<p>Most Indian languages are now available on smartphones. But this was not always the case.</p><p>During Covid, was the implementation of Arogya Setu, an app-based monitor, justified to access treatment?</p><p>Does Aadhaar help to access facilities, or is it another roadblock?</p><p>These are questions that Anivar Aravind, a public interest technologist, asks in the course of his work.</p><p>He is one of the founding members of Swathanthra Malayalam Computing, a free software collective.</p><p>He and the collective solved a central issue to translate native language scripts to the digital space, which had, for decades, not included Indian languages.</p><p>Indic Keyboard, developed by the collective, helped many to type in their own native language on their mobile phones.</p><p>Anivar has been at the forefront of several digital rights movements. His activism includes filing a public interest litigation looking into Arogya Setu’s data collection and campaigns questioning Aadhar’s approach to the privacy of citizens.</p><p>According to Anivar language technologies should be owned by the communities.</p>