Congress president Sonia Gandhi and communications minister Dayanidhi Maran in New Delhi on Monday. (PTI)

New Delhi, June 20: In an effort to increase the use of information technology by the masses, the government will ask computer manufacturers like HCL and Dell to load free Indian language software in computers to be sold here from January.

The department of information technology (DIT) has been asked to hasten the development of local language software so that all computers sold in the new-year are pre-loaded with Indian language.

The DIT, in association with the Centre for Development of Advance Computing, will release the software within the next six months.

The Hindi software was launched today by Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of the National Advisory Council. The Tamil version is already available in the market.

Union communications minister Dayanidhi Maran has said he would ask original equipment manufacturers to load the Indian languages free of cost when they sell PCs. If required, the government would give them the CD of the software free.

All Indian languages will be covered within the next six months. After this, OEMs will be asked to load the languages before selling the computers.

The Indian language software will have fonts, e-mail client in local language, spell checker, dictionary and language type tutor.

“Communicating in one’s own mother tongue will be easier than any other medium. The enactment of the Right to Information Act is a revolutionary step and information technology will play a greater role to harness this,” Gandhi said.

Speaking on the occasion, Maran said in India only 5 per cent of the population speak and write in English, while the remaining 95 per cent communicate in their mother tongue. “When we are talking of broadband and taking computers to villages, it is necessary to develop CDs in Indian languages.”

“All 22 Indian language fonts will be available free of cost,” he added.