Centre for Internet and Society

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ଏକ ଅନୁଶୀଳନ

subha — 2016-02-27T04:28:20Z

On the day of the International Mother Language Day, it is important to look outside and draw inspirations from several success stories of digital activism for languages. Hebrew, an ancient language that was almost dead for over 1500 years was revived from ashes like phoenix. Even after being honoured with the classical language status in the same category of Sanskrit and Tamil, Odia has not seen much progress in the digital sphere.

It has not yet being used for governance and judiciary even though the Orissa Official Language Act exist officially since 1954. Almost all of the newspapers do not have their content available in the Unicode standard. Large amount of Odia-language content could otherwise have influenced Google to include Odia along with the other nine Indian languages in their home page. The writer was privileged to be asked for advising on enlisting the online resources available in Odia language for the first Unicode-based Odia portal by the government "odia.odisha.gov.in". There is a huge gap in the way knowledge is disseminated in Odia. Odia Wikisource and Odia Wikipedia are trying to fill this gap to some extent where the former project has over 290 volumes of digitized text and the latter has over 11000 encyclopedic entries in Odia. Odia Wikisource is creating the next level of the book scanning work done by Srujanika, a Bhubaneswar-based non-profit that has scanned over 150000 pages from many Odia books. Similarly, Odia Wikisource is aiming to be to what Purnachandra Bhasakosha, a lexicon published in 1930s with thousands of lexical and encyclopedic entries, meant to the contemporary Odia society. But all of these are not enough until there is much awareness in the government front that could lead more policy-level reforms and a better governance in the native language.

The article was published in in Odia newspaper the Samaja on February 21, 2016. Full text in Odia below:

ପୃଥିବୀର ଏକ ପୁରୁଣା ଭାଷା ଭିତରୁ ଗୋଟିଏ ଭାଷା ହେଲା ହିବ୍ରୁ । ଏ ଭାଷାଟି ୧୫୦୦ ବର୍ଷରୁ ଅଧିକ କାଳ ଦରମଲା ରହି ଫିନିକ୍ସ ଚଢେ଼ଇ ଭଳି ପାଉଁଶ ତଳୁ ଉଠିଲା । ଏବେ ଏ ଭାଷାଟି ପାଖାପାଖି ୯୦ ଲକ୍ଷ ଲୋକଙ୍କ କଥିତ; ପୁଣି ଏ ଭାଷାରେ ଦେଶର ଶାସନ ଚଳେ ଆଉ କମ୍ପୁ୍ଟର ଅପରେଟିଂ ସିଷ୍ଟମ ଓ ମୋବାଇଲ ଇଣ୍ଟରଫେସରେ ଦିଶେ । ଏସବୁ ପଛରେ ରହିଛି ବିଜ୍ଞାନ ଓ କାରିଗରୀର କରାମତି । ଯଦି ଦେଶର ଶାସନ ନିଜ ଭାଷାରେ ହୁଏ ତେବେ ଶାସନ ପାଇଁ ଦରକାରୀ ଉପାଦାନସବୁ ନିଜ ଭାଷାରେ ତିଆରି ହୁଏ । ଆଉ ଏ ଉପାଦାନମାନ ତିଆରିବା ଲାଗି ଶିକ୍ଷା ବ୍ୟବସ୍ଥା ଗଢ଼ାହୁଏ । ପିଲେ ଚାକିରି କରନ୍ତି । ଭାଷା ଶାସନର ଭାଷା ହେଲେ ଶିକ୍ଷା ଓ ଜ୍ଞାନର ଭାଷା ହୋଇ ଭାତ ଦିଏ । ନିଜ

ସଙ୍ଗେ ଯୋଡ଼ା ଏ ରଥଚକର ଗୋଟେ ଅର ହୁଗୁଳା ହେଲେ ଆରଟି ଭୁଷୁଡ଼ି ପଡ଼ିବ । ଆଉ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପାଇଁ ଏ ଅର ଭିତରୁ କେଉଁ ଅର କେମିତି ରହିଛି ଆଉ କ’ଣ ମରାମତି ହେବ ଆମକୁ ବେଳ ହୁଁ ଭାବିବାକୁ ପଡ଼ିବ । ଅପ୍ରିୟ ସତ କଥା ହେଲା ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ମାନ୍ୟତା ମିଳିବାର ଦୁଇ ବର୍ଷ ବିତିଗଲା ପରେ ବି ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଏବେ ଯାଏ କୋର୍ଟ କଚେରିର ଭାଷା ହୋଇପାରିଲା ନାହିଁ । ସରକାରୀସ୍ତରରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆର ବ୍ୟାପକ ବ୍ୟବହାର ବଦଳରେ ହିନ୍ଦୀରୁ ଉଧାରି ଆଣି ପାଳିତ ହେଉଛି ‘ରାହଗିରି ଦିବସ’ । ଚଳଚ୍ଚିତ୍ରରେ ବି ସେଇଆ । ଆଉ କାହା ସଙ୍ଗେ ମିତ ବସିବାରେ ଆପତ୍ତି ନାହିଁ ହେଲେ ନିଜ ପରିଚୟ ହାରି ସେ ମିତ ବସିବାରେ କି ସୁଖ! ସରକାରୀସ୍ତରରେ ବିଭିନ୍ନ ରାଜ୍ୟର ଯେଉଁ ଭଳି ତାଙ୍କ ୱେବସାଇଟସବୁ ତାଙ୍କ ରାଜ୍ୟ ଭାଷାରେ ତିଆରି ହୋଇଛି ଆମର ସେମିତି ହୋଇ ନାହିଁ । ନିକଟରେ odia.odisha.gov.in ନାମରେ ସାଇଟଟିଏ ସରକାର ତିଆରି କଲାବେଳେ ଏହି ଲେଖକକୁ ସେଥିରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର କମ୍ପୁ୍ଟର ଓ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଥିବା ବିଭିନ୍ନ ସାଜସରଞ୍ଜାମ ବାବଦରେ ପରାମର୍ଶ ଦେବାର ସୁଯୋଗ ମିଳିଥିଲା । ଏ ସାଜସବୁ ଖୋଜିବା ବେଳେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ଥିବା ୱେବସାଇଟ ବାବଦରେ କିଛି ତଥ୍ୟ ଆଖି ସାମନାକୁ ଆସିଥିଲା । ଗୁଗୁଲ ସର୍ଚରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଆସୁ ନଥିବାର ମୁଖ୍ୟ କାରଣ ହେଲା ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଲେଖାର ଅଭାବ । ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ କେଇ ଶହ ଖବରକାଗଜ ଦୈନିକ ଛପାଯାଉଥିଲେ ହେଁ ମୁଖ୍ୟ ଖବରକାଗଜର ୱେବସାଇଟରେ ଉଇନିକୋଡ ମାନକରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଲେଖା ନାହିଁ । ଲେଖାସବୁ ଅଣ-ମାନକ ଲିପି ଏନକୋଡିଂରେ ରହିଛି କିମ୍ବା ଛବି ଭାବେ ରହିଛି । ଫଳରେ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଖୋଜିଲେ ଲେଖାଯାକ ମିଳିବ ନାହିଁ । ସେମିତି bhulekh.ori.nic.in ଭଳି ଓଡ଼ିଶା ସରକାରଙ୍କ ସାଇଟଟିରେ ଅଣ-ମାନକ ଫଣ୍ଟରେ ତିଆରି ହୋଇଥିବାରୁ ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକେ ସରକାରୀ ନଥିପତ୍ର ଖୋଜି ପାଇପାରୁନାହାନ୍ତି । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପାଇଁ ଯେତେକ ଆନ୍ଦୋଳନ ଏବେ ଚାଲିଛି ସବୁ କେବଳ ସାହିତ୍ୟ ଓ ଶାସନକୁ ନେଇ କିନ୍ତୁ କେଉଁ କେଉଁ ଉପାଦାନକୁ ନେଇ ବାକି ଜାଗତିକ ଭାଷାଏ ଆଗକୁ ବଢ଼ିଛନ୍ତି ଆଉ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ କି କି ଚିଜ ନିହାତି ଲୋଡ଼ା ତା’ ଲାଗି ଆକଳନ ଲୋଡ଼ା ।

ଭାରତରେ ୧୯୫୫ ଆଗର ପ୍ରାୟ ବହି କପିରାଇଟ ବାହାରେ । ଏ ବର୍ଗରେ ଥିବା ଓଡ଼ିଆ ବହିସବୁ ଧୀରେଧୀରେ ଉଇଙ୍କ ଆହାର ହେବା ଉପରେ । ଭୁବନେଶ୍ୱର ସୃଜନିକା ଅନୁଷ୍ଠାନ, ରାଉରକେଲା ଏନଆଇଟି ଓ ପ୍ରଗତି ଉତ୍କଳ ସଂଘ ଉଦ୍ୟମରେ ହୋଇଥିବା ଉଦ୍ୟମ ଫଳରେ ଦେଢ଼ ଲକ୍ଷରୁ ଅଧିକ ପୃଷ୍ଠା ସ୍କାନ କରାଯାଇଛି । ଏଥିରୁ କିଛି ଏବେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାର ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପର or.wikisource.org ୱେବ୍‍ସାଇଟରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ । ସ୍ୱେଚ୍ଛାରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପାଠକମାନେ ନିଜ ପସନ୍ଦର ବହିସବୁକୁ ଡିଜିଟାଇଜ କରି ସ୍କାନ ଛବିରୁ ଲେଖାର ରୂପାନ୍ତର କାମ କରିପାରୁଛନ୍ତି । ଏଥି ସହିତ ସମ୍ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଗବତ ଭଳି ଆମ ଭାଷାର ସମ୍ପତ୍ତି ଧୀରେଧୀରେ ଏଥିରେ ଆସିବାକୁ ଲାଗିଲାଣି । ଏଥି ସହିତ ଗୋପାଳ ପ୍ରହରାଜଙ୍କ ଭାଷାକୋଷ ତିଆରି କାମକୁ ଏବର ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ମାଧ୍ୟମରେ ଆଗକୁ ନେବାର ଉଦ୍ୟମ ହେଲାଣି । ଏ ଯାବତ ୧୧ ହଜାରରୁ ଅଧିକ ଲେଖା ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିିଡିଆରେ or.wikipedia.org ୱେବ୍‍ସାଇଟରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ । ସାମୂହିକ ଉଦ୍ୟମ ଛଡ଼ା କିଛି ବ୍ୟକ୍ତି ବିଶେଷ ଓ ସଙ୍ଗଠନ ମଧ୍ୟ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ କିଛି ୱେବ୍‍ସାଇଟ ଆଗରୁ ବଖଣାଯାଇଥିବା ଫାଙ୍କା ଥାନ ପୂରଣ କରିବା କାମରେ ମଧ୍ୟ ଲାଗିଛନ୍ତି । ତେବେ ଆଉ ଭାଷା ସଙ୍ଗେ ଓଡ଼ିଆକୁ ସମକକ୍ଷ କରିବା ଲାଗି ଆହୁରି ଅନେକ ଉଦ୍ୟମ ଆବଶ୍ୟକ । ବିଶେଷକରି ସରକାରଙ୍କ ପାଖେ ସଚେତନତା ଲୋଡ଼ା । କେବଳ କୋଟିକୋଟି ଟଙ୍କାର ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ନୁହେଁ ବରଂ ଘରର ମୂଳଦୁଆ ଗଢ଼ା କାମ ପାଇଁ ଅଧିକ ଉଦ୍ୟମ ନିହାତି ଲୋଡ଼ାପଡ଼ିଛି ।

News Clipping

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/b13b21b3cb3fb06-b2db3eb37b3e-b2ab3eb07b01-b0fb15-b05b28b41b36b40b33b28

ମାତୃଭାଷା ଦିବସ: ଆଜିର ସମସ୍ୟା ଓ ଆହ୍ୱାନ

subha — 2016-02-26T16:52:36Z

The article was published in the editorial section of Odia newspaper the Sambad on February 21, 2016. This piece explains about the challenges of expanding a knowledge base in Odia language and helping it grow beyond just the literature and to a language of knowledge.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/b2eb3eb24b43b2db3eb37b3e-b26b3fb2cb38-b06b1cb3fb30-b38b2eb38b4db5fb3e-b13-b06b39b4db71b3eb28

The Intellects holds 2nd International Conclave of Odia Language

praskrishna — 2016-02-27T05:35:17Z

The Intellects, a Delhi-based progressive forum of intellectuals, held the 2nd International Conclave of Odia Language at the India International Centre in New Delhi today.

Subhashish Panigrahi participated in the event and won an award. Look for the coverage by Odisha News here.

The seminar had the title of ‘Aamari Bhasha Pathe’. The conclave was inaugurated by eminent Novelist and Writer Dr. Bibhuti Pattnaik and Rajya Sabha MP Baishnab Charan Parida among others. In the inaugural session, the speakers, including Shri Baishnab Parida, Dr. Natabar Satpathy, Dr. Amarendra Khatua, Poet Sankarshan Parida, Dr. Iti Samanta, Smt. Mamata Mohapatra, Mr. Subhasish Panigrahi stressed on the need of promotion of Odia language and its development on the global arena. They highlighted various angles of Odia language, its history and the challenges it faced apart from outlining the modalities to give it a big boost.

In the second leg, a Poets’ Conference was held. Dr. Jagannath Prasad Das, Dr. Amarendra Khatua, Poet Sankarshan Parida, Dr. Anita Panda, Poet Gajanan Mishra, Smt. Yashodhara Mishra, Poet Manas Ranjan Mohapatra and many other recited poems.

In the last leg, Kendra Sahitya Akademi President, Dr. Vishwanath Tiwari and Sir Mark Tully (former Bureau Chief of BBC, New Delhi), graced the occasion among others. Several eminent personalities were honoured and received the awards from The Intellects.

Ama Gourav Samman – Shri Bibhuti Pattnaik

Amari Bhasha Pathe Samman:

Shri Baishnab Parida
Dr. Amarendra Khatua
Smt. Kunu Dash
Dr. Iti Samanta
Dr. Natabar Satpathy
Shri Gajanan Mishra
Shri Sankarshan Parida
Smt. Mamata Mohapatra
Shri Kulamani Biswal

Yuva Prerana Samman:

Shri Subhasish Panigrahi
Shri Manoranjan Mohanty
Shri Subhranshu Panda

Swabhimani Odia Sanghthan Samman:

Biswajit Dash (IPROCH)
Sanjeev Mohanty (Odisha Forum)
Bijaya Kumar Dash (Sukha Dukha Prakashan)

Shri Debendra Rout, Chairman of The Intellects and Parambrahma Tripathy, Secretary (Literature), The Intellects, organised the event successfully with all their hard efforts.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/odisha-news-february-22-2016-intellects-holds-second-international-conclave-of-odia-language

Standard Essential Patents on Low-Cost Mobile Phones in India: A Case to Strengthen Competition Regulation?

nehaa — 2016-04-24T04:42:52Z

The realization of the promise of the sub hundred dollar mobile device as a facilitator of access to knowledge is contingent inter alia on its availability in the market place. In turn, the market availability of the sub hundred dollar mobile device is influenced by the existence of an enabling environment for producers to produce, and consumers to consume. From a regulatory perspective, the enabling environment itself is a function of existing laws and policies, and the ‘developmental effects’ of certain laws and policies (Saraswati, 2012).

This article seeks to examine one such legal and policy lever and the role of a regulator in the development of an enabling environment for access to sub hundred dollar mobile devices. This paper is founded on four assumptions: first, that access to sub hundred dollar mobile devices is influenced by their price; second, that the question of access necessitates conversation between the intellectual property regime and several other actors, sites and tools; third, that one of the fundamental goals of regulatory reform is the creation of a ‘stable, open and future- proof environment’ (Guermazi and Satola, 2005) that encourages access to these devices; and fourth, that there exist public law implications of intellectual property that justify the involvement of State actors and regulators in matters that may arise out of private transactions.

This article will examine whether there is a role to be played by competition law in this narrative of innovation, intellectual property and access to sub hundred dollar mobile devices. In light of increasing litigation around standard essential patents, and the inability of FRAND and International Standard Setting Organizations to find a comprehensive solution, this paper will question the efficacy of competition law as an ex post solution to a problem that might be better addressed by ex ante regulation from a specialized body.

In an attempt to address these questions, this article will examine the role of the Competition Commission of India and the Indian Judiciary. Orders of the Competition Commission will be studied from its inception till March, 2015, in order to draw conclusions about the role that the Commission identifies for itself and the nature of disputes it adjudicates. This article will also examine the role of similarly placed institutions in the United States of America as well as some member states of the European Union.

It will be argued that while Competition Law might address some of the issues arising out of litigation around standard essential patents, and might be a tool to increase access to sub hundred dollar mobile devices, its efficacy as a long term solution in light of its nature as an ex post solution, is questionable. Consequently, it might be prudent to have a conversation leaning towards exante regulation of the market place by a specialized regulator.

The paper was published by Socio Legal Review (National Law School of India University). Download the PDF here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/the-socio-legal-review-nehaa-chaudhari-standard-essential-patent-on-low-cost-mobile-phones-in-india

The new Guidelines for Computer Related Inventions are a big win for FOSS in India!

sinha — 2016-02-24T06:30:37Z

India is one of the few countries which permits patenting of software – a monopolization that has only benefited established corporations and largely throttled innovation in the software industry, worldwide. CIS has consistently advocated against patentablity of software and in a major victory last week, software patenting in India died a little more. This happened via the newly issued Guidelines for the Examination of Computer Related Inventions, which introduces a new test to restrict software patenting – in essence the same legal test that CIS had been proposing since 2010. This post highlights the new test and other noteworthy changes in the Guidelines.

When the Guidelines for examination of Computer Related Inventions(“ 2015 Guidelines”) were released last year, it became obvious that they would have an adverse impact on innovation in the Indian software industry. Further, the 2015 Guidelines were legally defective since they ran counter to the object of Section 3(k) of the Patents Act, 1970, which is to unconditionally exclude mathematical and business methods, computer programs per se, and algorithms from patentable subject matter. To stop and prevent egregious harms, civil society organisations collectively wrote to the Prime Minister's Office flagging off the defects and requested for a recall of the Guidelines. In December 2015, the Indian Patent Office promptly recalled the 2015 Guidelines and held a consultation to discuss the concerns raised in the letter.

Based on submissions by various stakeholders, the Patent Office released a new set of Guidelines(“Guidelines”), which are not only a staggering improvisation from all previous versions, but also introduce a new three step test to determine applicability of section 3(k), an area of Indian patent law that has been notoriously full of uncertainties:

5. Tests/ Indicators to determine Patentability of CRIs (“Computer Related inventions”):

Examiners may rely on the following three stage test in examining CRI applications:

(1) Properly construe the claim and identify the actual contribution;

(2) If the contribution lies only in mathematical method, business method or algorithm, deny the claim;

(3) If the contribution lies in the field of computer programme, check whether it is claimed in conjunction with a novel hardware and proceed to other steps to determine patentability with respect to the invention. The computer programme in itself is never patentable. If the contribution lies solely in the computer programme, deny the claim. If the contribution lies in both the computer programme as well as hardware, proceed to other steps of patentability.

CIS had proposed the exact same test in its earlier submissions(2010) to the Patent Office, albeit worded differently. We submitted:

"We propose a new part to the above test to make the clause clearer. The Manual should specify that “the computer programme portions of any claimed invention should be treated as if it were covered by prior art and patentability should thus be determined with respect to the other features of the invention”. This way, we can ensure that an invention which merely uses or implements a computer programme is not granted patent on the basis of the inventiveness of the computer programme per se."

Further, the Guidelines also recognise that CRIs may fall under sections 3(k), 3(l), 3(m) and 3(n):

2.2. The Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002 also introduced explicit exclusions from patentability under section 3 for CRIs as under:

3(k) a mathematical or business method or a computer programme per se or algorithms;

(l) a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or any other aesthetic creation whatsoever including cinematographic works and television productions;

(m) a mere scheme or rule or method of performing mental act or method of playing game;

(n) a presentation of information;

And thus CRIs as such cannot be patentable, if they fall in either of the above mentioned exclusions. Overall, the new Guidelines offer more clarity and stick to the Patents Act, 1970's intention of disqualifying patentability of computer programmes per se. We will soon post a detailed analysis of the Guidelines. In the meantime, you may read CIS' research on the subject in the section below.

CIS' Research and Submissions against Software Patenting

Over the past years, CIS has produced research and consistently made submissions advocating the roll- back of software patenting:

Arguments Against Software Patents in India, 2010

CIS Submission on Draft Patent Manual, 2010

Comments on the Draft Guidelines for Computer Related Inventions, 2013

Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions: Mapping the Stakeholders' Response, 2014

Comments on the Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions (CRIs), 2015

CIS' submission to Indian Patent Office on Examples of Excluded Patentable subject-matter under Section 3(k) for incorporation in the yet-to-be-released Guidelines for Computer Related Inventions, 2016

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/the-new-guidelines-for-computer-related-inventions-are-a-big-win-for-foss-in-india

MHRD IPR Chair Series: Information Received from IIT, Bombay

Karan Tripathi — 2016-02-22T14:34:19Z

To collect the information for the given study, an RTI application was filed to the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay on 17/03/2015 by the Centre for Internet and Society. The reply to RTI application was received on 10/04/2015.

These are the documents received by CIS from IIT Bombay:

For RTI Response click here <IIT Bombay - Response to RTI >
For complete supporting documents click here <IIT Bombay – Response and Report >

Hereinafter, in order to receive any information about IIT Bombay’s RTI reply, kindly refer to the above mentioned links. Following are the queries mentioned in the RTI application along with their replies.

Reports on the implementation of the IPERPO scheme of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the implementation of the MHRD IPR Chair funded under the scheme at IIT Bombay from 2013-2014

Reply: IIT Bombay has submitted the documents required under this track. However, detailed documents highlighting the manner of implementation are not submitted by the University.

Documents detailing the release of grants to the MHRD IPR Chairs under the IPERPO Scheme

Reply: The University received a grant of Rs. 35,00,000 from MHRD on 12th December 2013 for incurring expenditure under IPR Chair activities under the scheme for Promotion of Copyright & IPR.

Documents relating to receipts of utilisation certificates and audited expenditure statements and matters related to all financial sanctions with regard to funds granted to the MHRD IPR Chair established under the IPERPO scheme at IIT Bombay.

Reply: Utilisation certificate for the financial year 2013-2014 is submitted by the University.

Documents regarding all matters pertaining to finance and budget related the MHRD IPR Chair under the IPERPOs scheme established at IIT Bombay

Reply: The University has provided expenditure statement for the period 2007-2014

Comparative Analysis between University Response and the guidelines of MHRD Scheme Document

The Scheme Document of MHRD (http://copyright.gov.in/Documents/scheme.pdf) is a comprehensive document which consists of guidelines regarding Intellectual Property Education, Research and Public Outreach. It talks about a list of objectives, purposes, conditions and eligibility criteria for a University to ensure in order to implement IPERPO in a truest sense. This document provides the procedural as well as qualifying conditions for an Institute to ensure or fulfil before applying for the MHRD grant. Some of these conditions include maintenance of utilization certificates, audit reports, expenditure statements and event information which would be open to access on demand by MDHR or Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

A. Objective
In order to fulfil the objectives mentioned in the scheme document, the University undertook following activities:
a. Granted two Ph.D. Fellowships
b. Introduced foundations courses at UG, PG Level and two full courses on Intellectual Property
c. Organised 2nd International Conference on MIPS 2014
d. Organised workshops on Patents and IP Policy
e. Enhanced the stock of IP books, journals and databases

B. Eligibility
IIT Bombay is recognized by the University Grants Commission. Therefore, it fulfils the eligibility criteria mentioned in the scheme document.

Financial Analysis

A. Utilization Details for the Financial Year 2013-2014

In this financial year, a grant of Rs. 35,00,000 was received by the University from MHRD which was added to the carried forward balance of Rs. 13,05,914. Out of the total amount of Rs. 48,05,914, a sum of Rs. 15,66,179 was utilized by the University for the purpose for which it was sanctioned.

B. Expenditure Analysis

This figure highlights that the cumulative expenditure for the period 2007-2010 is almost double the amount of expenditure incurred in other financial years. After this period, the maximum amount of money was spent in the financial year 2011-2012 and the least was spent in the financial year 2013-2014.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-iit-bombay

MHRD IPR Chair Series: Information Received from IIT, Delhi

Karan Tripathi — 2016-02-22T02:46:38Z

The author has analysed all the data received under various heads such as income, grants from MHRD, planned and non planned expenditure, nature and frequency of programmes organised and the allocation of funds for the same. Throughout the course of observation and presentation of the analysed data, the author seeks to trace the presence of unjustified underutilisation of funds by the aforementioned university as provided by the MHRD during the period of 2003-2014. To collect the information for the given study, an RTI application was filed to the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi on 19/11/2014 by the Centre for Internet and Society. The reply to RTI application was received on 16/12/2014. These are the documents received by CIS from IIT Delhi:

For RTI Response click here <Response to Nov RTI >
For complete supporting documents click here <Response and Report >

Hereinafter, in order to receive any information about IIT Delhi’s RTI reply, kindly refer to the above mentioned links. Following are the queries mentioned in the RTI application along with their replies.

Reports on the implementation of the IPERPO scheme of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the implementation of the MHRD IPR Chair funded under the scheme at IIT Delhi from 2003-2014

Reply: IIT Delhi has submitted all the documents in order to highlight the implementation of IPERPO scheme in the University for the period 1992-2011. Documents for the period 2012-2014 are not submitted by the University

Documents indicating the date on which such an IPR Chair was set up at your institution and a copy of the application made by IIT Delhi to the MHRD for instituting such an IPR Chair and documents received by IIT Delhi from the MHRD approving the same

Reply: At IIT Delhi, the IPR Chair under the IPERPO scheme was appointed in October 2007. All the supporting documents are submitted by the University

Documents detailing the release of grants to the MHRD IPR Chairs under the IPERPO Scheme

Reply: All the documents regarding the release of grants are submitted except for the period 2012-2014. The University mentioned in its reply that it did not receive any grant for the financial year 2013-2014.

Documents relating to receipts of utilisation certificates and audited expenditure statements and matters related to all financial sanctions with regard to funds granted to the MHRD IPR Chair established under the IPERPO scheme at IIT Delhi

Reply: The University has provided utilisation certificates only for the period 2009-2011.

Documents regarding all matters pertaining to finance and budget related the MHRD IPR Chair under the IPERPOs scheme established at IIT Delhi

Reply: No documents are provided for information sought under this track. In its reply the University mentioned that the query put forward by CIS is not specific.

Details of the IPR Chair’s salary under the IPERPO Scheme indicating whether this amount is paid over and above the professional’s usual salary

Reply: The University has submitted all the documents pertaining to the aforementioned query.

Comparative Analysis between University Response and the guidelines of MHRD Scheme Document
The Scheme Document of MHRD (http://copyright.gov.in/Documents/scheme.pdf) is a comprehensive document which consists of guidelines regarding Intellectual Property Education, Research and Public Outreach. It talks about a list of objectives, purposes, conditions and eligibility criteria for a University to ensure in order to implement IPERPO in a truest sense. This document provides the procedural as well as qualifying conditions for an Institute to ensure or fulfil before applying for the MHRD grant. Some of these conditions include maintenance of utilization certificates, audit reports, expenditure statements and event information which would be open to access on demand by MDHR or

Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

A. Objectives
In order to fulfil the objectives mentioned in the scheme document, IIT Delhi undertook following activities:
a. Faculty Development Program on IPR
b. Two MBA projects on IPR were introduced
c. Certificate courses on IPR & IP Services
d. National Conferences on IPR
e. IPR Related Research Publications

B. Eligibility
IIT Delhi is recognized by the University Grants Commission. Therefore, it fulfils the eligibility criteria mentioned in the scheme document.

Financial Analysis
The University has provided financial documents such as utilisation certificates and statements of expenditure only for the period 2010-2011. No documents are submitted for the period 2007-2009 and 2012-2014. The first grant of Rs. 25,00,000 was given to the University in 2006.

A. Financial Year 2010 -2011

In this financial year, a sum of Rs. 4,71,127 was sanctioned to the University out of which a sum of Rs. 1,45,000 was utilized and Rs. 3,26,127 was left as unspent balance.

In this financial year, the maximum amount of money was spent on salaries of the Chair Professor and his staff. Almost equal amount of money was utilised for organising workshops and procuring stationary.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-iit-delhi

ಪ್ರಶಾಂತವನ

praskrishna — 2016-03-20T04:32:04Z

ಮಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಸಂತ ಅಲೋಷಿಯಸ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಎರಿಕ್ ಮೆಥಾಯಿಸ್ ಸಭಾಂಗಣದಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ೧೩ನೇ ವರ್ಷಾಚರಣೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಒಂದು ವರದಿ

The blog post was published in Prashasti Prashantavanam on February 21, 2016.

ಲಾಸ್ಯ ಶೆಟ್ಟಿಯವರ ನಿರೂಪಣೆಯ ವರ್ಷಾಚರಣಾ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಶುರುವಾದದ್ದು "ಹೊಸ ಹಾದಿಯನು ಹಿಡಿದು ನಡೆಯಣ್ಣ ಮುಂದೆ.." ಎಂಬ ರೋಹಿತ್ , ಗೋಪಾಲಕೃಷ್ಣ ಮತ್ತು ತಂಡದವರಿಂದ. ಮುಂದುವರಿಯುವುದಕ್ಕೆ ಮುಂಚೆ ವೇದಿಕೆಯನ್ನು ಅಲಂಕರಿಸಿದ ಗಣ್ಯರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಒಂದೆರಡು ನುಡಿಗಳನ್ನಾದರೂ ಹೇಳಲೇಬೇಕಾಗುತ್ತೆ.ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿ ಬಳಸುವವರಿಗೆಲ್ಲಾ ಅದರಲ್ಲಿನ ಕೆ.ಪಿ.ರಾವ್ ಕೀಲಿಮಣೆಯ ಪರಿಚಯವಿದ್ದೇ ಇರುತ್ತೆ. ಕನ್ನಡವೊಂದೇ ಅಲ್ಲದೇ ಅನೇಕ ಭಾರತೀಯ ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಭಾರತೀಯ ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಲಿಪಿಗಳನ್ನು ಗಣಕಕ್ಕೆ ಅಳವಡಿಸಿದ ಗಣಕ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿ ನಾಡೋಜ ಕೆ.ಪಿ ರಾವ್ ಅವರು ಇಂದಿನ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅತಿಥಿ.ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಮತ್ತೊಬ್ಬ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅತಿಥಿ ಶ್ರೀ ವಸಂತಕುಮಾರ ಪೆರ್ಲ. ಇವರು ಮಂಗಳೂರು ಆಕಾಶವಾಣಿ ನಿಲಯ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕರು ಮತ್ತು ಕನ್ನಡ ಪದಗಳ ಸೃಷ್ಠಿಗಾಗಿ ಪದಾರ್ಥಚಿಂತಾಮಣಿಯಂತಹ ಮುಖಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆಯ ಗುಂಪುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತೊಡಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡವರು. ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಮೂರನೇ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅತಿಥಿ ಪಿಲಿಕುಳ ನಿಸರ್ಗಧಾಮದ ಕಾರ್ಯನಿರ್ವಹಣಾಧಿಕಾರಿ ,ಮಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಹಿಂದಿನ ಪ್ರಭಾರಿ ಜಿಲ್ಲಾಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳಾಗಿದ್ದ S.A ಪ್ರಭಾಕರ ಶರ್ಮ ಅವರು, ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷತೆ ವಹಿಸಿದ್ದು ಸಂತ ಅಲೋಷಿಯಸ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಪ್ರಾಂಶುಪಾಲರಾದ ರೆ| ಫಾ| ಸ್ವೀಬರ್ಟ್ ಡಿ’ಸಿಲ್ವ ಅವರು. ಇದಲ್ಲದೇ ವೇದಿಕೆಯನ್ನಲಕಂರಿಸಿದ ಗಣ್ಯರೆಂದರೆ ಸಂತ ಅಲೋಷಿಯಸ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಬಿ.ಸಿ.ಎ ವಿಭಾಗದ ಮುಖ್ಯಸ್ಥರಾದ ಡಾ| ರವೀಂದ್ರಸ್ವಾಮಿ ಅವರು, ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಭಾಗದ ಮುಖ್ಯಸ್ಥರಾದ ಡಾ| ಸರಸ್ವತಿ ಅವರು ಮತ್ತು ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥಾಪಕರಾದ ಡಾ| ಯು.ಬಿ.ಪವನಜ ಮತ್ತು ಹದಿಮೂರನೆಯ ವರ್ಷಾಚರಣೆಯ ಸಂಚಾಲಕರಾದ ಡಾ| ವಿಶ್ವನಾಥ ಬದಿಕಾನ ಅವರು.

ಶ್ರೀ ವಿಶ್ವನಾಥ ಬದಿಕಾನ ಅವರ ಸ್ವಾಗತ ಮತ್ತು ಪ್ರಾಸ್ತಾವಿಕ ನಂತರ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಉದ್ಘಾಟನೆಯಾಗಿದ್ದು ನಾಡೋಜ ಕೆ.ಪಿ.ರಾವ್ ಅವರಿಂದ. ನಂತರ ಕೆ.ಪಿ.ರಾವ್ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಸನ್ಮಾನ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ. ಸನ್ಮಾನ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ನಂತರ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದ ರೆವರೆಂಡ್ ಫಾದರ್ ಡಿಸಿಲ್ವ ಅವರು ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಇತಿಹಾಸದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಕೊಡುಗೆಗಳ ನಡೆ, ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿರುವ ಕೆಲಸಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮತ್ತು ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆಯೂ ತಮ್ಮ ಮೆಚ್ಚುಗೆಯ ನುಡಿಗಳನ್ನು ವ್ಯಕ್ತಪಡಿಸಿದರು.

ನಂತರ ಕೆ.ಪಿ.ರಾವ್ ಅವರು ಎರಡು ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಉತ್ತರ ಹುಡುಕುವಂತಹ ಹಾದಿಯಲ್ಲಿನ ಶುಭನುಡಿಗಳು ನೆರೆದವರ ಗಮನ ಸೆಳೆಯುವಂತಿದ್ದವು.

ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಏಕೆ ಬೇಕು ? ಅನ್ನುವ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗೆ ಮೂರು ಉತ್ತರ ಹುಡುಕುವ ಹಾದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾಗಿದ ಅವರ ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯದಲ್ಲಿ ೧.ಕನ್ನಡ ಲಿಪಿ ಮಾತ್ರ ಬಲ್ಲವರಿಗೆ ಜಗದ ಜ್ಞಾನ ತಿಳಿಸಿಕೊಡಬಲ್ಲ ಸುಲಭದ ಮಾಧ್ಯಮ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ೨. ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದ ವಿಷಯಗಳು ,ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ,ಭಾಷಾ ಸೊಗಡು ಬೇರೆ ಭಾಷೆಯ ವಿಕಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅಷ್ಟು ಸಮಂಜಸವಾಗಿ/ಪೂರ್ಣವಾಗಿ ಮೂಡಿಬರಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ.

೩. ಯಾರಿಗಾದರೂ ಗೌರವ ಕೊಡಲು ಬಳಸಬಹುದಾದ ರು,ರಿಗೆ(ರಾಯರು,ರಾಯರಿಗೆ) ಯಂತಹ ಭಾಷಾ ವೈಶಿಷ್ಟ್ಯವನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿದ ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ತನ್ನದೇ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯವಿರಬೇಕಾದ ಅಗತ್ಯವಿದೆ.

ಮುಂದುವರಿಸಿದ ಅವರು ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ಭಾಷಾಂತರದ ಬದಲು ರೂಪಾಂತರ ಮಾಡುವ ಅಗತ್ಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಪ್ರಸ್ತಾಪಿಸಿದರು.ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಮೂಲಕವಾದರು ಕನ್ನಡ ಪದಬಳಕೆಯಲ್ಲೊಂದು ಸಮಾನತೆ ಬರಲೆಂಬ ಆಶಯವನ್ನೂ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಪಡಿಸಿದರು.

ನಂತರ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅತಿಥಿಗಳಾದ ವಸಂತಕುಮಾರ್ ಪೆರ್ಲ ಅವರು ಶಿಲಾಲೇಖ--> ತಾಮ್ರ ಪಟ-->ತಾಳೆಗರಿ-->ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ರೂಪದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಈಗ Digitial ಅವತರಣಿಕೆಯಾಗಿ ಬೆಳೆದು ಬಂದ ಪರಿಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ಕರಾವಳಿಯಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಹವ್ಯಕ, ಬ್ಯಾರಿ,ತುಳು,ಕೊಂಕಣಿ, ಮಲೆಯಾಳಂ,ಮರಾಠ,ಕರಾಡ, ಬೆಸ್ತರ ಹಲವು ಉಪಭಾಷೆಗಳ ರೂಪದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಭಾಷಾ ಸೊಗಡನ್ನು, ನಮ್ಮ ರೀತಿ ರಿವಾಜುಗಳನ್ನು ದಾಖಲಿಸಿಡುವ,ವಿಕಿ ಮೂಲಕ ಸಂರಕ್ಷಿಸುವ ಅಗತ್ಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು.

ನಂತರದ ಶುಭನುಡಿಗಳು ಪಿಲಿಕುಳದ ಶಿವರಾಮಕಾರಂತ ನಿಸರ್ಗಧಾಮದ ಕಾರ್ಯನಿರ್ವಹಣಾಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳಾದ S.Aಪ್ರಭಾಕರ ಶರ್ಮ ಅವರಿಂದ. ತದನಂತರ ಡಾ| ಯು.ಬಿ ಪವನಜ ತಮ್ಮ ತೈವಾನ್ ಪ್ರವಾಸದ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಪೂರ್ಣ ಚೈನೀಸಿನ windows ನೋಡಿ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲೂ ಈ ರೀತಿ ಮಾಡಬಾರದೇಕೆ ಎಂದು ಆಲೋಚಿಸಿದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ೧೯೫೨ರಲ್ಲಿ ೧೬೦೨ರಷ್ಟಿದ್ದ ಭಾಷೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಈಗ ಉಳಿದಿರುವುದು ೭೦೫ ಮಾತ್ರ ! ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿ ಇಷ್ಟು ಚಿಂತಾಜನಕವಾಗಿರೋ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ "ಮಾಹಿತಿಯ ಆಗರ" ಎಂಬಂತಾಗಿರೋ ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ವಿಕಿ ಏಕೆ ಮತ್ತು ಹೇಗೆ ನೆರವಾಗಬಹುದು,ಅದರ ಸದ್ಯದ ಸ್ಥಿತಿಗತಿಗಳೇನು ಎಂಬುದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು.

ವಿಕಿಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ:

ಜನವರಿ ೧೫ ರಂದು ಶುರುವಾದ ವಿಕಿ ಈಗ ೩೦೦ ಭಾಷೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಲಭ್ಯವಿದೆ. ೨೦೦೩ ಜೂನ್ ಮೂರರಂದು ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಯ ಪ್ರಾರಂಭ. ಇಲ್ಲಿಯವರೆಗೆ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು, ಮೈಸೂರು, ಮಂಗಳೂರು, ಸಾಗರದಲ್ಲಿ ಆದ ಸಂಪಾದನೋತ್ಸವಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ ರಚನೆಯಾದ ಪುಟಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಜನರ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸುವಿಕೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ಮಾತನಾಡುವವರ ಲೆಕ್ಕದಲ್ಲಿ ೩೫ ನೇ ಸ್ಥಾನದಲ್ಲಿರೋ ಕನ್ನಡದ ವಿಕಿಗೆ ಪ್ರತೀ ಘಂಟೆಗೆ ೮೯೨ ಭೇಟಿಗಳು ಸಿಗುತ್ತಿವೆ. ೧೫ ವರ್ಷಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷ್ ವಿಕಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸೃಷ್ಠಿಯಾಗಿರೋ ಲೇಖನಗಳ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ೫೦ ಲಕ್ಷ ದಾಟಿದ್ದರೆ ೧೩ ವರ್ಷದ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿ ಲೇಖನಗಳ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ೧೯,೬೦೦. ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಪಟ್ಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ೧೦೭ನೇ ಸ್ಥಾನದಲ್ಲಿರೋ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿ ಭಾರತೀಯ ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಪಟ್ಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹತ್ತನೇ ಸ್ಥಾನದಲ್ಲಿದೆ ಎಂಬ ವಿಕಿಯ ಬಗೆಗಿನ ಅಂಕಿಅಂಶಗಳು ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದಲ್ಲಿ ನೆರೆದವರಿಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲ್ಪಟ್ಟವು. ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಕ್ಕೆ ನೆರೆದಿದ್ದವರಿಗೆಲ್ಲಾ ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳನ್ನು ಸಮರ್ಪಿಸಿದ್ದು ಡಾ| ಸರಸ್ವತಿ ಅವರು.

೧೧:೪೦ ಕ್ಕೆ ಪ್ರಾತ್ಯಕ್ಷಿಕೆಗಳ ಎರಡನೇ session ಆರಂಭವಾಯಿತು. ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಲೇಖನಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಅದರ ಸಂಪಾದನೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಖಾತೆ ತೆರೆಯುವುದೇ ಮೊದಲಾದ ಮಾಹಿತಿಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಯೋಜನೆಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಪವನಜ ಅವರು ನೆರೆದವರಿಗೆ ಪ್ರಾತ್ಯಕ್ಷಿಕೆಯನ್ನು ನೀಡಿದರು

೧೨:೪೦ ಕ್ಕೆ Creative common, license ಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದಕರಲ್ಲೊಬ್ಬರಾದ ರೆಹಮಾನುದ್ದೀನ್ ಶೇಖ್ ಅವರಿಂದ ಪ್ರಾತ್ಯಕ್ಷಿಕೆ ಇತ್ತು.
ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ ನ Attribution, no derivative, non commercia, sharealike ಎಂಬ ಅಂಶಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದ ರೆಹಮಾನುದ್ದೀನ್ ಅವರು ೬ ತರದ ಲೈಸನ್ಸುಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ಅವುಗಳೆಂದರೆ
೧) cc by A --> attribute
2) cc by S --> share alike
3)cc by ND --> no derivative
4)cc by NC --> non commercial
5)non commerical, share alike(CC by SA)
6)non commercial, no derivative
ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಫೋಟೊಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸಬೇಕಾದರೆ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸಬೇಕಾದ creativecommonsತಾಣದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದ ಅವರು ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಕ್ಕೆ ಯಾವ ತರಹದ ಫೋಟೋಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸಬಹುದು, ಯಾವುದನ್ನು ಬಳಸಬಾರದು ಎಂಬ ನಿಯಮಗಳನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದಲ್ಲಿರೋ ಫೋಟೋಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವಾಗ ಫೋಟೋ ಬಳಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬಹುದು, ಆದರೆ ವಿಕಿಯಿಂದ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡದ್ದು, ಇಂಥವರ ಫೋಟೋ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಬೇಕು ಎಂಬುದೇ ಮೊದಲಾದ ಲೈಸನ್ಸ್ ಗೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಪಟ್ಟ ನಿಯಮಗಳನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು.

ಬೆಳಗಿನ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಕೊನೆಯ ಅಂಕದಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಕ್ರಿಯವಾಗಿ ತೊಡಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವ ರಾಧಾತನಯ, ವಸಂತಕುಮಾರ್,ಬಿ.ಎಸ್.ಚಂದ್ರಶೇಖರ್, ಓಂ ಶಿವಪ್ರಕಾಶ್,ಹರೀಶ್ , ತೇಜಸ್ ಮುಂತಾದ ಸಂಪಾದಕರಿಗೆ ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳನ್ನು ಸಲ್ಲಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಹೊರ ಊರಿನಿಂದ ಬಂದ ಸಂಪಾದಕರಾದ ಅನಂತ್ ಸುಬ್ರಾಯ್ ,ಚಿರಾಗ್ ಸಾರ್ಥಿ ಮತ್ತಿತರರಿಗೆ ಪ್ರೇಮಿಗಳ ದಿನದ ಸಂಕೇತವಾದ ಗುಲಾಬಿಯನ್ನಿತ್ತು ಅಭಿನಂದಿಸಲಾಯಿತು :-)
ನಂತರದ ಭಾಗ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯನ್ನರ ನುಡಿಗಳು. ಇದರ ಅಂಗವಾಗಿ ಕೆಳಕಂಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯನ್ನರು ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದ ಬಗೆಗಿನ ತಮ್ಮ ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯಗಳನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು
೧)ಕ್ರೈಸ್ಟ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಯೋಜನೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತೊಡಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವ ಡಾ| ಶಿವಪ್ರಸಾದ್
೨)ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯದ, ಮೈಸೂರು ಸಂಪಾದನೋತ್ಸವದ ಸಂಚಾಲಕರಾಗಿದ್ದ ಡಾ| ಸೌಭಾಗ್ಯವತಿ
೩)ಸಾಗರದ ಸಂಜಯ ಗಾಂಧಿ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ, ಸಾಗರ ಸಂಪಾದನೋತ್ಸವದ ಸಂಚಾಲಕರಾಗಿದ್ದ ವಿದ್ಯಾಧರ ಚಿಪ್ಳಿ
೪)ಸಂತ ಆಗ್ನೆಸ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಉಪನ್ಯಾಸಕರಾದ ಶ್ರೀಮತಿ ಕವಿತಾ
೫)ಭಾರತೀಯ ಗೋತಳಿಗಳ ವಿಕಿ ಯೋಜನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ, ಸಾಗರ ಸಂಪಾದನೋತ್ಸವದ ಸಹಸಂಚಾಲಕರಾಗಿದ್ದ ವಿಕಾಸ್ ಹೆಗಡೆ
೬)ಕ್ರೈಸ್ಟ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿನಿ ತ್ರಿವೇಣಿ
೭)ಸಂತ ಅಲೋಷಿಯಸ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿನಿ ಮಮತಾ ಅವರು
೮)ಸಂತ ಆಗ್ನೆಸ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿನಿ ಧನಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ
೯)ಉಜಿರಿಯ SDM ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳಾದ ಆಂಜನೇಯ ಮತ್ತು ಮಂಜುನಾಥ
೧೦)ಮಂಗಳೂರಿನ ರಾಮಕೃಷ್ಣ ಪಿ.ಯು ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಉಪನ್ಯಾಸಕ ನಟೇಶ್ ಆಳ್ವ
೧೧)ಮುಕ್ತ ತಂತ್ರಾಶಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತಮ್ಮನ್ನು ತೊಡಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವ, it for change,openstreetmap NGO ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತೊಡಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವ ಶ್ರೀ ಯೋಗೀಶ್
೧೨)openstreetmapನಲ್ಲಿ ತೊಡಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವ ಶ್ರೀವಿದ್ಯಾ ಅವರು
೧೩)ಕೊನೆಯದಾಗಿ ನನಗೂ ಒಂದಿಷ್ಟು ಮಾತನಾಡೋ ಅವಕಾಶ !

ಮಧ್ಯಾಹ್ನ ಭೋಜನಾನಂತರ ಸಂತ ಅಲೋಶಿಯಸ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಐಟಿ ಲ್ಯಾಬಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸಂಪಾದನೋತ್ಸವ ನಡೆಯಬೇಕಿತ್ತು. ಆದರೆ ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲ ಸಂಪರ್ಕ ವ್ಯತ್ಯಯದ ಕಾರಣದಿಂದ ಅದರ ಬದಲಿ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಸಭಾಂಗಣಕ್ಕೆ ಸ್ಥಳಾಂತರಗೊಂಡಿತು. ರೆಹಮಾನುದ್ದೀನ್ ಅವರಿಂದ ಉತ್ತಮ ವಿಕಿ ಲೇಖನ ಹೇಗಿರಬೇಕು, ಇರುವ ಲೇಖನವನ್ನು ಬಾಹ್ಯ ಕೊಂಡಿ, info document ,ಚಿತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ಹಾಕುವ ಮೂಲಕ ಹೇಗೆ ಉತ್ತಮಪಡಿಸುವುದು ಎಂಬ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಪ್ರಾತ್ಯಕ್ಷಿಕೆ ನಡೆಯಿತು. ನೆರೆದಿದ್ದ ಕಾಲೇಜು ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳಿಗೆ ಪಿಲಿಕುಳದಲ್ಲಿ ತೆಗೆದಿದ್ದ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ಪಿಲಿಕುಳ ಎಂಬ ವರ್ಗಕ್ಕೆ ಸೇರಿಸಿ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಹೇಗೆ ತಯಾರಿಸಬಹುದು ಎಂಬುದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆಯೂ ವೇದಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲೇ ತಿಳಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಪಾಲ್ಗೊಂಡವರಿಗೆಲ್ಲಾ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸುವಿಕೆಯ ಪ್ರಮಾಣಪತ್ರ , ಕಾಲೇಜುಗಳಿಗೆ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದ ಪೆನ್ ಡ್ರೈವ್ ನೀಡಲಾಯಿತು. ಸಂಜೆ ನಾಲ್ಕರ ಸುಮಾರಿಗೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಮುಗಿಸಿ ಹೊರಬಂದರೂ ಇನ್ನೂ ಆ ವೇದಿಕೆಯ ನೆನಪು ಮನದಲ್ಲಿ ಸುಳಿಯುತ್ತಲೇ ಇದೆ. ನೂರಕ್ಕೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ನೆರೆದಿದ್ದ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯನ್ನರ ನುಡಿಗಳು ಕಿವಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅನುರಣಿಸುತ್ತಲೇ ಇದೆ.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/caaccdcb0cb6cbec82ca4cb5ca8

MHRD IPR Chair Series: Information Received from Cochin University of Science and Technology

Karan Tripathi — 2016-02-21T16:09:51Z

To collect the information for the given study, an RTI application was filed to the CUSAT on 07/01/2015 by the Centre for Internet and Society. The reply to RTI application was received on 05/02/2015. These are the documents received by CIS from CUSAT:

For RTI Response click here
For complete supporting documents (Report and response to RTI)

Hereinafter, in order to receive any information about CUSAT’s RTI reply, kindly refer to the above mentioned links. Following are the queries mentioned in the RTI application along with their replies.

Reports on the implementation of the IPERPO scheme of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the implementation of the MHRD IPR Chair funded under the scheme at CUSAT from 2013-2014
Reply: The University has submitted the report on the implementation of IPERPO scheme along with the supporting documents

Documents detailing the release of grants to the MHRD IPR Chairs under the IPERPO Scheme
Reply: According to the documents submitted to CIS, CUSAT received no grant from MHRD for the period 2013-2014

Documents relating to receipts of utilisation certificates and audited expenditure statements and matters related to all financial sanctions with regard to funds granted to the MHRD IPR Chair established under the IPERPO scheme at CUSAT
Reply: All the documents related to utilisation certificate and expenditure statement for the period 2013-2014 are submitted by the University

Comparative Analysis between University Response and the guidelines of MHRD Scheme Document

A. Objectives
CUSAT organised following activities in order to comply with the objectives mentioned in the scheme document:
a. Introduced post graduate courses in IPR
b. Policy Research in the field of IP and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore
c. Research Publications in the field of compulsory licensing
d. Organised World Intellectual Property Day on 26th April 2013

B. Eligibility
CUSAT is recognized by the University Grants Commission. Therefore, it fulfils the eligibility criteria mentioned in the scheme document.

Financial Analysis

This section only deals with the financial year 2013-2014

In this financial year no grant was received by CUSAT and its total expenditure was Rs. 27,20,148.

In this financial year, the maximum amount of money was spent on International Travel. A total sum of Rs. 27,20,148 is due from MHRD.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-cochin-university-of-science-and-technology

2016 Works-in-Progress Intellectual Property ("WIPIP") Colloquium

praskrishna — 2016-03-20T05:10:52Z

Prof. Jorge Contreras presented a paper co-authored by Rohini Lakshané on the patent landscape conducted for the Pervasive Technologies project at WPIP. The event was held in Washington D.C. on February 19 and 20, 2016. It was organized by School of Law, University of Washington.

For more details click here

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/2016-works-in-progress-intellectual-property-wipip-colloquium

MHRD IPR Chair Series: Information Received from University of Madras

Karan Tripathi — 2016-02-19T15:34:57Z

This post provides a factual description about the operation of Ministry of Human Resource Development IPR Chair’s Intellectual Property Education, Research and Public Outreach (IPERPO) scheme in University of Madras. The author has analysed all the data received under various heads such as income, grants from MHRD, planned and non planned expenditure, nature and frequency of programmes organised and the allocation of funds for the same. Throughout the course of observation and presentation of the analysed data, the author seeks to trace the presence of unjustified underutilisation of funds by the aforementioned university as provided by the MHRD during the period of 2001-2014.

Nehaa Chaudhari provided inputs and feedback.

To collect the information for the given study, an RTI application was filed to the University of Madras on 16/02/2015 by the Centre for Internet and Society. The reply to RTI application was received on 19/03/2015. These are the documents received by CIS from University of Madras:

For RTI Response click here (Univ of Madras – Response to RTI)
For complete supporting documents click here (Univ of Madras – Response and Report)

Hereinafter, in order to receive any information about University of Madras’ RTI reply, kindly refer to the above mentioned links. Following are the queries mentioned in the RTI application along with their replies.

Reports on the implementation of the IPERPO scheme of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the implementation of the MHRD IPR Chair funded under the scheme at University of Madras from 2001-2014

Reply: According to the documents available with CIS, University of Madras submitted the implementation documents only for the period of 2010-2012. Documents for the period of 2001-2009 and 2013-2014 are not submitted by the University.

Documents indicating the date on which such an IPR Chair was set up at your institution and a copy of the application made by University of Madras to the MHRD for instituting such an IPR Chair and documents received by University of Madras from the MHRD approving the same

Reply: The IPR Chair in the Department of Legal Studies, University of Madras was established in the year of 2001 and it has been in an active state. The documents received by the University from MHRD are also submitted in the form of Syndicate letters.

Documents detailing the release of grants to the MHRD IPR Chairs under the IPERPO Scheme

Reply: Documents regarding this track are not submitted by the University. On the reply letter the University has mentioned that no such documents are available on records.

Documents relating to receipts of utilisation certificates and audited expenditure statements and matters related to all financial sanctions with regard to funds granted to the MHRD IPR Chair established under the IPERPO scheme at UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS Roorkee

Reply: The University has submitted utilisation certificates only for the 2010-2012. According to the documents available with CIS, utilisation certificates pertaining to other financial years are not submitted by the University.

Documents regarding all matters pertaining to finance and budget related the MHRD IPR Chair under the IPERPOs scheme established at University of Madras

Reply: Documents pertaining to this track are not submitted by the University. In the RTI reply the University has mentioned that no such information is available on records.

Details of the IPR Chair’s salary under the IPERPO Scheme indicating whether this amount is paid over and above the professional’s usual salary

Reply: Documents required under this track are not submitted by the University. The University, in the RTI reply, has mentioned that the information sought is voluminous in nature and as it will amount to drain on resources, the information seeker is advised to fix up a prior appointment with the HOD to pursue the records.

2.0 Comparative Analysis between University Response and the guidelines of MHRD Scheme Document

Objectives

According to the documents available with CIS, University of Madras has organised certain activities under the IPR Chair to fulfil the objectives mentioned in the scheme document. As part of IPR Teaching, an elective course on IPR was introduced under the Choice-Based Credit System (CBCS) for the students in the third semester. In order to fulfil the objectives pertaining to promotion of IPR, the University encourages Master of Law students to select IPR related areas for their dissertation. For furthering its commitment towards IPR research, the University organised a two day national seminar on Emerging Trends in Intellectual Property Rights on 13^th and 14^th October 2011. In addition to this, One day workshop was also organised for the law college teachers from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on 17^th March 2012.

Eligibility

University of Madras is recognized by the University Grants Commission. Therefore, it fulfils the eligibility criteria mentioned in the scheme document.

3.0 Financial Analysis

As per the documents available with CIS, financial statements and utilisation certificates is only provided for the period 2010-2012. Therefore, this section would go on to analyse this period only and would not be able to provide information for the period 2001-2009 and 2013-2014.

Financial Year 2010-2011

In this financial year, a total amount of Rs. 30,00,000 was received by the University under the IPERPO scheme out of which a sum of Rs. 1,79,000 was utilized for the purpose for which it was sanctioned.

In this financial year the maximum amount of money was utilised for the salary of the Research officer. As stated earlier, expenditure statement for the costs incurred on other heads are not mentioned by the University.

Financial Year 2011-2012

In this financial year, a total amount of Rs. 30,00,000 was sanctioned to the University by MHRD out of which a sum of Rs. 7,61,614 was utilized for the purpose for which it was granted.

In this financial year also the maximum amount of money was spent on the salary of the Research Officer.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-university-of-madras

Now trending: Regional Indian language social media networks

praskrishna — 2016-02-15T01:44:56Z

How many languages did you speak today? Chances are there was a lot of English at work and at home, but at least a sprinkling of Hindi (or Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil or Kannada) when you were chatting, gossiping or joking with friends and family.

The article by Kanika Sharma was published in the Hindustan Times on February 14, 2016. Sunil Abraham was quoted.

You toggle so effortlessly that you probably don’t notice it, except when the option is no longer available — when arguing with a non-English-speaking cabbie while on vacation, for instance, or trying to write a heartfelt message to a faraway friend on Facebook.

And that’s the key reason for the host of regional Indian-language social media platforms that have been popping up over the past four years—Shabdanagari and Mooshak in Hindi, in 2015; ejibON for Bengali, in 2014; Prasangik for Assamese, in 2013; Muganool in Tamil, in 2012; with an early start made by Vismayanagari (Kannada; 2008).

“I set up Muganool.com out of love for the language and culture, and of course because it is so much easier to express oneself in one’s mother tongue,” says Sathish Kumar, 31, a software solutions company owner. “On Muganool, the feed is much better, you get relevant news and people’s views making them a delight to read. On Facebook, there’s just too much of timepass.”

Read: Facebook and WhatsApp top social networking apps in India, says report

Most of these platforms are modelled on Facebook. You can post updates, links and videos on a newsfeed, share and repost links, form groups and live chat.

Some are even named after their inspiration — Muganool, for instance, comes from the Tamil Mugam for Face and Nool for Book.

Many go a step further. Shabdanagari has discussion forums, Prasanagik has a crowd-sourced encyclopedia section and ejibON has a crowd-funding tab.

For users, the differentiator has been this sense of community.

“It’s too much of a crowd on Facebook,” says Umashankara BS , 39, a Bengaluru-based marketing professional and Vismayanagari user. “Here, I feel like I know who I’m talking to, and they know me. We share opinions about politics and literature, and once a month 15 of us meet at a Bengaluru café. That’s not something I would dream of doing via Facebook.”

Property consultant Siddharth Bora, 35, who left Assam for Delhi a decade ago, describes Prasangik as his home away from home.

Read: Logged in generation next requires digital de-addiction

“It takes me back more than an STD call can,” he says. “Prasangik feels intimate, almost private. While on Facebook it is considered rude to post content in the vernacular or go on about elements of your culture, here that is exactly what a lot of us do. From other homesick migrants to my mother in Assam, a 67-year-old retired lecturer.”

It seems strange to hear the word ‘intimacy’ when talking about interaction on social media, but it’s a concept that keeps coming up among users of the regional-language sites.

“Users take pains to give feedback and comment on post, unlike Facebook, where most content is lost in the crowd and clamour,” says Pankaj Trivedi, 53, a college staffer from Gujarat and a Shabdanagari user. “Also, since it is a language the users are confident in, conversations tend to sound more courteous. People are polite to one another. I know that there is a certain kind of audience that enjoys reading my posts and that makes me more comfortable posting on Shabdanagari.”

On ejibON (meaning ‘e-life’), a community has been formed across borders, with 10,000 users in India and Bangladesh bonding over their love of the language — and the idea of an undivided Bengal.

“Language can be such a great unifier,” says Bangladesh-based Maruf Sunny, 28, web developer and founder of ejibON. “The aim of this website is to build a sense of community across borders and religions to celebrate the Bengali community online.”

Thinking vs Feeling

These days, we think in one language and feel in another, says, Sunil Abraham, executive director of The Centre for Internet and Society. “Whether it is music, literature or even relationships — it feels truer and more ‘authentic’ in our mother tongue. So, despite a lot of English content and services online, we still yearn for our own languages in the online world. This is precisely why Wikipedia in regional languages has become so popular.”

For greater representation of Indian languages online, Gaur’s website actively encourages people to embrace and personalise their Hindi as they do their English.

“I want users to coin and combine words, use hashtags,” he says. “Eventually, I want more Indians to voice their opinions online so that the English-speaking elite are not counted as the voice of the nation. Today, whatever trends on Twitter is taken as the opinion of the majority. That’s just inaccurate.”

With thrice as many people offline in India as online, and most of them non-English-speakers, the potential of such websites is immense, Abraham points out. The stumbling block, of course, will be the resources — internet access and electricity.

Meanwhile, the money is already flowing in. Last month, Shabdanagari.com raised $200,000 (about Rs 1.35 crore) from Indian investors.

The way forward lies in governmental support, says Abraham.

“Indic language technologies are not sufficiently developed because of insufficient investment by the government,” he adds. “Existing work needs to be promoted and technology infrastructure developed to protect and promote India’s linguistic heritage.”

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/hindustan-times-kanika-sharma-february-14-2016-now-trending-regional-indian-language-social-media-networks

Why aren’t Indians using Wikipedia to hold the government to account?

praskrishna — 2016-02-14T11:07:49Z

Despite its popularity, the site's benefits are going unutilised.

Madhav Gadgil's post was published by Scroll.in on February 6, 2016. CIS work was quoted.

Thanks to modern science and technology, the treasury of human material as well as intellectual and cultural wealth is overflowing. Enormous quantities of information are exchanged today at lightning speed, and incredible numbers of people separated by great distances are in constant touch with one another. Two contrasts characterise this world: on the one hand, disparities are growing in material wealth, and on the other, there is growing equality in access to informational and cultural resources.

The inequities in material wealth has accelerated the rate of degradation of the natural world, but at the same time progressive laws flowing from equality in intellectual wealth are helping people combat the degradation. This is one reason why, as much as ever, a well-informed citizenry is the lifeblood of social progress. Ensuring that citizens have ready access to reliable information is the prime responsibility of all of us, including obviously of our governments.

Wayward rulers

Regrettably, the government machinery is failing to discharge its responsibility.

Consider, for instance, Maharashtra’s irrigation scam, in which thousands of crores were siphoned off or wasted on dud irrigation projects. The statistics provided at various times by the state’s agriculture and irrigation departments are inconsistent. It is probable that none of them reflect the ground reality. Most rivers in Maharashtra are polluted well beyond legally permissible levels, yet the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board hardly acknowledges this sorry state of affairs. Such pollution often results in mass deaths of fish, but neither the fisheries department nor the Pollution Control Board maintains reliable records.

Or consider these two examples. After the people of Kerala succeeded in moving the government machinery, a committee of the legislature reported that 90% of the stone crushers in the state were operating without permission from local panchayats or without registering with district collectors. Another time, when the Central government-appointed Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel revealed similar irregularities with solid evidence, the Centre first suppressed its report and then, pushed by a Delhi High Court order, made only an English version available. To top it all, the Maharashtra government uploaded on its website a Marathi summary full of distortions.

Clearly then, with the government machinery failing, people must work on their own to bring to light the true state of affairs. Fortunately, our media provides a good deal of reliable information on issues of public interest. For instance, it was newspaper reports that forced the Goa Forest Department to accept the presence of tigers in the state. It is again the media that often records large-scale fish deaths in our rivers.

Such information gets recorded on social media too, but this remains scattered, barring systematic efforts like as the one launched by the Hyderabad-based “Save Our Urban Lakes” coalition. Besides, much of the material on social media like Facebook is often self-centred and prejudiced, making it difficult to ascertain the veracity. On the other hand, newspapers and TV channels are continually exposed to sceptical public scrutiny, ensuring that, by and large, they deliver reliable information.

On balance then, people at large can wean genuine, reliable information only by carefully collating it from newspapers and TV channels, official documents and scientific studies and systematically organising it through some responsible social media.

Starting a discussion

Wikipedia is just such a reliable social medium. It is an entirely voluntary, cooperative, web-based enterprise aimed at freely and readily delivering all the knowledge in the world to all the citizens of the world in their own languages. The platform started off in 2000 with a call to experts to contribute articles on the pattern of Encyclopaedia Britannica, but without any remuneration. When experts showed little interested, Wikipedia was thrown open to citizens in 2001, converting it into an anyone-can-edit enterprise. After all, experts too acquire much of their knowledge reading what others have written.

Wikipedia operates on the understanding that laypeople may make mistakes, but these can be eliminated by ensuring open scrutiny and giving full scope for additions, deletions and corrections. That this system has resulted in material of a quality on a par with expert-written encyclopaedias has been established by studies by respected scientific journals. Moreover, not being constrained by the page limits of a printed encyclopaedia, it has generated greater amount of material with a broader scope.

All this has been achieved due to the dedication of 50,000-odd voluntary editors improving existing and writing new articles. This community of editors follow a set of conventions arrived at over the years through consensus. It has been decided that Wikipedia will not include material based on original observations, but instead verifiable information compiled from published studies or reports. Wikipedia believes in a “neutral point of view” presenting the different perspectives, provided these are supported by good evidence. Besides reliability, Wikipedia articles aim for speed (Wiki means quick). For instance, the article on the December 2004 tsunami was composed in two days through contributions of some 1,000 editors largely relying on newspaper and TV reports.

Every Wikipedia article is accompanied by a “discussion” page, on which a variety of issues can be explored without the strict constraints of neutrality and verifiability. This is in addition to the “discussion” page accompanying the “User” page that automatically gets assigned to anyone who registers on the website as a user. On all these debating platforms the site imposes only one major discipline – that they will not be used for self-promotion or abusing others.

Because of these noteworthy conventions, the information on Wikipedia has acquired a special significance. For instance, in Europe and the United States, it has served to subject the performance of political leaders to careful scrutiny. Biographical articles on leaders often include documentation of the promises made before election and the extent to which these were fulfilled. In the past, whenever agents of these leaders tried to delete unfavourable content, they were caught out quickly because Wikipedia preserves all versions of any article, including a record of the IP address of the computer employed to make changes.

The grassroots

Since Wikipedia is unconstrained by governmental control and cannot be subjected to commercial pressures because of its donation-based ad-free model, it is an outstanding medium to document what is happening on the ground. This information can be accumulated through incremental, asynchronous micro-contributions. In India, it presents an excellent instrument for common citizens to document their experiences and issues of concern on the English and the 21 Indian language editions.

The articles could deal with specific geographical localities such as cities (e.g. Pune), wards in a city (e.g. Kothrud in Pune), villages (e.g. Warkhand in Pedne taluka of Goa), talukas (e.g. Dodoamarg in Maharashtra), districts (e.g. Kolhapur or North Goa), rivers (e.g. Panchaganga, Mula-Mutha, Zuari). All we need is some official information source to initiate such articles. The 2011 Census of India is one such excellent database. Every census locality in this database is assigned a unique Census Location Code.

To explain with an example: each of the many villages named Loni, Wadgaon or Mendha in Maharashtra has a different Census Location Code. Similarly, there is a district and a city in Madhya Pradesh as also a town and a taluka in Karnataka, all sharing the name Sagar. Again, these are assigned four different Census Location Codes. This facility permits us to refer unambiguously to any geographical locality at various spatial scales such as district, taluka or city or village. In addition, on their Wikipedia entries, one could readily add the latitude, longitude and altitude off Google Earth.

As it happens, there exists a code – developed by Prashant Pawar – to automatically generate base articles on census localities. Three such Marathi articles, on villages Haladi (Karavir), Rukadi (Hatkangale) and Parite in the Panchaganga basin of Kolhapur district, have been uploaded on the Marathi Wikipedia.

No less than 40,000 such articles were automatically uploaded on the English Wikipedia around 2003-’04 and were then quickly developed further by other interested citizens. However, that was not the norm. While Bollywood celebrates Wikipedia with Shah Rukh Khan singing Mere bareme Wikipediape padh lo, Indians participate little in editing or creating new Wikipedia articles. For instance, an article on the Pune Bus Rapid Transit System on the English Wikipedia is merely based on an official pamphlet. It ignores the vigorous discussion on the subject, including the many news reports in the past several years. The discussion page accompanying the article is almost blank. Surely, the more aware citizens of Pune could put the powerful medium to good use to provide a more detailed and balanced account of their city’s Rapid Transit System.

Bonding across languages

We could, of course, follow the American pattern of automatically generating articles on all Indian localities covered in the 2011 Census. But Wikipedia is not just an encyclopaedia – it is a community, and in the absence of awareness about the enterprise, this approach might not be fruitful. The communal effort was visible when the residents of Haladi in Maharashtra initiated a base article on their locality.

Besides creating base articles, interested citizens can upload photographs, audio and video clips on Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons license, permitting anybody to freely use or modify the material after giving due credit to the original creator. Aside from this, citizens can also augment information on issues of their concern through Right to Information queries or enquiries from forums like zilla parishads, municipalities, state legislatures or the Parliament. The Centre for Internet and Society has developed excellent resource material to support citizens taking up Wikipedia-related activities. A group of volunteers led by Subodh Kulkarni is also promoting this participation, as is Goa University.

Much could be accomplished if Indians become active participants on Wikipedia. People could use their articles and their discussion pages to draw the attention of journalists or scholars to their concerns. For instance, people in the command area of a dam could call attention to the fact that no canals have been constructed to bring water to them. A journalist could then investigate the issue and develop a news story, which in turn could provide a verifiable reference for a Wikipedia article. Such interaction could constitute an effective and transparent social audit. One can visualise an array of topics for a social audit, ranging from the status of wage payments in rural employment guarantee works, pending forest rights claims, encroachment of real estate on river beds, privatisation of public beaches, and availability of public toilets for women.

The newly emerging facility of Wikidata can strengthen this social audit. Wikidata permits integration of data not only from English but from multiple languages, such as Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam and Kannada. For instance, sacred groves – forest fragments that are communally protected – constitute a traditional conservation practice not only in India, but also in Bhutan, Myanmar and even Nigeria. This tradition is still relevant – indeed, new sacred groves have recently been constituted in villages granted Community Forest Rights such as Pachgaon in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra.

Using Wikidata and keywords such as Devari (Marathi), Devpan (Konkani), Nagarbana or Devarakadu (Kannada), Sarpakavu (Malayalam), Oran (Hindi), one can quickly compile quantitative information on this practice, helping bring together people from across the country. Similarly, using keywords in different languages for a phenomenon such as mass fish mortalities, one may compile systematic information on this phenomenon that Pollution Control Boards deliberately ignore.

Of course, the objective of the Wikipedia enterprise is to compile objective, verifiable information from a neutral point of view and the Wikipedia community will not be involved in any activism. Nevertheless, such an exercise of putting together information could serve a useful function of organising a social audit. This could help, say, scattered members of fishing communities that are adversely affected by pollution-related fish mortalities to organise themselves.

Democratic approach

This is a golden age for those fascinated by knowledge. And Wikipedia is a triumphant manifestation of the age, a progressive enterprise of good-faith collaboration with the noble objective of making all knowledge available to people all over the world. The English Wikipedia has taken giant strides towards such a goal. The key to this success of science has been the rejection of all authority other than empirical facts and logical inferences, and its aim is to engage all those interested in knowledge regardless of their social, economic or educational background. It is this democratic approach that has facilitated the rapid accumulation of knowledge. Yet there are continual attempts by so-called experts to monopolise knowledge.

It is the duty of true lovers of knowledge to resist such attempts. Knowledge has a vast canvas. Our environment, our social settings are legitimate subject matters of knowledge and every citizen can be involved in nurturing it. Wikipedia is an important step in the direction of bringing on board all citizens in the pursuit of knowledge. The ability of the Wikidata facility to bring together knowledge scattered in multiple Indian languages is one manifestation of this progressive development. All of us Indians should join hands in developing a reliable understanding of the nature around us and of our society, polity and economy. This enterprise of taking Wikipedia to the grassroots would be a worthy contribution to the cause of nation building.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/scroll.in-february-6-2016-madhav-gadgil-why-arent-indians-using-wikipedia-to-hold-the-government-to-account

Digitisation sprint at Andhra Loyola College Vijayawada to bring more books on Telugu Wikisource

Pavan Santhosh — 2016-02-12T11:29:10Z

This 12th, A digitisation sprint is being organised for student Wikipedians of Andhra Loyola College Vijayawada. Students will learn about scanning books, will use OCR engine and digitise books on Telugu Wikisource. The event is organised by CIS-A2K where Telugu Wikimedian Viswanadh will be participating to mentor the new Wikimedians.

Telugu Wikisource, a free online library in Telugu-language. Currently there are about 8 volunteers, known as Wikisourcers, who find Telugu-language text that are available under free licenses like Public Domain or Creative Commons licenses, digitise them and make the books available on the project. Their effort has brought about 29,680 pages of digitised text from old and new published works of different genres ranging from popular science and religious literature to literary contributions of notable authors of the states of Andhra and Telengana.

35 student Wikipedians of the Andhra Loyola College will be participating in this event and will learn about scanning of books, converting text from scanned images using OCR engine and digitising books on Telugu Wikisource by typing and proof-reading. At least 150-200 folios are expected to be digitized on Telugu Wikisource. Most importantly, this activity will also help bring 5-10 new Wikisourcers to Telugu Wikisource. As this is just a two-day long event, more follow up sessions will be conducted over time with the same set of students to help them learn better about the technical process involved and overall digitisation.This is the first of its kind in the institution where the students will not just learn about digitisation of books but will participate in a live contribution and make more Telugu books available online.

"Introducing Student Wikisourcers to Telugu Wikisource will help in developing the project. Also this is a very timely activity because even few days delay might result in really low participation as exams are coming up. "
— Viswanadh (User:విశ్వనాధ్.బి.కె.) ,Telugu Wikipedian (comment from Telugu Wikipedia Village Pump)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/events/digitisation-sprint-at-andhra-loyola-college-vijayawada-to-bring-more-books-on-telugu-wikisource

Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions (CRIs)

praskrishna — 2016-02-05T14:01:32Z

Anubha Sinha attended this meeting organized by the Office of The Controller General, Patents, Designs & Trade Marks in Mumbai on January 12, 2016

Download the Meeting Notice

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/guidelines-for-examination-of-computer-related-inventions-cris