Agartala, January 28: Tripura has become the first state in the North East and the eighth in the country to adopt cutting-edge text-to-speech technology under the BHASHINI initiative, leveraging artificial intelligence for greater digital inclusivity.
The state’s Department of Information Technology signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Digital India Bhashini Division of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) at Pragya Bhavan in Agartala on Tuesday.
The MoU was signed by Tripura IT Secretary Kiran Gitte and Amitabh Nag, CEO of Digital India, Bhashini Division, in the presence of IT Minister Pranajit Singha Roy, Director IT Jeya Ragul Geshan B, and other dignitaries.
BHASHINI, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2022 under the National Language Technology Mission, aims to provide translation services in 22 scheduled Indian languages, breaking linguistic barriers and enabling citizens to access digital services effortlessly.
As part of the initiative, a state-level workshop titled “Bhashini Rajyam” was held, focusing on the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) for real-time translation, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and voice-to-voice communication between Indian regional languages and English.
The initiative is expected to promote digital inclusivity by addressing both the digital and literacy divides.
Discussions during the workshop also emphasized strategies for integrating regional languages into digital platforms and government applications, thereby ensuring seamless communication and enhanced service delivery for Tripura’s diverse linguistic communities.
The BHASHINI program is poised to drive technological advancements in multilingual governance, foster national integration, and create a more inclusive society by unifying India’s linguistic diversity through AI-powered tools.
