The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : State knowledge panel set to launch Kannada portal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 06, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

State knowledge panel set to launch Kannada portal

Special Correspondent

Rs. 2 crore earmarked for the project in 2009-10

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Promoting kannada: IIITB Director Sadagopan (right) addressing a meeting in Bangalore on Wednesday. Kannada Development Authority Chairman Mukyamantri Chandru is seen.

BANGALORE: The Karnataka Knowledge Commission is hopeful of accomplishing the first phase of its ambitious Kannada portal on the lines of wikipedia in association with the Indian Institute for Information Technology, the Department of Kannada and Culture, various universities in the State, the Kannada Sahitya Parishat and other institutions and individuals concerned.

Member-secretary of the Commission Sridhar told presspersons here on Wednesday, after holding a meeting of subject experts concerned, that the Government was keen on the project, which is said to be the first of a kind in the country. A sum of Rs. 2 crore has been earmarked for the purpose in its 2009-10 fiscal.

Terming the meeting as a preliminary discussion, Prof. Sridhar said that the meeting deliberated on the proposed project from multiple viewpoints ranging from collecting and collating data from different sources to developing exclusive fonts and keyboards for making the portal accessible for all with free of cost.

The commission would constitute a consultative committee, technical committee and operational and screening committee for executing a draft of the portal shortly, he said.

Director of IIIT S. Sadagopan said that the proposed portal would help encouraging the use of Kannada and promote the language and its history, culture and literature globally.

He suggested that there was a need to build requisite information infrastructure, hardware, software and other technological tools.

The portal should use the available material through translations and technologies in the initial stages, he added.

Chairperson of Kannada Development Authority Mukhyamantri Chandru said that the meeting deliberated on issues such as copyright, remuneration and other forms of monetary and business challenges to be addressed.

As the portal would be free for all, the Government would request all those institutions and individuals concerned to contribute for the development of the portal with a broad outlook. The Government would not hesitate to borrow technical and cultural talents for streamlining and updating the portal on a regular basis until the portal would become self sufficient, he said.

Over 25 persons representing computer technology, science, arts, literature and administration participated in the event.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka