NEW DELHI, 19 Feb 2026 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi today outlined India’s “MANAV” vision for artificial intelligence while addressing global leaders at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.
Speaking at the event, PM Modi explained that MANAV, the Hindi word for “human”, serves as an acronym representing five core principles: a Moral and Ethical System; Accountable Governance; National Sovereignty, particularly the right to data; Accessible and Inclusive technology; and Valid and Legitimate systems.
He described AI as a historic transformation comparable to the invention of wireless communication. “When signals were first transmitted wirelessly, no one imagined that the entire world would one day be connected in real time,” PM Modi said. “Artificial Intelligence is such a transformation of human history. What we are seeing today, what we are predicting, is just the beginning of its impact.”
PM Modi outlined AI’s role in expanding human capabilities rather than merely making machines intelligent.
“AI is making machines intelligent, but more than that, it is increasing human capabilities manyfold,” he said. “There is only one difference: this time the speed is unprecedented and the scale is also unexpected.”
He added that technological impacts that once took decades now unfold far more quickly, with the transition from machine learning to “learning machines” being faster, deeper, and wider than ever.”
MACRON HAILS INDIA : At the five-day summit involving business leaders, innovators, and policymakers from the rapidly evolving world of Artificial Intelligence, France President Emmanuel Macron hailed India’s progress in adopting and democratising AI know-how.
He began his address at the India AI Impact Summit Thursday morning with a ‘namaste’ and praise for India for having “built what no other country can”.
Macron illustrated his point by referring to a roadside vendor in Mumbai – one of crores of Indians battling the ghost of poverty almost daily – and how his life had been transformed by the rapid spread and adoption of a digital payments system, the Unified Payments Interface, or UPI.
“10 years ago, a street vendor in Mumbai could not open a bank account,” Macron began, “No address, no papers, no access… but today that same vendor accepts payments on his phone.”
“That is not a technology story,” he said, “That is a civilisational story.”
“India built something no other country in the world can… a digital identity for 1.4 billion people, a payment system that now processes 20 billion transactions every month, a health infrastructure that has issued 500 million digital health IDs…” the French President said.
Pictures credit social media
