Muni Sakya
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Information Technology in Nepal and Mr. Muni Sakya
The history of computers in Nepal dates back to the mid-seventies. However, within a short span of time, the computer sector has grown tremendously. Computers are now used in almost every school, office—big and small, and even home. Now, software packages are available in Nepal as soon as they are released in the world. The Nepalese computer professionals are keeping pace with the technological advancements in the world.
Computer industry is a potential and viable industry for the rapid development of a developing country like Nepal. There are ample opportunities for Nepal in both software and hardware industries. In order to export software to the international market, know-how of the products of international standard is required, and Nepalese are up-to-date with the technological advancements in the world. It is cost-effective to manufacture hardware components in Nepal even when the cost of the two-way freight is included. However, their relatively low market profile and the comparatively low profit of the hardware business make it less attractive to Nepalese at present.
The credit for ushering in and introducing Information Technology (IT) to Nepal goes to Mr. Muni Sakya. Born in 1942, in Patan, one of the three cities in Kathmandu valley, Mr. Sakya was interested in science and technology since his early childhood. To add to the list of his boyhood achievements is a radio receiver set that he had designed and fabricated to listen to Radio Nepal. To satisfy his keen interest in electronics, he opted for engineering, and after obtaining his Diploma in Radio Engineering from Calcutta in India in 1962, he joined Radio Nepal as a technician.
In 1970, Mr. Sakya went to the UK on a British Council scholarship and obtained Degree in C. Engineering. After his return from the UK, he designed and fabricated several devices such as laboratory type stabilized power supply, sine wave generator, etc. Muni went to France in 1973, where he worked from 1973 to 79. It was in France that he decided to switch to the field of computers. He made microprocessor-based controllers and video cards while doing a course in Communication, Digital Electronics and Computer Techniques there.
In 1979, he made the first microcomputer in Nepal. For this, he had made the power supply unit and the video card himself. He had bought keyboard from the USA and made the monitor from a Russian TV. At the South Asian Regional Conference on computers, held in Kathmandu in 1979, Mr. Sakya demonstrated his microcomputer. That made big news and world-wide coverage.
To learn more about computer programming, Mr. Sakya went to the USA in 1981. He worked in research projects in the USA, and designed computer cards. He worked in developing floppy disk controllers with 900Kb (quad density) storage space. As there were no I/O cards, after he came back from the USA, he made I/O cards required for the hard disk. He also designed microprocessor-based traffic controllers in Kathmandu. Back in his own country, he opened the first company for manufacturing computer cards, Sun Moon Computer Industry, in 1995, and also established Hi-Tech Pioneer (Pvt.) Ltd, an Internet Service Provider.
Mr. Sakya’s primary interest is in designing systems that can be operated in the Nepali language. It is not easy to program in the Nepali language. Because of the difficulty in programming, computing in Nepalese was limited to word processing. He did his first demonstration of computing in the Nepali language on a microcomputer with the display of Nepalese National Anthem in Devanagari script in 1983 on a CP/M-based computer. He got the Science Award in December 1983 for this work. He also developed a software package complete with all Nepali characters. Certificates and checks were printed in the Nepali language using it. Now professional Nepali packages can be developed in the Nepali language. Mr. Sakya is still working for total computing in Nepali with Nepali menus and commands so that people can work with computer without the knowledge of English language, just like Japanese, Chinese operating computers without the knowledge of English.
Muni Sakya has been experimenting on robotics for number of years. Around 2004-2005, he developed a robot that can speak Nepali language with artificial intelligence capability to discern the obstacles in front and the different directions by the help of built-in ultrasonic, infra red, mechanical whiskers, and other visual and audio devices. This robot's name is known as "Munis Robot."
In the year 2005, Royal Nepal Academy of Science & Tech (RONAST) has conferred Muni B. Sakya with felicitations and also the cash award of Rs. 50,000 as one of the nineteenth A class scientists in the field of Information Technology.
On May 17, 2006 for the first time in Nepal, Mr. Sakya's supercomputer with 16 nodes was demonstrated to the press and many other people as well. This supercomputer works on open source OS with OpenMosix and Oscar. The supercomputer that used to cost millions of dollars in the past is envisaged by utilizing sixteen computers in cluster bringing down the cost drastically for computing bigger and complex jobs with the fraction of a time that is many giga-flops per second. This computer is on display at High Tech Pioneer Pvt. Ltd, located at Kalikasthan, Dillibazar, Nepal.
Some Programs Developed by Mr. Muni Sakya
Voice Recognition System: This system consists of a computer trained with personalized voice and command through microphone, to control various devices such as water pump, radio, fan, music system, etc. It can also be trained to understand the Nepali language.
Voice Dictionary: This system gives the English word typed on the keyboard of the computer to be spoken in the Nepali language.
Computer-aided Education: This package helps schoolchildren learn the basic mathematics through the computer and simplifies the learning process.
Actual Nepali to English, English to Nepali dictionary: (Windows-based dictionary).
Radiation Monitor: This system monitors the alpha, beta and gamma radiation levels and sets the alarm if the radiation is above the safety limit.
Nepalese Subtitle Display: This system displays subtitles in the Devanagari script for TV programs. Nepali Multimedia: Animation with synchronized pictures of Nepal and sound, this could be a new opening for artists, musicians, writers, etc.
