New Delhi [India], October 15 (ANI): The Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) and the Government of Manipur entered into an agreement to advance multilingual artificial intelligence and deploy regional language technology solutions across public digital platforms. 

According to the Ministry of Electronics & IT, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed during the BHASHINI Rajyam Workshop held in Imphal, organised jointly by the division and the state Department of Information Technology. 

The formal arrangement was signed by Amitabh Nag, Chief Executive Officer of the Digital India BHASHINI Division, and Somorjit Salam, Secretary of Information Technology for the Government of Manipur, to establish a framework for upgrading digital language resources and integrating multilingual services into state administration.

The workshop gathered administrative officials and domain specialists to evaluate methods for embedding Indian language tools into citizen-facing public platforms. Attendees examined the structure of BHASHINI's Language-First Digital Public Infrastructure, assessing how datasets, models, and application programming interfaces support governance in sectors such as education, healthcare, legal services, and grievance redressal.

Highlighting the scope of the partnership, Chief Minister of Manipur Yumnam Khemchand Singh noted that technological tools offer practical avenues to preserve and digitise native speech forms.

"Through artificial intelligence and language technology, we are promoting India's diverse languages," the Chief Minister said.

"Our linguistic diversity is a valuable strength as we move forward," he added, noting that efforts remain focused on bringing local regional tongues into the digital sphere.

The sessions placed emphasis on the distinct linguistic landscape of Manipur, which encompasses Manipuri, Tangkhul, Thadou, Paite, Hmar, and Liangmai. Demonstrations during the event included a real-time English-to-Manipuri machine translation system designed to illustrate communication processing between administrative English and regional languages.

Reiterating the functional necessity of native linguistic access, Somorjit Salam noted that technical services deliver results only if local populations operate them without difficulty.

"Digital services are effective only when people can understand and use them confidently," Salam said.

"Through BHASHINI, we can address language barriers with carefully tested solutions that respond to Manipur's needs and deliver lasting public benefit," the state IT Secretary noted.

Deliberations also focused on technical engagement programmes, including the BHASHINI Shilpi platform, aimed at student and developer experimentation, alongside the BHASHINI Mitra initiative, which gathers community-sourced linguistic inputs to train localized computing models.

Emphasising the structural priorities of the nationwide initiative, Amitabh Nag, Amitabh Nag, CEO, DIBD addressed the requirement for domestic public digital systems to function effectively across all local dialects.

"AI must understand India in all its linguistic diversity," Nag said.

"Through our partnership with Manipur, we aim to strengthen language technologies, expand practical applications and ensure that language is not a barrier to accessing digital services or pursuing opportunities," Nag added.

Under the framework, both parties established plans to determine priority governance areas, collect specialized linguistic datasets, and test models in consultation with native speakers prior to deployment on state platforms. (ANI)