IIT to use technology to improve lives of people in Rajasthan's Sirohi

The Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, in partnership with seven other institutions will employ innovative technologies to improve lives of the people of Sirohi, one of the most backward districts of Rajasthan.

Director of the IIT, Jodhpur, Santanu Chaudhury, said technologies like AI, Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data Analytics, sensors and drones will be used in areas of health, agriculture, solar energy, drinking water and communication facilities to improve the lives of the people.

The initiative is being described as Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR).

Taking it up as a model project, the IIT has already begun work in the district and based on the success of the model, it will be replicated in the districts of Dholpur, Karauli, Baran and Jaisalmer in the future.

This is our commitment under Scientific Social Responsibility to improve the living standard of the people of Sirohi by addressing problems plaguing the area and the people there by harnessing modern technologies, said Chaudhury.

The foremost issue is tackling the widespread occupational hazard of silicosis.

"The primary objective is to improve working conditions of workers and provide better medical facilities using a combination of AI and IoT," he said.

The IIT, AIIMS and CSIR-IGIB Delhi would be working together in devising an AI engine to distinguish between TB and silicosis by way of augmenting doctors' ability, said Chaudhury, adding this augmentation would speed up diagnosis.

He said the endeavour is to build a predictive mechanism with a view to prevent silicosis.

Besides this, other initiatives are improving the quality of soil and its productivity, AI-based plant disease diagnosis and solar trees to provide electricity.

We are looking at this project on a continuous basis so that we can get involved in development of one aspirational district as part of SCR, he said.