CDAC to launch software tools in seven Indian languages

The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) is all set to launch software tools in Punjabi, Marathi, Malyalam, Kannada, Assamese, Bengali and Oriya by March 2007.

The company had launched Hindi, Tamil, Telgu and Urdu regional language software tools in 2005.

"The new software incorporates customer requirements for a localised version of open source software for email client, multi protocol messenger, browser and office suite besides a content management tool. It contains the standard key board drivers, text speech and converters to change from true type to open type fonts. A new feature called queters, a 'Do It Yourself' software kit to increase speed of typing, has been introduced and even the terminology is a mix of layman and purists, as against only purists terminology," said S Ramakrishnan, director general, CDAC.

Mahesh Kulkarni, group coordinator,CDAC, Graphics and Intelligence-based Script Technology (GIST), said, "The launch date was advanced from the first quarter of 2006 to 2007 to incorporate user feedback in making the software more user friendly." GIST is a technology that facilitates the use of Indian languages in IT.

The regional language software development initiative comes under the Technology Development for Indian Languages (TDIL) project of Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of India under which CDAC is an aggregator bringing together the work of different organisations under one umbrella.

It is working with CK Technology, Modular Infotech, The Indian Institutes of Technology's (IITs) Kanpur, Kharagpur and Mumbai, Microsoft, Google and IBM.

CDAC is a part of a nation wide consortium of 25 institutions for undertaking R&D in regional languages. The consortium is working on four projects related to regional text translation and recognition.

"We are in advanced stages of development on these technologies," said Ramakrishnan adding that they have accelerated their focus on developing these technologies this year.

Ramakrishnan hopes to bag a Rs 8 crore project for voice-based multi lingual information access (V-MIA) railway reservation system.

"The project is in the final stages of approval by the DIT and Department of Science and Technology and we will work in a consortium with other institutions to develop the voice-to-voice information access system for the railways," he said.