In my last article, I opened up a topic named as “how Indian language computing products (hardware & software) can help to bridge the gap between urban India and rural India.”
In this article, i would like to touch on bigger pie of this business and i.e. how rural India and citizens residing in rural India can enjoy more fruits using linguistic web based application, products, services & so on.
Honestly, I am making an attempt. You as reader have to validate & comment whether I addressed this issue in totality or not.
Today I am able to see large number of cyber café’s all across urban cities located in India. They are also available in rural India. However, number is less. Reasons could be plenty.
Today most of the urban users who visit Cyber Café’s they do use services like sending emails, chatting with customers, using company’s Intranet based application (Pharma sector employees are using very extensively now-a-days) for on-line reporting, booking ticket for Air/Train/Private bus, filling up admission form, downloading passport application form & so on.
All these users are using most of these applications in English language and none of them is using it in local Indian languages. May be need is not there and/or need has not become as a fire where service providers have to bother about linguistic contents, linguistic applications, services via linguistic GUI & so on.
However and having said this, in rural India, most of the Cyber Café’s are used only for e-mail, chat, games & above all watching good/bad short films.
And that is the failure of IT & ITES.
Now to over come on this aspect, there is a great need for software developers, product companies, services companies to come together and offer respective products/services via web.
While doing so, integrate multilingual interface so that urban consumers as well as rural consumers can buy those products, can use web based services and in turn effective use of IT increases.
It also helps rural Indians to buy more & more IT. It will also push Govt. of India to establish more robust infrastructure in rural India.
Today following consumers/customers are using linguistic tools and those are :-
- Agrinet, Mumbai (Agricultural product based company)
- Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata (Research institute)
- Systems India Ltd., Hyderabad (Solution provider for eGovernance)
- Tata Consultancy Services, Kolkata (Product/solution providers)
- Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (Research institute)
- Lokmat, Nagpur (Print & digital media generator)
- Rediff.com, Mumbai (Web based media & product supplier)
- National Informatics Centre, Delhi (Government of India's IT/ITES backbone)
- Netra Network for Educational Transformation, Pune (Web based education provider)
- Soft-Aid, Pune (Software development company)
- Nine Stars Information Technologies Ltd., Chennai (Digital content creators)
- State Health System Development Project - II, Health and Family Welfare Dept., Kolkata (Health initiative of West Bengal Government)
- CMC Ltd., Kolkata (eGovernance solution provider)
- Reliance, Mumbai (Needs no introduction)
- CMC Ltd., Bangalore (eGovernance solution provider)
- Brain Power Pvt. Ltd., Pune (Software supplier for cooperative sector)
- Gramin Sanchar Society, Kolkata (NGO from West Bengal)
- Interactive Communication Technology (I) Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai
- Webel Technologies Ltd., Kolkata, Ranchi (Nodal agency of West Bengal Government)
- Chief Electoral office, Goa (Govt. of India organisation handling voter's ID & database)
- Sakal Papers Ltd., Pune (Leading print & media content creator)
- Telugu Desam Party, Hyderabad (Local political party of Andhra Pradesh)
- Dept. of Agriculture, Govt. of A.P., Hyderabad (Agricultural department belonging to Government of Andhra Pradesh)
Now when You look at the above mentioned list of customers who are available on Internet in linguistic form? You may have a question. What is that they are using & doing with linguistic GUI + contents and for whom?
All of them are using “Web Samhita” and “Shree Dynamic linguistic fonts” developed by Modular Infotech.
What they are doing? i suggest & appeal to each one of You to visit their site and see it through Your own eyes.
But when i look at insurance companies, government & private transport agencies, health care, mobile phones supplier, mobile services supplier, education providers, political parties, various states government portals & so on? i realised that need is so huge for linguistic contents & GUI that no single company can do justice with the need.
In turn, via this article i am appealing to everyone across India to look in to this business opportunity. Have look at rural India. Talk to them. Understand them. And give them everything that urban citizen is getting via web and that too in his/her language where he/she is most comfortable than pushing him/her in English.
Today, this is food for thought that i wish to share with all the reader.
In case You want to know more about “Shree Dynamic fonts” & “Web Samhita”? Please do write to me on phadke@modular-infotech.com. You can chat with me using Gtalk using subbod@gmail.com mail ID. You can also chat with me using Skype and ID is “Phadke1”. You can also reach out with me using mobile. 94220.15600 is my mobile number.
(Thoughts mentioned in above article are writer’s sole thoughts. You may agree, You may not. You can be connected with writer, Mr. Phadke Subodhkumar Narayan via email and his email ID is phadke@modular-infotech.com . Writer is associated with Modular InfoTech and writing is his passion apart from many activities that he do in his personal as well as professional life)