Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled “Bhashini” at the G20 Digital Economy Working Group Ministers Meet. This AI-powered language translation platform celebrates India’s linguistic diversity.
Bhashini aims to bridge digital divides and ensure every Indian feels connected. India has become a canvas for such innovation with its vast array of languages and dialects. The platform supports digital inclusion across India’s countless languages.
For many, this means accessing content in their native language for the first time. So, let’s have a deeper look at what Bhashini is all about.
The Need for Bhashini
The digital world leans toward English and it leaves many non-English speakers feeling left out. Imagine trying to find information online, but it’s not in your language. It’s frustrating and limiting.
Many Indians face this issue on a daily basis as they struggle to access content in their native tongue. This is where the need for Bhashini comes in. It aims to fill this gap and offer a platform for every Indian language to ensure everyone gets a fair chance in the digital space. No one should feel left behind because of language.
Understanding the Bhashini Model
Bhashini stands as a hope for language inclusivity in the digital-first era. Let’s have a look at how it operates and its core principles.
Operation and Promotion of Languages
Bhashini is a movement that actively promotes regional languages. It does this through its technological feats and collaborations. Bhashini integrates its offerings as it engages with companies and platforms. This ensures a seamless user experience across various digital platforms.
Building Blocks of Bhashini
Technology
ASR
Automatic Speech Recognition helps in understanding spoken words.
OCR
Optical Character Recognition reads text from images.
NLU
Natural Language Understanding ensures context comprehension.
MT
Machine Translation offers real-time translations.
TTS
Text-to-speech gives voice to written content.
Products
- Real-Time Speech-to-Speech Machine for instant translations.
- Translation tools like Speech To Speech (S2S) Government Assistant.
- Indian Language Voice Internet for native browsing experiences.
- Content localization helps create content that resonates with local audiences.
- Accessibility tools cater to everyone, ensuring no one’s left out.
- Translator Lens offers a visual translation aid.
Foundation
- Data Corpus: A rich collection of language data fuels Bhashini.
- High Compute Infrastructure (HCI): It ensures smooth, efficient operations.
Bhashini, in essence, reflects India’s vast linguistic world. It stands as a testament to what unity in diversity truly means in the digital age.
Benefits of Bhashini
Bhashini is more than just a translation platform; it’s a catalyst for change. Let’s explore its benefits:
Promotion of Regional Language Content
India is home to 21 separate official languages, with a total of 121 languages and 271 mother tongues. Each region has its own linguistic charm and Bhashini recognizes this. It actively pushes for content in regional languages. This ensures diverse cultures get representation online.
Digital Inclusivity for All Indians
Bhashini is a bridge that connects the digital divide that many Indians face. With Bhashini, content is accessible in one's native tongue. It ensures that every Indian feels included, regardless of their language.
Economic Opportunities for Local Content Creators
Bhashini is also an economic booster as it paves the way for local creators. They can now produce content in regional languages. This opens up new avenues for local artists, writers, and creators who found language barriers problematic in the past to find a platform online. They can showcase their talent and earn from it, as they will now have an audience.
Regional Language Websites
Consider a tourist from Kerala. They want to know about Rajasthan's culture. With Bhashini, websites can offer content in Malayalam. This makes the information easily digestible for the tourist.
Digital Tools and Platforms in Indian Languages
Imagine a farmer in Punjab. They want to use a weather forecasting app. Bhashini ensures the app is available in Punjabi. This helps the farmer understand crucial weather updates.
Government Services Reaching Wider Audiences
Think of a senior citizen in Odisha. They need to access a government pension portal. Bhashini enables the portal to be in Odia (Oriya). Senior citizens can now navigate and access services effortlessly using conversational AI in regional languages.
Shaip’s Contribution to Bhashini: Digital Inclusion through Multilingual Data Collection
Partnering with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Shaip undertook a monumental task: collecting, segmenting, and transcribing diverse Indian language datasets.
The aim was to construct robust multilingual speech models and the road ahead has a lot of challenges.
Consider the complexity: acquiring 3000 hours of varied audio data spanning 8 languages, each with 4 unique dialects. This data required meticulous segmentation and transcription.
Yet Shaip triumphed. Their comprehensive approach covered multiple facets:
- Data collection: Shaip gathered diversified data on voices across age, gender, education, and dialect.
- Data segmentation: Audio data underwent rigorous segmentation. We tagged each segment meticulously to ensure precision.
- Quality assurance: Every recording passed through stringent quality checks. Only the best made the cut.
- Data transcription: We needed quality work with impeccable accuracy. So, we captured every word, hesitation, and nuance with precision.
We created a high-quality audio dataset that empowers IIT Madras to craft impeccable speech recognition models across eight Indian languages as a result. The ripple effects of this collaboration will undoubtedly resonate across the digital world. It’ll bridge linguistic barriers to help create a truly inclusive digital India.
