Women from Punjab’s villages who are associated with self-help groups under the National Rural Livelihood Mission are set to become part of a technological revolution in the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI). These rural women, who were earlier confined to household responsibilities, will now work to teach the Punjabi language to virtual assistants and modern digital devices. To make Punjabi voice-command technology possible for household appliances such as washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners and microwaves, these women will feed data into these systems in their mother tongue.
This unique pilot project has been launched at the Community Managed Training Centre (CMTC) located in village Selbara in Bathinda district’s Rampura Phul tehsil, through the efforts of Punjab Development Commission (PDC) Vice Chairperson Seema Bansal. The programme, named ‘AI-Enabled Digital Livelihood’, was inaugurated by constituency MLA Balkar Sidhu. Based on cutting-edge technology from Bengaluru, this is the first such project in Punjab, under which women members who have passed Class 12 from 56 self-help groups across four blocks of Bathinda district—Phul, Rampura, Bhagta and Nathana—have been selected.
District Programme Manager Sukhwinder Singh Chatha said that the project is being launched under the Punjab State Rural Livelihood Mission (PSRLM) in collaboration with PDC and the organisation ‘Karya’. He said that women are being trained through smartphones to record Punjabi commands for home appliances and software so that machines can understand the Punjabi language. During the first month, the women undergoing training will work for three to four hours daily at the centre and one hour at home, and will be able to earn between Rs 20,000 and Rs 24,000 per month. He expressed hope that after the success of this project in Bathinda, the model will be implemented across Punjab.
Meanwhile, self-help group member Malkinder Kaur, who is undergoing training, shared information about the importance of this project. She said that the work is being carried out through the ‘Karya App’, which enables women to use their education to earn an income while sitting at home. She shared that under the guidance of trainers, they are teaching other members of their group how to listen carefully, without rushing, to the audio-video material available on the app and write it correctly in Punjabi. Apart from this, the initiative is a golden opportunity for rural women to become self-reliant.
During this phase, which will run for 30 days under the supervision of two coordinators in village Selbara, a daily income of Rs 800 to Rs 1,000 is being provided. After completing the initial training, these women will continue this digital work from their homes. This initiative not only strengthens the Punjabi mother tongue globally by connecting it with modern AI technology, but also enables rural women to become active participants in the digital economy while sitting in their own homes.
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