Lok Sabha Question No. 4779 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-21
Subject: Preservation of Tribal Languages of Tripura
Ministry: TRIBAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Smt. Kriti Devi Debbarman

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4779

TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.08.2025

## Preservation of Tribal Languages of Tripura

## 4779.  Smt. Kriti Devi Debbarman:

## Will the Minister of TRIBAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) the steps taken by the Government for the preservation and protection of indigenous tribal languages and dialects of Tripura and the specific initiatives in place to safeguard these languages for future generations;
- (b) the financial allocation made for the preservation, promotion and development of indigenous tribal languages in Tripura during the last five financial years along with the manner in which the allocated funds are being utilised; and
- (c) whether the Tribal Welfare Department is coordinating with other relevant departments, bodies or institutions to promote and encourage the use of these languages in day-to-day life, including education, media and public institutions and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR TRIBAL AFFAIRS (SHRI DURGADAS UIKEY)

- (a) to (c): Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India under the Centrally Sponsored scheme 'Support to Tribal  Research  Institutes  (TRIs)'  extends  financial  support  to  29  Tribal  Research  Institutes  (TRIs)  in States/Union  Territories  (UTs)  including  Tribal  Research  and  Cultural  Institute  Tripura.  Under  the  scheme, proposals relating to infrastructural needs, research & documentation activities and training & capacity building programmes, organization of tribal festivals, yatras for promotion of unique cultural heritage and tourism and organisation of exchange visits by tribals are organised so that their cultural practices, languages and ritual are preserved  and  disseminated.  TRIs  are  primarily  institutions  under  the  administrative  control  of  the  State Government/UT Administration. Under the scheme, the projects/activities undertaken for the preservation and promotion of indigenous tribal languages and dialects are as below:
- i. Preparing Bilingual Dictionaries and Trilingual Proficiency Modules in tribal languages.
- ii. Preparing Primers for students of Class I, II and III in tribal languages under Multi-Lingual Education (MLE) Intervention in the line of New Education Policy 2020. Publishing Varnamala, local rhymes, and stories in tribal languages.
- iii. Publishing books, journals on different tribal languages to promote tribal literature
- iv. Documenting folklore, and folktales of different tribes for preservation and promotion of tribal folk tradition. Collecting oral literature (songs, riddles, ballads etc.)
- v. Translation  and  publication  of  Training  module  about  Sickle  cell  Anaemia  disease  awareness  Module  I  and Diagnosis  &  Treatment  Module   II  in  local   Tribal  Dialects  in  the  States  covered  under  the  Mission  for Elimination of Sickle Cell Anaemia.
- vi. Conducting conferences, seminars, workshops, and poetic symposiums.

Further,  as  informed,  the  Tribal  Research  and  Cultural  Institute (TR&CI),  Government  of  Tripura  has  taken following initiatives for the preservation and protection of indigenous tribal languages and dialects of Tripura:

1. Publishing Books on ' Learning of Tribal languages of Tripura' and Dictionaries etc.
2. Publishing 1(one) Literary Journal namely 'SAIMA' in Tribal Languages of Tripura every year.
3. Publishing 1(one) Research Journal namely 'TUI' biannually.
4. Conducting Seminar/Workshop on 'Indigenous Tribal languages and dialects of Tripura' in collaboration with Tripura University (A Central University). Papers are documented and published.
5. Producing Audio-Video Documentation on Tribal heritage, life etc. in Tribal Languages of Tripura.
6. Preparing Notation of Tribal Folkssongs of Tripura

7. Primers in Tribal Languages of Tripura has already been introduced in Government run Schools of Tripura. All the books/Primers/Documentation have been preserved in Social Science Library of TR&CI, Tripura and uploaded in the Website Link: https://trci.tripura.gov.in/e-book-publication , Ministry of Tribal Affairs repository portal and also in Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@tribalresearchandculturali7184.

The financial allocation made for the preservation, promotion and development of indigenous tribal languages in Tripura during the last five years are as under:

(Rs. in lakh)

|   FY 2020-21 |   FY 2021-22 |   FY 2022-23 |   FY 2023-24 |   FY 2024-25 |
|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
|            0 |            5 |            0 |            0 |            8 |

The allocated funds are being utilised in collecting Article on Tribal Language of Tripura from eminent Tribal Writer, Poet, author of Tripura, printing and publication of books, organizing and conducting Seminar, Workshop on  indigenous  tribal  languages  and  dialects  of  Tripura  in  collaboration  with  Tripura  University  (A  Central University).

In addition, Ministry of Education, Government of India initiated the 'Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages (SPPEL)' under the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru in 2013. The Institute with the help of Core Committee identified 117 languages including Darlong, Ranglong, and Uchai languages of Tripura in its first phase to work upon in step wise manner. SPPEL aims to document the language & culture of the mother tongues/languages of India spoken by less than 10,000 speakers by developing primers, bi/trilingual  dictionaries  (electronic  and  print  formats),  grammatical  sketches,  pictorial  glossaries  and  ethnolinguistic profile of the community. The details are available on https://sanchika.ciil.org. Local community people are  integral  part  of  SPPEL  language  documentation  process.  Community  people  are  involved  as  language consultant  during  the  fieldwork.  Even  community  people  are  involved  and  invited  in  workshop,  seminar  & conferences related to language documentation.

Moreover, Bhasha Sanchika, the digital language repository of the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), where language preservation, dissemination, and technological advancement converge in a pioneering initiative. The primary objectives of the archive portal are to provide Indian linguistic resources in diverse formats - text, image, audio, and video; Aiding in creating language technology resources, language pedagogy materials, and other language-related products and services. The details available in the following link: https://sanchika.ciil.org/home

CIIL has also developed Primers on 117 languages (scheduled, non-scheduled & tribal) in collaboration with NCERT, New Delhi. The details available in the following link: https://ciil.org/primers\_book.

Furthermore, as part of the Government of India's Digital India initiative, CIIL is implementing Bharatavani Project dedicated to making knowledge resources available in and about 121 Indian languages, including 22 Scheduled  and  99  Non-Scheduled  languages.  These  resources  are  accessible  through  its  dynamic  and  userfriendly web portal (www.bharatavani.in) and mobile app (http://bit.ly/1XYqodI). Kokborok, Halam, Mogh and Chakma are Non-Scheduled/Tribal Languages, which are spoken in Tripura, with a rich literary tradition, holds a prominent place in the Bharatavani portal. Bharatavani is committed to digitally preserving and disseminating the knowledge of these languages. The available resources are categorized in various knowledge domains as follows:

| Sl. No.          | DOMAINS                                        |   KOKBOROKHALAMMOGHCHAKMA |    |    |    |
|------------------|------------------------------------------------|---------------------------|----|----|----|
| 1                | BHASHAKOSHA | LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS |                        02 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
| 2                | PATHYAPUSTAKAKOSHA | TEXTBOOKS            |                        16 | 03 | 03 | 05 |
| 3                | JNANAKOSHA | ENCYCLOPEDIC CONTENTS        |                        04 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
|                  | TOTAL                                          |                        22 | 03 | 03 | 05 |
| PDF DICTIONARIES | PDF DICTIONARIES                               |                        02 |    |    |    |

The Linguistic Data Consortium for Indian Languages (LDC-IL) is developing high-quality linguistic resources across all Indian languages, including various mother tongues. LDC-IL has released a Mother Tongue Parallel Text Corpus of India Vol.I and it includes English and 147 mother tongues of India. Each language consists of 5,332 sentences, systematically structured based on 152 grammatical categories, reflecting the rich linguistic diversity of the country.

Tribal Languages of Tripura in the parallel Corpus and Word Counts:

-  Kokborok (Tripuri) - 27,063 words
-  Reang - 36,123 words
-  Paite and Kuki are prominent in Manipuri but it is present in Tripura also. Paite - 32,627 words, Kuki - 32,695 words

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