Forwarding two emails from Anay Joglekar, one below the other - related to Marathi wikipedia. Highlights are his; will upload the report separately and inform the list. <br><br>Sudheendra Kulkarni, who heads ORF is a former IIT alumnus and journalist who was a close aide to AB Vajpayee and quit the BJP in 2009.<br>
<br>All thoughts welcome.<br>Bishakha<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Anay Joglekar</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:anay.joglekar@gmail.com" target="_blank">anay.joglekar@gmail.com</a>></span><br>
<font size="4"><font face="garamond,serif"><br>Dear Jimmy Wales,</font></font><div><font size="4"><font face="garamond,serif"><br></font></font></div><div><font size="4"><font face="garamond,serif">Your lecture and interaction on Wikipedia in India was delightful. I feel lucky to know about it just 24 hours earlier completely by chance (while surfing Wikipedia Marathi) and getting an opportunity to interact with you. I am thankful to Kundan and Bishakha for being so responsive and forthcoming. We look forward to meet soon and discuss possibilities of cooperation and the role Observer Research Foundation can play in further popularising Wiki movement in Indian languages.</font></font></div>
<div><font size="4"><font face="garamond,serif"><br></font></font></div><div><font size="4"><font face="garamond,serif">I am sharing with you the note I shared with Bishakha which summarises work and point of view of ORF Mumbai. Also find attached a report by IAMAI on content in Indian languages. </font></font></div>
<div><font size="4"><font face="garamond,serif"><br></font></font></div><div><font size="4"><font face="garamond,serif">I will appreciate if you could forward me a copy of your presentation. Many of my friends would like to see it.</font></font></div>
<div><font size="4"><font face="garamond,serif"><br></font></font></div><div><font face="garamond, serif"><span style="font-size:large">Regards,</span></font></div><div>
<font face="garamond, serif"><span style="font-size:large"><br></span></font></div><div><font face="garamond, serif"><span style="font-size:large">Anay Joglekar</span></font></div>
<div><font face="garamond, serif"><span style="font-size:large">Associate Fellow</span></font></div><div><font face="garamond, serif"><span style="font-size:large">Observer Research Foundation Mumbai</span></font></div>
<div><font face="garamond, serif"><span style="font-size:large">9769474645</span></font></div><div><font face="garamond, serif"><span style="font-size:large"><br>
</span></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font face="garamond, serif"><span style="font-size:large"><img src="http://orfmumbai.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/orf-logo.jpg" alt="orf-logo.jpg" title="orf-logo.jpg" height="91" width="96"><br>
</span></font></div><div><font face="garamond, serif"><span style="font-size:large"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center" align="center"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;color:black"><br>
</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center" align="center"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;color:black">ORF
Research Report: ICT for Maharashtra, ICT through Marathi</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify"><b><span style="color:black"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify"><b><span style="color:black">Summery </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;line-height:115%;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="color:black">Information
and Communication Technologies (ICT) are transforming our world in
revolutionary ways. However, the doors of the New World being created by </span><span style="color:#222222">ICT</span><span style="color:black"> are
mostly shut for a majority of the people in India. For at the signboards at its
entrance is written: "English-speaking People Preferred." Those who
speak only </span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black"> (and
this is true for other native Indian languages, too) cannot (<i>by default and
easily</i>) use computer and mobile phones in </span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black"> or
send email and sms in </span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black">.
There is very little useful information in </span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black"> on
the Internet, even though it offers an ocean of information in English.
Ironically, the much-trumpeted e-Governance measures have remained mostly
English-Governance initiatives. Thus, the linguistic divide is further
deepening the Digital Divide in Maharashtra and the rest of India. This has
also created a mortal threat to the future of</span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black"> and
other Indian languages, since the young generation has come to believe that
learning in </span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black"> is
useless and English education alone provides the passport to prosperity.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:justify">
<span style="color:black"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="color:black"> The
Observer Research Foundation Mumbai believes that this situation of
exclusive development is unacceptable. Maharashtra, which is celebrating its
golden jubilee year, must take determined steps to secure for </span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black"> an
honoured placed in the </span><span style="color:#222222">ICT</span><span style="color:black"> Revolution. Hence we published “</span><b><span style="font-family:"Samyak Devanagari";color:black" lang="HI">महाराष्ट्रासाठी माहिती तंत्रज्ञान</span></b><b><span style="font-family:"Samyak Devanagari";color:black">,</span></b><b><span style="color:black"> </span></b><b><span style="font-family:"Samyak Devanagari";color:black" lang="HI">मराठीतून माहिती तंत्रज्ञान</span></b><b><span style="font-family:"Samyak Devanagari";color:black">”</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family:Mangal;color:black" lang="HI">(</span><span style="color:#222222">ICT</span><span style="color:black"> for
Maharashtra, </span><span style="color:#222222">ICT</span><span style="color:black"> through </span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="font-family:Mangal;color:black" lang="HI">)</span><span style="color:black"> </span><span style="color:black">report along with </span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black"> Abhyas
Kendra.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="color:black"> The
report describes how other countries in the world, such as Israel, China, Japan
and Korea have developed </span><span style="color:#222222">ICT</span><span style="color:black"> in there own languages, thereby
achieving phenomenal results. It shows promotion of </span><span style="color:#222222">ICT</span><span style="color:black"> in </span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black"> can
create employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for </span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black">-speaking
people on a large scale, both in urban and in rural areas, besides bridging
regional disparities in the state. It calls for a big boost to be given to
e-education, telemedicine, e-banking, e-commerce, </span><span style="color:#222222">ICT</span><span style="color:black">-assisted
agriculture and e-justice through</span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black">.
E-Governance in </span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black"> can
bring government closer to the common people, and make it transparent and
accountable. Most importantly, </span><span style="color:#222222">ICT</span><span style="color:black"> in </span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black"> can
help protect and further enrich Maharashtra’s priceless heritage of arts,
culture, literature, cinema, and endangered folk traditions.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="color:black">To
realize this vision, the report urges the Government to (a) ensure affordable
broadband connectivity, with speeds comparable to the highest in the world, in
every corner of the state; (b) make it compulsory for computer and mobile
companies to make their products and services </span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black">-compatible;
(c) universalize use of Unicode </span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black">,
beginning with its introduction in all official communication and
websites; (d)<span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)"> <b>incentivise</b> <b>digital content creation in </b></span></span><b><span style="color:#222222"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)">Marathi</span></span></b><b><span style="color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)"> on
a massive scale</span></span></b><span style="color:black">; and (e) give special focus to bring </span><span style="color:#222222">Marathi</span><span style="color:black">-speaking
youth women, SC/STs, OBCs and other weaker sections of society within the ambit
of </span><span style="color:#222222">ICT</span><span style="color:black"> Revolution.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify"><span style="color:black">In short, promotion of ICT in Marathi is
indispensable for the all-round, accelerated and inclusive development of
Maharashtra. Can we aim for anything less in the Golden Jubilee Year of the
state?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify"><span style="color:black"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Important announcements made by the chief
minister while inaugurating the ORF Report –</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="color:black">1.<span> </span>Government
to allocate Rs. 10 million for digitization of copyright free literature,
manuscripts and important documents.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="color:black">2. Government will make 18 volumes of Marathi
Encyclopedia available on the internet in Unicode text format. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="color:black">3. Government will make sure that In-script
(bi-lingual) keyboards will be easily available everywhere in the state.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="color:black">4. All the websites of the Government of
Maharashtra will be made available in Unicode Marathi.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="color:black">5. Promised to call a meeting of representatives
of leading ICT companies and asked ORF to decide agenda for localization in
Marathi.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="color:black"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black">Some Quick Facts/Points – </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black"><br></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)">1. Total Telephone subscriber base reached to
706.37 Million (Wireless 670.60 + Wireline 35.77)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)">2. Broadband subscription is 10.08 million. </span></span><b><sup><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)">TRAI Report Aug 2010</span></span></sup></b><sup><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)"> </span></span></sup><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)"> </span></span><span style="color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)"></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)">3. Peak connection speed – 4.7 mbps (0.5%), Above
2 mbps speed (4.3%) average connection speed – 800 kbps, Below 256 kbps (30%) </span></span><b><sup><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)">AKMAI Q2</span></span></sup></b><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)"> </span></span></b><b><sup><span style="color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)"></span></span></sup></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)">4. Internet Users – Claimed – 71 million,
Active users 52 million (use internet more than once a month) and Users aware
of vernacular content 13 million </span></span><b><sup><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)">IAMAI Vernacular Content Report 2009 </span></span></sup></b><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)"> </span></span></b><b><span style="color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)"></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)">5. Rural Internet Users – 6.46 million,
Active Users – 4.18 million (Rural Population: > 750 million)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)">6. Times of India (World’s highest circulated
English newspaper) ranks 8<sup>th</sup> among top 10 Indian Newspapers
(readership). Other 9 are Indian
languages. Same is true about television viewership in India. Out of around 250
TV channels, most popular channels are in Indian languages.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)">7. On the other hand when it comes to
Wikipedia pages – Hindi(57,287), Marathi(31,400), Bengali (</span></span><span><span style="color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)">21886</span></span></span><span style="color:black"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 51)">),
Tamil (25,627) against 3.4 million pages in English, 1.13 million in German,
1.01 million in French – Even Hebrew has 1,10,364 pages.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-size:8.0pt;color:black"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:150%"><b><span style="font-size:12.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif"><font color="#000099">Making keying of Indic content default, easy
and in standardized form will take few more years. Therefore we believe that
Wikipedia India shall collaborate with governments, publishers and other
institutions which have large volumes of textual resources, copyrights free and
suitable for encyclopedia projects and make it available on the internet and
organizations like ORF which share this agenda. It will create greater
awareness among Netizens in India about vernacular content and will encourage
them to edit and add new content.</font></span></b><span style="font-size:12.5pt;line-height:150%;color:black"></span></p></span></font></div><div><font face="garamond, serif"><span style="font-size:large"><br></span></font></div>
</div>---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Anay Joglekar</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ajoglekar@orfonline.org" target="_blank">ajoglekar@orfonline.org</a>></span><br>
Date: 30 October 2010 14:56<br>Subject: About Observer Research Foundation Mumbai and Possibility of meeting with Mr. Jimmy Wales<br>To: <a href="mailto:kundanamitabh@gmail.com" target="_blank">kundanamitabh@gmail.com</a><br>
<br><br><font style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;" size="4"><font style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;" size="4">Dear Kundan Amitabh,<br>
<br>I am glad to email you on the backdrop of the 3rd Wikipedia Meet-up
in Mumbai. I would like to attend the event along with few colleagues of
mine from Observer Research Foundation Mumbai.</font><br>
</font><p style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><font size="4">Observer
Research Foundation (ORF) is a leading non-partisan Indian think tank
that seeks to influence public policy formulation. It was
established in New Delhi in 1990 by the late R.K. Mishra, a widely
respected public figure, who envisaged it as a broad-based intellectual
platform pulsating with ideas needed for India’s nation-building.</font></p>
<p style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><font size="4">In its journey of twenty years, ORF has brought together leading
Indian policymakers, academics, public figures, social activists and
business leaders to discuss various issues of national importance. ORF
scholars have made significant contributions toward improving
government policies. ORF has so far produced a large body of critically
acclaimed publications.</font></p>
<p style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><font size="4">Until recently, ORF’s activities were based mainly in New Delhi.
Beginning in 2010, ORF Mumbai has been established to pursue the
Foundation’s vision in India’s business and financial capital. <b>Shri Sudheendra Kulkarni</b>,
former aide to Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Shri L.K. Advani and a
columnist in the Indian Express is its chairman.ORF Mumbai conducts
research and advocacy in six broad areas: Education, Public
Health, Inclusive Development, Urban Renewal, Youth Development, and
<b>Protection and Promotion of India’s Priceless Artistic and Cultural
Heritage</b>.</font></p><p style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><font size="4">Indian
languages which represent India's rich ethos, culture and heritage and
are facing the threat of extinction. Our neglect towards making
available benefits of ICT revolution through Indian languages has caused
widening digital divide. On one hand, there are issues related to
standardization (complete localization) and making various softwares and
operating systems in Indian languages available by default and on the
other hand, there are serious issues of content creation in Indian
languages. ORF organised a roundtable on <b>ICT for and through Marathi</b>
in March 2010 and brought together representatives of state govt.,
media, IT companies along with grass root activists. As a followup ORF
published a research report - <a href="http://orfmumbai.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/marathi-report-final-060610.pdf" target="_blank"><b>महाराष्ट्रासाठी माहिती तंत्रज्ञान, मराठीतून माहिती तंत्रज्ञान</b></a>. It was released by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Ashok Chavan on 07 Sept. 2010. <br>
</font></p><p style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><font size="4">ORF
Mumbai is willing to work closely with the government and private sector
to make more content available in Indian languages. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">As part of this -
we have pledged to increase content on Wikipedia (Marathi) 10 times
within a year through public participation. We are working with the
state government to make available - voluminous Encyclopedia (मराठी
विश्वकोश) on the internet in Unicode Marathi (currently they are in
scanned format). </span><br>
</font></p><p style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><font size="4">It
will be our great pleasure for us to participate in tomorrow's meeting,
get to know more about the plans of Wikipedia foundation and explore
possibilities of working together. It will be great if you could explore
possibility of a meeting between Mr. Wales and Mr. Sudheendra Kulkarni
(this time or next time) or working together to spread wikipedia
movement in Indian languages.</font></p>
<p style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><font size="4">Looking forward to see you tomorrow.</font></p><p style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><font size="4">Regards,</font></p><p style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">
<font size="4"><br></font></p><p style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><font size="4">Anay Joglekar</font></p><p style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><font size="4">Associate Fellow</font></p><p style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">
<font size="4"><b>Observer Research Foundation </b><br>
NKM International House, 5th Floor,<br>
178, Backbay Reclamation,
Babubhai Chinai Marg,<br>
Mumbai 400 020.<br>
Ph: 022-6131 3800<br>
Fax: 022 - 2288 6264</font></p><p style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><font size="4">Cell: 9769474645</font></p><font size="4"><a href="http://www.observerindia.com/" target="_blank">http://www.observerindia.com</a> </font>