Patiala’s Punjabi University is preparing to launch an enhanced version of its flagship software, ‘Akhar,’ meaning ‘word’ in Punjabi. The upgraded software, developed by the Research Centre for Technical Development of Punjabi language at the university, introduces advanced features such as multilingual search, noun-focused spell check, Punjabi grammar check, transliteration of Gurmukhi text into Shahmukhi (Punjabi script used in West Punjab, Pakistan), Devanagari, and Roman scripts, as well as the reverse process.
Originally introduced in 2016, Akhar was the first word processor for Punjabi, Hindi, Shahmukhi, and English, offering powerful typing, spell checking, and translation capabilities. The updated version, set to be released to the public in two months, has already been provided to the Punjab Police for crime data analysis.
Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta commended the software, stating that it has been instrumental in crime data analysis. The upgrade stems from an analysis of over 2.5 crore Punjabi words from various sources, identifying more than 2.5 percent of words with spelling errors. The new version will feature Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for converting Gurmukhi images to text and Braille.
Professor Gurpreet Singh Lehal, head of the Research Centre for Technical Development of Punjabi, shared insights into the analysis, revealing that around 9 percent of Punjabi words on the Punjabi version of Wikipedia were misspelled. He also noted discrepancies in the official website of the Punjab government, where Google translation was used without proper emphasis on spell checking.
The database for the upgraded version incorporated various versions of student names from Punjabi University and the Punjab School Education Board, as well as names of individuals in police records, including parents’ names. The enhanced software will be made available to the public in two months, featuring an email facility and a Punjabi Thesaurus alongside its existing user base of 7,412 users of Akhar 2016.