybrid(PM x FC2)race of silkworm can produce 60 kg per 100 Dfls and the race is better than earlier race PM x CSR. Due to high quality silk and significant egg recovery, this race is suitable for the farmers of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Maharashtra.
Eri Silkworm (C2)race has been found better than local breed and it can produce 247 numbers of Eri cocoons per 100 Dfls. This race is suitable for the farmers in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
The recently notified silkworm races will improve the income of the farmers by its enhanced productivity and quality. Central Silk Board under the Ministry of Textiles is engaged in applied research developing new breeds of races of silkworm seed and conducts extensive field trial before commercial use in the field.
4-May-2018: Government launches National Water Informatics Centre.
Consequent upon approval of the Cabinet, National Water Informatics Centre (NWIC) has recently been created by Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation at New Delhi vide notification dated 28th March 2018. NWIC would be a repository of nation-wide water resources data and would work as a Subordinate Office under the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. The centre would be headed by a Joint Secretary level officer.
The management of water resources is a highly complex and tedious task that involves expertise of multidisciplinary domains and depend on historical and real time reliable data and information. For this, the first requirement is to develop, maintain and update regularly a comprehensive “Water Resources Information System” (WRIS) in public domain for awareness and involvement of all concerned for effective integrated water resources management. This is also prerequisite for scientific assessment, monitoring, modelling and Decision Support System (DSS) and Integrated water resource Management. In this back drop NWIC is expected to provide a ‘Single Window’ source of updated data on water resources & allied themes; and provides value added products and services to all stake holders for its management and sustainable development.
To empower, inform and enrich every citizen with upto date and reliable water data (other than classified data) and information through web based India Water Resources Information System (India-WRIS) on a GIS platform in Public Domain; and to develop value added products and services for all aspects of integrated water resources management serving the nation through research, capacity building, linkages, outreach and better governance in water resources sector.
Besides the centre will also collaborate with leading research institutes nationally as well as internationally to provide technical support to other central and state organizations dealing with water, emergency response for hydrological extremes.