Digital libraries for minor languages in India: frameworks for addressing absences in policy and governance

What is it about?

My article makes an intervention in the digital libraries scene in India by taking a look at what is happening to minor languages spoken here. India has many languages and many dialects. Given that some attention is now being showered upon Indian culture, language, and the arts in the most recent education policy in India, it is surprising that not much has happened on the lines of strengthening the presence of Indian languages in the public/digital libraries in India. Let me give you an example. The website of National Digital Library of India or NDLI (2023), which is a mega project on the Indian digital libraries scene funded by the Ministry of Education, has over 97 million textual resources available on the website. Of these, over 86 million are in English, about 198,000 in Hindi, and 336 in Sindhi, one of the minority languages in India. In my article, I survey the existing policy and governance frameworks towards public and digital libraries in India and go on to suggest points of intervention that can play a role in the formulation of institutional policies so that minor languages get some attention in these digital libraries. Without a concern for minor languages in a linguistically rich environment that India is, the new age technological visions for digital libraries in India will remain isolated from discussions of diversity, equity and inclusiveness.

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