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praskrishna — 2012-08-21T09:16:42Z

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praskrishna — 2012-11-23T05:53:10Z

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praskrishna — 2014-05-06T04:29:51Z

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2nd Odia Wikipedia Edit-a-thon

praskrishna — 2013-04-01T10:17:22Z

The event is being organized today, April 1, 2013 online by the Odia Wikipedia Community, from 10.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m. The Centre for Internet and Society is supporting this event.

Click to read about the event on Facebook

"ଓଡ଼ିଶା ଦିବସ - ୨୦୧୩" ଉପଲକ୍ଷେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆରେ ମିଳିତ ଗଣ-ସମ୍ପାଦନା ତଥା ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ସହ "ଅନଲାଇନ ଓଡ଼ିଶା ଦିବସ ପାଳନ" . ଏହି ଦିନ ଆମେ କଣ କରିବୁ: ସକାଳ ୧୦ ଘଟିକାରୁ ନେଇ ସନ୍ଧ୍ୟା ୭ ଘଟିକା ଭିତରେ ଆମେମାନେ ନିଜ ନିଜର ଗାଁ, ପଞ୍ଚାୟତ, ସ‌ହର ଉପରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆରେ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗମାନ ତିଆରି କରିବୁ । କେମିତି ତିଆରିକରିବେ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗ:

୧. http://or.wikipedia.org/s/ 8b -> ଏହି ଲିଙ୍କଙ୍କୁ ଯାଇ ଉପରେ ଥିବେ "Type in Odia" କୁ ଯାଇ "Enable (Ctrl-M)" ରେ କ୍ଲିକ କରନ୍ତୁ । ଖୋଜିବା ପାଇଁ ଥିବା ଘରେ ନିଜ ଗାଁର ନାମ ଟାଇପ କରନ୍ତୂ ।

This ia a mass article writing event or Edit-a-thon on the occasion of "Odisha Dibasa -2013". We are inviting you to join and take part in creating articles about your villages, Grama Pachayata, Block on Odia Wikipedia.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/odia-wikipedia-editathon

2nd International Conference on Managing Intellectual Property Rights and Strategy (MIPS 2014)

praskrishna — 2014-03-12T13:23:33Z

Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay through the support of the Ministry of Human Resources Development IPR Chair Project, Government of India, is hosting the 2nd International Conference on Management of Intellectual Property Rights and Strategy MIPS 2014 at IIT Bombay, India.

The core focus of this conference is to provide a suitable and conducive platform to discuss, debate and present contemporary research in the area of Intellectual Property Rights and its management.

Click to download the event brochure (PDF, 124 Kb)

Nehaa Chaudhari was a panelist at the session on "An Unexamined Premise: The Relevance of a Twenty-year Patent Term for Various Sectors". She gave a talk on the re-examining the 20 year patent term for software. The full details of the event can be accessed here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/mips-2014-second-international-coference-on-management-of-ip-rights-and-strategy

2nd India Think Tank Forum

praskrishna — 2017-07-07T01:16:00Z

Udbhav Tiwari participated in a panel titled "The New Cold War: Information and Cyber Wars" at the Second India Think Tank Forum organized by ORF, the Think Tank Programme at UPenn and the McKinsey Institute between 19 to 21 June 2017 at Claridges in New Delhi.

Agenda

June 19, 2017
18.00 – 18.30 – Registration
18.30 – 18.40 – Welcome Remarks
18.45 – 20.00 – Big Politics: OBOR, India, and the Liberal International Order

This panel will explore the emerging trends in geo-politics and the implications thereof on the liberal international order. It will explore the rise of China, in particular the ambitious Belt & Road Initiative and in its strategic and economic impact on Asia. It will discuss the role of the U.S. and Europe in what is now referred to as the Asian century. Lastly, it will discuss India’s role as a liberal actor in a rapidly changing global order.

Chair: Sanjaya Baru, Distinguished Fellow, USI
Speakers:
Indrani Bagchi, Diplomatic Editor, Times of India
Lt. Gen. Aditya Singh, Senior Fellow, Delhi Policy Group
Nitin Pai, co-Founder, Takshashila Institute
Seshdari Vasan, Chennai Centre for China Studies, Chennai

20.00 – 20.30 – Three Years of the Modi Government: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

In Conversation: Smt. Smriti Irani, Union Cabinet Minister for Textiles, Govt. of India.

20.30 - Dinner

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/2nd-india-think-tank-forum

2nd China - India Think Tank Forum Report

praskrishna — 2017-07-07T02:39:36Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/2nd-china-india-think-tank-forum-report

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praskrishna — 2012-11-23T05:15:07Z

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praskrishna — 2012-11-23T05:16:42Z

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praskrishna — 2012-11-23T04:17:56Z

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praskrishna — 2014-05-06T04:26:17Z

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2(m) or not 2(m)

praskrishna — 2011-04-01T15:55:48Z

An article by Nilanjana S Roy was published in the Business Standard on February 19, 2011. In this article Nilanjana Roy explains to us how a copyright amendment might change the way we read, write and publish in India.

Call this the war of the slogans. On one side, copyright lawyers and the Ministry of Human Resource Development offer the lure of cheaper books for Indian readers. On the other, publishers and authors speak of the death of Indian publishing as we know it.

Section 2(m), a proposed amendment to India’s copyright law that would allow the parallel import of books, is a dry piece of legalese, but it’s sparked a blog war, a flurry of publisher white papers, and a wide debate on copyright and territory.

The rationale is a legally sound one — to align Indian copyright law with Indian patent and trademark law, both of which follow the principle of “international exhaustion”: once a product has been legitimately sold, that product can be resold anywhere in the world without the consent of the owner of the copyright, be that the author or the publisher.

According to the Association of Publishers of India, “This proviso would mean that books published in any country could be freely made available and sold in India, without this amounting to infringement of copyright.”

Theoretically, parallel imports would allow a publisher or a printer who does not hold copyright to an Indian edition of a book to print his or her own editions of the book, under certain conditions, and release them back into the Indian market. There is also a fear among publishers that this might lead to widespread “dumping”, where the market is flooded with cheap, remaindered books.”

When this applies to books, specifically, one side argues that allowing “parallel imports” of books would open up the Indian publishing market to competition and would allow readers access to cheaper books. The other side argues that authors and publishers would suffer, and that in the long run, so would the reader. Thomas Abraham, managing director, Hachette India, states his position succinctly: “This would be the death of publishing and writing as we know it in India — and ironically by a surfeit of books.”

Step back from the rhetoric and the very complex issues involved about the intricacies of copyright law, territoriality in publishing, the book remainders market and book dumping, and here’s how the amendment is likely to affect readers, authors, publishers and booksellers.

Booksellers

Perhaps the sharpest summary comes from Landmark Bookstore’s Madhu Mohan: “As booksellers, we want to give our customers a wider range at a lower price. An open market immediately affords both: the cost of this is that publishers with Indian market rights might suffer. The more significantly affected parties are authors, publishers and readers. If, arguably, territorial rights are not sold, authors might earn lower advances. Publishers who have paid for territorial rights, are not able to get the full benefit of their monies. Readers should welcome the change, because at the outset they will get lower priced books.”

His view is echoed across the bookselling industry, with reactions ranging from indifference to the possible repercussions to cautious alarm — for many booksellers, a weak or damaged Indian publishing industry is also a negative.

Almost all booksellers agree that the short-term benefits of allowing parallel imports would be to lower the price of books. India already has among the lowest-priced English language books in the world, but it would be interesting to see if even lower prices reeled in a different kind of reader. As Mohan points out, book imports would be cheaper; books published in India by Indian or foreign authors would be adversely affected. The long-term scenario is another matter; if the Indian publishing industry is hit hard, we could be flooded with cheap, low-quality remainders, or lose price benefits in the long run.

Authors

For authors, what’s key about the 2(m) amendment is the way in which it would affect the writer’s copyright over his/ her work — and also the shifts it might bring about in the industry in general. Copyright lawyer Nandita Saikia observes that once a publisher effectively loses control over an edition of a book — if competing editions are allowed into the market — “This would significantly diminish the ability of publishers to invest in Indian authors and Indian writing.” From Abraham at Hachette to Chiki Sarkar at Random House to Tata McGraw Hill, there seems to be consensus on this aspect of the amendment.

In contrast, Pranesh Prakash of the Centre for Internet and Society argues strongly in favour of 2(m) and dismantling the “licence raj” that requires booksellers and distributors to have authorisation to import books: “Allowing people to import goods without permissions (with appropriate duties) is taken for granted in all other areas, so why not copyrighted works? After all, it is not the act of publication that gets affected, but the right of exclusive distribution.”

But many authors point out that publishing and bookselling operate differently from other industries, and the dynamics of writing and bookselling are not comparable. Author Amit Varma puts forward the writer’s objections: “As the author of a book, I should have the right to assign the rights to sell my book to any publisher in India that I feel like, and the law should protect that right, and my contract with the publisher. Parallel import obviously makes a mockery of that right, and can deny me significant potential royalties.”

Publishers

At Penguin India, Andrew Phillips is blunt: “We stand firmly against the amendment. Penguin is both a ‘foreign’ publisher and an Indian publisher and we believe it will affect both parts of our business. We don’t believe the effects will be minor — to the contrary, this would have a fundamental impact on the publishing business both for international authors and Indian authors who aspire to be read outside India.”

The publishers’ arguments are complex, but stripped of the technicalities, they rest on the question of territoriality. When publishing worldwide operates on the basis of territorial agreements — authors sell rights to their works for specific regions — opening up the market unilaterally makes little sense. India might open its market, via 2(m), to competing imports and editions; but Indian publishers don’t have the right to sell similar editions of books in the UK or US markets.

In other words, the market would open up only in one direction — and this could diminish Indian publishers’ ability to nurture new writing, release Indian editions of foreign authors, and pay authors significant royalties.

Behind the rhetoric, nothing about this proposed change in copyright laws is simple, and the repercussions for authors and publishers are likely to be both significant and adverse. There’s an interesting parallel in the Australian market, which, like the Indian publishing industry, is thriving but relatively young, and lacks the clout of the formidable US, UK and European markets.

Two years ago, when the move to allow parallel imports of books was discussed in Australia, that discussion was fierce, impassioned and hotly contested. Nor was it limited to the industry; when readers realised that the debate was really over what they would get to read, which authors would benefit or lose out, and how this would impact their intellectual lives, the debate went public.

In the case of Australia, it took a full year of discussion before it was finally decided not to introduce parallel imports for the publishing industry. Whatever the possible adverse effects — or benefits — of parallel imports, we haven’t had that discussion yet in India. It’s a necessary one, and it affects anybody equipped with a mind, a wallet and the ability to walk into a bookstore. This would be a good time to have it, before the law is set in stone.

The original article was published by Business Standard.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/copyright-amendment

(IMDEC) 2013

praskrishna — 2013-10-25T06:09:40Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-mobile-digital-economy-conference.pdf

'Trolled' from US Congress, Wikipedia bans edits

praskrishna — 2014-07-28T10:22:53Z

Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has issued a ten-day ban against an anonymous editor of its website located on the premises of the U.S. Congress, after the latter engaged in “disruptive editing,” on a wide range of subjects, from moon-landing conspiracy theories linked to Cuba to naming former U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as an alien wizard.

The article by Narayan Lakshman was published in the Hindu on July 25, 2014. Pranesh Prakash gave his inputs.

Many of the seemingly humorous edits were tracked by a Twitter ‘bot’ with the handle @CongressEdits, which is driven by a code to automatically monitor Wikipedia for changes to the site made by accounts with a Congressional IP addresses.

Per the Wikipedia ban, only persons editing the site anonymously are barred from making changes, while Congressional staffers who have created named accounts to log into Wikipedia could continue making edits.

Yet some reports noted that the changes “have become almost troll-like,” alluding for example to an edit on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, which changed the text to say that alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was acting “on behalf of the regime of Fidel Castro.”

Another entry revised the biography of Mr. Rumsfeld to describe him as an “alien lizard who eats Mexican babies,” and yet another change suggested that moon-landing conspiracy theories were “promoted by the Cuban government.”

Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director at the Centre for Internet and Society, said to The Hindu via Twitter that Wikipedia’s ban affected up to 9000 people, while only a few pranksters seem to be indulging in vandalism.

“Ironically, it is the public nature of @CongressEdits has led to this increase in attention-seeking vandalism,” he said, adding that such bans, if there are more to come, could “effectively kill projects like @CongressEdits.”

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-narayan-lakshman-july-25-2014-trolled-from-us-congress-wikipedia-bans-edits

'Sops can boost jobs for disabled persons'

praskrishna — 2012-09-12T03:51:46Z

A recent report commissioned by the government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has called for greater incentives to the private sector to boost employment for persons with disabilities (PWDs). Incentives such as grants can be used by the employer to make the workplace more accessible and for providing assistive technologies such as voice software or training.

Lubna Kably's article was published in the Times of India on September 5, 2012. Nirmita Narasimhan is quoted.

The findings and suggestions of the report, 'Livelihood opportunities for PWDs', are expected to be included in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), which aims to be more inclusive. The government sector has a mandatory quota of 3% for PWDs. For the private sector, the PWD Act, 1995, provides for incentives if at least 5% of the workforce comprises PWDs. Here, the government makes payment of the employer's contributions to the Employees Provident Fund and Employees State Insurance for the first three years as an incentive for PWD employees earning up to Rs 25,000 per month.

Some countries have a mandatory PWD job quota for the private sector with penal provisions - Germany (5%), Austria (4%), Poland (6%), Italy (a sliding scale of up to 7%), Spain (2%) and Japan (1.6%). Others like the USA rely on lucrative tax credit incentive schemes. Some, such as Japan use a carrot-and-stick approach and grants are also available to the private sector.

However, experts do not favour a quota regime because of perceived practical difficulties and its failure in the government sector. "There may be practical difficulties for PWDs to execute certain tasks, which would then lead employers to reserve certain types of jobs only for PWDs, leading creation of the kind of stereotypes which we are fighting against," said Nirmita Naraimhan, advocate and program manager, Centre for Internet & Society.

"Only a handful of companies employ PWDs. To boost private sector participation, the PWD employment incentive target (currently 5% of the workforce) must be realistic. Second, lucrative incentives could be a solution," said Javed Abidi, director, NCPEDP (National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People).

At this juncture, it is largely corporate philosophy that results in PWD hiring, especially in the hospitality and IT/ITeS sector. Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) has around 150 'Silent Brewmasters'. Other staff members are trained in the basics of sign language for optimal team functioning. "CCD's Silent Brewmasters specialize in brewing because of their heightened sense of smell and vision, thereby ensuring the most visually appealing presentation of our coffees. They are each cafe's best quality controllers," said K Ramakrishnan, president (Marketing), CCD.

"We have 110 PWDs in our team (5% of the total work force across 18 hotels) who are hearing and speech impaired. Initially, they functioned in back office operations, but some innovation such as numbered menu cards helps them interact with customers and results in an overall good factor," said Patu Keswani, chairman and MD, The Lemon Tree Hotel Company.

Nasscom Foundation helps create a proper ecosystem. "Not only are PWDs placed in the IT-ITES sector, but the companies are helped in undertaking accessibility audits, motivated to generate accessible tools and help others get access to such tools," explained Rita Soni, CEO Nasscom Foundation.

E-Vindhya, where 95% of the workforce comprises PWDs and the rest are hired based on their sensitivity towards their PWD colleagues, is perhaps an exception. But other companies are also adopting an inclusive approach. At MindTree and Mphasis, at least 1% of the workforce comprises PWDs. Infosys BPO, Aegis, Wipro, and IBM are some other companies that adopt an integrated approach in dealing with PWD employees.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/times-of-india-sep-5-2012-lubna-kably-sops-can-boost-jobs-for-the-disabled-persons