Monday, February 16, 2026
News

India can lead globally by aligning AI adoption with mass employability through education reform: CEA Nageswaran

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend    Print this Page   COMMENT

New Delhi | February 16, 2026 10:50:43 AM IST
Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Monday emphasised that India can be one of the largest societies where machine learning and human abundance can reinforce, rather than undermine, each other.

 

Speaking at the "Future of Employability and AI" session of the AI Impact Summit 2026,Nageswaran asserted that the change will not happen by accident but will require political will, state capacity, and national commitment to align technological adoption with mass employability. He also stressed on the importance of a joint effort into the matter, adding that which should include the private sector, acadamics and the policy makers.

"India can become the first large society where human abundance and machine intelligence reinforce, and not undermine, each other. This will not happen by drift; this will require an urgent say. It will require political will, it will require state capacity, and it will require a clear national commitment to aligning technological adoption with mass employability. It has to be a Team India effort, including the private sector and academics, as well as policy makers. The window is still open, but it is not indefinite," Nageswaran said.

Nageswaran further said that from India''s perspective, the debate is not related to future of work, but it is a decision about the future of growth, social stability, and cohesion. He also highlighted the importance of change and reform in education, pedagogy, and the delivery of foundational skills.

"For India, this is not a debate about the future of work; it is a decision about the future of growth, social stability, and cohesion. We must act, and act now. The first step begins with the reform of our education, pedagogy, and the teaching and imparting of foundational skills. That is where the path to co-creating prosperity with AI and employability in the age of AI begins, and that is where the path begins," said Nageswaran.

Meanwhile, Founder Chairman and CEO of Sampark Foundation and former CEO of HCL Technologies, Vineet Nayyar, pressed on the importance of creating employment in the Indian IT industry while emphasising its profit-driven mindset. He stated that employment can only be generated from mass-scale startups, which is currently being done by the government.

"From an employment point of view I think it is very important for us to understand that Indian companies, including Indian IT companies, are going to be profit-driven and therefore if you believe that they are going to create employment you must be dreaming. Therefore, the question is how do we create employment in this environment, and that employment comes from mass scale startups, which is what this government has already doing," Nayyar said.

He said Indian citizens should be very careful about their data, asserting that LLM models worldwide are far superior to Indian models. He further mentioned that India needs radical strategic thinking for the complete development of the LLM model, adding that otherwise India would lose its data.

"So, how do we create new sets of people who are trying to solve new sets of problems not new sets of technology and if we do that we will get it right. I think we as Indians have to be very careful on who does data belong to and that is the debate we have a problem with. The LLM models which exist worldwide are far superior than the Indian models. Unfortunately, in India, we never develop products, so therefore we do not have SLMs and LLMs which are world-class. On one side, we have global LLM products which are coming to India and trading on our Indian data. Should we allowed that or should we not allowed that? But on the other side if we don''t allow that then we have the data but we don''t have the LLM models. So, how do we encourage technology completely to develop the LLM models. This needs radicals strategic thinking and a very important aspect otherwise we will either give up a data," Nayyar said.

The AI Impact Summit which kicked off on Monday in New Delhi will welcome world leaders from across 20 countries, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Lula da Silva, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and others. UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres will also attend the event. (ANI)

 
  LATEST COMMENTS (0)
POST YOUR COMMENT
Comments Not Available
 
POST YOUR COMMENT
 
 
TRENDING TOPICS
 
 
CITY NEWS
MORE CITIES
 
 
INDIA WORLD ASIA
Court defers order on ED's plea for conf...
AAP slams Modi govt over alleged abuse o...
'To truly make India an AI service provi...
'His usual rhetoric, incoherent speech, ...
'Not party's view, he is not in Congress...
Assam CM says 'Grim' future for Congress...
More...    
 
 Top Stories
'sa Ladakh Biennale' announces worl... 
J-K Police busts Rs 209 crore onlin... 
Shiromani Akali Dal slams AAP gover... 
Somnath Trust presents Rs 1.08 cror... 
JEE Main 2026 Session 1 results dec... 
Assam political stir: Bhupen Borah ... 
Rajnath Singh pushes for self-relia... 
4 individuals identified in Rohit S...