IIT Dharwad has opened applications for a free one-year Artificial Intelligence Technocrat program under India's PM VIKAS scheme. The training is aimed at graduates aged 18 to 45 from six notified minority communities: Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis. Up to 15 percent of places may go to economically weaker applicants outside those communities, while 33 percent are reserved for women. Selected students receive training, certification, hostel access where applicable and a monthly stipend of Rs 1,000 paid directly by the Ministry of Minority Affairs. Candidates must submit identity, education, bank and community documents and pass a screening process. Applications close August 31.

The program treats access to AI as a matter of social policy rather than personal consumption. A chatbot account can make the technology appear universally available, yet the jobs surrounding it still require time, instruction, housing, credentials and enough income to remain in training for a year. The stipend is modest, but its presence admits that learning has a cost borne unevenly by students. The reservation rules place religious identity, gender and household income inside a technical classroom often described through merit alone. IIT Dharwad is therefore building a small public route into an industry dominated by private capital and expensive education. Its success will be measured after the course, when graduates need placements that convert a certificate and twelve monthly payments into durable work.