Swecha - an operating system devoted to Telugu

Swecha LiveCD is a Telugu localised operating system that runs entirely
from a CDROM. It does not require any installation on the hard disk.
Common tasks such as writing and printing documents, browsing the web,
sending/receiving emails, chatting, editing graphics etc. can all be in
Telugu from the LiveCD. Optionally, one can install the operating
system onto the hard disk.

Highlights of the 'June 2006' release are:

* Speech assistance using screen reader and Telugu text-to-speech
* Installation to hard disk
* Documentaton
* All packages updated to their newer versions
* More Telugu GNOME translations
* Telugu localised Firefox
* Several bugs from earlier release were fixed

Telugu to get classical status

The Indian Government has approved the proposal to grant classical language status to Telugu and Kannada, meeting the four-year old demand of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
A committee of linguistic experts appointed by the Culture Ministry had examined the merits of the demands of the two states at a meeting last week and recommended that both languages fulfill the criteria laid down by the Government for recognition as classical languages. Telugu and Kannada will join Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit and Tamil which have already been given the classical-language status. However a public interest petition filed with Madras High Court is the last hurdle.
A classical language will get funding for instituting chairs at Universities, starting educational courses and setting up awards. The news came as a surprise birthday gift to Andhra Pradesh on 1st November, the AP Formation Day. Although, many were happy about it, some linguists, like Dr. P. Siva Rama Krishna expressed their anguish over this declaration. They wanted to see Telugu as a language with future rather than a `classical’ one.
Telugu is called the Italian of the East.