NIT Srinagar to host AI Challenge for Kashmiri Translation

Srinagar, Aug 08: The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar has announced KATHE 2026: AI Challenge for Kashmiri Language Translation, a national-level competition that aims to harness Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) for the preservation and advancement of the Kashmiri language. The initiative is being organised by Gaash Lab, NIT Srinagar, in collaboration with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), with the University of Kashmir serving as the academic collaborator and GitHub as the primary sponsor. Envisioned as a nationwide platform for students, the challenge seeks to promote the application of AI and NLP to one of India's low-resource languages. The competition focuses on developing English-to-Kashmiri machine translation models and will be hosted on the Kaggle platform, allowing participants to build, test, and evaluate computational models for a language that remains significantly underrepresented in modern AI systems. The organisers said KATHE 2026 is intended to encourage students, researchers and technology enthusiasts from across the country to contribute to the development of language technologies for Kashmiri while showcasing the broader role of AI in supporting regional languages. The initiative aims to bring together academia, researchers and technology stakeholders to create a collaborative ecosystem where innovation can contribute to technological advancement as well as the preservation of linguistic heritage. Online submissions for the competition are now open on Kaggle, where participants can register, access the competition dataset, evaluation framework and other learning resources before submitting their machine translation models. The competition is open to students from across India, and the last date for online submissions is August 17, 2026. The competition will conclude with an offline finale on August 21, 2026, at NIT Srinagar, where shortlisted teams will demonstrate their AI models during a live evaluation. The event will also feature expert lectures and interactive sessions focusing on Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing, language technology, and the unique challenges involved in developing AI systems for low-resource languages such as Kashmiri. The organisers said the finale will conclude with the felicitation of the winning teams in recognition of their innovative and technically strong contributions to English-to-Kashmiri machine translation. They added that the competition is expected to inspire the next generation of AI researchers to develop inclusive language technologies that reflect India's linguistic diversity while creating new opportunities for Kashmiri to become an active part of the country's rapidly evolving digital and artificial intelligence ecosystem. KATHE 2026 is a significant AI initiative focused on the Kashmiri language. It will give participants hands-on experience with AI-driven language technologies and strengthen research and innovation in regional language computing.