India’s AI Mission allocates ₹10,372 crore but lacks victim compensation fund

India’s AI Mission allocates ₹10,372 crore but lacks victim compensation fund

India’s AI Mission, launched with a budget of ₹10,371.92 crore, has no dedicated fund to compensate victims of AI-driven errors, according to a Bar and Bench report. The shortfall was exposed in the case of Dhuli Chand, a 102-year-old Haryana resident whose old-age pension was stopped in 2022 after his name was erroneously marked as deceased in the Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP) database. Despite the error being corrected months later, Chand’s pension was restored only after legal intervention. Experts warn that without a victim compensation framework, AI systems like the PPP risk causing irreversible harm. The Union Ministry of Electronics and IT has not responded to queries on the issue.