During the Kashi Tamil Sangamam event in Varanasi on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled ‘Bhashini’, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based language translation tool designed to enable instant translation of Indian languages. The Prime Minister used the tool during the event for simultaneous translation for his Tamil-speaking audience. Terming it a “new beginning”, Prime Minister Modi highlighted the tool’s role in simplifying communication with the public and said it would make it “easier for me to reach you”.
What is Digital India Bhashini?
Bhashini’s roots go back to the inauguration of the Digital India Week in Gujarat in 2022, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced ‘Digital India Bhashini’. This initiative aims to enhance accessibility of the Internet and digital services in Indian languages, integrate voice functionality and promote content creation in various languages.
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What is Al-Bahashini?
Bhashini works as an AI-based language translation system, breaking down language barriers and enabling conversations between speakers of different Indian languages. The platform can be accessed through dedicated Android and iOS apps, providing a user-friendly experience.
Al-Bashini’s mission
Bhashini’s overarching mission is to enable all Indians to access the internet and digital services in their native languages. It aims to harness natural language technologies, foster a diverse ecosystem of contributors to transcend language barriers, and ensure digital inclusion and empowerment.
The government defines Bhashini’s journey along four tracks: Establishment, Contribution, Innovation and Grand Challenge. These paths mark pivotal milestones in the platform’s progress, contributing to the larger goal of digital government.
Pasha Dan Initiative
Bhashini presents Bhasha Daan, an initiative that focuses on collecting language inputs across multiple Indian languages. This initiative encourages individuals to contribute anonymously, enriching datasets for training AI models and supporting the development of products and services beneficial to society.
How can you contribute to Bhasha Dhan?
Baasha Dhan aims to encourage diverse contributions – transcriptions, audio recordings, translations or image classification – enabling collective efforts to develop Indian languages comprehensively.
Bacha Dan includes the following categories for citizens to contribute to:
Sono India: Contribute by transcribing audio content or fact-checking transcriptions made by others.
Was India: Donate your voice through wholesale registrations. Verify the authenticity of audio recordings contributed by others.
There is India: Contribute by translating the submitted text. Validate translations submitted by others.
See India: Contribute by writing the viewed text or tagging the images. Verify the authenticity of images contributed by others.
Where was Al-Bahashini developed?
Digital India Bhashini Division (DIBD) comes under Digital India Corporation, a Section 8 company under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India.
Why is Al-Bahashini important?
India is a linguistically rich country. Bhashini can go a long way in overcoming language barriers and challenges. Most of the content available online is in English or other major Indian languages, to lesser degrees, and this can make accessing information difficult at the same time. Indian governments want to ensure access to information in local languages that may not have national recognition.
Al-Bahashini and digital financial services
During the Global FinTech Festival in October, Amitabh Nag, CEO of Dubai Islamic Bank, also said that Bhashini has the potential to help promote financial inclusion, economic empowerment and promote financial literacy. This came in light of the Islamic Development Bank signing a contract with the Reserve Bank’s Innovation Center (RBIH) to help expand digital financial services to people in their mother tongue.
Nag also added that the department plans to launch a “common technology platform for frictionless credit in multiple languages.” This platform simplifies and enhances the provision of credit by financial institutions.
In today’s globalized world, the ability to communicate in different languages is crucial. This is where AI language translation tools come into play, revolutionizing the way we bridge language barriers. From real-time translation during international business meetings to translating website content for a global audience, these tools are becoming increasingly essential. In this article, we will delve into everything you need to know about AI language translation tools, including how they work, their accuracy, and potential impact on society and industry. Whether you’re a business owner, traveler, or language enthusiast, understanding the capabilities and limitations of these tools can help you make the most of their benefits.