Introduction to Bharat Gen and the BharatGen Summit
Bharat Gen: The Ministry of Science & Technology recently launched Bharat Gen at the BharatGen Summit, India’s largest gathering focused on Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs). Alongside the summit, a competitive hackathon was held, attracting innovators from across the country. Bharat Gen is India’s first indigenously developed AI-based Multimodal LLM, specifically designed to understand and process Indian languages and cultural nuances.
What is Bharat Gen?
Bharat Gen is a public-private partnership initiative operating as a non-profit company, financially supported by the Department of Science and Technology. It is part of the government’s National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS), implemented via Technology Innovation Hubs (TIHs) at IIT Bombay. These hubs focus on IoT (Internet of Things) and IoE (Internet of Everything), ensuring Bharat Gen benefits from cutting-edge research infrastructure.
The Four Pillars of Bharat Gen
Bharat Gen’s mission is driven by four primary goals:
- Bharat-Centric Foundational LLM Models: Building AI models that reflect the diversity of Indian languages, culture, and traditions. This ensures the technology is relevant and accessible to India’s vast population.
- Bharat Data Sagar: A centralized repository of high-quality Bharatiya data essential for training AI models. This helps create accurate and representative datasets, a crucial step in AI development.
- Startup Ecosystem and Innovation: Supporting entrepreneurs with tools, mentorship, and collaborative platforms to build innovative AI applications that cater specifically to Indian needs.
- Skilling and Capacity Building: Empowering India’s AI workforce through fellowships, hackathons, and courses. This strengthens the country’s talent pool, aiming to position India as a global innovation leader.
Understanding Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs)
Unlike traditional language models, Multimodal LLMs like Bharat Gen are trained on diverse data types — including text, images, audio, and video. This multimodal training allows the AI to interpret complex inputs more naturally, overcoming the limitations of unimodal models such as earlier versions of ChatGPT, which handle only text. For instance, Bharat Gen can better understand a question that includes an image along with text, making it a powerful tool for applications in education, healthcare, and regional language processing.
Static Usthadian Current Affairs Table
| Topic/Term | Details/Explanation |
| Bharat Gen | India’s first indigenously developed AI-based Multimodal LLM |
| BharatGen Summit | Largest Generative AI and LLM summit & hackathon in India |
| NM-ICPS | National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems |
| Technology Innovation Hubs | Research hubs at IIT Bombay implementing Bharat Gen |
| Bharat Data Sagar | Centralized repository of high-quality Indian data |
| Multimodal LLM (MLLM) | AI models trained on text, images, audio, and video |
| Skilling and Innovation | Fellowship and mentorship programs to boost India’s AI talent |
