Union Panchayati Raj Ministry and Bhashini, an AI-powered language translation platform under MeitY, are collaborating to harness AI-powered language technologies to help people interact smoothly with Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs), especially in diverse linguistic regions in the country.
The pact will be signed on Thursday in the national capital in the presence of Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Professor SP Singh Baghel.
The initiative is a strategic collaboration to expand multilingual access across the ministry’s digital platforms and outreach efforts, enabling wider public participation in Panchayati Raj initiatives, programmes, dialogues, and live events through advanced translation technologies, said a statement from the Ministry.
“With the signing of the MoU, the partnership will enhance language accessibility across major portals and platforms of the Union Panchayati Raj Ministry, while also promoting the use of AI-enabled public digital infrastructure to empower Panchayati Raj Institutions and reinforce participatory democracy at the grassroots,” it said.
Earlier this month, the Digital India Bhashini Division (DIBD) and the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) collaborated on the development and deployment of multilingual artificial intelligence solutions across key public-facing railway platforms.
Launched in July 2022, Bhashini aims to create a language technology platform that provides tools and services for translation, voice-based interactions, and content creation in 22 scheduled Indian languages.
The partnership aims to integrate Bhashini’s state-of-the-art language technology stack, comprising Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Text-to-Text Translation, Text-to-Speech (TTS), and Optical Character Recognition (OCR), into CRIS-managed systems such as the National Train Enquiry System (NTES) and RailMadad, added the statement.
As part of the event, a specially-curated digital launch video showcasing the integration of Bhashini with eGramSwaraj will also be unveiled.
