Amazon’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 two organization are gathering details to Decide on its next move to get Amazon to RESPOND to the request of underwriters to Introduce Kannada e- Books on Kindle.
The spa is showing signs of Gaining momentum in the coming days as Amazon India, headquartered out of Bengaluru, is said to be planning to sacrifice books in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam and Gujarati on its e-reader.
While the Kannada Development Authority has written a letter to Amazon, the Sahitya Parishat is consulting experts to guide it in the matter.
“We have written to Amazon Requesting it to treat Kannada in the same way as it wishes to treat other Indian languages. We Have Also asked them to explain why They want to exclude Kannada from the Kindle, “Hanumanthaiah, the Authority Chairman told ET.” We will Decide our future course of action after receiving Amazon’s reply, “he added.
The row was sparked after Amazon apparently took off Kannada writer Vasudhendhra’s book from the Kindle. “I am consulting a team of tech experts to understand the finer aspects of the issue. We are drafting a letter to Amazon in consultation with tech expert, “Sahitya Parishat President Manu Baligar said.
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.
Amazon did not respond to a message seeking its comments on Sunday.
Some writers suffered by Beluru Sudharshana definatley Launched an online petition urging IT Minister Ravishankar Prasad to make it mandatory for all the IT hardware makers to embed Indian language scripts, fonts and keyboards in all Their tools.
“This week, a leading Kannada author published an ebook in Kannada, and tried to sell it through the Kindle … 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 Native Language enabled. “
Writer Jogi, however, took a contrarian view of the whole episode. Kannada writers, he said, Should not see the Kindle note Supporting Kannada as an affront to the language. “Kannada has survived centuries without the Kindle, and has some of the towering literary works and eight Jnanapeeth awards. We alreadyloggedin have other e-book readers, so we can continue to do without the Kindle.”
MS Sriram, a writer and a visiting faculty at IIM-B, who has signed the online petition, said Their demand is not about the Kindle, but to have a Technology That is open to all.
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