At UNESCO meet, India calls for ethical AI, education access, heritage cooperation

INdia outlined its agendum on honorable unreal intelligence service, digital training, and cultural heritage at the 43rd General Conference of UNESCO, where Ambassador Vishal V Sharma said the country’s focus was on “education, ethics, and equity” as part of its Viksit Bharat vision for 2047.The 43rd General Conference, being held in Uzbekistan from October 30 to November 13, is UNESCO’s highest decision-making body, setting the agency’s programmes and budget for 2026-2027.Sharma, India’s Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, said India is working with UNESCO on the Readiness Assessment Methodology (RAM) to map national preparedness for ethical and responsible AI, and pointed to a sequence of India-based consultations held with the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) and IndiaAI Mission. The RAM initiative is designed to help countries assess strengths and gaps for deploying AI in line with UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of AI. He said India’s National Quantum Mission and a $29 billion AI sector “are expected to create over one million professionals by 2026”, alongside a $10 billion semiconductor mission aimed at building digital self-reliance.Referring to India’s education reforms, Sharma said the National Education Policy promotes online learning through platforms such as SWAYAM, DIKSHA, Bhashini, and PM eVidya, developed under the G20 and UNESCO frameworks. “With 1.5 million schools, 42,000 colleges, and 10 million teachers, India has built one of the world’s largest democratic education ecosystems,” he said.India, he added, has contributed $30 million to UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development and $1 million to the World Heritage Convention, while extending ITEC scholarships to students from the Global South. Sharma also cited the opening of IIT campuses in Tanzania and the UAE, and a proposed one in Nigeria, as examples of India’s academic outreach.On heritage, Sharma said India will host the 20th session of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee in December 2025 and has nominated the Chhath Mahaparv festival for inclusion on UNESCO’s ICH list. He noted the 2024 inscription of the Maratha Military Landscapes on the World Heritage List and welcomed Lucknow’s addition to UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network as a City of Gastronomy.Sharma referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat radio programme, broadcast in 100 countries, as a model of participatory communication. India in its closing statement also contrasted Alexander’s conquests with the Buddha’s self-realisation, saying, “Who was the greater conqueror — the one who conquered others, or the one who conquered himself?”