Mumbai, Oct 28: Maharashtra will use artificial intelligence (AI), integrated databases and digital systems to improve efficiency and transparency, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday as he launched a secure AI platform for administrative work.
Digital/AI-enabled systems would help ensure that government schemes reach only eligible beneficiaries and assess the impact of welfare programmes, he said.
Fadnavis was speaking at a review meeting of the ‘Mahasarathi’ portal at Sahyadri Guest House in Mumbai, where he launched MahaDBT 2.0, Aaple Sarkar 2.0, new services on the ‘Maitri’ portal, and ‘Mahaindus’, a secure AI platform.
Fisheries Minister Nitesh Rane, Right to Public Services Commission Chief Commissioner Manu Kumar Srivastava, Chief Secretary Rajesh Agrawal and Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence Department Secretary Virendra Singh were among those present, an official release said here.
The MahaID initiative would help integrate citizens’ information and improve the efficiency and accountability of government machinery, Fadnavis said.
Digital systems would also enable officials to quickly search large collections of Government Resolutions (GRs), manage correspondence and simplify office work, he said, adding that Maharashtra was the first state in the country to use sovereign AI in this manner.
The Mahasarathi initiative was nearing completion, Fadnavis said, and directed departments to expedite pending work.
Integration of data from different departments through application programming interfaces (APIs) would enable continuous updates and improve the implementation of schemes, utilisation of funds and verification of beneficiaries, he said.
The integrated data would be particularly useful in selecting eligible beneficiaries for individual welfare schemes, identifying ineligible recipients and assessing programme outcomes, he added.
‘Mahaindus’, a secure AI platform for administrative work, will support drafting, translation, summarisation and data analysis in 22 Indian languages including Marathi, the official release said.
It has been designed to ensure that government data does not leave the country or get used to train AI models, it said.
The platform includes a ‘GR Expert’ feature to search government resolutions and track changes, an ‘Email Summariser’ to prepare email summaries, and an ‘RFP Bid Evaluator’ to compare and assess tenders.
The chief minister noted that merely setting up digital systems was not enough. Wider adoption would help identify their shortcomings, he said.
MahaID has undergone a soft launch, with more than one crore IDs generated so far. The system will be rolled out on a wider scale after backend integration is completed, the CM said.
A total of 36 new schemes were launched on the MahaDBT 2.0 portal, including 24 from the fisheries department, 10 from the labour department and two from the women and child development department.
‘Aaple Sarkar 2.0’ has added 71 services, including 61 from the transport department, while 13 new services from the Legal Metrology Department have been added to the Maitri portal, the release said.
