New Delhi, July 17: In a major push to rural digital empowerment, Union Minister for Railways, Electronics & Information Technology, and Information & Broadcasting, Ashwini Vaishnaw, announced that the Government of India will provide free Artificial Intelligence (AI) training to 5.5 lakh Village-Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) across the country.

Speaking at the 16th foundation day celebration of the Common Services Centre (CSC) in Delhi, the minister said that this initiative is part of the broader IndiaAI Mission, which aims to skill around 10 lakh individuals in AI. “All of you (VLEs) will be given AI training for free. We have set a target under the IndiaAI Mission to skill around 10 lakh people. All 5.5 lakh VLEs will be given preference in that training,” he affirmed.

VLEs, who operate CSCs in nearly 90% of India’s villages, are central to delivering essential digital and government services such as banking, healthcare, education, and e-governance. This new training initiative seeks to enable these grassroots digital champions to become facilitators of AI-based services in their communities.

The IndiaAI Mission was approved by the Union Cabinet in March last year with a budgetary allocation of ₹10,371.92 crore. The programme is designed to democratize access to high-performance computing infrastructure, improve data quality, nurture indigenous AI innovation, and attract AI talent. As of May this year, India’s national AI compute capacity surpassed 34,000 GPUs, providing a shared infrastructure crucial for training foundational AI models tailored to India’s needs.

Vaishnaw also announced that he would personally speak with state chief ministers about merging state-level digital service centres with the national CSC network. The goal is to provide more integrated and efficient services while increasing income-generating opportunities for VLEs.

Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Jitin Prasada, echoed this sentiment, noting that VLEs across the country have demanded a unified CSC network to streamline service delivery and enhance economic prospects.

Today, over 2.5 lakh gram panchayats are covered by more than 5.5 lakh CSCs, each managed by a VLE—a local resident who earns by offering various government-to-citizen (G2C) services. The upcoming AI training programme is expected to significantly enhance the capabilities and income potential of these digital entrepreneurs while catalyzing AI adoption at the grassroots level.