Discuss the role of parliaments in making AI governance human-centred. What can India learn from inter-parliamentary cooperation?

Human-centred AI puts people's rights, safety and dignity, not just efficiency, at the centre of how algorithms are designed and used. Governments draft AI strategies, but parliaments give them democratic legitimacy. India is hosting the 12th BRICS Parliamentary Forum, which has a session on human-centred AI [1]. That makes the legislature's role a live question.

Role of parliaments in human-centred AI

• Rights-based law-making: laws on data, liability and redress turn ethical principles into duties that can be enforced. India follows dualism, so even international AI commitments need a law passed by Parliament [2].
• Committee oversight: committees can question ministries on algorithmic bias, surveillance and the government's own use of AI. Yet the 17th Lok Sabha sent only 16% of Bills to committees [3]. That is a weak record for technical, tech-heavy laws.
• Representation: MPs bring in the concerns of workers, farmers and minorities. This stops AI rules from being shaped only by industry.
• Power of the purse: when Parliament approves AI spending, it can attach conditions on transparency and inclusion.

Lessons from inter-parliamentary cooperation

• Shared norms: the P20 Joint Statement (New Delhi, 2023) called for AI that is "responsible, inclusive and human-centric." It was formally sent to the G20 Presidency [4]. This is a model for carrying legislators' views to leaders' summits.
• Peer learning: at the 11th BRICS Parliamentary Forum in Brasília, India pressed for inter-parliamentary cooperation on responsible AI [5]. This lets India study how other legislatures handle transparency and accountability.
• Consensus across systems: the Forum brings together 11 member and 10 partner countries [1]. India has to frame AI norms that very different political systems can accept, without watering down rights.
• The follow-up gap: forum statements are only advisory and are rarely tracked. Much of the same AI wording has been repeated since 2023, which shows the need for a joint review process.

Way forward for India

• Send AI Bills to committees by default.
• Have the Committee on External Affairs ask the government what it has done on each point of the Joint Statement.
• Use the meeting of Chairpersons of International Affairs Committees [1] to train MPs on AI.

To sum up, parliaments make AI governance human-centred through laws, oversight and representation, and cooperation between parliaments spreads these norms. If India strengthens committee scrutiny at home and builds follow-up into forum outcomes, it can lead on accountable, inclusive AI, in line with SDG 16's goal of effective and accountable institutions.