Kohima, Nov 15: Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated Project SAMARTH Students Advancing Mindsets in AI, Robotics, Technology, and Digital Hardware at the National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT), Kohima, on Friday.

The project is implemented by NIELIT Kohima in collaboration with all NIELIT Northeast Centres, State Education Departments, and PM SHRI schools, with funding from the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY). As part of the launch, Sitharaman unveiled three categories of SAMARTH training kits and distributed them to ten representatives from government and private schools.

Project SAMARTH is designed to benefit 1,00,000 students, 3,000 teachers, and 500 schools over a period of three years, with implementation planned in two structured phases until March 2028.

During her visit, the Minister witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test Private Limited and NIELIT Kohima. She also toured an exhibition showcasing innovations by startups and students, visited the India AI Lab and the R&D Cyber Forensics Lab, and interacted with students and faculty members.