IIT Bombay's UDAN project aims to translate textbooks into Marathi soon

The Maharashtra Government's massive promise to translate college textbooks may become a reality sooner than expected, as the Higher and Technical Education Department has decided to enlist the assistance of IIT Bombay's Project Udaan, a machine translation and post-editing tool that has begun a journey of translating English course material into 11 native Indian languages.

The tool will be used by universities around the state to ensure that all students, regardless of language ability, have access to academic literature. "Project Udaan can be used to translate textbooks for any traditional or professional Marathi course." "Universities in the state will be required to have their own translator team, which will be trained by professionals from IIT Bombay," said Vikas Rastogi, Secretary of the Higher and Technical Education Department.

According to an IIT Bombay statement, Project Udaan can quickly convert technical works into publishable works and is especially useful in universities with limited resources.