The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), IndiaAI Mission, Government of Assam, and IIT Guwahati jointly hosted a two-day Human Capital Working Group meeting at the IIT Guwahati campus on January 5–6, 2026. The deliberations were held under the theme “Human Capital” as part of preparatory consultations for the India AI Impact Summit 2026, scheduled to be held in New Delhi from February 15 to 20, 2026.
The meeting brought together senior policymakers, academicians, industry leaders and domain experts to advance national-level discussions on education reform, workforce transformation, lifelong learning and inclusive, human-centric adoption of artificial intelligence.
Human Capital at the Core of India’s AI Journey
The inaugural session was addressed by Assam Government Special Chief Secretary Syedain Abbasi, IAS, Principal Secretary (IT) K.S. Gopinath Narayan, IAAS, Human Capital Working Group Chair Prof. T.G. Sitharam, IIT Guwahati Director Prof. Devendra Jalihal, and IndiaAI Joint Director Shikha Dahiya.
Speakers highlighted the central role of human capital in India’s AI ecosystem, stressing the need to move beyond traditional skill-development models toward lifelong learning, upskilling, reskilling and institutional readiness.
Role of IIT Guwahati and Academic Institutions
Welcoming the participants, Prof. Devendra Jalihal, Director, IIT Guwahati, underlined the institute’s role as a platform for collaboration among policymakers, academia, industry and students to shape a future-ready workforce in the AI era. He highlighted IIT Guwahati’s commitment to addressing the intersection of technology, education and society, noting strong student engagement as a reflection of growing interest in inclusive AI ecosystems.
IndiaAI Vision and Global South Focus
Shikha Dahiya, Joint Director, IndiaAI (MeitY), outlined the vision of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, emphasising its focus on human capital development, democratisation of AI resources and responsible AI adoption, particularly for the Global South.
She highlighted IndiaAI initiatives related to compute infrastructure, indigenous datasets and models, and nationwide AI skilling and capacity-building programmes, stating that the outcomes of the Guwahati discussions would directly inform global-level dialogues at the summit.
