Balendu Sharma Dadhich

Who is Balendu Sharma Dadhich?

Balendu Sharma Dadhich is an Indian technology activist and editor. He is a noted proponent of free and open source software and inclusive digital technologies. He is also known as and developer of software and web services to promote use of these technologies among Indian language users.

He maintains that a large population in the developing world and third-world countries including India still face an unfortunate situation of 'knowledge and technology deprivation due to their linguistic backgrounds' which goes against the basic principle of Internet and technology being a free, open and inclusive medium of information, communication and technological empowerment. This situation must not be allowed to continue as technological breakthroughs and advancements are meaningless unless they touch the lives of universal humanity. He observes that digital technologies must be made genuinely accessible to all in order to empower the powerless and marginalized sections of society and help the process of an inclusive socio-economic development. Everyone, including governments, tech industry and individuals can play a role in this process.

Dadhich uses his websites, portals, research, lectures, writings, events and TV appearances to promote use of Indian languages in digital space. His research and thoughts on ‘Unicode and Indian languages’ are well received. Balendu Sharma Dadhich sees Unicode as a part of the process of globalization as it has contributed in making digital technologies universally accessible beyond geographical and linguistic boundaries.