[Fsf-india] FEATURE: Computers to get a 'GNU' Malayalam face, if project works as planned

Frederick Noronha fred@bytesforall.org
Sat, 4 May 2002 00:25:07 +0530 (IST)


COMPUTERS TO GET A 'GNU' MALAYALAM FACE, IF PROJECT WORKS AS PLANNED	

>From Frederick Noronha

MUMBAI, May 4: Computers may well be the magic wand of the 21st
century, but large sections who don't know the English language are largely
left out in the cold by this tool. To counter this situation somewhat, a new
initiative to give the PC a Malayalam face has got prestigious international
backing. 

A project to create free software with local language (Malayalam) support,
done to established standards, to enable IT applications to reach the
commonman, has gained support from a prestigious UN-linked body.

It is to be developed under the Open Source/Free Software model, which will
mean that the developed codes will made available on the Internet, so that
people can not only freely use them but also develop on them.

To be implemented by the Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion (K-BIP), a
non-profit autonomous body under aegis of the Industries Department of the
Government of Kerala, this plan has just got funding from the UNDP's APDIP
(Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme). 

Said Shahid Akhtar, regional co-ordinator of the Kuala Lumpur-headquartered
APDIP: "Specifically, the project aims to create Free Font for Malayalam,
create toolkit -- the basic building blocks in creating Graphical User
Interface based applications -- with Malayalam support, and create a
localised desktop and office productivity applications and documentation in
Malayalam."

Akhtar argues that this would help ICT (Information and Communication
Technology) penetration in Kerala, and spur development of similar fonts on
free software for other local languages in India and other parts of Asia
Pacific.

If successful, such a project could also "create the base for further
development in software with local language support thus enabling a larger
segment of the population to enjoy the benefits of information technology".

It is expected to created a "free, localized" GNU/Linux desktop computer
operating system, that will include a Malayalam font, localised toolkit for
Malayalam, a collection of 'commonly used' computer applications in that
language -- like a word processor, e-mail client, browser, and database. 

It would also aim at building up documentation for the software, in
Malayalam itself. Besides, to ensure the project doesn't get caught up in
non-standard proprietorial formats, it is to strive to meet recognised
standards and encoding will be done on the universally-accepted Unicode
base.

This project is being carried out in association with the Free Software
Foundation, a world-renowned organisation founded by the legendary software
guru Richard M. Stallman (known to fans worldwide simply as 'RMS') in 1984.

FSF argues that all software should be free -- in the sense of offering
freedom to its users -- as software is information and the withholding of
information is wrong and a denial of a human right. Incidentally, the first
FSF Chapter in India was started in India in Trivandrum, Kerala, sometime
last year.

Secretary to the Government of Kerala Industries Department Ajay Kumar is to
be the project director.

Incidentally, at present, despite the dawn of the computer age in India, it
is still difficult to get regional language-enabled software.

This is the case with Malayalam too. Those available are for Word Processing
(basic typewriting-like programmes) alone. 

"Malayalam usage in computers is limited to using the computer as an
electronic typewriter and for publishing. The major reason for this is the
lack of Operating Systems supporting Malayalam," said APDIP and the project
promoters, announcing their plans. 

To complicate matters, the Malayalam font system for the global standard --
the Unicode -- has not been built. "As a result, it is not possible to have
an ICT infrastructure with Malayalam support," ADPIP points out. 

That apart, computer users are also hit by the very high cost of
proprietorial software. "If the Malayalam font is developed as proprietary
software, the cost of the same will make it prohibitively costly for using
it on a larger scale," APDIP notes. 

Low income populations will in particular, find it exceedingly difficult to
use the resulting system, thus making the digital divide even more dominant.
This was one of the reasons why 'free software' was chosen as the model to
work on. 

In India, one major barrier in the promotion of computer usage is the fact
that there are hardly any software in any of the Indian scripts. Besides, in
a country where one in three lives on less than $1 per day, the cost of
software is still prohibitively expensive.

'Free Software', which comes at an affordable price, offers quite a range of
software -- though not all -- available for free download from the Internet.
But these software do not cater to fonts in Malayalam, a language of 30
million in the south-west Indian state of Kerala and at least 10 million
outside.

Kerala has a literacy level of 90.92% (2001 census). But the population
connected to Internet remain shockingly below one per cent. Besides, the
state remains low on PC and Internet penetration, part of the reason being
the lack of local language support.

"This will create the base for further development in software with local
language support," says APDIP. "Education for majority in schools is in
Malayalam language. This will be enable development of educational software
in local language."

Archiving of vast amount of data available will also become possible.
Knowledge archiving and retrieval is the major application of ICT. Till now,
Indian computer users have been compelled to use the English language to
archive their knowledge and history, with its inherent limitations. 

Other economic and e-governance spinoffs are also anticipated, if this
project works as anticipated. (ENDS)

More details are available at http://www.apdip.net/news/malayalam/index.htm