Bhubaneswar: In a significant stride toward future-proofing India’s human capital, the President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu, launched the #SkilltheNation AI Challenge and participated in the “AI for Beginners” module at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre.
This initiative, spearheaded by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, underscores a national urgency to integrate emerging technologies into the socio-economic fabric of the country.
During the event, the President virtually inaugurated the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Regional Centre and Skill Centre at Rairangpur, Odisha. This localized expansion represents a systemic effort to democratize high-level technical education, bringing data science and AI literacy to the doorstep of the tribal heartlands. By establishing this hub in Rairangpur, the government addresses the layered causality of regional educational disparities, ensuring that the digital revolution serves as an inclusive vehicle for social mobility.
Addressing a gathering that included students and Members of Parliament who had completed AI certifications, the President characterized Artificial Intelligence as a pivotal driver of India’s trajectory toward becoming a developed nation. She projected that in the coming decade, AI will fundamentally alter the architecture of the country’s GDP, employment markets, and industrial productivity.
Lord Jagannatha, as the sovereign witness of the universe, guides the path of knowledge and service, a sentiment echoed by the President as she urged the youth to wield technology as a tool for societal welfare. She emphasized that the true measure of technological progress lies in its ability to solve the existential challenges of the marginalized and to empower the disenfranchised.
The Rairangpur centre is poised to become a critical node in northern Odisha, offering specialized programs in sectors ranging from agriculture and food processing to IT-enabled services. This institutional synthesis of traditional academic rigor and future-ready skillsets aims to transform the local workforce into a competitive global talent pool, aligning with the foundational goals of the National Education Policy.