Syllabus: 

GS3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment. 

GS3: Inclusive growth and issues arising from it. 

Context:

In a strategic push to harness the power of AI for inclusive communication, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, through its WaveX Startup Accelerator Platform, has launched the "Kalaa Setu - Real-Time Language Tech for Bharat" Challenge. 

More on the News

• This nationwide initiative invites India's leading AI startups to develop indigenous, scalable solutions for automated generation of audio, video, and graphic content from textual inputs, with support for multiple Indian languages. 
• Officials said the solutions developed under ‘Kalaa Setu’ will help public communication bodies to dynamically convert official information into locally relevant formats, such as infographic visuals, video explainers, and audio news capsules, in real time. 

Kalaa Setu

• The challenge focuses on scalable solutions that support three core areas of AI-driven content generation.

Aim: 

• Bridging the Digital Language Divide: It enables real-time conversion of official information into region-specific formats like infographics, video explainers, and audio capsules.
• Inclusive Information Access: It aims to make public communication accessible and relevant to diverse groups such as farmers, students, and senior citizens by delivering content in their native languages.
• Contextual Communication: It focuses on tailoring messages to suit local contexts, enhancing understanding and engagement at the grassroots level.

The challenge focuses on scalable solutions that support three core areas of AI-driven content generation. 

• Text-to-video generation: It allows for automated creation of video content from text, with the ability to customize the environment, tone, and subject matter to suit different communication needs. 
• Text-to-graphics generation: It enables the production of data-driven infographics and illustrative visuals that make complex information easier to understand and visually engaging. 
• Text-to-audio generation: It uses advanced voice synthesis to produce speech that is not only accurate but also emotionally expressive and sensitive to regional accents, enhancing relatability and impact in multilingual contexts.

BhashaSetu Challenge

• It is a real-time language translation challenge launched under WaveX. 
• These initiatives underscore the Government of India’s strong commitment to advancing AI-driven solutions for inclusive and effective governance. 
• The government is fostering local innovation in multilingual AI to bridge communication gaps and enable last-mile delivery of information in all Indian languages.
• Kalaa Setu and Bhasha Setu aim to build a future-ready digital ecosystem that embraces India's linguistic diversity and promotes startup-driven innovation.

About WaveX

• It is the dedicated startup accelerator platform launched under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting’s WAVES initiative.
• It aimed at nurturing innovation in the media, entertainment, and language technology sectors. 
• It promised to provide opportunities to over 30 promising startups, enabling direct engagement with government agencies, investors, and industry leaders. 
• It continues to support breakthrough ideas through targeted hackathons, incubation, mentorship, and integration with national platforms.

Source: PIB

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2143079