AASU Signs MoU To Save Assam’s Dying Languages
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has signed an MoU with a Guwahati-based foundation to digitally preserve three critically endangered indigenous languages—Khamyang, Tai Phake, and Singpho—under the “Digitalizing Assam” initiative.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Guwahati-based foundation to digitally preserve three indigenous languages teetering dangerously on the edge of extinction: Khamyang, Tai Phake, and Singpho. And where did this linguistic handshake take place? None other than Swahid Bhawan, the intellectual nucleus of many a fiery debate and cause.
Under the delightfully ambitious banner of the “Digitalizing Assam” initiative, this five-month pilot project aims to archive literature in these three languages, each spoken by fewer than 10,000 people—barely enough to form a decent-sized WhatsApp group, let alone preserve centuries of cultural wisdom.
Led by endangered language expert Palash Kumar Nath , the project will involve meticulous documentation, indexing, and archiving of rare linguistic content. But this won’t be a top-down operation run by techies holed up in glass buildings—no sir. The local communities will be the heart and soul of the effort, breathing life into what might otherwise have become digital tombstones.
And what of access, you ask? The digitised materials will be made publicly available through the Digitalizing Assam web platform—because if you’re going to rescue a language from oblivion, you may as well let the internet have a peek.
Now, before you assume this is all just digital smoke and bureaucratic mirrors, consider this: according to field studies, the Khamyang language has only one fluent speaker left. Yes, one. A single soul stands between the language and total silence. It’s the linguistic equivalent of putting all your eggs in one very fragile, very human basket. “Beyond this person, the living thread of the language may be lost entirely,” AASU said in a statement, which is about as chilling as a ghost story told by candlelight.
But AASU isn’t stopping at digital archiving. No, they’ve got their eyes set on the long game—revitalisation. Plans are afoot to engage the state government under Clause VI of the Assam Accord to breathe new life into these ailing tongues. Because what’s the point of storing the soul of a people in a dusty old server if no one ever speaks it again?
The MoU was signed with considerable fanfare by AASU President Utpal Sarma, General Secretary Samiran Phukon, and Mrinal Talukdar, Secretary of the partner foundation. AASU’s indomitable Chief Advisor Samujjal Bhattacharjya was also in attendance, no doubt keeping a sharp eye on proceedings like a hawk with a PhD.
And for those who might dismiss this as just another vanity project, consider the numbers: the Digitalizing Assam initiative has already digitised over 2.9 million pages of rare Assamese literature, all available as open-source treasures. That’s not just ticking boxes—that’s building a time capsule with open doors.
In a world obsessed with trending hashtags and twenty-second reels, this collaboration between students and citizens is a gloriously untrendy, deeply necessary act of rebellion. A bid to ensure that Assam’s endangered knowledge systems don’t vanish quietly into the night, but instead, echo on—in gigabytes, sound clips, and perhaps, one day, in living conversations once more.
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