In a significant step towards strengthening minority language preservation through AI-led innovation, the BHASHINI Sanchalan/Seva Workshop on Gurmukhi Language Preservation and Digital AI Model Development was conducted on 17 April 2026 at SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi. The workshop was organised by the Digital India BHASHINI Division under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in collaboration with SGTB Khalsa College.

The workshop placed focused emphasis on the Gurmukhi script, which is integral to Punjabi language and literature and holds deep cultural, historical, and religious significance, particularly in Sikh traditions and scriptures. As a language resource in the AI ecosystem, Gurmukhi requires structured efforts in digitisation, dataset creation, and linguistic validation to enable its effective integration into digital platforms and services. The initiative aligns with the broader scope of the Ministry of Minority Affairs in supporting the preservation and promotion of minority and heritage languages.

SGTB Khalsa College contributed as a key academic and knowledge partner, providing domain expertise and institutional support essential for ensuring linguistic accuracy and cultural contextualisation in language AI initiatives. This collaboration reflects continued efforts to strengthen research, knowledge development, and ecosystem-building for low-resource and heritage languages.

During the workshop, Shri Shailendra Pal Singh, Senior General Manager, Digital India BHASHINI Division, emphasised the importance of leveraging AI to enable inclusive access to knowledge systems and digital services through Indian languages, and highlighted the need for active participation from academic institutions and language communities in building high-quality datasets and robust language models for Gurmukhi.

The workshop focused on the development of AI models for the Gurmukhi language through targeted data collection, validation frameworks, and community-driven participation. The programme included sessions on the linguistic and cultural relevance of Gurmukhi, along with detailed discussions on dataset requirements such as text corpora, audio recordings, and digitisation of manuscripts, supported by structured data quality frameworks. A comprehensive overview of the BhashaDaan platform was presented to enable structured data contribution and community-led validation by proficient speakers.

As part of the workshop, the BHASHINI team conducted live demonstrations of its core language AI technologies and applications, showcasing multilingual capabilities across text, speech, and document domains. Demonstrations included text-to-text translation, speech recognition, optical character recognition, and multilingual tools, along with use cases across governance, education, and digital public infrastructure.

Prof. Gurmohinder Singh, Principal, SGTB Khalsa College, emphasised: At the event,
 “Bhashini shall contribute immensely to bridge the digital divide in Indian languages. We at SGTB Khalsa College shall have long term collaboration with the team to contribute in Gurmukhi applications.”

These demonstrations and discussions highlighted real-time inferencing, scalable deployment, and API-based integration capabilities, reinforcing BHASHINI’s role as a national platform enabling multilingual access, inclusion, and digital empowerment, while continuing to strengthen collaborative ecosystems with academic institutions and language communities.

About Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD):

The Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), is India’s national initiative for AI-driven language technology and multilingual digital inclusion. Beyond being a model provider, BHASHINI has developed the National Hub for Language Technology (NHLT), one of the world’s largest AI inferencing platforms, enabling multilingual capabilities across Indian and international languages through advanced speech and text technologies. DIBD anchors a robust open-source ecosystem focused on model engineering and optimisation, API engineering and management, and scalable real-world use case deployment across governance and institutional platforms. It enables continuous model fine-tuning through structured feedback loops and drives improvement through large-scale dataset collection, including multilingual and voice content and dataset creation initiatives such as Bhashadaan. The platform powers over 800 government websites, processes more than 15 million inferences daily, and offers over 20 specialised NLP services across 36 text and 23 voice languages, including support for tribal dialects. DIBD also drives and promotes research and development, fosters startups in the language AI domain, supports academic collaboration, and advances international cooperation, positioning BHASHINI as a scalable, inclusive, and future-ready digital public infrastructure for the nation.

****

MSZ

(Release ID: 2253324) Visitor Counter : 158