Report on artificial intelligence for India's defence filed
New Delhi, June 30: The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Task Force of the Ministry of Defence led by Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran on Saturday submitted its final report to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on using AI for military superiority.
"The Task Force handed over the final report to Raksha Mantri Nirmala Sitharaman to accept it and to implement its recommendations," the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
The Task Force was constituted in February 2018 to study the strategic implications of AI in national security perspective and in global context. It is a multi-stakeholder group comprising members from government, services, academia, industry and start-ups.
"AI has the potential to have transformative impact on national security. It is also seen that AI is essentially a dual use technology. While it can fuel technology driven economic growth, it also has potential to provide military superiority," the statement said.
The government wants to leverage the country's strong IT industry and huge talent pool of engineers. The ministry has initiated the process of preparing Indian defence forces in their use of AI and how these capabilities can be increasingly developed within the country.
The report, which studied the level of AI or machine learning (ML) development in India mainly in context of defence needs, suggested making India a significant power of AI in defence specifically in the area of aviation, naval, land systems, cyber, nuclear and biological warfare.
It made recommendations for policy and institutional interventions that are required to regulate and encourage a robust AI based technologies for defence sector in the country.
Considering that most AI work is happening in private sector, it made recommendations to work with start-ups and commercial industry in the field of use of AI for defence purposes, the release said.
As part of its deliberations, the Task Force had an intensive deliberations with all stakeholder representatives including officers from Army, Navy, Airforce, Coast Guard, representatives of all Defence PSUs, namely BEL, HAL, BEML, BDL, MIDHANI, MDL, GRSE, GSL and HSL and OFB.
Defence Minister is the main promoter and patron of the AI Task Force.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Mamata again writes to PM Modi on Bengal flood, says her govt not consulted on water release by DVC
Kolkata (PTI): Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote another letter to PM Narendra Modi on the flood situation in West Bengal, maintaining that Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) released water from its reservoirs without consulting her government, inundating several districts.
Responding to Banerjee's earlier letter to the PM, Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Paatil had said the state's officials were informed at every stage about the release of water from DVC reservoirs, which was essential to prevent a major disaster.
Banerjee said, "While the hon'ble minister claims that the release from DVC dams was carried out by consensus and collaboration with the Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee, including consultations with representatives of the government of West Bengal, I may respectfully disagree."
"All the critical decisions are made unilaterally by representatives of the Central Water Commission, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India without arriving at a consensus," she said.
Banerjee claimed that sometimes water is released without any notice to the state government and the views of her government are not honoured.
"Moreover peak release from the reservoirs lasting for a prolonged period of nine hours were conducted with only 3.5 hours notice which proved insufficient for effective disaster management," she said in the letter dated September 21, which was made public on Sunday.
In her letter to PM Modi on September 20, she claimed that 5 million people in the state were affected by the floods, and urged him to immediately sanction and release central funds to address the widespread devastation.
In his letter, Paatil addressed the chief minister's concerns about the flooding caused by the release of water from the DVC reservoirs.
He explained that the releases were managed by the Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee (DVRRC), which includes representatives from the Central Water Commission, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and the DVC.
Paatil clarified that from September 14 to 17, the release of water from the Maithon and Panchet reservoirs was curtailed by 50 per cent at the request of West Bengal officials due to heavy rainfall.
