Tamil font encoding standard
& standardised Tamil keyboard
The efforts to agree a Tamil font encoding standard and a standardised
Tamil keyboard which took a major step forward in Chennai in February 1999 at
the TamilNet'99 International Conference came
to fruition with the unveiling of the new
keyboard and encoding scheme by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Mr.M.Karunanidhi on
13 June 1999.
The Tamil Nadu Government Order
of 13 June 1999, set out the approved schemes of encoding Tamil glyphs as
well as the layout for Tamil Keyboard. The Order
states that no standard needs to be recommended now for the Romanised keyboard.Tamil is now, the first language in India to have a standardised keyboard
and encoding scheme for use in information technology.
The Hindu reported on 13 June 1999:
"The new standards come into existence from today and the Government will make
them available to the users through various forums including the Internet. The keyboard
and the coding system are the final results of an international endeavour of Tamil users
in which scholars, technologists, linguists and Governments participated. Though it
started with a conference in Singapore years back, the decisive phase started with TamilNet99, organised by the State Government in
February....
Dr. M. Anandakrishnan, Chairman, Sub-Committee on Tamil in Information Technology (IT)
would handle the Rs. 5 crore software development fund and three institutions would work
on this. Dr. Anandakrishnan said the software projects under the fund would not be
'pedestrian' but advanced, on development of a Tamil browser, software for English-Tamil
translation and voice recognition.
The Chief Minister announced that Tiruvarur District would run a pilot project for
information technology in governance. Mr. Karunanidhi recalled the services of the late Mr. Govindasamy from Singapore, who
contributed immensely to the standardisation efforts.
Dr. Anandakrishnan, said one of the most important features of the keyboard was that
all letters could be typed without using the 'shift' keys. The input for this came from
Mr. Govindasamy's 'Kanian' keyboard. The shift-key positions were used for 'grandha'
letters and utility symbols like Rs., debit and credit. Some shift-key positions were
still vacant and could be used. The left side of the keyboard occupied vowels and the
right side, the consonants.
In the monolingual 'Glyph' encoding scheme, aimed mainly at meeting the needs of the
software development for desktop publishing and printing industry, the fonts would have
'TAM' prefix as 'TA' was an internationally accepted abbreviation for Tamil in IT.
In the bilingual encoding scheme, which would be useful for simple applications like
text-processing and e-mail, the fonts would have 'TAB' prefix. The schemes could be used
in operating systems like Windows, Macintosh and Unix.
The State Government had become a member of the 'UNICODE' consortium to facilitate the
submission of the character coding standard. The Information Technology Department would
send the proposal to accept the encoding standard to UNICODE, whose experts will meet in
Chennai on June 24.
Earlier, Mr. Murasoli Maran, Chairman, ReceptionCommittee, said the new standards would
help take IT to people. An overwhelming response came from diaspora Tamils, he said."
Tamil Nadu Government Order on
Standardisation
Information Technology Department, Tamil Nadu
Government Order.Ms.No.17 - Dated:13.06.99
Abstract : Information Technology - Standardisation of Tamil KeyBoard
and Encoding of Tamil Glyphs - Recommendations of the Sub - Committee on Tamil in
Information Technology - Accepted - Orders - Issued
Read: 1. Government Order.Ms.No.3, Information Technology
Department, dated 19.2.99.
2. From the Vice-Chairman, Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education and Chairman,
Sub-Committee on Tamil in Information Technology, Letter dated 1.6.99.
Order
In the Government Order first read above, a working Group and an International
Technical Committee were constituted to evaluate the technical issues and finalise coding
standards for Tamil, based on the consensus arrived at during the International Conference
and Seminar on Tamil in Information Technology (Tamilnet99) held at Chennai on 7th and 8th
February 1999. To facilitate this process, the TamilNet 99 recommendations were made
available on a dedicated internet website http://www.tamilnet99.org
from mid-February 1999.
2. Considerable feedback was received from researchers, software developers and
enthusiasts throughout the world and these were first analysed by the Working Group and
later by the members of the International Technical Committee. Based on the final
suggestions of the International Technical Committee, the Sub-Committee on Tamil in
Information Technology of the State Information Technology Task Force has proposed
monolingual and bilingual encoding schemes for Tamil glyphs and a standard Tamil Keyboard
layout. The Chairman of this Sub-Committee has recommended these to the Government for
approval
3. The Government, after careful consideration, approve the schemes of encoding Tamil
glyphs as well as the
layout for Tamil Keyboard submitted by the Chairman of Sub-Committee on Tamil in
Information Technology
as detailed below:
(a) Tamil Keyboard
(i) The approved layout for keyboard is at Annexure - I and it may be named as
"Tamil99" Keyboard in English and in Tamil :
(ii) The key sequence for the "Tamil99" keyboard is at Annexure - II
(iii) The present layout and sequencing of mechanical typewriter (Remington) keyboard
is to be maintained excepting the replacement of the sign "
" with the sign "™"so as to make
the letter "™" available for typing and to
ensure an easy transition to the existing users; and,
(iv) No standard needs to be recommended now for the Romanised keyboard.
(b) Glyph Coding Schemes:
(i) The Monolingual Glyph coding schemes for Tamil is at Annexure - III. This will
be useful for meeting the needs of software development for the desktop publishing and
printing industry. The fonts based on this scheme will have TAM" prefixed to the font
names, since "TA" is an internationally accepted abbreviation for Tamil in the
Information Technology industry and "M" denotes monolingual;
(ii) The Bilingual Glyph coding scheme for Tamil is at Annexure - IV This will be
useful for meeting the needs of software development for simple applications like
text-processing, e-mail etc. The fonts based on this scheme will have "TAB"
prefixed to the font names, "TA" being the abbreviation for Tamil and
"B" denoting bilingual; and
(iii) Tamil Software developers can provide Tamil Numerals as symbol fonts.
4. Character Coding Standard:
In order to facilitate the submission of a revised character coding standard for Tamil
to "UNICODE", the Government of Tamil Nadu have become an Associate Member in
the Unicode Consortium, USA.On finalisation of the proposal for revising the character
coding standard by the Sub_Committee on Tamil in Information Technology, further action
will be taken by the Information Technology Department for sending this proposal to
'UNICODE' for adoption.
5. Tamil Keyboard manufacturers and Tamil Software developers are expected to use the
specifications in para 3 above in their products. Future purchases of Tamil Keyboards and
Tamil Software by Government Departments/ Undertakings/Corporations/Boards etc., while
subject to codal formalities, will be made only from manufacturers who certify that their
products conform to these specifications.
(By Order of the Governor)
D.PRAKASH
Secretary to Government
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