Post by Karya

A few months ago, Bhili, a tribal language spoken by millions across western and central India, had limited representation in India's digital infrastructure. Today, the Bhili language system we helped co-create with the Bhil community is helping farmers access agricultural services through MahaVISTAAR, a platform used by more than 13 million farmers across Maharashtra. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐧 𝐊𝐢 𝐁𝐚𝐚𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚'𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐁𝐇𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐈. This is what language inclusion looks like in practice. Farmers can access agricultural services in their own language. National communications become more accessible to tribal communities. As more languages become part of digital infrastructure, public systems become more responsive to the people they serve. Built in partnership with the District Administration of Nandurbar (Collector Office Nandurbar), Government of Maharashtra (GoM), and BHASHINI - (Digital India BHASHINI Division), the Bhili language system was created by Karya with contributions from more than 400 people across the district. From a tribal district in Maharashtra to platforms serving millions of citizens, this work demonstrates what becomes possible when language technology is built with communities and deployed in real-world systems. Dr Mittali Sethi Amitabh Kant IndiaAI NITI Aayog Official Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology AI4Bhārat