Via Digital Inspiration, one learns that Google owned Blogger, which is probably the most popular blogging site in India, has launched a transliteration feature that coverts words typed in English into Hindi. There’s a server request for each word that is typed, and the transliterator also offers options for various words. However, you can’t comment in Hindi. I think that’s a bit of a dampener - you can’t really have a conversation on a blog in the local language.
More on the feature at Blogger help, and some assessment of the technology at Simulacra.
I noticed that the transliteration feature works only for the upgraded version of Blogger. While there are local language bloggers online, blogging from India is still English centric. Among the few that I have met, they seem to take pride in the fact that they write in their mother tongue, and they are the ones who will really benefit from this feature. With the addition of more local languages, content is only going to increase. Also, it just might help get some of those who always wanted to blog in Indic languages to get started….