Figure 1: No Copyright Infringement Intended

Context:

• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog has come up with a first of its kind Vernacular Innovation Program (VIP), which will enable innovators and entrepreneurs in India to have access to the innovation ecosystem in 22 scheduled languages by the Government of India.

About The Program:

• VIP is an initiative to lower the language barrier in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship such that it will systematically decouple creative expressions and languages of transaction.
• To build the necessary capacity for the VIP, AIM has identified and will be training a Vernacular Task Force (VTF) in each of the 22 scheduled languages.
• Each task force comprises vernacular language teachers, subject experts, technical writers, and the leadership of regional Atal Incubation Centers (AICs).

Benefits:

Strengthening local artisans:

• It strengthens the design and innovation capabilities of our communities, thereby assisting local entrepreneurs, artisans and innovators to seamlessly assimilate the knowledge cum technical materials that AIM will develop. 

Strengthening the entrepreneurship:

• the program will be a stepping stone in the journey of the Indian innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem which will cement the cognitive and design thinking attitude in young and aspiring minds.
• It will help in overcoming the barriers of language and empower innovators in the farthest areas of the country.

• It will create equal opportunity for the vernacular innovators who represent the staggering 90% of Indian population.

• As per 2011 census, only 10.4% of Indians speak English, most as their second, third, or fourth language.
• Only 0.02% of Indians spoke English as their first language.

Atal Innovation Mission

• With a vision to ‘Cultivate one Million children in India as Neoteric Innovators’, Atal Innovation Mission, an initiative of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), Government Of India, is establishing Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) in schools across India.
• AIM will provide grant-in-aid that includes a one-time establishment cost of Rs. 10 lakh and operational expenses of Rs. 10 lakh for a maximum period of 5 years to each ATL.

Initiatives undertaken in AIM:

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