India Launches AI Skilling Programme to Train One Million Youth

The Union IT and Information and Broadcasting Ministry launched an AI skilling programme in Jaipur, Rajasthan on January 6, 2026 to provide AI skilling to one million youths across the country.

• Union IT and Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw launched an AI skilling programme on January 6, 2026 to provide AI skilling to one million youths across the country. He inaugurated this programme while virtually addressing an Artificial Intelligence conference held in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
• Mr. Vaishnaw said that within one year, under this initiative, ten lakh youths and small entrepreneurs will acquire AI skills. Vaishnaw also mentioned Stanford University’s latest AI Index, which has placed India among the top three AI countries along with China and the USA.
• He said that Artificial Intelligence, AI, is emerging as a transformative force in areas such as healthcare, education, agriculture, manufacturing, governance and infrastructure. He said that AI is not just the technology of the future, but a powerful tool that is already reshaping human life and ways of working.
• Mr. Vaishnaw announced that the Global AI Impact Summit will be held next month in New Delhi. He said that the AI Impact Summit, which has earlier been held in the UK, South Korea and France, is being held in India this time.
• He further said that under the preparations for the Global AI Summit, regional AI summits are being organized in all the states of the country. Mr. Vaishnaw said that recently many such summits were held in Meghalaya and Odisha, and a similar summit was also held in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
• Mr. Vaishnaw said that about 70 billion dollars of investment is being made in AI in India, which is a very big investment. This India AI Mission includes many new experiments, new applications and new technology development projects.
• Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma was also present at this programme. On this occasion, the Rajasthan AI-ML Policy 2026 was also unveiled.
• World Youth Skills Day, which was declared by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in the year 2014, is celebrated every year on 15 July to highlight the strategic importance of providing skills to youth.

Major skill development missions

• Skill India Mission - It was started to provide skill training, re-skilling and up-skilling to the youth of India. On 15 July, 2025, 10 years of the Skill India Mission were completed. This mission was launched in the year 2015 on the occasion of World Youth Skills Day.
• Rural Self Employment and Training Institutes (RSETIs): These are bank-run residential training centres which provide entrepreneurship development to rural youth.
• Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY): Started under NRLM in the year 2014, it targets rural youth unemployment through demand-based, placement-linked skill training.
• Pradhan Mantri Vishwakarma Yojana: Launched on 17 September, 2023, this scheme provides assistance to traditional artisans and craftsmen engaged in 18 identified trades (such as carpenter, potter, blacksmith).
• Centres of Excellence in NSTIs: These centres started in Hyderabad and Chennai in the year 2025 aim to focus on advanced training and skill development of trainers in Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and green technologies. They strengthen the capacity of skill development at the national level.