Navvye Anand of Delhi has won the Spirit of Ramanujan Grant for the year 2023, for his work to revive Kangri, an endangered Indian language, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. 16-year-old Navvye Anand, a Grade 11 student of Sanskriti School, Delhi, received the grant for his research project titled Cross-Lingual Automatic Speech Recognition for Endangered Languages. The Spirit of Ramanujan Grant is awarded annually by the University of Virginia and Templeton World Charity Organization to high school students in recognition of their talent in mathematics and science. The Spirit of Ramanujan STEM initiative was founded by Ken Ono, Vice President of American Mathematical Society to support students through and grants and mentorship.
Navvye Anand receives a grant of US $ 4800 (approximately ₹4 lakh) to attend the Wolfram High School Research Programme and participate in the Euler Circle Programme, a mathematics institute for advanced students who love mathematics.
Anand has drawn his inspiration for the project from his visit to Palampur, Himachal Pradesh in 2018 and 2019 where he fell in love with the Kangri language and the warmth of the people there. This visit inspired him to work towards preserving this language currently spoken by 12 lakh people, in Himachal Pradesh and parts of Punjab. Kangri is listed as one of the ten endangered Indian languages by UNESCO.
Anand started to work with linguists and translators to include the Kangri language in the AI-based Automatic Speech Recognition Software in June 2022. His proficiency in and passion for mathematics played a key role in this project. He plans to use AI-based cross-lingual referencing that helps borrow references from resource-rich languages such as Hindi and use pattern recognition to make transcription easier for Kangri.
Anand’s love for mathematics has begun at a young age when he started exploring number theory and won a national level competition. He was selected in the Polymath Junior Research Experience for Undergraduates funded by the National Science Foundation. Anand also loves reading about the chaos and graph theories and intends to pursue a career in mathematics.
