[Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: Hi from Observer Research Foundation Mumbai

Fri Nov 26 04:56:33 UTC 2010

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.

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.

All thoughts welcome.
Bishakha

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anay Joglekar <anay.joglekar at gmail.com>

Dear Jimmy Wales,

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.

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.

I will appreciate if you could forward me a copy of your presentation. Many
of my friends would like to see it.

Regards,

Anay Joglekar
Associate Fellow
Observer Research Foundation Mumbai
9769474645

[image: orf-logo.jpg]

*
*

*ORF Research Report: ICT for Maharashtra, ICT through Marathi*

* *

*Summery *

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are transforming our world
in revolutionary ways. However, the doors of the New World being created by
ICT 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 Marathi (and this is true for other native Indian
languages, too) cannot (*by default and easily*) use computer and mobile
phones in Marathi or send email and sms in Marathi. There is very little
useful information in Marathi 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
Marathi and other Indian languages, since the young generation has come to
believe that learning in Marathi is useless and English education alone
provides the passport to prosperity.

 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 Marathi an
honoured placed in the ICT Revolution. Hence we published “*महाराष्ट्रासाठी
माहिती तंत्रज्ञान**,**    **मराठीतून माहिती तंत्रज्ञान**”* (ICT for
Maharashtra, ICT through Marathi) report along with Marathi Abhyas Kendra.

 The report describes how other countries in the world, such as Israel,
China, Japan and Korea have developed ICT in there own languages, thereby
achieving phenomenal results. It shows promotion of ICT in Marathi can
create employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for
Marathi-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, ICT-assisted
agriculture and e-justice throughMarathi. E-Governance in Marathi can bring
government closer to the common people, and make it transparent and
accountable. Most importantly, ICT in Marathi can help protect and further
enrich Maharashtra’s priceless heritage of arts, culture, literature,
cinema, and endangered folk traditions.

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 Marathi-compatible;
(c) universalize use of Unicode Marathi, beginning with its introduction in
all official communication and websites; (d) *incentivise* *digital content
creation in **Marathi** on a massive scale*; and (e) give special focus to
bring Marathi-speaking youth women, SC/STs, OBCs and other weaker sections
of society within the ambit of ICT Revolution.

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?

Important announcements made by the chief minister while inaugurating the
ORF Report –

1.  Government to allocate Rs. 10 million for digitization of copyright free
literature, manuscripts and important documents.

2. Government will make 18 volumes of Marathi Encyclopedia available on the
internet in Unicode text format.

3. Government will make sure that In-script (bi-lingual) keyboards will be
easily available everywhere in the state.

4. All the websites of the Government of Maharashtra will be made available
in Unicode Marathi.

5. Promised to call a meeting of representatives of leading ICT companies
and asked ORF to decide agenda for localization in Marathi.

*Some Quick Facts/Points – *

*
*

1. Total Telephone subscriber base reached to 706.37 Million (Wireless
670.60 + Wireline 35.77)

2. Broadband subscription is 10.08 million. *TRAI Report Aug 2010*

3. Peak connection speed – 4.7 mbps (0.5%), Above 2 mbps speed (4.3%)
average connection speed – 800 kbps, Below 256 kbps (30%) *AKMAI Q2**  ***

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 *IAMAI Vernacular Content Report 2009 ** ***

5. Rural Internet Users – 6.46 million, Active Users – 4.18 million (Rural
Population: > 750 million)

6. Times of India (World’s highest circulated English newspaper) ranks
8thamong 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.

7. On the other hand when it comes to Wikipedia pages – Hindi(57,287),
Marathi(31,400), Bengali (21886), 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.

* *

*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.*

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anay Joglekar <ajoglekar at orfonline.org>
Date: 30 October 2010 14:56
Subject: About Observer Research Foundation Mumbai and Possibility of
meeting with Mr. Jimmy Wales
To: kundanamitabh at gmail.com

Dear Kundan Amitabh,

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.

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.

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.

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. *Shri Sudheendra Kulkarni*,
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 *Protection and Promotion
of India’s Priceless Artistic and Cultural Heritage*.

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 *ICT for and through Marathi* 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 - *महाराष्ट्रासाठी
माहिती तंत्रज्ञान, मराठीतून माहिती
तंत्रज्ञान*<http://orfmumbai.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/marathi-report-final-060610.pdf>.
It was released by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Ashok Chavan on 07
Sept. 2010.

ORF Mumbai is willing to work closely with the government and private sector
to make more content available in Indian languages. 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).

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.

Looking forward to see you tomorrow.

Regards,

Anay Joglekar

Associate Fellow

*Observer Research Foundation *
NKM International House, 5th Floor,
178, Backbay Reclamation, Babubhai Chinai Marg,
Mumbai 400 020.
Ph: 022-6131 3800
Fax: 022 - 2288 6264

Cell: 9769474645
http://www.observerindia.com
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