Bengal government websites and citizen services could soon become voice-enabled and multilingual under discussions to deploy the Centre’s BHASHINI language technology tools across West Bengal’s digital governance systems. The proposed rollout is intended to expand access to Bengali and other Indian languages, including through voice-based services.
Amitabh Nag, chief executive officer of the Centre’s BHASHINI language technology initiative, met Bengal’s IT secretary on Friday to discuss the deployment. Officials from Kolkata-based artificial intelligence startup GreenAI and representatives of the technology industry also attended the meeting.
The discussions focused on making government websites and citizen-facing digital services available in Bengali and other Indian languages. The tools under consideration include multilingual and voice-enabled functions that would allow citizens to interact with digital services without relying exclusively on typed English-language interfaces.
“We are working with several states to make their websites voice-enabled and multilingual. Voice-based services in Bengali could help bridge the last-mile digital divide,” Nag said, according to the report.
BHASHINI is already working with around a dozen states on similar projects. Its proposed engagement with West Bengal comes after the state government issued a mandate from September 1 making Bengali compulsory for official communication, administrative work and citizen services.
The mandate covers government files, circulars, digital portals, websites, mobile applications, forms and police records, including first information reports. The language requirement therefore extends across both administrative communication and several services that citizens access directly through government offices and digital platforms.
Under the state’s communication arrangement, Bengali and Hindi will be used for communication with the Centre and with other states. The reported discussions with BHASHINI indicate that the language policy is also being linked to the technical systems through which government information and services are delivered.
The proposed voice-enabled tools could be particularly relevant for residents who face difficulties using text-heavy digital portals or navigating services in languages they do not commonly use. However, the report does not specify which websites or departments would be included first, the implementation timeline, the number of services to be converted, or the funding and technical arrangements for the rollout.
The meeting marks the latest step in discussions between BHASHINI and state governments on multilingual digital governance. Further details on the scope and schedule of West Bengal’s deployment are expected through the state’s information technology administration and the Centre’s language technology initiative.
