News Desk: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Thursday launched a new artificial intelligence initiative aimed at preserving the state’s regional languages and bringing them to digital platforms. The initiative, called Bhasha AI, will focus on Garhwali, Kumaoni and Jaunsari, helping ensure that these languages remain relevant for future generations.
The voice collection portal was launched at the chief minister’s camp office under the initiative of the AI Strategic Engineering (AiSE) Foundation. During the launch, Dhami recorded a voice clip in Kumaoni to support the language data collection effort.
The project aims to create a comprehensive repository of words, pronunciations, voice samples and speaking styles in the three languages. The collected data will be used to develop and train AI systems that can understand and communicate in these regional languages.
Dhami said modern technology would play an important role in preserving Uttarakhand’s folk languages, arts, culture and traditions. Emphasising the importance of linguistic identity, he said the state’s cultural heritage should reach digital and global platforms through technological innovation.
AI to Connect Remote Villages With Government Services
One of the major objectives of the initiative is to make government services and information more accessible to people in remote areas of Uttarakhand.
Dhami said residents of distant villages should be able to obtain information about government schemes in their native languages and communicate their concerns to the administration using the same languages.
For this to become possible, AI systems must be capable of accurately recognising local vocabulary, pronunciation and different speaking styles. The initiative will therefore collect linguistic variations from different parts of the state.
The chief minister also highlighted that the same word may be pronounced differently across regions. Recording these variations will help AI models better understand the diversity within Garhwali, Kumaoni and Jaunsari.
Experts to Lead Language Data Collection
Sachidanand Semwal, founder of the non-profit AiSE Foundation, will oversee the technical aspects of the project, including data collection, modelling, AI training and language-model validation.
Padma Shri award-winning folk singer Pritam Bhartwan will serve as the language expert coordinator, while Shakti Prasad Bhatt has been named execution head.
Bhartwan said Uttarakhand’s regional languages carry a rich cultural heritage reflected in folk traditions, traditional songs and Jagar, a ritualistic folk tradition associated with the region. He added that the Jagar Academy would support the project by helping preserve authentic pronunciation and linguistic character.
Semwal said the initiative would collect words and audio samples to enable AI-powered technologies to understand and communicate in the three languages.
The project represents an effort to combine technology with cultural preservation, while potentially making digital services more inclusive for communities that primarily speak regional languages.
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