Letter to e Governance department, Government of Karnataka
To,
The Principal Secretary, e-Governance,
MS Building, Government of Karnataka
Subject – Need for Public Kannada language software
Dear Sir,
Local-
language computing has a critical role in protecting and enriching our language and
cultural heritage.
- Kannada being the official language of the administration in Karnataka, and widely used among the people, we are glad to recognise the initiative taken by the government in sponsoring the development of the “Nudi” software that enables people to use Kannada on computers. This software is now prevalent in may government offices across Karnataka.
However, it suffers from some limitations
, which is inhibiting the usage of Kannada on computers,
- placing an undue financial burden on the government and public, and harming the cause of local language computing.
Though the Government of Karnataka intended Nudi to be available on Free and Open Source Software like GNU/Linux and Star Office (Open Office), as per para 13.1 of the e-Governance strategy document of the Government, (available on http://www.karunadu.gov.in/Documents/egovstrategy.pdf), unfortunately it works only on Windows and in Microsoft Office application. Hence government departments which want to use other operating systems, such as a
GNU/Linux based operating system,
or software like “
Open Office”
,
are
unable to to do so.
This is restricting the use of Free software by government departments, and by citizens.
As Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) has been shown to be more secure, and have lower total costs, the inability to use it for Kannada translates into huge economic losses, which a developing country can ill afford. This is especially true because of
the large number
of computers that the g
overnment offices, government agencies, and public bodies like schools, will procure over the next several years;
probably numbering several hundred
thousands. Similarly, as e-Governance becomes popular and more accessible, millions of households will also want to access e-Governance applications from their homes. The current implementation of Nudi will force government departments a
s well as households to procure only proprietary software,
- with attedant license fees and problems with unreliability.
Since the source code of Nudi is not
modifiable under a suitable free and open source licenses, software developers cannot fix issues with it, nor can they add enhancements.
Another important point is that the Nudi software is not compliant with Unicode (http://unicode.org), which is an international standard supported both by FOSS developers, and by proprietary companies like Microsoft, and Apple. The use of an open standard like Unicode does away with a myriad problems inherent in the use of non-standard encodings like that used in Nudi. As any serious reader of Kannada on the Internet has probably encountered, with a document using a non-standard encoding, one sees garbled characters unless one has the exact font used to create the document. As the Nudi font is not very usable on FOSS platforms, this means that web pages created with the Nudi software is not accessible to users on such platforms, and they would similarly be shut out of e-Governance applications built with the government-mandated Nudi software.
The Department for Public Instruction, Karnataka has chosen the GNU/Linux operating system in Government High Schools as a part of its ICT@Schools program, and many other offices would also be seriously considering such a move. Likewise, governments in other states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Assam, Gujarat have chosen the GNU/Linux operating system in their procurement of desktops and laptops. The DIT, GOI is currently drafting a policy on Open standards which require that e-Governance applications should conform to an open, royalty-free standard, which means that Nudi should not compel users to procure proprietary software applications that confirm only to proprietary standards.
Hence, in the interest of Kannada computing and spreading the use of computers, it is urgently required to develop and release a version of the Nudi software and fonts
- that is both platform independent and Unicode compliant. We request the e-Governance department to take this as an urgent matter since it has significant implications for Kannada language software and content and it is limiting the options before the government in terms of software used.
program, given its huge economic and pedagogical advantages and many other offices would also be seriously considering such a move. For these advantages, many state governments such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Assam, Gujarat have chosen the GNU/Linux operating system on their procurement of desktops and laptops. Government of Kerala is taking several initiatives to strongly promote malayalam computing in the state on free software platforms. The DIT, GOI is currently drafting a policy on Open standards which require that e-governance applications should confirm to standard that is royalty free, which means that Nudi should not compel users to procure proprietary software applications that confirm only to proprietary standards.
FOSSCOMM is a civil society alliance of organizations and individuals working to promote use of free and open source software (FOSS) in India and many member organizations are based in Karnataka.
Please do let us know if you need any clarifications and we would request for a meeting to discuss the issue further to understand the implications and possible solutions. FOSSCOMM would be happy to provide any support required to develop and implement public Kannada language software that is freely shareable within the government and the public.
Looking forward to your response.
Regards
on behalf of
<FOSSCOMM>
Copy - Chairperson, e-Governance Panel
Copy - Chairperson and Convenor - Karnataka State Knowledge Commission
Copy - - Karnataka State Knowledge Commission
Copy - IT Secretary and Minister,IT&BT
Copy - Chairperson, Kannada Development Authority
Copy - SIO, NIC
Enclosed - Note on interoperability concerns with Nudi