One of India’s top technology leaders and Infosysco-founder, Nandan Nilekani, shared an interesting conversation he had with Prime Minister Narendra Modiabout the spread of Artificial Intelligence(AI) in India. Speaking at the AI Impact Summitin New Delhi, Nilekani said he was discussing how AI could be used to help farmers when the Prime Minister suggested that it could also be used for cows and cattle to understand their health.
Nilekani said that when he met the Prime Minister on January 8 and spoke about using AI for farmers, he (PM) said, “Why can’t we apply it to cows and cattle? Because if the cow is sick, it can’t tell you that it is sick.”
“How can you solve this problem? And he gave us his vision of applying AI to agriculture and dairy,” Nilekani said.
From idea to launch in just three weeks
He further revealed that on the same day, the Prime Minister’s Office held a meeting along with officials Krishnan and Abhishek from the Ministry of Information and Technology(MeitY), representatives from Amuland some of his colleagues. According to Nilekani, things moved very quickly. Within three weeks, the application was ready and launched. The meeting took place on January 8 and the app went live on February 11.
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Nilekani pointed out that India has the world’s largest cooperative, Amul, which includes 3.6 million farmers, handles 2 billion milk transactions every year and manages 40 million cattle. He said that today many of these farmers – a large number of them women – are using the ‘Sarlaben’ application. Through this app, they receive real responses about their cattle’s health, pregnancy, milk production and other issues. This, he said, shows how quickly AI is spreading in the country.
“An idea that the PM had on January 8 has become reality on February 11. This to me is an example of the speed of execution of AI diffusion in India. And I get the same sense of excitement that I got on December 30, 2016, when the PM launched the BHIM payment application on UPI,” Nilekani mentioned.
21 billion transactions a month and 500 million users
He added, “And when he launched that application, he started something where today we have 21 billion transactions a month with 500 million users and the world’s largest payment system. I feel the same sense that AI is at that point. And with his leadership and vision of how AI can be used for the benefit of Indians, common man, farmers, workers and so on, I think it’s going to really take off.”
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Nilekani also clarified that the AI system has been designed keeping sovereign data in mind. The data of Amul remains with Amul and the system ensures that all data stays within India.
Speaking about the AI Impact Summit, Nilekani described the event as “fantastic” and said that AI is set to grow rapidly in the country under Prime Minister Modi’s vision of using technology for the benefit of common people, workers, and farmers. |
