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Projects

AN APPEAL

Likhon Garhan Chiki Chharaw Gaonta, Rourkela is engaged in Ol Chiki literacy mission in Santal Pargana  areas. In 1999, they have started the Ol Chiki literacy mission in Sidhu Kahnu University and gradually they started covering other areas of Dumka, Godda, Hazaribag, Bhagalpur etc.

 

Achievements:

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  1. More than 230 of their students have successfully cleared the Ol Chiki Exams.
  2.  The Disom Khobor is the only Santali Magazine in Ol Chiki thatcomes in two forms: Printed edition and Internet edition or onlineversion using the Dynamic fonts. This is one of the three Santali Magazines in Ol Chiki that are currently in circulation

 

The utilization of Funds:

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The most of the funds will be used to bear the travel expenditures of full time volunteers and printing the Ol Chiki books and to produce the Ol Chiki learning materials in audiovisual form (Compact Disc/ Video Cassette etc.)

 

 

To contribute towards this fund, please send the Cheque in the name of Fudan Majhi who is the leading figure of the Ol Chiki literacy mission. Please do not hesitate to contribute however the small the amount is. The name of the contributors will be published in the DISOM Khobor newspaper and also in Wesanthals group. We also request our members to pass this message to the people who are outside the domain of Wesanthals.

 

 

The details are given below.

Syndicate bank

A/C No: 10634/44

Rourkella Branch

 

Alternatively send the money order (MO) in the following address.

Shri Fudan Majhi,

H/30, Sector-2

Rourkela - 769006

Orissa

 

E-mail: majhifudan@rediffmail.com

Phone: 0661-2476352

Introduction: The formation of a group or an association to achieve a certain goal is a part of the solution to the problem and not an end by itself,  but adopting realistic and objective methods with a view to realizing the goal in a cost effective way is another problem. With the above constraint in mind, it is our effort to bring innovative projects related to the development of Santal society and execute them successfully. As such Wesanthals e-group is not an association and does not have any formal rules, regulations or office bearers, but for executing any project, its members can work along with local organizations and/or form small group drawing members from this e-group as well as outside to carry out the project.  How and when it will be done is a matter of debate and to know the details of any ongoing project (social, developmental or linguistic), please subscribe to the Wesanthals mailing list.

 

The projects that we are planning to carry out can be broadly classified  into three categories as shown below and  the detail status of the ongoing projects are given subsequently.

 

  1. Computerization of Ol Chiki script.
  2. Development of Santali language.
  3. Social and Development works for the upliftment of Santal Society.

  

The Ol Chiki Script Computerization Project:

 

In the Ol Chiki Script Computerization Project, it is an effort from the members of Wesanthals e-group and other volunteers to provide effective solutions for the problems of  using Ol Chiki script in computers for publication purposes. The main aim of this project is to look at the computerization aspect of Ol Chiki and its implementations. Since the use of Ol Chiki script in computers is still in initial stages, there are lots of work to be done to make any headway in this project. The major problem in this project is that there were earlier almost no efforts by any Santal organization or the Government or any individual. Therefore, this project needs to be started from scratch and develop it slowly. Apart from this problem, a project like this faces the dearth of human and financial resources.  The next most important task ahead of us is to make these tools available to common people for their normal use. However, we would like to drive this project slowly but determinedly. Towards these objectives, we have identified the following goals in order of priority for the OL Chiki computerization project.

 

 

  1. To develop true type Ol Chiki fonts and make them available to users free of cost.
  2. To make efforts for encoding Ol Chiki script in Unicode.
  3. To bring out online Santali newsapers/magazines in Ol Chiki.
  4. To develop online Santali dictionary in Ol Chiki.
  5. To develop software for the transliteration of Ol Chiki script to any Indic or Roman script.
  6. To develop the spelling checker for Santali language in Ol Chiki for open source word processors.
  7. To develop software for the translation of Santali language to other languages.

 

 

PROJECT STATUS:

 

Free Ol Chiki Fonts:

Free true type Ol Chiki fonts have been developed by the  members of Wesanthals. These fonts can be used for personal as well as commercial purposes without paying any royalty. Presently, we have a total of seven types Ol Chiki fonts. The font for handwriting version of Ol Chiki USARA OL has also been developed. Now there is a need to convert all Ol Chiki true type fonts to open type ones.  We are planning to bring out all Ol Chiki open type fonts under GNU General Public License (GPL). For downloading fonts, please click here to download the Ol Chiki fonts.

 

Keyboard Standardization:

Keyboard standardization  for Ol Chiki script is also in progress. We have already suggested a draft keyboard mapping for Ol Chiki script. Presently, all  free Ol Chiki fonts use this mapping, and many people use these fonts for printing books, magazines and other purposes too. After a year or so, we would like to have user feedback for the same. Then an evaluation will be made for its suitability and flawlessness before making it standard for Ol Chiki script. If you are interested to contribute by evaluating or suggesting any alternatives, please contact us. Please click here for the keyboard mapping.

 

 

The Encoding of Ol Chiki in Unicode:

ISO/IEC 10646 is a character set standard, published in 1993 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Its name is "Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set" and its acronym is UCS. As of now, the major Indic scripts have already been included in the standard. Why will the Ol Chiki lag behind in this race? To achieve this goal, a revised proposal for encoding of Ol Chiki in Unicode has been submitted and is presently  under investigation of Unicode technical committee. The revised proposal is written by Prof. R. C. Hansdah and Mr. N. C. Murmu with the active assistance of Mr. Michael Everson( Everson typography ) and plentiful inputs and helps from our Wesanthals members. Please click here to get the draft proposal.

 

Online Santali News Papers/Magazines in Ol Chiki:

Sometime back, an online web-based Santali magazine was a dream but now, it is a reality. The first ever-online Santali News Paper/Magazine, named DISOM KHOBOR, is being published since October 2002. The main effort for this project came from Mr. Fudan Majhi and his group,  and presently it has both printed  as well as Internet edition.

 

 

The Santali Language Development Project:

 

Although Santali language has been studied extensively, it was mainly done for research purposes, and there are an impressive number of works for understanding the various aspects of Santali language. As of now there are a good number of dictionary and grammar books on Santali, but these books are mainly intended for advanced researchers and linguists.  Practically, no dictionary and grammar books exist for the common Santal people themselves. Therefore, it is our effort to bring out handy dictionary(Santali to English/Bengali/Hindi/Oriya, and vice versa ) and grammar books in Ol Chiki. We feel that this project should be given priority as these books are really needed by the Santal people, and we are working towards it. If you feel that you can contribute towards this goal or alternatively if you know someone who is willing and can contribute towards this project, please intimate us. Indeed, we are looking for such people. Here is a brief list of projects:

 

  1. Formation of All India group for the promotion and development of Ol Chiki script and creation of pressure groups for the inclusion of Santali language in the 8th schedule of the Indian constitution.
  2. Development of simplified Santali dictionary books to other languages and vice versa in Ol Chiki script.
  3. Development of a simplified Santali grammar book in Ol Chiki script. 
  4. Creation of database of all Santali books written in Ol Chiki and their publishers.
  5. Web-based tutorial for Ol Chiki scripts.

 

 

PROJECT STATUS:

 

All India group for the promotion of Ol Chiki script:

The formation of all India group to promote the use of Ol Chiki script by actively encouraging the publication of magazines, contributing science articles in various magazines or newspapers etc. is one of the important step in realizing the projects in Santali language development. The main objective of this group is to make concerted efforts for the publication of Santali books and magazines in Ol Chiki script. This group actively encourages all like minded people to come together and work concertedly towards its declared goals. Helping to revive old magazines, bringing out new magazines or any other publications are some of their main goals. The revival of SAGEN SAKAM magazine, and starting of the new magazines KAPURMULI  and DISOM KHOBOR are part of these efforts. Apart from these works, the group members actively contribute articles in the magazines. A partial list of people involved in this group are: Prof. R. C. Hansdah, Mr. Salkhu Majhi, Prof. Digamber Hansda, Mr. Sudarsan Hembrom, Mr. Fudan Majhi, Mr. D. C. Soren, and Mr. Thakurdas Murmu.

 

Creation of database of all Santali books in Ol Chiki and  their publishers:

The main aim of this project is to make a database of Santali books in Ol Chiki and their publishers. Right now there is a partial database of these books, and their publishers. The main contributors in this project are Prof. R. C. Hansdah, Mr. Salkhu Majhi, Mr. D. C. Soren, Mr. I. G. Soren and Mr. N. C. Murmu. Now efforts are on to include all spectrum of  information  related to Santals and Santali literatures.

 

Web-based Ol Chiki tutorial:

In the absence of organized information regarding Ol Chiki script, it is often found that many people including the researchers and readers misunderstand the Ol Chiki script. Especially, the concept of Santali vowels was the major source of confusion for quite some time. In reality, there are very little difference among the dialects spoken by the Santals of different regions. Therefore, we have made efforts to bring out such a tutorial especially for the researchers and academicians, and have tried to clear any doubts that they may have. The tutorial is written by Prof. R. C. Hansdah and Mr. N. C. Murmu. Please click here to go this page.

 

 

  

The Social, and  Developmental Projects:

 

As the Santal community does have plenty of problems, we are in need of resources in terms of money as well as manpower. In broad spectrum, it is decided to focus more on the literacy improvement programs and poverty amelioration programs. The projects related to them  are currently under discussion in Wesanthals e-group, and some outlines of these projects can be found in the mailing lists.

 

The people interested in these projects are requested to contact some of the people in the group over E-mail. A partial list of these peiple are: Mr. Sanatan Hansda (hansda@123india.com ), Dr. Ganesh Chandra Kisku (kiskugc1@rediffmail.com ), Dr. Dhuni Soren  (dhunisoren@yahoo.co.uk), Mr. Dasharathi Hembrom     (hembramd@rediffmail.com).

 

 

 

Volunteers for the Project: We are always looking for volunteers to carry out these projects successfully. As already mentioned, there are plenty of works to be done, and if you are interested to contribute, please contact us. Email: wesanthals@yahoo.com

 

 


E-Group: Wesanthals