In a significant move to promote linguistic inclusivity, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla announced the extension of translation services in the House to six additional languages—Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Manipuri, Sanskrit, and Urdu.
Addressing the House, Birla said that previously, translation services were available in 10 languages—Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu—along with Hindi and English.
“Now, we have included six more languages—Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Manipuri, Urdu, and Sanskrit. Additionally, as human resources become available, we are working to provide simultaneous translations in 16 more languages,” he said.
“India’s parliamentary system is a democratic framework that offers translations in multiple languages. When I discussed at the global level that we are making efforts to provide translation services in 22 languages in India, it was widely appreciated on international platforms”, the Speaker highlighted.
“Our goal is to eventually include all 22 officially recognized languages,” Birla added.
