We have also asked them to explain why they want to exclude Kannada from Kindle,” Hanumanthaiah, the Authority Chairman told ET. “We have written to Amazon requesting it to treat Kannada in the same way as it wishes to treat other Indian languages. While the Kannada Development Authority has written a letter to Amazon, the Sahitya Parishat is consulting experts to guide it in the matter. The spat is showing signs of gaining momentum in the coming days as Amazon India, headquartered out of Bengaluru, is said to be planning to offer books in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam and Gujarati on its e-reader. The two organisations are gathering details to decide on its next move to get Amazon to respond to the request of writers to introduce Kannada e-books on Kindle. (According to Wikipedia, there are around 50 million people in the world who speak that language.)Īmazon’s apparent reluctance to allow Kannada e-books on its Kindle platform has angered sections of writers and Kannada groups pitting the Kannada Development Authority, a statutory body, and Kannada Sahitya Parishat, the apex literary body, against the Seattle-based ecommerce behemoth. The Times of India, Bangalore Mirror, and other sites are reporting that Amazon won’t let a Kannada-language ebook into the Kindle Store.
It’s happening again, this time in India. MS Sriram, a writer and visiting faculty at IIM-B, who has signed the online petition, said their demand is not about Kindle, but to have a technology that is open to all.Remember back in 2011 when Amazon removed a Maltese-language book from the Kindle, and everyone lost their shit? We already have other e-book readers, so we can continue to do without Kindle.“ “Kannada has survived centuries without Kindle, and has some of the towering literary works and eight Jnanapeeth awards. Kannada writers, he said, should not see Kindle not supporting Kannada as an affront to the language. Writer Jogi, however, took a contrarian view of the whole episode. Unfortunately, Amazon India did not support Kannada in its Kindle tool,“ the petition said, and added, “This is one of the several examples where IT tools that are being sold in India are not Indian Language enabled.“ “This week, a leading Kannada author published an ebook in Kannada, and tried to sell it through Kindle.
Some writers led by Beluru Sudharshana have launched an online petition urging IT Minister Ravishankar Prasad to make it mandatory for all IT hardware makers to embed Indian language scripts, fonts and keyboards in all their tools.
The Parishat, he said, is pursuing the larger goal of popularising the Kannada literature through all forms of tech media, and a team of experts are working on this.Īmazon did not respond to a mail seeking its comments on Sunday. We are drafting a letter to Amazon in consultation with tech experts,“ Sahitya Parishat president Manu Baligar said. The row was sparked after Amazon apparently took off Kannada writer Vasudhendhra's book from Kindle.“I am consulting a team of tech experts to understand the finer aspects of the issue. “We will decide our future course of action after receiving Amazon's reply,“ he added. We have also asked them to explain why they want to exclude Kannada from Kindle,“ Hanumanthaiah, the Authority Chairman told ET.