Centre for Internet and Society

Mobile Accessibility Practices

nirmita — 2017-04-12T13:48:13Z

Over the past few months the Centre for Internet & Society along with some like minded organizations had been working on framing a feasible accessibility guidelines for mobile apps which they could recommend to the Government of India, since there is no single standard in existence at the moment.

Problem Statement

The shift to digital governance and availability of assistive technologies have been both empowering as well as frustrating for persons with disabilities, who comprise approximately 150 million of the Indian population. Government initiatives such as the Digital India campaign are increasingly delivering basic functions of governance through information technologies. In the past year, the government, private sector and the world at large have embraced mobile applications as a preferred medium for user interactions and transactions.

The Mobile Seva App Store hosts 790 government apps, which provide services including voter information, agricultural assistance, welfare scheme signups, and educational content provision. In addition, the overall app market in India has also grown rapidly, with almost 5 times as many apps downloaded in 2015 compared to the previous year. These include apps which let users access everyday services like transportation, communication and entertainment.

However, for persons with disabilities, many of these apps, and consequently the services they provide, are inaccessible and often impossible to use. Research in the past year that looked at several apps, both government and private, found that a majority of the apps are inaccessible and unusable, especially for persons with low vision and blindness.

Read the full submission

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/mobile-accessibility-practices

March 2017 Newsletter

praskrishna — 2017-05-20T12:47:11Z

Welcome to March 2017 newsletter of the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS).

Dear readers,

Previous issues of the newsletters can be accessed here.

Highlights
CIS submitted comments on the draft Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules for the consideration of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Government of India. Anubha Sinha in a blog post has identified the various kinds of IP in an app and explained the protections available under Indian IPR law. CIS-A2K is conducting a Wiki internship project for students of New Law College, Pune under the guidance of Prof.Dr.Mukund Sarda, Dean and Principal of New Law College. In an Op-ed published in the Hindu, Sunil Abraham has stated that though biometrics may be appropriate for targeted surveillance by the state, it is wholly inappropriate for everyday transactions between state and law abiding citizens. CIS has published a survey that draws upon a range of literature including news articles, academic articles, and presentations and seeks to disaggregate the potential benefits and harms of big data, organising them into several broad categories that reflect the existing scholarly literature. CIS submitted comments on the Information Technology (Security of Prepaid Payment Instruments) Rules, 2017. The comments were in response to the Information Technology (Security of Prepaid Payment Instruments) Rules 2017. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued a consultation paper which called for developing a framework for security of digital wallets operating in the country. Ritam Sengupta, Dr. Richard Heeks, Sumandro Chattapadhyay, and Dr. Christopher Foster have co-authored a paper that presents exploratory research into “data-intensive development” that seeks to inductively identify issues and conceptual frameworks of relevance to big data in developing countries.

CIS in the news:

The 12-digit conundrum (Richa Mishra; Hindu Businessline; March 13, 2017)
EVMs: How transparent is the Indian election process? (Smriti Sharma Vasudeva; The Statesman; March 14, 2017).
Nasscom chief saying full data protection isn’t possible should wake us from our digital slumber (First Post; March 16, 2017).
Privacy concerns multiply for Aadhaar, India’s national biometric identity registry (One World Identity; March 17, 2017).
No ID, no benefits: thousands could lose lifeline under India’s biometric scheme (Guardian; March 21, 2017).
Why We Should All Worry About The Mandatory Imposition Of Aadhaar (Rimin Dutt and Ivan Mehta; Huffington Post; March 24, 2017).
India’s biometric ID scans make sci-fi a reality (Amy Kazmin; Financial Times; March 27, 2017).
क्‍या आधार पर जल्दबाज़ी में है सरकार? (NDTV; March 27, 2017).
Get an Aadhaar card if you don't have one (Priya Nair and Sanjay Kumar Singh; Business Standard; March 27, 2017).
The Aadhaar of all things (Shriya Mohan; Hindu Businessline; March 31, 2017).

CIS members wrote the following articles

Digital native: Lie Me a River (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; March 19, 2017).
It’s the technology, stupid (Sunil Abraham; Hindu Businessline; March 31, 2017).
How Aadhaar compromises privacy? And how to fix it? (Sunil Abraham; Hindu; March 31, 2017).

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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.

Submission

Comments on the draft Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules (Nirmita Narasimhan; March 29, 2017).

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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.

►Pervasive Technologies

Blog Entry

Intellectual Property Rights and Mobile Apps (Anubha Sinha; March 6, 2017).

►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

"Marathi Bhasha Gaurav Din" celebrations in Maharashtra (Manasa Rao; March 7, 2017).
Women’s History Month: Sambad collaborates with Odia Wikipedia for a Two Day Edit-a-thon (Sailesh Patnaik; March 16, 2017).
Wikisource:Internship Project at New Law College, Pune (Subodh Kulkarni; March 28, 2017).

Events Organized

Women's Day Edit-a-thon (Co-organized by Sterlite Tech Foundation, Jnana Prabhodhini, and CIS-A2K; Pune; March 10, 2017). Subodh Kulkarni was one of the trainers.
Marathi Wikipedia Edit-a-thon on Environment Management (Organized by CSIBER College and CIS-A2K; Kolhapur; March 30, 2017). Subodh Kulkarni was a trainer.

►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.

Participation in Events

National Consultation on OER for Higher Education (Organized by Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia; New Delhi; March 3, 2017). Anubha Sinha attended the event.
Open Development Book - Authors' Workshop (Organized by International Development Research Centre and Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching; University of Cape Town, South Africa; March 11 - 12, 2017). The workshop gathered the contributers to an upcoming book by IDRC on open development. Elonnai Hickok, Gus Hosein from Privacy International and Sumandro Chattapadhyay are writing a chapter for this book.
Indo - French Perspectives on Digital Studies (Organized by Digital Studies Group; Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; March 15, 2017). Anubha Sinha was a speaker.

Blog Entries

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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

Submission

Comments on Information Technology (Security of Prepaid Payment Instruments) Rules, 2017 (Udbhav Tiwari, Pranesh Prakash, Abhay Rana, Amber Sinha and Sunil Abraham; March 23, 2017).

Participation in Events

WISER Lecture : Sumandro Chattapadhyay on Deregulation by Code (Organized by the University of the Witwatersrand; Johannesburg; March 8, 2017). Sumandro Chattapadhyay gave a talk.
Conference on Safety Against Online Child Sexual Abuse (Organized by CID, Telangana and the Department for Women Development and Child Welfare, Telangana; March 16 - 17, 2017). Japreet Grewal was a speaker.
State of Digital Rights in India (Organized by Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University, Delhi and the Internet Freedom Foundation, in association with Access Now; India International Centre, New Delhi; March 24, 2017). Japreet Grewal and Sumandro Chattapadhyay took part in panel discussions.
Hangout on Technology and Jobs (Organized by Google; March 24, 2017). Vanya Rakesh was a speaker.

Blog Entry

Analysis of Key Provisions of the Aadhaar Act Regulations (Amber Sinha and edited by Elonnai Hickok; March 31, 2017).

►Cyber Security

Upcoming Event

Digital Forensics and Cyber Investigations (CIS; New Delhi; April 7, 2017). IPS officer Dr. Madan M. Oberoi will give a talk.

►Big Data

Blog Entry

Benefits, Harms, Rights and Regulation: A Survey of Literature on Big Data (Amber Sinha, Vanya Rakesh, Vidushi Marda and Geethanjali Jujjavarapu; edited by Sunil Abraham, Elonnai Hickok and Leilah Elmokadem; March 23, 2017).

Participation in Event

The Fintech Disruption - Innovation, Regulation, and Transformation (Organized by Carnegie India; March 28, 2017). Sumandro Chattapadhyay attended the event.

►Freedom of Expression

Event Organized

Essentials of building internet tools for inclusion (Valencia, Spain; March 6, 2017). A talk jointly proposed by Chinmayi SK and Rohini Lakshané was selected for the Internet Freedom Festival.

Participation in Events

From Virtual to Reliable: Exploring Freedom and Facts in the World of WWW (World Wide Web) (Organized by Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands and Adaan Foundation; March 21, 2017). Saikat Datta and Amber Sinha were panelists.
Internet Freedom Festival 2017 (Organized by IFF; Valencia, Spain; March 6 - 10, 2017). Vidushi Marda participated in the event. Vidushi also attended these sessions: Data Protection Law and its Different Manifestations; Using the Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index for Advocacy & Research; The identity we can't change: a new wave of biometric policies around the world and Enabling free speech online by legal defence: the need for skilled lawyers to secure the free flow of information online: Vidushi channeled a discussion about Shreya Singhal v. Union of India as an important case study in understanding how legal defence has been used to secure rights online.

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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:

Newspaper Column

Organisational Hurdles in Telecom (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard; March 1, 2017 and Organizing India Blogspot; March 2, 2017)

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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

Exploring Big Data for Development: An Electricity Sector Case Study from India (Ritam Sengupta, Dr. Richard Heeks, Sumandro Chattapadhyay, and Dr. Christopher Foster; Global Development Institute, University of Manchester; March 29, 2017).

Blog Entry

Evaluating Safety Buttons on Mobile Devices: Preview (Rohini Lakshané and Chinmayi S.K.; March 27, 2017).

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About CIS
-----------------------------------
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
Facebook - Access to Knowledge: https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k
E-Mail - Access to Knowledge: a2k@cis-india.org
E-Mail - Researchers at Work: raw@cis-india.org
List - Researchers at Work: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers

► 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/march-2017-newsletter

Comments on the draft Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules

nirmita — 2017-03-29T03:41:25Z

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) submitted comments on the draft Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules for the consideration of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Government of India.

The comments were submitted to the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities on March 23, 2017. Click to download the submission here.

Introduction

We thank the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPD) for inviting comments on its draft rules. We provide brief comments on the Rules below. We would particularly like to draw the department’s attention to the need to have rules concerning measures relating to standards compliance, training and monitoring which we feel would help strengthen the Rules to address the issue of accessibility in a timely and effective manner.

Accessibility of the draft rules document

At the outset, we would like to draw attention to the fact that the Rules when first published in PDF form were only partially accessible and not easily readable for persons using screen readers. We appreciate that at a later date, an accessible Word version was provided, however we feel that even the original PDF needs to conform to the PDF/UA standards.

Policy/Guidelines on accessible communication

Following from the above point, we would like to propose that the DEPD publish at the earliest a set of guidelines for publishing accessible information and communication. The guidelines may define what constitutes information, explain how to create and disseminate accessible information and identify relevant accessibility standards. They may be applicable to all cases where printed or electronic information such as books, leaflets/ handbooks, mails, invoices, forms, data, policies and acts are created and communicated to diverse stakeholders. This guidelines may be mandatory across the Central and State Governments.

Reasonable Accommodation

Rule 3(1) requires that every establishment take steps to provide reasonable accommodation. It may further be added that said measures towards reasonable accommodation be taken within a reasonable time frame, such that persons with disabilities are provided access to resources at the same time as others and not significantly later.

Standards and Guidelines

Standards are critical to implement accessibility, and it is important that we adopt the most updated globally recognised standards. To aid this endeavour, we recommend that the DEPD may appoint two experts who will primarily be responsible for implementing accessibility. Their tasks will involve identifying standards and policy requirements in different domains and coordinating with the relevant ministries to notify and implement the same. One expert may be responsible for environmental accessibility, while the other may be responsible for overseeing ICT accessibility. The experts may carry out the tasks of formulating strategies to implement accessibility compliance, as well as researching advances in international policies and standards and making recommendations to relevant Ministries.

Regarding the Rules relating to the notification of standards for ICT accessibility (Rule 17.c.), we recommend that these may be expanded and made more comprehensive. To our understanding, some of the standards mentioned in relation to ICT accessibility such as telecasting and broadcasting do not as yet address the issue of accessibility. We recommend that the relevant ministries notify standards and guidelines to be followed in their regard at the earliest. There are also critical domains such as procurement, telecommunications and mobile devices, services and applications and emergency and disaster response for which standards and guidelines need to be notified.

We propose that the deadline for notification of standards be set within 6 months of the Rules coming into force and that the standards to be adopted are those which are globally followed, such as EN 301-549 for procurement.

Past efforts have proven that the notification of guidelines alone does not necessarily result in the implementation of accessibility, and often times a web site or platform which has been made accessible, reverts to being inaccessible as time elapses and persons who are involved in updating it and maintaining are unaware of accessibility principles to be followed. Hence, each and every person developing, maintaining and updating a website should be familiar with accessibility core principles. Outsourcing accessibility compliance is a temporary solution, it will be rendered pointless as people continue to update the website and post new content that is inaccessible. Therefore, some level of training is an absolute necessity, although the specific level and nature of these trainings may vary based on the individual’s role in relation to the website. For example, a web developer would need more in depth training as compared to a communications or administrative officer whose role may be to upload documents to the web site. Creating accessible documents and communicating in an accessible manner is something which every government official should be able to do, while the needs of developers are more advanced and technical and may require two rounds of training. Each ministry and department at the Centre and state may allocate a certain portion of their budget towards this.

An Accessibility specialisation unit may also be constituted within the NIC or any other appropriate agency whose task will be especially to provide on-going practical support to government agencies on how to implement accessibility across their web sites and publications. This team may work closely with the DEPD and other government agencies to audit, trouble shoot and guide continuous progress in implementing web site accessibility across the government.

All Ministries and government agencies may be required to include a section on accessibility compliance and initiatives as part of their annual reporting. This report may also include their performance on expenditure relating to implementing accessibility, hiring employees with disabilities, trainings undertaken and affirmative action required to be taken by them as given in the RPWD Act 2016, such as steps towards incentivising affirmative action by the private sector and activities undertaken relating to Chapter VI, Chapter VII and Chapter VIII of the RPWD Act.

Training and Support

Monitoring and reporting

Regarding website accessibility, the DEPD may also consider taking up auditing web sites of government agencies at random from time to time and publish the reports periodically as a measure towards gauging progress. A comprehensive audit of all government web sites of both the Central and state government and applications may be undertaken every 3 years.

National fund

Rule 43, relating to the Utilization of the National Fund is not clear on how much money is spent on accessibility initiatives each year. It is proposed that this rule specify the percentage of funds which have to be required to be utilised each year. In the absence of this, there is a concern that the fund will be under utilised, despite there being a large need for spending on accessibility. Details of projects and spending may be published from time to time.

Office of the Chief Commissioner

The DEPD may require that at least one person of senior rank within the Office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities be a person with disability. This will ensure that the interests of the concerned group are directly represented at the highest level dedicated to ensuring their welfare and participation.

Transparency

Finally we recommend that the rules emphasise the need for transparency in implementing the provisions of the Act and that all initiatives, programmes and expenditure may be published in a timely and accessible manner.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/comments-on-the-draft-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-rules

January 2017 Newsletter

praskrishna — 2017-03-01T06:00:37Z

Welcome to the January 2017 newsletter of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS).

Dear readers,

We are pleased to bring you the Centre for Internet & Society's January newsletter. Previous issues of the newsletters can be accessed here.

Highlights
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPD) Act, which was passed in December 2016, seeks to give effect to the rights and obligations enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities, which India signed and ratified nearly a decade ago. Nirmita Narasimhan in a blog entry has summarized the key provisions of the Act relating to digital accessibility. 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. CIS was one of the intervenors in the case, and has been duly acknowledged in the judgment. Meena Gayathri became the first South Indian Wikiwoman to complete 100 Wikidays challenge. The challenge required Wikipedians to create one new article per day for one hundred days in a row. Gayathri's contribution and passion towards Telugu language and culture have transcended into a "knowledge revolution". The Committee on Digital Payments constituted by the Ministry of Finance and chaired by Ratan P. Watal, Principal Advisor, NITI Aayog, submitted its report on the "Medium Term Recommendations to Strengthen Digital Payments Ecosystem" on December 09, 2016. The report was made public on December 27, and comments were sought from the general public. CIS submitted its comments. The comments were authored by Sumandro Chattopadhyay. ICANN sought community input on the Proposed ICANN Community Anti-Harassment Policy on 7 November 2016. In response to this CIS submitted its comments. The comments were authored by Padma Venkataraman, Rohini Lakshané, Sampada Nayak and Vidushi Marda. The eleven sessions selected for the Internet Researchers' Conference 2017 (IRC17) to be held at the IIIT Bangalore campus during March 3-5, 2017 has been announced. The conference is being organised by the Centre for Information Technology and Public Policy (CITAPP) at IIIT Bangalore and CIS.

CIS in the news

India’s Digital ID Rollout Collides With Rickety Reality (Gabriele Parussini; Wall Street Journal; January 13, 2017).
Millions of Indians move from cash to digital payments. But some ask whether it’s safe (Rama Lakshmi; Washington Post; January 14, 2017).
Sunil Abraham on Aadhaar's misuse during demonetisation (Economic Times; January 14, 2017)
The soon-to-be launched Aadhaar Pay will let you make purchases using your fingerprint (Indulekha Aravind; January 15, 2017).
Lost your phone? Here's how you can make your mobile theft-proof (Sanjay Kumar Singh; Business Standard; January 16, 2017).
The Dangers Of Aadhaar-Based Payments That No One Is Talking About (Mayank Jain; Bloomberg; January 17, 2017).
Supreme Court issues notice to WhatsApp, Centre on data privacy (MJ Antony, Ayan Pramanik and Apurva Venkat; Business Standard; January 17, 2017).
Demonetisation: Cost Vs Benefit (NDTV; December 24, 2016). Sunil Abraham took part in the Big Fight programme aired by NDTV. The video was published on January 17, 2017.
For India’s complaints department, visit Facebook Live (Amy Kazmin; Financial Times; January 23, 2017).

CIS members wrote the following articles:

Cashlessness Needs Connectivity (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard; January 4, 2017).
Digital Native: The Dream of the Cyborg (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; January 8, 2017).
Digital transitions in the newsroom: How are Indian language papers adapting differently? (Zeenab Aneez; London School of Economics and Political Science; January 16, 2017).
Digital native: Back at it Again (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; January 22, 2017).

Jobs

Policy Officer (Cyber Security)
Senior Policy Officer (Cyber Security)
Internship - Application accepted throughout the year
Survey Participants for Research on Musician Livelihood

Blog Entry

Digital accessibility in the Rights of Persons With Disabilities Act 2016 (Nirmita Narasimhan; January 23, 2017).

Participation in Event

Workplace Solutions Champions Consultative Workshop (Organized by Enable India, January 21 - 22, 2017; Ecumenical Christian Centre, Bangalore). Nirmita Narasimhan attended the workshop.

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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

Blog Entry

Super Cassettes v. MySpace (Redux) (Anubha Sinha; January 16, 2017).

Event Organized

Seminar on Rethinking Copyright and Licensing for Digital Publishing Today (Organized by Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council, Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi, and CIS; New Delhi; January 23, 2017). Anubha Sinha attended the event.

►Wikipedia

Blog Entries

WikiSangamotsavam 2016 (Manasa Rao; January 18, 2017).
Telugu Wikipedia Stall at Hyderabad Book Fair (Manasa Rao; January 18, 2017).
Telugu Wikipedia Stall at Rajahmundry Book Fair (Manasa Rao; January 18, 2017).
Mini Workshop on Tools: Wikipedia Monthly Meetup, Hyderabad (Manasa Rao and Pavan Santhosh; January 18, 2017).
Meet Telugu Wikipedian Surampudi Meena Gayathri – the first South Indian Wikiwoman completing 100 Wikidays Challenge (Ting-Yi Chang; January 23, 2017).

Event Organized

Odia Wikipedia and Orientation Training Programme (Organized by CIS-A2K team; Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal; January 31, 2017).

►Openness

Participation in Event

CBGA - Consultation on Opening Up Access to Budget Data in India (Organized by CBGA; January 27, 2017; New Delhi). Sumandro Chattapadhyay was a speaker.

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Internet Governance
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►Privacy

Submission

Comments on the Report of the Committee on Digital Payments (Sumandro Chattapadhyay and Amber Sinha; January 12, 2017).

Blog Entries

The Design & Technology behind India’s Surveillance Programmes (Udbhav Tiwari; January 20, 2017)
Workshop on ‘Privacy after Big Data’ (Amber Sinha; January 27, 2017).

Events Organized

Discussion on Ranking Digital Rights in India (India Islamic Cultural Centre, New Delhi; January 7, 2017).
Rankathon on Digital Rights (CIS office, New Delhi; January 8, 2017).

Participation in Events

Global Governance Futures 2027 - Session 3 (Organized by Global Public Policy Institute and supported by Robert Bosch Stiftung; New Delhi; January 17, 2017). Sumandro Chattapadhyay joined Ankhi Das (Facebook) and Arun Mohan Sukumar (Observer Research Foundation) to discuss the "data governance" scenarios developed by the GGF 2027 Fellows.
CPDP (Computers, Privacy and Data Protection) 2017 (Organized by Privacy International; Brussels, January 26, 2017). Amber Sinha participated as a panelist.

►Big Data

Blog Entry

New Media, personalisation and the role of algorithms (Amber Sinha; January 2, 2017).

Participation in Events

Training programme for Chairs, Convenor and Experts for International Standardization Work (Organized by National Institute of Training for Standardization, under the Bureau of India Standards; January 19 - 20, 2017; NOIDA). Udbhav Tiwari attended the training programme.
Seminar on Understanding Financial Technology, Cashless India, and Forced Digitalisation (Centre for Financial Accountability; New Delhi; January 24, 2017). Sumandro Chattapadhyay spoke on the emerging architecture of FinTech in India.

►Free Speech & Expression

Submission

Comments on the Proposed ICANN Community Anti-Harassment Policy (Padma Venkataraman, Rohini Lakshané, Sampada Nayak and Vidushi Marda; January 13, 2017).

Blog Entry

Social Media Monitoring (Amber Sinha; January 13, 2017).

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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:

Article

Cashlessness Needs Connectivity (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard; January 4, 2017 and Organizing India Blogspot; January 5, 2017).

Event

Internet Researchers' Conference 2017 (IRC17) - Selected Sessions (Organized by Centre for Information Technology and Public Policy and CIS; IIIT, Bangalore; March 3 - 5, 2017). Eleven sessions have received 10 or more nominations.

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About CIS
-----------------------------------
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
Facebook - Access to Knowledge: https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k
E-Mail - Access to Knowledge: a2k@cis-india.org
E-Mail - Researchers at Work: raw@cis-india.org
List - Researchers at Work: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers

► Support Us

► Request for Collaboration

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/january-2017-newsletter

Comments on Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities 'Vision Document 2030'

nirmita — 2017-02-28T15:58:55Z

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) submitted comments for the consideration of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPD) on the Vision Document 2030 brought out earlier this month.

We appreciate the efforts by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPD) to put together a vision and strategy document to inform and direct the implementation of the new Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPWD), and give effect to the rights of persons with disabilities as enshrined in various international treaties.

Overall, we recommend that the vision articulate more clearly in terms of quantifiable targets what it seeks to achieve at different points of time and that these targets, while taking into account the realistic situation in our country, are not so minimally set as to undermine the aims of the Act and the national commitments outlined therein.

We submit that it be kept in mind that this is not the first time that a national conversation has taken place around accessibility and standards, and that many previous attempts such as the Guidelines on Indian Government Websites (GIGW) have been in existence for nearly 8 years.

Therefore, we submit that the steps taken towards implementing this act should be more ambitious, and should seek to resolve the issue within the next 2-3 years. Accordingly please find our brief comments below:

Background

Section 2(i) is as follows: Vision: ‘To build an inclusive society in which equal opportunities are provided for the growth and development of Persons with Disabilities so that they can lead productive, safe and dignified lives.’ We propose the addition of the word ‘integration/inclusion/assimilation’ as in the phrase ‘growth, integration and development’, since that implies social acceptance, which is crucial. We also propose the addition of one more sentence as follows: ‘To enable access to technology and technology enabled resources for every person with a disability to facilitate effective communication and integration in society, as well as to ensure that accessibility considerations and standards are included across the board in all government programmes and initiatives.’
We propose in 3(a) - the inclusion of the word technologies in the phrase ‘providing appropriate aids and appliances.’ This is important since aids and appliances are not always technology-based and often times a new technology may be suitable, efficient and contemporary to address a specific need.
We propose in 3(b) - the inclusion of the word accessibility in the phrase ‘developing rehabilitation professionals/personnel.’

Long Term Vision by 2030

Inclusion of curriculum related to e-accessibility such as knowledge of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and universal design principles in all institutes and institutions teaching courses in engineering, computer science, IT etc.
Inclusion of disability-related issues in the curriculum of university courses in other fields as well, such as law, sociology, economics, and architecture.
Creation of a mechanism to gather more comprehensive and accurate data on persons with disabilities, such as their levels of access to technologies, information and basic resources and amenities.
Provision of training to use computers for students and children with disabilities in rural areas and provide training to students receiving aids and appliances as part of schemes. In addition, the Government should also focus on providing appropriate training and access to appropriate content in order to make full use of these technologies.

Seven Years' Strategy

The point about making documents, buildings, websites, documents etc. accessible under the Accessible India campaign [1] is appreciated; however, it should be accompanied with a mechanism for transparency and accountability. This should include periodic reports giving updates on the details of websites, documents, etc. taken up for retrofitting. At the moment, this information is not available on any of the public domain web sites such as the Accessible India campaign URLs, and repeated RTIs have failed to make this information available. Hence, there is no clarity on what the exact number of URLs and documents which have been made accessible so far is. Without accountability built into this procedure moving forward, there is very little to ensure that it happens.

Three Years Strategy

Review of legislations for persons with disabilities : we propose that a time line be set for this, say within 6 months and a list of existing and new policy/ legislation requiring interventions/ formulation be drawn up for action. Priority tasks could be to take up accessible procurement, accessibility of mobile applications, web sites and electronic documents.
One of the foremost tasks should be to identify and notify appropriate standards for different domains of accessibility such as procurement, electronic documents, television and so on, as well as reaffirm/ update any existing standards already recognized by the Government so that the process of retrofitting existing resources, as well as building new accessible ones commences at the earliest.
It is recommended that the Government of India put together an advisory committee of subject matter experts from NGOs and other civil society bodies who can advise on initiatives to be taken for environmental and information accessibility.
Regarding the plan for making 50% of all government web sites and documents accessible[2] , this target needs to be revised. The Accessible India campaign, which lists the same target in its strategy document,[3] has already been underway for the past one and a half years, and we hope that this target would have already been achieved under those efforts. Hence, if the Government sets a target of 50% over the next three years, this implies either that work has not been taking place thus far, or that very little will be done over that period of time. Furthermore, the RPWD Act requires all service providers to make their services accessible within 2 years of notification of regulation by the Central Government[4], hence the time stipulated under the Act is much lesser than the vision is providing for and should be amended to making all web sites and documents accessible within 2 years. It may further be noted that the GIGW had been notified since 2009 and despite being in place for eight years, there is currently no official information on how many websites been made fully compliant with these standards. Therefore, we submit that a strict approach with regard to any deadlines and regulatory measures are necessary.
It is respectfully submitted that the number of 500 language interpreters[5] is simply not enough. This would work out to approximately 15 interpreters per state in 3 years, a number that we consider far too low for the time allotted. We submit instead that it is urgent that an attempt be made to train at least 30 people per state/UT per year, which would work out to 90 interpreters per state/UT over the 3-year period.
It is crucial the DEPD try to work with the Digital India campaign and the Smart Cities Mission to ensure that upcoming smart cities are born accessible. To this end, there needs to be specific measures to ensure that accessibility standards are part of the Terms of Reference and contracts for smart cities and that there is sufficient guidance and accountability for this.

[1]. Section C.6

[2]. Section D.6

[3]. http://www.disabilityaffairs.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/Accessible%20India%20Campaign_Brochure.pdf

[4]. Chapter VIII, Section 46

[5]. Section D.7

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/comments-on-depds-vision-document-2030

Workplace Solutions Champions Consultative Workshop

praskrishna — 2017-02-03T01:23:38Z

A two day workshop was held on January 21 - 22 at Ecumenical Christian Centre in Bangalore. The workshop was organized by Enable India. Nirmita Narasimhan attended the workshop.

Agenda

Day 1: January 21, 2017

Sl. No.	Agenda Item	Description	Timings
1	Context Setting for the Workshop	What outcomes we hope to achieve during the workshop	9.30 - 10.00
2	Reflections and Sharing	Sharing on achievements and impact, through discussions and activities	10.00 - 10.45
	Tea Break		10.45 - 11.15
3	Reflections and Sharing (Continued)	Sharing on achievements and impact, through discussions and activities	11.15 – 12.45
	Lunch Break		12.45 - 13.45
4	Situational Context for WPS Champions Network	Understanding the background of workplace solutions and their critical role in shaping livelihoods for persons with vision impairment	13.45 - 14.30
5	Curriculum Development	Creation of curriculum for development of quality WPS Implementation professionals	14.30 - 16.30
	Tea Break		16.30 - 17.00
6	Curriculum Development	Creation of curriculum for development of quality WPS Implementation professionals	17.00 - 19.00

Day 2: January 22, 2017

Sl. No.	Agenda Item	Description	Timings
1	WPS Champions Network Long Term Vision and My Personal Vision	Understanding the future of WPS implementation, and personal vision alignment	9.00 - 10.00
	Tea Break		10.00 - 10.30
2	National track: Top Actions for the Year, and Who Will Do What	Understanding the roadmap for WPS across India	10.30 – 11.00
3	Regional Tracks for North, South and West regions: Top Actions for the Year, and Who Will do What	Preparing a region-specific roadmap for WPS in the north, south and west regions	11.00 - 12.00
4	Open Session on Employment	Group discussion on WPS in the context of employment and livelihoods	12.00 - 13.00
	Lunch Break		13.00 - 14.00
5	Logistics and communication channels for next steps	Service management tool demo, Whatsapp group and other information	14.00 - 15.00

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/workplace-solutions-champions-consultative-workshop

Digital accessibility in the Rights of Persons With Disabilities Act 2016

Nirmita Narasimhan — 2017-01-23T07:44:58Z

This post summarizes the provisions for digital accessibility in the new Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPD) Act, which was passed in December 2016, seeks to give effect to the rights and obligations enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities, which India signed and ratified nearly a decade ago.

The Act has several important and noteworthy aspects which will have a great impact on inclusion for Indians with disabilities. The new legislation recognises that accessibility is critical for inclusion and that it is a cross-sectoral issue to be implemented by different stakeholders across different government departments and ministries and agencies.

The terms access or accessibility appear 48 times in the document while dealing with judicial, political, cultural, economic, educational, housing, institutional, employment-related, health and infrastructural reform and access to art.

The new Act has expanded the ambit of conditions it recognizes to 19 conditions, as opposed to the 7 disabilities that were recognized under the 1995 legislation. Further the Bill contains a provision allowing the Central Government to notify any other additional condition as a disability. It extends to the whole of India except Jammu and Kashmir.

A really important development under this Act is that it requires mandatory conformance to accessibility standards and recognises that reasonable accommodation and universal design are critical for facilitating access in an equitable manner and creating an accessible framework for India going forward.

Where the previous Act required governments to make facilities accessible to the extent that it was possible within their economic limits, thus having provided an exit option for most state governments to avoid compliance, the new Act makes it amply clear that accessibility is a must and includes the private sector, private service providers and private establishments within its ambit for compliance with the Act. The Act also understands public services and public buildings as those which are used by the public at large, including those services and buildings which belong to private sector and not as merely those which are government owned.

Another important development is the fact that the Act clearly mandates that accessibility includes both environmental and information technology accessibility (ICT accessibility). The following section highlights some of the provisions relevant in this regard.

Section 2(c) lays down that barriers include “communicational, cultural, economic, environmental, institutional, political, social or structural factors which hampers the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in society;

Section 2(f) defines communication to include languages, display of text, Braille, tactile communication, large print, accessible multimedia as well as written, audio, plain-language, human-reader and augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication, including accessible information and communication technology.

Section 2(y) defines reasonable accommodation as “necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments, without imposing a disproportionate or undue burden in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise of rights equally with others;

Section 2(ze) defines universal design as “the design of products, environments, programmes and services to be usable by all people to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialised design and as being applicable to assistive devices including advanced technologies for particular group of persons with disabilities.

Section 2(h) identifies failure to provide reasonable accommodation as a form of discrimination.

Section 2(n) defines information and communication technology as including “all services and innovations relating to information and communication, including telecom services, web based services, electronic and print services, digital and virtual services;

Section 2(v) defines “private establishment” as referring to “a company, firm, cooperative or other society, associations, trust, agency, institution, organisation, union, factory or such other establishment as the appropriate Government may, by notification, specify;

Section 40 requires the Central Government to formulate standards with advice from the Chief Commissioner in the areas of “physical environment, transportation, information and communications, including appropriate technologies and systems, and other facilities and services provided to the public in urban and rural areas;

Section 41 requires the appropriate government to take suitable measures for provision of facilities at different transport locations like bus stops, ticketing counters etc., provision of access to all modes of transport, accessible roads and development of appropriate schemes to promote mobility.

Section 42 requires the appropriate government to ensure that all content in audio, print and electronic formats are accessible, that there is access to electronic media for all by providing audio descriptions, sign language and close captioning and that daily use electronic goods are available in universal design.

Section 43 requires the appropriate Government to “take measures to promote development, production and distribution of universally designed consumer products and accessories for general use for persons with disabilities;

Section 45 requires all public buildings to be made accessible within 5 years of notification of rules and the formulation of an action plan based on prioritisation, with special focus on essential services, to be implemented.

Section 46 requires all service providers, whether government or private, to make their services accessible within 2 years of notification of rules formulated in this regard by the Central Government under section 40.

Section 47 requires the appropriate government to take measures for creating human resource for the purpose of this Act by providing mandatory training on disability for Panchayati Raj members, legislators, administrators, police officials, judges and lawyers, as well as include accessibility and disability as a component for all schools, colleges and other courses, initiate capacity building programmes for family members, care givers etc and ensure independence training for persons with disabilities and conduct training programmes for sports teachers.

The Act provides for the setting up of a Central Advisory Board and State advisory Boards to carry out the functions of policy making, evaluation and monitoring and facilitating implementation of the Act. The Act provides further for the appointment of a Chief Commissioner for persons with disabilities who will be aided by two additional commissioners, one of whom at least must be a person with a disability. Every proceeding before a chief commissioner will be a judicial proceeding and Chief Commissioner will have the same powers as those vested with a civil court while trying a case under this Act.

The Act makes provision for the earmarking of special courts for speedy trial of offences under the Act at district level. These are to be done with the permission of the Chief Justice of the High Court. The Act identifies different authorities who are to be notified/ approached in case of offences of different nature.

Section 89 provides for punishment for first contravention as fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees and for any subsequent contravention with fine which shall not be less than fifty thousand rupees but which may extend to five lakh rupees.

Section 90 holds employees of companies which are guilty of offences also individually liable unless they can prove that the offence took place without their knowledge or despite their best precautions.

Section 93 lists offences which are punishable with imprisonment of 6 months-5 years and a fine.

Mandatory inclusion of accessibility has specifically been provided for in several other domains such as accessible voting and elections (section 11), access to emergency services (section 8), education (section 16), employment, sports and arts.

Section 8 requires the National Disaster Management Authority and the State disaster management authorities to take measures to include persons with disabilities in their disaster management activities and for reconstruction activities to include accessibility requirements of persons with disabilities.

Section 11 requires the Election Commission of India and the State Election Commissions to ensure “that all polling stations are accessible to persons with disabilities and all materials related to the electoral process to be easily understandable by and accessible to them;

Section 12 requires the appropriate Government to ensure that persons with disabilities are able to “exercise the right to access any court, tribunal, authority, commission or any other body having judicial or quasi-judicial or investigative powers without discrimination on the basis of disability;

It also requires the “appropriate government” and the State and National Legal Service Authorities to make their schemes and facilities accessible by observing principles of reasonable accommodation. Further, this section significantly requires the Government to ensure that all its public documents are in accessible formats.

Chapter III , Section 16 dealing with education also provides for provision of materials in means, modes and formats as required by students with disabilities and reasonable accommodation. This applies to all educational institutions funded or recognised by the Government, which includes private institutions.

Section 17 discusses the measures that local authorities must take in order to improve education for the disabled. Apart from specialized teacher training institutes and scholarships, it requires that teaching methods, curriculum and mode of communication be adapted to the needs of persons to make it accessible to them. Education here, also refers to adult education.

The Act also deals with vocational training, skill building and measures to promote employment for persons with disabilities.

Section 29 talks about making art accessible to persons with disabilities, redesigning courses in cultural and arts subjects to enable participation and access for persons with disabilities, developing technology, assistive devices and equipment to facilitate access and inclusion for persons with disabilities in recreational activities. Similar provisions have been made for sporting activities under Section 30.

Hence, the Act recognises that accessibility, both digital and environmental is an overarching requirement for persons with disabilities to be able to enjoy their rights and freedoms on par with others. There is a lot of ground to be covered for India to reach the level envisaged by this Act and it requires the concerted efforts of multiple stakeholders.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/digital-accessibility-in-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-act-2016

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:

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.

►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

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

Submission

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

-----------------------------------
Internet Governance
-----------------------------------

►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).

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).

Research Paper

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

► 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
Facebook - Access to Knowledge: https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k
E-Mail - Access to Knowledge: a2k@cis-india.org
E-Mail - Researchers at Work: raw@cis-india.org
List - Researchers at Work: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers

► Support Us

► Request for Collaboration

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

Nirmita Narasimhan appointed to the Communication Policy Research (CPRsouth) Board

praskrishna — 2016-12-26T00:27:47Z

Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan has been appointed to the CPR South Board for a term of 3 years.

New appointments to the CPRsouth board were ratified during the recent meeting at CPRsouth 2016 in Zanzibar, and a copy of these minutes will be circulated to new board members in the New Year. CPRsouth revealed regional and gender representation improved as a result of the selection of new board members, and the consideration given to the matter of representation by existing board members who cast their votes meant that there was no need for quotas. The CPRsouth board now comprises nine African members and 11 Asians, and 11 of its members are male and nine are female.

New board members’ terms run until September 2020 under its new Chairperson, Prof Rohan Samarajiva (Founding Chair, LIRNEasia), and outgoing Chairperson, Prof Alison Gillwald (Executive Director, Research ICT Africa), will remain on as Vice-Chairperson.

The secretariat will be in touch again in the New Year with details of the upcoming CPRsouth 2017.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/nirmita-narasimhan-appointed-to-the-communication-policy-research-cprsouth-board

Digital accessibility helps diverse users: participants at IIM-B meet

praskrishna — 2016-12-21T16:17:20Z

There is a need for diverse groups in the country to work on ensuring inclusion, which in turn will ensure the success of digital accessibility policies and programmes.

The article published in Hindu Businessline on December 20, 2016 quoted Nirmita Narasimhan

At a roundtable on ‘Digital Accessibility’ hosted by IIM-Bangalore, Professor Mukta Kulkarni, Mphasis Chair for Digital Accessibility and Inclusion at the institution, said digital accessibility can allow for productivity and inclusion through participation in educational, economic and political spheres.

However, such accessibility is beneficial for everyone, and not just one sub-group, she said. For example, she described how captioned video, which helps us to follow a movie via subtitles in noisy places, was actually created for people with hearing impairments.

The roundtable was attended by key players in the disability accessibility ecosystem, including founders of disability employment agencies, lead accessibility officers from the private sector, and disability policy and advocacy specialists.

Cash and card

Rakesh Paladugula, founder, Maxability, and Accessibility Engineer at Adobe, focused on the effects of demonetisation on persons with disability. “Persons with disability can neither use cash for their needs nor the web and mobile applications due to poor accessibility. Applications such as Paytm, Mobikwik, have not thought about the needs of customers with disabilities. There are similar problems with POS terminals which are going to be market drivers in the retail space,” he said.

Making a business case for investment in accessibility, Mohan Sundaram, Trustee and Board Member, Association of People with Disability, said: “There is enough evidence to show that innovation for the disabled makes the product far more valuable and productive for the able-bodied.” Hence, the crying need for corporates to hire people with disability in design departments and testing teams. “Hire as part of a strategy to enhance value; don’t hire PWDs to tick a box, to make up the numbers for compliance,” he added.

Remarking that regulations often come in the way of innovation, Ashutosh Chadha, Group Director, Government Affairs and Public Policy - Microsoft India, argued that policy has to be forward looking.

Mandatory criterion

“Policy must promote public procurement standards and align them with global standards such as WCAG 2.0 AA for web content and services and policy must straddle campaigns such as Make in India, Start-up India and Digital India to crowd-source ideas and take them to market so that more and more new products with accessibility are developed,” he said.

“We have to have a clear roadmap for implementing digital accessibility, which goes in tandem with the national development agenda; otherwise policy initiatives will remain on paper without tangible benefits to persons with disability. Accessibility needs to be prioritised. In emerging Digital India, an inability to use technology will have drastic consequences to the economic and social independence of a person,” observed Nirmita Narasimhan, Policy Director, Centre for Internet and Society, India.

Dr. Meenu Bhambhani, VP & Head – CSR, Mphasis, said: “There is a need of thought leadership in this space and hence the investment in partnership with IIM-B to focus on research that will build a strong business case for accessibility in systems, services and products.”

Cristopher Broyles, Mphasis Chief Accessibility Officer, through a video message, said: “We’re looking to our partners and other companies to help develop cross-vertical approaches to ensure greater employment success by individuals with disability and to help organisations enhance their capabilities to reach a broader spectrum of customers.”

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/hindu-businessline-december-20-2016-digital-accessibility-helps-diverse-users-participants-at-iimb-meet

International Accessibility Summit of Shaastra 2017

praskrishna — 2016-12-18T02:21:22Z

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) is partnering with IIT, Madras for a summit on international accessibility. The summit will be held at IIT in Chennai from December 31, 2016 to January 3, 2017. Nirmita Narasimhan will be the panel moderator this event.

This year’s Summit strives to bring about a change in society by addressing an issue that is taken for granted by most people: Accessibility.

Climbing stairs, listening to a lecture, reading a billboard, expressing dissent are some activities that most of us tend to perform quite effortlessly. Turning a “blind eye” to a “lame joke” is something that comes naturally to a lot of us. We crib to no end when people refuse to talk to us in a language we understand because it makes us feel like an outsider. If there is one thing that human beings hate, it is the feeling of being excluded or pitied upon, as this is a constant reminder of what one cannot do.

Accessibility is an attempt to get rid of this exclusion in various important spheres – physical environments, public spaces, the digital realm, education, employment, technology, transport. It is concerned with the removal of barriers, to set the record straight on what causes a disability: not an individual’s inability to do something but the society’s tendency to throw unnecessary obstacles. Accessibility is a spectrum - it means usability, it means removing limitations and tapping opportunities.

The International Accessibility Summit of Shaastra 2017, IIT Madras, a 4 day-long event to be held between 31st December, 2016 to 3rd January, 2017, is a platform for multiple stakeholders in the field of Accessibility and Assistive Technology to come together and share their knowledge. It is a chance for students from various fields of study to meet and ideate on how to make India truly accessible.

To know more about International Accessibility Summit, please watch the teaser.

Video

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/events/international-accessibility-summit-shaastra-2017

Best Practices in Digital Accessibility

praskrishna — 2016-12-16T22:35:44Z

Nirmita Narasimhan will be part of a discussion on the best practices in digital accessibility to be organized by the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB) on 19 December 2016 in Bengaluru.

IIMB is also inviting few select panel members who work in organizations to talk about specifics such as their tangible activities, success stories, and needs.The outcome of this discussion will be featured in the journal - IIMB Management Review. Nirmita will be attending as a special audience invitee.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/best-practices-in-digital-accessibility

Most popular smartphone apps inaccessible to disabled: Study

praskrishna — 2016-12-10T05:12:25Z

Booking cabs, buying food and making payments online seem like they're just a swipe and a tap away, but for millions of disabled Indians, these apps are not designed for them to use.

The article was published by ET Telecom on December 7, 2016. Nirmita Narasimhan was quoted.

Booking cabs, buying food and making payments online seem like they're just a swipe and a tap away, but for millions of disabled Indians, these apps are not designed for them to use.

According to a study conducted by Centre for Internet and Society last month, many of the most-commonly used mobile apps for food delivery, online payments, grocery shopping and transportation were not accessible to the visually challenged. The study covered 22 popular apps. The 2011 census puts the number of disabled in the country at 26 million, while advocacy groups say the real figure is closer to 150 million. Last year, India recorded nearly nine billion downloads of mobile-based applications last year.

"The national policy for universal electronic accessibility says that all IT products and services should be accessible. However, the government is still unable to implement it. Several government apps are inaccessible," said Nirmita Narasimhan, policy director at CIS. CIS's survey of some key government mobile-based applications like MyGov, EPathshala and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official app found them to be severely lacking. The illiterate, aged and those not proficient in English would also struggle with the apps, the study found. The guidelines for government websites laid out accessibility standards in 2009. The 2013 national policy on universal electronic accessibility clearly upholds equal rights "ensuring that accessibility standards and guidelines and universal design concepts are adopted and adhered to."

However, most commonly-used app fail to follow this. All 22 of the apps studied were privately-owned but not all were fully compliant with universal standards. Of taxi-hailing apps Meru, Ola and Uber, only Uber was completely accessible to the disabled. The others had mis-labelled or unlabeled buttons and graphics.

When it came to food delivery, Zomato was the best at replicating the user experience for disabled people. Swiggy and Foodpanda were difficult for new users, and Freshmenu was completely inaccessible.

Of the marketplace apps, Amazon and Snapdeal were the only accessible ones. Myntra and Flipkart had incorrectly labelled buttons and misleading graphic tags, which made them impossible for the disabled to use. For instance, customers would be able to select the product they wanted to buy but had no way of choosing the quantity, the study said.

Online grocery delivery apps Grofers and Zop Now were hard for the disabled to use, while Big Basket was relatively better though pages change during orders. Online payment portals Paytm, Oxigen and FreeCharge were relatively accessible, the study found.

"Designers, developers and industries need to realize that there are more people out there who use this technology. The market is much bigger and they should work towards being inclusive," said Narasimhan of CIS.

Albinder Dhinda, co-founder of grocery delivery service Grofers, said their app meets all accessibility requirements. "However, the disability tools provided by Google Play Store or the App Store often don't benefit the user and are hard for them to use. We are trying to make it better. Things like online payments won't be accessible to the disabled as those apps are supported by third-party sites, and don't fall within our settings. We're trying to make it better. We're three years behind the US, in the playground they made. It'll be a while before we reach their level," he said.

The national policy for universal electronic accessibility says that all IT products and services should be accessible. However, the government is still unable to implement it. Several government apps are inaccessible

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/et-telecom-december-7-2016-most-popular-smartphone-apps-inaccessible-to-disabled-study

English gottila,job illa

praskrishna — 2016-12-10T04:47:11Z

Quoted as the ‘golden boy of Karnataka’, after winning two gold medals for India in Special Olympics in 2003 in Dublin, once Aslam Pasha quit his last job as a night watchman a week back.

The article by Regina Gurung was published in the Indian Express on December 7, 2016. Nirmita Narasimhan was quoted.

Even as government services allow disability and sports quota, guess what is keeping this man from being employed? The Queen’s language.

Born and brought up in Bengaluru, Aslam was conceived at home to a home maker mother and a fish stall owner father. Hindi is the only language he can speak and read. Despite being born without functional legs, his love for sports was not hindered. He started participating in wheelchair racing competitions and became fond of shot put.

Tracing and reminiscing his past glories, he tells City Express the beginning and abrupt end of his golden career.

While in his teens, he says, he went to Hubli to participate in a wheelchair racing and shot put competition. After his win there, he was taken to Delhi and introduced to the Special Olympics Committee. He made it to the Special Olympics in Dublin in 2003 and secured two gold medals as a part of the eight-member team.

On his return to the country, he was welcomed with great warmth and was felicitated. He says he even met APJ Abdul Kalam, the then President of India, and received `2 lakh as a reward. He gave the entire sum to his parents. They live in a slum near Soda Factory. His popularity was short lived. Sooner than he realized, people forgot him. He wondered what more could he do with his life. The calls from the committee stopped, he was clueless on what to do next.

In his late 20s, he started applying for various jobs but was rejected for having ‘no communication skill’.“I have been looking for a job from over three years now. I even did a one-year course on data entry at Intel, but everything is useless as I don’t know English,” says Aslam.

‘’Do you mention that you are a gold medalist?” asked City Express.

“Yes I do but I always get the same reply… “You don’t know English, so what is the use?” Aslam replies.

Aslam did not complete his education since he was always keen on sports, says Neel Lama, Aslam’s school’s friend.

“Following Olympics training, most athletes drop out of educational institutions,” says Nirmita Narasimhan, Policy Director of Centre for Internet and Society, who heads the accessibilty and inclusion programme.

Aslam used to go for his night watchman duty in hiding, after his parents fell asleep.

“They tell me it is okay, but I know the difficulties they face,” says Aslam. G N Nagaraj, founder of Karnataka State Disabled and Care Giver’s Federation questions that when cricketers and other Olympians are showered with sponsors, why is the Paralympian who is “five times more deserving”, not offered a job?

On Saturday, Aslam Pasha, had gone to an institution to enroll himself in an English language speaking course.

He was told that he needs to pay `24,000 for the course that also includes the auto fare of the tutor. “How can I pay so much to learn English and then look for a job?” questions Aslam. “But still I desperately want to learn the language,” adds the 30 something Aslam.

“A wheel chair accessy (person who uses wheel chair) is considered 75 per cent disabled and those who are more than 75 per cent disabled can avail for a government pension of `1,200 per month,” says Nagaraj who is working towards the passage of the Rights of Persons with Disability bill.

“The procedure is tiring. A disabled person is expected to travel some 40-50 km and the office stays open from 10am to 12 noon only, so many don’t claim it,” Nirmita adds, who is also visually challenged herself.

“I had approached other institutions, but for reasons unknown they don’t approve of my enrollment, probably because of looks. I had to lie to the English instituition that I would be going to England, and only they they agreed,” Aslam says.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/new-indian-express-december-7-2016-regina-gurung-english-gottila-job-illa

A world apart

praskrishna — 2016-12-01T15:24:12Z

On the eve of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we look at their legal rights relating to financial matters.

The article by Meera Siva was published in the Hindu Businessline on November 27, 2016.

Be it the right to education, rights in the work place, legal entitlements or fair compensation, people with disabilities are often left holding the short end of the stick. Sometimes, there are no specific rules or policies as in the case of providing insurance coverage. But more often, even though guidelines are laid out, they remain only in theory.

Take the case of Nagarjuna Akula, a Chartered Accountant working in a public sector company in Maharashtra. “I applied for a home loan in 2014 and it was approved. They wanted me to take a standard insurance with a one-time premium of about ₹38,000. But it was rejected by SBI Life Insurance. I did not protest this issue, but often think about the repercussions to the family in the long term, in case of an eventuality,” he says.

Akula also had to battle to get special conveyance allowance given to disabled people. “I have been working here for nearly four years but was not given the higher rate of conveyance allowance. The reason given was that I do not require physical assistance,” he says. The issue is finally sorted out now, but he lost the allowance for earlier periods.

Akula says that in some cases rules may need to be changed to accommodate persons with disabilities. “The CA Institute exempts members with disabilities from meeting continuing education credit requirements. But I wish the ICWA Institute would also consider the issue, as classes may be held in higher floors without lift facility in some places,” he says. He notes, happily, that the Institute heeded his request to give additional time during exams for persons with disability.

Compensation, an uphill battle

Fighting cases in courts, not easy for anyone, is particularly daunting for those with disabilities. And often, due to lack of rules, they end up having to fight long legal battles to get any form of compensation to cover their huge medical expenses. Ketna Mehta, Management editor, educationalist and Founder Trustee of Nina Foundation, Mumbai, gives many examples. “Many spinal injuries happen due to accidents. One young person we helped was having food after college at a small eatery under a tree. The tree branch broke and hit his head and he suffered spinal cord injury. There is no way for the victim to get any payment from the Brihanmumbai Metropolitan Corporation for the surgery and rehabilitation,” she laments.

Likewise with Martin Tharail, a 25-year old from Kerala who worked at a BPO in Mumbai. He met with a bike accident and become a quadriplegic; his parents were retired and the family was unable to get the ₹15-20 lakh compensation from the truck owner. “The case is still pending, though he is no more,” says Mehta. She also narrates the woes of a 26-year old paraplegic girl who lost her parents and lives with her younger brother who is in college. She is fighting a court battle to inherit her parent’s property. “She goes to the court for the hearings with support from our volunteers. There are no proper wash-rooms for the disabled and it costs money to make travel arrangements, get a helper to be with her in the court,” says Mehta.

Triple whammy

The state of women with disability needs special attention as they suffer from discrimination due to three reasons — gender, disability and poverty. Abha Khetarpal, President, Cross the Hurdles, a non-profit that works for rights of persons with disabilities, notes that most Indians consider disability as “karma of past life.” She says that women with disabilities need provisions with regard

to their rights over their own bodies. “They are at much greater risk of violence, often by their caregivers; provisions are needed to ensure ways to seek redressal without fear,” she says.

“Sometimes women are cheated in marriages — an already married man marries a woman with disability. He abandons her due to fear of punishment for bigamy and adultery when the truth comes to light,” she explains. Since the second marriage is considered null and void by law, the woman is left all alone and faces society’s stigma; she has to survive without much support. Khetarpal suggests that the law should consider the whole scenario before giving any judgement.

Mehta notes that persons with disabilities, mainly women, are divorced after an accident that leads to a permanent disability. “The reason is not stated explicitly and the disabled person often accepts the fate without fighting. The sad part is that they are not given fair financial compensation, given the extra expenses they have to incur throughout their life,” she notes.

Need changes

Initiatives such as the “Accessible India” campaign do not deliver impactful results. The “Persons with Disability Act” of 1995 does not have punitive measures if there is failure in compliance. The National Trust Act of 1999 and The Mental Health Act of 1987 have not been able to bring about meaningful sensitisation. A new Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill has been pending for many years now.

A study conducted by the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), a Bengaluru based non-profit think tank, found that 97 per cent of over 5,800 government websites tested have at least one known accessibility issue and can be said to be inaccessible. Government schemes, even when they exist, are for name-sake only, says Mehta. “The government provides a disability pension of ₹800 per month, which is not given in a timely way. In Mumbai, what can you cover with this amount?” she asks.

Mehta suggests that there must be a separate department to handle all aspects — education, scholarship, loans, insurance and availing benefits — rather than having to run helter-skelter to many departments. “There must be one agency and one file for a person with disability,” she insists. Also, the disabled are not aware of what they are entitled to. “Why not give information in a simple format when someone gets a disability certificate?” she suggests.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/hindu-businessline-november-27-2016-meera-siva-a-world-apart