In a bid to make the larger society a part of the digital revolution  and technology more feasible and accessible to those who are not well-versed in English, Gauhati University, in collaboration with Linguistic Data Consortium  for Indian Languages (LCD-IL), is seeking ways to develop electronic applications in native languages - Assamese and Bodo to start with.

A 10-day orientation-cum-training programme on natural language processing, which will be held at Gauhati University from January 31, will focus on creating a pool of research for students, besides make them aware of the requirements of such an initiative, and also motivate them in this field. The programme will also be attended by trainees from CIIL (Central Institution of Indian Language), Mysore, who will work on the Language Technology Development (LTD) project of Gauhati University (GU).

The programme will be held in collaboration with the department of computer and information technology of the varsity and will be attended by research students and professors from other GU departments, along with students and teachers from various universities and colleges in the northeast.

"Most of the computer applications in use have been developed by the US and so they are in English, but in India, where less than 10% of the people speak English, it becomes very important to develop applications in native Indian languages," said Shikhar Sarmah, professor and head of department of the computer and information technology department of GU. He added that in countries like Japan, China, and some European countries as well, the digital penetration is deep as applications are available in native languages.

He said, "The penetration of the digital revolution is not deep in India. For example, we claim that we have succeeded in spreading science and technology far and wide nowadays as there are ATMs and cyber cafes in villages as well. But a closer look reveals how majority of the people in the interior regions are yet to take advantage of the benefits of the digital revolution because all the applications are in English, which they can't understand. A common man possessing a debit or credit card has to wait for someone who knows English to come to the ATM to help him withdraw money, so technology becomes meaningless."