Panaji: In a state where Konkani is both the mother tongue of its people and the official language of governance, Goa govt’s own directorate of official language has spent the past couple of years trying—and failing—to hire a single translator for the language.“We wanted translators for the department of printing and stationary to translate the gazettes into Konkani. We tried three times, we tried everything. The ones who we found were using Marathi words. Goa does not have Konkani translators,” said minister for IT and printing and stationary, Rohan Khaunte.Unable to find translators for documents and notifications in Konkani, the IT department wants AI to step in and take on the role of native Konkani speakers. Khaunte said that his department even reached out to the directorate of official languages for Konkani translators but came up empty.“When we tried to empanel translators, the department of official languages had quite a tough time getting some Konkani translators. This is where machines will drive what humans could not do,” said Khaunte.The department of information technology, electronics & communications (DITE&C) has tied up with the Centre’s BHASHINI division to roll out multilingual AI use cases for govt departments, banks in the state and other citizen-facing institutions. Khaunte said that AI can help bridge the language gap in the state.Khaunte said that a Konkani Large Language Model (LLM) is currently under development.He also said that the department is on the verge of rolling out the state AI policy, 2026, which will establish a framework for AI usage in governance, tourism and industry. The department is likely to roll out the AI policy in Sept when it hosts the state AI summit.CEO, Digital India BHASHINI division, Amitabh Nag, said that the Konkani AI model will enable everyone from a farmer to a fisherman to seek assistance in their local language by speaking into a microphone.“As we look to replace open-source reasoning engines with our own indigenous LLMs, the proactiveness of Goa’s departments in feeding data into these systems will drive the next generation of seamless B2C and e-governance services,” said Nag.The BHASHINI team introduced senior officials from various govt departments and corporations to the platform’s multilingual AI ecosystem and demonstrated how AI-powered translation, transcription and speech technologies can improve citizen services.
