Parliament Question: COEs in Healthcare and Agriculture Sectors

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3926 ANSWERED ON 18.08.2025 COEs in Healthcare and Agriculture Sectors

3926. Shri B K Parthasarathi:

Shri Bastipati Nagaraju:

Shri Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION

be pleased to state:

(a) the names of the three AI Centres of Excellence (CoEs) that have been selected by the Government in the field of healthcare, agriculture and sustainable cities;

(b) the funds allocated, released and utilized for each of these CoEs;

(c) the initiatives taken/to be taken by these CoEs along with their impact and result;

(d) whether these CoEs can collaborate with other institutions for upscaling the projects that are being implemented; and

(e) if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR)

(a) to (e): The Government has framed the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which aims to promote research and innovation in higher education. It envisages an active role for higher education institutions in conducting research on disruptive technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, to deploy application-based research which addresses challenges in areas such as healthcare and agriculture.

In line with this vision, the Government of India has established three Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in Artificial Intelligence (AI); one each in the areas of healthcare, sustainable cities and agriculture. These AI-CoEs are led by the premier institutions of thenation such as IIT Kanpur, IIT Ropar, and IISc Bangalore. The total budget outlay for the three AI-CoEs is 990 crores.

Each AI-CoE is a consortium of leading academic, research institutions along with industry partners and startups etc. AI-CoEs represent a collaborative effort between the lead institute and other academic institutions such as AIIMS Delhi and Patna, IITs at Delhi, Madras, Bombay, Guwahati, Hyderabad, and Gandhinagar; NITs at Calicut, Meghalaya, and Hamirpur; IIIT Hyderabad; etc.

These CoEs have undertaken strategic initiatives aligned with their sectoral focus.

ANNAM Foundation has been launched which aims to utilise AI to boost agriculture productivity through technologies such as crop monitoring, disease detection etc. In the healthcare sector, projects have been initiated to develop AI tools on the detection of various chronic diseases like oral and breast cancer, retinal disease and diabetes.

AIRWAT Research Foundation for Sustainable Cities provides AI-powered energy demand forecasting, indigenous air quality monitoring system etc. *****