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Government of India

East Central Zone

About the East Central Zone

Encompassing Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal, the Eastern Zone dedicates its resources to the comprehensive documentation and study of nine selected languages.

The Principal Investigators and Senior/Junior Resource Persons working on these languages are drawn from various universities and the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL). The region is home to a remarkable mix of Austroasiatic (Munda), Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman and Dravidian tongues spoken by small communities.

East Central Zone
Bihar Jharkhand Odisha West Bengal
4
States & UTs
15
Languages Documented
11
Field Researchers
7
Principal Investigators
East Central Zone Overview

Documenting the East Central Linguistic Diversity

The East Central Zone encompasses states and union territories with diverse and critical ethnolinguistic communities. Our dedicated research teams work closely with native speakers to document, archive, and revitalize languages that form an essential part of the region's cultural heritage.

  • Comprehensive fieldwork and data collection
  • Development of bilingual dictionaries and grammars
  • Digital archiving in Bhasha Sanchika

States and Languages Documented

15 endangered languages documented across 4 states and union territories.

Bihar

Gangetic plains

State
1 Language
BIRHOR

Jharkhand

Chota Nagpur plateau

State
2 Languages
BINJHIA / BIRJIA / BRIJIA BIRHOR

Odisha

Eastern coast & Mahanadi delta

State
10 Languages
BHUNJIA BINJHIA / BIRJIA / BRIJIA BIRHOR BODO GADABA / GUTOB BONDO DIDAYI / GATA GORUM MANDA PARENGA THARUA

West Bengal

Bengal delta & hills

State
5 Languages
BINJHIA / BIRJIA / BRIJIA BIRHOR DHIMAL MRU TOTO

Research Team

Research team assigned to each language — Principal Investigators and their Junior/Senior Resource Persons.

Language
Region
Principal Investigator
Research Team
THARUA
Uttar Pradesh, Odisha
Dr. Mina Dan
JRP Rajeshwari Datta
JRP Pranabesh Maiti
BIRHOR
Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh
Prof. Imtiaz Hasnain
JRP Farooq Ahmed Mir
BINJHIA / BIRJIA / BRIJIA
Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha
Prof. Krishna Bhattacharya
JRP Sayantani Banerjee
JRP Poushali Mitra
TOTO
West Bengal
Prof. Krishna Bhattacharya
GORUM / PARENGA
Prof. Panchanan Mohanty
SRP Prof. B. Ramakrishna Reddy
JRP Prabudha Mohanty
MANDA
Odisha
Prof. B. Ramakrishna Reddy
JRP T. Mahendar Reddy
BHUNJIA
Odisha, Chhattisgarh
SRP Dr. Sudipta Bhattacharjee
BODO GADABA / GUTOB GADABA
JRP D. Srikanth Kumar
DHIMAL
West Bengal
JRP Bornini Lahiri
HOLIYA
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh
Dr. K.M. Metry
BONDO
Odisha
Prof. Ramesh Kumar
SPPEL Assistant (BETA)

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