BHASHINI and GeM Sign MoU to Strengthen Multilingual Public Procurement Ecosystem

Why in News:

The Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) and Government e-Marketplace (GeM) signed an MoU under the "BHASHINI for Seva/Sanchalan – A BHASHINI Sahayogi Program".

The partnership aims to enhance multilingual digital access across India's public procurement ecosystem.

Key Highlights:

Promotes multilingual governance, service delivery and digital accessibility on the GeM platform.

Supports seamless interaction in 22 officially recognized Indian languages and other Indian languages.

Focuses on Voice First technologies and Generative AI solutions.

Aims to remove language barriers in government procurement services.

Major Areas of Collaboration:

Translation API integration.

Development of domain-specific language models.

Multilingual glossary creation.

Voice-enabled technologies and voice bots.

Linguistic dataset development.

Reference applications for multilingual services.

Benefits:

Improves accessibility for MSMEs, startups and entrepreneurs.

Supports Ease of Doing Business (EoDB).

Enables wider participation in government procurement.

Strengthens inclusive and equitable access to procurement services.

About BHASHINI:

National language digital public infrastructure of India.

Operates under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

Promotes AI-driven multilingual digital inclusion and language technology.

Supports:

36 Indian text languages

23 Indian voice languages

35 international languages

Powers over 800 government websites.

Processes more than 15 million inferences daily.

About GeM:

Full Form: Government e-Marketplace (GeM).

National Public Procurement Portal of India.

Operates under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Facilitates transparent and efficient government procurement.

Exam Focus Points (Quick Revision Notes):

MoU Between: DIBD (BHASHINI) and GeM

Programme: BHASHINI for Seva/Sanchalan

Objective: Multilingual Public Procurement Ecosystem

Technology Focus: Voice First AI and Generative AI

Ministry: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)

GeM Ministry: Ministry of Commerce and Industry

Supported Languages: 22 Official Indian Languages