As India accelerates toward Viksit Bharat 2047, states are emerging as the real engines of digital transformation, where national vision meets ground-level delivery. With over 12 crore citizens and diverse developmental challenges, Bihar represents both scale and opportunity. The state is increasingly positioning technology, data intelligence, and AI not merely as tools of efficiency, but as instruments of equity, transparency, and anticipatory governance. In this conversation, Shri Pratyaya Amrit, IAS, Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar, outlines to Muskan Jaiswal of Elets News Network how Bihar is embedding AI into core governance systems, strengthening Digital Public Infrastructure integration, and building institutional capacity to drive inclusive, accountable, and future-ready administration.

Bihar is at a critical juncture of governance reform and inclusive development. From your perspective, how can technology and data-driven governance act as force multipliers in improving service delivery and administrative efficiency at scale?

For Bihar, technology is not merely a tool of efficiency; it is an instrument of equity and state transformation. In a state of our demographic scale and development diversity, data- driven governance allows us to move from approximation to precision, from delayed response to real-time action, and from fragmented delivery to unified citizen experience. Our experience has shown that technology delivers impact only when it strengthens administrative intent, discipline, and accountability.

Data-driven governance becomes a force multiplier when it improves precision, shortens decision cycles, and releases administrative capacity. We strongly feel that AI tools, digital platforms, simplified workflows and citizen-centric design have the strong potential to act as powerful force multipliers for good governance.

Today, integrated databases, GIS-based planning tools, and real-time dashboards allow us to identify critical gaps down to the district, block and panchayat level. Digital workflows in these integrated systems reduce the time between identifying a problem and acting on it substantially. Officers are now able to intervene early rather than respond after failures compound. Automation of routine processes such as payments, verifications, reporting, and issuance of documents allows us to focus on supervision, field engagement, and outcomes. For a state of Bihar’s scale, this shift is fundamental to create an impact on ease of doing business and ease of living.

As a government, our priority is to introduce and implement modern technologies and AI at every level to streamline governance. We have moved key services online and adopted an ethos of “one government” through a single- window system for service delivery to citizens. Industries and citizens can now apply and track applications end-to-end through one portal, vastly reducing paperwork and delays. Bureaucratic interfaces have been minimized. These efforts, from digitizing land records and licences to using dashboards for real-time monitoring, are creating an efficient, data- driven administration.

As India advances the IndiaAI Mission, what role can states like Bihar play in translating national AI priorities into tangible outcomes in sectors such as health, education, agriculture, and social welfare?

The success of the national AI mission will ultimately be defined at the state level, where policies meet people. States like Bihar bring scale, diversity, and real-world complexity, making them ideal laboratories for inclusive AI innovation. IndiaAI mission’s success will depend on how states convert them into solutions that respond to local realities.

Bihar plans to deploy AI where scale, constraints, and social impact intersect. The Government of Bihar is committed to taking innovative measures in governance, and with this vision, Bihar is actively building an AI ecosystem combining research, industry partnerships, policy reform, and talent development.

We are partnering with academia and industry to establish an AI Centre of Excellence in Patna in collaboration with IIT Patna and Tiger Analytics. This center will develop AI-driven solutions tailored to Bihar’s needs. We are also in the process of setting up a Research Park in patna focussing on R&D initiatives.

At the same time, we are incorporating AI pilots in priority sectors such as agriculture and health to improve farmer registration, extension services, disease outbreaks and forecasting, etc. We are also formulating supporting policies to achieve these goals. For instance, the Global Capability Centre Policy and Semiconductor Policy have been launched to attract large technology firms. By encouraging such investments, we will bring AI talent and jobs to Bihar. We are also simultaneously investing in human capacity through Mega Skill Centres to help students and officials gain AI skills. These steps will enable Bihar to convert the national AI agenda into ground-level impact in health, education, agriculture, and welfare.

Viksit Bharat 2047 places strong emphasis on cooperative federalism and last-mile delivery. How can AI-enabled decision-making and Digital Public Infrastructure help states accelerate inclusion while addressing regional and socio- economic disparities?

Viksit Bharat 2047 is fundamentally about inclusive prosperity at scale. The vision of Viksit Bharat 2047 calls for both stronger cooperative federalism and deeper last-mile inclusion. AI-enabled decision- making and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) together provide the architecture to achieve this. Digital Public Infrastructure provides the shared digital infrastructure and AI provides the intelligence layer that makes this infrastructure responsive, adaptive, and predictive.

With AI layered on DPI, governments can identify underserved geographies and vulnerable populations in real time, predict service delivery gaps, and target resources more precisely. At the same time, common platforms and standards strengthen coordination across levels of government while preserving state flexibility to innovate.

Bihar is also proactively integrating its digital systems (BHAVYA, Bihar Krishi, etc) with national platforms (Bharat VISTAAR, AGRISTACK, ABHA,etc), ensuring seamless data exchange and aligned service delivery. This combination of shared infrastructure and localized intelligence allows inclusion to scale, ensuring that growth under Viksit Bharat 2047 is both faster and more equitable.

Bihar’s large population presents both governance challenges and opportunities. How can AI and predictive analytics help governments shift from reactive administration to proact ive an d an ticipator y governance?

We strongly feel that the future of governance is anticipatory. In a state like Bihar, where climate risks, public health vulnerabilities, and livelihood dependencies intersect, predictive governance is not optional; it is essential. At Bihar’s scale, with over 12 crore citizens, reactive governance is neither efficient nor equitable.

AI and predictive analytics enable a shift toward anticipation and prevention. By integrating multi-sectoral datasets across agriculture, health, livelihoods, and infrastructure, we can develop early-warning systems that can flag emerging risks such as pest and disease outbreaks, epidemics or livelihood stress before they turn into crises. Predictive insights can also support better workforce planning, infrastructure maintenance, and budget prioritisation. This transition does not replace administrative judgment, but aims to augment it with evidence so decisions are faster, fairer, and more consistent.

AI and analytics are powerful for anticipatory planning. For example, Bihar experiences floods, pests, and seasonal epidemics; predictive models can forecast these events so the government can pre-position relief or medical teams. In agriculture, we can use satellite imagery and AI to predict crop yields district by district, allowing crop purchase plans or drought responses before problems become crises.

Similarly, in healthcare, analyzing patient data can help identify outbreak patterns early. With AI tools, government officials can receive early warnings instead of waiting for problems to appear, and the state can forecast them and craft timely policy responses. This shift to proactive governance by using AI to see around the corner will make Bihar’s administration far more responsive and future-ready.

As AI systems increasingly influence decisions affecting citizens’ lives and livelihoods, how should state governments ensure transparency, ethical use, and human oversight in public -sector deployments?

Trust will define the success of AI in governance. Bihar is committed to building AI systems that are transparent, accountable, and human-centered. We are in the process of formulating an AI strategy and roadmap for the state to enforce strict transparency by design. Algorithms must be fair, respect privacy and be periodically reviewed. Any AI system adopted by the government will undergo an audit of its data and logic. We will also publish clear criteria for automated programs, so citizens know why a decision was made, along with complete digital logs of actions. This will create audit trails that discourage misuse and corruption.

In fact, Bihar has zero tolerance for corruption or bias. By minimizing human interface, we are reducing opportunities for discretion or graft. This is also complemented by citizen feedback mechanisms: any person can report algorithmic errors or unfair treatment to a dedicated grievance cell. Through these steps, transparency of code and data, human oversight, digital record- keeping, and anti-corruption measures, Bihar will ensure AI-driven services remain trustworthy and inclusive.

Looking ahead to the next decade, what institutional reforms, capacity-building efforts, and partnerships will be most critical for Bihar to fully harness AI for sus tainable an d p eople-c entric development?

The next decade presents Bihar with a historic opportunity to transition into a leading hub of the new-age economy and emerge as the tech hub of eastern India. To realize this, we are simultaneously investing in institutions, policy reform, talent, and partnerships. This is our golden chance, if not now, then never, to make Bihar a center of the new-age economy. Over the next decade, Bihar’s ability to harness AI for sustainable and people-centric development will depend on progress across four reinforcing pillars: institutional architecture, policy and regulatory modernization, talent and capacity creation, and deep ecosystem partnerships. First, institutional architecture must evolve to support cross-sectoral, data-driven governance. AI adoption cannot remain program-specific; it must be embedded into core decision- making systems across departments. The focus will be on moving from pilot-based experimentation to platform-based, scalable deployment.

Second, regulatory and policy frameworks must be future-ready and innovation-enabling. Bihar is already moving in this direction through progressive industrial and technology policies, including the Industrial Investment Promotion Policy (2025), GCC Policy, and Semiconductor Policy. Over the next phase, the emphasis will be on simplifying regulatory compliance, enabling secure data-sharing frameworks, strengthening cybersecurity readiness, and embedding responsible AI principles into public digital infrastructure.

Third, large-scale capacity building will be the single most important long- term investment. Bihar’s demographic strength is a strategic advantage. The state is investing in multi-tier AI talent development — from foundational digital literacy for frontline staff to advanced AI and data science capability through institutions such as the upcoming AI Centre of Excellence at IIT Patna and district- level Mega Skill Centres. Parallel capacity building within government will focus on data literacy, AI-assisted decision- making, and digital program management capabilities for administrators.

Also Read | India’s AI Vision: The Viksit Bharat Algorithm

Fourth, Bihar will need sustained, outcome-oriented partnerships with industry, academia, and global institutions. Industry partnerships will help accelerate solution development, technology transfer, and workforce skilling. Academic partnerships will drive applied research linked to real governance challenges.If executed well, this integrated approach will allow Bihar not only to adopt AI technologies but to “institutionalize AI-enabled governance, creating a system that is predictive, citizen-centric, and resilient”. These combined efforts will ensure that Bihar fully harnesses AI and emerges as the eastern hub of innovation and inclusive growth.

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