Rama Krishna Sangem
The IndiaAI Mission, MeitY in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad on January 16, Friday hosted the Working Group Meeting on Inclusion for Social Empowerment at the IIT Hyderabad campus. The meeting convened senior policymakers, academic leaders, industry experts and researchers to advance national deliberations on inclusive AI development, societal adoption of AI and equitable access to AI-driven opportunities.
The Meeting is a precursor to the India AI Impact Summit 2026, scheduled to be held in New Delhi from 16–20 February 2026, and is part of the series of Working Group consultations being organised across the country to inform the Summit’s thematic agenda and outcomes, said a press release from IIT Hyderabad.
The inaugural session featured addresses by the Indian chair of the Working Group, Rajesh Aggarwal, Chief Secretary, Government of Maharashtra; Ambassador Thomas Schneider, Director, Federal Office for Communications, Switzerland; Prof. B.S. Murty, Director, IIT Hyderabad; Dr. Nalin Kumar Srivastava, Additional Director, AI & ET Division, MeitY; and Ch. Bharath Reddy, Joint Director (e-Governance.
AI model for India
Government of Telangana. The speakers emphasised the importance of embedding inclusion, trust and societal context at the core of India’s AI journey. This workshop is part of Government of India’s efforts to promote an indigenous AI model that can suit our conditions, and to avoid depending on those developed by either the US or China. Narendra Modi led government is prioritizing and AI model that can serve not just Indian but Global South needs.
Welcoming the participants, Prof. B.S. Murty, Director, IIT Hyderabad, highlighted, “If India truly aspires to lead in AI, we must take bold steps. AI has to be interdisciplinary, bringing together engineering, materials science, liberal arts, and beyond. From strong fundamentals to real-world applications, our focus must be on improving lives, while also addressing the challenges of responsible and acceptable AI.”