Indian language tools for computing

In my last article, I talked about need of Indian language computing to bridge the gap between urban India and rural India.

In this article, I wish to touch base (I am trying to attempt) how this need (huge and cannot imagine how much) can be addressed using IT & using IT enabled application products/projects. In turn, help rural India & fellow citizens residing in rural India to use IT, IT products & ITES.

Today large numbers of Windows based PC’s are shipped month after month, year after year in rural India. Most of these PC’s are being used for playing music, playing games, watching movies & for little time for email and/or web surfing. Consistent and high-speed connectivity is still in pipeline. Over & above, there is issue of consistent power. Here I am forced to exclude Gujarat state due to their mind blowing achievement on power & offering consistent power.

Sadly, these Windows based PC’s are not flooded with application packages/products namely:-

• Home accounting package for homemaker
• Package for school kids
• Package for college boys/girls
• Package for fathers/middle age group people
• Package for farmers for agriculture business
• Package for educational institutes
• Package for insurance agents
• Package for dispensaries
• Package for hospitals
• Package for medical distributors, retailers, stockiest, etc.
• Package for small malls (Janata Bazaar)
• Package for transport
• Package for grocery business
• Package for standard accounting
• Package for appliances
• Package for vegetable market
• Package for tours & travel agency
• Package for home planning & scheduling
• Package for Mangal Karyalay (Marriage halls)
• Package for restaurants/hotels
• We can go on finding business & package for the business

Now when we talk about any application product? We talk about GUI, we talk about database handling, we talk about data entry, we talk about database indexing, we talk about database sorting, we talk about report printing, etc.

Moreover, all these simple needs of software development can be easily addressed by one of the finest linguistic tool developed by Modular.

Tool name is Shree Samhita.

Today good number of software development companies across India use this tool and develop application products. To name few:-

• Indian railway ticket printing do use Shree Samhita
• Few co-operative banks from Maharashtra do use banking application in local languageFew co-operative milk dairies from Maharashtra are using milk accounting in local language.
• Few co-operating water supply organisations from Maharashtra are using water distribution package in local language.
• One of the municipal corporation water tax & house tax department are using Shree Samhita for tax collection software.
• Few co-operative sugar factories from Maharashtra are using Shree Samhita for cane accounting
• One of the developer has developed mall software using Shree Samhita
• Modular themselves used Shree Samhita for Ankur Office product. Office suite from India and India’s answer for MNC office suite.
  

All above applications/developers used Shree Samhita and used various linguistic API’s (application programming interface) in the form of DLL’s supplied along with Shree Samhita.

Now when we talk about actual software development? Shree Samhita does wonder. How?

Let us discuss & understand

Now first & foremost thing that we do in development is create user friendly GUI. Now here linguistic fonts supplied in Shree Samhita can be used for developing GUI.

This is one of the most important aspects of catching consumer mind. Each application must carry simple linguistic GUI so that user gets connected with the application & starts using it.

Second aspect is about data entry

Now here there are two ways to handle this aspect.

• First, using Shree Samhita fonts, keyboard handling API, developer can give the pleasure to user to key in data directly in local language or second, using transliteration (based on powerful dictionaries) API, developer can give the pleasure to the user to key in data in English and convert it to local language and/or vice a versa.
• While doing data entry, developer can also use keyboard-handling API and give the pleasure to user to select his/her choice of keyboard layout for doing data entry.
• While doing data entry, developer can also use another powerful API of indexing. By using that, database will get stored as per Indian language indexing rules & regulations.

While using linguistic data & then printing various reports in local language, Shree Samhita comes with another powerful & out of the box API. That is fast printing API. Using this API, user can get various reports in local languages on dot matrix printers. One of the cheapest & fast printing solutions still available in India. DMP’s are cost effective. They are easily available & serviceable. Recurring cost is also less as compared to Desk Jet printers or Laser printers. They require less power as compared to Desk Jet & Lasers.

In fact, popular DMP suppliers like TVS, WeP & Epson, all three of them have also integrated local language printing firmware in respective printers. It was Modular only who did this job for TVS as well as for WeP.

Over all, I have not seen powerful tool like Shree Samhita available for software development. That is just what only selected development companies used.

Nevertheless, if this tool is used by large number of developers? IT usage in rural India will increase. I am 100% sure about this.

If You want to see the magic of Shree Samhita? Please get connected with me via email and/or talk to me over Skype using “Phadke1” ID and/or talk to me using Gtalk using subbod@gmail.com email ID.

(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)