New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS) Experts explored strategies for safeguarding endangered and classical languages in the digital era at a workshop organised on Tuesday by the Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) under the National Language Technology Mission, an official said.
The insightful workshop on Bhasha Daan, a citizen-driven initiative under BHASHINI, is aimed at preserving the country’s rich and diverse linguistic heritage through digital means.
The workshop brought together experts, institutional stakeholders, and community representatives who paid special focus on Pali, Prakrit, Avesta Pahlavi, and the Gurmukhi script, highlighting the urgent need for developing high-quality monolingual corpora and encouraging community-led data contributions.
During the workshop, the participants were introduced to the BhashaDaan ecosystem, its significance for low-resource and classical languages, and the critical roles of contributors, institutions, and language communities.
Detailed sessions covered the end-to-end technical workflow, from data ingestion and validation to the creation of golden datasets essential for building robust AI language models, said the statement.
Live demonstrations of Bolo India, Suno India, Likho India, and Dekho India modes on the BHASHINI platform showcased how citizens can contribute speech, text, and image data in their native and classical languages.
Minority Affairs Secretary Chandra Shekhar Kumar has been laying strong emphasis on learning, documenting, and preserving classical and endangered languages through the effective use of Artificial Intelligence.
He has consistently advocated the adoption of AI-based tools across the Ministry to enhance efficiency, innovation, and evidence-based policymaking.
Chandra Shekhar Kumar has also been actively encouraging Ministry officials and staff to build AI awareness and capabilities and has promoted the organisation of such capacity-building workshops to harness technology for cultural preservation and inclusive governance, said the statement.
BHASHINI, an AI-powered platform spearheaded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), is designed to break language barriers by providing digital tools for Indian languages.
The mission enables real-time text and speech translation and ensures access to digital services in citizens’ own languages, fostering digital inclusion through open-source models, datasets, and APIs, it said.
The workshop sessions on Tuesday also addressed platform operations, technical readiness, resource planning, dataset requirements, and best practices to ensure smooth and effective execution of language digitisation efforts.
Speaking on the occasion, officials from the Ministry of Minority Affairs emphasised that empowering communities to participate in language preservation is key to ensuring the survival and relevance of India’s linguistic heritage for future generations.
The workshop reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to leveraging technology for cultural preservation and inclusive development.
By aligning with BHASHINI and BhashaDaan, the Ministry of Minority Affairs aims to ensure that every language and every voice finds its rightful place in India’s digital future, said the statement.
--IANS
rch/dan