Maharashtra govt to procure AI infrastructure for higher, technical education department

The Maharashtra government on Friday granted administrative approval to procure Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure for the Higher and Technical Education Department to strengthen data analytics and dashboard systems under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. A Government Resolution (GR) issued by the department said the project implementation committee chaired by the Additional Chief Secretary (Higher and Technical Education) approved the proposal at its meeting held on Thursday. The state government has sanctioned an estimated annual expenditure of Rs 22 lakh for procuring the AI infrastructure, which will be acquired through the GeM portal (Government e-Marketplace) or an e-tender process in accordance with existing rules. The GR said the department has appointed consulting firm Ernst and Young LLP to support the strengthening of its dashboards in line with the state's 150-day action plan and long-term strategic reforms, including integration of AI at the ministry, university and directorate levels by setting up analytics cells. Under the first use case, an AI Query Assistant will be deployed on existing Higher and Technical Education Department (HTED) dashboards datasets. The HTED dashboards consolidate institutional, academic and administrative data, and the AI layer will enable advanced querying, real-time data interpretation and decision-support for policy formulation and monitoring. The second use case involves an AI Query Assistant on the Human Resource Management System (HRMS) database. The HRMS platform manages service records, postings, promotions and other personnel-related data of department staff, and the AI integration is expected to facilitate intelligent search, automated responses and improved workforce analytics, the GR added.