KATHUA: The Department of Dogri, Government Degree College (GDC) Kathua, under the leadership of the College Principal Prof. Seema Mir, organized a week-long awareness campaign to support the National Language Translation Mission (NLTM). The campaign was conducted in collaboration with the Bhashini Project, an initiative funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), along with Government College for Women (GCW) Parade, Jammu.
Dr. Preeti Dubey, (Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Applications and Co-Investigator of the Bhashini research project at GCW Parade), highlighted the government's efforts to bridge the digital divide. During the campaign, she delivered an insightful lecture on skills required for language translation, as well as research and job opportunities in languages such as Dogri, Hindi, English, and other regional languages under the Bhashini Project.
Sunil Kumar demonstrated innovative tools developed specifically for the Dogri language, while students and faculty actively contributed to Dogri data collection essential for automatic spoken language translation. In a significant achievement, three students from GDC Kathua â Saroj Devi, Arushi Devi, and Nikhil from Semester V â joined the project as part-time coordinators. Their contributions to the project will be acknowledged with stipends provided by the government.
Speaking at the event, Principal Prof. Seema Mir expressed her gratitude for this collaborative effort, emphasizing the importance of skill enhancement for achieving Atma Nirbharta (self-reliance) among students. She also underscored the relevance of fostering a research culture in line with the National Education Policy (NEP-2020) and encouraged students to incorporate language translation as a component of their research projects in Semester VIII. She lauded the government's initiatives to promote technological development in regional languages, particularly low-resourced languages like Dogri.
The campaign was inaugurated with a welcome speech by Head, Department of Dogri, Meena Devi, who coordinated the initiative with support from faculty members Dr. Pritima Sangra and Mukesh Kumar. Faculty members, including Dr. Yash Paul (Head, Department of Urdu) and Dr. Ram Singh (Head, Department of Education), also attended the sessions and praised the technological strides made for Dogri.
Dr. Preeti Dubey extended heartfelt thanks to Principal Prof. Seema Mir for her unwavering support toward the Bhashini Project. The campaign concluded with a vote of thanks delivered by Dr. Pritima Sangra, marking a successful step toward enhancing regional language technologies and bridging linguistic barriers.
