Centre for Internet and Society

Right to read for the print impaired and copyright challenges

radha — 2011-11-08T15:56:43Z

The National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH), Daisy Forum of India (DFI) and Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) together organised an event titled “Right to read for the print impaired and copyright challenges” on behalf of the Visually Impaired (VIP) community of India in New Delhi on 11th November.

The "Right to read for the print impaired and copyright challenges" event was held in honour of the visit of the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) to India. The main agenda of the meeting was to draw attention to the pressing problems faced by the print impaired community in developing countries such as India.

The meeting began with a welcome address and background to the meeting given by Nirmita. This was followed by two presentations by Dr.Sam Taraporewala from XRCVC and Ms.Shalini Khanna representing NAB India. The focus of these presentations was to brief the guests from the WIPO as well as the representatives from different stakeholder groups in the audience about the present position in India with regard to the availability of books in accessible formats for the visually impaired and the severe barrier posed by the Indian Copyright Act 1957 which impacted the lives of millions of print impaired persons on an everyday basis. These presentations highlighted the fact that barely half a percent of books were made available in different accessible formats in India and that these were mostly study materials for school children. Most of these were also conversions obtained without the permission of copyright holders and organisations in India were stressed in terms of finances and infrastructural support to cater to the needs of a large number of blind persons in India. As a result of this, blind persons have limited or no access to information and cultural content in accessible formats and even the few materials which are available on the internet are not necessarily to persons using screen readers. Consequently persons with print impairments are excluded from participating in the cultural, social and economic life of the country and from becoming creative and productive members of society.

Print Access - Presentation

This was followed by two presentations from members of the publishers’ community, namely Mr.Vivek Mehra, MD and CEO of Sage India and Mr.Manish Arora, Chairman of the Copyright Committee of the Federation of Publishers and Booksellers Association Of India. Both the speakers expressed their willingness to provide books to persons with print impairments, provided that their concerns of leakage and piracy could be adequately addressed. Earlier in a smaller meeting before the event, Mr.Manas Saikia, MD of Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd, had made a similar statement and had also announced that CUP India had finally worked out a format for a contract which would be mutually acceptable to both publishers as well as the community and that CUP would be using this contract globally in all countries. He suggested that this contract could be used as a basis by all publishing houses to enter into agreements with the community to facilitate equitable access to blind persons in India.

After this, Dr.Francis Gurry (DG) briefed the audience about the Treaty for the Blind, visually impaired and other reading disabled which is presently tabled before the WIPO by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay and the establishment of a stake holders platform as a parallel process to provide a speedy and feasible solution to both the blindness and publisher communities, until such a time that a consensus was reached and an internationally binding agreement in the form of a treaty was arrived at. He expressed a desire to know about the problems being faced by the VIP community in India and to offer assistance from WIPO in any manner which may help to tackle the problems in an interim manner. Some of the ways in which help was solicited was in the manner of financial aid to fund capacity building and other projects and a recommendation was made that WIPO should consider India as a possible location for the pilot project of trusted intermediary soon to be undertaken. It was stressed by the community that India was home to nearly 70 million print impaired persons, had the institutional infrastructure to carry such a project through and could act as a resource to other developing countries.

The community also appraised the DG of an attempt to create a stake holders platform at a national level, which complemented the efforts being undertaken at the international level and asked that India should be kept informed of all developments which took place on this issue in WIPO. The DG in his opening remarks observed that India seemed to be a country which was extremely good at making “frugal innovations” and cited the Nano car as one of many examples. He expressed his belief that India could go a long way in creating cost effective and workable technology solutions for publishers and that it would certainly be worth exploring for WIPO to fund such projects in India.

The VIP community in India had prepared a submission document to the WIPO on the concerns and needs of India in this matter, which was handed over to the DG by Mr.Dipendra Manocha.

The meeting concluded with a Q&A session facilitated by Ambassador Swashpawan Singh (Special advisor to the DG on the VIP issue) and a vote of Thanks by Ms.Anuradha Mohit.

Background to the event

The Right to read is a fundamental human right for all persons in the Information age.

The ability to seek, receive and impart information and ideas is vital to ensuring that all persons are able to participate productively in the cultural, scientific and economic life of the society.

However, despite the undisputed recognition of the importance of this right by countries across the globe, persons who are unable to access printed materials, whether due to a visual, physical or cognitive disability, continue to be starved of knowledge and information which is available to the general public.

For persons who cannot read print, information has to be converted into formats such as Braille, large print, audio, electronic and other formats which they can access using assistive technologies. The World Blind Union estimates that barely 5% of books which get published in developed countries get converted into accessible formats. In developing countries such as India this estimate gets reduced even further to a bare 0.5%. This results in reduced educational and employment opportunities for the nearly 70 million print impaired persons in India, since the lack of information and public communication material severely restricts their socio-cultural involvement. To add to this, materials which are available in electronic formats on web sites are also very often inaccessible due to the failure of web designers and developers to adhere to principles of universal access while creating web sites and content on web sites.

The Copyright laws of countries are responsible for determining whether such conversions for the benefit of visually impaired persons are possible without seeking permissions from copyright holders. Under the Indian Copyright Act 1957, there is no provision under the fair dealing clause which expressly permits conversions into accessible formats for persons who cannot read print. Consequently it is illegal for these persons to scan a book into a computer and read it using a screen reader and to share the same with other blind persons. In effect, this is a curtailment of their fundamental right to read, since they cannot read books in their original printed form and have to necessarily convert them into other formats. While there are nearly 124 countries which have restrictive copyright laws like India which do not make provisions for conversion by the blind, there are about 54 countries including both developed and developing countries which have enabled the necessary legal framework for persons with print impairments to convert and read books. Blind persons in these countries, in addition to converting books for their own use within their country, can also share books with each other. Hence libraries for the blind in these countries constantly circulate materials in accessible formats amongst themselves. Blind persons living in countries like India on the other hand, are unable to undertake conversion or take advantage of already available accessible materials in other countries.

Recognising that this problem needs to be addressed urgently once and for all and that such a solution should come at an international level, the World Blind Union in November 2008, proposed a Treaty before the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) titled “the Treaty for the Blind, visually impaired and other reading disabled persons”, which sought to harmonise exceptions and limitations for the visually impaired in the copyright laws of countries across the world so that there could be a free and unimpeded exchange of knowledge across borders. This Treaty is currently proposed by three Latin American Countries- Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay and is to be discussed at the next meeting of the SCCR in December. At the same time, stakeholders in the treaty (disability organizations and publisher groups) are also trying to address this issue through a stakeholders platform constituted especially for this purpose.

In the light of the ever growing magnitude of this problem in India and the implications that such an international Treaty could have for a country like India, urgent action is required at two levels:

We need to amend the Indian Copyright Act 1957 and incorporate the necessary flexibilities required for print impaired persons to undertake and share accessible books- this will serve to bring the Act in line with the provisions of the Indian Constitution and the UNCRPD (United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities) to which we are a signatory;

India should support the Treaty efforts at the WIPO to harmonise copyright laws at a global level.

The Visually Impaired Community (VIP Community) of India has been fighting this battle for many years and yet blind children are being deprived everyday of vital information which would enable them to pursue education and employment. The community has recently launched a nation wide Right to Read (R2R) Campaign to raise awareness on this issue amongst the public and policy makers.

The Present Event:

The Director General of the WIPO Mr.Francis Gurry, visited India between 11th-13th November , and kindly consented to attend a special event titled, The Right to Read for persons with print impairment and Copyright Challenges” being organized by the VIP community in India in his honour. This meeting intended to serve as a platform for the community to express its views on the Treaty negotiations at the WIPO and to brief the Director General about the efforts being undertaken at the national level to tackle this problem. Attendees were members from different stakeholder communities such as disability organizations, publishers and the government and they all had an opportunity to present their points of view.

Agenda of the seminar on Right to Read and copy right challenges

Date: 11th November
Time: 5:00 P.M.
Duration: One Hour
Venue: Sheraton New Delhi Hotel, District Centre, Saket, New Delhi 110017

Welcome and background of the meeting by Ms.Nirmita Narasimhan (Programme Manager, Centre for Internet and Society)

Challenges in reading books for persons with blindness or low vision by Mr. K. Ramakrishna (General Secretary, National Association for the Blind)
Brief about the copyright challenges to the print impaired community in India By Dr. Sam Taraporevala – Chairman Copy Right and Publisher Relationship Committee, DAISY Forum of India
Publisher’s perspective by Mr. Vivek Mehra (MD/CEO, Sage India)
Presentation from the Federation of Publishers’ & Booksellers’ Associations in India (Chair Legal Committee, FPBAI)
Address by the Director General- WIPO
Introduction to and presentation of the submission document to the DG by Mr.Dipendra Manocha
Questions and Comments from the Deligates- facilitated byAmbassador Swashpawan Singh
Vote of Thanks by Ms. Anuradha Mohit (Director, National Institute for Visually Handicapped, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India)
Informal Interaction over tea/coffee.

Video

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/right-to-read-for-the-print-impaired-and-copyright-challenges

Right to Read event in Brussels

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T12:19:06Z

A 'Right to Read' event is being held at the European Parliament, Brussels on 4 May 2010.

Blind and other reading disabled people face a "book famine". In the North less than 5% of books published are available for reading disabled people. In the South the figure is less than 1%.

Most accessible books are made by specialist agencies using charitable money. At present, such agencies, operating in different countries, but with a common language, often both transcribe the same book. They cannot avoid this needless and expensive duplication by sharing one accessible file or copy. This is because, under present copyright law, reading material in Braille, or formatted digitally for reading disabled people, cannot legally cross borders. This waste of scarce resources significantly hinders access to reading for the world's 300 million visually impaired people and millions of other reading disabled people, especially the poorest.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that disabled people have a right to read. The best way to guarantee this right is the adoption of a binding treaty that establishes limitations and exceptions to copyright for the non-commercial production and distribution of accessible books.

The World Blind Union representing over 160 million blind and partially sighted persons in 177 member countries, has now drafted a " WIPO Treaty for Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons" to combat the "book famine". It is now being considered by the World Intellectual Property Organization where it has been sponsored by Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador and Paraguay. We have invited stakeholders, experts and EU officials to discuss a way forward and to ask the EU to support a binding treaty. This conference is supported by the European Blind Union and the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue.

For further details, click here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/right-to-read-brussels

Right to Read Campaign, Chennai

radha — 2013-02-04T06:19:31Z

A report on the first road show of the nationwide Right to Read Campaign which was launched at Loyola college, Chennai, on 26th September, 2009.

Right to Read Campaign - An Overview

Fast Facts

At least three hundred million people around the world with sight problems and dyslexia cannot read standard print. India may be home to at least 70 million of these persons.

Globally, a massive 96 percent of books are never made available in formats that persons with print disability can enjoy and in India almost 99% books are unavailable in accessible formats.

Every day millions of adults and children are denied vital information for education, work, daily life as well as being denied the joy of reading a world of books.

The Indian Copyright Act 1957 does not permit conversion and distribution of books in accessible formats to persons with print disabilities.

Problem at hand

Millions of Indians are unable to read printed material due to disabilities. There are technologies available which can help them read print if the material is converted into an alternate format such as large print, audio, Braille or any electronic format. While the Indian constitution guarantees the “right to read” as a fundamental right, the Copyright Act of 1957 does not permit the conversion of books into accessible formats for the benefit of persons with print impairment, as a result of which a “book famine” is created. International conventions that India is a party to specifically require it to amend its copyright laws for the benefit of persons with disabilities and to make available information and material to them on an equal basis as others. Publishers also do not make books available in accessible formats as a result of which less than 0.5% of them are available. As a result, persons with print impairments get excluded from the education system and it impacts their career choices. In addition to this, there are no national policies or action plan to ensure that publications in accessible formats in all Indian languages are available to persons with print disabilities all over the country.

Current situation in India

The Indian Copyright Act, 1957 does not make any provision for the conversion and distribution of books in accessible formats for print impaired persons. Hence organizations serving them have to get permission from copyright holders for conversion. Because of this, other countries do not lend books in accessible formats to print impaired persons in our country.

In the case of books published in India, there are no accessible copies readily available in the market and while many publishers in principle are not averse to giving permission, the unwanted fear of piracy and lack of awareness prevents them from allowing organizations to undertake conversions. Consequently print impaired persons are denied the freedom to choose and read any book which is freely available to the public.

Solution

The Government of India must immediately modify the Indian Copyright Act 1957 to permit conversion and distribution of books in accessible formats to persons with print disabilities.

India should support the Treaty on Copyright and the Reading Disabled being tabled at WIPO's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights by the Governments of Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay based on a text originally drafted by a global expert committee under the auspices of the World Blind Union, which is aimed at harmonization of copyright laws at an international level.

Objectives of the Right to Read Campaign

To accelerate change in copyright law

To raise public awareness on the issue

To gather Indian support for the Treaty on Copyright and the Reading Disabled being tabled at WIPO's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights by the Governments of Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay based on a text originally drafted by a global expert committee under the auspices of the World Blind Union.

Campaign Managers

Centre for Internet and Society (www.cis-india.org): The Centre for Internet and Society critically engages with concerns of digital pluralism, public accountability and pedagogic practices in the field of Internet and Society, with particular emphasis on South-South dialogues and exchange. In association with the Daisy Forum of India and Bookbole, the CIS is engaged in conducting the Right to Read Campaign supporting the acceleration of amendments in Copyright Law, creating public awareness and by gathering Indian support for the Treaty for the Blind proposed by the World Blind Union at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

DAISY Forum of India (www.daisyindia.org): DFI is a forum of 75 Not for Profit organizations from India who are involved in production of books and reading materials in accessible formats for persons who cannot read normal print. The DAISY Consortium envisions a world where people with print disabilities have equal access to information and knowledge without delay or additional expense. The DAISY Forum of India endorses this vision and is working towards its realization in India.

Bookbole (www.bookbole.com): Bookbole is a library of books in multiple formats which can be accessed by persons using screen readers. Bookbole allows users to find, share, and manage personal libraries in a very easy fashion. This website has been developed by Inclusive Planet, a social venture involved in creating web based products and services for the differently-abled.

Loyola College (Chennai) (www.loyolacollege.edu/index.html): Loyola College has played an important role in the history of education in India. Founded in 1925 by Rev. Fr. Bertram, S.J., who himself was twice the acting Vice- Chancellor of the Madras University, Loyola College has emerged in the last seventy-five years as a premier educational Institution in the country and it is striving to break new paths in education. One of the major breakthroughs in its history is the autonomous status it received in the year 1978. Situated in the heart of Chennai, and having a large campus of about 98 acres, this institution provides an ideal environment for both teachers and students to enrich themselves intellectually, emotionally and physically by actively participating in the academic and co-curricular activities. Loyola has started several Centres of Excellence such as LIFE, (Loyola Institute of Frontier Energy) Entomology Research Institute, ACE, (Academy for Cumulative Excellence) Culture and Communication, LIVE (Loyola Institute of Vocational Education) and LISOR (Loyola Institute of Industrial and Social Science Research).

Campaign activities

The nationwide Right to Read Campaign seeks to achieve the objective through a series of events like,

Nationwide road-shows
Public rallies
Televised debates
Online petitions
Signature campaigns
Audio-video clips
Stalls where accessibility tools are demonstrated
Submission of a legal paper to the government on international scenario and constitutional compulsions for the amendment of the copyright law.

Social Networks

The Right to read campaign has been active on various social networks like blogs, Twitter and Facebook. The campaign has been well received by the users and is succeeding in raising awareness on the issue.

Media Coverage

Even before its first event, the R2R campaign attracted significant press coverage in both Bangalore and Chennai. For details of the articles on the campaign in various newspapers both before and after the campaign please refer to Annexure A.

Website: www.righttoread.in

This website, dedicated for the Right to Read campaign has details about the issue faced with regard to the copyright law and the objective of the campaign. It has a provision for signing the online petition and declaration forms. It has regular updates on the events being conducted and provides an opportunity to exploit ones creativity by blogging, shooting videos, clicking photos and writing slogans about the campaign. Its major objective is to spread awareness about the campaign.

Launch of Right to Read Campaign

The first roadshow of the R2R campaign was launched at Chennai.

Venue: Loyola College

Date: 26^th September, 2009

Time: 9:30 AM

Topic: Amend copyright law to grant access to reading materials for the print impaired

Agenda

Launch of the campaign

This was the first major event with respect to the Right to Read campaign. A wide range of dignitaries were invited for the launch. The audience included students, social activists and visually challenged people. About 4oo students from 100 colleges around Chennai and 150 NSS volunteers attended from outside and an almost equal number of students participated from within Loyola College to make this a very large gathering of almost 800-1000 persons. The event was organized by the students of Department of Sociology at Loyola College, Chennai in collaboration with the campaign managers.

The Chief Guest of the event was Mr. Shri Kumar Verma, a well known writer, social activist and a professor of creative English and English literature. He spoke about the issue faced by print impaired persons and how apprehensive people are about sharing books in accessible formats as it is a legal infringement. He appreciated the fact that people have recognized the need for attention to this issue. He observed that Loyola College was the most appropriate venue for this event since students are proactively engaged with social issues. He promised to take initiatives and spread awareness about the campaign and expected the same from others.

Other dignitaries who honored the event were Dr. N. Raja Hussain, Program coordinator, NSS, University of Madras; Mr. Dipendra Manocha, Member, Executive Council, World Blind Union and President, Daisy Forum of India; Mr. Chandrasekar, Treasurer, National Association for the Blind; Ms. Nirmita Narasimhan, Programme Manager, CIS and Mr. Rahul Cherian, Policy Head, Inclusive Planet.

They spoke about the need for the amendment and importance of spreading awareness about this burning issue. In her introduction to the campaign, Nirmita explained that it was not a question of just making the books available in particular formats. If people can read books, it will help literacy, education, employment and promote independent living. A majority of the visually impaired population don't pursue courses because they don't have study materials in accessible formats. This is substantiated by looking at the statistics of Delhi University - they have about 1,500 seats reserved for the handicapped. Despite that, in 2008, only 270 students applied and in 2009, only 350 applied. This just goes to show that in addition to making reservations, it is also necessary to provide an enabling reading framework to persons with disabilities by providing materials in accessible formats and a good support system. This statistics served as an eye opener to the audience.

Signature Campaign

The launch was followed by a signature campaign where a huge banner supporting the campaign was signed by the dignitaries and other participants of the event. In addition to this, volunteers were committed to the task of carrying out a signature campaign on paper. Supporters of the campaign were invited to sign on the declaration and to put down their names to volunteer for the campaign or to help out the print impaired in a sustained fashion by specifying the manner in which they would like to contribute.

Rally

The students had organized a rally supporting the need for amendment of the copyright law and to spread awareness about the campaign. 200 students walked around the 97 acre campus with 100 banners carrying slogans like- “Support the Right to Read”, “Change Copyright Law,- free a world of knowledge”, “One Alphabet- several words; one book- several formats “, “Different states, different languages, different cultures- why not different formats? And so on.

Declaration forms

Interested people signed the declaration forms to endorse the campaign by voluntarily engaging themselves in any of the activities like creating awareness among public, gathering public support for The Treaty for the Blind at WIPO, online petitions and promoting the campaign online.
Declaration

Panel Discussion - ‘We the people’

The panel discussion kicked off at 1130 hrs with the Master of the Ceremony introducing the panelists; Mr. Dipendra Manocha, President, The Daisy Forum of India (DFI); Prof. Sivaraman, Professor of English, Presidency College, Chennai and Mr. Vijaykumar, Advocate. Ms. Nirmita Narasimhan, Programme Manager, Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) and Mr. Rahul Cherian, Co-founder and Policy Head, Inclusive Planet, were the moderators of the discussion. A salient point to be noted here was that all the panelists present were totally/partially visually challenged.

The discussion started off with Prof. Sivaraman citing his experiences with access to literature other than printed format since 2004. He shared information on the technology that he had been using to ‘read’ books that were prescribed for the students. These were text books or reference material that had been used over a period of time. However, he also threw light on the shortcomings – that newly published text books or literature were not readily available in accessible formats. It usually takes him a considerable amount of time and effort to get materials in Braille or audio formats and hence it is impossible for him to keep abreast of contemporary literature.

An equally important concern that was raised was that only new books with clear print and paper could be accurately scanned electronically owing to quality of the printed characters as well as deterioration of paper quality over time. Any pictorial representation including figures, charts or graphs and even italicized words present problems during scanning. Thus,

What is most urgently required to solve this problem is a digital library as in the case of USA, where the publishers deposit the electronic files of the books. These can be picked up and converted into any accessible format required for a print impaired person without wasting much time, effort and resources. Taking it a step further, he also put forth his views on the unauthorized access and ill-use that electronic books or e-books are put to. Persons who are not visually challenged can also access such books that are present online without any restrictions. Websites that are designed to be used by the visually challenged specifically state in their Terms of Use that accessing/reading of downloading of e-books are strictly meant for persons with partial/total sight impairment, persons with other forms of disabilities that would prevent them from reading printed material or for persons/aides assisting the above mentioned and that any download made by people other than those mentioned would be treated as infringement of the law. But not many people take these terms seriously and still would download such books that are meant for the visually challenged. Right now, there are no technological/legal measures in place to check this infringement owing to the inability to track the perpetrators identity/location. Since it is almost impossible to restrict the access to e-books to only the visually impaired, this acts as a serious set-back in persuading the government to amend the Copyright Act.

Mr. Vijaykumar continued the discussion, citing Article 14 of the Constitution of India which mandates Equality before law and equal protection for everybody, saying that the fundamental right of Indian citizens – the right to read for everybody has not been upheld in India owing to the restrictions imposed by the Copyright Act of 1957 and that the Copyright Act, by not including any exceptions or provisions, has failed to protect the interests of persons with visual impairment.

Mr. Dipendra Manocha, President, Daisy Forum of India, gave the international and technological perspective to the panel discussion. He explained about the DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System format) format which acts as a standard format to make 1 source document. This can then be used to convert into other accessible formats. He enlightened the crowd about the three factors that would help in solving the problems currently faced by persons with print impairment in India: First, technology such as Laptops or DAISY players and other handheld devices/readers that would assist in translating/reading out aloud e-books. Secondly, creation of e-books in accessible formats, the current high cost-of-conversion of which can be brought down by volunteering and thirdly by bringing in a change in the government policy on Copyright law. Mr. Manocha also informed the audience of how the US Government had amended their copyright law to include provisions for the visually challenged. This has brought down the cost of conversion of printed material into accessible formats to Rs. 2,000 from a whooping Rs. 20,000. He also highlighted the fact that in a developing country like India, it is not feasible to spend Rs. 20,000 for conversion of just one copy.

Answering the question as to what steps the Daisy Forum of India is taking with respect to making accessible formats available to the print-impaired, Mr. Manocha responded by saying that the DFI has been negotiating a deal with Adobe Systems Inc. USA, provider of the .pdf format of e-books, to include an option to Save As Daisy format. Also, providing books in accessible formats at the same cost as that of its printed counterpart was one of the visions of DFI.
When asked by a member of audience if we can take the law in our hands and start uploading/using e-books from the internet, Mr. Manocha again pointed out that it is the duty and responsibility of the Indian govt. to provide equal opportunities to everybody. In case the government fails to do that, citizens can take measures that would help alleviate the pains caused. But such measures should be taken keeping in mind all the stakeholders involved. Large-scale usage of electronic forms of literature would affect the business of authors/publishers. Hurting publishers is never the intention of this campaign. Mr. Manocha, Mr. Vijaykumar and Prof. Sivaraman made it clear that a coordinated effort was required on the part of all the stake-holders viz. the government, the copyright owners (authors, publishers etc.), the persons with print impairment and the organizations representing them, as well as the general public. The amendments to the Copyright Act should take into consideration the interests of all stake holders.

When the floor was opened to questions, the participation from audience was overwhelming. Many of the questions were from print impaired persons in the audience who were students in colleges or represented a disability organization like the National Federation for the Blind (NFB) and so on. Due to paucity of time, the interactive question and answer session was restricted to half an hour post the panel discussion but the audience were invited to discuss further questions with the panelists after the session.

Musical Extravaganza

After some serious food-for-thought, the silence of the convention hall was broken by a musical performance rendered by a Music Band from NFB Chennai. The performance began by two singers rendering a song in praise of the Gods and then went on to lighter numbers like Jai Ho, from the movie Slumdog Millionaire and songs from some Tamil movies, which left the audience speechless.

Vote of Thanks

The volunteers from Loyola College presented the Vote of thanks to all the dignitaries and panelists on stage and also to the audience present in the function after which the National Anthem was played. Later, the guests and the audience proceeded for lunch.

Acknowledgements

We would to like to take this opportunity to specially thank
Rev. Fr. K. Amal SJ (Rector, Loyola College);
Rev. Fr. Albert Muthumalai SJ (Principal, Loyola College);
Dr. S. Alphonse Raj (Vice- Principal & Faculty of Sociology Department, Loyola College);

Prof S. Iyyappan (Co-coordinator, Extension service Department (NSS), Loyola College)
Prof J. Jerald Inico, Faculty Incharge, Resource Center for Differently abled (RCDA);

Prof. Robert Bellarmine (Head, Department of Sociology);
Department of Sociology; students from RCDA; NSS; Students Union;
the teaching and non-teaching staff of Loyola College, who helped in organizing the campaign and without whom the first road show of the nationwide campaign would not have been a grand success that it has been.
We look forward to their continued support in the campaign.

We would also like to thank all the students and guests who came from different parts of the city and participated in the campaign.

Videos

Annexure A

Media Coverage

Details of the articles on the campaign in various newspapers both before and after the campaign are given below:

DNA – Bangalore, 24^th September, 2009

CIS campaign to alter copyright law to favour visually impaired - An article by N T Balanarayan, DNA Bangalore - 24th September, 2009
http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_cis-campaign-to-alter-copyright-law-to-favour-visually-imapired_1292662

As Indians we enjoy our right to education and to read, but should learning be restricted to books provided in school? What if, some wish to broaden their horizon and learn more, only to realize there are no books available?
That's the situation the visually impaired in India face now. But Bangalore-based Centre for Information and Society (CIS) is out to change it. They're starting a new campaign-- Right to Read--demanding changes in the copyright law so that books can be converted into a medium with which the visually impaired will feel more comfortable.
According to the group, only 0.5% of the books available in India can be accessed in Braille or audio format. Further, the World Blind Union estimates that only five per cent of the total books that get published in developed countries are converted into accessible formats.
According to Nirmita Narasimhan who works with CIS, it's not a question of just making the books available in particular formats. "If people can read books, it will help literacy, education, employment and promote independent living. A majority of the visually impaired population don't pursue courses because they don't have study materials in accessible formats. This is substantiated by looking at the statistics of Delhi University -- they have about 1,500 seats reserved for the handicapped. Despite that, in 2008, only 270 students applied and in 2009, only 350 came forward. This just goes to show that in addition to making reservations, it is also necessary to provide an enabling reading framework to persons with disabilities by providing materials in accessible formats and a good support system," she says.
"Further, it is not necessarily any particular format--with technologies and the prolific use of computers; accessible electronic formats (not being jpeg images which screen readers can't make sense of) are most appreciated. One will find that blind persons are always reaching out to each other for study materials in accessible formats--this varies from materials for board exams to text for competitive exams," she adds.
Through the campaign, a road show scheduled to start on September 26 at Loyola College, Chennai, the group wants changes to be made in the copyright law. The roadshow will be organized in three other metros as well.
The event will comprise presentations, debates and demonstrations along with book reading sessions and stalls where various accessibility tools will be demonstrated.

Times of India, 26^th September, 2009

Tara Textreader, a boon for the visually-challenged – by M Ramya

http://m.timesofindia.com/PDATOI/articleshow/5058157.cms
CHENNAI: Mahendran loses track of time as he listens to portions from Romeo and Juliet through Tara. The final year B A (Tamil) student of Loyola College is pleased with the Rs 1.35-lakh Tara Textreader that allows him to access printed material without help and convey information without a scribe. "The Sangeetha software has an Indian accent. So I have no problem accessing material in English," says Mahendran, who has visual disabilities.
Earlier, students like him could not access printed material that hadn't been digitized. Their computer systems could not read material that wasn't pre-recorded. Professor Jerald Inico, a lecturer in the computer science department and faculty in charge of the college's Resource Centre for Differently Abled, says the Textreader need not even be connected to a computer.
He says: "We were trying to come up with a formula to evaluate students with visual disabilities because we felt that when scribes write down the answers for the students some of the content would be lost in translation. The equipment can scan the question paper and read it out and will also allow the student to answer verbally and store it as an audio clip. For students who become blind later in life and have not learnt Braille this is a big help."
Tara, purchased from funds provided by the ministry of social justice and empowerment, can only speak English; now through Sangeetha the college is trying to install a Tamil optical character recognition software. While the students use Tara to read books now the equipment will be tested for exam evaluation during the April 2010 semester exams. But Mahendran is a bit wary. "If we can use Tara and still get extra time for the exams it will prove beneficial, but if we are given the same time as the others because we are using the textreader it will take time to comprehend what is being read to us and give the appropriate answers."
The college is also supporting a nationwide Right to Read' campaign for persons with print impairments to be launched in Chennai on Saturday. Nirmita Narasimhan, programme manager at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) which is one of the organisers of the campaign, says: "Two years ago when we proposed a change in the Copyright Act a clause was incoporated that said that books can be reproduced in formats exclusively for the use of the blind. This limits the reproduction to one or two options and newer technologies cannot be used. It also leaves out people with other disabilities like the dyslexic who also have print impairments. Technology is enabling, but law is disabling. We want to create awareness of the issue through the campaign."
Registration for the campaign begins at 8 am at the college. The CIS, DAISY Forum of India and Bookbole will take the campaign to other cities in the country.

The Hindu – 29^th September, 2009

‘Right to read’ campaign launched
http://www.hindu.com/2009/09/29/stories/2009092957440200.htm
CHENNAI: About 100 National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers from various colleges in the State kick-started a ‘right to read’ campaign at Loyola College recently. The aim of the campaign is to make books accessible to persons with disabilities.
The speakers, who included the visually challenged, persons with low vision and dyslexia, said the Copyright Act did not allow persons with print impairments to convert reading matter using assistive technologies to accessible formats. Dipendra Manocha, executive committee member of World Blind Union, said: “We need organisations, individuals and volunteers to contribute and create accessible books.”
Nirmitha Narasimhan, programme manager of the Centre for Internet and Society felt access to information would ensure a better contribution by the visually challenged to society. “It is not that weare insensitive. The suggestion for amendments to the Copyright Act has not yet been incorporated,” she said.
Writer Sreekumar Varma, who inaugurated the campaign, recalled his experience as a scribe during his days as a lecturer. C.P. Chandrasekar, treasurer, National Association for the Blind, and Loyola College Principal Albert Muthumalai spoke.

Deccan Herald – 29^th September, 2009

‘Right to Read’ campaign launched - Fighting against copyright regulations – an article by L Subramani.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/27678/right-read-campaign-launched.html

To highlight the issues faced by persons with print disability – those deprived of Indian books due to unfriendly copyright regulations – a group of organisations launched the Right To Read (R2R) campaign on September 26.
The campaign, jointly launched by the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Daisy Forum of India (DFI), bookbole.com and Inclusive Planet, kickstarted at Loyola College in Chennai on Saturday.
“This campaign was part of the World Blind Union’s (WBU) global campaign,” said Nirmita Narasimhan, Programme Manager, CIS. “We are asking all the organisations to lend their support to our initiative.”
The campaign comes at a time when the Indian government is preparing to consider changes to the copyright law, which it failed to implement two years ago after disability rights campaigners objected to the proposal to make books and other print materials be made in an “exclusive” format.
Nirmita said that this would also be an occasion for activists to urge Government of India to throw its weight behind a WBU treaty tabled at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) asking for a global copyright regulation that takes into account the needs of persons with print disabilities.
“The treaty is coming up for discussion at Geneva (WIPO's head quarters) in December,” Nirmita said and added: “Right now only three Latin American nations are supporting it. Since India has the largest number of persons with print disability, which includes the visually challenged, persons with autism and children with learning difficulties, our support would likely tilt the balance in favour of the treaty.” Now, the campaign will be gradually taken to other parts of the country, said Rahul Cherian from Inclusive Planet. A signature campaign and distribution of a declaration supporting accommodation of persons with print disability in copyright laws will also be held as part of the campaign.

NDTV – Hindu

The first event was covered by NDTV Hindu and an interview with Rahul Cherian and Nirmita Narasimhan was also telecast on 26^th September. A brief excerpt from the interview can be viewed at:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/user/ndtvhindu#play/uploads/16/o4sQ-ycaoBw

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/user/ndtvhindu#play/uploads/15/Q5HCm2evUYE

Deccan Chronicle – 27^th September, 2009

Nirmita Narasimhan, Programme Manager, CIS, speaks at the launch of ‘Right to Read’ campaign. Loyola College in the city on Saturday launched the campaignto amend the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, and give visually challenged and dyslexic people better access to printed books in the form of Braille copy and big prints.

Tamil Murasu

Coverage in the October Issue of: CBR Forum - E- News Bulletin

Report Prepared by

Centre for Internet and Society

www.cis-india.org

29^th September, 2009

Videos

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/right-to-read-campaign-chennai

Right to Read Campaign - Kolkata

radha — 2011-11-08T15:39:13Z

A report on the nationwide Right to Read campaign which had its second road show at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata on 7th November, 2009 from 11.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m.

The Problem

Millions of Indians are unable to read printed material due to disabilities. Technologies are in place which can help them read printed matter if the material gets converted into alternate formats such as large print, audio, Braille or other electronic formats. Whereas the Constitution of India declares “right to read” a fundamental right, the provisions of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 does not permit conversion of books into accessible formats for the benefit of persons with print impairment, as a result of which a “book famine” is created. International conventions to which India is a signatory to specifically requires it to amend its copyright laws for the benefit of persons with disabilities and make available information and materials to persons with disabilities on an equal basis as others.

Publishers too do not make books available in accessible formats as a result of which less than 0.5 per cent of books are available in accessible formats in India. As a result, persons with print impairments get excluded from the education system and this has a big impact on their career choices.

The Campaign

To solve this problem, the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 should be amended to permit the conversion and distribution of materials in all formats for making it accessible for persons with print impairment. Hence, the Daisy Forum of India, The Centre for Internet & Society and Bookbole have taken the initiative to be part of the global “Right to Read” campaign launched by the World Blind Union.

The ‘Right to Read’ campaign seeks to:

Accelerate change in the copyright law;
Raise public awareness on the issue of access to reading for the print-impaired; and
Gather Indian support for the Treaty for the Blind proposed by the World Blind Union at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

In West Bengal, this campaign was initiated by Campaigners for Inclusion (a volunteer initiative by CRY and Sruti Disability Rights Centre) and hosted by the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS).

The Programme

A meeting was held at the National University of Juridical Sciences on 7th November from 11.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. The Chief Guest of the meeting was Dr. Suranjan Das, Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta. Other dignitaries present at the meeting were Nirmita Narasimhan, Programme Manager, The Centre for Internet & Society and Rahul Cherian, Co-Founder, Inclusive Planet and Book Bole.

A lively panel discussion followed. The speakers included Ms. Chandrima Bhattacharya, Senior Assistant Editor, The Telegraph, Mr. S.B. Pattnayak, Principal, Ramakrishna Mission, Narendrapur, Dr. S.S. Roy, Chairman, National Children’s Computer Society and Dr. Rukmini Sen, Assistant Professor, (Social Sciences), WBNUJS.

A skit on this issue was presented by the Campaigners for Inclusion and a musical programme by Sayoni Palit, a visually impaired student of the Bachelor of Music, enthralled the audience.

The meeting was attended by 120 people including members of Blind Persons Association, National Association for Blind, Welfare Society for the Blind, Behala Blind School, Lighthouse for the Blind, Society for Visually Handicapped, National Institute for the Blind, Louis Braille Memorial School, Noble Mission of Calcutta and Mentaid along with several college students and teachers.

A signature campaign on the petition to amend the Copyright Act started in Kolkata on that day. Sruti Disability Rights Centre has taken the initiative to organize more awareness meetings, particularly in different colleges as well as at the Kolkata Book Fair in the coming months.

Media Coverage

Radio channels like Gyan Bharati organized a talk show on this issue besides announcing about the programme on its channel for one week. Red FM was the official radio partner and gave ample coverage to this event. One English newspaper and one Urdu newspaper covered this news.

Times of India - 7th Nov 2009

KOLKATA: For the 12 lakh-odd visually-challenged and dyslexic persons in the state, access to good Indian literature in Braille or audio format is a challenge. Obtaining copyright to convert books into special format is the biggest hindrance, say activists working for disability rights.

"Even the National Library does not have any Braille or audio books. Authorities argue that the number of such special books is too less to create full-fledged sections," said Shampa Sengupta of Sruti. When it comes to audio-version, the scenario is worse, says Lina Bardhan from Noble Mission that works with the mentally challenged.

City Braille publishers say legal formalities prove to be an obstacle."We believe that as a humanitarian gesture, the Copyright Act of 1957 should be relaxed for books meant for the differently-abled," said Amiyo Biswas of Blind Persons' Association, one of the three Braille publishers in the city.

In April 2008, UK-based Sight Savers International urged the UN to sign a treaty so that persons with disabilities can access books and documents easily.

Now, Center for Internet Society (CIS) has carried out campaigns in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. On Saturday, a seminar will be held in Kolkata. "We want to organize a pan-India movement and amend the Copyright Act to establish the right to read," said CIS programme manager Nirmita Narasimhan.

Click here for the original article

Coverage in the November Issue of: CBR Forum - E- News Bulletin

Photos

VIDOES

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/right-to-read-campaign-kolkata

Right to Read Campaign - Kolkata

radha — 2013-02-04T06:47:59Z

The nationwide Right to Read campaign which began with its first road show at Loyola College, Chennai is now having its second road show at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. There will be half day events with publicity. Events shall comprise presentations, debates and demonstrations, book reading sessions and stalls where various accessibility tools will be demonstrated.

Problem Statement

Millions of Indians are unable to read printed material due to disabilities. There are technologies available which can help them read print if the material is converted into an alternate format such as large print, audio, Braille or any electronic format. While the Indian constitution guarantees the “right to read” as a fundamental right, the copyright regime does not permit the conversion of books into accessible formats for the benefit of persons with print impairment, as a result of which a “book famine” is created. International conventions that India is a party to specifically require India to amend its copyright laws for the benefit of persons with disabilities and to make available information and material to persons with disabilities on an equal basis as others. Publishers also do not make books available in accessible formats as a result of which less than 0.5% of books are available in accessible formats in India. As a result persons with print impairments get excluded from the education system and it impacts their career choices.
In addition to this, there are no national Policies or action plan to ensure that publications in accessible formats in all Indian languages are available to persons with print disabilities all over the country.

Objectives of the Right to Read Campaign

To accelerate change in copyright law
To raise public awareness on the issue
To gather Indian support for the Treaty for the Blind proposed by the World Blind Union at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Your Support:

No campaign is complete without the endorsement of leaders in the field. We invite you to lend your name and support to this campaign in large numbers and help us make this campaign a success. If you wish to do so, please e-mail Nirmita Narasimhan: nirmita@cis-india.org.

Agenda

Declaration on the Right to Read

Cookie Jar - Glass Jar full of cookies. The jar is locked by chains and a lock. Caption below in large letters saying "Open the cookie jar for 70 million people". Right to Read logo. Wording below: The right to read campaign seeks to accelerate change in copyright law, raise public awareness on issues of access to reading for the print impaired. Support the campaign by turning up for the event at Kolkata. Venue, date and time given. To know more about the campaign and to join us in our endeavor visit our website. www.righttoread.in

Daffodils - Poem Daffodils by Wordsworth. Black strips across many of the lines of the poem as a result only some scattered words of the poem can be seen. Caption below in large letters saying "Not Quite Right? 70 million people agree". Right to Read logo. Wording below: The right to read campaign seeks to accelerate change in copyright law, raise public awareness on issues of access to reading for the print impaired. Support the campaign by turning up for the event at Kolkata. Venue, date and time given. To know more about the campaign and to join us in our endeavor visit our website. www.righttoread.in

Videos
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For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/right-to-read-campaign-kolkata

Right to Read Campaign - Delhi

praskrishna — 2011-08-31T10:43:49Z

The Centre for Internet and Society is organizing a Right to Read Campaign on January 30th 2010, at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

Millions with print - impairment need access to books Out of these, at least 70 million live in India! They are unable to grow and participate meaningfully in the society because they have no access to books! For this, Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) invites you to a Right to Read Campaign to be held in New Delhi on January 30th 2010.

Download the invitation

PHOTOS

VIDEOS

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/right-to-read-campaign

Right to Read campaign - Chennai (NDTV, Hindu)

radha — 2011-04-02T14:50:32Z

The first event was covered by NDTV Hindu and an interview with Rahul Cherian and Nirmita Narasimhan was telecast on 26th September.

Excerpts from the interview are available on the given links

Part 1

Part 2

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/right-to-read-campaign-chennai-ndtv-hindu

Right to Knowledge for Persons with Print Impairment: A Proposal to Amend the Indian Copyright Regime

praskrishna — 2013-04-26T06:09:28Z

This research paper argues the need for amending Indian Copyright provisions for enabling the print impaired to gain access to published works. The paper was submitted to the Ministry of Human Resource and Development in November to appraise it of the needs of the print disabled community. It is up for public comments and we welcome your feedback for this ongoing campaign.

As part of the Right to Read campaign and demand for a copyright amendment for print disabled persons, CIS, the Alternative Law Forum (ALF) and Inclusive Planet have come out with a research paper which sets out the case for an amendment to the Copyright Act. The paper deals exhaustively with the issue of exceptions and limitations for the print impaired and outlines case laws, legal provisions and international instruments which oblige India to make the necessary amendment. It also advises the government to support the Treaty for the Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled ("TVI") which is presently tabled before the WIPO as a desirable step towards ending the global book famine. The paper also cites some examples of working models of sharing accessible books which are available in countries abroad and to which print impaired persons in developing countries like India have no access.

The paper was submitted to the Ministry of Human Resource and Development in the third week of November so as to ensure that the Ministry is fully appraised of the needs of the print disabled community while it is carrying out the exercise of amending the Act.

The paper was put up for public comments.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/comments-on-copyright-and-print%20impaired

Right to Knowledge for Persons with Print Impairment: A Proposal to Amend the Indian Copyright Regime

praskrishna — 2011-08-22T13:17:33Z

This research paper argues the need for amending the Indian Copyright provisions for enabling the print impaired to gain access to published works. The paper was submitted to the Ministry of Human Resource and Development in November to appraise it of the needs of the print disabled community. The paper is up for public comments and we welcome your feedback for this ongoing campaign.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/Case%20for%20Amendment%20of%20Copyright%20Regime%20in%20India%20November%2022-%202009.pdf

Right to Knowledge for Persons with Print Impairment: A Proposal to Amend the Indian Copyright Regime

praskrishna — 2009-12-04T10:18:45Z

This research paper details the need for an amendment of the present provisions of Copyright laws and help enable the print impaired gain access to published works. The paper was submitted to the Ministry of Human Resource and Development in November to appraise it of the needs of the print disabled community. The paper is up for public comments and we welcome your feedback for this ongoing campaign.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/uploads/Case%20for%20Amendment%20of%20Copyright%20Regime%20in%20India%20November%2022-%202009.pdf

Review of Guidelines for Indian Government Websites-meeting notice

praskrishna — 2013-04-28T03:39:18Z

The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension has called for a meeting for review of guidelines for Indian Government websites. The meeting will be held under the chairmanship of Shri Anoop Kumar Srivastava, Addl. Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Click to download the notice.

The competent authority constituted a committee to review Guidelines for Indian Government Websites. Sunil Abraham is a committee member, and will participate in this meeting. The meeting will be held in the Committee Room, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, 5th Floor, Sardar Patel Bhawan, Parliament Street, New Delhi on April 5, 2013.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/ministry-of-personnel-public-grievances-and-pension-notice-review-of-guidelines-for-indian-government-websites

Response to the Call from Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry for Review of the Copyright Act

sachia — 2011-08-17T08:51:23Z

This blog entry contains a letter sent by Rahul Cherian of Indojuris and Nirmita Narsimhan of the Centre for Internet and Society in response to a call from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry for review of the Copyright Act.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has recently constituted a Consultative Working Group to analyse various issues in the Copyright Act. This has been approved by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). The group is to be chaired by Shri Amit Khare, Joint Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development. The purpose of the Consultative Working Group would be to look into the existing provisions of the copyright law and the proposed amendments, as well as into the international arrangements and suggestions. The Consultative Working Group is expected to submit its report along with amendments or suggestion, as required.

Rahul Cherian of Indojuris and Nirmita Narasimhan of CIS have submitted a report on the provisions of the Copyright Act with respect to the limitations for print disabled persons. This has been submitted in the form of a letter to Sheetal Chopra of FICCI; the letter is reproduced below.

-----

Sheetal Chopra

Senior Assistant Director and Head

IPR Division

FICCI

Dear Madam:

Subject: Consultative Working Group on Copyright Issues – issues to be addressed by the Consultative Working Group.

As required by you we give below the issues to be addressed by the Consultative Working Group. This document is prepared by Nirmita Narasimhan of the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, and Rahul Cherian Jacob of IndoJuris Law Offices, Chennai.

Scope - Exceptions and Limitations for Print Impaired Persons

The scope of the issues raised here are limited to the exceptions and limitations under the Copyright Act that are required to facilitate access of books by the visually impaired and other print impaired persons.

Problem faced by Print Impaired Persons

India has approximately 70 million Print Impaired Persons (loosely defined as persons who are unable to access print as a result of disability and include persons who are visually impaired, persons who have learning disabilities such as dyslexia and persons who due to physical disability are unable to hold a book or turn pages) who do not have access to knowledge due to a lack of reading material in accessible formats. It is estimated that even in developed countries not more than 5% of publications get converted into accessible formats for the benefit of Print Impaired Persons. As a result, Print Impaired Persons are excluded from the education system, are unable to seek meaningful employment and are on the whole excluded from all aspects of civil society.

It is observed that publishers do not make available books in formats accessible by Print Impaired Persons and the Copyright Act does not provide exceptions and limitations to the rights of the copyright owner for third parties to convert and make available books in accessible formats for Print Impaired Persons. This has lead to a “book famine” from the perspective of Print Impaired Persons.

Technological Advances and Accessible Formats

Till a few years ago, Print Impaired Persons had to rely on audio files and Braille (in the case of the persons who became visually impaired at a young age) to enjoy printed matter. Each of these formats have severe limitations. For example audio files have to be played serially and navigation is severely limited. In the case of Braille, the printing costs are expensive, reading a Braille book is up to 4 times slower than a normal book, Braille is extremely difficult to learn if you loose sight at a later age, and persons using Braille can communicate only with others who know Braille. However with the information technology revolution and the creation of text-to-speech screen readers that read out documents in electronic formats to Print Impaired Persons there are now countless ways in which Print Impaired Persons can access books in any easy and simple manner. Specialized electronic formats such as the DAISY Format not only permit the visually impaired to “read” the material using screen readers but also permit a digital file to be printed in Braille for the blind, in large print for the partially sighted and also provide audio with inbuilt search and indexation features for those Print Impaired Persons who have computers. The key is that technological innovation now provides the much-needed flexibility required by Print Impaired Persons to access material in formats they are most comfortable with. However the availability of these technology solutions alone does not solve the problem of dearth of books in formats that can be enjoyed by Print Impaired Persons.

Legal compulsions for providing exceptions and limitations for the benefit of Print Impaired Persons

At present Indian copyright law does not provide exceptions and limitations to the rights of copyright owners for the benefit of Print Impaired Persons. The Indian Constitution expressly provides for “equality” (Article 14), “non-discrimination” (Article 15), “freedom of speech and expression” (Article 19), and “right to life” (Article 21). Indian courts have not yet had the opportunity to pronounce any judgment on whether the Constitution requires copyright law to provide exceptions and limitations for the benefit of Print Impaired Persons. However, Indian courts have routinely upheld the rights of persons with disability and the Supreme Court has specifically recognized that the “right to life” as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution includes right to dignity including basic necessities such as reading and writing. Right to education has also been recognized as a fundamental right. For Print Impaired Persons to enjoy their fundamental rights it is essential that they have access to material, including but not limited to educational material, in accessible formats. As present, 70 million Indians cannot enjoy their fundamental rights due to the fact that the Copyright Act does not provide exemptions and limitations for Print Impaired Persons. It is to be noted that about 50 countries around the world already provide copyright exceptions and limitations for the benefit of the visually impaired/printed impaired.

India has also ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the objects of the aforesaid convention include providing persons with disability, access, on an equal basis with others, to information and communication. Indian courts have read into Indian law provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is also to be noted that the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights of the World Intellectual Property Organisation is currently discussing the proposed WIPO Treaty for Blind, Visually Impaired and Other Reading Disabled Persons.

India has also recognized the requirements of Print Impaired Persons and had circulated draft amendments to the Copyright Act in _________ for feedback and comments from the public. All the leading organisations representing visually impaired persons has submitted their responses stating that the proposed amendments did not adequately meet the requirements of visually impaired persons.

In light of the above the question is not whether exceptions and limitations for the benefit of Print Impaired Persons must be provided (they must), but what form these exceptions and limitations must take.

Exceptions and Limitations – Issues to be considered

Given below are the issues that must be considered when providing exceptions and limitations for the benefit of Print Impaired Persons.

Beneficiaries – The beneficiaries of any amendment should include all persons with disability who, due to that disability, need an accessible format to access a book to substantially the same degree as a person without a disability. This definition should be functional and not medical since medical definitions cannot be exhaustive.

Formats – Print Impaired Persons should be able to enjoy the benefits of the information technology revolution in the same way that non-disabled persons have been able to. Any amendment should therefore take into account technological developments and should be format neutral to give full flexibility and utility to Print Impaired Persons. As mentioned above Braille as a format has limited application and a majority of visually impaired persons are not able to use Braille. Moreover, Braille cannot be used by persons with other print impairments such as dyslexia or persons with physical disabilities.

Permitted Activities – The activities permitted by any amendment should include the making of accessible formats of a work, supplying that accessible format, or copies of that format, to Print Impaired Persons by any means, including by lending or by electronic communication by wire or wireless means, and undertaking any intermediate steps to achieve these objectives.

Who can conduct the Permitted Activities – It is noted that the cost of making an accessible copy of a book is far higher than the cost of the book itself. It is observed that non-profit organisations have been able to convert only a few thousands books till date due to lack of funds. Print Impaired Persons, their families and other members of their support group also convert books into accessible formats at very high cost. The number of books converted by these persons is also minimal. Keeping in mind the fact that publishers are not selling books in accessible formats there appears to be complete market failure in this area. The solution for this problem appears to be that, apart from non-profit organisations, Print Impaired Persons and their support group being permitted to conduct the Permitted Activities, volunteers and for-profit organisations should also be able to conduct the Permitted Activities. If any of the Permitted Activity is undertaken for profit, then the entity carrying out the Permitted Activity must give notice to, and pay prescribed royalty to the copyright owner. The quantum of royalty payable should be determined keeping in mind the fact that the average income of Print Impaired Persons is far lower than the income of non disabled persons. The possibility of creating a collecting society for this purpose can also be explored.

Conclusion

“Inclusiveness” is the underlying theme of the Indian Constitution and “Inclusion” is a word used liberally by the courts and politicians alike. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. The United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons of Disabilities aims to support the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in social life and development; and to advance the rights and protect the dignity of persons with disabilities and to promote equal access to employment, education, information, goods and services.

However, these concepts mean nothing to Print Impaired Persons as long as their most basic fundamental rights continue to be denied due to the fact that Indian copyright law does not provide exceptions and limitations for the benefit of Print Impaired Persons.

In light of the above, appropriate amendments must be made to the Copyright Act as soon as possible to remove the barriers placed before Print Impaired Persons that prevent their exercise of fundamental rights.

If you require any additional information or any clarification regarding the above please let us know. Thank you and best regards,

Nirmita Narasimhan and Rahul Cherian

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/response-to-ficcis-call-for-review-of-the-copyright-act

Response to RTI Applications from Different States on Accessibility

anandi — 2015-02-08T08:30:27Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) had sent right to information (RTI) applications from various states seeking information on the allocation and expenditure in the budget for implementing various schemes for persons with disabilities. CIS received the first set of documents.

Click to download the documents received from various states here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/response-to-rti-applications-from-different-states-on-accessibility

Report on use of eSpeak Bengali with NVDA

nirmita — 2015-11-09T15:57:18Z

NVDA team conducted a training programme at Turnstone Matruchaya, Siligudi, West Bengal from September 7 to 9, 2015. Fourteen delegates attended. Nirmal Verma was the language trainer.

Day 1

Turnstone Matruchaya is an NGO working for the upliftment of Blind and other under privileged sections of the society. Located in midst of tea gardens, Turnstone Matruchaya had a perfect location for conducting a traning session.

The workshop was attended by 14 computer teachers and special educators for the blind. The participants came from Sikkim, Darjeling, various districts of West Bengal etc. The participants had some idea about NVDA, though support for indian languages was a new concept for them. There was a lot of excitement and enthusiasm for learning to read and write in Bengali and Hindi.

The workshop started with a round of introductions, where in each participant also spelt out his or her needs and expectations from the workshop. Most of them expressed the need for learning about an alternative screen reader, which would help them read and write in their vernacular language.

This was followed by understanding the benefits of NVDA in comparision to other screen readers. The participants were taken for a brief tour of the NVDA home page and explained the process of downloading the installer for NVDA.

A hands on demonstration was given about installation of NVDA, followed by the participants installing NVDA on their systems.

This was followed by introduction to the menus of NVDA, and their utility. Each participant was instructed to configure NVDA, as per their requirements. They were instructed to select a suitable voice variant and rate, and also make certain changes in the keyboard and mouce settings.

They were than given Bengali text to read. This text was taken from a Bengali daily newspaper. All the participants were very comfortable with the Espeak TTS, and were able to comprehend the text.

Day 2

Day 2 started with introduction to the Bengali keyboard, followed by practice of typing words and sentences. The afternoon session was dedicated to writing practice, which was followed by a session on Bookshare as a source of accessible reading material.

Day 3

Day 3 began with a revision session for Bengali keystrokes. This was followed by a session on using Espeak on Android. Various other features of the Android platform were also demonstrated during the session.

The afternoon session was dedicated to giving information about different schemes for the benefit of the Blind. The participants were informed about the ADIP scheme, Loan scheme of Saksham, E-card scheme of Railways etc.

The workshop ended with a feed back session. All the participants expressed their deep gratitude for the workshop and have promised to send their feedback on a regular basis.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-use-of-espeak-bengali-with-nvda

Report on training workshop at NAB Delhi R K Puram

nirmita — 2015-07-20T14:53:03Z

The workshop was held at the National Association for the Blind, Sector 5 R. K. Puram, New Delhi on December 17, 2014. The objective of the workshop was to help the staff members understand NVDA and its functioning with the Indian languages so that they efficiently attend to the queries of the visitors and the callers at helpdesk.

Five staff members lead by Mr. Ajay Sharma, Project Manager of the technical unit at NAB R.K Puram Delhi had attended aa training workshop. Concepts related to the NVDA were discussed in the workshop. It was an interactive workshop. Ms. Suman Dogra had conducted the workshop. The staff members had certain doubts with NVDA, that were cleared. Some new information was imparted to the staff members. The helpdesk was made to understand the functioning of the language section of NVDA. This will help callers to configure their native language on their machines.

Some tips were given to the staff members on imparting training in NVDA in coming training modules at NAB. Object navigation was explained to the computer instructors. The team at NAB is informed that they can inform about any of the problem in NVDA to the Indian development team.

The following individuals attended the workshop:

Ms. Bharti
Mr. Yogesh Chhabra
Mr. Rajesh
Mr. Rajneesh
Mr. Ajay Sharma

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-workshop-at-nab-delhi-rk-puram

Centre for Internet and Society

Right to read for the print impaired and copyright challenges

Background to the event

The Present Event:

Agenda of the seminar on Right to Read and copy right challenges

Video

Right to Read event in Brussels

Right to Read Campaign, Chennai

Right to Read Campaign - An Overview

Fast Facts

Problem at hand

Current situation in India

Solution

Objectives of the Right to Read Campaign

Campaign Managers

Campaign activities

Launch of Right to Read Campaign

Signature Campaign

Rally

Declaration forms

Panel Discussion - ‘We the people’

Musical Extravaganza

Vote of Thanks

Acknowledgements

Videos

Right to Read Campaign - Kolkata

The Problem

The Campaign

The Programme

Media Coverage

Times of India - 7th Nov 2009

Photos

Right to Read Campaign - Kolkata

Right to Read Campaign - Delhi

Right to Read campaign - Chennai (NDTV, Hindu)

Right to Knowledge for Persons with Print Impairment: A Proposal to Amend the Indian Copyright Regime

Right to Knowledge for Persons with Print Impairment: A Proposal to Amend the Indian Copyright Regime

Right to Knowledge for Persons with Print Impairment: A Proposal to Amend the Indian Copyright Regime

Review of Guidelines for Indian Government Websites-meeting notice

Response to the Call from Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry for Review of the Copyright Act

Response to RTI Applications from Different States on Accessibility

Report on use of eSpeak Bengali with NVDA

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Report on training workshop at NAB Delhi R K Puram