Internet would flourish better by engaging more regional language users

Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has said that the future of internet depends on increased engagement of regional language users, even as setting standards for using languages online is a complex problem that needs assistance from different stakeholders in India.

Domain Name System (DNS) for Indian languages is being evolved and a specialized panel has been set up for working on developing internationalised domain names (IDNs) and internet standards that would enable different scripts and languages in India for being used online. "IDNs will help to pave the way for a truly multilingual and accessible internet. In India, where we have 22 constitutional languages, IDNs will open up opportunities for the non-English speaking Indian communities to come online. The formation of the Neo-Brahmi Generation Panel is the first step towards a multilingual Internet for India," Professor Udaya Narayana Singh, chair of the Neo-Brahmi Generation Panel, told ET.

The panel, which started working in May 2015, consists of professionals from the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), private sector companies, linguists and policy experts. As of now, the dedicated panel is working on ways to develop IDNs, or domain names in local languages- such as ".bharat" in Hindi, following which users will be able to read and write ".bharat" in Assamese, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil or other Indian languages.

This is not a cakewalk, since there are 122 languages with over 1,576 mother-tongues spoken in India, most of which are written in 13 different scripts, with 53 more minor writing systems, and all these are in addition to the languages constitutionally identified in India.

The Indian IT industry is also facing issues because it lacks representation at internet governance forums such as ICANN, which helps organise the Internet with the allotment of domain names such as.com, .org and .net.

"The critical part is the technology itself...The fact that India is such a large part of the (online) user base and the fact that we're not part of that conversation should worry us. There's opportunity for academics, IT companies, and companies which have digital R&D on these subjects. It is imperative that Indian companies get engaged," Samiran Gupta, head of India, ICANN, told ET.

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