Lok Sabha Question No. 34 (STARRED), answered on 2026-02-02
Subject: Promotion of Scheduled Indian Languages through Al Language Platforms
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Shashank Mani, Shri Manoj Tiwari

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 34

ANSWERED ON 02.02.2026

## PROMOTION OF SCHEDULED INDIAN LANGUAGES THROUGH AI LANGUAGE PLATFORMS

## *34. SHRI SHASHANK MANI: SHRI MANOJ TIWARI:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  of  initiatives  undertaken  by  the  Government  to  support  all  22  scheduled  Indian languages through AI-based language platforms such as Bhashini and BharatGen; (b) the scope of digitisation of linguistic data, development of multilingual tools and creation of open language datasets under these initiatives; (c) the  manner  in  which  academic  institutions,  startups  and  public  sector  agencies  across  the country have  been  involved  in  the  development  and  deployment  of  these  language technologies; and whether the Government proposes to expand the coverage of the platforms and include the of Karnataka,  under  these  Al-based  language  platforms  for  education,  governance  and  public
- (d) Tulu language, spoken predominantly in Dakshina Kannada  and Udupi districts service delivery, and if so, the details and timelines thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the table of the House.

*****

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) to (D) IN RESPECT OF LOK SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  34  ANSWERED  ON  02.02.2026  REGARDING 'PROMOTION OF SCHEDULED INDIAN LANGUAGES THROUGH AI LANGUAGE PLATFORMS'  ASKED  BY  SHRI  SHASHANK  MANI  &  SHRI  MANOJ  TIWARI', HON'BLE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

(a) to (d): The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 highlights the importance of multilingualism  and  places  strong  emphasis  on  the  promotion  of  all  Indian  languages.  In alignment  with  the  objectives  of  NEP  2020,  the  Government  of  India  has  undertaken  several initiatives  promoting  education,  preservation  and  research  on  Indian  languages.  These  efforts have  further  been  augmented  through  the  adoption  of  Artificial  Intelligence  and  Machine Learning (AI/ML)  technologies, including the  development of Large Language  Models, translation tools and language-enabled digital services in Indian languages.

Government of India has started the BharatGen project, which is a multimodal Large Language Model  Project  focused  on  developing  efficient  and  inclusive  AI  solutions  that  support  all  22 Scheduled  languages  and  enable  the  creation  of  a  robust  digital  AI  infrastructure  for  India's unique socio-cultural context and diverse sectors. BharatGen is anchored at IIT Bombay, where the  core  development  of  language  technologies  is  undertaken.  The  initiative  is  implemented through  a  consortium  of  leading  academic  institutions  including  IIT  Kanpur,  IIT  Madras,  IIT Hyderabad, IIIT Hyderabad, IIM Indore, and IIT Mandi.

Further, to facilitate the translation of content into Indian languages, technological advancements include  the  development  of  AI-based  translation  tools  such  as  ANUVADINI  by  the  All  India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and BHASHINI, an initiative under the Digital India Programme.

Through a collaboration of over 70 research partner institutes, BHASHINI has developed stateof-the-art AI models for Indian languages. At present, BHASHINI platform hosts a repository of over  three  hundred  fifty  AI-based  language  models  and  provides  more  than  twenty-two specialised  language  services.  These  services  include  Automatic  Speech  Recognition,  Machine Translation,  Text-to-Speech,  Optical  Character  Recognition,  Transliteration  and  several  other language  technology  capabilities  essential  for  enhancing  multilingual  digital  access  in  the country.  The  National  Language  Translation  Mission  through  the  BHASHINI  platform  is digitising large volumes of text and speech data across all 22 scheduled languages. BHASHINI follows a multi-stakeholder participation model involving academic and research institutions for fundamental research, dataset preparation and development of baseline AI models. For instance, IIT Madras has leveraged Bhashini and works closely with other academic partners on research and  model  development,  while  startups  and  technology  companies  build  applications  and solutions on top of the Bhashini language stack.

The  Indian  Language  Technology  Stack  for  education  initiative  of  the  IIT  Madras  Bodhan  AI Foundation aims to provide technology solutions for making learning more accessible, inclusive, and  effective.  These  efforts  focus  on  delivering  educational  content  and  services  in  Indian languages to improve access to quality education in mother tongue through AI enabled tools.

Further, extensive linguistic resources for scheduled Indian Languages have been developed by the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) of the Ministry of Education under the Linguistic

Data  Consortium  for  Indian  Languages  (LDC-IL)  scheme.  Since  2019,  LDC-IL  has  provided resources to government agencies, government-promoted initiatives, researchers, and commercial and industrial users engaged in developing language technologies.

Under  the  LDC-IL  scheme,  76  datasets  covering  all  Scheduled  languages  have  been  released. Apart from the datasets, LDC-IL has also developed web-based applications and tools to support research and development in Indian languages. Several of these tools, hosted at CIIL data centres, are  accessible  through  the  Medha  Bhashika  website  https://medha.ciil.org.  Expanding  the availability of high-quality digital resources for additional Indian languages, LDC-IL has taken steps for digitizing the corpora of the Tulu language.

***