New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS): The government on Monday announced the National Language Translation Mission (NTLM) to make governance-and-policy related knowledge available in major Indian languages.

The announcement is important to enhance access to digital content to millions of Indian users who are witnessing a spurt in smartphone and Internet usage.

Nitin Kunkolieker, President MAIT, which is an apex body representing India's ICT sector, said that they are happy to see the continued emphasis on the adoption of technology into economic activities.

"The National Language Translation Mission, earlier proposed by MeitY, will enable Bharat on the digital highway allowing the masses to take ride on the digitization of the economy," he said in a statement.

There has been an increase in the usage of regional content on various homegrown social media platforms in the recent months.

According to Rakesh Deshmukh, Co Founder and CEO, Indus OS, the National Language Translation Mission is a much-needed effort to reach our citizens in the language they understand.

"At Indus App Bazaar, the usage of apps in Indian languages on our platform has increased 2.2 times last year. We believe that with an enhanced app store ecosystem we will be able to break linguistic barriers and adding more value to the next half a billion Indian customers," Deshmukh said.

According to CP Gurnani, MD and CEO, Tech Mahindra, said that the language mission is a step in the direction towards atmanirbharta, clearly providing every opportunity that is required for a sustainable economic momentum and growth.