Centre for Internet and Society

RTI Application to VTU

sachia — 2009-04-03T06:36:41Z

To,
Registrar,
Visvesvaraya Technological University,
“Jnana Sangma”, Machhe,
Belgaum - 590 014

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Dear Sir,
Subject: Application for Information under Section 6 of the Right to Information Act, 2005

1. Full Name of the Applicant:
Pranesh Prakash

2. Address:
Centre for Internet and Society
D-2, 3rd Floor
Shariff Chambers
14 Cunningham Road
Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Phone number:
+91 80 40926283

E-mail address:
pranesh@cis-india.org

3. Details of the document/Inspection/Samples required:
As per newspaper reports, Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) and Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) have entered into an agreement pursuant to which Microsoft will aid in VTU's curriculum development programmes, students' projects, continuing education, and research and
development.

I request you to provide me:

A. A copy of the memorandum of understanding or other agreement between VTU, or any authorized representative of VTU, and Microsoft, or an authorized representative of Microsoft, establishing this tie-up.

B. A copy of any contracts entered into between VTU and Microsoft pursuant to this tie-up.

C. A copy of the software licences granted by Microsoft to VTU in pursuance of this tie-up.

D. A copy of any other legal and/or commercial documents related to this tie-up.

E. A copy of the memorandum of understanding or other agreement between VTU, or any authorized representative of VTU, and Microsoft, or an authorized representative of Microsoft, establishing the "Microsoft Dream Spark programme" at VTU in 2008.

F. A copy of the memorandum of understanding or other agreement between VTU, or any authorized representative of VTU, and Microsoft, or any authorized representative of Microsoft, establishing the"Academic Development Programme" introduced in 2002.

G. A copy of the memorandum of understanding or other agreement between VTU, or any authorized representative of VTU, and Microsoft, or any authorized representative of Microsoft, establishing the "Microsoft Technology Centre" at VTU's Bengaluru campus in 2005.

H. A copy of any internal memoranda or communications related to the adoption of Microsoft software and resources, and Microsoft curriculum, and any other communications between Microsoft and VTU.

I. A copy of the memorandum of understanding or other agreement between VTU, or any authorized representative of VTU, and Microsoft, or any authorized representative of Microsoft, establishing the "Microsoft IT Academy" at VTU.

J. Any policy that VTU has regarding tie-ups with software companies or other software groups when it comes to curricula.

4. Years to which the above requests pertain:
2002, 2005, and 2008.

5. Designation and Address of the Public Information Officer from whom the information is required:
Registrar,
Visvesvaraya Technological University,
"Jnana Sangma", Machhe,
Belgaum - 590 014

To the best of my belief, the details sought for fall within your authority. Further, as provided under section 6(3) of the Right to Information Act, in case this application does not fall within your authority, I request you to transfer the same in the designated time (5 days) to the concerned authority and inform me of the same immediately.

To the best of my knowledge the information sought does not fall within the restrictions contained in section 8 and 9 of the Act.

This to certify that I, Pranesh Prakash, son of M.S. Prakash, am a citizen of India.

A fee of Rs. 10/- (Rupees Ten Only) has been made out in the form of a demand draft drawn in favour of Finance Officer, VTU, Belgaum. Please indicate any further amount needed, if any, for provision of the above information in your response to this petition.

Date: Wednesday, January 6, 2009
Place: Bengaluru, Karnataka

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/uploads/rti-application-to-vtu

rt2

sachia — 2009-06-24T12:36:05Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/event-blogs/uploads/00016.jpg

Round Table on Assessing the Efficacy of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Public Initiatives: A Report

sachia — 2011-08-20T22:28:55Z

Zainab Bawa reports on the Round Table on Assessing the Efficacy of Information and Communication Technologies for Public Initiatives, hosted by the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, on 17 June 2009, in collaboration with the Liberty Institute, New Delhi.

In recent times, there has been an upsurge in the use of ICTs to provide information to people and to elicit participation. Individuals, corporate organisations, NGOs, civil society organisations, collectives, municipalities, political parties and politicians have been using the internet and other mediums to communicate with people. The round table was organised primarily to discuss two issues:

What is the effectiveness of the initiatives introduced in recent times?
How do we move forward in terms of partnerships/collaborations in the areas of data gathering, sharing, dissemination and architecture of information?

Given the constraints of time, however, we were only able to discuss a few issues with respect to efficacy of initiatives, rather than come up with a concrete action plan on how to measure effectiveness of many of the existing initiatives. This remains an agenda for subsequent meetings.

This round table was the first meeting of its kind. It brought together participants from diverse backgrounds to discuss key issues involved in leveraging ICTs towards various ends, and to collaborate with each other on ongoing initiatives. Participants included researchers, persons who have developed information platforms and databases, individuals working in the area of leveraging technology for streamlining processes in society and people who have been studying usage patterns of social media tools. Most of the participants were using ICTs to improve information access related to health issues, education, budgets, development of rural areas and recently, elections and governance. In the subsequent sections, I will briefly elaborate on some of the key themes around which discussions took place during the round table.

Building on Ideas: In the morning and pre-lunch sessions, one issue that featured prominently was the importance of developing ideas rather than trying to work out a perfect model that we believe will solve what we perceive to be people’s problems. Two of the participants explained that they started implementing ideas as they came to them, rather than trying to come up with a framework that they thought would work for the masses. They worked towards evolving their ideas, exploring what works and what does not. One of them further pointed out that such evolution cannot be observed as it happens; it only becomes apparent in hindsight. Hence, discussions such as the current round table are useful.

It is also important to note that we are still in a nascent stage of understanding how ICTs can impact people’s lives and deploying them accordingly. As a result, many efforts are likely to be in the stage of trial and error.

Key areas of interest and concern: Based on the input from participants in the morning session, we arrived at a list of areas that require more understanding and discussion.

Information gathering, dissemination, access – including information architecture, technology design: Here, three issues were discussed:

Who are we talking about when we refer to information access? It was pointed out that information is crucial particularly for people who do not have computers and for whom internet is not a priority. The intensity with which they seek information is remarkable. One of the participants argued that we undervalue the potential of information to make a difference to people’s lives.
How do we deliver information? Providing information is not enough.
Representativeness of the information for those who it is provided for.

Another issue that was referred to was whether language is a problem, i.e., most information is available only in English. One of the participants suggested that this is not the case because Google has found that a very small percentage of the population actually refers to material on the web in languages other than English.

Community mobilization: During the deliberations, we referred to the problem of replication of initiatives. Two observers of social media pointed out that replication happens because people are trying to create their own unique communities around their initiatives. This is an important insight for future efforts and also indicates the need to share databases and information that individuals and organisations have compiled. They also suggested that it is important to discover existing communities and spaces where conversations around issues of governance, education, health and development are taking place. This helps to plug into existing resource pools and to extend outreach.

Citizens’ participation: Initiatives that work and why they succeed - We briefly discussed the Jaagore campaign and India Vote Report, which were launched before the 2009 national elections in India to enable people to register on the electoral rolls and to report irregularities during elections respectively. Some people found it difficult to register themselves on the Jaagore website and some had difficulties in finding the local offices where they needed to follow-up with the process. It was also pointed out that Vote Report did not connect with the end user because it would have been easier to report irregularities and anomalies via SMS rather than trying to report them by logging on to the site. If one looks at the case of the Online Complaint Management System (OCMS) developed by Praja, the availability of the telephone hotline service through which citizens could register their complaints helped in widening usage. Thus, it appears that two issues are pertinent:

Whether the initiative connects with the people who are likely to use it;
Simplicity of design/system that enables more users.

Target Audience: One of the participants pointed out that some initiatives do not work because they are targeted towards the wrong audiences. For example, when it comes to voting and elections, poor groups are the ones who go out and vote in large numbers. Hence, information systems need to be tailored to provide them with the data that they need most. Access also has to be configured accordingly. In some instances, the target is too broad to reach out effectively.

It appears that there is a need to develop strategies on how platforms and databases that have been created to enhance access to information can be made known among the masses and how people can be made aware to use them. It is equally important to understand what constitutes ‘information’ and for whom. Here, the other issue to explore is how information links back to the people for who it is provided.

Technology: In this area, a key concern was the high costs involved in developing technologies and whether we could learn from each other’s experience of developing technologies instead of reinventing the wheel. We also discussed whether open source software helps to reduce costs of development. The other issue with respect to open source is whether there is enough assistance and support available to resolve problems that may crop up during use of technology from time to time.

Sharing of Data: Discussions also veered around the issue of whether appropriate technology and applications could be created to help with sharing existing databases and information pools. We did not discuss this issue in depth, but it remains relevant for subsequent meetings.

Back end integration: According to some of the participants, one of major problems is the interface between government and citizens, which remains weak. Technology can be used to enhance the interactions. Participants also pointed out the difficulty in obtaining data from government bodies that is important to create the interface between government and citizens. A participant involved with the Jaagore campaign referred to the problem of back-end integration during their efforts to help citizens register themselves with the election commission (EC) offices. A participant from Google similarly reported that they faced problems in obtaining election results from the EC’s offices as a result of which, they had to rely on their partners for this information. Here too, we could not deliberate on how to resolve this problem, but this could be a major theme for a subsequent meeting.

Performance (monitoring, evaluation): One of the themes that participants zeroed in on was the evaluation of the performance of elected representatives and making this evaluation available for people to see. Here, the debate was around the problem of evaluation being carried out according to the criteria we set which may not seem relevant to other sections of society. One of the suggestions that came up was to develop a matrix for evaluation and put out information accordingly. People can then use it to make their own judgments.

In the post-lunch session, some of the participants shared their experiences with implementation and also the work they and their organisations are currently engaged with. Towards the end of the round table, each one of the participants explained their respective projects and how they may wish to collaborate with other participants (who were present) in their initiatives. An e-group called “CIS-Info-Access” has been created to take these conversations and collaborations further.

Evaluation of the Round Table and Way Forward:

When invitations were sent out to people to participate in the round table, many of the invitees expressed a genuine and enthusiastic interest in being part of this effort. As mentioned above, one of the reasons for this enthusiasm was because this was the first meeting of its kind, bringing together individuals from the fields of technology, research and implementation. We invited a total of 35 people out of which 27 finally attended the meeting. The diversity of the participants was an asset in that a variety of issues were brought to the table. The drawback was that there was not enough time to discuss some of the pertinent issues in depth. Future meetings can be tailored to discuss one or two specific themes such as back-end integration and sharing of information, technology issues, ideas for mobilising citizens and communities, etc.

The possibilities of collaboration between participants in this meeting are immense and we hope that some of the synergies will materialise into concrete outcomes. Further, a few participants have expressed an interest in organising similar meetings in their cities/towns, perhaps focusing on a few issues instead of bringing people together under a broad theme. Of some of the issues discussed, participants have indicated that back-end integration with government and ideating on different ways of disseminating data can be further deliberated on in future. One of the participants also suggested that there is a need to make ‘data’ more relevant to people’s lives.

While the meeting was fruitful in many respects, one issue needs to be underlined. This concerns the imagination of internet and ICTs as mediums that can resolve all existing problems with respect to citizen-government interface, streamlining of processes and provision of information. Such an overarching imagination of technology overlooks the cultural, economic, social and political specificities of communities and contexts. Technology can also have negative implications in some circumstances. It also needs to be reinforced that technology is embedded in society and culture. Therefore we need to view technology as one of the avenues among others available which will facilitate interactions between people and their governments and the state. Democratisation is more likely to be realised through such a perspective.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/event-blogs/round-table-assessing-efficacy

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 from MSJE on web accessibility measures

sachia — 2009-03-25T11:33:22Z

RTI MATTER

MOST IMMEDIATE

F. No 32-6/2009 DD III

Government of India

Ministry for Social Justice & Empowerment

(Disability Division III)

Room No 630, Wing A,

Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi

Dated 23.02.2009

Ms Nirmita Narsimhan,

D2, 3^rd Floor, Sheriff Chambers,

14, Cunningham Road,

Bengaluuru-560052

Sub.:- Information sought by Ms Nirmita Narsimhan under RTI, regarding.

Sir,

I am directed to refer to your letter dated 28.01.2009 received in this Ministry on 02.02.2009 under RTI Act 2005, on the above mentioned subject and to say that the information in respect of this division is as under-

Serial No	Question	Reply
1.	What steps has the government taken to fulfil its commitments under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and provision 39 of the national policy to make websites of government as well as private and public sector organisations accessible for persons with disabilities? If no such steps have been taken by the government then kindly furnish reasons and explanation for the same and the time frame within which such steps will be taken.	All the Ministries/Departments of the central government, including attached and subordinate offices and autonomous organisations have been advised that their offices under their administrative control should ensure expeditious implementations of the provisions of the convention in so far as it concerns them including through appropriate laws, rules, orders etc. All state governments and UT administrations have also been requested to bring the provisions of the convention and all resultant obligations to the notice of all concerned, especially government bodies, district collectors, and local bodies, for suitable action. It has been requested that NGOs and the civil society in general should be associated in the effort to empower persons with disabilities. The ministry is monitoring the progress and implementation of the UNCRPD. Copy of the national policy for persons with disabilities has been circulated by the ministry on to all the Ministries/Departments/State Governments/UT Administrations/Autonomous Bodies/Statutory Bodies/PSUs etc for implementation of the provisions of the policy. Relvant information has also been placed on the Ministry’s website. www.socialjustice.nic.in
2. .	What are the surveys which have been conducted by your department to check accessibility of various government web sites? If no such surveys have been conducted, kindly furnish reasons and explanation for the same. If such surveys have been conducted, kindly provide me with a copy of the same	No such survey has been made by this ministry. The office of chief commissioner for persons with disabilities has responsibility to check accessibility of various government websites. Except above, the Ministry has no such information about accessibility of the websites. However, a copy of your application is being sent to them for necessary action.
3.	Please furnish me with details of the standards or criteria used for measuring accessibility to persons with disabilities?
4.	Please provide me with the details of circulars issued to various departments for making their web site accessible to persons with disabilities. Kindly provide me with a copy of the same as well.
5.	Please provide me with information about any other applications under the Right to Information Act, 2005, which have been filed with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment requesting similar/related information and the consequent replies given and action taken by the departments in those instances.	No other application under the act has been filed requesting for such information.

2. Appellate authority in the case is Dr Arbind Prasad, Joint Secretary, Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment, Room No 612, A- Wing, 6^th floor, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi, 110001.

Yours faithfully,

(Sd- Kaul)

(Vandita Kaul)

Director DD-II

Tel: 23388541

Copy to:-

1. Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, 6, sarojini House, Bhagwan Das Road, New Delhi, together with a copy of application by Ms Nirmita Narsimhan W. R. T. Questions 2 to 5 of the application is pertains to your department. You are requested to please send reply directly to the applicant under intimation to this Ministry.

2. Ms Kamna S Dikshit, Section Officer (FC and RTI) ), Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi, for information.

3. Pay and Account Officer, Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi. Please find a Demand Draft No 171033 for Rs 10/- received from Ms Nirmita Narsimhan for providing information under RTI Act 2005.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/uploads/response-from-msje-on-web-accessibility-measures

Response from MSJE on fund allocation

sachia — 2009-03-25T11:27:48Z

RTI MATTER

MOST IMMEDIATE

F. No 32-6/2009 DD III

Government of India

Ministry for Social Justice & Empowerment

(Disability Division III)

Room No 630, Wing A,

Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi

Dated 23.02.2009

Ms Nirmita Narsimhan,

D2, 3^rd Floor, Sheriff Chambers,

14, Cunningham Road,

Bengaluuru-560052

Sub.:- Information sought by Ms Nirmita Narsimhan under RTI, regarding.

Sir,

Serial No	Question	Reply
	Please provide us with complete details of the utilization of 3% funds of each department of the central government towards welfare of disabled persons from the time when the eleventh year plan came into force, ie, January 2008 – October 2008.	Information regarding utilization of funds should be available with the concerned Ministries/Departments, the Planning Commission, and the Ministry of Finance.
	What are the detailed rules and guidelines which have been formulated for each Ministry/Department after approval of the eleventh plan? Kindly provide a copy of the same.	Identification of specific activities to be taken up by various Ministries/Departments as a consequence of the directives contained in the eleventh plan is underway.
	What are the monitoring mechanisms which have been set up at various levels to monitor progress and implementation of legislations and policies relating to disability welfare? In case no such monitoring mechanisms have been set up kindly furnish reasons and explanation for the same.	As per section 2 (a) of the PWD act, 1995, all the Ministries/Departments/State Governments are appropriate governments and are responsible for monitoring the progress and implementation of these legislations and policies. Further, as per section 57 (1) of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, the Central Government has appointed Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD) by notification for monitoring and evaluation of the Act. The functions of the CCPD are as under— Coordinate the work of the commissioner. Monitor the utilization of funds disbursed by the central government. Take steps to safeguard the rights and facilities made available to persons with disabilities. Submit reports to the central government on the implementation of the act at such intervals as that Government may prescribe.
	Please provide me with information on any other applications under the RTI act 2005 which have been filed with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment requesting similar/related information and the consequent replies given and action taken by the departments in those instances.	A copy of your application is being sent to all concerned Divisions in this Ministry for necessary action.

2. Appellate authority in the case is Dr Arbind Prasad, Joint Secretary, Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment, Room No 612, A- Wing, 6^th floor, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi, 110001.

Yours faithfully,

(Sd- Kaul)

(Vandita Kaul)

Director DD-II

Tel: 23388541

Copy to:-

Sri Col. Saran, Director (NII and DD-I), Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi, together with its enclosures seeking information under RTI Act 2005, by Ms Nirmita Marsimhan. You are requested to please send reply directly to the applicant under intimation to this Ministry.
Sri R K Srivastva, Director (DD-IV & V), Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi, together with its enclosures seeking information under RTI Act 2005, by Ms Nirmita Marsimhan. You are requested to please send reply directly to the applicant under intimation to this Ministry.
SMT. Vandita Kaul, Director (DD-II and DD-V), Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi, together with its enclosures seeking information under RTI Act 2005, by Ms Nirmita Marsimhan. You are requested to please send reply directly to the applicant under intimation to this Ministry.
Ms Kamna S Dikshit, Section Officer (FC and RTI) ), Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi, for information.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/uploads/response-from-msje-on-fund-allocation

Report on the Internet Governance Forum

sachia — 2011-08-23T04:51:55Z

CIS attended the UN Internet Governance Forum in Hyderabad, December 3-7, 2008.

As an outcome of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which took place in Hyderabad from December 3-7, 2008,

(a) CIS entered into an agreement with the W3C to make translations of the WCAG 2.0 guidelines into some Indian languages; and

(b) CIS, the UN Solutions Exchange group and the Daisy Forum of India (DFI) decided to work together on the web accessibility issue and form a core group of organizations across the disability sector for this purpose.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/igf-report-1

Report on Second National Workshop on Web Accessibility, 5-7 June 2009

sachia — 2013-02-04T05:52:05Z

Nirmita Narsimhan reports on the second National Workshop on Web Accessibility for web developers, hosted by CIS in Bangalore from 5 to 7 June 2009, and attended by 15 participants.

The second National Workshop on Web Accessibility for web developers was held at the CIS office in Bangalore, 5-7 June 2009. Although this was intended to be more a city-based workshop, we still got participants from other states such as Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. There were in all 15 participants predominantly from the web development and web designing backgrounds, college students and even a person from the academic field and 3 trainers. There were also some who had already prior knowledge of accessibility and this helped to raise the level of issues which were being discussed from a basic level to a more advanced level. Overall, the workshop was extremely well received and many of the participants expressed their willingness to participate in more such workshops in the future.

The workshop was structured differently from the last one--the sessions were more practical-oriented and the trainers stressed a lot on group work. There were sessions on understanding disability, WCAG 2.0 principles and group exercises of designing accessible pages. This workshop featured some additional topics such as Flash accessibility, accessibility in documents and role play exercises for problem solving for different disabilities. For instance, in one of the sessions, the participants were asked to prepare a caption for a one minute video. One of the participants, already working on accessibility, demonstrated Orca for Linux.

Specific Outcomes

1. The participants understood the importance of creating accessible web pages and learnt about various techniques, tools and resources for accessibility.
2. All the presentations and lectures were video documented.
3. The participants filled up feed back forms and action points to be undertaken after the workshop. CIS distributed T-Shirts and certificates to all the participants.

To download a complete report on the workshop in pdf format, please click here.

Video

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/second-national-workshop

Report on National Workshop on Web Accessibility

sachia — 2011-08-17T08:50:36Z

This entry contains links to download a report on a workshop on web accessibility organised by CIS for web developers (16-18 February 2009).

The first National Workshop on web accessibility for web developers from different sectors around the country was held at the CSIR premises in Ghaziabad from 16-18February 2009. The workshop was organized by the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Bangalore, and the UN Solution Exchange, and sponsored by NIXI. 29 participants attended the workshop on all the three days.

Please use the relevant links below to read a report on the workshop in the format you prefer.

PDF format: click here to download.

MS Word format: click here to download.

Open Document format: click here to download.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-national-workshop-on-web-accessibility

Report from DigiActive’s Bangalore Meet-up

sachia — 2011-08-20T22:28:34Z

A blog entry by Mary Joyce on the meet-up hosted at CIS, Bangalore

We had a great meet-up yesterday at the offices of the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore (thanks so much to Sunil, Pranesh, Sanchia, and Deepika for making it possible!) It was a very diverse group, with participants from Indian and international NGOs, techies from Yahoo!, and even a radio producer and film-maker.

We started out by dissecting this Pink Chaddis campaign, a very popular women’s rights campaign organized through Facebook that had just organized a big action on Valentines’ Day. (I’ll be posting on the campaign a little later - it’s a great one.)

However, when we went about creating a definition for digital activism, the discussion became more theoretical. Although DigiActive is optimistic about the possibility of digital tools to empower those fighting injustice, this meet-up group decided that digital activism was value neutral and that it simply mapped onto the existing goals and motives within a society. It is a technique that can be used for constructive or destructive ends.

At the end of the event, some participants came up to me to make sure my feelings weren’t hurt by the disagreement, but I assured them I was really happy with the result. Only if digital activism is debated and dissected will we be able to understand and use it well.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/event-blogs/report-from-digiactive2019s-bangalore-meet-up

Presentation at TIFR: 'Scholarly Communication in the Age of the Commons'

sachia — 2011-04-02T15:42:49Z

CIS Distinguished Fellow Dr. Subbiah Arunachalam will give a talk titled 'Scholarly Communication in the Age of the Commons' at TIFR, Mumbai, on Friday, 24 July 2009.

Dr. Subbiah Arunachalam, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, Scholarly communication in the age of the commons, 24/07/09, 1600Hrs, AG-66

Abstract

Scholarly communication plays a central role in the creation and assimilation of new knowledge, especially in the sciences. In its turn scholarly communication depends on developments in technology. Unfortunately, scientists who do cutting edge science often follow communication practices of a bygone era and are therefore holding back the development of knowledge. In this talk we will look at state-of-the-art developments in scholarly communication and literature-based evaluation of science and see how we in India can benefit by adopting them.

About Dr.Subbiah Arunachalam

Subbiah Arunachalam is an information scientist. He has been an editor of scientific journals, teacher of information science, librarian, and a science writer. As Secretary and Editor of publications of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, during 1973-75, he reorganised the publications of the Academy and helped enlarge its Fellowship. Currently he is actively promoting open access to science and scholarship. His interests include scientometrics, science journalism and ICT-enabled rural development.

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See the original posting at the TIFR website here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/presentation-at-tifr-scholarly-communication-in-the-age-of-the-commons

Presentation at IDRC: ‘Scholarly Communication in the Age of the Commons -- A Southern Perspective’

sachia — 2011-04-02T15:59:03Z

Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam, CIS Distinguished Fellow, will give a talk titled 'Scholarly Communication in the Age of the Commons -- A Southern Perspective' at IDRC, Ottawa, Canada, on 13 July 2009.

Brown Bag Presentation: ‘Scholarly communication in the age of the commons - A southern perspective’ by Subbiah Arunachalam, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, India

Date: July 13, 2009

Time: 1400 hr

Location: IDRC

150 Kent Street

Ottawa, ON, Canada

Room 950

RSVP: Nicole Leguerrier nleguerrier@idrc.ca

The toll-access journal system that was set up some 350 years ago and which has served well till a few decades ago evolved, for historical reasons, largely to serve the needs of North-North knowledge exchange and has failed to take cognizance of the aspirations of the South. The need for science to be performed everywhere and take roots in all countries is now well recognized. If OA is so very important to the South, why is the progress slow? While computers, internet access and bandwidths continue to pose problems in a number of southern countries, in general the situation is improving. The more important factor is scientists' apathy. Scientists in the South, by and large, do not exercise their rights to the full; often they give away on a platter copyright to their research papers to journal publishers. The publishers themselves indulge in practices that would entice publishing scientists and librarians to act in ways that would benefit the publishers. Funding agencies and governments of southern countries are not as proactive as they should be.

Focused advocacy on the advantages of the public commons approach can bring about some revolutionary changes. Such advocacy should be aimed at all levels of stakeholders. Some examples of what is being done in India will be presented.

Biography

Subbiah Arunachalam (Arun) is a Distinguished Fellow with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Bangalore, a research and advocacy organization that was founded in August 2008. Before then, he was a volunteer for 12 years with the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, a Chennai-based NGO, promoting the use of information and communication technologies to empower the poor and the marginalized and bring about holistic rural development.

Arun is an advocate of open access to scientific and scholarly literature and has conducted several workshops on knowledge management, electronic publishing, open access archiving, science communication, and South-South Exchange for sharing knowledge among development workers from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Arun has been a Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, University of Calcutta, Annamalai University, National Institute of Advanced Study, Bangalore, and Asian Collegeof Journalism, Chennai. Immediately after returning to India Arun will join the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, as a visiting scientist. Arun has been a member of the Executive Committee of Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) for two terms, and is currently a member of the International Advisory Board of IICD, The Hague, and a Trustee of both the Voicing the Voiceless Foundation, New Delhi, and the Electronic Publishing Trust for Development, UK.

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Causerie-midi: La communication scientifique à l’ère des biens communs – perspectives du Sud, par Subbiah Arunachalam, chercheur associé de marque au Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore (Inde)

Date: le 13 juillet 2009

Heure: 14 h

Lieu: CRDI

150, rue Kent

Ottawa (Ont.) Canada

pièce 950

RSVP: Nicole Leguerrier (nleguerrier@idrc.ca)

Pour des raisons historiques, le système des publications scientifiques payantes mis en place il y a trois siècles et demi et qui a produit des résultats satisfaisants jusqu’aux dernières décennies sert maintenant, en grande partie, l’échange de connaissances Nord-Nord et ne prend pas en compte les aspirations du Sud. La nécessité de favoriser partout l’activité scientifique et de conforter son enracinement dans tous les pays est aujourd’hui généralement admise. Si le libre accès revêt une telle importance pour le Sud, pourquoi les progrès sont-ils si lents ? Bien que les ordinateurs, l’accès Internet et la bande passante continuent de poser problème dans un grand nombre de pays du Sud, la situation a somme toute tendance à s’améliorer. Le facteur qui joue le plus est dès lors l’apathie des chercheurs. De façon générale, les scientifiques du Sud n’exercent pas pleinement leurs droits : ils cèdent les droits d’auteur sur leur article à l’éditeur de la revue. Et les éditeurs se livrent à des pratiques qui incitent les auteurs et les bibliothécaires à agir à leur avantage. Les bailleurs de fonds et les gouvernements des pays du Sud, quant à eux, ne sont pas aussi proactifs qu’ils le devraient.

Un plaidoyer axé sur les avantages des biens communs pourrait produire des changements révolutionnaires. Ce plaidoyer doit viser toutes les parties prenantes. M. Subbiah Arunachalam livrera des exemples d’initiatives en cours en Inde.

Notice biographique

Subbiah Arunachalam (Arun) est chercheur associé de marque au Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) de Bangalore, un organisme de recherche et de plaidoyer fondé en août 2008. Il a été auparavant bénévole, pendant 12 ans, à la Fondation de recherche M.S.Swaminathan, une ONG de Chennai ayant pour vocation d’encourager le recours aux technologies de l’information et de la communication afin de rendre les populations pauvres et marginalisées plus autonomes et de favoriser un développement rural global.

Arun est partisan du libre accès aux publications scientifiques et savantes et a animé plusieurs ateliers sur la gestion des connaissances, l’édition électronique, l’auto-archivage, les communications scientifiques et les échanges Sud-Sud afin de favoriser la mise en commun des connaissances parmi les professionnels du développement d’Asie, d’Afrique et d’Amérique latine. Il a été professeur invité à l’Institut indien de technologie de Chennai, à l’Université de Calcutta, à l’Université Annamalai et au National Institute of Advanced Studies de Bangalore. Il a siégé au comité exécutif de l’Alliance mondiale pour le savoir (GKP) pendant deux mandats et siège actuellement au comité consultatif international de l’Institut international pour la communication et le développement (IICD), à La Haye, ainsi qu’aux conseils d’administration de la fondation Voicing the Voiceless de New Delhi et de l’Electronic Publishing Trust for Development, au Royaume-Uni.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/idrc-scholarly-communication

Pass the Packet, Please?

sachia — 2011-09-30T08:40:35Z

Talk by Ashwin Jacob Mathew

If we view the Internet as built environment, rather than an abstract "cloud", then it becomes critical to consider what the politics of this artifact might be, to understand the politics of the technical systems that enable these flows.

In my work, I investigate one particular perspective on this problem space, the social organisation of network administrators that keep the Internet afloat. I analyse their interactions with one another in relation to the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), which is used to maintain connections across the "borders" of the thousands of networks that make up the Internet. Although BGP was created to allow different network domains (typically separate commercial entities) to coexist and interconnect with one another, it paradoxically embeds a notion of trust. This makes the inter-domain routing system enabled by BGP an interesting area for investigation, since network administrators must coordinate amongst themselves to compensate for routing failures that result from the trusting nature of BGP.

The Internet has an additional property that makes it unique amongst many technical systems: those involved with the Internet, especially in the early days, were simultaneously users, researchers and developers. As such, the practice of inter-domain routing evolved BGP over a period of several years. At the same time, network administrators learned to work with BGP, and with one another, to coordinate the distributed management of the Internet. It is this co-evolution of social form and technical construct that I will focus on in this presentation.

Speaker

Ashwin Jacob Mathew is a Ph.D. student at the UC Berkeley School of Information. Before returning to academia, he spent a decade in the software industry in India, working in senior technical roles in companies like Aztec Software and Adobe. At Berkeley, he blends his technical background with theory and methods drawn from the social sciences to investigate the infrastructure of the Internet.

Time and Date

Friday, 17 July, 2009; 5.30-7.00 pm

Venue

Centre for Internet and Society, No. D2, 3rd Floor, Sheriff Chambers (Wockhardt Hospital building), 14, Cunningham Road, Bangalore - 560052

Map

For a map, please click here.

VIDEO

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/pass-the-packet-please

Open letter to UN IGF

sachia — 2008-11-30T07:59:06Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/uploads/Open%20letter%20to%20the%20Internet%20Governance%20Forum.pdf

Open Access to Science Publications--Policy Perspective, Opportunities and Challenges

sachia — 2011-04-05T04:39:39Z

One-day conference on Open Access

Open Access to scientific literature means the removal of barriers, including price and legal barriers, from accessing scholarly work. With the advent of the internet, widespread and easy access to scientific information is facilitating research and innovation, crucial in today‘s knowledge based society. Open Access is not only changing the nature of scholarly communication but even that of scientific work.

To take stock of the current developments as regards Open Access and to highlight some of the issues that would need to be addressed to enable a wider access to scientific information, the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) is organizing a Conference on 'Open Access to Science Publications: Policy Perspective, Opportunities and Challenges' on 24 March 2009 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.

The conference will cover the emerging global trends in Open Access and focus on what needs to be done in India. This event would be of interest to scientists, social scientists, policy makers, funding agencies, heads and senior managers of academic and research institutions, editors of research journals, etc.

The Conference will have sessions focused on:

Open source and changing research
Research Impact through Open Access
Open Access around the World
The Economics of Open Access

Date and Time

24 March 2009; 9.00 am - 5.30 pm

Venue

India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi - 110003

Speakers

Speakers at the event include:

Leslie Chan, University of Toronto and Bioline International http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~chan/
John Willinsky, Stanford University and Public Knowledge Project http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Willinsky
Samir K Brahmachari, CSIR http://www.csir.res.in/External/Heads/aboutcsir/leaders/DG/igib/bio1.pdf
Subbiah Arunachalam, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore http://cis-india.org/about-us/people/distinguished-fellows

Please see the programme below for names of the other speakers.

Contact

Dr Naresh Kumar

Head, R&D Planning Division

Council of Scientific & Industrial Research

2 Rafi Marg, New Delhi - 110 001

Fax: (+91) 11 23710340, 23713011

Phone: (+91) 11 23710453, 23713011

Email: headrdpd@csir.res.in

Programme

0900 – 1000	Registration
1000 - 1100	Inaugural Session
1000 – 1005	Lighting of Lamp
1005 - 1010	Welcome: Naresh Kumar
1010 - 1025	Inaugural address: Open Source & changing research Prof. Samir K. Brahmachari, DG,CSIR and Secretary DSIR
1025 - 1100	Keynote address 1: Global and Local Support for Making Research and Scholarship Publicly Available: Prof. John Willinsky, Stanford University, USA
1100 - 1130	Tea

1130 - 1300	Plenary Session I :
	Chair: Prof. Surendra Prasad
1130 - 1205	Keynote address 2: From Institutional Repositories to a Global Knowledge Commons: Prof. Leslie Chan, University of Toronto, Canada
	Presentations:
1205 - 1225	Eight facts and myths about open access journals: An experience of eight years and eighty journals: Dr. D. K. Sahu, Medknow Publications
1225 - 1240	Prof. Sunil Kumar Sarangi, Director, National Institute Technology-Rourkela :
1240 - 1300	Chair & Q&A

1300 – 1400	Lunch

1400 – 1530	Plenary Session II :
	Chair: Dr. Gangan Prathap
	Presentations:
1400 - 1420	Prof. V. N. Rajasekaran Pillai, VC , IGNOU
1420 - 1440	Prof. Mangala Sunder Krishnan, (NPTEL), IITM
1440 - 1500	S. Arunachalam:
1500 - 1530	Chair & Q&A

1530 – 1600	Tea

1600 - 1700	Panel Discussion on “Open Access to Science and Scholarship”
	Moderator: Prof. Leslie Chan
	Prof. John Willinsky
	Prof. K L Chopra
	Prof. A S Kolaskar
	Dr. RR Hirwani
1700 – 1730	Valedictory : Dr. Naresh Kumar / Dr. R. R. Hirwani

Video

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/oasp