Government to Roll Out Translation App for Tribal Languages

Rapid Summary

• The union government’s AI-based translation app, Aadi Vaani, focused on six indigenous languages-Bhili, Mundari, Gondi, Santali, Kui, and Garo-is set to launch its beta version on September 1, 2025.
• Developed as part of the Tribal Affairs Ministry’s Adi Karmayogi initiative for capacity-building in tribal districts.
• The app translates speech/text between Hindi/English and the mentioned Adivasi languages.
• Linguistic corpus for the app includes over one lakh sentences per language sourced from experts (schoolteachers, professors), community leaders, and folklore content.
• Institutions like IIT Delhi and BITS Pilani collaborated with tribal Research institutes to develop the request.
• Population data (2011 Census) shows Bhili is the most spoken of these languages (over 1.04 crore speakers); others range from ~73 lakh speakers (Santali) to ~9 lakh speakers (Kui).
• Beta version will be accessible publicly via Google Play Store and Apple App Store; usage during adi Karmayogi workshops will train/improve its Large Language Model further thru feedback mechanisms.

Indian Opinion Analysis

Aadi Vaani represents a meaningful technological step toward preserving linguistic diversity among India’s tribal communities while fostering inclusivity in governance. By providing translation capabilities in widely spoken adivasi languages across regions like Jharkhand or Meghalaya to states such as Gujarat or Odisha where these dialects serve millions daily-it caters specifically both practical access gaps historically underserved inclusion conversationally language personally oral traditions equally folklores distinctly. Expanding distinct databases community experts especially broaden discourse cultural representation technology ecosystems future projects human aly Empowers voices locally grassroots so importantly phrases uniqueness ways team innovate Tribals Empowerment