Centre for Internet and Society

Marathi Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at Sangli, Maharashtra

Subodh Kulkarni — 2017-04-16T13:22:39Z

A Marathi Wikipedia Edit-a-thon was conducted at Willingdon College, Sangli on 18 January, 2017

A Marathi Wikipedia edit-a-thon was conducted in collaboration with Rajya Marathi Vikas Sanstha at Willingdon College on 18 January, 2017. The goal of the workshop was to begin the building of resources in the field of linguistics on Marathi Wikipedia. To begin with, the edit-a-thon introduced the participants to editing Wikipedia and contributing to Wiki projects. With about 50 participants(of which around 6 were female), the three-hour-long edit-a-thon involved the post-graduate and research students of the Willingdon College.

The edit-a-thon conducted at the Marathi Language Computer Lab of the College also focused on creating/editing Wikipedia pages related to Marathi literature and language. Extensive discussion on these issues was also conducted to develop the concept and theme of the edit-a-thon. While participants were taught basic Wikipedia editing, they were also trained in searching for relevant articles, categorisation and translation from other language Wikipedias.

The workshop received local media coverage by Sakal, a Marathi daily. You can read the article here.

Link to event page on meta can be found here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-edit-a-thon-at-sangli-maharashtra

Super Cassettes v. MySpace (Redux)

sinha — 2017-01-18T14:31:25Z

The latest judgment in the matter of Super Cassettes v. MySpace is a landmark and progressive ruling, which strengthens the safe harbor immunity enjoyed by Internet intermediaries in India. It interprets the provisions of the IT Act, 2000 and the Copyright Act, 1957 to restore safe harbor immunity to intermediaries even in the case of copyright claims. It also relieves MySpace from pre-screening user-uploaded content, endeavouring to strike a balance between free speech and censorship. CIS was one of the intervenors in the case, and has been duly acknowledged in the judgment.

On 23rd December 2016, Justice Ravindra Bhat and Justice Deepa Sharma of the Delhi High Court delivered a decision overturning the 2012 order in the matter of Super Cassettes Industries Limited v. MySpace. The 2012 order was heavily criticized, for it was agnostic to the technological complexities of regulating speech on the Internet and cast unfathomable burdens on MySpace. In the following post I summarise the decision of the Division Bench. Click here to read the judgment.

Brief Facts

In 2007, Super Cassettes Industries Limited (SCIL) filed a suit against MySpace, a social networking platform, alleging copyright infringement against MySpace. The platform allowed users to upload and share media files, inter alia, and it was discovered that users were sharing SCIL’s copyrighted works sans authorisation. SCIL promptly proceeded to file a civil suit against MySpace for primary infringement under section 51(a)(i) of the Copyright Act as well as secondary infringement under section 51(a)(ii).

The 2012 order was extremely worrisome as it had turned the clock several decades back on concepts of internet intermediary liability. The court had held MySpace liable for copyright infringement despite it having shown no knowledge about specific instances of infringement; that it removed infringing content upon complaints; and that Super Cassettes had failed to submit songs to MySpace's song ID database. The most impractical burden of duty that the court pronounced was that MySpace was required to pre-screen content, rather than relying on post-infringement measures to remove infringing content. This was a result of interpreting due diligence to include pre-screening.

The court injuncted MySpace from permitting any uploads of SCIL's copyrighted content, and directed to expeditiously execute content removal requests. To read CIS' analysis of the Single Judge's interim order, click here.

In the instant judgment, the bench limited their examination to MySpace’s liability for secondary infringement, and left the direct infringement determination to the Single Judge at the subsequent trial stage. In doing so, the court answered the following three questions:

1) Whether MySpace could be said to have knowledge of infringement so as to attract liability for secondary infringement under Section 51(a)(ii)?

No. According to the Court, in the case of internet intermediaries, section 51(a)(ii) contemplates actual knowledge and not general awareness.

Elaborating re the circumstances of the case, the Court held that to attract liability for secondary infringement, MySpace should have had actual knowledge and not mere awareness of the infringement. Appreciating the difference between virtual and physical worlds, the judgment stated “the nature of internet media is such that the interpretation of knowledge cannot be the same as that is used for a physical premise.”

As per the court, the following facts only amounted to a general awareness, which was not sufficient to establish secondary liability:

Existence of user agreement terms which prohibited users from unauthorised uploading of content;
Operation of post-infringement mechanisms instituted by MySpace to identify and remove content;
SCIL sharing a voluminous catalogue of 100,000 copyrighted songs with MySpace, expecting the latter to monitor and quell any infringement;
Modifying videos to insert ads in them: SCIL contended that MySpace invited users to share and upload content which it would use to insert ads and make revenues – and this amounted to knowledge. The Court found that video modification for ad insertion only changed the format of the video and not the content; further, it was a pure automated process and there was no human intervention.

Additionally, no constructive knowledge could be attributed to MySpace to demonstrate reasonable ground for believing that infringement had occurred. A reasonable belief could emerge only after MySpace had perused all the content uploaded and shared on its platform – a task that was impossible to perform due to the voluminous catalogue handed to it and existing technological limitations.

The Court imposed a duty on SCIL to specify the works in which it owned copyright and being shared without authorisation on MySpace. It held that merely giving names of all content it owned without expressly pointing out the infringing works was contrary to the established principles of copyright law. Further, MySpace contended and the judge agreed, that in many instances the works were legally shared by distributors and performers – and often users created remixed works which only bore semblance to the title of the copyright work.

In such cases it becomes even more important for a plaintiff such as MySpace to provide specific titles, because while an intermediary may remove the content fearing liability and damages, an authorized individual’s license and right to fair use will suffer or stand negated. (Para 38 in decision)

Thus, where as MySpace undoubtedly permitted a place of profit for communication of infringing works uploaded by users, it did not have specific knowledge, nor reasonable belief of the infringement.

2) Does proviso to Section 81 override the "safe harbor" granted to intermediaries under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000?

and

3) Whether it was possible to harmoniously read and interpret Sections 79 and 81 of the IT Act, and Section 51 of the Copyright Act?

No, the proviso does not override the safe harbor, i.e. the safe harbor defence cannot be denied to the intermediary in the case of copyright actions.The three sections have to be read harmoniously, indeed.

The judgment referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee report as a relevant tool in interpreting the two provisions, declaring that the rights conferred under the IT Act, 2000 are supplementary and not in derogation of the Patents Act or the Copyright Act. The proviso was inserted only to permit copyright owners to demand action against intermediaries who may themselves post infringing content – the safe harbor only existed for circumstances when content was third party/user generated.

Given the supplementary nature of the provisions- one where infringement is defined and traditional copyrights are guaranteed and the other where digital economy and newer technologies have been kept in mind, the only logical and harmonious manner to interpret the law would be to read them together. Not doing so would lead to an undesirable situation where intermediaries would be held liable irrespective of their due diligence. (Para 49 in decision)

Regarding section 79, the court reiterated that the section only granted a limited immunity to intermediaries by granting a measured privilege to an intermediary, which was in the nature of an affirmative defence and not a blanket immunity to avoid liability. The very purpose of section 79 was to regulate and limit this liability; where as the Copyright Act granted and controlled rights of a copyright owner.

The Court found Judge Whyte’s decision in Religious Technology Centre v. Netcom Online Communication Services (1995), to be particularly relevant to the instant case, and agreed with its observations. To recall, Netcom was the landmark US ruling which established that when a subscriber was responsible for direct infringement, and the service providers did nothing more than setting up and operating tech systems which were necessary for the functioning of the Internet, it was illogical to impute liability on the service provider.

On MySpace Complying with Safe Harbor Requirements under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000 (and Intermediary Rules, 2011)

The court held that MySpace's operations were in compliance with section 79(2)(b). The content transmission was initiated at the behest of the users, the recipients were not chosen by MySpace, neither was there modification of content. On the issue of modification, the court reasoned that since modification was an automated process (MySpace was inserting ads) which changed the format only, without MySpace's tacit or expressed control or knowledge, it was in compliance of the legislative requirement.

Despite several safeguard tools and notice and take down regimes, infringed videos find their way. The remedy here is not to target intermediaries but to ensure that infringing material is removed in an orderly and reasonable manner. A further balancing act is required which is that of freedom of speech and privatized censorship. If an intermediary is tasked with the responsibility of identifying infringing content from non-infringing one, it could have a chilling effect on free speech; an unspecified or incomplete list may do that. (Para 62 in decision)

On the second aspect of due-diligence, the court held that Mypace complied with the due diligence procedure specified in the Rules - it published rules, regulations, privacy policy and user agreement for access of usage. Reading Rule 3(4) with section 79(2)(c), the court held that it due diligence required MySpace to remove content within 36 hours of gaining actual knowledge or receiving knowledge by another person of the infringing content. If MySpace failed to take infringing content down accordingly, then only will safe harbour be denied to MySpace.

This liberal interpretation of due diligence is a big win for internet intermediaries in India.

Additional Issues Considered by the Court

MySpace also tried to defend its activities by claiming the shield of the fair dealing section of the Indian Copyright Act. However, the Court refused, stating that the fair dealing defence was inapplicable to the case as the provisions protected transient and incidental storage. Whereas, in the instant circumstances, the content in question was stored/hosted permanently.

MySpace also contended that the Single Judge's injunction order was vague and general and had foisted unimplementable duties on MySpace, disregarding the way the Internet functioned. If MySpace had to strictly comply with the order, it would have to shut its business in India. The Court said that the Single Judge's order, if enforced, would create a system of unwarranted private censorship, running contrary to the principles of a free speech regime, devoid of considerations of peculiarities of the internet intermediary industry. Private censorship would also invite upon the ISP the legal risk of wrongfully terminating a user account.

Finally, the Court urged MySpace to explore and innovate techniques to protect the interests of traditional copyright holders in a more efficient manner.

Relief Granted

Setting aside the Single Judge's order aside, the Court directed SCIL to provide a specific catalogue of infringing works which also pointed to the URL of the files. Upon receiving such specific knowledge, MySpace has been directed to remove the content within 36 hours of the issued notice. MySpace will also keep an account of the removals, and the revenues earned from ads placed for calculating damages at the trial stage.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/super-cassettes-v-myspace

Telugu Wikipedia stall at Vijayawada Book Festival

Pavan Santhosh — 2017-04-15T16:23:32Z

The Telugu Wikipedia community put up a stall at the Vijayawada Book Festival in January, in order to increase reach of the regional language encyclopaedia.

Last in a series of book stalls set up across the Telugu-speaking region, the Telugu community set up shop at the 27th Vijayawada Book Festival from 3 to 11 January 2017 at the PWD Grounds. The community had previously set up similar book stalls in Rajahmundry and Hyderabad. Considered one of the largest book festivals in India with deep-rooted cultural significance in the Telugu literary circles, the Telugu community aims to increase the reach and visibility of Telugu Wikipedia through the setting up of this stall.

The book festival, open for the public from 11 am to 11 pm, was inaugurated by Kendra Sahitya Akademi winner Rachapalem Chandrasekhar Reddy, with a collection of 235 stalls to browse from. The festival was organised in partnership with the Andhra Pradesh Department of Language and Culture and NTR Trust. The stall was set up by Telugu Wikipedia community members with support from CIS-A2K and NTR Trust.

More than 150 individuals were engaged through this event. Interested members of public would receive follow-up through "Know-How" videos of Telugu Wikipedia. This provides basic information regarding editing and contributing to Wikipedia and its sister projects. They would also receive invitations to offline events taking place in Vijayawada in the future.

Telugu Wikipedia editor User:Pranayraj1985 said of his experience in talking to the public about Telugu Wikipedia, "I learnt a lot about what people know about Wikipedia and what they didn't know. In general, many of the visitors exclaim when they [come to] know, there is Wikipedia in Telugu language. But, in contrast, here in Vijayawada, we could at least find handful of people who knew there is something called Telugu Wikipedia.

The link to the events page on meta can be found here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/telugu-wikipedia-stall-at-vijayawada-book-festival

Google-translated Telugu articles prioritisation exercise: January iteration

Pavan Santhosh — 2017-04-15T17:47:50Z

The January iteration of the Google-translated Telugu articles prioritisation exercise took place online.

The Google-translated Telugu articles prioritization is an online exercise intended to prioritize and improve over 1,900 machine-translated articles on Telugu Wikipedia. This project began from 2009- 2011 when Google translation project took place on Telugu Wikipedia in several rounds. Jointly organised by the Telugu Wikipedia community and CIS-A2K, this exercise saw the participation of 1 female Wikipedian and 4 male Wikipedians.

12 machine translated articles were improved and 39 have been deleted due to their poor quality. In addition to this, 42 articles have been prioritised for further improvement. Says Telugu Wikipedian User:Meena gayathri.s, "people who wanted to improve Google-translated article waited [for a] long time to get a priority list of articles to be improved and in that aspect, this exercise is very useful."

Several such iterations are planned for the coming months. The meta page for the event can be found here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/google-translated-telugu-articles-prioritisation-exercise-january-iteration

Mini TTT and MWT held in Kolkata

tito — 2017-06-28T09:53:55Z

A regional version of Train The Trainer and MediaWiki Training was recently conducted in Kolkata.

CIS-A2K’s widely well-regarded flagship skill building program was conducted in Kolkata between 7- 8 January 2017, in partnership with the West Bengal Wikimedians User Group. The two-day event was held at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences. There were 20 participants at the event, of which 18 were male and only two female.

There were three thematic sessions, each broadly dealing with: Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Wikisource. The participants were taught article enrichment and how to upgrade articles into good category articles on Wikipedia. The participants learnt reference resources in detail in addition to discussing the different types of syntax required to apply the references meaningfully. The participants were also exposed to advanced search techniques on Google in order to gather relevant references.

During the Commons session, the participants were taught the basics of creating categories and subcategories in order to help narrow down searches and hence, image utility on Commons. Facilitating easy identification of an image helps enrich articles in need of descriptive photos. Additionally, participants were encouraged to give specific file names to their images along with a detailed description of the same. This was followed by a technical session on the following popular tools and gadgets that help frequent uploaders on Commons:

Cat-a-lot is a JavaScript gadget that helps with moving images (or subcategories) between categories or adding categories to search results
Google Images tab: On File pages, adds a new tab to easily search for similar images on the Internet using Google Images
OTRS is a tool used by the Wikimedia projects, including Commons, to manage and archive email conversations. The main use of OTRS in relation to Commons is to verify and archive licensing permissions.
Flickr2Commons - Tool to easily upload single and multiple files from Flickr to Commons. This tool uses OAuth to upload files to Commons.

In addition to these on-wiki discussions, a broader discussion took place on photography tips such as the rule of thirds which helps enhance the effect and purpose of the image.

The final thematic session was on Wikisource. Participants had a hands on lesson in proofreading methodology in addition to learning about image formatting, formatting table of contents, table access page break, text divider, and tools and script of Wikisource.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mini-ttt-and-mwt-held-in-kolkata

Adikavi Nannaya University Telugu Wikipedia Workshop

Pavan Santhosh — 2017-04-16T08:57:21Z

A Telugu Wikipedia introductory workshop was conducted for the students of Adikavi Nannaya University, Rajahmundry between 6- 7 January, 2017.

A two-day Telugu Wikipedia workshop was conducted for the students of Adikavi Nannaya University in Rajahmundry between 6- 7 January, 2017. The participants were post-graduate students of the Telugu Department of the University with a notable gender ratio of 13 male and 21 female participants.

The aim of the workshop was to introduce students to Wikipedia and contributing to Wikipedia projects. They were taught basic Wikipedia editing and the usage of Google's advanced tools. This would also help them create tertiary sources using primary and secondary sources. The students improved articles about their villages using references available on the Internet. The workshop, conducted jointly by CIS-A2K and Telugu Wikipedia community members, was key to increasing the base of Telugu Wikipedia across the Telugu-speaking region, to cities like Rajahmundry. Says User:విశ్వనాధ్.బి.కె., "from initial days, Wikipedia offline activities development is Hyderabad-centric and Wikipedia activities should be done in all areas (of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh). As this event in Adikavi Nannaya University helps in that aspect, I would like to offer all of my effort to these kind of events."

Overall, the event saw the creation 32 new pages on Telugu Wikipedia by 33 newly registered users with 99118 bytes being deleted/ added.

The link to event page on meta can be found here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/adikavi-nannaya-university-telugu-wikipedia-workshop-1

Orientation & Training session of Jalbiradari Activists

Subodh Kulkarni — 2017-04-16T11:30:24Z

An Orientation & Training session of Jalbiradari Activists was held on 4 January, 2017

A Marathi Wikipedia orientation and training session was conducted for Jalbirdari activists on 4 January, 2017 at the Kokale District, Sangli, Cooperative Society Hall. The event was keeping in line with CIS-A2K's attempts at engaging with communities of interest. The Jalbiradari water conservationists were introduced to Wikipedia and its projects. They were given an orientation on Marathi Wikipedia as a knowledge resource and encouraged to write about their village, water and environmental issues on Marathi Wikipedia.

The participants were involved in an open interaction with the community on local issues and cultivation and preservation of local knowledge. With 30 members taking part in the three-hour-long event, four articles were created and edited on Marathi Wikipedia.

The meta page for the event can be found here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/orientation-training-session-of-jalbiradari-activists

December 2016 Newsletter

praskrishna — 2017-01-28T12:02:23Z

Welcome to the December 2016 newsletter of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS).

Dear readers,

Wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year. As the New Year unfolds we are glad to bring you developments from the last month of the year gone by for your reference. Thank you for reading the Centre for Internet and Society's (CIS) December 2016 newsletter.

Previous issues of the newsletters can be accessed here.

Highlights
Telugu Theatre scholar Pranay Raj Vangari created a record by completing a challenge that is famous worldwide in Wikimedia community - "100 Days-100 Articles". Rohini Lakshané attended the 25th session of the World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on the Law of Patents held in Geneva from December 12 - 15, 2016 and made a statement on Future Work. She also submitted a statement on the Assessment of Inventive Step to Secretariat for the WIPO Standing Committee for the Law of Patents, Twenty Fifth Session. CIS submitted inputs to the Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation on Public Policy Issues Pertaining to the Internet (WGEC) on 15 December 2016. The WGEC sought inputs on two questions that will guide the next meeting of the Working Group which is scheduled to take place on the 26-27 January 2017. Udbhav Tiwari wrote an article on the technical, legal and jurisdictional issues around the recent Twitter and email hacks claimed by the ‘Legion Crew’, and what can targeted entities do to better protect themselves. Amber Sinha wrote a blog entry that focuses on network management, in general, and deep packet inspection, in particular and how it impacts the privacy of users. CIS is pleased to bring you the second title of the CIS Papers series. This report by P.P. Sneha comes out of an extended research project supported by the Kusuma Trust. The study undertook a detailed mapping of digital practices in arts and humanities scholarship, both emerging and established, in India. Zeenab Aneez wrote a report that examines the digital transition underway at three leading newspapers in India, the Dainik Jagran in Hindi, English-language Hindustan Times, and Malayala Manorama in Malayalam. Our focus is on how they are changing their newsroom organisation and journalistic work to expand their digital presence and adapt to a changing media environment. CIS made a submission on the Consultation Note on Model for Nation-wide Interoperable and Scalable Public Wi-Fi Networks published by the TRAI on November 15, 2016. Our analysis of the solution proposed in the Note, in brief, is that there is no need of a solution for non-existing interoperability problem for authentication and payment services for accessing public Wi-Fi networks.

CIS in the news:

Lack of clarity about cashless and online transactions makes digital payments more worrisome (Neha Alawadhi; Economic Times; December 1, 2016).
Changing the typographic landscape of a country: one letter at a time (Pooja Saxena; Storyweaver; December 1, 2016).
No laws in India to protect customers if they lose money during digital transactions (Alnoor Peermohamed; Business Standard; December 2, 2016).
Fake Narendra Modi apps aplenty, but it’s up to users to protect themselves (Indian Express; December 2, 2016). Also see Nandini Yadav's blog post in BGR on December 3, 2016.
Your digital wallet can be a ‘pickpocket’ (The Hindu; December 5, 2016).
Most popular smartphone apps inaccessible to disabled: Study (ET Telecom; December 7, 2016).
English gottila,job illa (Regina Gurung; Indian Express; December 7, 2016).
Bumpy road ahead for RFID Tags in vehicles (Smriti Sharma Vasudeva; Statesman; December 7, 2016).
India's Tech Policy Entrepreneurs (Rohin Dharmakumar; The Ken; December 8, 2016).
Vijay Mallya cries foul after his Twitter and email accounts are hacked (Alnoor Peermohamed; Business Standard; December 10, 2016).
విజ్ఞాన నిధి వికీపీడియా.. (Namaste Telangana; December 11, 2016).
వికీపీడియాతో విజ్ఞాన విప్లవం (Andhra Bhoomi; December 11, 2016).
Wikipedia is a Newspaper (Namaste Telangana; December 11, 2016).
Wikipedian Pavan Santhosh says Telugu Wikipedians are creating Knowledge revolution (in Telugu) (Andhra Jyoti; December 12, 2016).
Wikipedia Event in Mangalore (Vijaya Karnataka; December 18, 2016).
With power, phone and internet services affected, Chennai is still recovering from Cyclone Vardah (Vinita Govindarajan and Sruthisagar Yamunan; Scroll.in; December 20, 2016).

पीजी जूलॉजी विभाग में एक दिवसीय समागम का आयोजन (Hindustan, December 20, 2016).

How private companies are using Aadhaar to try to deliver better services (but there's a catch) (M. Rajshekhar; Scroll.in; December 22, 2016).
‘IT hub’ K’taka ranks No 12 in e-deals (Christin Philip Mathew; New Indian Express; December 27, 2016).
India’s ruling party takes online abuse to a professional level (Samanth Subramanian; December 31, 2016).

CIS members published the following articles:

Digital native: The View from My Bubble (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; December 4, 2016).
Indian Newspapers' Digital Transition (Zeenab Azeez; Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism; December 9, 2016).
The Digital Protection of Traditional Knowledge: Questions Raised by the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library in India (Sunil Abraham and Vidushi Marda; GIS Watch; December 9, 2016)
The Curious Case of Poor Security in the Indian Twitterverse (Udbhav Tiwari; The Wire; December 17, 2016).
Pranay Raj record in 100 days-100 articles (Pavan Santhosh; Andhra Jyoti; December 17, 2016).
Digital Native: People Like Us (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; December 18, 2016).
వంద రోజులు.. వంద వ్యాసాలు - తెలుగు వికీపీడియాలో మోత్కూరు యువకుని రికార్డు (100 Days...100 Articles: Wikipedian from Motkur created record in Telugu Wikipedia) (Pavan Santhosh; Andhra Jyoti; December 18, 2016).

Jobs

CIS is seeking applications for:

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Accessibility & Inclusion
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India has an estimated 70 million persons with disabilities who don't have access to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. As part of our endeavour to make available accessible content for persons with disabilities, we are developing a text-to-speech software in 15 languages with support from the Hans Foundation. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed here.

Event Co-organized

International Accessibility Summit of Shaastra 2017 (Organized by CIS and IIT, Madaras; December 31 - January 3, 2017). Nirmita Narasimhan was a panel moderator.

Participation in Event

Best Practices in Digital Accessibility (Organized by IIM, Bangalore; December 19, 2016). Nirmita Narasimhan was a panelist.

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Access to Knowledge
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Our Access to Knowledge programme currently consists of two projects. The Pervasive Technologies project, conducted under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), aims to conduct research on the complex interplay between low-cost pervasive technologies and intellectual property, in order to encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The Wikipedia project, which is under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation, is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.

►Copyright and Patent

Statements

25th Session of the WIPO SCP: Statement on Assessment of Inventive Step (Rohini Lakshané; December 15, 2016).
25th Session of the WIPO SCP: Statement on Future work (Rohini Lakshané; December 16, 2016).

Participation in Event

7th Emerging Markets Finance Conference (Organized by Finance Research Group in association with Vanderbilt Law School; Mumbai; December 15, 2016). Anubha Sinha was a panelist.

►Wikipedia

As part of the project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).

Blog Entries

Freedom in Feb — an awareness increasing campaign (Tito Dutta; December 8, 2016).
A Shortcut to Freedom (Tito Dutta; December 14, 2016).
Marathi Wikipedia Edit-a-thon in Kolhapur (Subodh Kulkarni; December 16, 2016).
Ongoing Proof-reading Effort by ALC Student Wikimedians in Telugu Wikisource (Pavan Santosh and Ting-Yi Chang; December 30, 2016).

►Openness

Our work in the Openness programme focuses on open data, especially open government data, open access, open education resources, open knowledge in Indic languages, open media, and open technologies and standards - hardware and software. We approach openness as a cross-cutting principle for knowledge production and distribution, and not as a thing-in-itself.

Submission

Comments on the Draft National Policy on Software Products (Anubha Sinha, Rohini Lakshané, and Udbhav Tiwari; December 11, 2016).

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Internet Governance
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As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and IDRC) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on restrictions that the Indian government has placed on freedom of expression online.

►Privacy

Blog Entries

Privacy and Security Implications of Public Wi-Fi - A Case Study (Vanya Rakesh; December 9, 2016).
Habeas Data in India (Vipul Kharbanda and edited by Elonnai Hickok; December 10, 2016).
Workshop Report - UIDAI and Welfare Services: Exclusion and Countermeasures (Vanya Rakesh; December 14, 2016).
Enlarging the Small Print: A Study on Designing Effective Privacy Notices for Mobile Applications (Meera Manoj; December 14, 2016).
Protection of Privacy in Mobile Phone Apps (Hitabhilash Mohanty and Edited by Leilah Elmokadem; December 15, 2016).
ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC 27 Working Group Meetings - A Summary (Vanya Rakesh; December 16, 2016).
Deep Packet Inspection: How it Works and its Impact on Privacy (Amber Sinha; December 16, 2016).

Participation in Events

Industry Consultation Panel on Data Retention - DSCI (Organized by Data Security Council of India; New Delhi; November 23, 2016). This was mirrored on the website on December 6, 2016. Udbhav Tiwari was a panelist.
11th DSCI-NASSCOM Annual Information Security Summit 2016 (Organized by DSCI and NASSCOM; December 14, 2016). Udbhav Tiwari was a panelist.
Workshop on Center for IT and Society (Organized by IIT, Delhi; December 20, 2016). Amber Sinha attended the event.

►Free Speech & Expression

Blog Entries

ISIS and Recruitment using Social Media – Roundtable Report (Vidushi Marda, Aditya Tejus, Megha Nambiar and Japreet Grewal; December 15, 2016).
Inputs to the Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation on Public Policy Issues Pertaining to the Internet (WGEC) (Sunil Abraham and Vidushi Marda, with inputs from Pranesh Prakash; December 17, 2016).

Participation in Event

Myanmar Digital Rights Forum (Organized by Phandeeyar, You Can Do IT, Engage Media and Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business with support from the Embassy of Sweden; December 14 - 15, 2016). Sunil Abraham was a speaker.

►Big Data

Participation in Events

"Decoding the Digital" (Organized by Centre for IT and Public Policy at IIIT; Bangalore; December 12 - 14, 2016). Vanya Rakesh attended the event.
The EU and Free Flows of Data - Data Protection, Trade and Law Enforcement (Organized by the Department of European Studies; Bangalore; December 14, 2016). Ameila Andersdotter gave a talk.

Blog Entry

The Technology behind Big Data (Geethanjali Jujjavarapu and Udbhav Tiwari; December 1, 2016).

►Cyber Security

Blog Entries

Developer team fixed vulnerabilities in Honorable PM's app and API (Bhavyanshu Parasher; December 4, 2016).
Incident Response Requirements in Indian Law (Vipul Kharbanda; December 28, 2016).
Mapping of India’s Cyber Security-Related Bilateral Agreements (Leilah Elmokadem and Saumyaa Naidu; December 29, 2016).
Mapping of Sections in India’s MLAT Agreements (Leilah Elmokadem and Saumyaa Naidu; December 31, 2016).

Event Organized

Multistakeholder Consultation on Encryption (Organized by CIS with ORF and Takshashila Institution; TERI, Bangalore; December 17, 2016).

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Telecom
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CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to telecommunications services and resources, and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:

Submission

CIS Submission to TRAI Consultation Note on Model for Nation-wide Interoperable and Scalable Public Wi-Fi Networks (Japreet Grewal, Pranesh Prakash, Sharath Chandra, Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Sunil Abraham, and Udbhav Tiwari, with expert comments from Amelia Andersdotter; December 12, 2016).

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Researchers at Work
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The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by an emerging need to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It aims to produce local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:

Research Paper

Mapping Digital Humanities in India (P.P. Sneha; December 30, 2016).

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About CIS
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The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfigurations of social and cultural processes and structures as mediated through the internet and digital media technologies.

► Follow us elsewhere

Twitter: http://twitter.com/cis_india
Twitter - Access to Knowledge: https://twitter.com/CISA2K
Twitter - Information Policy: https://twitter.com/CIS_InfoPolicy
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E-Mail - Access to Knowledge: a2k@cis-india.org
E-Mail - Researchers at Work: raw@cis-india.org
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► Support Us

Please help us defend consumer and citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of 'The Centre for Internet and Society' and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru - 5600 71.

► Request for Collaboration

We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at sumandro@cis-india.org (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, at tanveer@cis-india.org.

CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2016-newsletter

Ongoing Proof-reading Effort by ALC Student Wikimedians in Telugu Wikisource

Pavan Santosh & Ting-Yi Chang — 2016-12-30T11:00:09Z

Student Wikimedians at Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada formatted and proof-read more than 1,900 folios in Telugu Wikisource during the last few weeks of November (2016). Each day, a group of twenty students uses the lab facility provided by the college after regular classes to make necessary formatting changes and fix spelling mistakes in the folios of books available in Telugu Wikisource. Till date, the student Wikipedians have proofread eight books.

The work was initiated and supported by CIS-A2K members who organized a proofreading workshop of the Bible Bhashya Samputavali Volume 06 on Telugu Wikisource in Andhra Loyola College during 18 to 20 November 2016. During the workshop, Telugu Wikimedian Gullapalli Nageswara Rao (User:Nrgullapalli), along with CIS-A2K community advocate Pavan Santhosh helped students to learn about the process of digitizing book in Telugu Wikisource and other formatting aspects involved. In this event, nearly twenty students picked up the skills required to proof-read a book as well as the formatting techniques in Telugu Wikisource. Some students had also started to proof-read three other books that are currently available in Telugu Wikisource.

This event also marked great effort and accomplishment of promoting gender balance and diversity in local community events — as the organizers and institution successfully assured a minimum 50% female participation rate throughout the three days. CIS-A2K member Ting-Yi Chang also gave a short introduction to the participants about the issue in Wikipedia (media) Gender Gap. Students who had previous Wikipedia editing experience at the ALC were also invited to the session, rendering around thirty female audience. The presentation included small brainstorm activities for students to discuss reasons behind the gender asymmetry online and on Wikipedia/media projects, as well as how we as community members can make a difference to help women feel more welcomed.

A follow-up Wikisource session was conducted on 25 and 26 November 2016 for students to learn about the remaining steps in digitization and the OCR tool. Thanks to encouragement and motivation given by Principal Rev. Fr., Dr. Peter Kishore, staff members Prof. Siva Kumari, and Dr. K. Sekhar, the student Wikipedians had started to contribute to Wikisource after class for at least a couple of hours every day. These events and accomplishments show remarkable efforts and dedication from both student Wikimedians and the institutional partner.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/ongoing-proof-reading-effort-by-alc-student-wikimedians-in-telugu-wikisource

Wikipedia Event in Mangalore

praskrishna — 2016-12-20T16:43:30Z

The article was published by Vijaya Karnataka on December 18, 2016.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/vijaya-karnataka-december-18-2016-wikipedia-event-in-mangalore

విజ్ఞాన నిధి వికీపీడియా..

praskrishna — 2016-12-20T16:38:48Z

The article about Telugu Wikipedia appeared in Namaste Telangana on December 11, 2016.

సిటీబ్యూరో:ప్రాపంచిక విషయాలను, చారిత్రక ఘట్టాలను, శాస్త్రీయ విషయాలను ప్రపంచానికి చేరువ చేస్తున్న విజ్ఞాన నిధి వికీపీడియా. ఆధునిక సాంకేతిక పద్ధతుల ఆధారంగా ఆన్‌లైన్‌తో ప్రపంచంలోని పలు ఆసక్తికరమైన విషయాలన్నింటనీ ప్రజలందరికీ చేరువ చేసే నేస్తం ఇది. అందరికీ ప్రవేశం, అందరికీ ఉచితంగా అందుబాటులో ఉండే ఈ ఎన్‌సైక్లోపెడియాలో మన చరిత్ర, మన సంస్కృతి మరెన్నో విషయాలను జోడించేందుకు సమాచార సైనికులతో వికీపీడియా డేను పురస్కరించుకొని గోల్డెన్ త్రెషోల్డ్‌లో శనివారం ఓ కార్యశాలను నిర్వహించింది. విజ్ఞాన సమాచారం,భౌగోళిక, చారిత్రక అంశాలు, సాంస్కృతిక విషయాలను వికీపీడియాలో చొప్పించేందుకు చేపట్టాల్సిన కార్యక్రమాలను ఈ కార్యశాలలో చర్చించారు. వికీపీడియాలో అందరూ తమకు తెలిసిన ఆసక్తికరమైన అంశాలపై వ్యాసాలు రాయవచ్చని, ప్రపంచానికి కొత్త విషయాలను పరిచయం చేయవచ్చని ఆంగ్ల వికీపీడియన్ టిటో దత్తా అన్నారు. వికీ ట్రైనర్, ట్రైనర్ ద ట్రైనర్ కార్యక్రమంలో వికీపీడీయన్లు కశ్యప్, ప్రణయ్ పలు సాంకేతిక అంశాలను తెలుగు వికిపీడియన్లకు వివరించారు. చరిత్రకారుడు, కవి కట్టా శ్రీనివాస్ మాట్లాడుతూ గోల్కొండ వంటి పలు చారిత్రక ప్రదేశాల్లో ప్రజలకు తెలియని చారిత్రక, సాంకేతిక ప్రదేశాలు, ఆసక్తికరమైన అంశాలు ఉన్నాయని వాటన్నింటినీ సేకరించి, ప్రపంచానికి చేరవేయాల్సిన అవసరం ఉందన్నారు. ఈ కార్యక్రమాన్ని వికీపీడియన్లు చేపట్టి విజయవంతం చేయాలన్నారు. సీనియర్ జర్నలిస్ట్ బీవీ ప్రసాద్, మౌర్య, మీనా గాయత్రి పాల్గొన్నారు.

Link to the original in Namaste Telangana

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/namaste-telangana-december-11-2016-article-on-wikipedia

వికీపీడియాతో విజ్ఞాన విప్లవం

praskrishna — 2016-12-20T16:36:06Z

The article appeared in Andhra Bhoomi on December 11, 2016.

హైదరాబాద్, డిసెంబర్ 10: అన్ని భారతీయ భాషల్లో వికీపీడియాను అభివృద్ధి చేసేందుకు అవసరమైన శిక్షణ అందిస్తున్నామని వికీ ట్రైనర్, ఆంగ్ల వికీపీడియన్ టిటో దత్తా పేర్కొన్నారు. వికీపీడియాను అభివృద్ధి చేసేందుకు వివిధ కార్యక్రమాల నిర్వహణకు అవసరమైన నాయకత్వ శిక్షణ, వికీపీడియాలో పనికొచ్చే ఉపకరణాల గురించి రెండు రోజుల శిక్షణ కార్యక్రమాన్ని ఆయన శనివారం ప్రారంభించారు. తెలుగు వికీపీడియాను అభివృద్ధి చేయడం ద్వారా తెలుగు భాషాభివృద్ధితో పాటు ప్రపంచవ్యాప్తంగా ఉన్న తెలుగు వారికి తెలుగు విశేషాలు అందించిన వారమవుతామని, దీంతో సరికొత్త విజ్ఞాన విప్లవం వస్తుందని ఆయన పేర్కొన్నారు. వికీపీడియాను అభివృద్ధి చేయడానికి కాలేజీల్లో కార్యశాల, ఫోటోవాక్, ఎడిట్ ఆ థాన్ తదితర కార్యక్రమాలను నిర్వహించవచ్చని చెప్పారు. చరిత్రకారుడు, రచయిత, తెలుగు వికీపీడియన్ కట్టా శ్రీనివాసరావు మాట్లాడుతూ గోల్కొండ వంటి ప్రదేశాల్లో కూడా ప్రజలకు తెలియని చారిత్రక, సాంకేతిక ప్రదేశాలు అంశాలు ఉంటాయని అన్నారు. వాటి ఫోటోలు తీసి వికీమీడియా కామన్స్‌లో చేర్చవచ్చని తెలిపారు. ఈ కార్యక్రమాన్ని సిఐఎస్-ఎ2కె ప్రతినిధి పవన్ సంతోష్, వికీపీడియన్ ప్రణయ్ రాజ్ వంగరి నిర్వహించారు. కార్యక్రమంలో తెలుగు వికీపీడియన్లు కశ్యప్, నాగేశ్వరరావు, మీనా గాయత్రీ, వౌర్య వంటి వారితో పాటు కొత్తగా వికీపీడియాలో చేరిన వారు కూడా పాల్గొన్నారు.

Read the original published by Andhra Bhoomi on December 11, 2016

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/andhra-bhoomi-december-11-2016-article-on-wikipedia

पीजी जूलॉजी विभाग में एक दिवसीय समागम का आयोजन

praskrishna — 2016-12-20T16:32:41Z

रांची विश्वविद्यालय के पीजी जूलॉजी विभाग में शनिवार को इंटरनेट एक्सेस पर आधारित संगोष्ठी ‘ओपनकॉन हुई। कुलपति डॉ रमेश कुमार पांडेय ने इसकी अध्यक्षता की। कार्यक्रम में डीएसडब्ल्यू डॉ सतीश चंद्र गुप्ता, प्रो संजय मिश्रा, प्रो अभिजीत दत्ता और डॉ बीके सिन्हा मौजूद थे। इसका आयोजन ओपन एक्ससेस इंडिया के सहयोग से किया गया। संगोष्ठी में लगभग 60 प्रतिभागियों ने हिस्सा लिया। कुलपति डॉ रमेश कुमार पांडेय समेत कई प्रतिभागियों ने अपना विकीपीडिया अकाउंट पेज भी खोला।

The article was published in the Hindustan on November 12, 2016.

संगोष्ठी में बतौर रिसोर्स पर्सन सेंटर फॉर फ्यूचर एंड सोसायटी, बंगलुरू के टीटो दत्ता, विकीपीडिया से गंगाधर बधानी मौजूद थे। साथ ही, ऑनलाइन विशेषज्ञों के तौर पर इस्लामिक यूनिवर्सिटी लेबनान की जमीला जाबेर व बंगलुरू की लीना और वृषाली प्रतिभागियों से रू-ब-रू हुईं। इंटनेटर एक्सेस से जुड़ी नवीनतम जानकारियों को पाकर प्रतिभागी खासे उत्साहित थे। उन्होंने शोधकार्य और अध्ययन के लिए इसे बहुत उपयोगी बताया। साथ ही, यह मांग भी की इस तरह के आयोजन नियमित अंतराल पर होते रहने चाहिए। संगोष्ठी में ओपन एक्सेस, ओपन एजुकेशन और ओपन डाटा के विभिन्न पहलुओं पर चर्चा हुई। इसमें विद्यार्थियों, शोधार्थियों और शिक्षाविदों को शोध व प्रोजेक्ट के लिए बेहतर स्रोत विकसित करने के तरीके बताए गए।

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/hindustan-november-12-2016-article-1-opencon-conference-held-at-ru

Changing the typographic landscape of a country: one letter at a time

praskrishna — 2016-12-20T16:06:51Z

My interest in designing typefaces in Indian scripts grew out of years of disappointment with the way most Hindi books I came across looked. Apart from a few exceptions, they looked like poor cousins of English books. Whether it was a children’s story book or a novel or magazine, there was usually the same drab typeface.

The blog post by Pooja Saxena was published in Storyweaver on December 1, 2016.

Some letters didn’t look like what we were taught in school, on others the matras (vowel marks) didn’t arch at the right places. Overall, the books and the letters inside them had an air of neglect. They looked old and completely unexciting. When I first learned that designing typefaces was a real job, I thought here was the opportunity to change all that.

Cambay, Devanagari typeface designed by Pooja Saxena for Google Fonts

Changing the typographic landscape of a country as diverse as India is not a one-woman job, but every now and then a project comes by that has the potential to make a small difference. Two years ago, as a result of a conversation with Subhashish Panigrahi, the Access to Knowledge programme at the Centre for Internet and Society commissioned a Ol Chiki typeface family. The Ol Chiki script, about which I knew precious little at the time, is used to write the language Santali, which is spoken by over six million people in India and its neighbouring countries. At the time that we started working on this project, there was no Unicode compliant typeface available in the script, making it impossible for it to be used on computers and cellphones, and online in a consistent and future-proof way. We hoped to change that by designing a small, but useful typeface family (it comes in regular, bold and italics) along with input methods and keyboard layouts that would allow a person to type Ol Chiki text easily.

Guru Gomke, Ol Chiki typeface designed by Pooja Saxena with research inputs from Shubhashish Panigrahi,for the A2K Programme at the Centre for Internet and Society.

This project was especially challenging because not only was Ol Chiki a completely unfamiliar script to me and Subhashish, but there was limited material available for us to consult. While designing a typeface in a script one reads and/or writes, or is at least familiar with, one’s experience with those letters can act as a guide. By writing them and seeing them printed in different fonts, in many people’s handwriting — some good, some bad — and on hand painted signs, one develops an instinct for identifying which parts of a letter make it recognisable. That way we know what parts of the letter can be exaggerated, and what others can be played down without compromising legibility. For an unfamiliar script, this visual vocabulary and the traditionally correct way of writing letters must be learned. Manuscripts, printed documents, handwriting manuals and samples, metal type, linguistic information about the script, feedback from native readers — all form parts of a puzzle that needs to be put together to design a competent typeface.

The story of Ol Chiki script is fascinating. The script is less than a century old, and was devised by Pandit Raghunath Murmu, who wanted to create a script that could accommodate all the features of the Santali language — something that the scripts used to write Santali so far had failed to do. Legend has it that he based the design of the letters on objects commonly found in the everyday environment of the Santals. Even though the script was created between 1920 – 1940, the Santal community has many myths about how it was created. One says that the script came to be at the time when the Earth itself was created, another says that the script was given as a divine gift to a learned man, Pandit Raghunath Murmu. It is after Pandit Raghunath Murmu, who is reverentially called Guru Gomke, that the Ol Chiki typeface that I designed was named. You can find out more about the Ol Chiki typeface and input methods project here.

Custom lettering for the Tamil branding of the Coovum Art Festival, designed by Pooja Saxena

If you’re interested in Indian type design and le ering, consider following the work of these exceptional designers — Noopur Datye, one of the co-founders of type design collective, Ek Type, who has designed custom typefaces TV channels like LifeOK; Kimya Gandhi, who is partner at Mota Italic, and recently designed an inventive Devanagari handwriting font; or Lipi Raval, whose flamboyant Gujarati typeface Mogra is a complete head-turner.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/story-weaver-december-1-2016-pooja-saxena-changing-the-typographic-landscape-of-a-country

Pranay Raj record in 100 days-100 articles

pavan — 2016-12-19T18:16:03Z

Telugu Theatre scholar Pranay Raj Vangari from Motkur of Yadadri District, Telangana created record by completing a challenge that is famous worldwide in Wikimedia community - "100 Days-100 Articles". Pranay Raj is a theatre scholar and artist who used to travel length and breadth of Telangana & Andhra Pradesh for research and performances.

Even in that situations, he started first article in challenge on September 8th and completed 100 articles in December 16th. Telangana State Language & Cultural department director Mamidi Harikrishna felicitated Pranay Raj after completion on completing 100 Wikidays challenge. Pranay said that two other Telugu Wikipedians completed this challenge successfully before him and he told they inspired him to take this up and complete. Pranay agreed that he faced some difficulties in writing articles in places where network is low. He said that he wouldn't stop with 100 wikidays but would continue challenge for whole day by creating 365 days and also said he would create more Telangana related articles.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/pranay-raj-record-in-100-days-100-articles