Kathmandu— Minister for Communications and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung inaugurated the ‘AI for Good’ National Youth Competition on Sunday in Kathmandu.

Speaking at a program jointly organized by the Robotics Association of Nepal (RAN) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Minister Gurung said, “To become an AI hub, an IT center will first have to be established. But that has not been done yet.”

“I demanded a budget of fifty billion for the expansion of the IT sector to stop at least five billion rupees from being spent in various ways in a foreign country, but the budget could not be passed,” Minister Gurung said at the event. He requested that stakeholders increase pressure on the government to develop the IT sector.

“Some things cannot be realized by the minister alone. For the development of technology, the Planning Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Council of Ministers should also realize this, but Minister Gurung criticized the failure to do so.”

Bishnu Babu Pudasaini, Science Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, said, “Climate change used to be widely discussed, and AI is the same these days.”

“If we just use AI, the country will suffer,” he said. “That’s why we need to have a plan to do business with it and where it will be used most effectively so that the nation can benefit from it.”

“Because we talk a lot about new things, but we feel that everything will become the same over time, we will have to work in a way that fosters networking between the ministry and stakeholders,” he said.

Dr. Rabindra Dhakal, Secretary of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), expressed concern over the failure to create an environment conducive to technology production and networking. He told students that they need to study data and policy when using AI robots in disaster management.

RAN advisor Shree Gurung pointed out that Nepali technology cannot immediately build infrastructure for development. “But we can make a policy, and following that policy, Nepali people who are living abroad or foreign companies can invest in the IT sector in Nepal and create the ‘center’ we need.”

Professor Timila Yami Thapa stated that the IT sector would develop more rapidly if a special law were enacted and a budget were allocated for medical and technology-related institutions that contribute to national development. “The situation of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) is better today because India moved forward with the 1946 Act,” she said.

After hearing Minister Gurung’s complaint that the ministry received less budget, Professor Hiranyaman Pradhan, chairman of Kathmandu Engineering College and former member of the Planning Commission, said that the budget ceiling is set by the Ministry of Finance and the ministries make their plans—in that case, I felt that the Planning Commission was not needed.

“If the Planning Commission is to make a plan, then the ministry should do the planning, and the Ministry of Finance should not determine the budget size,” he said. He complained that the government was unable to take the private sector along.

There are 16 teams from across the country in the ‘AI for Good’ National Youth Competition being held at Kathmandu Engineering College, Kalimati, Kathmandu.

RAN Secretary Om Jaiswal said that the group of students selected from the top four teams will participate in the competition in Switzerland.

“Students will have to work on a main theme like ‘Disaster Response and Emergency Rescue Operations,'” he said.