The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) on Thursday unveiled the BhashaNet portal.
The portal is designed to establish a multilingual internet environment, where website names and email addresses can be accessed in local languages. By catering to users in their native languages, the initiative promotes inclusivity and enhances accessibility.
The portal was launched to mark Universal Acceptance Day, which calls for equitable treatment of domain names and email addresses across all languages and scripts, ensuring accessibility through all Internet-enabled applications, devices, and systems.
Supported by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the event set the stage for the upcoming Global Universal Acceptance Day scheduled for March 28 in Belgrade, Serbia.
Themed “BhashaNet: Impetus Towards Universal Acceptance,” the event witnessed panel discussions and workshops involving various stakeholders such as Bhashini, ONDC, NIC, C-DAC, Microsoft, UASG of ICANN, Data Xgen, Infibeam, ZOHO, and FICCI.
Emphasizing the necessity of Universal Acceptance, MeitY Secretary S Krishnan said that it enables non-English speakers to access the internet seamlessly. Krishnan highlighted the importance of leveraging technology and collaboration to meet the needs of every user, regardless of language or script.