[Neobrahmigp] Proposal/Request from Bangladesh to work on Bangla Script for Root Zone Label Generation Rule Set

Wed Aug 15 14:09:06 UTC 2018

Dear Brigadier General Md Mustafa Kamal,
Greetings from the Neo-Brahmi Generation Panel (NBGP), and thank you for your detailed e-mail assurance that steps have already been initiated at your end to put your thoughts together as to how Bangla LGR Document for ICANN could be modified, improved, and finalized in consultation with all stake-holders. We are happy to note that the Hon'ble Minister for Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology is himself taking keen interest in creation of this important document. Thank you very much for being part of this historic journey to create Label Generation Rules for Top Level Domains.

In this context, as Co-Chair of the purely voluntary academic body of NBGP, where all of us are only committed to our languages and their IT enablement, I wish to take this opportunity to write my thoughts around ICANN and NBGP and our scope. As a GAC member of ICANN you would play an important role in giving shape to many of the things we are doing any way. Let me go back in time and give you a brief narrative:

Neo-Brahmi Generation Panel (NBGP): This panel was seated and approved by ICANN on 26th May 2015 and till 2017, very little progress took place in its activities. We introduced new members by mid-2017 and we started working on Devanagari as it was covering almost 40 different languages (eleven of them being official languages in different Indian states). Initially, it seemed to be much easier work but it look almost 18 months to complete this task going back and forth with Integration Panel of ICANN and our community of experts.  This not only gave us the much knowledge of the requirement, but also gave us proper understanding. Very soon - along the way, we could get excellent volunteers for Gurumukhi and Gujarati, and hence these three progressed together. They are now released for public comments for users from 80 odd countries where these scripts are used. This way, we understood and what was expected by Integration panel of ICANN for other scripts. In finalizing Devanagari, we had to reach out to numerous Nepali experts in Nepal where we had Face-to-Face meeting to finalize so many issues. Soon on, Tamil work began and we had to reach out to the community of experts in Sri Lanka as well. On the margin of these, other Southern Indian script community members also got active, and Telugu as well as Kannada work picked up the momentum very fast. Odia (Oriya) having had a set of interesting overlaps with Telugu, that script work also progressed side by side. Thanks to a team effort, Telugu, Kannada and Odia LGR Documents have just been put up for public comments. It was then that we could begin working on Bangla Script as it has its own set of complexities, not matched by others. 

Devanagari v/s Bangla:
There is absolutely no connection between these two scripts except and there is no intent whatsoever to match or  even think about any relationship in between Devanagari and Bangla. As we have learnt during Devanagari LGR document, which is in fact the LGR format which is approved by IP and same for all LGR globally. So the limited reference for Bangla from Devanagari is in the format of LGR document not between the scripts. The only historic connection was that both scripts originated from the Brahmi writing system, and Bangla went on to be developed with its own set of rules. It is these that we need to capture together with the expert groups from Bangladesh. We have only created a draft document which needs to be modified and finalized by interacting with the International Integration Panel of ICANN.
ICANN and Unicode:
ICANN and Unicode are two different organizations and they have no direct control over each other's working and operations. ICANN is limited to the scope of Domain Names, IP Address and its associated policies. ICANN works totally in a bottom up approach, which means community decides the way forward, issues and than ICANN Central Board - through Integration Panels - facilitates the documents of those teams through academic and practical discussion sand comments. It has a very systematic community driven process to reach to the final outcome. NBGP has no relationship with Unicode or official connect with Unicode. 

Exclusion of Certain Code Points:
NBGP is bound by the MSR (Maximal Starting Repertoire version 3 (MSR-3) for Root Zone Label Generation Rules (RZ-LGR).  MSR is the starting point for the work by community based Generation Panels which are developing the proposals for relevant scripts for the Root Zone Label Generation Rules (RZ-LGR). The contents of MSR-3 and the detailed rationale behind its development are described in MSR-3-Overview and Rationale. Thus it is not NBGP which has decided to include or exclude characters but is bound by the scope of work as assigned to the Panel by the ICANN. 

Opportunity: 

We together have the opportunity to complete our Bangla LGR work and send it for public comments. NBGP work is not the FINAL word at all. The resultant document will be open for public comments and globally any one can send his or her comments, which goes to ICANN and they decide if NBGP should consider them into their proposal, and make further modifications. There is no authority here to finalize and every thing is done by consent of the specialists-volunteers which is later validated through public comments.  The whole idea is to expend the base of expert volunteers and important stake holders to provide their valuable inputs. It was in this context that we reached out to ICANN to connect and organize the last Face-to-Face meeting in Bangladesh where we got so many insights. We are happy to note that you have constituted a Committee of Specialists to look into this proposal from us. We would surely wait for the comments of these experts as well as others to see how the document could be further improved upon. However, we did include ড়, ঢ়, য় in the LGR document on pages 13, 17 and 59 suggesting we must not analyze it as a combination with "nukta".  The main suggestion of NOT using "Nukta" has been incorporated already. I would also request you to look into IETF (www.ietf.org/) or Internet Engineering Task Force decisions taken long ago to exclude numerals from the Top Level Domains any way. Otherwise, the traditional Bangla numerals and special symbols are available in the Code-points agreed upon by the UNICODE Version 11 anyway (attached a copy of the Chart).

We are looking forward for your valuable inputs on the documents so that it can be finalized, sent to IP and make it available for public comments.

Warm Regards,
অধ্যাপক উদয় নারায়ণ সিংহ 
Professor Udaya Narayana Singh   Chair-Professor & Head, ACLiSAmity Centre for Linguistic Studies (ACLiS)Amity University Haryana, GurgaonPachgaon, Manesar PIN 122431Cell: +91-98301-32234 & 94340-50218
Formerly, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan &Former Director, Central Inst of Indian Languages (CIIL)Home-page www.udayanarayana.com 

    On Wednesday, 15 August, 2018, 2:34:51 PM IST, Brig. Gen. Md Mustafa Kamal <dgeo at btrc.gov.bd> wrote:  

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Dear Concern,

Please be informed that Bangladesh Government is very keen regarding label generation rule set for Bangla Script., we have already started working with ‘Root Zone LGR document for Bangla Script’ involving language and technology experts from Bangladesh, West-Bengal, Assam and Manipur.

 I want to draw your attention that, BANGLA is the state, official and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh. Around 160 million people of Bangladesh speak. To be precise, Bangla language is an important element of the identity of the people of Bangladesh. You must have heard about the Bangla Language Movement of 21 February 1952 where many Bangladeshi students sacrificed their lives to restore BANGLA as state language. Since then 21 February is celebrated  as Mother Language Day in Bangladesh. Subsequently, in 1999, in recognition of the language movement in the then East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) UNESCO recognized 21 February as International Mother Language Day. As per our knowledge, BANGLA is the only language for which people had to sacrifice lives. Currently, we are managing the .বাংলা IDN ccTLD (delegated from ICANN to Bangladesh) and conducting every official activity entirely in Bangla.  

In this context, we feel that a proper documentation of ‘Bangla script LGR’ is of immense importance as this would impact the entire Bangla Community (most of them living in Bangladesh). Though late, we are proud to be an active part in the process. I am assuring you that, our selected group of people from Bangladesh and Bangla language community have ultimate dedication, deep experience, utmost interest in the Bangla script, Bangla writing system and Bangla language together with relevant adequate understanding to the technology.

I want to reiterate that, historically, Bangladesh government and its people are very sensitive to Bangla language and any development associated with it. Honorable Minister of Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology, himself has shown his profound interest in the topic. We believe, ICANNs commendable initiative to accommodate Bangla in the root zone and subsequently in the second level and throughout the internet ensuring stability and security of the entire internet system will not be complete without active participation of Bangla community specially Bangladesh. 

Therefore, we seek your highest support for developing the final proposal for the‘Bangla script Root zone label generation ruleset’. We are posting our passionate request to consider the relevance, interest and devotion for the language- Bangla.

Thank you.

Brigadier General Md Mustafa Kamal

GAC Member for ICANN from Bangladesh

&

Diretor General (DG)

Engineering and Operation Division(E&O)

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC)

Phone: +88029553433, +8801552202734, +8801730051211

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