Chandigarh, May 6 -- The Union ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) has formally approved the Haryana government's proposal to set up two Artificial Intelligence (AI) Centres of Excellence at Panchkula and Gurugram under a 40:40:20 funding mechanism. Chief executive officer (CEO) of a special purpose vehicle formed under the Haryana AI Development Project, J.Ganesan said the funding mechanism of Rs.40 crore project cost entailed 40% funding to the tune of Rs.16 crore from the central government, 40% by the Haryana government and 20% to the tune of Rs.8 crore by the industry partners such as NASSCOM and STPI who have submitted commitment letters for the projects. The special purpose vehicle is named ARJUN (AI for resilient jobs, urban air quality & next-gen skills council). "The Global Artificial Intelligence Centre in Gurugram and Haryana Advanced Computing Facility at Panchkula will be about 10,000 sq ft each. The distinction between the two proposed centres of excellence units is that the Gurugram unit is an extension of the existing MeitY blockchain and internet of things Centre of Excellence, while the Panchkula unit would be a greenfield establishment,'' Ganesan said. Officials said that while the strategic focus areas for Gurugram Centre of Excellence would be healthcare, agriculture, public service delivery, education, environment and sustainability, the Panchkula Centre of Excellence would focus on financial inclusion, governance and citizen services, flood and disaster management besides healthcare, agriculture and education. "Skilling and government use rank high for us as far as usage of artificial intelligence is concerned. The government plans to start skill development programmes for AI this year," the CEO said. Ganesan said the second meeting of the sub-group of project approval board (PAB) for AI-Centre of Excellence constituted by the central ministry was held on April 17 to examine and review Haryana's proposals for establishment of the AI-Centres of excellence. The review included 12 AI-Centres of excellence proposals of Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, Goa and Sikkim, along with the identified industry partners, location and strategic focus areas. "The PAB has conveyed that the proposals submitted by the Haryana government are in accordance with the concept note and guidelines and should be further taken up. Haryana has been asked to expedite the finalisation of the Panchkula Centre of Excellence building to ensure timely operationalisation,'' he said. The PAB sub-group is a committee mandated to examine and review the proposals received from states and UTs and is responsible for their evaluation. Officials said they also plan to scale AI-led solutions by deploying high-impact models for urban air quality management, predictive healthcare, and precision agriculture to enhance citizen service delivery....