As an initiative to empower the Adivasi sections of the country, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has launched the AdiVaani app, India’s first AI-powered translator for tribal languages.
“Developed under the banner of Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh, this pioneering initiative is set to transform the linguistic and educational landscape in tribal regions,” an official statement from the Press Information Bureau, on the 30th of August, stated.
The app, which is available on the Play Store and is soon to be launched on IOS, is set to bridge the gap between speakers of these languages and non-tribal people. This initiative is being promoted in order to protest tribal languages that are endangered all over India.
The app came into being with the help of collaborative efforts made by a national consortium led by IIT Delhi, with participation of BITS Pilani, IIIT Hyderabad, and IIIT Naya Raipur. Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs) across Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Meghalaya also played a pivotal role.
Tribal language primers developed by the Ministry of Education through NCERT and the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysuru, are also integrated into this app. Covering 117 languages, including 89 tribal ones, these primers now find a new home within Adi Vaani, strengthening foundational learning.
AdiVaani, an app introduced by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, offers:-
- Immediate translation between Hindi/English and tribal languages
- Text-to-speech functionalities
- Speech-to-text functionalities
- Speech-to-speech functionalities.
- It also supports OCR to digitize manuscripts and primers
- Provides bilingual dictionaries
- Generates subtitles for important speeches, such as those of the Prime Minister, as well as health advisories like awareness on sickle cell disease.
The app is said to have Santali (Odisha), Bhili (Madhya Pradesh), Mundari (Jharkhand) Gondi (Chhattisgarh). Additional languages, including Kui (Odisha) and Garo (Meghalaya, Assam, Bangladesh, Tripura), are under development for the next phase.
Adi Vaani is more than a translation tool; it is a national mission to:
- Digitize and safeguard tribal knowledge and cultural expressions.
- Empower tribal communities with education, healthcare access, and public service delivery in their native languages.
- Promote inclusive governance by ensuring the last-mile reach of government schemes.
- Position India as a global leader in AI-driven preservation of endangered languages.
