Signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Digital India BHASHINI Division and Survey of India for Toponymic Data Digitisation

• MoU between Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD), MeitY and Survey of India (SoI), Dept. of Science & Technology, signed 20 January 2026, to digitise, transcribe and standardise toponyms (geographical place names) using AI-based speech/language tech.
• Operationalises the National Geospatial Policy, 2022 by building multilingual, standardised toponymic datasets for national mapping.
• UPSC relevance: intersection of AI/Language Tech (GS-III), Geospatial governance, federal data infrastructure, and cultural-linguistic standardisation.