Union Government Websites Adopt Hindi Web Addresses
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Synopsis
In a transformative move, several Union government websites have adopted Hindi web addresses, significantly enhancing internet accessibility for Indian language users. This initiative stems from the Universal Acceptance program, promoting the use of Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) and making the digital space more inclusive.
Key Takeaways
- Union government websites now feature Hindi web addresses.
- This initiative promotes inclusivity for Indian language users.
- IDNs allow for regional language website addresses.
- NIXI supports the adoption of IDNs among government agencies.
- Both English and Hindi versions of websites are accessible.
New Delhi, April 13 (NationPress) A significant development has occurred as numerous Union government websites now feature web addresses in Hindi, marking a pivotal advancement toward making the internet more inclusive for users of Indian languages.
This initiative is a result of extensive efforts under the Universal Acceptance (UA) program, which seeks to enhance internet accessibility in languages beyond English.
Key to this initiative is the implementation of Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs), enabling the creation of website addresses and email IDs in various regional languages.
For instance, the Ministry of Home Affairs has adopted the Hindi web address गृहमंत्रालय.सरकार.भारत, which serves as the Hindi counterpart to the ministry's previous English site address, mha.gov.in.
Users can now access both the English and Hindi versions of the website through this new address.
The Hindi address substitutes the conventional English country code domain “.in” with a Hindi-language equivalent “.भारत”.
Other regional language alternatives, such as .இந்தியா for Tamil, are also offered under this framework.
Historically, the domain name system (DNS) was limited to English characters due to early coding standards based on ASCII, which primarily accommodated English letters.
This limitation posed challenges for creating websites or email addresses in other languages. However, since the 1980s, efforts have been underway to support non-English characters online.
Currently, most web browsers and email services are compatible with IDNs, although they utilize a system known as ‘Punycode’ to facilitate functionality behind the scenes.
This means that while the browser interprets a converted, code-like version of the address, users see the name displayed in their preferred language.
Despite the availability of many websites in India in local languages, their web addresses continue to utilize English characters.
The Indian government has been actively promoting the use of domain names such as .भारत across various Indian languages.
A number of government entities have spearheaded this initiative, including the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Ministry of Minority Affairs, and the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), all of which have incorporated Hindi versions of their web addresses.
NIXI, responsible for managing the .in domain and other Indian language domains, operates a platform called Bhashanet to assist government agencies in adopting IDNs.
