Goa partners with BHASHINI to expand AI-powered multilingual digital governance
The initiative will strengthen the Konkani language ecosystem while enabling voice-based public services, seamless citizen access and wider adoption of artificial intelligence across government platforms.
The 'BHASHINI Rajyam: State Engagement Workshop', organised in collaboration with the Department of Information Technology, Electronics and Communications, Government of Goa, in Panaji on Tuesday brought together policymakers, government officials, industry leaders, academia, startups and language experts to explore the role of multilingual AI in making public services more inclusive and accessible.
PANAJI: The Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), has partnered with the Government of Goa to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence-powered multilingual governance, with a special focus on strengthening the Konkani language ecosystem.
The ‘BHASHINI Rajyam: State Engagement Workshop’, organised in collaboration with the Department of Information Technology, Electronics and Communications, Government of Goa, in Panaji on Tuesday brought together policymakers, government officials, industry leaders, academia, startups and language experts to explore the role of multilingual AI in making public services more inclusive and accessible.
The workshop was attended by Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant and Information Technology, Electronics and Communications Minister Rohan A. Khaunte, reflecting the state’s commitment to language-first digital governance.
The discussions focused on using AI-powered language technologies to enable citizens to access government services, public information and digital platforms in their preferred language. Participants highlighted the potential of multilingual AI to create a voice-first digital ecosystem where language is no longer a barrier to accessing public services.
Delivering the keynote address, Amitabh Nag, Chief Executive Officer of the Digital India BHASHINI Division, outlined BHASHINI’s vision of building a language-first Digital Public Infrastructure powered by multilingual AI. He highlighted its expanding role across governance, healthcare, education, tourism, banking and citizen services while calling for stronger collaboration among governments, academia, startups and language experts to enrich regional language ecosystems, including Konkani.
Technical sessions showcased the National Hub for Language Technology (NHLT) and demonstrated BHASHINI’s growing suite of AI-powered language solutions, including BHASHINI App Mitra, BHASHINI Mitra and BHASHINI Pravakta. The demonstrations featured speech recognition, machine translation, text-to-speech, transliteration and multilingual APIs that can be integrated into government applications and citizen-facing services.
Live demonstrations illustrated how AI can provide multilingual speech, translation, transcription and document processing capabilities, enabling easier access to tourism services, government information and digital platforms for both citizens and visitors.
A dedicated session focused on expanding the Konkani language ecosystem through collaboration between government agencies, educational institutions, language experts and technology partners. Participants discussed building larger language datasets, improving AI models and identifying state-specific applications to accelerate multilingual AI adoption across Goa.
The workshop also included an open discussion on practical applications of language AI in governance, education, healthcare, tourism and citizen services, with participants exploring ways to integrate BHASHINI across the state’s digital platforms.
The event concluded with a commitment to deepen collaboration between the Digital India BHASHINI Division and the Government of Goa to identify priority use cases, strengthen language resources and expand AI-enabled public services in Konkani.
Addressing the gathering, minister Rohan A. Khaunte said the partnership would help remove language barriers and ensure that every citizen, including those in remote areas, could access digital services in Konkani. He said preserving and promoting the state’s language would remain central to Goa’s digital transformation.
Amitabh Nag said a live demonstration presented the digital journey of a young Goan using BHASHINI’s multilingual AI ecosystem to interact with government services through voice. He said the exercise highlighted how AI-powered speech technologies can make governance more inclusive while underscoring the need to develop high-quality Konkani language datasets.
The Digital India BHASHINI Division currently powers more than 800 government websites, processes over 20 million AI inferences daily and has enabled more than eight billion AI inferences. The platform supports 36 Indian text languages, 23 Indian voice languages and 35 international languages, making Digital Public Infrastructure more accessible through multilingual artificial intelligence.
