V. Srinivasa Chakravarthy
Professor, Department of Biotechnology,
IIT Madras.

Introduction:

Bharati is proposed as a universal script for all the major Indian languages.

The use of a common script for many languages in a given region is not a new idea. The Roman script is used as a common script for many European languages (English, French, German, Italian etc.), which facilitates communication across nations that speak and write those languages. Likewise a common script for the entire country is hoped to bring down many communication barriers in India.

There are 11 major scripts that are currently being used in India:

Devnagari, Bengali, Gurmukhi, Gujarati, Oriya, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, English and Urdu. The first 9 among these - Devnagarai, Bengali, Gurmukhi, Gujarati, Oriya, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, - share a common phonetic structure. Exploiting this shared structure, we designed Bharati so that the visual form of the characters has a strong correlation to their phonetic identity. Because of this strong coupling between sound and form, it is becomes easy to remember the shape of the character, if you know the sound.

Use cases:

1. A good number of next generation kids know how to speak in this mother tongues, but often do not have reading/writing skills in their mother tongues. Bharati script is a good solution for such children.
2. A similar needs as above is seen among the NRI children. A good number of NRI children do not have the ability to read/write in this mother tongues due to lack of formal instruction in their languages. Bharati offers a simple solution to such children.
3. Of the 1600+ Indian languages, a good number do not have any dedicated script. Bharati is an excellent solution for such languages.
4. Literacy: Our country has some of the lowest literacy levels in the region. An adult illiterate takes about 6 months to become literate in Hindi/Devanagari. With Bharati we hope to shorten that time to a couple of weeks.

Easy to learn:

Bharati is easy to learn. Our work with school children shows that children are often able to learn the script with an instruction of about 10-15 mins.

Bharati tools and technology:

Typing Indic scripts on Mobile:

Typing Indic scripts on a mobile is cumbersome since it uses complex keyboard mappings. But we can use Bharati as a data entry mechanism: the writer writes Bharati characters using a stylus in a smart phone, the output is shown in any desired Indic script. This system is already implemented and gives a performance of about 98%. An Android app, known as Bharati Handwriting Keyboard, is now available on Google play store.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR):

Bharati characters are designed such that the different component sounds can be associated with distinct, easily segmental components in the character image. We have recently developed OCR system in Bharati which gives 100% accuracy even for moderate noise levels.

Typing in Bharati:

We designed fonts for Bharati using which it is possible to type in Bharati.

This is a passage from Tamil classic Silappadikaaram, typed in Sundara Bharati, a recently developed Bharati fonts.

Document Conversion:

Bharati fonts are mapped onto existing Unicode fonts for Indic scripts. Therefore it is possible to automatically transliterate documents from an Indian language (Indic script) to Bharati script and vice versa.

Browsing the Internet:

It is possible to change some settings on the browser and surf the internet using Bharati script. Accordingly, a Telugu page, or a Marathi page, on the internet, appears as a Bharati document.

Bharati for Differently Abled:

Mudra Bharati – Bharati-based signing system: In collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Innovation Labs, Mumbai, we are currently developing a universal fingerspelling system for Indian languages. Fingerspelling is an aspect of sign language that allows you to spell out a word using gestures. Currently there is no known fingerspelling for Indian languages. We have proposed a fingerspelling method based on Bharati for Indian languages. This system uses the space in front of the signer as a sort of an invisible blackboard, wherein characters are conveyed by placing hand gestures at various points on that invisible board. Consonants are conveyed on the right side whereas vowels are conveyed on the left. We are also developing an AI system that takes a video of the signer signing the above system and produces text in real-time.

Sparsh Bharati - Bharati for the Visually Impaired: Currently the visually impaired use an Indian adaptation of the international Braille, a system known as Bharati Braille. But Braille is originally meant for Roman script, which is very different in its organization compared to Indic writing systems. Bharati Braille is a forced adaptation of Braille for Indic scripts. We propose to test the following idea. If we print Bharati characters as they are on an embossed surface, will the visually impaired be able to read it by direct palpation? Such a system, when it is validated, will be a great asset to the visually impaired. Since both the sighted and the visually impaired be able to read the same writing system - only the medium differs – it will engender a greater integration of the visually impaired community with the sighted community.

Bharati and Gaming:

It is our intention that Bharati script is learnt effortlessly and enjoyable like a game and should not be a burden. Therefore we are developing games based on Bharati which can aid in learning the script.

Games based on Bharati characters:

Thanks to the easy modularity of Bharati characters, it is possible to create a host of word-building games in Bharati. Any Bharati character can be fit strictly into a 3-tier structure: upper, middle and bottom of sizes ½ X 1, 1 X 1, and ½ X 1 respectively. For this reason Bharati characters are ideally suited for designing world building games.

We designed a scrabble-like word building board game called “Word Warz.”

“Bharati Jumble Tumble” is a mobile game for Android phones. In this game, which belongs to the class of “sliding piece” games, one has to move blocks around and form words.

We are also developing a 3D Bharati game in Virtual Reality.

Another exciting field of exploration involving Bharati characters is Anagrams. Anagrams are words are phrases, whose letters, on rearrangement forms new words or phrases that are meaningful and are related to the original word or phrase in a quaint way. A large number of anagrams have been developed or discovered in English. But anagram hunt has not really begun in Indian languages perhaps because our writing systems do not easily lend themselves to complex and flexible rearrangements of characters. Since Bharati script permits such flexibility it is ideal for creating Anagrams in Indian languages.

Current Activities

Currently our volunteers Vikram, Ajith, Pritam and Chandrasekhar go to village schools and colleges to popularize Bharati script. In their experience, they find time and again that after about 10 – 15 minutes of introduction the kids are able to learn the script.

Comments by Experts:

Here’s what experts have to say about Bharati script.

Rajesh Kumar, a professor of linguistics at IIT Madras, says: “Bharati… as a linguist, I see this script as a revolution if it makes its way into practice. Script is an important part of learning of language for the purpose of literacy. Bharati has potential to project unity of India while retaining its linguistic diversity. It will make our life simple in learning to read and write multiple languages with total comfort. The scientific temper of this script is of immense value for digitizing Indian scriptures for generations to follow. The proposal of Bharati as a common script for Indian languages is one of the most powerful and revolutionary ideas in the recent time. This does not disrupt any existing harmony. Bharati as a common script for the entire country brings hope to resolve many communication barriers in India. This is an achievable and linguistically viable goal to aim for.“

For more details please visit: bharatiscript.com