VS opens Malayalam computing initiative

KANNUR: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has said that the advantage of the Malayalam computing initiative of the State government will reach 50 lakh families over the next three years.Launching the State-level inauguration of the campaign for Malayalam computing, ‘Our Computer Our Language,’ here on Sunday, Mr. Achuthanandan said that in the first phase of the initiative, the efforts would be to make people aware of the immense possibilities of Malayalam in computing.Over 3,000 Akshaya centres across the State would offer training to help the public use Malayalam on computers, he said. Local bodies would be involved in the effort to benefit common man.Stating that the government’s computer literacy initiative through the Akshaya programme would be completed this year, the Chief Minister said the policy was to ensure that development of information technology (IT) benefited the common man. As the IT sector promised job opportunities for the youth, IT parks in the State would be equipped to create more of them in the sector, he said, spelling out the government’s initiative for setting up IT parks in non-urban areas as well.The Chief Minister said that computers installed in many government offices and schools were still to be fully utilised owing to lack of Malayalam computing facilities. With the launching of the initiative, computer use in each panchayat and village was expected to be active in six months.The Chief Minister said the objective of the Malayalam computing campaign was not only to strengthen Malayalam but also to ensure that the benefits of IT reached all sections.“New technologies should be utilised for preserving our indigenous knowledge,” he said hoping that the campaign would set a good model for other linguistic societies to make their languages compatible with computing in the year now being observed as International Year of Mother Tongues.Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan launched the Malayalam computing web site http://www.malayalam.kerala.gov.in/ and Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy inaugurated the community web portal http://www.entegramam.gov.in/.The Hindu, 9 Jun 2008