All Indian language fonts in six months

NEW DELHI: All 22 Indian language fonts would be available for the public to download for free in the next six months. Minister of Communications & Information Technology (MC&IT) Dayanidhi Maran informed this at the release of free CD containing collection of Hindi software tools and fonts. The release was part of a national initiative by the Department of Information Technology, MC&IT to proliferate the use of Indian languages in IT.

While launching the CD and the website National Advisory Council chairperson Sonia Gandhi recalled that when late Rajiv Gandhi decided to develop this kind of indigenous technology most of the people were saying that it would not be possible and some felt that it was not necessary. Facing all the impediments that came in the way, today CDAC has successfully come out with the language CDs.

She added that communicating in one's own mother tongue would be easier than any other medium of communication. "One can sharpen his knowledge in his mother tongue. Therefore, it is necessary to make available the facilities of software tools of all Indian languages," she opined.

Referring to the recent enactment of Right to Information Act, Gandhi said that it is a revolutionary step and Information Technology will play a greater role to achieve.

Speaking on the occasion, Maran said that it had always saddened him to see local language fonts available for free in countries like China, Japan, Korea, etc., while India still lagged behind in local language computing.

"In India only five percent of the population are speaking and writing in English while the rest of 95 percent are communicating in their mother tongue only. When we were talking of broad band and taking computer to villages, therefore it is necessary to develop the CDs in all the Indian languages," he opined. Looking forward, Maran said that he envisages creating such software, which would enable active translation from one language to another with the help of handheld devices.