Tripura trains officials in AI to lead tech-driven governance

Tripura takes a lead in Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled governance by up skilling its workforce, especially for those who would be involved in the upcoming census, to leverage generative AI for faster, smarter decision-making.

The Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES) of the state government concluded a pivotal three-day workshop under the title “Generative AI for Impact: Smart Tools for Smarter Governance” on Wednesday at the Information Technology Bhavan in Agartala.

The event equipped over 60 officials from DES Tripura and the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) with cutting-edge AI tools for practical governance applications.

Planning (Statistics) Minister Bikas Debbarma, presiding over the valedictory session, stressed AI's transformative power in policy-making and statistics.

Felicitating the trainees and trainers, the Minister lauded the department's forward-thinking approach and urged officials to champion digital transformation through continuous learning.

Key attendees included N.K. Santoshi, Director General, Central Statistics, MoSPI, Abhishek Chandra, Special Secretary, Planning (Statistics), Tripura, and Anil Digambar Patil, Deputy Director General, NSO.

The workshop featured hands-on training in AI-driven drafting, summarization, forecasting using Python, prompt engineering, and data interpretation.

Santoshi commended Tripura's "ahead of the curve" adoption of AI, praising DES for investing in capacity building during a global AI revolution.

Special Secretary Chandra emphasized integrating generative AI as a core governance tool, not just an add-on skill. He further revealed Tripura's ambition to attract officials from other states for future AI training, leveraging its leadership position.

This initiative solidifies Tripura's commitment to AI-integrated governance, aiming for enhanced planning, accelerated execution, and data-driven policies to build a more efficient public administration system.

Meanwhile, earlier on Wednesday, Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha, while distributing appointment letters to 184 newly recruited junior engineers under the Public Works Department (PWD), said that now is the era of Artificial Intelligence and everyone should adopt the new technology.