Karnataka to leverage Bhashini AI for citizen services in local languages: Priyank Kharge

The Government of Karnataka will leverage Bhashini, the AI-powered language technology platform, to make digital governance and citizen services more accessible in local languages and dialects, Priyank Kharge, Minister for Home, Information Technology, Biotechnology, and E-Governance, said after inaugurating a Bhashini workshop organised by the Department of E-Governance at Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru, for government officials.

The workshop focused on exploring the application of AI-powered language and voice technologies to make government services simpler, more inclusive, and citizen-centric.

‘One State, many worlds’

“Karnataka is one state, but it is many worlds. Our language, dialects and cultural contexts vary significantly across regions. If technology is to truly make governance more accessible, it must speak to citizens in a language they understand,” Mr. Kharge said, speaking at the event.

“Bhashini gives us an opportunity to use AI, voice, and translation technologies to bridge this gap. We should leverage it to make our 700-plus citizen services under Praja Seva and e-Governance simpler, more intuitive, and more accessible. The question is not whether citizens can adapt to technology, but whether technology can adapt to citizens,” he added.

Start-up ecosystem

Mr. Kharge pointed out the opportunity for Karnataka’s startup ecosystem to build solutions for real public-sector challenges and highlighted the recently introduced ‘Government First Policy’ for startups. He invited the Bhashini team to the Bengaluru Tech Summit to showcase the technology globally and explore how its use could be expanded across Government-to-Citizen services.

“Ultimately, AI must be measured by the difference it makes to people’s lives,” he said.