📖 Chapter 1 of 9 · AI For New Learner Advance 2 (Multi Indian Language) · Class 8
Chapter 1: Where AI Lives in India Today
In this chapter
- How far you have come — a quick recap of your AI journey.
- Riya’s day in Gurgaon — Indian AI in every hour.
- Why ‘Made in India AI’ matters more than ever.
- A first peek at pseudocode — how to read what AI does.
Did you know?
By 2030, India will need 1 crore AI workers. The Indian government has launched the IndiaAI Mission with Rs 10,372 crore. Real Indian AI companies — Sarvam, Krutrim, Niramai, Skylark — are building world-class products. You could be next.
Story 1: Riya’s Day — A Citizen of AI India
From: Gurgaon, Haryana · Riya, age 13
6:30 AM. Riya’s phone buzzes. “Air quality: poor today. Wear a mask.” That is Aarogya Setu, AI that watches her city’s pollution. She is up. Mummy is already paying the doodhwala with a GPay QR scan — UPI fraud-detection AI is silently checking it in the background. Two seconds. Done.
8:30 AM, Delhi Metro. Riya walks through the DigiYatra gate. A camera looks at her face — and the gate opens. No ticket. No queue. Vision AI. Her mother, watching, sighs: “What a future.”
10:00 AM, school library. Hindi homework on the freedom movement. Riya opens Bhashini on her tablet — types her question in Hindi, gets answers from Tamil and Bengali sources, translated instantly. Indian languages, Indian AI.
9:00 PM. Doubts about her science test. She opens Krutrim — a chatbot built in Bangalore — and asks: “Explain photosynthesis in Hindi.” Two paragraphs, clear and correct.
Riya closes her eyes. “Every hour today,” she thinks, “some piece of Indian AI helped me.” That is the new India. She is in it. And she wants to BUILD it.
Real Indian AI — up close
Made in India. Used by India. Built for India.
📁 CASE FILE Bhashini — India’s Language AI
What it is: A government AI platform that translates between 22 official Indian languages — including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali, and more.
Built by: Ministry of Electronics & IT, Government of India.
Why it matters: For the first time, a person who only speaks Maithili or Bodo can use the same AI as someone in Bombay or Bangalore.
Used for: Translation, voice-to-text, text-to-voice, sign language, document conversion.
📁 CASE FILE Krutrim — India’s Own ChatGPT
What it is: An Indian-built Large Language Model. Answers in 10+ Indian languages.
Built by: Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal’s team, in Bangalore.
Why it matters: India’s first AI ‘unicorn’ — proves Indians can build world-class AI.
Used for: Chat, code, education, customer service in Indian languages.
Try this at home
Open Bhashini.gov.in. Type any Hindi sentence and translate it to 3 other Indian languages. Note: which language sounds most natural to your ears?
💻 BEHIND THE CODE The Simplest AI Function
# How a ‘Made in India’ AI says hello
DEF say_hello(language):
IF language == 'Hindi':
PRINT 'Namaste!'
IF language == 'Tamil':
PRINT 'Vanakkam!'
IF language == 'Bengali':
PRINT 'Nomoshkar!'
IF language == 'English':
PRINT 'Hello!'
# Call the function
say_hello('Tamil') # AI replies: Vanakkam!
⚖ DEBATE IT! Should EVERY Indian app be in your mother tongue?
Today most apps work mainly in English or Hindi. AI now lets us translate everything — but it costs money and time.
YES — every Indian deserves it
If a 60-year-old farmer in rural Odisha cannot use UPI in Odia, his rights are limited. AI translation is a right.
NO — focus on top 10 languages first
India has 22 official languages and many dialects. Trying to support ALL will mean none work well. Build the top 10 first, perfect them.
Solved illustrations
Understand by reading carefully
1. Why does India need its OWN AI? Can’t it just use foreign AI?
Show answer
Answer: Foreign AI is mostly trained on English text from the USA and Europe. It knows English better than Hindi. It does not know our culture, our history, or our laws. India’s own AI — Bhashini, Krutrim, Sarvam — understands US. It is also a matter of digital independence. A country that builds its own AI controls its own future.
2. What is the difference between Bhashini and Google Translate?
Show answer
Answer: Google Translate is a foreign company’s product. Bhashini is built by the Government of India, focuses ONLY on Indian languages, is FREE for citizens, and is open for any Indian developer to build apps with it. Bhashini’s mission is digital inclusion — making sure every Indian, in every language, can access AI.
3. When Riya scanned her face at the metro, what AI was working?
Show answer
Answer: Computer Vision AI — also called face recognition. The camera took a picture, the AI compared her face to a database, found a match, and told the gate to open. All in less than 1 second. This is called DigiYatra at airports.
4. Krutrim, Sarvam, BharatGPT — are these the SAME AI?
Show answer
Answer: No — they are different Indian companies, each building their own Large Language Model (LLM). Just like there are many car makers (Tata, Mahindra, Maruti), India is building many AI makers. This is healthy — it means competition and choice.
5. Why is it called PSEUDOCODE and not just ‘code’?
Show answer
Answer: Because it looks LIKE code, but it is not real Python or Java. It is English-like instructions to help YOU understand what AI does. Real code has strict rules. Pseudocode is for thinking. Once you can think in steps, learning real code becomes easy.
Questions — Chapter 1
Test what you know — be honest with yourself
A. Fill in the blanks
- Bhashini is built by the of India.
- Krutrim was started by the founder of in Bangalore.
- The face-scan gates at metros and airports are called .
- UPI fraud is detected silently by AI.
- India’s AI mission has a budget of Rs crore.
B. True or False
- India can only use foreign AI — we cannot build our own. ( )
- Bhashini supports 22 Indian languages. ( )
- Pseudocode is real Python code. ( )
- India needs about 1 crore AI workers by 2030. ( )
C. Short Answers (2-3 sentences)
- Name any THREE real Indian AI products. Write one line about each.
- Why does India need its OWN AI? Give two reasons.
- What is the difference between Bhashini and a foreign translation app?
Builder Challenge
Make a poster: ‘AI in My Family’s Day’ — list every AI tool 3 family members use!
Check your understanding — Chapter 1
Tap an answer to check it instantly. These are for practice — nothing is saved or sent.
Q1. Why does India need its OWN AI instead of only using foreign AI?
- Foreign AI is illegal in India
- Foreign AI is trained mostly on English/Western data and doesn't know our languages, culture or laws
- Indian AI is always cheaper
Show answer
B. Foreign AI is trained mostly on English/Western data and doesn't know our languages, culture or laws
Q2. What is the difference between Bhashini and Google Translate?
- They are identical
- Bhashini is built by the Govt of India, focuses only on Indian languages, and is free for citizens
- Google Translate only works in Hindi
Show answer
B. Bhashini is built by the Govt of India, focuses only on Indian languages, and is free for citizens
Q3. When Riya scanned her face at the metro gate, what kind of AI was working?
- Voice AI
- Computer Vision (face recognition)
- Weather AI
Show answer
B. Computer Vision (face recognition)
Q4. Why is it called 'pseudocode' and not just 'code'?
- It is broken code
- It looks like code but is English-like instructions to help you understand what AI does
- It is code written by AI
Show answer
B. It looks like code but is English-like instructions to help you understand what AI does