Responding to a Right to Information (RTI) request filed by MediaNama, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) stated that it had “no specific information available on records” regarding any government orders, office memoranda, circulars, or internal communications related to the AI training programme for 10 lakh citizens under the IndiaAI Mission. Moreover, the ministry added that information or documents were not available on the implementation process or on the number of people trained.
For context, in July 2025, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had announced that the government would provide free AI training to 10 lakh citizens under the IndiaAI Mission, with a particular focus on Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs).
Vaishnaw had also stated that all 5.5 lakh VLEs would receive preference in the training rollout. VLEs are local entrepreneurs who operate Common Service Centres (CSCs) and provide last-mile delivery of digital and government-to-citizen services across rural India.
However, since MeitY confirmed that no such records or data existed, the government’s ambitious AI training initiative appears to have remained only at the announcement stage, with no verifiable framework or evidence of execution made public.
AI Skilling In India
At the AI Impact Summit pre-event in September 2025, Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stressed that the government had placed “a big focus on skilling,” noting that AI Data Labs were being established “in diverse locations … by design, not accidental,” to ensure equitable access to emerging technologies.
Likewise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address at the AI Action Summit in Paris in February 2025, underscored the need for AI skilling and re-skilling when speaking about job loss due to AI.
Furthermore, the government’s IndiaAI Mission includes a dedicated FutureSkills pillar aimed at upskilling youth, professionals, and entrepreneurs. Through this, MeitY has planned the creation of AI and Data Labs in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, partnerships with expert partners, and online training modules. Additionally, it supports AI research fellowships at undergraduate and postgraduate levels to strengthen the talent pipeline.
Yet, research reveals persistent structural gaps. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace notes that India’s AI ecosystem continues to suffer from a talent gap and migration. Furthermore, an Observer Research Foundation (ORF) paper finds that rural outreach remains uneven, with “better equipped urban areas benefiting disproportionately while technologically deficient rural areas hardly contribute to the AI labour pool.”
Therefore, while MeitY and the Prime Minister have emphasised AI skilling, and while formal initiatives exist, credible evidence of large-scale, measurable impact remains limited.
Why This Matters
The lack of official records on the AI training programme under the IndiaAI Mission exposes a…
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