From PM Modi’s AI vision to Moti Nagar: Jan Kaushal Kendra takes future skills to the community

Delhi CM Smt. Rekha Gupta inaugurates centre aimed at bringing AI, digital skills and employment opportunities closer to the last mile

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 20: “We have resolved that in the coming one year, we will work to provide AI skill training to one crore youth, so that the youth of our nation possess the capability to lead the world in the domain of AI as well.” Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, announcing the initiative from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day, set out an ambitious national direction for empowering India’s youth with Artificial Intelligence skills.

Just five days after that announcement, a community-level initiative seeking to contribute to this larger vision took shape in Delhi with the inauguration of Jan Kaushal Kendra – Community AI, Future Skills & Citizen Empowerment Centre in Moti Nagar by Delhi Chief Minister Smt. Rekha Gupta.

The centre was inaugurated in the presence of Miss Bansuri Swaraj, Member of Parliament, and Shri Harish Khurana, MLA, Moti Nagar. Dr. Sameer Bhati, President, Trinity Foundation, and Shri Rajiv Kumar, Director, IACT Education, were also present on the occasion.

Conceptualised by The Madan Lal Khurana Foundation, with Trinity Foundation as the community and social-impact partner and IACT Education as the training and implementation partner, Jan Kaushal Kendra seeks to translate the larger national conversation around AI and future skills into community-level action.

The idea behind the centre is simple: while Artificial Intelligence is rapidly transforming education, employment, entrepreneurship and the economy, access to knowledge and practical exposure must also reach people at the neighbourhood level. The centre therefore aims to provide students, youth, women, job seekers and aspiring entrepreneurs with opportunities to learn AI, digital skills, employability and future-ready competencies closer to their communities.

“The national vision provides the direction; Jan Kaushal Kendra is a small step towards taking that vision to the community,” is the philosophy behind the initiative.

The Moti Nagar centre will offer programmes covering Artificial Intelligence and future skills, digital productivity, computer skills, career readiness, communication, entrepreneurship and responsible use of technology. Its flagship Certificate in AI & Future Skills (CAFS) programme will introduce students to AI fundamentals, AI-enabled creativity and productivity, responsible AI, innovation, problem-solving and emerging career opportunities.

The initiative is also being positioned as more than a conventional training centre. Its proposed model will connect training with assessment, certification, career guidance, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, with emphasis on tracking outcomes after training.

For Shri Harish Khurana, the centre is the beginning of a larger community-skilling vision for Delhi. The objective, he said, is to ensure that access to future opportunities is not determined by geography or socioeconomic circumstances, and that young people can access emerging skills within their own communities.

The initiative draws inspiration from the legacy of Late Shri Madan Lal Khurana, while seeking to address a distinctly contemporary challenge—the need to prepare citizens for an economy increasingly shaped by Artificial Intelligence and digital technologies.

The promoters are also looking at a larger vision of establishing 100 Jan Kaushal Kendras across Delhi, subject to phased implementation and demonstrated outcomes. At an indicative capacity of around 1,000 learner engagements per centre every quarter, such a network could potentially create one lakh learner engagements every quarter and around four lakh annually.

The Moti Nagar centre will therefore serve as a demonstration model, with its training methodology, community participation and outcomes assessed before the concept is expanded to other locations.

The larger objective is to create a collaborative ecosystem involving government, industry, CSR organisations, educational institutions and community organisations, ensuring that the national momentum around Artificial Intelligence translates into opportunities that are accessible at the grassroots.

From the Prime Minister’s call to prepare one crore youth for the world of AI to a community centre in Moti Nagar, the message is clear: the future of Artificial Intelligence will ultimately depend not only on how fast technology develops, but on how widely the skills to use it are shared.

For Jan Kaushal Kendra, Moti Nagar is the beginning. The larger ambition is to help build a skilled, digitally empowered and future-ready Delhi—one community at a time.