ASMITA to produce 22000 books in 5 years in 22 languages
3 significant projects launched
Bahubhasha Shabdkosh to create multilingual dictionaries
Real-time Translation Architecture to enhance translation capabilities
New Delhi. Three significant projects launched during the valedictory session of one day workshop. These were ASMITA (Augmenting Study Materials in Bharatiya languages through Translation and Academic writing); Bahubhasha Shabdkosh; and Real-time Translation Architecture. The major role in shaping all these projects will be technology, and NETF and BBS (Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti) will have a huge role in these.
The Minister of State for Education, Dr. Sukanta Majumdar, inaugurated the one-day workshop for the Vice Chancellors on Writing of Textbooks in Bharatiya Bhasha for Higher Education in New Delhi. The workshop was jointly organised by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti (BBS).
Dr. Sukanta Majumdar, highlighted the importance of preparing study material in Bharatiya languages for various higher education courses. The education system must reflect the vast linguistic diversity of the country and ensure that the students have access to knowledge in their mother tongues.
Bharatiya languages are a testament to the ancient history of the nation and the wisdom that has been passed down through generations. The young generations must be nurtured and their belief in the rich cultural and linguistic heritage must be strengthened.
During the session, Prof. Chamu Krishna Shastri emphasized the need to develop a Bharatiya Bhasha Ecosystem and M. Jagdish Kumar shared some valuable insights.
ASMITA, led by UGC in collaboration with Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti, aims to produce 22000 books in the next five years in 22 scheduled languages. Bahubhasha Shabdkosh, led by the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) in collaboration with Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti is an extensive initiative to create a grand repository of multilingual dictionaries.
Real-time Translation Architecture, led by the National Education Technology Forum (NEFT) in collaboration with Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti, will facilitate the creation of a technological framework to enhance real-time translation capabilities in Bharatiya Bhasha.
More than 150 Vice Chancellors from across the country participated in the workshop. The Vice Chancellors were grouped into 12 Manthan Satra, each dedicated to planning and developing textbooks in 12 regional languages. The initial focus languages included Punjabi, Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, and Odia. The groups were chaired by the respective VCs of the nodal universities, and their deliberations yielded valuable outcomes.
Key takeaways from the discussions included defining the creation of new textbooks in Bharatiya Bhasha, establishing standard vocabularies in 22 Bharatiya Bhasha for the books, and identifying potential improvements for current textbooks, emphasizing Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) as one of the components, adding practical and theoretical knowledge.
