Goa Pushes AI-Powered Multilingual Governance as BHASHINI Expands Konkani Digital Services

Panaji, July 21, 2026;

BHASHINI Goa marked a major step towards multilingual digital governance as the Digital India BHASHINI Division and the Goa Government organised a state workshop in Panaji to promote AI-powered public services in Konkani and other Indian languages.

Goa has taken a significant step towards expanding multilingual digital governance with the organisation of the BHASHINI Rajyam State Engagement Workshop in Panaji. The initiative, led by the Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in partnership with the Goa Government’s Department of Information Technology, Electronics & Communications, focused on integrating artificial intelligence into public services through Indian languages, particularly Konkani.

The workshop brought together government officials, policymakers, technology experts, academic institutions, startups and language specialists to explore how AI-based language technologies can improve citizen access to digital services. Goa Chief Minister Dr. Pramod Sawant and Information Technology, Electronics & Communications, Tourism, Printing & Stationery Minister  Rohan A. Khaunte participated in the event, highlighting the state’s commitment to inclusive digital transformation.

The discussions centred on making government platforms more accessible by enabling services in citizens’ preferred languages. Officials emphasised that voice-enabled technologies, multilingual translation and speech-based interfaces can simplify interactions with public services while removing language barriers.

Senior officials, including Secretary of the Department of Information Technology, Electronics & Communications Santosh Sukhdve, Secretary of Higher Education Prasad Lolayekar and InfoTech Corporation of Goa Ltd. Chairman Dr. Chandrakant Shetye, addressed the gathering and discussed the role of language technology in strengthening digital governance.

Digital India BHASHINI Division CEO Amitabh Nag presented the platform’s long-term vision of building a language-first Digital Public Infrastructure. He highlighted the growing use of multilingual AI across sectors such as governance, healthcare, education, banking and tourism, while encouraging greater collaboration among governments, researchers, startups and language experts to strengthen regional language resources.

Participants witnessed live demonstrations of BHASHINI’s AI tools, including speech recognition, real-time translation, transcription, transliteration and text-to-speech technologies. The platform’s multilingual APIs and digital solutions showcased how government departments can integrate language AI into citizen-facing applications to improve accessibility.

A dedicated technical session also focused on expanding the Konkani language ecosystem. Experts discussed improving language datasets, enhancing AI models and identifying practical applications that can accelerate the adoption of AI-powered services across various government departments in Goa.

Interactive sessions invited participants to propose state-specific use cases for multilingual AI in sectors including tourism, healthcare, education, governance and public information systems. Officials explored ways to incorporate BHASHINI’s language technologies into Goa’s existing digital infrastructure to deliver more citizen-friendly services.

Speaking at the workshop, Rohan A. Khaunte said the collaboration with the Digital India BHASHINI Division would help ensure that digital services become available in Konkani, allowing people across Goa to access government platforms more easily while supporting the preservation of the state’s linguistic heritage.

Amitabh Nag explained that a simulated demonstration illustrated how a young Goan citizen could use voice-enabled AI to interact with government schemes, educational resources and public services in their own language. He also stressed the importance of developing richer Konkani language datasets to improve AI accuracy and expand voice-based public services.

According to the Digital India BHASHINI Division, the national multilingual AI platform currently supports more than 800 government websites, processes over 20 million AI requests every day, has handled over eight billion AI inferences, and offers support for 36 Indian text languages, 23 Indian speech languages and 35 international languages, making digital public services more accessible across linguistic communities.