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Want An Email ID In Hindi? You Might Be Able To Get It Soon

Government is working with tech companies to allow email IDs in regional languages.
Gawrav Sinha

Ever thought of getting an email ID in Hindi? You might be able to get one soon. The government of India is in talks with various tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Rediff who provides email services to the internet users for making this work.

According to a report in ET, the ministry of electronics and telecommunication is taking an initiative of creating email IDs in regional languages.

Even though the idea may seem absurd, a lot of the Indian population hasn't stepped into the Internet age as there are no regional alternatives available for them.

Rajiv Basal who is the joint secretary of the electronics and telecommunication ministry had called a meeting last month with these companies to discuss BharatNet program.

It aims to connect more than 250,000 gram panchayats through high-speed Internet. The program also lays out the plan to make the Internet available in native languages. Bansal pointed out that many Indian citizens can't type in English.

However, tech companies responded by saying the technology is already available on the web and the phones. Why is the government hesitant to send out emails in Hindi or other regional languages? Google already has support for over 10 Indian languages, with even keyboards for them. Microsoft's edge browser already supports many regional languages.

Hindi website
AFP/Getty Images
Hindi website

"Email addresses in local languages are one of those nice things to have, but the government should first bring down the cost of access to around Rs 50 for the Internet to truly reach the masses," Rediff CEO Ajit Balakrishnan told ET.

On the other hand, Internationalized Email Framework supports non-latin email IDs including Hindi. Google and Microsoft both support this framework. Although, they have to work for other email IDs.

In India, Indus OS is a startup which is working towards providing the mobile experience in regional languages. For that, they have even ditched the play store model of Google. They have their own app store in 12 languages called App bazaar. The company claims to be the 2nd biggest mobile operating system after Android in India.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.