Lok Sabha Question No. 2066 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-11
Subject: Preservation and protection of Indigenous Tribal Language
Ministry: TRIBAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Smt. Kriti Devi Debbarman

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2066

TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.12.2025

## PRESERVATION AND PROTECTION OF INDIGENOUS TRIBAL LANGUAGE

2066. SMT. KRITI DEVI DEBBARMAN:

Will the Minister of TRIBAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  taken  any  steps  for  the  preservation  and  protection  of  indigenous  tribal languages and dialects of Tripura, if so, the details thereof and the specific initiatives that are in place to ensure that these languages are safeguarded for future generations;
- (b) the financial allocation for the preservation, promotion and development of indigenous tribal languages in Tripura during the last five financial years and 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 in 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 rituals 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 Varnmala , 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 Folksongs of Tripura.

7.  Primers  in  Tribal  Languages  of  Tripura  have  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 Articles on Tribal Language of Tripura from eminent Tribal  Writers,  Poets,  authors  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  ethno-linguistic  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 are 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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