Blogging is growing in unexpected ways in India. The Indian Police seems to have taken a liking to it. The Times Of India reported that Barmer Police of the state of Rajasthan have started their own blog. And if anyone thought if localization helped, this blog is in Hindi, the Indian national language official language of the Union.
Earlier the police of regions in the state of Karnataka had started blogging. The Dakshina Kannada Police department, the Chitradurga and Udupi police have started blogs to communicate with the people and the media. Whether these blogs are used for broadcast or conversations, they will ensure that the middle layer of the media gets thinner.
This is a big step taken, and the future can see more use of the technology in building a communications network including the citizen and various police departments. This can help minimize the delay caused because of communication.
It is also interesting to note that the Hindi blogosphere is abuzz. There are bloggers like Debashish Charkrabarty who have contributed to Hindi blogging tremendously through localization efforts. He also runs a Hindi blog called Nukta Chini and Chitta Vishwa (chittha is blog in Hindi). I am sure there are many more contributors which has resurfaced blogging in regional languages.
Blogging is already used in India to highlight social issues, but this shows a strange and unexpected growth pattern in India. It is growing more in the common man rather than the techies. Of course this is very good, because now blogs will be used to solve the everyday problems and provide maximum value.
July 22nd, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Interesting, but Hindi is not a National Language. I don’t think anywhere in the constitution it has been mentioned that Hindi is the national language. It is the most widely used language in India. I think a lot of people assume or make this mistake. India doesn’t have a national language which I think is good, since we are so diverse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_languages_of_India
July 22nd, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Thanks for clarifying it Arpit, I have corrected the post accordingly. It was my laziness that I did not care to find the exact word. I meant that it was one of the languages commonly used across various states. And like you said, it is better that it does not have one single national language, goes with the diversity.
July 22nd, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Thanks for the mention, though pretty late, Hindi blogging is 4 years old and blogging in other Indian languages like Tamil probably much older. Sarvagya wiki is a good place to start knowing more about Hindi blogging, this page lists all the resources to get hold of Hindi blogs.
And lastly is it really necessary to raise the language controversy even at the mention of the word Hindi. I have been involved in the Indic blogging scene from beginning and everywhere we mention Indian languages, not Hindi alone, there are hosts of technology tools that have been shared in the community. Arpit, if you don’t realize it yet I would recommend starting a blog in your mother tongue.
July 22nd, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Of course Hindi blogosphere is older. I wanted to mention it in this context because I feel it has really reached a high point if the police have started blogging in Hindi. This shows the maturity of blogging in regional languages. I also think that this will reach more people.
Thanks for the links about Hindi blogging, quite interesting.
I do not think there is any language controversy here. I thought Arpit corrected a fact that I wrongly presented.
July 22nd, 2007 at 11:49 pm
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August 2nd, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Yeah.. you are like really right! At least, it’s showing the changing face of the Indian internet arena. That is indeed a really good thing for the entire country. It shows how high tech you are becoming. Imagine the advantages that we have because of a fast moving community like that. It could indeed cause a revolution.
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The first website to do English-kannada transliteration with Engish words options. No caps worries.
Really cool!
http://quillpad.in/kannada/