Knowledge Nugget: Adi Vaani — What you must-know for UPSC Exam

Key Takeaways :

1. Made using AI and efforts of academicians and educators proficient in tribal languages, the app will translate Hindi and English to tribal languages and vice-versa, and also aims to help digitize and preserve these languages.

2. It was developed by a consortium led by the IIT-Delhi with Birla Institute of Technology and Science-Pilani, IIIT Naya Raipur in collaboration with tribal research institutes in Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Meghalaya.

3. The app will be officially available on Google app store from Friday, and will initially provide translation services for Bhili, Gondi, Santali and Mundari, which are some of the more widely spoken tribal languages. Bhili is the most widely spoken non-scheduled language, and is spoken by over one crore people in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

4. Subsequently, it will also offer translation for Kui, spoken dominantly in Odisha, and Garo, spoken in Meghalaya, Assam and parts of Tripura.

5. The app has also integrated tribal language primers, created to help foundational learning in their mother tongue. The Ministry of Education through NCERT and in collaboration with the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysuru, has developed primers for 117 languages, including 89 tribal languages. Some of the primers integrated with the app are in Santali, Warli, Pawri.

6. With the recently rolled out Adi Karmayogi Abhiyan, which aims to build grassroots tribal leadership cadre, the Adi Vaani app will be popularised for uptake in the tribal communities.

7. Notably, India’s Scheduled Tribe population is 10.45 crore as per the 2011 census, and it is home to 461 tribal languages, with 71 distinct tribal mother tongues. About 82 languages are vulnerable, and 42 are critically endangered. 

Recent Tribal welfare schemes

📍Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM JANMAN): In 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of Janjatiya Gaurav Divas (15th November), launched the PM JANMAN at Khunti, Jharkhand targeting 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) communities.

• Under this umbrella scheme, nine ministries will implement 11 interventions, including the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana, and Jal Jeevan Mission, among others.

📍Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DAJGUA): It was launched as an umbrella initiative aimed at implementation of welfare measures, with the convergence of 17 line ministries. It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand in 2024.

• The scheme has been named Dharti Aaba (father of the earth) after anti-colonial tribal leader Birsa Munda. In the Union budget, the scheme was allocated Rs 79,156 crore over five years with a central share of Rs 56,333 crore, and state share of Rs 22,823 crore.

BEYOND THE NUGGET: Other AI-based Government Initiatives

1. BharatGen: It is a pioneering generative AI effort that aims to transform public service delivery and increase citizen involvement by establishing a set of basic models in language, speech, and computer vision.

— BharatGen will provide generative AI models and applications as a public utility, focusing on India’s socio-cultural and linguistic diversity. It aims to address India’s greater concerns, such as social fairness, cultural preservation, and linguistic variety, while also guaranteeing that generative AI reaches all sectors of society.

— BharatGen connects with Atmanirbhar Bharat’s goal by developing foundational AI models exclusively for India. It will support both text and speech, ensuring coverage of India’s unique linguistic environment. 

2. BHASHINI: Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2022 under the National Language Technology Mission, BHASHINI is an artificial intelligence (AI)-based language translation tool designed to facilitate real-time translation of Indian languages to establish a National Public Digital Platform for languages and increase the amount of content available in Indian languages.

— It aims to provide translation services in 22 scheduled Indian languages to break through linguistic barriers and enable people to access digital services smoothly.

— The BHASHINI project is designed to integrate technological advancements in governance with multiple language integration, fostering national integration and creating a more inclusive society by adopting artificial intelligence tools.

3. SabhaSaar: On the occasion of Independence Day this year, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool named ‘SabhaSaar’ is rolled out in Tripura and thereafter made available to other states.‘SabhaSaar’ leverages the power of AI to generate structured minutes of meetings from gram sabha videos and audio recordings.

SabhaSaar. (Source: Ministry of Ministry of Panchayati Raj)

— It will bring uniformity in minutes of the gram sabha meetings across the country. Panchayat officials can use their e-GramSwaraj login credentials to upload video/audio recordings on ‘SabhaSaar’.

—  ‘SabhaSaar’ is built on Bhashini. The tool generates a transcription from a video or audio, translates it into a chosen output language, and prepares a summary. It enables transcription in all major Indian languages like Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Gujarati, in addition to English.

4. Chitralekha: It is an open source platform for video subtitling across various Indic languages, using ML model support. It offers support for multiple input sources, transcription generation process and voice over. 

Post Read Question

With reference to the BharatGen, consider the following statements:

1. The initiative is aligned to make AI accessible to all citizens.

2. BharatGen will cater only to text and does not support speech.

3. This initiative focuses on developing processes for collecting and curating India-centric data, ensuring the country’s diverse languages.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 3 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1 and 3 only

(Sources: Govt rolls out AI-based app Adi Vaani to translate, preserve tribal languages, How AI tool will bring structure, uniformity to minutes of gram sabha)

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