MHA completes mother tongue survey of 576 languages with field videography

The Ministry of Home Affairs has completed a mother tongue survey with field videography of 576 languages and dialects across the country.

According to the home ministry's annual report for 2021-22, it has been planning to establish a web archive at the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to preserve and analyse the original flavour of each indigenous mother tongue.

For the same purpose, the editing in arranging the linguistic data by the in-house linguists is under process, the statement read. 

According to the home ministry, the Linguistic Survey of India (LSI) has been the regular research activity in the country since the Sixth Five Year Plan.

In addition to previous publications under this project, the volume on LSI Jharkhand has been completed, and the volume on LSI Himachal Pradesh is nearing completion. LSI Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh are conducting fieldwork.

According to the report, the videographer's mother tongue speech data will be uploaded to the NIC server for archival purposes.

According to the home ministry, for the upcoming census, several new initiatives have been taken to facilitate the smooth conduct of the mega exercise, including the use of advanced geospatial technology, which has been put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pre-census mapping activities include creating and updating maps depicting administrative units of states and UTs, districts, sub-districts, villages, towns, and wards within towns, to ensure proper coverage of the country's entire geographical area.
 
Efforts are also being made to disseminate Census results via web-based interactive maps. Preparatory work has already begun in this direction.

According to the report, some of these initiatives include purchasing software versions and re-modules to complete Census mapping activities quickly and efficiently and training all mapping personnel on how to use the latest software.

The geo-referenced database has been updated to reflect jurisdictional changes that occurred in the country between the 2011 Census and December 31, 2019. Further updating is in the process as the freezing date has been extended to June 30, 2022.

More than 6 lakh maps (district, sub-district, and village level) have been prepared and uploaded to the in-house portal for census functionaries and will be updated and finalised as jurisdictional changes occur till June 2022.

The House Listing Block (HLB) Mobile Mapping App has been introduced for the first time in the country for geo-referencing of all enumeration blocks of the upcoming census, and necessary training has been provided to national and master trainers.

According to the report, an instruction manual for the mapping app has been prepared in English, Hindi, and regional languages.

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• LSI
• Linguistic Survey of India
• Ministry of Home Affairs
• National Informatics Centre