BHASHINI & Manipur Sign Historic MoU for Multilingual AI

Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) and the Government of Manipur signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on October 14, 2026, to advance multilingual artificial intelligence and language technology across the state. The agreement aims to dismantle language barriers, expand public access to e-governance services, and drive inclusive digital growth.

DIBD operating under the Digital India Corporation (DIC) within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) hosted the BHASHINI Rajyam Workshop (Manipur Chapter) in Imphal alongside Manipur’s Department of Information Technology.

Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh attended the landmark event, joining senior policymakers, tech leaders, and community representatives to explore real-world AI applications in public administration.

Landmark Partnership Expands State Language Technologies

Shri Amitabh Nag, CEO of DIBD, and Shri Somorjit Salam, IAS, IT Secretary for the Government of Manipur, formally signed the agreement.

Under the partnership, both entities will identify core public use cases, assess local language-data needs, and embed BHASHINI technologies directly into state government platforms. Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh emphasized AI's role in preserving India’s rich linguistic heritage while unlocking new economic opportunities for local youth.

"We must build digital public tools that every citizen can understand and navigate with confidence," stated IT Secretary Somorjit Salam.

DIBD CEO Amitabh Nag reaffirmed BHASHINI's commitment to delivering AI tools that reflect regional linguistic diversity, ensuring no citizen loses out on public welfare schemes due to language barriers.

Building a Language-First Digital Infrastructure

The workshop showcased BHASHINI’s Language-First Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). This open-source ecosystem unifies massive language datasets, trained AI models, robust Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and consumer-facing applications.

During the event, organizers demonstrated a live real-time English-to-Manipuri AI translation engine, highlighting rapid progress in regional machine translation.

Key Regional Languages Targeted:

• Manipuri (Meiteilon)
• Tangkhul
• Thadou
• Paite
• Hmar
• Liangmai

Practical Deployment Across Essential Services

The initiative targets key public service sectors:

• Education: Translating digital learning materials into native dialects.
• Healthcare: Enabling multilingual voicebots for rural telemedicine.
• Legal & Justice: Processing court documents into local languages.
• Grievance Redressal: Allowing citizens to log complaints in their mother tongue via voice or text.

Innovators and students engaged with the BHASHINI शिल्पी (Shilpi) developer platform to build custom applications using open APIs. Additionally, the BHASHINI Mitra initiative invited local language experts, universities, and native speakers to contribute clean training data to expand regional AI models.

BHASHINI at a Glance