Award Announcement and Event Details

Dr. Hemant Garg, Deputy Director (Legal) at the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), was presented with the "Excellence in AI for Public Policy" award at the 3rd World AI Summit held in Bengaluru on 14–15 October 2026. The summit, themed "AI for All: Accelerating India's Journey Towards Inclusive, Responsible and Future-Ready AI", was organized in partnership with Digital India, the National e‑Governance Division (NeGD) and the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM).

Recognised Contributions

The award specifically recognised Garg’s 2023 creation of the IFSCA Karmayogi AI agent, the first artificial‑intelligence agent deployed at the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) in GIFT City. It also highlighted his research on the application of AI in anti‑money laundering, labour code implementation, and algorithmic management of gig workers.

Panel Participation and Keynote

Garg participated in the panel "AI for All – India's Journey to a Sovereign, Inclusive AI Future" alongside Shri Aman Mittal, IAS, Dr. B.V.R.C. Purushottam, IAS, and Prof. (Dr.) T. G. Sitharam, former Chairman of AICTE, with moderation by Dr. Ravi Gupta. In his keynote titled "AI, Employment & Skills: Building a Future‑Ready Workforce for India" (presented as "From Files to Foresight"), he illustrated the human impact of AI through the story of a worker injured in an accident whose family’s care and pensions depend on ESIC, EPFO, the Ministry of Labour and Employment, and the National Health Authority.

Vision for AI‑Enabled Governance

Garg outlined three evolutionary waves of governance:

1. e‑Governance – digitising paper records.

2. Digital Governance – leveraging India’s digital public infrastructure.

3. AI‑Enabled Intelligent Governance – delivering benefits directly to eligible citizens without requiring applications.

He argued that AI will first transform tasks, then jobs, and finally institutions, necessitating new bodies for AI governance, impact assessment, and exposure mapping to mitigate job attrition, support reskilling, and compensate workers in transition.

Sovereign AI Stack and Indigenous Models

The speaker emphasized the need for a sovereign, people‑first AI stack built on Indian large‑language models such as Sarvam, the Bhashini multilingual platform, and home‑grown agents nurtured under the IndiaAI Mission. He suggested that India can blend Europe’s rights‑based approach, the United States’ audit mechanisms, and Singapore’s skilling model through existing frameworks like the Labour Codes, the DPDP Act, and e‑Shram.

Five Governance Principles (The "Five Ts")

Garg proposed five guiding principles for responsible AI deployment:

  • Trust
  • Transparency
  • Talent
  • Thin and safe data
  • Tested‑then‑scaled

He stressed that government AI must be lawful, explainable, and accountable, warning against a new form of colonisation “not by ships, but by servers”.

Professional Background

Dr. Garg holds an LLB, LLM, and Ph.D., and is an alumnus of the IIT Delhi CTO Programme. He has nearly two decades of public‑service experience, including a stint in Punjab’s Department of Cooperation. His research on digital governance has been published internationally and presented at institutions such as Oxford, Harvard, and Cambridge.

Closing Remark

Concluding his address, Garg asserted that the goal is "not artificial intelligence replacing governance, but intelligent governance that remains deeply human".

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