The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has constituted a Working Group on Tribal Languages to coordinate national efforts in documenting, preserving and promoting the languages spoken by tribal communities across India. The group held its first meeting and brings together linguists, academics, researchers and community representatives from leading institutions to develop a comprehensive roadmap for language preservation and digital technology deployment.
The Working Group will focus on creating a coordinated approach to tribal language documentation while avoiding duplication of existing research efforts. A key outcome of the meeting was positioning Adi Vaani, a digital platform developed by IIT Delhi in collaboration with the Ministry, as the National Tribal Language Repository that will serve as a central hub connecting research, technology, educational resources and community contributions.
Key facts
- Working Group meeting held on 15 October 2026, chaired by Ranjana Chopra, Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs
- Members include Central Institute of Indian Languages, IITs Delhi, Dharwad and Kanpur, Tezpur University, Manipur University, Assam University, Sikkim University, and the Bhasha Samiti
- Adi Vaani currently offers text-to-text translation in nine tribal languages with speech, OCR and video subtitling features
- Over 300 primers prepared by Tribal Research Institutes available on the platform
- State TRIs have contributed approximately 13.9 lakh text sentences in ten languages and around 300 hours of speech data
- Adi Vaani has recorded over 48,000 Android downloads and approximately 6,500 monthly users
- Over 525 Eklavya Model Residential Schools serving 1.7 lakh students identified as potential users of the platform
What the Working Group will do
The Working Group has been tasked with guiding efforts across six key areas. First, it will establish a national baseline of tribal languages and conduct comprehensive documentation. Second, it will support research and scholarship through coordinated efforts across institutions. Third, it will develop digital tools and language technology solutions. Fourth, it will facilitate community-led documentation of oral traditions and cultural resources. Fifth, it will create multilingual education and learning materials. Sixth, it will strengthen partnerships among Tribal Research Institutes, universities and other institutions to avoid duplication and pool resources effectively.
The Adi Vaani platform: expanding the national repository
Adi Vaani began as a translation tool for government administrators and practitioners working with tribal communities but is now envisioned as a comprehensive language repository. The platform currently supports translation, speech processing, optical character recognition and video subtitling in nine tribal languages. It provides searchable access to over 300 primers and educational materials prepared by Tribal Research Institutes. Tribal communities and educational institutions have contributed substantial data including text corpora and speech recordings that will continue to be owned by the communities themselves. The Working Group identified the need for linguistic validation of datasets, standardisation of spelling and orthography, and development of domain-specific vocabulary for planned pilots in additional languages.
Connection to tribal education and welfare delivery
The Ministry highlighted that preserving tribal languages strengthens the effectiveness of welfare programmes and improves educational outcomes for tribal students. Mother-tongue-based multilingual education can address learning gaps in early years. The 525 Eklavya Model Residential Schools that serve over 1.7 lakh tribal students are potential users of the platform. Students, teachers and parents can contribute their own content including stories and poems to enrich the national repository, making language preservation an active community engagement process rather than a top-down initiative.
Framework for language development
Padmashree Chamu Krishna Shastry, Chairman of the Bhasha Samiti, outlined seven essential pillars for developing any Indian language. These include sustained speaker proficiency in the mother tongue, use of language in education and administration, creation of contemporary literature and knowledge content, continuous word generation to meet modern needs, adoption of technology, development of teaching and learning materials, and support from government at all levels along with corporate and societal backing. The expert panel emphasised that speakers must remain at the centre of all language development efforts and that no language should be considered small or insignificant.
What this means for you
If you are a student or teacher in a Eklavya Model Residential School or any school using Adi Vaani, you can use the platform to access primers, dictionaries and learning materials in tribal languages. If you are a community member, you can contribute your own language resources, stories and cultural content to the platform. If you are a researcher or scholar working on tribal languages, you can access the coordinated national database and contribute to standardising spelling, orthography and vocabulary. If you are involved in tribal administration or welfare delivery, you can use translation and language technology tools to communicate more effectively with tribal communities in their own languages.
What happens next
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs will circulate detailed agenda items from the meeting and prepare a comprehensive roadmap for implementing the Working Group’s recommendations. Members have been requested to share details of the languages they have worked on and the linguistic resources available with them so these can be integrated into Adi Vaani in coordination with IIT Delhi. The Working Group will continue to meet to oversee implementation of the documentation and preservation framework across states and languages.