Centre for Internet and Society

Navigating the Digitalisation of Finance: User experiences of risks and harms

2025-04-10T05:49:23Z

Our study unpacks the experiences of marginalised users navigating the digitalisation of finance. Through a survey of 3,784 users, 18 interviews and 7 focus group discussions, our study’s findings highlight user experiences of risks and harms while accessing digital financial services, unpacking experiences specifically of persons with disabilities, transgender persons, gender and sexual minorities, elderly persons, women, regional language-first users, and persons facing digital and economic vulnerabilities.

Read the full report here

Executive Summary

The last couple of decades have seen significant changes in the financial ecosystem in India, both within the fintech sector and with respect to digital financial inclusion. The rapid growth in the reach of banking services to previously unbanked citizens through the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana has been followed by digitalisation in financial and public services.

However, a commensurate increase in digital and financial literacy has not followed, and rates of access to digital devices and the internet are still growing for many user groups, like rural women and regional language speakers. From the proliferation of fraudulent schemes and cybercrime to regulatory loopholes and inadequate consumer protections, the landscape of online financial services in India presents numerous risks. Factors such as weak cybersecurity measures, data breaches, lack of awareness among users, and the absence of comprehensive regulations create a fertile ground for financial scams. Simultaneously, rapid digitalisation of financial services, especially post demonetisation and the COVID-19 pandemic, has also brought to the fore concerns around omissions and exclusion of sections of users from databases, and a steep learning curve in adapting to this new digital ecosystem.

These combined factors open up users to a range of potential financial risks and harms, with differential impact on specific marginalised and vulnerable groups. With this understanding, we use the term digital financial harms to refer to adverse financial outcomes and other related detrimental consequences in the use of digital financial services.

Through this study, we aim to situate these experiences in a continuum of harms within a rapidly digitalising financial ecosystem. By exploring questions of access, accessibility and language we hope to bring aspects of cybersecurity, digital and financial literacy and design justice into conversation with each other. While some research has aimed to understand technology-facilitated gender based violence, financial fraud, misinformation, and other forms of digital risks in siloes, the correlations between these risks online remain severely understudied. In this report, we focus on the experiences of groups long marginalised within the financial system, to recommend that their needs are centred in shaping digital financial services.

Key questions guiding our research were:

How were digital financial risks understood and experienced by users of digital financial services across groups? What factors have amplified risks for marginalised and at-risk user groups?
What potential vulnerabilities, risks and harms have emerged relating to digital financial services around device and internet access, accessibility, challenges with use, exclusions from digitalised social protection, and forms of social engineering and digital financial fraud?
How accessible were digital financial service providers’ and governments’ reporting and grievance redressal systems?
What role should fintech platforms, social media platforms, banking and financial institutions, government, and regulatory bodies play in reducing digital financial risks across the ecosystem?

This was a mixed methods study, consisting of a review of available literature in the field, followed by quantitative and qualitative data collection through surveys and in-depth interviews. The report highlights the experiences of persons with disabilities, gender minorities, the elderly, low income users, and regional language first users; to better understand how discrimination, exclusion or slow redressal processes may increase their risk or cause disproportionate harm when using digital financial services. It discusses users’ experiences of fraud in the context of an evolving regulatory ecosystem, as well as practical challenges users face with redressal systems.

Key findings include:

Access to digital financial services, still requires improving access and accessibility of physical and phygital banking services, and good internet connectivity.
Even among mobile phone owners, many users still rely on shared devices, particularly among women and persons with disabilities.
There is a high need for support in utilising net banking services, with 60% of surveyed netbanking users mentioning that they sought help to conduct online banking transactions. Migrating to digital financial services is not a purely digital journey for users who are still building comfort with digital interfaces, or those whose languages are deprioritised in the development of digital financial platforms.
Age, gender, and income were significant factors in the access to the internet, and adoption of digital financial services. For instance, women and transgender persons over 45 years were less likely to have a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) account. Women, transgender persons, and disabled users of UPI were also more likely to be infrequent users compared to the rest of the sample.
Over reliance on digital platforms for the administration of direct benefit transfer programmes results in challenges and risks of exclusions for beneficiaries.
While awareness of common forms of fraud is high, awareness of security protocols, Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements and markers of trustworthy banking and non-banking institutions is low.
Irrespective of the amount of money lost during frauds, it caused significant financial and emotional burden, especially for low-income persons.
In the absence of monitoring frameworks, bad actors within the financial system are able to exploit vulnerabilities like the dependence of account holders on banking correspondents.
Gender and sexual minorities, and women face disproportionate impacts of harm in the event of financial loss, including the consequences of image-based sexual abuse, victim blaming, domestic violence and limits on financial independence.
Ineffective grievance redressal for cybercrimes is a major deterrent to reporting.
Digitalisation and the use of assistive technology have allowed some persons with visual impairments to gain relative levels of independence in managing their own finances and conducting transactions. However, implementation of accessibility policies and features remains uneven, and is marred by the continued exclusion and discrimination within traditional banking services.

Based on these findings, this report offers a set of recommendations addressed to stakeholders within the financial ecosystem such as banking and other financial institutions, regulatory bodies, fintech companies, cybersecurity professionals, as well as social media platforms and civil society organisations working on digital inclusion, safety and literacy. The recommendations offer nuanced perspectives on how digital financial harms can be prevented and mitigated based on our interactions with various stakeholders during the research process.

Key recommendations emerging from the study are:

Create meaningful connectivity and access to digital platforms by improving public infrastructure and addressing the challenges associated with shared devices and mediated use.
Improve platform design to engender trust; increase accessibility and usability through assessment and better implementation of available technologies, regular design audits and facilitate availability in Indian languages.
Building awareness and capacity across user and stakeholder groups through customised and inclusive programming, working in partnership with communities.
Centre consumer protection in regulatory interventions and approaches to law enforcement, by implementing robust time-sensitive reporting and redressal mechanisms, placing accountability on financial institutions, and monitoring and curbing fraudulent activity.
Encourage transparent governance and public oversight by measuring and evaluating digital public infrastructures to maximise their public value.

Contributors

Research design and/or report writing: Amrita Sengupta, Chiara Furtado, Garima Agrawal, Nishkala Sekhar, Puthiya Purayil Sneha, and Vipul Kharbanda

Research advice and/or review: Antara Rai Chowdhury, Janaki Srinivasan, Nayantara Sarma, Palak Gadhiya, Pallavi Bedi, Sameet Panda, Semanti Chakladar, Shashidhar K J, Shweta Mohandas, and Taranga Sriraman

Research and/or data analysis support: Chetna V M, Pallavi Krishnappa, and Yesha Tshering Paul

Data analysis: Chiara Furtado, Garima Agrawal, and Nishkala Sekhar

Research tool translation: Aravind R (Kannada), Balaji J (Tamil), Bhaskar Bhuyan (Assamese), Nettime Sujata (Bangla), and Suresh Khole (Marathi)

Research tool pilots: Raveenaben (Megha Cooperative, SEWA), Sunaben (Megha Cooperative, SEWA), and Raja Mouli N

Data collection (survey): D-Cor Consulting

Data collection (focus group discussions): D-Cor Consulting; Jnana Prabodhini, Pune; Transgender Rights Association, Chennai; and Subodh Kulkarni

This work is shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/raw/navigating-the-digitalisation-of-finance

State of Openness in India's E-Governance Applications

Upasana Hembram — 2025-03-26T02:01:18Z

Open source software (OSS), also commonly known as free and open source software (FOSS) or free libre open source software (FLOSS), is software that is made available with its source code. It is licensed liberally, granting users access to study, use, modify, improve, or redistribute it. This work was sponsored by Mozilla Foundation.

In this context, the term ‘open’ refers to the source code being made available without having to pay royalties or licensing fees, while the term ‘free’ refers to the freedom to copy and use the software rather than being ‘free of cost’. The two organisations that are the self-appointed custodians of these definitions are the Free Software Foundation (FSF)2 and the Open Software Initiative (OSI).3 While the two organisations and the two terms resulted from different philosophies and represent different methodologies, the FSF and OSI acknowledge that for all practical purposes, “they both refer to essentially the same thing”4; “however, the differences in extension of the category are small: nearly all free software is open source, and nearly all open source software is free.

Click to download the research paper authored by Upasana Hembram and reviewed by Divyansha Sehgal. Shared under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/state-of-openness-in-indias-e-governance-applications

The Centre for Internet and Society’s comments and recommendations to the: Report on AI Governance Guidelines Development

Shweta Mohandas, Amrita Sengupta and Anubha Sinha — 2025-03-06T06:32:45Z

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) submitted its comments and recommendations on the Report on AI Governance Guidelines Development.

With research assistance by Anuj Singh

I. Background

On 6 January 2025, a Subcommittee on ‘AI Governance and Guidelines Development’ under the Advisory Group put out the Report on AI Governance Guidelines Development, which advocated for a whole-of-government approach to AI governance. This sub-committee was constituted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on November 9, 2023, to analyse gaps and offer recommendations for developing a comprehensive framework for governance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). As various AI governance conversations take centre stage, this is a welcome step, and we hope that there are more opportunities through public comments and consultations to improve on this important AI document.

CIS’ comments are inline with the submission guidelines, we have provided both comments and suggestions based on the headings and text provided in the report.

II. Governance of AI

The subcommittee report has explained its reasons for staying away from a definition. However, it would be helpful to set the scope of AI, at the outset of the report, given that different AI systems have different roles and functionalities. Having a clearer framework in the beginning can help readers better understand the scope of the conversation in the report. This section also states that AI can now “perform complex tasks without active human control or supervision”, while there are instances where AI is being used without an active human control, there is a need to emphasise on the need for humans in the loop. This has also been highlighted in the OECD AI principles which this report draws inspiration from.

A. AI Governance Principles

A proposed list of AI Governance principles (with their explanations) is given below.
While referring to the OECD AI principles is a good first step in understanding the global best practices, it is suggested that an exercise in mapping of all global AI principles documents published by international and multinationals organisations and civil society is undertaken, to determine principles that are most important for India. The OECD AI principles also come from regions that have a better internet penetration, and higher literacy rate than India, hence for them the principle of “Digital by design governance” would be possible to be achieved but in India, a digital first approach, especially in governance, could lead to large scale exclusions.

B. Considerations to operationalise the principles

1. Examining AI systems using a lifecycle approach

The sub committee has taken a novel approach to define the AI life cycle. The terms “Development, Deployment and Diffusion” have not been seen in any of the major publications about AI lifecycle. While academicians (e.g. Chen et al. (2023), De Silva and Alahakoon (2022)) have pointed out that the AI life cycle contains the following stages - design, development and deployment, others (Ng et al. (2022) have defined it as “data creation, data acquisition, model development, model evaluation and model deployment. Even NASSCOM’s Responsible AI Playbook follows the “conception, designing, development and deployment, as some of the key stages in the AI life cycle. Similarly the OECD also recognised “i) ‘design, data and models’ ii) ‘verification and validation’; iii) ‘deployment’; and iv) ‘operation and monitoring’.” as the phases of the AI life cycle. The subcommittee hence could provide citation as well as a justification of using this novel approach to the AI lifecycle, and state the reason for moving away from the recognised stages. Steering away from an understood approach could cause some confusion amongst different stakeholders who may not be as well versed with AI terminologies and the AI lifecycle to begin with.

2. Taking an ecosystem-view of AI actors

While the report rightly states that multiple actors are involved across the AI lifecycle, it is also important to note that the same actor could also be involved in multiple stages of the AI lifecycle. For example if we take the case of an AI app used for disease diagnosis. The medical professional can be the data principal (using their own data), the data provider (using the app thereby providing the data), and the end user (someone who is using the app for diagnosis). Similarly if we look at the example of a government body, it can be the data provider, the developer (if it is made inhouse or outsourced through tenders), the deployer, as well as the end user. Hence for each AI application there might be multiple actors who play different roles and whose roles might not be static.

While looking at governance approaches, the approach must ideally not be limited to responsibilities and liabilities, especially when the “data principal” and individual end users are highlighted as actors; the approach should also include rights and means of redressal in order to be a rights based people centric approach to AI governance.

3. Leveraging technology for governance

While the use of techno-legal approach in governance is picking up speed there is a need to look at existing Central and State capacity to undertake this, and also look at what are the ways this could affect people who still do not have access to the internet. One example of a techno legal approach that has seen some success has been the Bhumi programme in Andhra Pradesh that used blockchain for land records, however this also led to the weakening of local institutions, and also led to exclusion of marginalised people Kshetri (2021). It was also stated that there was a need to strengthen existing institutions before using a technological measure.

Secondly, while the sub committee has emphasized on the improvements in quality of generative AI tools, there is a need to assess how these tools work for Indian use cases. It was reported last year that ChatGPT could not answer all the questions relating to the Indian civil services exam, and failed to correctly answer questions on geography, however it was able to crack tough exams in the USA. In addition to this, a month ago the Finance Ministry has advised government officials to refrain from using generative AI tools on official devices for fear of leakage of confidential information.

Thirdly, the subcommittee needs to assess India’s data preparedness for this scale of techno legal approach. In our study which was specific to healthcare and AI in India, where we surveyed medical professionals, hospitals and technology companies, a common understanding was that data quality in Indian datasets was an issue, and that there was somewhere reliance on data from the global north. This could be similar in other sectors as well, hence when this data is used to train the system it could lead to harms and biases.

III. GAP ANALYSIS

A. The need to enable effective compliance and enforcement of existing laws.

The sub-committee has highlighted the importance of ensuring that the growth of AI does not lead to unfair trade practices and market dominance. It is hence important to analyse whether the existing laws on antitrust and competition, and the regulatory capacity of Competition Commission of India are robust enough to deal with AI, and the change in technology and technology developers.

There is also an urgent need to assess the issues that might come under the ambit of competition throughout the lifecycle of AI, including in areas of chip manufacturing, compute, data, models and IP. While the players could keep changing in this evolving area of technology there is a need to strengthen the existing regulatory system, before looking at techno legal measures.

We suggest that before a techno legal approach is sought in all forms of governance, there is an urgent need to map the existing regulations both central and state and assess how they apply to regulating AI, and assess the capacity of existing regulatory bodies to regulate issues of AI. In the case of healthcare for example there are multiple laws, policies and guidelines, as well as regulatory bodies that apply to various stages of healthcare and various actors and at times these regulations do not refer to each other or cause duplications that could lead to lack of clarity.

Below we are adding our comments and suggestions certain subsections in this section on The need to enable effective compliance and enforcement of existing laws

1. Intellectual property rights

a. Training models on copyrighted data and liability in case of infringement

While Section. 14 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 provides copyright holders with exclusive rights to copy and store works, considering the fact that training AI models involves making non-expressive uses of work, a straightforward conclusion may not be drawn easily. Hence, the presumption that training models on copyrighted data constitutes infringement is premature and unfounded.

This report states “The Indian law permits a very closed list of activities in using copyrighted data without permission that do not constitute an infringement. Accordingly, it is clear that the scope of the exception under Section 52(1)(a)(i) of the Copyright Act, 1957 is extremely narrow. Commercial research is not exempted; not-for-profit ¹⁰ institutional research is not exempted. Not-for-profit research for personal or private use, not with the intention of gaining profit and which does not compete with the existing copyrighted work is exempted. “

Indian copyright law follows a ‘hybrid’ model of limitations and exceptions under s.52(1). S. 52(1)(a), which is the ‘fair dealing’ provision, is more open-ended than the rest of the clauses in the section. Specifically, the Indian fair dealing provision permits fair dealing with any work (not being a computer programme) for the purposes of private or personal use, including research.

If India is keen on indigenous AI development, specifically as it relates to foundation models, it should work towards developing frameworks for suitable exceptions ,as may be appropriate. Lawmakers could distinguish between the different types of copyrighted works and public-interest purposes while considering the issue of infringement and liability

b. Copyrightability of work generated by using foundation models

We suggest that a public consultation would certainly be a useful exercise in ensuring opinions and issues of all stakeholders including copyright holders, authors, and users are taken into account.

C. The need for a whole-of-government approach.

While the information existing in silos is a significant issue and roadblock, if the many guidelines and existing principles have taught us anything, it is that without specificity and direct applicability it is difficult for implementers to extrapolate principles into their development, deployment and governance mechanisms. The committee assumes a sectoral understanding from the government on various players in highly regulated sectors such as healthcare or financial services. However, as our recent study on AI in healthcare indicates, there are significant information gaps when it comes to shared understanding of what data is being used for AI development, where the AI models are being developed and what kind of partnerships are being entered into, for development and deployment of AI systems. While the report also highlights the concerns about the siloed regulatory framework, it is also important to consider how the sector specific challenges lend themselves to the cross-sectoral discussion. Consider that an AI credit scoring system in financial services is leading to exclusion errors.

Additionally, consider an AI system being deployed for disease diagnosis. While both use predictive AI, the nature of risk and harm are different. While there can be common and broad frameworks to potentially test efficacy of both AI models, the exact parameters for testing them would have to be unique. Therefore, it will be important to consider where bringing together cross-sectoral stakeholders will be useful and where it may need more deep work at the sector level.

IV. Recommendations

1. To implement a whole-of-government approach to AI Governance, MeitY and the Principal Scientific Adviser should establish an empowered mechanism to coordinate AI Governance.

We would like to reiterate the earlier section and highlight the importance of considering how the sector specific challenges lend themselves to the cross-sectoral discussion. While the whole of government approach is good as it will help building a common understanding between different government institutions, this approach might not be sufficient when it comes to AI governance. It is because this is based on the implicit assumption that internal coordination among various government bodies is enough to manage AI related risks.

2.To develop a systems-level understanding of India’s AI ecosystem, MeitY should establish, and administratively house, a Technical Secretariat to serve as a technical advisory body and coordination focal point for the Committee/ Group.

The Subcommittee report states at this stage, it is not recommended to establish a Committee/ Group or its Secretariat as statutory authorities, as making such a decision requires significant analysis of gaps, requirements, and possible unintended outcomes. While these are valid considerations, it is necessary that there are adequate checks and balances in place. If the secretariat is placed within MeitY then safeguards must be in place to ensure that officials have autonomy in decision making. The subcommittee suggests that MeitY can bring officials on deputation from other departments. Similarly the committee proposes bringing experts from the industry, while it is important for informed policy making, there is also risk of regulatory capture. Setting a cap on the percentage of industry representatives and full disclosure of affiliations of experts involved are some of the safeguards which can be considered. We also suggest that members of civil society are also considered for this Secretariat.

3.To build evidence on actual risks and to inform harm mitigation, the Technical Secretariat should establish, house, and operate an AI incident database as a repository of problems experienced in the real world that should guide responses to mitigate or avoid repeated bad outcomes.

The report suggests that the technical secretariat will develop an actual incidence of AI-related risks in India. In most instances, an AI incident database will assume that an AI related unfavorable incident has already taken place, which then implies that it's no longer a potential risk but an actual harm. This recommendation takes a post-facto approach to assessing AI systems, as opposed to conducting risk assessments prior to the actual deployment of an AI system. Further, it also lays emphasis on receiving reports from public sector organizations deploying AI systems. Given that public sector organizations, in many cases, would be the deployers of AI systems as opposed to the developers, they may have limited know-how on functionality of tools and therefore the risks and harms.

It is important to clarify and define what will be considered as an AI risk as this could also depend on stakeholders, for example losing clients due to an AI system for a company is a risk, and so is an individual being denied health insurance because of AI bias. With this understanding, while there is a need to keep an active assessment of risks and the emergence of new risks, the Technical Secretariat could also undergo a mapping of the existing risks which have been highlighted by academia and civil society and international organisations and begin the risk database with that. In addition, the “AI incident database” should also be open to research institutions and civil society organisations similar to The OECD AI Incidents Monitor.

4. To enhance transparency and governance across the AI ecosystem, the Technical Secretariat should engage the industry to drive voluntary commitments on transparency across the overall AI ecosystem and on baseline commitments for high capability/widely deployed systems.

It is commendable that the sub committee in this report extends the transparency requirement to the government, with the example of law enforcement. This would create more trust in the systems and also add the responsibility on the companies providing these services to be compliant with existing laws and regulations.

While the transparency measures listed will ensure better understanding of processes of AI developers and deployers, there is also a need to bring in responsibility along with transparency. While this report also mentions ‘peer review by third parties’, we would also like to suggest auditing as a mechanism to undertake transparency and responsibility. In our study on AI data supply chain & auditability and healthcare in India, (which surveyed 150 medical professionals, 175 respondents from healthcare institutions and 175 respondents from technology companies); revealed that 77 percent of healthcare institutions and 64 percent of the technology companies surveyed for this study, conducted audits or evaluations of the privacy and security measures for data.

Source: CIS survey of professionals in AI and healthcare, January- April 2024. Medical professionals (n = 133); healthcare institutions (n = 162); technology companies (n = 171)

5. Form a sub-group to work with MEITY to suggest specific measures that may be considered under the proposed legislation like Digital India Act (DIA) to strengthen and harmonise the legal framework, regulatory and technical capacity and the adjudicatory set-up for the digital industries to ensure effective grievance redressal and ease of doing business.

It would be necessary to provide some clarity on where the process to the Digital India Act is currently. While there were public consultations in 2023, we have not heard about the progress in the development of the Act. The most recent discussion on the Act was in January 2025, where S Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), stated that they were in no hurry to carry forward the draft Digital India Act and regulatory framework around AI. He also stated that the existing legal frameworks were currently sufficient to handle AI intermediaries.

We would also like to highlight that during the consultations on the DIA it was proposed to replace the Information Technology Act 2000. It is necessary that the subcommittee give clarity on this, since if the DIA is enacted, this reports section III on GAP analysis especially around the IT Act, and Cyber Security will need to be revisited.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-comments-and-recommendations-to-report-on-ai-governance-guidelines-development

She Leads Bootcamp 2025

Soni Wadhwa — 2025-02-19T14:30:11Z

CIS-A2K is committed to bridging the gender gap within Indian Wikimedia communities, and to further this goal, last year we launched the impactful She Leads program. This initiative is designed to empower female Wikimedians to take on leadership roles within their language communities, promoting diversity and inclusivity.

She Leads offers vital support and resources, helping women bring their ideas and initiatives to life, while fostering an inclusive, supportive environment that encourages growth and collaboration.

The response and feedback from the first iteration of She Leads illustrated a larger need to nurture female leadership in the open knowledge movement. Subsequently, we had several conversations with remarkable women in the open knowledge space to explore avenues to foster female leadership. We are grateful to Rosie Stephenson Goodknight, Masana Mulaudzi, Netha Hussain, Sneha PP, Amrita Sengupta, Manavpreet Kaur, and Medhavi Gandhi for their support and guidance in conceptualizing She Leads Bootcamp 2025. A special shout out to Satdeep Gill for being an ally and contributing to the program design.

The She Leads Bootcamp 2025, which was held in Bangalore from January 31st to February 3rd, 2025, aimed to further these efforts by gathering budding women leaders from Indic Wikimedia communities. This immersive, in-person event provided participants with the tools, resources, and connections necessary to thrive as leaders. The She Leads Bootcamp 2025 helped create a robust network of women leaders who were able to collaborate and support each other’s initiatives. The training sessions focused on leadership skills, feminist methodologies, project management, and advocacy strategies. Organizers fostered a sense of belonging among participants, encouraging them to share experiences and learn from one another.

Click to download the event report authored by Soni Wadhwa and edited by Chris and Nitesh Gill.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/she-leads-bootcamp

Envisioning the Role of Open Knowledge in the Implementation of the National Education Policy 2020

Ashwini Lele — 2024-08-27T14:53:13Z

The National Education Policy 2020 brings a significant change in India's educational landscape, representing a comprehensive overhaul to address the evolving developmental imperatives of the country.

This latest report by CIS-A2K delves into the potential role of 'Open Knowledge' players within the framework of the NEP 2020, aiming to provide insights and recommendations for effective implementation. This study focuses on Wikimedia ‘open knowledge’ platform amongst all available digital open knowledge platforms.

Wikimedia initiatives have already been successfully integrated into various higher education institutions, such as Christ University and Goa University, where students engaged in writing and editing Wikipedia articles as part of their coursework. These experiences illustrate how open knowledge platforms can cultivate essential skills such as research, writing, and digital literacy among students.

The NEP 2020 encourages the use of open knowledge systems to support interdisciplinary learning and creativity. By leveraging platforms like Wikipedia, educators can facilitate collaborative learning and critical thinking, aligning with NEP's goals of fostering cognitive and emotional competencies. The report identifies key areas where Wikimedia can contribute, including the development of multilingual content and the enhancement of digital skills.

NEP 2020 presents a unique opportunity to formalize the role of open knowledge ecosystems in education, promoting a shift from rote learning to a more engaging, participatory approach that prepares students for the complexities of the modern world.

Read the report here

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/envisioning-role-of-open-knowledge-in-implementation-of-national-education-policy

How the Telecom Act undermines personal liberties

Rajat Kathuria and Isha Suri — 2024-02-20T00:54:29Z

In this article, Prof. Rajat Kathuria and Isha Suri analyse whether the law has enough safeguards and an independent regulatory architecture to protect the rights of citizens. The authors posit that the current version leaves the door open for an overenthusiastic enforcement machinery to suppress fundamental rights without any meaningful checks and balances.

The Telecommunications Act cements government’s power to suspend internet services, does not establish independent oversight mechanism for interception, suspension orders. The article originally published in the Indian Express can be read here.

“Is Big Brother watching you? At the press of a button a civil servant can inspect just about every detail of your life your tax, your medical record and periods of unemployment. That civil servant could be your neighbour. There is mounting concern over this powerful weapon that the computer revolution has put in the government’s hand. But no civil servant will be allowed to examine personal files from another department, without written authority from a Minister. I shall be announcing legislation enabling citizens to take action against any civil servant who gains unauthorised access to his file.” (Yes Minister). The year is 1980, the computer revolution is just about beginning and questions of surveillance have become pertinent; safeguards in the form of separation of powers between the executive and legislative are announced by the Minister for the protection of citizens.

Although theatrical, Yes Minister can yet be invoked to characterise governments in most parliamentary democracies especially India’s.

More than four decades on, the Indian Parliament witnessed the smooth passage of several pieces of legislation, including the Telecommunications Act (TA) 2023, which justifiably seeks to bury remnants of colonial-era laws. While the modern digital age creates conditions for unprecedented surveillance reflecting the Benthamite tenet of maximum monitoring at minimum cost, the question on everyone’s minds is whether the law has enough safeguards and an independent regulatory architecture to protect the rights of citizens.

Before contemplating this weighty query, let us set the narrative in context with a quick recap of the major markers in digital governance in India that have concluded, at least for the moment, in the passing of TA 2023.

The institutional regime for telecommunications dates back to the late 1990s and was created more by accident and less by design. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) became necessary because private sector investment came in when the public sector operator was both player and referee. Massive litigation followed, leading to the setting up of TRAI. Within a few years, the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) was carved from TRAI to fast-track excessive litigation. In between, there was the dissolution of the first TRAI, only confirming who the “boss” was.

The desire to serve in regulatory regimes has surely been tainted by the goal of securing sinecures. This is not just an Indian phenomenon. For example, the Biden administrators wish they continue in office for long. It is in the nature of such positions that many of those appointed will never again be in a position of authority. There have been few instances after its dissolution that TRAI has taken on the government. The relationship between the legislature and the executive is complex but suffice it to say that such a separation in telecom is met much more in the breach.

The regulatory regime for telecom described above notifies subordinate legislation, enforces and adjudicates disputes — it performs the role of the executive and the adjudicator. One key safeguard for the protection of ordinary citizens is, therefore, already undermined. The separation of powers remains on paper and the exercise of authority through delegated rule-making ensures the government can intervene with little resistance.

In this background, TA 2023 poses challenges. Although undoing colonial-era laws is one of the stated goals, the re-purposing of some existing provisions and ambiguous drafting does little justice to that aim. For example, the definition of telecommunication services has been left open to interpretation. Internet-based services like WhatsApp and Gmail are, therefore, likely to fall under the Act’s ambit. Provisions empowering the government to notify standards and conformity measures or ask for alternatives to end-to-end encryption such as client-side scanning could undermine privacy. Further requiring messages to be disclosed in an “intelligible format” is irreconcilable with end-to-end privacy engineering. Tinkering with end-to-end encryption for compliance could create potential points of vulnerability.

The grounds on which such information may be sought, outlined in Section 20 (2) include sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the state and public order. Prima facie these appear reasonable. However, the current phrasing leaves room for expansive interpretation by overenthusiastic enforcement machinery — it could go beyond the letter of the law to please political masters. Research conducted in 2021 by Vrinda Bhandari and others found that many orders issued under the guise of public order restrictions would not qualify as legal per se. The Act cements the government’s power to suspend internet services (Section 20(2)(b)) and does not include procedural safeguards envisaged in the Supreme Court’s Anuradha Bhasin judgment such as the proportionality test, exploration of suitable alternatives and the adoption of least intrusive measures.

The Act also does not establish an independent oversight mechanism for interception and suspension orders related to telecommunications. These rules, framed in 1996 in line with the directions of the Supreme Court in PUCL v. Union of India and requiring a committee consisting exclusively of senior government officials, reflect inadequate separation. In the UK the law mandates approval of interception warrants by judicial commissioners. Separation of powers is however not a panacea; it is just a necessary condition for the effective functioning of institutions. We must also observe the counsel of John Stuart Mill for the maintenance of institutional integrity namely, not “to lay [their] liberties at the feet of even a great man, or to trust him with powers which enable him to subvert [their] institutions” — JS Mill, quoted by BR Ambedkar on November 25 1949, requoted by sitting Chief Justice of India on Constitution Day (November 26, 2018).

Kathuria is Dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of Economics at the Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence and Suri is Research Lead, CIS.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/indian-express-january-25-2024-how-the-telecom-act-undermines-personal-liberties

Open Movement in India (2013-23): The Idea and Its Expressions

soni — 2024-02-13T02:57:29Z

This report identifies some broad patterns that have materialized in the Open Movement in the country in the last decade. The report is based on a reading of the available literature on selected projects and conversations with academicians and advocates of the Open. The rough outline of the Open initiatives is accompanied by reflections on the nature of the Open here and the need to envision it differently from what it currently is.

The report was prepared by Soni Wadhwa, and the visual elements of this study have been sourced by Joseph Francis. CIS’s Access to Knowledge team is grateful to Soni for embarking on the study and making the recommendations. The full report can be read here.

Open, as an idea, has not received systematic attention in India. Openness as a philosophy is rooted in the belief that sharing ideas and resources is healthy for the knowledge economy, especially in contemporary times. This sharing does not take anything away from any entity; rather, it enables collaboration and innovation for the larger social good. With the Internet and digital technology, one can see the faster spread of such innovation across the globe while also allowing for plenty of room for its adaptation to regional contexts. Anchored in the thought and efforts of individuals such as Richard Stallman (1992; 2002; 2006; 2009) and Tim Berners-Lee (Berners Lee, 2004; Berners-Lee, Hendler and Lassila, 2001; Berners-Lee et al 1992; Berners-Lee and Tim, 2010; Berners-Lee, Tim and Hendler, 2001; Berners-Lee, Tim and Shadbollt, 2011; Bizer, Heath and Berners-Lee 2011) who take a view contrary to that of keeping public funded research and innovation locked away under copyright and patent laws, the Open Movement originated in the Global North.

In the West, specifically in the USA, with the support from the institutions such as the Hewlett Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the manifestation of the Open Movement through the push for OER (Open Educational Resources) translated into a greater uptake from educational institutions such as Rice University and the MIT (through MIT OCW – Open CourseWare)(Bliss and Smith, 2017). With prestigious universities offering MOOCs (massive open online courses) through platforms such as edX and Coursera, educational resources have come to be seen as a social good: keeping them available for mass access has been an intentional move towards equal access to quality educational materials. In addition to OER, Open Access (the idea that research funded by public funds need to be made available publicly rather than behind a paywall erected by commercial publishers), as an expression of the Open Movement, has also been present in institutional funding mechanisms in the West, again, especially in the USA. A lot of research emerging out of grants extended to individuals and institutions have space for allocation of funds towards the cost of Open Access publishing for dissemination of results. Several other initiatives such as the Creative Commons, and the Wikimedia Foundation have been working towards making Openness a reality by charting out various projects, pathways, and initiatives to keep knowledge accessible to all for learning as well as collaboration.

In India, the state of the Open Movement is thrown into stark relief by the much longer and much more engaged Western imagination and practice of Openness. Indeed, studying its contours here is equivalent to studying its absences and is therefore very challenging. Here, Open, as an idea, has come via the West and still seems to be struggling to be defined and accepted as an ideal to strive towards. It is an alien concept, deeply misunderstood by the stakeholders who control sharing of knowledge resources: policy makers, legislators, leaders of research and institutions, and researchers and academicians in general.

To suggest another example, a pilot survey of Indian faculty members’ attitudes towards use of Open Knowledge sources such as Wikipedia in Indian classrooms reveals that faculty members are very suspicious and skeptical of such sources. They see it as a source of misinformation and therefore, as unreliable.What gets missed is the idea that the content on these sources is not merely for consumption of information and knowledge but are also platforms for knowledge creation and collaboration. In contrast to the two scenarios of OER and Open Access mentioned above, India does not show a long history of organized effort towards making information and knowledge accessible to all, not just through earmarking funds or mechanisms for making publicly funded research available in the public domain via Open Access, but through nurturing a culture of the Open as the default mode of dissemination.

What, then, are we to make of the direction in which the Open Movement is headed in India? Is it possible to shape its trajectory in India? Is it possible to ascertain the ways in which the ideas or benefits of the Open can be made to resonate with the Indian educational and research scenario? Can Indian educators and researchers afford to stay out of the Open ecosystem? What alternative modes of innovation do they champion? These are the questions that this study of the Open Movement in India in the last decade (2013-2023) seeks to explore.

The study is not an exhaustive one: it looks at only some examples that engage with the idea of the Open. The selective nature of the study is informed by two rationales. One, an all-encompassing review would be impossible given the constraints on time and resources: indeed, such a review would be the task of a full-fledged tracking project (which is one of the futures that this report suggests at the end). Two, given that Open does not have a clear pathway or a central, strategic vision to drive it as a movement, the selection of projects themselves is a symptom of the disjointed ways in which the idea of Open struggles to take shape or survive in India.

The year 2013 has been chosen as a starting point for this exploration because it was the year the Wikimedia Foundation extended a grant to the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, to work with various Wikipedia communities in India towards the growth of the Open ecosystem in India. This last decade then is of grave importance to the CIS because it helps the organization reflect on their own work vis-a-vis that of other Open advocates CIS’s work, since then, is available on its website through details of its initiatives via its Access to Knowledge and Openness Programmes (see, for instance, their work on bridging gender gap on Indian Wikimedia communities, apart from a host of other training and advocacy initiatives here). This study is an aid to survey the idea and expressions of the Open as a broader movement and thus help CIS reflect on new directions and strategies to be pursued in the near future, to begin with.

However, there is more to the year 2013 than the happenstance of the grant to CIS per se: indeed, one can spot other organized efforts emerging in the Indian ecosystem since then. NPTEL (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning), which was established in 2003, began to offer MOOCs on its platform in 2014. Coincidentally, 2013 was also the year the Bichitra Project (an online variorum of the work of the Indian Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore), funded by the Ministry of Culture, went live. Together, the international foray into the Indian Open Movement and the governmental gravitas to strive towards making education and the literature of a great Indian author) accessible provide the rationale for this study’s focus on the examination of the nature of championing for the cause of the Open, its successes, failures, and potential for its growth in the next decade.

The approach or methodology to explore answers to these questions involved: analysis of primary as well as secondary research available on the different initiatives in India; interactions with experts working in the Open domain in India including some Indian academicians, especially on the discussion of Open Access which impacts their publishing record, and in turn, impacts their career advancement. The reading and the conversations supplemented each other in the process of investigation: the existing literature provided facts through texts (blogs, papers, documentation on websites and so on) while the interactions opened up more nuances of intersections through perspectives that do not always make it to the static texts.

Any study on the Open Movement in India owes a huge debt to Arul George Scaria’s gargantuan Open Science India Report (2019). At over 350 pages, it is a detailed study of Open Access projects and also includes a survey conducted among academic fraternity. It also offers concrete suggestions to strengthen access in research. It is remarkable for the larger view it takes of access to include access for persons with disabilities and access in terms of language, suggesting that research should also be accessible in Indian languages, and also in jargon-free English for wider audiences. Apart from Scaria’s study, there are journalistic pieces about Open Data in India, given the relevance it has for governance.

This current study does not aspire to be monumental like Scaria’s. However, it is hoped that its relevance to the ongoing conversations about openness would be noted at at least two levels. One, between 2019 (when Scaria’s report was published) and 2023 (the end point of this study), socioeconomic changes such as COVID-19 and the resulting remote work, one expects, have highlighted the significance of openness. For instance, given the serious constraints it posed for travel, a lot of commercial publishers kept their resources open so that further research, within medicine and outside, could keep happening. Thus, it becomes imperative to understand if the Indian ecosystem displayed any stronger endeavor towards openness. To anticipate a couple of suggestions discussed in the report below, certain things such as Indian researchers’ apathy or disdain for Open Access has not quite changed in the span of these four years. However, Government of India’s open initiatives such as Anuvadini and Bhashini around tools for navigating and producing content in Indian languages have started to appear.

Two, Scaria’s study subsumed all knowledge under “science”: in other words, science, in his report, is a metonym for knowledge. This current study, in being inclusive of humanities and the arts, especially as relevant to Open GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums), engages with knowledge or movement in general irrespective of its disciplinary boundaries.

With that statement on where this report is situated, some notes about its structure are in order. This study begins with an overview of the legal and policy environment in India. It then moves on to explore the nature of Open projects in India. There are many ways to organize the narrative around Openness, with the domain wise bifurcation of the different aspects of the Open (The OPEN Movements, 2023). In contrast, this goes on to organize the projects around positionalities, rather than the domains. That is, the different projects and initiatives are narrativised as:

Public funded projects: These are endeavors emerging from funds provided by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Culture and distributed via grants to Higher Education Institutes in India, especially the IITs. They stand out as one category in that they are characterized by:

The vision to provide basic infrastructure of education and archival material in the public domain
The capacity to think and execute in terms of massive impact and scale
A wide scope for aiming higher in terms of innovation, approach, and access

Volunteer undertakings: These are projects undertaken by non governmental organizations such as the Sanchaya Foundation, SFLC (Software Freedom Law Centre) and FOSSUnited characterized by:

A niche focus on a language or a domain or an audience
A preoccupation with developing a community rather than delivering an output
A qualitative aspect to engagement and documentation, as opposed to impact in terms of numbers

Within volunteer undertakings, the role of philanthropic foundations is very briefly touched upon. There are entities such as the SRTT (Sir Ratan Tata Trust) and SDTT (Sir Dorabji Tata Trust) that supported the cause of the Open in the initial stages via their investment in the larger educational and cultural cause. These foundations also seem to have discontinued their efforts in the long term perhaps given the scope of work involved. In addition to philanthropic foundations, mention is also made of international projects. The international Open Knowledge projects in India involve the Wikimedia Foundation and the Mozilla Foundation that have funded various initiatives in India and have continued to stay invested in the larger vision as well as execution of Openness through their grants.

The discussion of the above mentioned types of projects is followed by an examination of the attitudes of academicians teaching at Higher Education Institutes towards Open Access as a specific niche within the Open Movement. Conversation with faculty members in different institutions reveals that Open as an idea is not quite clear to the academia, or at least occupies a space of dissonance: while it is desired as an ideal, it is very strongly constrained by the judgments of fellow peers and employing institutions. In contrast, conversations with experts in Open Access reveals that Open Access deserves a much stronger effort: not just to push for policy changes but also to decolonize Indian academia.

The study concludes with some threads that can be pursued from the projects the Open Movement in India has witnessed in the last decade. These points of engagement could become points of reflection for further initiatives in the next decade or two.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-movement-in-india-idea-and-its-expressions

Using the Wikimedia sphere for the revitalization of small and underrepresented languages in India

subodh — 2024-02-10T04:35:45Z

This report explores opportunities within the Wikimedia movement and projects to help revitalise small and underrepresented languages in India and provide recommendations to CIS’s Access to Knowledge team in furthering this effort. The report is mainly based on a roundtable conversation on Digital Access in Bhubaneswar with a diverse range of backgrounds and professions, including independent researchers, representatives from non-profit organizations, retired government officials, Wikimedia contributors (both Odia and Santali), ecological activists, directors of research institutes, consultants, and journalists. This was organized by the Access to Knowledge team of CIS in collaboration with Vasundhara, Bhubaneswar.

This strategic note discusses a broad program idea of offering barrier-free open access to resources in various underrepresented languages in India.

Languages spoken in the Republic of India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians. Languages spoken by the remaining 2.31% of the population belong to the Austroasiatic, Sino–Tibetan, Tai–Kadai, and a few other minor language families and isolates. According to the People's Linguistic Survey of India, India has the second highest number of languages (780), after Papua New Guinea (840). Ethnologue lists a lower number of 456.

The UNESCO endangerment classification is as follows:

Vulnerable: most children speak the language, but it may be restricted to certain domains (e.g., home)
Definitely endangered: children no longer learn the language as a 'mother tongue' in the home
Severely endangered: language is spoken by grandparents and older generations; while the parent generation may understand it, they do not speak it to children or among themselves
Critically endangered: the youngest speakers are grandparents and older, and they speak the language partially and infrequently
Extinct: there are no speakers left

North-East India is home to more than 200 languages, out of which 82 are listed as Vulnerable, 63 as Definitely Endangered, 6 as Severely Endangered, 46 as Critically Endangered and 6 as Extinct (The Guardian Dataset). Arunachal Pradesh is the state with the highest number of languages, with as many as 66 languages spoken there, while West Bengal has the highest number of scripts, nine, and around 38 languages.

The state of Odisha has 62 Scheduled Tribes who speak as many as 74 dialects. Their ethos, ideology, worldview, value orientations and cultural heritage are rich and varied. Odisha has the unique distinction of having 93 different Scheduled Caste communities spread over 30 districts and 314 blocks of the state having different dialects. Apart from the languages of the North-East and the state of Odisha, there are several other languages all over India that deserve better representation on the Internet. While a handful of these languages enjoy status and visibility as official languages of the states and thereby hold some currency as widely spoken languages in their linguistic territories, there are many more languages that do not have speakers counting beyond a few hundred. Examples include the Bellari language (Spoken in Karnataka by 1000 speakers), the Toda language (Spoken in Tamil Nadu by 1600 speakers) and the Naiki language (Spoken in Maharashtra by 1500 speakers). What these languages do share in common with the languages of the North-East mentioned earlier is that they all lack free and open source knowledge and data.

Some of these languages are the official languages of the states and are widely spoken in this region. On the other hand, some of the languages have a few hundred native speakers. However, irrespective of the size of the native population or official status of the language, they all lack free and open source knowledge & data.

These languages show a range of marked cross-linguistic features which pose several interesting questions to Linguistic theories and speech processing research. Moreover, the close geographical proximity of these languages makes them vulnerable to changes in multiple linguistic levels, making these languages an excellent resource to study language change. Despite this, these languages severely lack digital preservation. One of the major reasons that contribute to the lack of resources is the difficulty in human access to some of the areas in these regions. Moreover, with English and Hindi being used as a lingua franca in these regions, the actual number of speakers proficient in their native language is much fewer than the number shown in the census reports. This makes it more important than ever to initiate a preservation process which does not primarily depend on fieldwork while also increasing the presence of the language in the digital sphere.

As language technologies advance and more sophisticated tools are built using Artificial Intelligence, the divide between low resource languages and others is likely to get even larger as a common prerequisite of these advanced systems is the existence of a large amount of digital data. Low resource languages are at a risk of being left behind.

Research on these languages by researchers are mostly conducted by collecting data personally, which causes a huge hindrance to the research process, as most of it remains as a private collection or published in closed journals. Moreover, data collection through fieldwork is particularly challenging in this region due to the restricted access to most of the disturbed areas.

The goal of this program is to facilitate the study of these languages by making existing resources discoverable and building open-source structured datasets and tools using the Wikimedia sphere to enrich the language research landscape of small and underrepresented Indian languages.

Role of CIS-A2K

To design and commission relevant research studies in collaboration with language communities to define the premises of the program. The plan is to work with languages which are being written in single or multiple scripts in the pilot phase.
To develop strategies regarding the integration of language datasets with Wikimedia projects
Skill building of volunteers and community leaders in Wikimedia projects
Structure of local knowledge to be compiled for contribution
To identify the specific Wiki projects such as Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata, Lingua Libre etc to build the archives of these languages
Designing outreach and knowledge dissemination processes
To develop partnerships with other academic, social, cultural and research institutions in the language sector for the sustainability of the project
Material support - Sound recorders, microphones, hard discs, laptop, scanner, internet hardware
Financial support - Remuneration of intern/fellow, internet data recharge

Specific objectives

Empowering the communities by enhancing digital literacy and connecting them with the world of knowledge and people outside.
Revitalizing/enriching the languages by increasing their use, coverage and depth using technological interventions.
Creating an ecosystem for developing language learning resources and tools; particularly, in the context of the New Education Policy.
Enabling scholars and researchers to overcome the challenge of finding appropriate data and expanding the knowledge on these languages.
By using the Wikimedia sphere, the infrastructural and technological support is secured, so that these languages are able to function in the digital world.

It is important to realise that these objectives can introduce new dynamics into other spheres of activity, such as education and the development of language.

Methodology

Our target languages broadly belong to two sets:

Languages which are primarily spoken in various states of India and have some or no digital presence on the internet.
Endangered languages which have extremely limited or no digital presence.

Survey of ongoing work

Several individuals and institutions are working on languages across the globe. There are significant initiatives in India also to revitalise the small languages in the digital sphere. Some of these are listed in the reference section at the end. An exhaustive survey of all such efforts will be done to map the present status as well as a listing of stakeholders. The target languages for A2K’s future work and the potential collaborators will also be identified through these exercises.

Digital Dictionary Making

A dictionary is a vital resource for any language learning. The idea of collaborative dictionaries using platforms like Wiktionary or Wikidata Lexemes eliminates the need for expert lexicographers and terminologists and rather follows the method in which the users enter data as new entries, definitions, and so on, and the same is reviewed by editors, once published. An offline e-dictionary application using this dataset could be developed to overcome the problem of sparse internet connectivity where the user is only expected to download & install the application once and use the dictionary offline at any moment.

Data Acquisition Strategies

Leveraging Crowdsourcing using LinguaLibre for the creation of Speech CorporaGiven the scarcity of text and speech corpora for these low-resource languages, the main potential source for dataset creation is by crowdsourcing.
Using Optical Character Recognition techniques -

The digitisation of texts in the public domain would be done and made available freely by uploading them on Wikimedia projects. The digital copy will be made machine-readable using Optical Character Recognition (OCR).

Processing the acquired data

Preprocess
Processing Speech Corpora
Processing Bilingual Parallel text Corpora

Housing datasets

Wiki Commons for media files
Wikidata for Lexemes
Wikisource for texts

Capacity Building workshops

Promoting the language among the young speakers of the community, since they are the future of the language and if it survives, it will belong to them.

Help language speakers possess up-to-date digital competencies and feel confident about them to actively participate in the digital world and increase content in their own native language.

Promoting contributions on platforms like Storyweaver, Pratham Books, Eklavya etc.

Promote the upskilling of native speakers and other disseminators

Facilitate knowledge exchange through participatory mechanisms both virtually and face-to-face.

The potential communities would be introduced to Incubator for building new Wikimedia projects

Educational development

Applying Open access philosophy to advance language pedagogy.

Develop language learning resources and tools, particularly, in the context of the New Education Policy.

References

Wikipedia articles
SCSTRTI, Odisha - https://www.scstrti.in/index.php/resources/mle-initiative/bilingual-dictionaries
Most populous languages of Odisha - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Languages_of_Odisha.svg
People’s Linguistic Survey of India - https://www.peopleslinguisticsurvey.org/
The state and fate of linguistic diversity and inclusion in the NLP world - https://aclanthology.org/2020.acl-main.560/
Bhasha India - https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/bhashaindia
Omniglot - https://www.omniglot.com/index.htm
Bharatavani - https://bharatavani.in/
Storyweaver - https://storyweaver.org.in/
Dimasa Thairili - https://www.dimasathairili.com/
SIL International - https://www.sil.org/
Ethnologue - https://www.ethnologue.com/
Global Recordings Network - https://globalrecordings.net/en/
Glottolog - https://glottolog.org/
Endangered Languages Project - https://endangeredlanguages.com/

This is a report by Subodh Kulkarni with editorial oversight and support by Tanveer Hasan and Soni Wadhwa. Click to download the PDF here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/using-wikimedia-sphere-for-revitalization-of-small-and-underrepresented-languages-in-india

Commemorating Ulo Senthamizh Kodai (1945 - 2024): A Luminary of Tamil Open Knowledge Movement

pavan — 2024-02-08T14:59:50Z

பயன்தூக்கார் செய்த உதவி நயன்தூக்கின் நன்மை கடலின் பெரிது. (௱௩ - 103) திருவள்ளுவர் (Payandhookkaar Seydha Udhavi Nayandhookkin Nanmai Katalin Peridhu (Transliteration). The contribution made without weighing the return, When weighed, outweighs the sea. - Thiruvalluvar

With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of Ulo Senthamizh Kodai (December 22, 1945 – February 1, 2024), a distinguished technologist, author, academician, and prolific contributor to the Tamil Wikipedia community.[1] Born on December 22, 1945, in the village of Puducherrypalli in Thiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu, India, He devoted his life to engineering, science, and promoting scientific knowledge in Tamil.

Ulo Senthamizh Kodai earned his Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Guindy Engineering College and a Master's degree from PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore. His illustrious 33-year career at the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board included earning a Ph.D. He authored the acclaimed book "Makkal Ariviyal Ilakkiyam: Nokkum Pokkum" and received the Tamil Nadu Government's award for best book in engineering and technology in 2007.

Passionate about Tamil Nadu's science and technology history, Ulo Senthamizh Kodai contributed extensively to scientific vocabulary in Tamil. He served on the editorial board of the Bharathidasan University Journal of Science and Technology and significantly contributed to the Tamil Virtual Academy's glossary of technical terms.

In addition to academia, He was a luminary in the Tamil Wikipedia community, starting his contributions in 2014. He created over 2000 articles and had an edit count of 28513 in Tamil Wikipedia, focusing mainly on scientific articles. He was actively involved until his final days, participating in discussions and editing articles until January 29, 2024.

Ulo Senthamizh Kodai leaves behind a legacy continued by his son Vanchi. His impact on Tamil science and the Wikipedia community is immeasurable, with notable contributions to projects like the 100 WikiDays and the Tamil Teachers' Articles Cleanup Drive.

Members of the Tamil Wikipedia community mourn his passing. Fellow Wikipedian Mahalingam noted, "The passing of Ulo Senthamizh Kodai is a great loss to us all." Former colleague Jambulingam remembered his dedication and encouragement, while longtime contributor K. Murthy recalled Ulo Senthamizh Kodai's resilience despite physical challenges.

Ulo Senthamizh Kodai's contributions were recognized with accolades, including featuring on the main page of Tamil Wikipedia in 2016 and various barnstars and medals from fellow Wikipedians.

As we bid farewell to Ulo Senthamizh Kodai, we remember him not only for his significant contributions to Tamil science and Wikipedia but also for his unwavering dedication to knowledge, education, and the Tamil language. His passing leaves a void in the community, and he will be dearly missed.

We are planning to host a condolence meeting online and we will soon provide information about that. We encourage people to share their memories/experiences of their association with Ulo Senthamizh Kodai on this thread.

Tamil Wikimedians & CIS-A2K.

[1] Biographical Article about Ulo Senthamizh Kodai in Tamil Wikipedia

[2] Userpage of Ulo Senthamizh Kodai in Tamil Wikipedia

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/commemorating-ulo-senthamizh-kodai-1945-2024-a-luminary-of-tamil-open-knowledge-movement

Detecting Encrypted Client Hello (ECH) Blocking

divyank — 2023-09-05T12:10:47Z

A new internet protocol makes it harder for internet service providers to censor websites. We made a technical intervention to check if censors are interfering with its deployment.

This blogpost was edited by Torsha Sarkar.

The Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol, which is widely recognised as the lock sign in a web browser’s URL bar, encrypts the contents of internet connections when an internet user visits a website so that network intermediaries (such as Internet Service Providers, Internet Exchanges, undersea cable operators, etc.) cannot view the private information being exchanged with the website.

TLS, however, suffers from a privacy issue – the protocol transmits a piece of information known as the Server Name Indication (or SNI) which contains the name of the website a user is visiting. While the purpose of TLS is to encrypt private information, the SNI remains unencrypted – leaking the names of the websites internet users visit to network intermediaries, who use this metadata to surveil internet users and censor access to certain websites. In India, two large internet service providers – Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel – have been previously found using the SNI field to block access to websites.

Encrypted Client Hello (or ECH) is a new internet protocol that has been under development since 2018 at the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and is now being tested for a small percentage of internet users before a wider rollout. It seeks to address this privacy limitation by encrypting the SNI information that leaks the names of visited websites to internet intermediaries. The ECH protocol significantly raises the bar for censors – the SNI is the last bit of unencrypted metadata in internet connections that censors can reliably use to detect which websites an internet user is visiting. After this protocol is deployed, censors will find it harder to block websites by interfering with network connections and will be forced to utilise blocking methods such as website fingerprinting and man-in-the-middle attacks that are either expensive and less accurate, or unfeasible in most cases.

We have been tracking the development of this privacy enhancement. To assist the successful deployment of the ECH protocol, we contributed a new censorship test to the Open Observatory for Network Interference (OONI) late last year. The new test attempts to connect to websites using the ECH protocol and records any interference from censors to the connection. As censors in some countries were found blocking a previous version of the protocol entirely, this test gives important early feedback to the protocol developers on whether censors are able to detect and block the protocol.

We conducted ECH tests during the first week of September 2023 from four popular Indian ISPs, namely Airtel, Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT), Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea, which account for around 95% of the Indian internet subscriber base. The results indicated that ECH connections to a popular website were successful and are not currently being blocked. This was the expected result, as the protocol is still under development. We will continue to monitor for interference from censors closer to the time of completion of the protocol to ensure that this privacy enhancing protocol is successfully deployed.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/detecting-encrypted-client-hello-ech-blocking

WIPO SCCR 43: Notes from Day 1

shweta — 2023-04-28T12:01:31Z

Member states delivered opening statements and deliberated on the progress, substantive provisions, and method of work on the draft broadcasting treaty text. This blog post summarises positions and contentions that supported: 1)The need for balance between rights of broadcasters and that of users and researchers 2) Questions around fixation and signal piracy 3) Need for consensus and towards a diplomatic conference

Opening Statements by Group Coordinators

Uruguay on behalf of the GRULAC spoke about the Marrakesh treaty and highlighted how this was the first treaty that looked at human rights and copyright. Uruguay also mentioned the need to look at exclusion and the need for dissemination of knowledge.

On behalf of the Baltic states, Poland expressed their interest in discussing the Limitations and Exceptions (L&E) agenda, with focus on persons with other disabilities, as well as conveyed their interest in examining the T oolkit on Preservation.

The African group coordinator Ghana, highlighted the need to look at the contribution to Sustainable Development Goals, they also showed support for Senegal and Congo on their work on artist copyright and resale rights.

Singapore made the statements on behalf of the Asia and the Pacific Group (APG) group coordinator Indonesia, they commented on the need to work towards a fair and balanced broadcast treaty, and to narrow existing gaps which would require a delicate balance. They also stated that the treaty needs to be comprehensive and inclusive, with limitations and expectations for Libraries, Archives and Museums and areas of cultural importance, as well as access to broadcast content for education and research.

Agenda Item 5: Protection of Broadcasting Organisations

The need for Balance between rights of broadcasters and that of users and researchers

China, Ghana, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, in their statements highlighted the need for balance between the rights of the broadcasters with suitable limitations and exceptions. Iran in their statements also highlighted the work of libraries, archives and museums in education. Iran also highlighted that different parameters for Limitations and Exceptions in member states' national legislations has the potential to cause barriers in the free flow of data for researchers and educators.

Colombia spoke about their concerns regarding the fixation rights laid out in the treaty and the working of limitations and exceptions under Article 11. Colombia stated that the use of the term “may” in Article 11 could result in countries ignoring the limitations and exceptions provisions when they adopt this treaty into their national legislations. They suggested the changing of the wording in Article 11 from “may” to “shall” to reflect a balanced and progressive treaty.

Nigeria in their statement highlighted the difficulties that were faced by students and educators during Covid 19, when schools and libraries were closed. They also shed light on how limitations and exceptions were not granted uniformly.

Pakistan also emphasised on the need to look at the interests of educators, and supported the inclusion of mandatory limitations and exceptions while protecting the rights of the creators.

Questions around fixation and signal piracy

The Central European and Baltic States Group (CEBS) group, The United Kingdom (UK) , Canada, Tajikistan and The United States of America and Japan in their statements mentioned the need to protect broadcasters especially with respect to stopping piracy. The CEBS group stated that in the era of rapidly evolving technologies and changing digital environments there was a need to extend international protection against piracy to different types of transmissions of broadcasting organizations, including those over computer networks. Similarly, the United Kingdom also highlighted the rapid advancements in technology, which enables signal piracy through redirecting. The UK stated that Article 7 of the draft treaty did not provide sufficient protection, an issue that needed more deliberations.

Need for consensus and progress towards a diplomatic conference

Pakistan, China, Kingdom of Eswatini, The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) in their statements mentioned that they were looking forward to a diplomatic conference. Pakistan highlighted the need for open and inclusive negotiation in the diplomatic conference.

India expressed that the scope of protection in the revised draft is more comprehensive and in line with technological developments. The definition of the term broadcasting has also been made more comprehensive with the inclusion of the word “any means”. The definition provided for fixation has been provided along with the rights of fixation under Article 7, which may be the most relevant steps to prevent unauthorised exploitation by a third party to the values represented by the signal. India also stated that the treaty is capable of covering piracy in the digital environment and includes broadcasting of all types of broadcast. India also stated that they support the finalisation of the treaty, maintaining the interest of all member states on fundamental issues.

Presentation by the Chair and Vice Chair

On Article 11 the Chair stated that the list could be made clearer, and also clarified that the list is not a closed list. With respect to the works in the public domain the Chair clarified that the broadcasting and distributing of works in public domain, only the work carrying the signal will be under the treaty.
With regard to the scope of fixation the Chair clarified that the scope of fixation is only for the entity emitting the signal. The focus of the treaty is to limit the rights to signal based rights.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-43-notes-from-day-1

CIS Statement in WIPO SCCR 43

Shweta Mohandas and Anubha Sinha — 2023-03-28T14:12:21Z

Shweta Mohandas delivered a statement on behalf of CIS, on day 1 of the 43rd WIPO SCCR session on the Broadcast Treaty.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I’m speaking on behalf of the Centre for Internet and Society, India.

The second revised draft text for the WIPO Broadcasting Organisations Treaty presents certain concerns.

The absence of a provision on term allows perpetual rights to both traditional broadcasters and streamers. Further, the provision on limitations and exceptions is narrow, and not mandatory. It undermines the existence of open-licensing models on the internet. In the absence of a strong mandatory limitations and exceptions provision, the text gives broadcasters rights over openly-licensed content and works in the public domain.

Thank you.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-statement-in-wipo-sccr-43

CensorWatch: On the Implementation of Online Censorship in India

divyank — 2023-03-15T11:58:56Z

Results from a nation-wide empirical study on web censorship

Abstract: State authorities in India order domestic internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to websites and services. We developed a mobile application, CensorWatch, that runs network tests to study inconsistencies in how ISPs conduct censorship. We analyse the censorship of 10,372 sites, with measurements collected across 71 networks from 25 states in the country. We find that ISPs in India rely on different methods of censorship with larger ISPs utilizing methods that are harder to circumvent. By comparing blocklists and contextualising them with specific legal orders, we find concrete evidence that ISPs in India are blocking different websites and engaging in arbitrary blocking, in violation of Indian law.

The paper authored by Divyank Katira, Gurshabad Grover, Kushagra Singh and Varun Bansal appeared as part of the conference on Free and Open Communications on the Internet (FOCI '23) and can be accessed here.

The authors would like to thank Pooja Saxena and Akash Sheshadri for contributing to the visual design of Censorwatch; Aayush Rathi, Amber Sinha and Vipul Kharbanda for their valuable legal inputs; Internet Freedom Foundation for their support; ipinfo.io for providing free access to their data and services. The work was made possible because of research grants to the Centre for Internet and Society from the MacArthur Foundation, Article 19, the East-West Management Institute and the New Venture Fund. Gurshabad Grover’s contributions were supported by a research fellowship from the Open Tech Fund.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/censorwatch-on-the-implementation-of-online-censorship-in-india

Civil Society’s second opinion on a UHI prescription

Pallavi Bedi and Shweta Mohandas — 2023-02-15T08:20:15Z

On January 13, Pallavi Bedi and Shweta Mohandas from CIS participated in an online collaboration organised by Internet Freedom Foundation for a joint submission to the Consultation Paper on Operationalising Unified Health Interface (UHI) in India released by the National Health Authority.

The article originally published by Internet Freedom Foundation can be accessed here.

The National Health Authority (NHA) released the Consultation Paper on Operationalising Unified Health Interface (UHI) in India on December 14, 2022. The deadline for submission of comments was January 13, 2023. We collaborated with the Centre for Health Equity, Law & Policy, the Centre for Internet & Society, & the Forum for Medical Ethics Society to submit comments on the paper.

Background

The UHI is proposed to be a “foundational layer of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission (ABDM)” and is “envisioned to enable interoperability of health services in India through open protocols”. The ABDM, previously known as the National Digital Health Mission, was announced by the Prime Minister on the 74th Independence Day, and it envisages the creation of a National Digital Health Ecosystem with six key features: Health ID, Digi Doctor, Health Facility Registry, Personal Health Records, Telemedicine, and e-Pharmacy. After launching the programme in six Union Territories, the National Health Authority issued a press release on August 26, 2020 announcing the public consultation for the Draft Health Data Management Policy for NDHM. While the government has repeatedly claimed that creation of a health ID is purely voluntary, contrary reports have emerged. In our comments as part of the public consultation, our primary recommendation was that deployment of any digital health ID programme must be preceded by the enactment of general and sectoral data protection laws by the Parliament of India; and meaningful public consultation which reaches out to vulnerable groups which face the greatest privacy risks.

As per the synopsis document which accompanies the consultation paper, it aims to “seek feedback on how different elements of UHI should function. Inviting public feedback will allow for early course correction, which will in-turn engender trust in the network and enhance market adoption. The feedback received through this consultation will be used to refine the functionalities of UHI so as to limit any operational issues going forward.” The consultation paper contains a set of close-ended questions at the end of each section through which specific feedback has been invited from interested stakeholders. We have collaborated with the Centre for Health Equity, Law & Policy, the Centre for Internet & Society, & the Forum for Medical Ethics Society to draft the comments on this consultation paper.

Our main concern relates to the approach the Government of India and concerned Ministries adopt to draft a consultation paper without explicitly outlining how the proposed UHI fits into the broader healthcare ecosystem and quantifying how it improves it rendering the consultation paper and public engagement efforts inadequate. Additionally, it doesn’t allow the public at large, and other stakeholders to understand how it may contribute to people’s access to quality care towards ensuring realisation of their constitutional right to health and health care. The close-ended nature of the consultation process, wherein specific questions have been posed, restricts stakeholders from questioning the structure of the ABDM itself and forces us to engage with its parts, thereby incorrectly assuming that there is support for the direction in which the ABDM is being developed.

Our submissions

A. General comments

a. Absence of underlying legal framework

Ensuring health data privacy requires legislation at three levels- comprehensive laws, sectoral laws and informal rules. Here, the existing proposal for the data protection legislation, i.e., the draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 (DPDPB, 2022) which could act as the comprehensive legal framework, is inadequate to sufficiently protect health data. This inadequacy arises from the failure of the DPDPB, 2022 to give higher degree of protection to sensitive personal data and allowing for non-consensual processing of health data in certain situations under Clause 8 which relates to “deemed consent”. Here, it may also be noted that the DPDPB, 2022 fails to specifically define either health or health data. Further, the proposed Digital Information Security in Healthcare Act, 2017, which may have acted as a sectoral law, is presently before the Parliament and has not been enacted. Here, the absence of safeguards allows for data capture by health insurance firms and subsequent exclusion/higher costs for vulnerable groups of people. Similarly, such data capture by other third parties potentially leads to commercial interests creeping in at the cost of users of health care services and breach of their privacy and dignity.

b. Issues pertaining to scope

Clarity is needed on whether UHI will be only providing healthcare services through private entities, or will also include the public health care system and various health care schemes and programs of the government, such as eSanjeevani.

c. Pre-existing concerns

Exclusion: Access to health services through the Unified Health Interface should not be made contingent upon possessing an ABHA ID, as alluded to in the section on ‘UHI protocols in action: An example’ under Chapter 2(b). Such an approach is contrary to the Health Data Management Policy that is based on individual autonomy and voluntary participation. Clause 16.4 of the Policy clearly states that nobody will “be denied access to any health facility or service or any other right in any manner by any government or private entity, merely by reason of not creating a Health ID or disclosing their Health ID…or for not being in possession of a Health ID.” Moreover, the National Medical Commission Guidelines for Telemedicine in India also does not create any obligation for the patient to possess an ABHA ID in order to access any telehealth service. The UHI should explicitly state that a patient can log in on the network using any identification and not just ABHA.
Consent: As per media reports, registration for a UHID under the NDHM, which is an earlier version of the ABHA number under the ABDM, may have been voluntary on paper but it was being made mandatory in practice by hospital administrators and heads of departments. Similarly, reports suggest that people who received vaccination against COVID-19 were assigned a UHID number without their consent or knowledge.
Function creep: In the absence of an underlying legal framework, concerns also arise that the health data under the NDHM scheme may suffer from function creep, i.e., the collected data being used for purposes other than for which consent has been obtained. These concerns arise due to similar function creep taking place in the context of data collected by the Aarogya Setu application, which has now pivoted from being a contact-tracing application to “health app of the nation”. Here, it must be noted that as per a RTI response dated June 8, 2022 from NIC, the Aarogya Setu Data Access And Knowledge Sharing Protocol “has been discontinued".
Issues with the United Payments Interface may be replicated by the UHI: The consultation paper cites the United Payments Interface (UPI) as “strong public digital infrastructure” which the UHI aims to leverage. However, a trend towards market concentration can be witnessed in UPI: the two largest entities, GooglePay and PhonePe, have seen their market share hover around 35% and 47% (by volume) for some time now (their share by value transacted is even higher). Meanwhile, the share of the NPCI’s own app (BHIM) has fallen from 40% in August 2017 to 0.74% in September 2021. Thus, if such a model is to be adopted, it is important to study the UPI model to understand such threats and ensure that a similar trend towards oligopoly or monopoly formation in UHI is addressed. This is all the more important in a country in which the decreasing share of the public health sector has led to skyrocketing healthcare costs for citizens.

B. Our response also addressed specific questions about search and discovery, service booking, grievance redressal, and fake reviews and scores. Our responses on these questions can be found in our comments here.

Our previous submissions on health data

We have consistently engaged with the government since the announcement of the NDHM in 2020. Some of our submissions and other outputs are linked below:

IFF’s comment on the Draft Health Data Management Policy dated May 21, 2022 (link)
IFF’s comments on the consultation Paper on Healthcare Professionals Registry dated July 20, 2021 (link)
IFF and C-HELP Working Paper: ‘Analysing the NDHM Health Data Management Policy’ dated June 11, 2021 (link)
IFF’s Consultation Response to Draft Health Data Retention Policy dated January 6, 2021 (link)
IFF’s comments on the National Digital Health Mission’s Health Data Management Policy dated September 21, 2020 (link)

Important documents

Response on the Consultation Paper on Operationalising Unified Health Interface (UHI) in India by Centre for Health Equity, Law & Policy, the Centre for Internet & Society, the Forum for Medical Ethics Society, & IFF dated January 13, 2023 (link)
NHA’s Consultation Paper on Operationalising Unified Health Interface (UHI) in India dated December 14, 2022 (link)
Synopsis of NHA’s Consultation Paper on Operationalising Unified Health Interface (UHI) in India dated December 14, 2022 (link)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/civil-society-second-opinion-on-uhi-prescription

Exploring Knowledge Repositories on Water Resources in India

subodh — 2022-10-21T13:23:24Z

This research study explores knowledge repositories on water resources in India, with a focus on how the digital transition has impacted the process of creation & access to these resources and possible collaborations to build open digital repositories around water. The research was undertaken by Subodh Kulkarni, with editorial inputs by Puthiya Purayil Sneha, and Chiara Furtado. This is part of a series of short-term studies undertaken by the CIS-A2K team in 2021–2022.

Read this report on Wikimedia Meta-Wiki here.

Introduction

Water is the most precious natural resource for the existence of all living organisms on earth. As human beings have not treated it respectfully in recent years, there are increasing challenges with accessibility and availability of water across large parts of the world today. In India, the groundwater levels are depleting at an alarming rate due to over exploitation^.[1] The quality of surface water reserves is degenerating due to pollution caused by discharge of wastewater, sewage and untreated industrial effluents.^[2] The condition of rivers is getting worse due to illegal and unregulated use of these resources across India. Due to damming almost all the rivers flow for only 8-10 months in a year. Above all, the pollution caused due to solid wastes and effluents have destroyed living organisms and aquatic life. Therefore most of the rivers in India are called ‘dying rivers’.^[3] There have been several discussions and debates happening around this degradation of rivers, especially in the last decade.^[4]

Efforts by various organisations are afoot to document the state of affairs, spread awareness and undertake activities on the ground with community participation. Citizen-led efforts have also been instrumental in strengthening several water conservation efforts in India. It is seen that these peoples’ movements have been further strengthened due to empowerment through enhanced awareness of these issues around conservation, and better access to knowledge on the subject, especially through scientific studies.

CIS-A2K has initiated Project Jalbodh in 2017 in collaboration with a few organisations to generate water related content. During one of the ‘River dialogues’, a CIS-A2K member was invited to introduce Wikimedia projects to the organisations working on water resources. In the discussions, it was revealed that there is negligible content about rivers, water pollution, floods, irrigation system etc. in Wikimedia projects. Following this, an analysis of content on these subjects on Marathi, Hindi & English Wikipedia and media on Wikimedia Commons was undertaken. The need to develop structured categorisation of content was also felt. As the organisations are trying their best to disseminate knowledge about water issues, they realised the potential of Wikimedia projects due to the high level of searchable content available on these platforms which can be accessed by the general public. In keeping with these objectives, over the last two years, various workshops were conducted with organisations working at the grassroots to develop the structure of articles, categorisation and re-licensing of source material on these topics across various Wikimedia projects. Tarun Bharat Sangh is leading this process, and has uploaded 90 books & reports on Wikimedia Commons under free licences, and created articles on rivers in Marathi, Hindi and English Wikipedia projects.

During these content generation events it was realised that the organisations are working closely with communities which are conversant mostly with local or regional Indian languages only. The availability and access to water related resources in these languages is therefore an important issue. The communities are in need of simple, accessible and ready to use content in various forms. They also require a platform on which they can document/archive their water conservation efforts for other communities to take lessons and motivation from these projects.

Research Questions

This study was framed by the following questions:

How has the digital transition impacted the process of creation and access to water related resources in India.
What are possible collaborations and processes to build open digital repositories around water, with special reference to rivers.

Methods

The study adopted a qualitative approach, with the method comprising online/offline, semi-structured interviews with organisations working in the water resources sector. Based on desk research and conversations with existing partners in the sector, a long list of organisations was developed.(See Annexure I). Further, eight organisations were shortlisted for interviews based on their experience and impact of work in the water conservation sector. Due to various constraints, eventually interviews with three organisations were completed. The interview questionnaire focused on the nature, objective and scope of the offline and online resources available, human resources involved, language aspects, documentation practices, methods of dissemination, utility, accessibility, training value of the material, intellectual property rights (IPR) policies and public outreach efforts. These interviews were conducted online and in-person and recorded with consent from the participants, along with a clear explanation on the objectives of the study and the data collection. As mentioned above, there were a few constraints with the research process and methods adopted, as well as external factors. These included restrictions on travel and in-person meetings due to the COVID 19 pandemic, and challenges with online platforms. Some of the organisations were not comfortable with online or telephonic interviews and insisted upon physical interactions. The online interviews were less effective with the organisations as they were unaware about the free & open knowledge platforms like Wikimedia, Internet Archive etc. In addition to this, introductory sessions were conducted to give them a background to the work of the programme and context of the study. A general challenge here was also logistical issues related to scheduling conversations etc. given that personnel were located across different departments.

Description of Organisations Interviewed

Advanced Centre for Water Resources Development and Management [ACWADAM]'

ACWADAM is an organisation dedicated to establish a groundwater management agenda in India. It is a premier education and action research institution engaged in developing and disseminating knowledge on groundwater management. It is also involved in facilitation of projects on groundwater management through action research programmes, training and policy advocacy, with a collaborative, participatory approach. ACWADAM's mission is to facilitate groundwater management programmes in partnership with various organisations spread across the country. Over the years, it has developed expertise on aquifer-based groundwater management based on the science of hydrogeology.

Action for Agricultural Renewal in Maharashtra [AFARM]

AFARM was founded in 1969 as an apex Institution to coordinate programmes of voluntary organisations engaged in providing drinking water and agricultural extension services to villages in drought affected Maharashtra. It is one of the pioneering networking organisations in the country working in the areas of sustainable agriculture, irrigation, disaster relief and drinking water resource management. It acts as a platform for several civil society organisations for the promotion of sustainable and equitable development. The emphasis is on capacity building of organisations through action research, advocacy and field projects at grassroots. AFARM is providing support and consultancy at the policy level.

BAIF Development Research Foundation [BAIF]

BAIF was established on the strong foundation of Gandhian values with the aim to improve quality of life through development research and capacity building. BAIF’s vision is to build a self-reliant rural society assured of food security, safe drinking water, good health, gender equity, low child mortality, literacy, high moral values and clean environment. It is striving towards the mission to create opportunities of gainful self-employment for the rural and tribal families with a focus on disadvantaged sections, ensuring sustainable livelihood, healthy environment, better quality of life and good human values. BAIF believes in field research, effective use of local resources, extension of appropriate technologies and upgradation of skills and capabilities with community participation.

Observations

Availability of digital datasets on water resource projects: Many organisations in the sector rely on online information and databases on sites such as – Census of India, IMD, Google Earth, Bhuvan, CGWB, GSDA, MRSAC, Bhumi Abhilekh, Survey of India, India Water Portal, Agriculture Department, Irrigation Department, Forest Department, Maharain etc. Many of the global datasets on water resources and related topics such as agriculture, population, topography, forestry, climate change etc. are also in the public domain. However, the updating of data is not done regularly. For example, we have to refer to census data for 2011 even in 2022. Many of the datasets are also at a macro level, providing very little granular data. The water resource projects mostly need micro level data which is collected through on-ground surveys.

Effectiveness of digital platforms, and challenges with internet coverage: Organisations have found the use of digital platforms and tools effective for quick exchange of common training modules, process videos, drawings and manuals, as part of their water resource projects. The digital format has also been very effective for dissemination of advisories, alerts etc. through smartphones, which have enabled better access to information on gadgets quickly. However, two-way communication is necessary when timely solutions to queries of the farmers are to be provided, and that has been difficult to set up in a sustained manner through a digital format.
Many organisations in the sector also engage in capacity-building efforts for staff, volunteers and communities. When building these communities and mobilising them for action, the process needs spontaneous feedback, live conversations, reading the expressions and actual interactions with each other. All these things are completely missing from virtual interactions. These organisational processes and capacity-building efforts were grossly hampered during the pandemic due to a reliance on online meetings alone.
There are still challenges of internet connectivity in rural and remote areas where the communities are involved in water management projects. The consistency of bandwidth is a major issue when it comes to streaming of audio-visual content, uploading of content, online workshops, etc.

Lack of documentation skills, and challenges with language: Most of the documents used in water resources related projects are technical in nature. The technical team invests more time in the implementation, hence the time and skills required for documentation are limited. This gap between technical skills and documentation skills is challenging. There are ample structures, technological methods, apps etc. for collecting the data but at the same time, the resources for data collection or structured data development are not sufficiently provided. There are also several language-related challenges at the field level. Crucial parts of the training and awareness material need to be translated in the local languages as well.

Mobilisation and motivation for communities and wider public: The offline and online content is not very effective to mobilise or motivate the people involved in action at the field level in water conservation efforts. The organisers are exploring all the modes of communication and content available, but there is no alternative for human leadership.
Some organisations like Paani Foundation have beautifully captured the success stories of these efforts in dramatic short films. These films inspire the public temporarily, but the content can not be used often. Also, the production costs of such content are high resulting in very few options for wider outreach to engage a general audience.

Negligible content about water sector in public domain or Wikimedia projects in local languages: All the organisations agree upon the lack of searchable content on water related topics on the internet and in the public domain through projects like Wikimedia. The activists looking for solutions on some technical issues, the community searching for good projects in other parts of India or the planners looking for some structured databases on impact of projects, all of them get very little content on the internet. The local language content on water resources has almost negligible presence.

Need for a comprehensive portal giving information to stakeholders at different levels: The different stakeholders concerned with water resources seek information and data on various levels and diverse formats according to application and purpose. As of now, no such comprehensive platform in multiple languages exists which caters to these needs. The requirements include a wide range like, sample design of water conservation structures, contour maps of region, rainfall data, estimates of raw material, ground water aquifer maps, water pollution parameters, operation of dams, irrigation systems, water policies, water treaties, government notifications, etc. A well structured and categorised knowledge repository and database on water resources is the need of the hour. Such a knowledge base would strongly support the actions on the ground.

Recommendations

Developing a Process Documentation Strategy: The continuous changes in knowledge resources and data regarding various topics related to water resources need to be documented from time to time. The dynamic nature of water related issues requires a proactive process documentation strategy for the organisation as well as the citizen science groups in the society. The ideal example is the trajectory of the monsoon season in India every year and the rainfall in various agro-climatic regions. The watershed conservation projects, river rejuvenation programs, pollution control projects are long term processes with long term impacts. The journey of several years is painstaking, needs patience and struggles on the ground with constant motivational efforts. The persons directly engaged in these efforts may not be able to spend time on documentation of the many resources that are a result of these efforts. Hence, a solid process documentation strategy is required. The process documentation is also crucial for assessment of project impact on environment, livelihoods, economy, geography and people. There are also citizen movements which have been active for a long time, which are instrumental in giving birth to new laws, rules, guidelines, notifications, etc. The different milestones and turning points in these processes are to be documented in time. This documentation can guide the larger citizens’ movements to design their strategies and to resolve issues arising during the course of this work, and across different thematic areas as well.

Accessible datasets open for all in the public domain: There is an important need to compile the datasets on water resources developed by different agencies with people’s participation and government funding for the planning of public works or schemes. The open access to such reliable and factual datasets in the public domain serves the purpose of transparency and accountability of public infrastructure programmes. This facility for society would provide impetus to rigorous analysis, studies, research and innovative designing of public infrastructure. The processing and presentation of data in visual formats, including infographics can boost understanding, awareness, and logical thinking processes among enthusiasts who would like to engage with water conservation efforts. Different perspectives can emerge after relating and comparing datasets. The networking of agencies, organisations, experts and citizen forums would further develop complementary datasets. This synergy will definitely create a community data pool beneficial for everyone.

Digital and open access content development for capacity building of field level activists: Various organisations have developed training material for field level activists in different formats. Most of this is not online or digitised. Through networking efforts, the integration could be done to develop systematic modules for capacity building. The modules would be hosted as Open Educational Resources (OERs) on Wikimedia projects or other free knowledge platforms. The topic wise categories will make the selection easier. These categories can include local water source, rivers, waste water disposal, pollution, water based livelihoods, water conservation treatments etc. The format combining course work with some hands-on experiments is beneficial to facilitate the process of self-study, self-assessment and self-design. This online repository can be accessed by the field activists working on water resources anytime, anywhere when they need guidance to resolve issues or trouble-shooting on site.

Orientation of organisations towards free knowledge platforms and Wikimedia projects: Over the years, the organisations working in this sector have created valuable material for wider circulation to create awareness and empower communities. These resources have been used effectively and in a few locations for a certain period of time. The outreach and dissemination through integration of these resources will have more impact in the coming years if digital platforms are utilised efficiently. The basic orientation of the organisations regarding such free knowledge digital platforms, including copyright issues, Creative Commons licences, digitisation process and internet technologies is necessary to kick start this knowledge dissemination movement. Some pilot projects could be executed to demonstrate the potential of Wikimedia projects in database generation, documentation of case studies, audio-visual repositories and reference libraries.

References

"Groundwater". edugreen.teri.res.in. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
"‘Discharge of untreated industrial effluents, sewage major source of river pollution’". The Indian Express. 2018-12-21. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
Naresh Singaravelu & Harshita Mishra (6 June 2019). "Rivers in India: a reality check". https://www.thehindu.com/. The Hindu. Retrieved 28 Sep 2022.
"Living rivers, dying rivers: Everything you wanted to know about rivers in India | India Water Portal". www.indiawaterportal.org. Retrieved 2022-09-28.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/research-exploring-knowledge-repositories-on-water-resources-in-india