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Imagine a foreign tourist travelling through India’s hinterland, facing an emergency — maybe a stolen wallet or a medical problem — where speedy communication could make a difference, but language poses a key problem.
The government may soon have a solution to overcome this barrier.
“If a tourist requires help, he can record his question/request in his language on a system that will translate it into the local language,” said Railway Minister Piyush Goyal speaking at a Railways conference.
Enabling tourists
Broadly, the system will devise 100 template questions — for example, how to hail a cab, report a loss, ask for the nearest medical shop, railway or police station.
“The Prime Minister has given this task to the Ministry of External Affairs, and the Railways is thinking of dovetailing its process to help foreign tourists,” said Goyal.
Other officials told BusinessLine that CRIS, Indian Railways’ IT arm, may already be working on such a project, to enable launching of such an e-tool within this month.
Goyal wondered if it was possible to help devise such a solution, provided there was no patent on it by a global giant.
Companies in the space of providing voice-enabled assistance include Amazon (with Alexa), Google Assistant, Apple (Siri) and IBM (Watson).
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