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Assamese software �Luit Pad� launched

By Shambhu Boro

TEZPUR, July 11 � It is perhaps the only Assamese software for computer users particularly the Assamese DTP operators named as �Luit Pad� designed by a group of upcoming Assamese scientists both working across the State as well as abroad. The software designed for easy computation with Assamese fonts by Dr Kishori Mohan Konwar, a computer scientist by training and computational biologist at the University of British Columbia, Canada, Loveleena Konwar, a qualified young lady having PG degree in mass communication from Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta and Navanath Saharia, a research scholar at Tezpur University carrying out PhD work on computational linguistics in the context of Assamese language, was formally launched on Sunday at an august function held at the residence of prominent scientist, Professor late Dulan Konwar, located here at Nikamul Satra.

It is to be stated here that there has been a lot of discussion in the media as well as among the common people regarding representation of Assamese language in Unicode. Although the first version of Unicode consortium was published in 1991, there was hardly any software available to write Assamese language in a Unicode compatible format. Social forums and non-profit organisations working for the preservation of Assamese language expressed strong interest in a user-friendly, efficient and functional software which can be used to write Assamese text for day-to-day application.

In the meantime, launching the application, Puneswar Nath, president of Tezpur Sahitya Sabha observed that it was a commendable initiative in the modern computer technology taking forward the Assamese language a few steps ahead of the development process. �We are proud of our young Assamese talents like Dr Kishori Mohan Konwar who are abroad for their livelihood have started thinking of contributing towards the Assamese nation by various means� he said adding that presently many local dialects are dying due to various reasons, yet amidst this a section of dedicated persons have been dealing with the issue so that the Assamese language could be developed as much as possible. In the programme, social worker, Kanak Goswami also spoke on the subject and appreciated the initiative taken up by the trio. While interacting with this reporter, Navanath Saharia, who has developed the software, highlighted that combining Assamese text and digital word, Nabaprabhat an Assamese software firm has developed innovative Assamese writing software Luit Pad that supports Unicode. This software is compatible with both Microsoft windows and Linux operating system.

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