The state government will on Saturday launch a new Kannada portal along the lines of Wikipedia.
Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa will inaugurate the portal, aimed at providing comprehensive information on Karnataka, its language, heritage, culture, history, people, arts, science and other related issues. “ We will announce the name of the portal at the time of the launch,’’ said M K Sridhar, member secretary of Karnataka Knowledge Commission (KKC) on Thursday.
This is the first attempt made by a state to make information easily available to the common man in a local language, he added. The portal has been developed by KKC in association with IIIT-Bangalore, Kannada Development Authority, department of Kannada and culture, and various other institutions and individuals.
The government had released Rs 2 crore for undertaking the task of developing the portal. The portal also features the translated version of all Wikipedia information in Kannada
Sridhar said the KKC will soon constitute a committee of experts, including historians and academicians, to update and consolidate the Kannada portal. “As of now, we have about 150 pages. We plan to take it beyond 1,000 pages in the next few years. We also plan to upload about 1.3 crore articles on various issues,” he added.