Internet, Romanaagarii and SARAL scripts

Internet and its Importance
Internet began in the nineteen sixties as a Defense Department project of the United States. It was designed to link researchers around the country. The designers linked together a network of networks, with no point of central control over the system. That way, messages could get through even if one or more links were lost. It was built like a spider's web. The Internet came into popular use in the nineteen nineties.
Internet is the system of communications organized with the help of computers and telephones. A network is created by connecting several computers in order to facilitate communication and exchange information. Several networks of this type have been connected into a vast global net which is called Internet. In reality, Internet is a net of computer networks through which information can be exchanged from one place to another at very fast speed. It is being used extensively in offices, educational institutions, and commercial organizations as well as by individuals. It is estimated that the number of people using Internet all over the world is over a billion and it is increasing rapidly.
The electronic revolution has introduced new machines and new technologies. In the worlds of Bill Gates: "We stand at the brink of another revolution. This one will involve unprecedented inexpensive communication; all computers will join together to communicate with us and for us. Interconnected globally, they will form a network, which is being called the information highway. A direct precursor is the present Internet, which is a group of computers joined and exchanging information using current technology."

Global internet usage
The most used language on the Internet is English. Although the total number of native English speakers in the world is about 322 million, English is spoken as a second language by over 200 million people around the world. They make their contributions to the Internet in their own language as well as in English. Chinese is the most spoken language on Earth, and the second language on the Internet. The Chinese population online is increasing at a high rate; this is expected to have a great impact on the Internet in the near future. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia on Internet)
As of March 2006, approximately 1,023 million people worldwide use the Internet. According to Global Reach, the top languages are (in millions) as follows:

Language---Users (millions)
English --- 287.5
Chinese --- 102.6
Japanese --- 69.7
Spanish --- 65.6
German --- 52.9
Korean --- 29.9
French --- 28.0
Portuguese --- 25.7
Italian --- 24.3
Russian --- 18.5
Malay --- 13.6
Dutch --- 13.5
Arabic --- 10.5
Polish --- 9.5
Swedish --- 7.9
Turkish --- 5.8
Thai --- 4.9
Czech --- 4.2
Hebrew --- 3.8
Danish --- 3.5
Persian --- 3.4
Catalan --- 2.9
Norwegian --- 2.9
Finnish --- 2.8
Greek --- 2.7
Bulgarian --- 2.4
Romanian --- 2.4
Vietnamese --- 2.2
Hungarian --- 1.7
Slovak --- 1.2
Croatian --- 1.0

Hindi on the Internet
Notably absent from the table above is Hindi, one of the most commonly spoken languages of the world, as well as the national language of India, the second most populated country in the world. This is due to factors such as the lack of access to the Internet by the large majority of the Indian population, and a preference for English among those users who have Internet access. The Indian population online is also increasing at a high rate; this is also expected to have a great impact on the Internet in the near future. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia on Internet)
Presently, Internet in the world (except China, Japan and Korea) is used mainly for languages written in Roman scripts. The reason for this is the use of Roman characters in ASCII for text processing in computers. The word processing in standard ASCII facilitates text transmission and text manipulation in computers. The vast reservoir of information stored in standard ASCII computers connected to Internet, makes it possible to access it anywhere in the world.
It may be asked why we cannot use Internet for communication in other non Roman scripts such as Devanagari. We have the technology for writing Hindi in Devanagari Script through graphic processing but this technique is possible through special programs which are not easily available everywhere. These programs are very complicated and cannot do scanning and text processing as easily as programs for Roman script. Moreover, the knowledge of Roman letters is essential for writing addresses and understanding the vocabulary of computers and Internet. Acronyms such as FTP., WWW, HTML etc. are commonly used in Internet. It is not possible to translate or transliterate them in any non Roman Script.

Internet, Romanaagarii and SARAL scripts
Hindi/Urdu speaking people living in all parts of the world would like to communicate with each other through Internet. Due to the constraints of script, it has not been possible to use them for international communications through computers. Now we have the possibility of communicating in Hindi and other languages of India on Internet by using the Romanaagarii and SARAL scripts. This suggestion is very scientific, logical and practical. This will help in propagating Hindi and other languages of India all over the world and popularizing them on a wider scale.
Through Romanaagarii and SARAL scripts, reading and study skills can be delivered over the Internet as easily as in Roman script. Some infrastructure and technology issues will have to be tackled for which there are plenty of resources available at present.
We have to understand this electronic miracle and adjust ourselves to it. India cannot ignore the fast progress being made by others using modern technology and lag behind in the use of electronic communication. Internet has brought a new dimension to knowledge. Through Internet, knowledge can be made available from one single source at a very low cost almost instantly!
Internet can also integrate literacy and self-study training. The potential advantages of the Internet in education are well known. Online learning reaches the learner more successfully than ever before. Through Romanaagarii, reading and study skills can be delivered over the Internet like easily in the remotest areas. The resource-assisted reading connects a reader’s chosen text, at his or her interest and proficiency level.
Internet can also pave the way to addressing other societal issues. Internet can be used in educating children in India. On Internet, we can make material available for healthcare or agriculture. We could take people through the basics of fertilizers, or the entire vaccination program. All that is needed is the material, through Internet.
Romanaagarii based solution can have other bigger dimensions. In March, 2006, Google's chief executive predicted that India and not China will become the world's biggest Internet market in "about five or ten years from now." His other futurist view is that Hindi, not Hispanic, could become one of the world's three Internet languages, in conjunction with English and Chinese. Romanaagarii and SARAL scripts could prepare for a tomorrow when India is virtually the Internet and Internet is India?
In Sep 2006 it was reported that Yahoo is planning to develop a mobile browser at its R&D centre in Bangalore. The world’s largest portal will also recruit some 200 software engineers, taking the total workforce to 1,000 by the end of the year. It will start rolling out newer products from the centre over the next 3-4 months. Here also Romanaagarii and SARAL scripts can help in developing software for use with Indic languages.

Internet and economic prosperity
Internet usage is directly related to economic prosperity. Countries with top percentage of internet usage (over 40 per cent) are also the countries with the highest annual per capita income of US$ 10,000 and above. These countries are: Malta, New Zealand, Iceland, Sweden, Hong Kong, Denmark, United States, Singapore, Australia, Norway, Greenland, Holland, Korea, (South), Switzerland, Canada, United Kingdom, Finland, Bermuda, Japan, Taiwan, Luxembourg, Portugal, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, Barbados, Ireland, Estonia, Italy, European Union, Belgium, Slovenia, Monaco, Guam, Czech Republic, Israel, France, Slovakia.
The countries with the lowest percentage of internet usage (under 1 per cent) are also the countries with the lowest annual per capita income (under US$ 500). These countries are: Tanzania, United Republic of, Yemen, Chad, Mozambique, Nepal, Somalia, Uganda, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, , Burkina Faso, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Niger, Afghanistan, Congo, Democratic Rep. of the, East Timor, Guinea, Equatorial, Guiana, French, Iraq, Myanmar (ex-Burma), Tajikistan, The only exception is Turkmenistan where internet usage is 0.5 per cent and the annual per capita income is US$ 1340. This may be due to rich income from natural resources.
India’s internet usage is 3.6 per cent and the annual per capita income is US$ 620. There is no doubt that the extensive use of Internet will support India’s economic development.

0