The Ministry of Ayush on 14 May signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), aiming to deploy advanced AI-powered language technology to transcribe and translate traditional Ayush knowledge systems into multiple Indian languages. The partnership marks a significant step toward making Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Yoga, and allied systems digitally accessible to citizens across linguistic regions.

What the MoU Covers

Operating under the banner 'BHASHINI Rajyam – A BHASHINI Sahayogi Program', the agreement seeks to integrate the BHASHINI Platform — India's National Language Digital Public Infrastructure — across the digital services and portals of the Ministry of Ayush. The initiative targets all 22 scheduled languages recognised under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, ensuring wider accessibility for citizens regardless of their native tongue.

The MoU was formally signed by Dr. Subodh Kumar, Director, Ministry of Ayush, and Amitabh Nag, Chief Executive Officer of the Digital India BHASHINI Division.

What the Government Said

Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush, underscored the civilisational significance of the collaboration. 'Ayush systems of medicine carry immense civilisational knowledge and cultural depth. Ensuring that this knowledge becomes accessible in every Indian language is essential for inclusive healthcare delivery and public outreach,' he said.

Kotecha added that the collaboration would 'strengthen multilingual capabilities across the Ayush ecosystem, develop robust domain-specific terminologies, and build future-ready AI systems that can support citizens seamlessly across linguistic boundaries.'

Role of Ayush Grid

The Ministry of Ayush is already operationalising its Ayush Grid initiative across healthcare delivery, capacity building, research, drug administration, and related sectors. Several portals, applications, and AI-enabled solutions developed under Ayush Grid are now proposed to be made available in all 22 scheduled languages. The BHASHINI integration will cover these Ayush Grid portals, applications, and AI tools to strengthen multilingual outreach nationally.

Building Domain-Specific AI for Healthcare

A focused component of the MoU involves developing domain-specific multilingual terminology systems tailored to traditional medicine disciplines — Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Yoga and Naturopathy, Sowa-Rigpa, and Homoeopathy. This includes strengthening Ayush language datasets and building contextual AI models for healthcare and wellness communication. Notably, creating accurate medical terminology across 22 languages is a technically demanding undertaking, and the success of the initiative will depend heavily on the quality of these domain-specific datasets.

What Comes Next

With the MoU now in place, both ministries are expected to begin integrating BHASHINI's language technologies into existing Ayush digital infrastructure. The broader ambition positions India's traditional knowledge systems as digitally inclusive public goods — accessible to a first-generation smartphone user in rural Odisha as readily as to a practitioner in an urban clinic. How quickly this integration moves from agreement to deployment will be the measure of the partnership's real impact.