ASMITA Project:
The Ministry of Education and the University Grants Commission (UGC) recently unveiled the ASMITA Project, aimed at bolstering the availability of educational resources in Indian languages.
- ASMITA (Augmenting Study Materials in Indian Languages through Translation and Academic Writing) is an initiative to develop 22,000 books in Indian languages in the next five years.
- It is a collaborative effort of the UGC and the Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti, a high-powered committee under the Ministry of Education.
- The primary objective of this initiative is to promote and integrate Indian languages more deeply into the education system, thereby enriching the learning experience and making it more inclusive.
- This project is seen as part of a broader strategy to enhance the accessibility and quality of educational materials across various Indian languages.
- Thirteen nodal universities have been identified to lead the project, along with member universities from various regions.
- The UGC has also created a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the book-writing process in each assigned language.
- The SOP includes the identification of nodal officers and authors, allocation of title, subject, and programme, writing and editing, submission of the manuscript, review and plagiarism check, finalisation, designing, proofreading and e-publication.
