Centre for Internet and Society

NVDA Quarterly Report: November 2014 to February 2015

praskrishna — 2015-02-23T15:07:16Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/nvda-e-speak-report-november-february-2015.pdf

Report on Training of the use of eSpeak Punjabi with NVDA

nirmita — 2015-03-10T02:12:55Z

NVDA team organized a workshop for training participants on using eSpeak Punjabi with NVDA software. The workshop was held at Asha Kiran Training Institute on February 20 and 21, 2015. Twenty-three delegates attended the workshop. NAB, Chandigarh was the training partner.

The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. Tilak Raj, Director, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of Punjab. The salient feature of this programme was that except for one all the participants were connected in the use of Punjabi in their academics, and hence the enthusiasm for learning the use of Espeak with NVDA was noticeable.

The Punjabi typing session was conducted by the developer of eSpeak Punjabi, Mahesh Inder. The workshop also introduced the participants to use of assistive devices and the advantages of technology in a professional’s life.


Pictured above: Faculty imparting training on laptop to use the NVDA software as delegates listen keenly.


Pictured above: One of the delegates is seen asking questions to the faculty during the training session

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-of-use-of-e-speak-punjabi-nvda

Our Endangered Languages

subha — 2015-03-10T01:41:37Z

My op-ed (in Odia) about the endangered languages was published in the Samaja this 21st on the International Mother Language Day.

Excerpt

Even though we have hundreds of languages in India, only 22 are recognized as scheduled languages in our constitution. People speaking in the non-scheduled languages deserve all the rights to express their opinion in their native languages and stopping them would be against the freedom of expression. In most cases, the dominant class of a society represses the rest and the languages of minorities fall victim to the political and societal inequality. By UNESCO's survey, 197 Indian languages (which are part of 2471 world endangered languages) are in the verge of extinction. For migration from their original places in search of job, speaking others' languages and living in a hetero-cultural society often make aboriginals forget about their own language and cultural heritage. In this column, I have discussed about many such challenges for aboriginals to retain their native languages and some of the possibilities for external interventions to document and preserve the dying languages.

ଆମ ଦେଶରେ କେଇ ହଜାର ଭାଷା ପ୍ରଚଳିତ, ଯହିଁରୁ କେବଳ ୨୨ଗୋଟି ସମ୍ବିଧାନରେ ପାହିଆଟିଏ ପାଇଛନ୍ତି । ତେବେ ବାକି ଭାଷାମାନ ମଧ୍ୟ ଭାଷା ଓ ସେ ଭାଷାମାନ କହୁଥିବା ଲୋକଙ୍କର ଆମ ଭଳି ନିଜ ଭାଷାରେ ସାହିତ୍ୟ ରଚିବା, ଶାସନ କରିବା କିମ୍ବା ପଢ଼ିବାର ଅଧିକାର ରହିଛି । ସେ ଅଧିକାର ଛଡ଼ାଇନେବା ମାନବିକତାର ବିରୁଦ୍ଧାଚରଣ । ଅଥଚ ବର୍ଷବର୍ଷ ଧରି ଛାମୁଆ ବୋଲାଇ ଭାଷାମାନ ଅଳ୍ପ କଥିତ ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କୁ ଏକ ପ୍ରକାର ଚାପିରଖିଛନ୍ତି । କେତେକ ଭାଷା ଏ ଚାପରୁ ମୁକୁଳି ନିଜ ପତିଆରା ଜାହିର କରିବାବେଳେ ଆଉ କେତେକ ଆମ ଆଖି ଆଗରେ ଜୀବନ୍ତ ସମାଧି ନେଇଛନ୍ତି । ଏଇ କେତେବର୍ଷ ତଳେ "ବୋଆ' ନାମକ ଆଣ୍ଡାମାନୀ ଭାଷାଟି ସେ ଭାଷାର ଶେଷ ବ୍ୟବହାରୀ ବୋଆ ଜୁନିଅରଙ୍କ ଦେହାନ୍ତ ପରେ ଲୋପ ପାଇଗଲା । ମିଳିତ ଜାତିସଂଘର ରିପୋର୍ଟ ଅନୁସାରେ ୧୯୭ ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷା ସମେତ ଜଗତର ୨୪୭୧ ଗୋଟି ଭାଷା ଧରାରୁ ଲିଭିବା ଉପରେ । ତେବେ ଏ ଭାଷା ସବୁ ଲିଭିଗଲେ ଏ ଜଗତ କ'ଣ କ'ଣ ନ ହରେଇବ ସତେ? ଭାଷାଟିଏ ଏକ ଜନସମାଜ ଓ ସଭ୍ୟତାର ଦୁଆରମୁହଁ । ଏକ ସମାଜର ଚଳଣି, ଚିନ୍ତା, ଚେତନା, ବିଧି ବ୍ୟବହାର, କଳା-କୌଶଳ ଓ ବାକି ସବୁକିଛି ଭାଷା ମାଧ୍ୟମରେ ସେ ସମାଜରେ ଆଗକୁ ବଞ୍ଚେ ଆଉ ସମାଜ ବାହାରକୁ ଯାଏ । ଯା'ର ଭାଷାଟି ଯେଡ଼େ ଦମ୍ଭିଲା, ସେ ବାହାର ସମାଜରେ ସେତେ ପରିଚିତ । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିାଠାଗାର ପାଇଁ ଭୁବନେଶ୍ୱରର କିସ୍‍ଠାରେ ଓଡ଼ିଶାର ୬୨ଟି ଜନଜାତି ପିଲାଙ୍କ ସଙ୍ଗେ ମିଶି ତିନି ମାସ ଧରି କାମ କରିବାର ଅନୁଭୂତିରୁ ଲେଖକ ଜୋରଦେଇ କହିାରନ୍ତି ଯେ ଆଦିବାସୀ ବୋଲି ଚିହ୍ନଟ କରାଯାଇଥିବା ସମାଜର ଲୋକ ଅନ୍ୟ ସାଧାରଣ ସମାଜଠାରୁ ବେଶି ବା ସମାନ ଚତୁର, ଚିନ୍ତାଶୀଳ ଓ ଉଚ୍ଚ-ବିଚାରସମ୍ପନ୍ନ । ତେବେ ସେମାନଙ୍କ ସମାଜର ବିକାଶମୁଖୀ ଦିଗଟି ତାଙ୍କ ଭାଷାର ଦମ୍ଭିଲାପଣର ଅଭାବ ସକାଶେ ଯେ ଦୁନିଆ ସାମନାରେ ପହଞ୍ଚିପାରୁ ନାହିଁ, ଏକଥା କହିବା ବାହୁଲ୍ୟ । ୧୯୫୨ ମସିହାର କଥା । ପାକିସ୍ତାନ କବଳରେ ପୂର୍ବବଙ୍ଗଳା । ରାଜନୈତିକ ଚାପରେ ପଞ୍ଜାବୀ, ସିନ୍ଧି ଆଦି ଅନେକ ଭାଷାକୁ ପଦଦଳିତ କରି ନବୀନ ଉର୍ଦ୍ଧୁଭାଷାକୁ ପାକିସ୍ତାନ ନିଜ ଜାତୀୟ ଭାଷା ଘୋଷଣା କଲାବେଳକୁ ପୂର୍ବ ବଙ୍ଗରେ ବଙ୍ଗଳାଭାଷାକୁ ଛାଡ଼ିବାପାଇଁ ସେଠାର ବଙ୍ଗାଳୀଙ୍କ ଭୀଷଣ ଅରାଜି । ବଙ୍ଗଳାଭାଷାକୁ ପୂର୍ବବଙ୍ଗର ଜାତୀୟ ଭାଷା କରିବା ଲାଗି ଢାକା ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟ ଓ ମେଡ଼ିକାଲ କଲେଜରେ ପଢ଼ୁଥିବା ଅନେକ ଛାତ୍ରଙ୍କ ଦେଇ ତେଜିଲା ଜନଆନେ୍ଦାଳନ । ଫେବୃୟାରୀ ୨୧ ତାରିଖ ଦିନ ପୁଲିସ ଗୁଳିରେ ଆହୁତି ଦେଇଥିଲେ ଏ ପଢ଼ାଳିଗଣ । ଦାବି ଥିଲା ନିଜ ଭାଷାକୁ ଛାଡ଼ି ବିଦେଶୀ ଉର୍ଦ୍ଧୁ ଭାଷା ଆଦରିବେ ନାହିଁ । ଜଗତରେ ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ଏ ପ୍ରାଣବଳି ବିରଳ । ଆଜି ବଙ୍ଗଳାଭାଷା ଜଗତର ୨୦ଟି ଛାମୁଆଁ ଭାଷା ଭିତରେ ଗୋଟିଏ ହେବାପାଇଁ ଏ ଥିଲା ନିଅଁପୋତା । "ଭାଷାସବୁ ଭାଷାଙ୍କୁ ମାରନ୍ତିନି; ଭାଷାଭାଷୀମାନେ ମାରନ୍ତି' କହିଥିଲେ ,ସାଲିକିକ ମୁଫଉଇନ (ଜଣାଶୁଣା ଭାଷାବିଦ୍‍) । ଅନେକ ଡରନ୍ତି ଆଜି ଜିଇଥିବା ୬,୭୦୦ଭାଷା ମରିମରି ଆଉ ଶହେବର୍ଷ ପରେ ୨୦୦ ହୋଇସାରିଥିବ । ଭାଷା ତଳେ ଭାଷାର ସମାଧି ଲଭିବାର ମୂକସାକ୍ଷୀ ନିକଟ ଅତୀତ । ଅନେକ ଭାଷା ରାଜଭାଷା, ରାଜନୈତିକ ପୃଷ୍ଠପୋଷକତା ପାଇଥିବା ଭାଷାର ମଙ୍ଗ ଧରିଥିବା ମୁଣ୍ଡିଆଳମାନଙ୍କ ଅଦଉତିରେ ମୁଣ୍ଡଟେକି ଭବିଷ୍ୟତର ଆଲୋକ ଦେଖିାରିନାହାନ୍ତି । ଅଳପ ଧନ ପାଇଁ ବିକଳମନ ଘର ଛାଡ଼ି ବିଦେଶ ଦାଦନ ଯାଏ । ଆଉ ବିଦେଶର ପାଣି ଲାଗିଗଲେ ନିଜ ଲୋକ, ନିଜ ଭାଷା, ନିଜ ଚଳଣିସବୁ ଇଚ୍ଛାରୁ ହେଉ କି ଅନିଚ୍ଛାରୁ ହେଉ ଦୂରେଇ ଯାଏ । ପିଲାଏ ଅଜା କୋଳେ ବସି ବୁଢ଼ାଚକୁଳି ଖାଇପାରନ୍ତି ନାହିଁ କି ଆଈର ଉଷୁମ ପଣତ ଘୋଡ଼ିହୋଇ ବୁଢ଼ୀ ଅସୁରୁଣୀ ଗପ ଶୁଣିବାକୁ ପାଆନ୍ତି ନାହିଁ । ଆଦିବାସୀ ବୋଲି ସମାଜ ଯେଉଁମାନଙ୍କୁ ଗୋଟେ କଣକୁ ଠେଲିଦେଇଛି ଅୟୁତ କାଳରୁ, ସେମାନେ ଯେ ନାନାଦି ଭାଷାରେ କଥାବାର୍ତ୍ତା କରନ୍ତି ତାହା ଅନେକଙ୍କୁ ଅଗୋଚର । ଭାଷାଟିଏ ଚିରକାଳ ବୋଲି ବା କଥିତ ଭାଷା ହୋଇ ରହେନାହିଁ । ତା'ର ଲିପି ଗଢ଼ା ହୁଏ, ସାହିତ୍ୟ, ଇତିହାସ ଲେଖାହୁଏ, ଲୋକେ ସେ ଭାଷାରେ ପଢ଼ାଲେଖା ଆଉ ଶାସନ କରନ୍ତି । ତେବେ ସବୁ ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ରଘୁନାଥ ମୁର୍ମୁମାନେ ଜନମି ନଥା'ନ୍ତି । ଓଡ଼ିଶାରେ ୬୨ରୁ ଅଧିକ ଆଦିମ ଜନଜାତି, ତାଙ୍କ ତୁଣ୍ଡରେ ୧୫ରୁ ଅଧିକ ନିଆରା ଭାଷା । ତେବେ କେବଳ ସାନ୍ତାଳୀକୁ ଛାଡ଼ି ଆଉ କୌଣସି ଆଦିବାସୀ ଭାଷା ସମ୍ବିଧାନର ୮ମ ପରିଚ୍ଛେଦରେ ସ୍ଥାନ ପାଇନାହିଁ କି ଗୋଟେ ଯୋଡ଼େ ଭାଷାକୁ ଛାଡ଼ି ଆଉ ଭାଷାରେ ବୋଧେ ବହି ଛପା ହୋଇନାହିଁ । ଏଣେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଓଡ଼ିଶାର ମୁଖ୍ୟଭାଷା ହୋଇ, ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟମାନ୍ୟତା ଲଭି ସୁଦ୍ଧା ଦମ୍ଭ ଧରି ନିଜର ଶାସନବ୍ୟବସ୍ଥା ଓ ଦମ୍ଭିଲା ମିଡ଼ିଆଟିଏ ନିଜେ ପ୍ରତିଷ୍ଠା କରିାରିଲା ନାହିଁ । ଦିନ ଥିଲା ଭାଷା-ସାହିତ୍ୟ ଥିଲା ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ବାବଦୂକ । ହେଲେ ବହିର କଳେବରରୁ ବାହାରି ଭାଷା ଶାସନ, ସମ୍ବାଦ ପରିବେଷଣ, ମନୋରଞ୍ଜନର ଅନେକ ମାଧ୍ୟମ, ଗବେଷଣା ଓ ବିଜ୍ଞାନର କଥା ପରିବହନ କରିବା ଆରମ୍ଭିଲା । ଆଉ ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ସଜ ତିଆରିବା ଲୋଡ଼ା ପଡ଼ିଲା । ଭାଷାଟି କିରି ସହଜରେ ଛପାରେ, କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟରରେ, ମୋବାଇଲରେ ଏବଂ ଆଉ କୌଣସି ମାଧ୍ୟମରେ ଲେଖାଯାଇପାରିବ ତା'ଲାଗି ଗହନ ମନ-ଚାଷ ଚାଲିଲା । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ସମେତ ଅନେକ ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷାରେ କେବଳ ସାହିତ୍ୟ-ଚାଷ ହୋଇଛି । ଭାଷା- ପ୍ରସାରର ବାକି ସଜତକ ଏ ଯାଏ ଗଢ଼ା ହୋଇନାହିଁ । ଆଜି ସମାଜ ଏତେ ତ୍ୱରିତ୍‍ ଗତିରେ ବଦଳୁଛି ଯେ, କାରିଗରୀ ଜ୍ଞାନରୁ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରି ସମ୍ବାଦ ଜାଣିବାଯାଏ ସବୁ କିଛି ଆଜିସଜ କାଲିବାସି ହୋଇଯାଉଛି । ଆଉ ଭାଷାଟିଏ ଯଦି ଏ ଗତି ସଙ୍ଗେ ତାଳମିଳାଇ ଚାଲି ନ ପାରେ, ତା'ହେଲେ ସେ ଅଲୋଡ଼ା, ଅଖୋଜା ହୋଇଯାଏ । ଅନେକ ଭାଷାଭାଷୀ ଲୋକେ ତାଙ୍କ ମୋବାଇଲ କି କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟରରେ ନିଜ ଭାଷାରେ ଲେଖିବା ଜାଣନ୍ତି ନାହିଁ । ଫଳରେ ସେମାନେ ଇଂରାଜୀ କିମ୍ବା ବାକି ଜଣାଶୁଣା ଭାଷାରେ ଲେଖିବାକୁ ବାଧ୍ୟ ହୁଅନ୍ତି । କିଛିିଢ଼ି ଏଇ ବାଟ ମାଡ଼ିଗଲା ପରେ ନିଜ ଭାଷାଟି ପୂରା ଅମଡ଼ାବାଟ । ଆଉ ଯେଉଁ ଭାଷା ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ଦେଇ ଯେତେ ଅଧିକ ବ୍ୟବହାରରେ ଲାଗେ ସେ ଭାଷାର ଖାଦି ସେତେ । ଅନେକ ଆଦିବାସୀ ନିଜ ଗାଁ' ଛାଡ଼ି ସହରରେ ଆସି ବିଶାଳ ଜନସାଗରରେ ମିଶିଗଲାପରେ ନିଜ ମାଟିର ଗନ୍ଧ ତାଙ୍କ ପିନ୍ଧାଲୁଗାରୁ ଯେ ଆଉ ବାହାରୁ ନାହିଁ ଏକଥା କହିବା ବାହୁଲ୍ୟ । ତେବେ ରାଜ୍ୟ ବା ଦେଶରେ ଭିନ୍ନଭିନ୍ନ ଭାଷାଭାଷୀ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ଭିତରେ ଭାବ ଦିଆନିଆ ଲାଗି ଏକ ମିଶାମିଶି ଭାଷା ବା "ଲିଙ୍ଗୁଆ ଫ୍ରାଙ୍କା' ମଧ୍ୟ ଲୋଡ଼ା । ଓଡ଼ିଆର ପୁରୁଣା ରୂଟି ଯଦି ଆମେ ଖୋଜି ପାଇବା, ତେବେ ସେ ବତେଇବ ସମଗ୍ର କଳିଙ୍ଗ ଭୂଖଣ୍ଡରେ କଥିତ ଭାଷାର ରୂା ଶାସନର ଭାଷା ଥିଲା ସେ ଭାଷା । ଆଉ କଳିଙ୍ଗ ଲମ୍ବିଥିଲା ଗଙ୍ଗାରୁ ଗୋଦାବରୀଯାଏ । ଏଡ଼େ ବଡ଼ ଭୂଖଣ୍ଡରେ ଲୋକେ ଭିନ୍ନଭିନ୍ନ ଭାଷାରେ କଥା ହେଉଥିବେ ସତ । ହେଲେ ସେ ସବୁ ଆଞ୍ଚଳିକ ଭାଷାରୁ ଶବ୍ଦ, ବ୍ୟାକରଣ ଆହରି ମିଶା ଭାଷାଟିଏ ଗଢ଼ା ହୋଇଥିଲା । ଆଜି ବାଲେଶ୍ୱରରୁ ରାୟଗଡ଼ା ଯାଏ ଚାଲିଗଲେ ଓଡ଼ିଆର ଅନେକ ରୂ ଆଖିରେ ପଡ଼େ । ହେଲେ ଆମେ କ'ଣ ଅହମିୟା ଆଉ ବଙ୍ଗଳା ବୁଝିାରୁନା? ନିଜକୁ ପଚାରିଲେ ଉତ୍ତରଟି ହୁଁ ଆସିବ । ଛତିଶଗଡ଼ି କି ମୈଥିଳୀ ପୁଣି କେତେ ନିଜର ନିଜର ଲାଗେ । ଲେଖକ ବଙ୍ଗଳାଦେଶର ଅନେକଙ୍କ ସଙ୍ଗେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ-ବଙ୍ଗଳା ମିଶେଇ କଥା ହୋଇଛି । ହେଲେ ବ୍ୟାପକ ଭାବେ ଦେଖିଲେ ବିହାର, ଝାଡ଼ଖଣ୍ଡ, ବଙ୍ଗଳାରୁ ଓଡ଼ିଶା ଆସୁଥିବା ହଜାର ହଜାର ଛାତ୍ର, ନା ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଶିଖନ୍ତି ନା ନିଜ ଭାଷାରେ ଏଠା ଲୋକଙ୍କ ସଙ୍ଗେ କଥା ହୁଅନ୍ତି । ସେମାନେ କଥା ହୁଅନ୍ତି ହିନ୍ଦୀରେ । ଏଇଠି କଥା ଆସେ ଭାଷାର ଖାଦି କଥା । ଆମ ଦେଶରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ, ବଙ୍ଗଳା, ଅହମିୟା ବା ଆଉ କେଉଁ ଭାଷାର ଛାମୁଣିଆ ନାହିଁ । ହେଲେ ରହିଛି ହିନ୍ଦୀ ଭଳି ଏକ ନୂଆ ଭାଷାର । ୪୦ରୁ ଅଧିକ ଭାଷା ହିନ୍ଦୀର ଉପଭାଷା ଭାବେ ଆଜି ଜଣା । ହେଲେ ସେ ଭାଷାସବୁ ନିଆରା, ହିନ୍ଦୀଠାରୁ ମଧ୍ୟ ପୁରୁଣା । ରାଜନୀତିର ବାଜି ଚଳିଲେ କିସ ଅବା ଘଟେ, ତେବେ ସାଲିକିକ ମୁଫଉଇନଙ୍କ ସେଇ ଉକ୍ତିଟି ଏଇଠି ପୁଣି ଆସେ ଯେ ଭାଷା ନୁହେଁ, ଲୋକେ ଭାଷାକୁ ମାରିଦିଅନ୍ତି । ଯଦି ଲୋକେ ନିଜ ଭାଷାକୁ ସାହିତ୍ୟର ଚଉହଦୀରୁ ଶାସନ, ଗଣମାଧ୍ୟମ, ଶିକ୍ଷାଦୀକ୍ଷା, ଧର୍ମ, କଳା, ବିଜ୍ଞାନ ବା ଚାଷବାସ ଯାଏ ଲମ୍ବାଇ ପାରିଥା'ନ୍ତେ, ତା'ହେଲେ ଇତିହାସର ଚକ ଓଲଟା ଗଡ଼ିଥା'ନ୍ତା । ତେବେ ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକେ ଏକାମ ଯେଡ଼େ ଦହଗଞ୍ଜ ହୋଇ କରି ନ ପାରନ୍ତି, ସରକାର ଓ ପାରିବା ଲୋକେ ଏ କାମ ତେଡ଼େ ସୁରୁଖୁରୁରେ କରିାରନ୍ତି । ରାଜନୀତିର ପଶାଖେଳରେ ଜିତାପଟ ହୋଇଥିବା ଲୋକେ କେମିତି ନିଜ ଭାଷାକୁ ନାହିଁରୁ କାହିଁ କରନ୍ତି ତାହା ଇଂରେଜଙ୍କଠାରୁ ଶିଖିବା କଥା । ଆଜି ଇଉନାଇଟେଡ଼ କିଙ୍ଗଡମ୍‍ ସିନା ପତିଆରା ହରାଇ ସାରିଲାଣି, ହେଲେ ପତିଆରା ଥିବାବେଳେ ନୂଆ ଅପ୍ରାକୃତିକ ଭାଷାଟେ ତିଆରି ସେମାନେ ଯେ ସାରା ଦୁନିଆରେ ନିଜ ପତିଆରା ରଖିାରିଲେ ତାହା କ'ଣ କମ୍‍ ବଡ଼ କଥା? ତେବେ ଇଂରାଜୀ ଭାଷା ତିଆରିବା ଥିଲା ଗୋଟେ କଳା, ଲାଟିନ ଅକ୍ଷରରେ ଅନେକ ଇଉରୋପୀୟ ତଥା କିଛି ଓରିଏଣ୍ଟାଲ ଶବ୍ଦ ମିଶାଇ ଏ ଭାଷା ତିଆରିବାବେଳେ ଅନେକ ଦେଶରୁ ମୂଳଶବ୍ଦ ସବୁ ଆହରିଥିଲେ ସେମାନେ । ଆମ ଦେଶରେ ଏ ଯାଏ ଏ କାମଟି ହୋଇପାରିଲା ନାହିଁ । ସଭିଙ୍କୁ ସମ୍ମାନ ଦେଇ ତାଙ୍କ ଭାଷାକୁ କିଛିକିଛି ଆହରି ଭାଷାଟିଏ ତିଆରିଲେ ସିନା ସେ ସବୁରି ତୁଣ୍ଡରେ ପଇଟନ୍ତା । ଖାଲି ଜୋର ଜବରଦସ୍ତି ଗୋଟେ ଭାଷା ପଛରେ ପୁଳାପୁଳା ପଇସା ଖରଚ କଲେ ସେ କି ଜନାଦର ଲଭିବ? ତେବେ ଭାଷା କ୍ଷେତ୍ରରେ ଦୁଇଟି ଜିନିଷ ଜଳଜଳ ଦିଶେ । ଆଜି ଯାହାର କାଟତି ଅଛି ସେ ଯେ କାଲି ରହିବ ତା' କହିବା ଦୁରୂହ । ବ୍ରିଟିଶ ଇଂରାଜୀ ଆଦି ଖୁବ୍‍ କମ୍‍ ଅଞ୍ଚଳରେ କଥିତ । ହେଲେ ସେ ଥିଲା ମୂଳ ଇଂରାଜୀ । ଗବେଷଣା ହେଉଥିଲେ ହେଁ ମୂଳ ଭାଷାଭାଷୀଙ୍କ ତୁଣ୍ଡରେ ବୋଲାଯାଉ ନ ଥିଲେ ଭାଷାଟି ଧୀରେଧୀରେ ମରିଯାଏ । ୨୦୧୦ ମସିହାରେ ବୋଆ ସିନିଅରଙ୍କ ଦେହାନ୍ତ ପରେ ଗ୍ରେଟ ଆଣ୍ଡାମାନୀ ଭାଷାଟି ତାଙ୍କ ସଙ୍ଗେ ମରଣ ଲଭିବା ଭଳି ଦୁଃଖଦ ଘଟଣା ଏହାର ମୂକସାକ୍ଷୀ । ଆଜି ଅଧିକ ହେଉ କି ଅଳପ, ସବୁରି ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ଲୋଡ଼ା କିଛି ଦରକାରୀ ସଜ । ନିଜ ଭାଷାରେ ମୋବାଇଲ ଓ କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟରରେ ଲେଖାପଢ଼ାର ସୁବିଧା, ସାରା ଜଗତରେ ଜଣାଶୁଣା ବିଭିନ୍ନ ମନୋରଞ୍ଜନର ସମକକ୍ଷ ଉପାଦାନ, ଆନ୍ତର୍ଜାତିକ ମାନର ପାଠପଢ଼ା ଆଉ ଶେଷରେ ଭାଷାକୁ ଶାସନର ଭାଷା କରିାରିଲେ ଯେ ସେ ଭାଷାରେ ଜୀବନ ଲାଗିବ । ଆଉ ଏ ସାରାଜଗତ ପାଇଁ ଗୋଟେ ନୁହେଁ ଅନେକ ଭାଷା ଲୋଡ଼ା, ନିଜ ମଣିଷଙ୍କ କଥା, ତାଙ୍କ ଚଳଣି ଆଉ ଜନଜୀବନର ଗାଥା ଆଉ କେଉଁ ଭାଷା କି ସରସେ ଲେଖିହେବ?


Above: A scanned version of the article originally published by the Samaja

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/our-endangered-languages

Analytics to help govt read public mood online

praskrishna — 2015-03-09T16:57:14Z

The Union government is in the process of commissioning a project to analyse public sentiment about it on various online platforms.

The article by Surabhi Talwar published in the Business Standard quotes Pranesh Prakash.

The project will cover state-owned MyGov.in, social media portals such as Facebook and Twitter, and the top 10 news websites in the country. The analysis will also extend to Twitter and Facebook accounts of government ministries and departments, according to a document evincing interest from companies and defining scope of work that has been posted on the website of the electronics and information technology department. The Centre expects the platform to be ready in two months.

This is the first time that the Centre is deploying a tool to 'officially' listen in on social media conversations and monitor media reports as well as subsequent public reaction. The idea is not to see which journalist is saying what and tell the government "inhe ad dena band kar do" (don't give them ads), said a government official familiar with the plans. It has also got "nothing to do with politics or elections", the official added.

The stated objective is to gauge public opinion related to policy matters and get a "comprehensive picture of the larger issues concerning the people", the official said. According to the mandate, the company will analyse comments posted on MyGov.in, which sees about 50,000 responses every week. It will also scan through social media sites, articles posted on news portals and the comments section, and categorise these into three "tag clouds" - negative, positive and neutral.

"Analytics are not strong if you are looking at it with a tunnel vision," said the government official, adding they needed to be comprehensive and corroborated across different platforms. The idea behind extending the mandate to social media websites and news organisations, according to the official, is to make sure the government's policies and initiatives are in sync with the people's wishes.

However, the government claimed it would only study posts that are "public" and not build backend access into the network of social media companies to get a look at all content.

According to the official, the Centre was not interested in "listening to everything that people are talking about", rather it will restrict its queries that relate to its business of policymaking. "Anything beyond that is not our mandate," the official clarified.

According to Mahesh Murthy, founder of digital media firm Pinstorm, these kinds of sentiment-analysis tools have become quite popular lately with both companies and political parties, who use these to gauge public mood before elections.

"They can cost anywhere between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh a month," he said, adding there were hardly any privacy implications since the data being analysed was in public domain.

Pranesh Prakash of the Centre for Internet and Society said, "Privacy concerns aren't as acute if there is no profiling that is happening." Prakash added the concept might be worrisome if algorithms became the determining factor for policymaking, as they could be dangerous for democratic functioning. "They are like black boxes and you don't how they function."

Launched about six months ago, MyGov.in is the National Democratic Alliance government's citizen-engagement platform through which it solicits ideas and inputs from the public on government business.

Once the sentiment-analysis project is implemented, the government will be able to automate the process of providing summary of inputs on discussion topics to the government agencies concerned.

The volume of comments received on the platform is making it difficult for the Centre to manually sift through these for the most relevant ones.

"The solution would display two sets of dashboards. One would be in public domain. The other would be restricted through the multi-level role-based access system provisioned by the solution," said the document evincing expression of interest from companies.

Those interested will have to provide a proof of concept before being selected.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-february-20-2015-surabhi-agarwal-analytics-to-help-govt-read-public-mood-online

Developing Open Knowledge Digital Resources in Indian Languages

teju — 2015-04-22T18:09:08Z

The Centre for Internet & Society's Access to Knowledge team (CIS-A2K), in collaboration with the Centre for Indian Languages (CILHE) at TISS Mumbai, conducted a two-day workshop at English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) at Hyderabad on January 28-29, 2015. Titled ‘Developing Open Knowledge Digital Resources in Indian Languages’, the workshop was the third in this series during 2014-15.

The first workshop, focusing on Bangla, was held at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, in August 2014, and the second, focusing on Marathi, at Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, in September 2014. The EFLU workshop participants were drawn from Telugu and Malayalam backgrounds.

The objectives of the workshop was to familiarize student volunteers and their faculty with (a) tools of collaborative knowledge production on the internet, and (b) methods for generating new online content in Indian languages. The workshop had 19 student participants, from EFLU and TISS Hyderabad, along with 4 faculty members from these two institutions.

After opening remarks by Prof. K.Satyanarayana and Dr. Uma Bhrugubanda of the Department of Cultural Studies, the local hosts at EFLU, Prof. Tejaswini Niranjana of CILHE-TISS and Advisor to CIS-A2K spoke about the importance of creating new digital resources in local languages for both teaching and research in higher education. She stressed that students should not remain passive consumers of knowledge but instead participate in creating new knowledge resources. Vishnu Vardhan of CIS-A2K then elaborated on the theme of ‘Building Open Knowledge Resources in Indian Languages via Mass Collaboration on the Internet’. After this, the participants were introduced to some basic principles of editing on Wikipedia, and worked on establishing their presence as Wikipedia editors by creating their Profile pages, etc.

In order to familiarise students with the key Telugu and Malayalam terminology in their areas of study (cultural studies, linguistics, education), an exercise was conducted in which each participant tried to describe a few of the concepts without using the term itself. A successful description would draw attention to the intellectual work done by the concept, and establish its usefulness in the relevant language context. Animated discussion took place around concepts like public sphere, labour/work, human rights, feminism, caste, culture, etc. In a second exercise, the denotative meaning and connotative meaning of selected key terms were discussed, with a view to understanding how they could be used in Indian language writings. Following this exercise, participants also attempted to map the cluster of concepts associated with their chosen concept so they could comprehend the larger cognitive context of each term. They were then introduced to how hyper-linking and giving suitable references are a significant part of Wikipedia editing strategy. Participants ended the day by shortlisting topics for entries they wanted to create on Wikipedia.

Day Two began with an exercise that aimed to explore translation challenges on Wikipedia. Since one way of increasing Indian-language content was to translate or transcreate existing Wikipedia articles, students needed to be aware of the problems this task could pose, and the possible solutions that could be adopted. Workshop participants were asked to choose English Wikipedia entries on one person, one book, and one concept each, and report on the difficulties they encountered while attempting to translate the English content, at the level of terminology, conceptual framework or subject matter. The ensuing discussion was useful not only in consolidating strategies for translation but also in drawing attention to the problems of creating Indian-language content in areas of knowledge which have become familiar to us through the modern university curriculum.

In the last phase of the workshop, participants focused on creating their entries in Telugu and Malayalam. A few succeeded in creating three entries each, while the others managed to do at least two. The faculty of EFLU and TISS Hyderabad who were present at the workshop have agreed to meet with their students once a month to do production sprints for new content, thus ensuring that those who were merely digital users have indeed become digital authors.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/developing-open-knowledge-digital-resources-in-indian-languages

Cultural knowledge needs to be more open

praskrishna — 2015-03-12T16:41:05Z

Subhashish Panigrahi is an educator and open source activist based in Bangalore, India. He is currently working at the Centre for Internet and Society's Access To Knowledge program where he builds partnership with universities, language researchers, and GLAM organizations.

The blog post by Jen Wike Huger was published on the website of OpenSource.com. It can be read here.

Their goal is to bring more scholarly and encyclopedic content under free licenses. During his work at the Wikimedia Foundation's India Program, Subha was involved in designing community sustaining and new contributor cultivation models.

For his effort to share and spread open source far and wide, this year he was awarded a 2015 Opensource.com People's Choice Award.

His most recent articles include: Digitize any book in the public domain, on his work to with Indian poetry important to the culture. Books and more are relicensed to Creative Commons, about news from the Wikimedia Foundation. Mozilla brings Indian communities together, about the Indic FirefoxOS L10n Sprint 2014. And, Open access platform to save the Odia Indian language, on his work to preserve his native culture.

The Basics

Name: Subhashish Panigrahi ("Subha")
Opensource.com username: psubhashish
Location: India (Bengaluru and Odisha)
Occupation/Employer/Position: Programme Officer, Centre for Internet and Society
Favorite open source tool or application: Audacity
Favorite Opensource.com channel: Education

Open up to us

I was away from home for my studies and was longing to read and write more in my native language of Odia. That led me to co-found eOdissa.com, a portal to tell stories to the rest of the world about my language, history, and cultural heritage. I was a sporadic editor on Wikipedia; anonymously since 2006. Then, in 2011, I was introduced to editing for Odia Wikipedia by my mentor Shiju Alex and friend Asutosh Kar.

That was my entry point to the free software movement. And it was a trap I could never get out of!

I thankfully began a full-time job with the Wikimedia Foundation in 2012 for its India Program. The program is now housed with their Indian movement partner, Centre for Internet and Society, under the Access To Knowledge program. I work in the Bengaluru office but mostly travel to work with the communities. I work on building capacity for the Indian language Wikimedia communities, building institutional partnerships for long term outreach engagement, negotiating with publishers and copyright holders to bring more content relicensed under Creative Commons licenses, and taking part in policy level discourses around open access and enforcing free software for governance.

What open tools and data help you get things done?

For my day job, I solely rely on Wikimedia Stats to collate data related to Wikimedia projects. I use some Python programming, jQery.ime, and JavaScript for other data-related work. But, I am a people's man and my interaction is mostly with humans rather than tools.

What do you wish were more open?

GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) and many other cultural institutions have historically been the keepers of cultural knowledge. But I see possessiveness in not opening up their archival for public consumption. I wish more policy level negotiations and open collaborations were happening to open up cultural data.

What are the biggest challenges to openness that you encounter, either at work or in your life?

Community and its growth. Working in a developing nation with historical, cultural, economic, and political hindrances pulls volunteerism down. It's is a huge challenge for me. Tapping into many existing networks and communities, and leveraging ongoing activities for the betterment for the free and open source movement, is something I am struggling for.

Why choose the open source way?

I would like to quote a good friend and activist Michelle Thorne who says, "Human civilization has everything free and open from the beginning, but slowly the problems of restriction start beginning." Furthermore filmmaker Nina Paley says, "Knowledge is not created by us, rather shared by us."

If we are here to share knowledge, why to restrict its free flow?

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/news/opensource-feburary-18-2015-jen-wike-huger-cultural-knowledge-needs-to-be-more-open

A Selection of Tweets on How to Make Crowdmaps Effectual for Mapping Violence against Women

rohini — 2015-03-12T00:42:08Z

This is a collection of tweets by Rohini Lakshane on making crowdmaps more effective for mapping gender violence. The compilation of tweets has been republished by GenderIT.org.

For more see the original published on the website of Gender IT.org on February 19, 2015.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/gender-it-february-19-2015-selection-tweets-how-make-crowdmaps-effectual-mapping-violence-against-women

Online Free Content in Telugu Wikipedia

praskrishna — 2015-02-19T15:51:32Z

Wikimedians gathered at Tirupati for a strategic meet. This was covered by the regional newspaper Andhra Jyothy

Click to read the article published on the website of Andhra Jyothy.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/news/andhra-jyothy-february-16-2015-online-free-content-in-telugu-wikipedia

The Surveillance Industry in India – An Analysis of Indian Security Expos

divij — 2015-03-08T12:25:15Z

The author talks about the surveillance industry in India and analyses Indian security expos.

Introduction

The 'Spy Files', a series of documents released by whistleblower website WikiLeaks over the last few years, exposed the tremendous growth of the private surveillance industry across the world - a multi-billion dollar industry thriving on increasing governmental and private capabilities for mass surveillance of individuals.[1] These documents showed how mass surveillance is increasingly made possible through new technologies developed by private players, often exploiting the framework of nascent but burgeoning information and communication technologies like the internet and communication satellites. Moreover, the unregulated and undiscerning nature of the industry means that it has enabled governments (and also private agencies) across the world - from repressive dictatorships to governments in western democracies with a growing track record of privacy and civil liberties infringements - to indulge in secretive, undemocratic and often illegal surveillance of their citizens. The Spy Files and related research have revealed how the mass surveillance industry utilizes the rhetoric of national security and counter-terrorism to couch technologies of surveillance.

'Security' and the Normalization Of Surveillance

New technologies undoubtedly create a potential for both malicious as well as beneficial use for society. Surveillance technologies are a prime example, having both enabled improvements in law enforcement and security, but at the same time creating unresolved implications for privacy and civil liberties. These technologies expose what Lawrence Lessig describes as 'latent ambiguities' in the law - ambiguities that require us to assess the implications and effects of new technologies and how to govern them, and most importantly, to choose between conflicting values regarding the use of technologies, for example, increased security as against decreased privacy.[2]

Unfortunately, In India, the ambiguity seems to have been resolved squarely in favour of surveillance - under the existing regulatory regime, surveillance is either expressly mandated or unregulated, and requires surveillance to be built into the architecture and design of public spaces like internet and telephone networks, or even public roads and parks. Most of these regulations or mechanisms are framed without democratic debate, through executive mechanisms and private contracts with technology providers, without and public accountability or transparency.

For example, under the telecom licensing regime in India, the ISP and UASL licenses specifically require lawful interception mechanisms through hardware or software to be installed by the licensees, for information (Call Data Records, Packet Mirroring, Call Location) to be provided to 'law enforcement agencies', as specified by the Government.[3] Section 69 of the Information Technology Act, the main legislation governing the Internet in India, read with the rules framed under the Act, makes it incumbent upon 'intermediaries' to provide surveillance facilities at the behest of government agencies.[4]

Beyond this, the State and its agencies Section 69 and 69B of the IT Act empower the government to intercept and monitor any data on the Internet. The Telegraph Act also permits wiretapping of telephony.[5] The proposed Central Monitoring System by the Central Government would give state agencies centralized access to all telecommunications in real time, on telephony or on the Internet. Other surveillance schemes include the Keyword Tracking system NETRA, as well as several state government proposed comprehensive CCTV-surveillance schemes for cities. [6] Clearly, therefore, there is a massive market for surveillance technologies in India.

Tracking the Surveillance Market

The Mass surveillance industry by its very nature is closed, secretive and without democratic oversight, Insights into the prevalence, nature and scope of the companies that form this industry, or the technologies that are utilized are far and few. No democratic debate about surveillance can take place in such a paradigm. In this context, security expos and exhibitions provide critical insight into this industry. Several of the important revelations about the industry in the past have been from examinations of large exhibitions in which the various governmental and industry actors participate, and therefore, such analysis is critical to the debate surrounding mass surveillance. Such exhibitions are a logical starting point because they are one of the few publically accessible showcases of surveillance-ware, and are also a congregation of most major players who are part of this market both as suppliers and purchasers.

Our research identified at least 13 exhibitions in India that specifically cater to the surveillance industry. A brief outline of each of these exhibitions is provided below:

1. Secutech India (Brochures: 2015 -http://www.secutechindia.co.in/pdf/secutech%20brochure.pdf)

The Secutech Expo is an exhibition held in Bombay and Delhi since 2011, to showcase Information Security, Electronic Security and Homeland Security technologies. Secutech also organizes the Global Digital Surveillance Forum, a conference amongst the stakeholders of digital surveillance industry in India.[7]

Exhibitors: Ivis; Matrix Comsec; Neoteric; Smartlink; Kanoe; Micro Technologies; Aditya Infrotech; CoreTech Solutions; Merit Lilin; Schneider Electric; Pash systems; Nettrack Technologies Pvt Ltd.; QNAP; Axxonsoft; Hk Vision (China); Alhua; Axis; Vivotech (Taiwan); Endroid (USA); Vantge (UK); Pelco (France); Advik; Hi Focus (UK); ESMS; Keeper (China); Neoteric; Vizor, etc

Visitors: The visitor profile and target audience consists of government and defense agencies, besides private agencies.

Technologies on display: Digital surveillance, biometrics, CCTV and RFID are some categories of the technologies which are showcased here.

2. IFSEC India (Brochures: 2013 - http://www.ifsecindia.com/uploads/IFSEC%20INDIA%20brochure%202013.pdf; 2014 - http://www.ubmindia.in/ifsec_india/uploads/IFSEC_INDIA_Brochure_CS5_new_low.pdf.)

IFSEC India, an extension of IFSEC UK, the 'worlds largest security exhibition', proclaims to be South Asia's largest security exhibition with 15,000 participants in its latest edition, including a special segment on surveillance. It has been held in either Bombay or Delhi since 2007.

Exhibitors: Honeywell; Infinova; Radar Vision; QNAP; Ensign; Winposee; Bosch; Comguard; Verint; ACSG; Ensign etc.

Visitors: Visitors include government agencies such as the Central Industrial Security Force, Border Security Force, Department of Internal Security, Railway Protection Force and the Department of Border Management.

Technologies on display: RFID, Video Surveillance, Surveillance Drones, IP Surveillance, Digital Surveillance and Monitoring were some of the categories of technologies on display.

3. India International Security Expo (Brochures: 2014 - http://www.indiasecurityexpo.com/images/e_brochure.pdf)

Held in New Delhi since 1996, and organized by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the expo is described as "India's largest show case of goods and services related to Homeland Security, Fire Safety, Traffic Management, Industrial Safety and Public Safety, Hospitality and Reality Security." With specific reference to the changing 'modus operandi of crime by using technology', the Expo focuses on using surveillance technologies for law enforcement purposes.

Exhibitors: Intellivision (USA); Intex (India); ESC Baz (Israel); Sparsh Securitech; Source Security (USA); Intellivision (USA); Interchain Solutions; ESSI; Kritikal; Matrix; Pace Solutions etc.

Visitors: According to the show's brochure, visitors include Central & State Police Organisations, Paramilitary Forces, Policy-makers from the Government, Industrial Establishments, Security Departments of Educational, Retail, Hospitality, Realty & other sectors, Colonisers, Builders, RWAs, System Integrators Large business houses and PSU's.

Technologies on display: Access control systems, surveillance devices, RFID, traffic surveillance and GPS Tracking.

4. Secure Cities Expo (Brochures: 2013 - http://securecitiesindia.com/Secure_Cities_2013_Brochure.pdf; 2014 - http://securecitiesindia.com/images/2014/SC_2014_Brochure.pdf.)

Secure Cities Expo has been organized since 2008, on the platform of providing homeland security solutions and technologies to government and private sector participants.

Exhibitors: Dell; Palo Alto Networks; Motorola; Konnet; Vian Technologies; Quick Heal; Intergraph, GMR, Tac Technologies, Steria, Teleste, Elcom, Indian Eye Security; Mirasys; CBC Group; Verint (USA); IBM (USA); Digitals; EyeWatch; Kanoe; NEC (Japan); ACSG Corporate; ESRI (USA), etc.

Visitors: Visitors include government and law enforcement agencies including the Ministry of Home Affairs as well as systems integrators and private firms including telecom firms.

Technologies on display: CCTV, Biometrics, Covert Tracking and Surveillance Software, Communication Interception, Location and Tracking systems, and IT Security.

5. Defexpo India (Brochures: No publically available brochures)

By far India's largest security exposition, the Ministry of Defense has organized Defexpo India since 1999, showcasing defense, border, and homeland security systems from technology providers internationally.

Exhibitors: Aurora Integrated; Airbus Defence (France); Boeing (USA); Hacking Team (Italy); Kommlabs (Germany); Smoothwall; Atlas Electronik; Cyint; Audiotel International; Cobham; Tas-Agt; Verint; Elsira (Elbit) (Israel); IdeaForge; Comint; Controp; Northrop Gruman; Raytheon; C-DoT; HGH Infrared (Israel); Okham Solutions (France); Septier (Israel); Speech Technology Centre (Russia); Aerovironment (USA); Textron; Sagem (France); Amesys (France); Exelis; ITP Novex (Israel), etc.

Visitors: The latest edition of the Expo saw participation from governmental delegations from 58 countries, besides Indian governmental and law enforcement authorities.

Technologies on display: The entire spectrum of surveillance and homeland security devices is on display at Defexpo, from Infrared Video to Mass Data Interception.

6. Convergence India Expo (Brochures: 2012 - http://convergenceindia.org/download/CI2012-PSR.pdf; 2014 -http://www.convergenceindia.org/pdf/CI-2014-Brochure.pdf; 2015 - http://www.convergenceindia.org/pdf/brochure-2015.pdf.)

Convergence India, being held in New Delhi since 1991, is a platform for interaction between Information and Communication Technology providers and purchasers in the market. In recent years, the expo has catered to the niche market for IT surveillance.

Exhibitors: ELT (UK); Comguard; Fastech; Synway (China); Saltriver; Anritsu (Japan); Cdot; Fastech; Rahul Commerce; Deviser Electronics; RVG Diginet; Blue Coat (USA); Cyberoam (USA); ZTE (China); Net Optics (USA); Controp; Comint etc.

Visitors: Visitors include Paramilitary Forces, Cable Operators, Government Ministries and PSU's and Telecom and Internet Service Providers.

Technologies on Display: Biometrics, Content Filtering, Data Mining, Digital Forensics, IP-Surveillance, Embedded Softwares, Network Surveillance and Satellite Monitoring were some of the technologies on display.

7. International Police Expo (Brochures: 2014 - http://www.nexgengroup.in/exhibition/internationalpoliceexpo/download/International_Police_Expo_2014.pdf.)

The International Police Expo held in New Delhi focuses on providing technologies to police forces across India, with specific focus on IT security and communications security.

Exhibitors: 3G Wireless Communications Pvt Ltd; Motorola Solutions; Cyint; Matrix Comsec; Cellebrite; Hayagriva; MKU; CP Plus etc.

Visitors: Visitors include State Police, Procurement Department, CISF, CRPF, RAF, BSF, Customs, GRPF, NDRF, Special Frontier Force, Para Commandos, Special Action Group, COBRA and PSU's and educational institutes, stadiums and municipal corporations, among others.

Technologies on display: Technologies include RFID and surveillance for Internal Security and Policing, CCTV and Monitoring, Vehicle Identification Systems, GPS, Surveillance for communications and IT, Biometrics and Network surveillance.

8. Electronics For You Expo (EFY Expo) ( 2014 - http://2013.efyexpo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/efy_PDFisation.pdf; 2015 - http://india.efyexpo.com//wp-content/uploads/2014/03/5th%20EFY%20Expo%20India_Brochure.pdf.)

EFY Expo is a electronics expo which showcases technologies across the spectrum of electronics industry. It has been held since 2010, in New Delhi, and is partnered by the Ministry of Communications and IT and the Ministry of Electronics and IT.

Exhibitors: Vantage Security; A2z Securetronix; Avancar Security; Digitals security; Securizen Systems; Vision Security; Mangal Security Systems, etc.

Visitors: The visitors include Government Agencies and ministries as well as systems integrators and telecom and IT providers.

Technologies on display: Identification and Tracking Products and Digital Security Systems are a specific category of the technologies on display.

9. Indesec Expo (Brochures: 2009 - http://www.ontaero.org/Storage/14/897_INDESEC_Oct11-13_2009.pdf. )

An exhibition focused on homeland security, and sponsored by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the expo has been held since 2008 in New Delhi, which includes a specific category for cyber security and counter terrorism.

Exhibitors: Rohde and Schwarz; Salvation Data; AxxonSoft; KritiKal; Shyam Networks; Teledyne Dalsa; Honeywell; General Dynamics; Northrop Grumman; Interchain Solutions, etc.

Visitors: Visitors include officials of the central government, central police and paramilitary forces, Ministry of Defence, central government departments, institutes and colleges, state government and police and ports and shipping companies.

10. Next Generation Cyber Threats Expo

Held since 2012 in New Delhi and Mumbai, the Next Generation Cyber Threats Expo focuses on securing cyber infrastructure and networks in India.

Exhibitors: Ixia, CheckPoint, etc.

Visitors: Visitors include Strategic Planning Specialists, Policy Makers and Law Enforcement among others.

11. SmartCards/RFID/e-Security/Biometrics expo (Brochures: 2013 - http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/brochures-from-expos-in-india-2013 ; 2015 - http://www.smartcardsexpo.com/pdf/SmartCards_Expo_2015_Brochure_$.pdf)

These expos are organized by Electronics Today in Delhi or Mumbai since 1999 and supported by the Ministries of Commerce, Home Affairs and External Affairs. They showcase various identification solutions, attended by hundreds of domestic and international exhibitors.

Visitors: Target audiences include central and local level law enforcement and government organizations, Colleges and Universities, and defense forces.

12. Com-IT Expo (Brochure: 2014 - http://www.comitexpo.in/doc/Brochure.pdf)

This expo has been organized by the Trade Association of Information and Technology in Mumbai since 2008, and focuses on software and hardware Information Technology, with specific focus on IT security and surveillance.

Visitors: Visitors include Government Agencies, Airport Authorities, Police and Law Enforcement, Urban Planners, etc.

Technologies Displayed: CCTV's, Surveillance Devices and IP Cameras, etc.

13. GeoIntelligence India (Brochures: 2013 - http://www.geointelligenceindia.org/2013/Geointelligence%20India%20Brochure.pdf; 2014 - http://geointworld.net/Documents/GeoInt_Brochure_2014.pdf.)

It is an exposition held in New Delhi since 2014, organized by Geospatial Media and Communications Pvt Ltd, and is 'dedicated to showcasing the highest levels of information exchange and networking within the Asian defense and security sector.'

Exhibitors: ESRI (USA); BAE Systems (UK); Leica (Switzerland); Helyx (UK); Digital Globe; Intergraph; Trimble (USA); RSI Softech; Silent Falcon etc.

Visitors: Visitors included the Director General of Information Systems, CRPF, Manipur, Delhi, Haryana and Nagaland Police, CBI, ITBP, NSDI, SSB, National Investigation Agency, Signals Intelligence Directorate among others.

Surveillance Wares in India - The Surveillance Exhibits and what they tell us about the Indian Surveillance Industry

An analysis of the above companies and their wares give us some insight into what is being bought and sold in the surveillance industry, and by whom. Broadly, the surveillance technologies can be grouped in the following categories:

Video Surveillance and Analysis

IP Video Surveillance and CCTV are quickly becoming the norm in public spaces. Emerging video surveillance tools allow for greater networking of cameras, greater fields of vision, cheaper access and come with a host of tools such as facial recognition and tracking as well as vehicle tracking. For example, IBM has developed an IP Video Analytics system which couples monitoring with facial recognition.[8] USA's Intellivision also offers analytics systems which enable licence plate tracking, facial recognition and object recognition.[9] HGH Infrared's Spynel system allows infrared wide-area surveillance,[10] and CBC's GANZ allows long-range, hi-resolution surveillance. [11]

Video surveillance is gradually infiltrating public spaces in most major cities, with Governments promoting large-scale video surveillance schemes for security, with no legal sanctions or safeguards for protecting privacy.

Companies showcasing Video Surveillance: 3G Wireless Communications Pvt Ltd, Motorola Solutions (USA), Bosch, CP Plus, Ivis, Aditya Infotech, Micro technologies, Core Tech (Denmark), Merit Lilin , Schneider Electric, Shyam Systems, Dalsa, Honeywell, Teleste, Mirasys, CBC Group, Infinova, Radar Vision, QNAP, Ensign, Winposee, Bosch, Hik Vision (China), Alhua, Axis Communications, Vivotech (Taiwan), Endroid (USA), Vantge (UK), Pelco (France), Advik, Hi Focus (UK), ESMS, Keeper (China), Neoteric, Vizor, Verint (USA), IBM (USA), Digitals Security, Intellivision (USA), Intex, Esc Baz (Israel), Sparsh Securitech, A2zsecuretronix, Avancar Security, Securizen Systems, Vision Security, HGH Infrared (Israel).

RFID/Smart Cards/Biometric Identification

India has begun the implementation of the Unique Identification Programme for its 1.2 billion strong population, combining a host of identification technologies to provide a unique identification number and Aadhar Card - promoted as an all-purpose ID. However, this remains without legislative sanction, and continues in the face of severe privacy concerns. Such centralized, accessible databases of ostensibly private information present a grave threat to privacy. RFID, Smart Cards and Biometric Identification technologies (like the Aadhar) all make individual monitoring and surveillance significantly easier by enabling tracking of individual movements, consumer habits, attendance, etc.

Companies showcasing Identification Technologies:

AxxonSoft, Matrix Comsec, Ensign, Hi focus, Intellivision (USA), Interchain solutions, Inttelix, Kanoe, NEC (Japan), Pace, Realtime, Secugen, Source Security (USA), Spectra, Speech technology centre (Russia), BioEnable Technologies.

(For a more detailed list, see the Smart Cards Expo Brochures, linked above)

Mass Data Gathering, Monitoring and Analysis

The age of Big Data has led to big surveillance. Information and communication technologies now host significant amounts of individual data, and the surveillance industry makes all of this data accessible to a surveyor. Government mandated surveillance means any and all forms of communication and data monitoring are being implemented in India - there are network taps on telephony and deep packet inspection on internet lines, which makes telephone calls, SMS, VoIP, Internet searches and browsing and email all vulnerable to surveillance, constantly monitored through systems like the Central Monitoring System. Moreover, centralized information stores enable data mining - extracting and extrapolating data to enable better surveillance, which is what India's NATGRID aims to do.

Hacking Team Italy, Blue Coat USA and Amesys France, three of the five companies identified as 'enemies of the internet' for enabling dictatorships to use surveillance to quell dissent and violate human rights,[12] have all presented surveillance solutions at Defexpo India. Cyberoam USA and ZTE China also market Deep Packet Inspection technology,[13] while ESRI's Big Data suite allows analysis through mass surveillance and analysis of social media and publically available sources. [14]

Indian companies showcasing mass data monitoring technologies include Cyint, Fastech DPI tools,[15] Kommlabs VerbaProbe packet switching probes,[16] and ACSG's OSINT, which allows Big Data social media surveillance and Call Data Record analysis.[17]

Companies showcasing Data Gathering and Monitoring technologies:

Cobham, Comguard, Cyint, ELT (UK), Fastech, Hacking Team (Italy), Smoothwall (USA), Verint Systems (USA), Cyint technologies, Atlas Electronik (Germany), Audiotel International (UK), Avancar, Cobham (UK), ELT (UK), Eyewatch, Kommlabs, Mangal Security Systems, Merit Lilin (Taiwan), Ockham Solutions (France), Septier (Israel), Synway (China), ACSG Corporate, Amesys (France), Anritsu (Japan), Axis (Sweden), BAE Systems (UK), Blue Coat (USA), C-dot, Comint, Cyberoam (USA), Deviser Electronics, Elsira (Elbit) (Israel), Esri (USA), Exelis, General Dynamics (USA), Helyx (UK), ITP Novex (Israel), Leica (Switzerland), Net Optics (Ixia) (USA), Northrop Gruman (USA), Rahul Commerce, Rohde And Schwarz (Germany), RVG Diginet, Tas-Agt, Trueposition (USA), Zte Technologies (China).

Cell-Phone Location Tracking and Vehicle Monitoring

A number of technologies enable location tracking through vehicle GPS, GLONASS or other location technologies. RFID or optical character recognition further enables Automatic Number Plate Recognition, which can be exploited to enable vehicle surveillance to track individual movements. Embedded hardware and software on mobile phones also allows constant transmission of location data, which is exploited by surveillance agencies to track individual movements and location.

Companies showcasing Cell-Phone Location Tracking technologies: Verint, Eyewatch, Septier (Israel), True Position (USA),

Companies showcasing Vehicle Monitoring technologies: Hi-techpoint technologies pvt ltd, Axxonsoft, Essi, Fareye, Intellivision (USA), Interchain Solutions, ITP Novex (Israel), Kaneo, Kritikal, NEC (Japan), Saltriver Infosystems, Vision Security Systems.

Air/Ground Drones and Satellite Surveillance

The use of unmanned drones for security purposes is being adopted for law enforcement and surveillance purposes across the world, and India is no exception, using UAV's for surveillance in insurgency-hit areas,[18] amongst other uses, while still having no regulations for their use.[19] Drones, both aerial and ground level, are capable of large-scale territorial surveillance, often equipped with high-technology video surveillance that allows for efficient monitoring at the ground level.

Digital Globe offers satellite reconnaissance surveillance coupled with Big Data analysis for predictive monitoring. [20] Controp offers cameras specifically for aerial surveillance, while Sagem's Patroller Drone and Sperwer, and Silent Falcon's Solar Powered surveillance drone are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's) for aerial video surveillance. Auruora Integrated, [21] and IdeaForge are Indian companies which have developed UAV surveillance drones in collaboration with Indian agencies.[22]

Companies showcasing Drone Surveillance: Aurora Integrated, Controp (Israel), Aerovironment (USA), Digital Globe (USA), ESRI (USA), Intergraph (USA), RSI Softech, Sagem (France), Silent Falcon (UAS), Textron (USA), Trimble (USA), Northrop Grumman (USA).

[1] Wikileaks, The Spy Files, available at https://www.wikileaks.org/the-spyfiles.html.

[2] Lawrence Lessig, Code V 2.0.

[3] For more information on the licensing regime, see 'Data Retention in India', available at http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/data-retention-in-india.

[4] Rule 13, Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009.

[5] Section 5, Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.

[6] See, for example, the Bangalore Traffic Police CCTV Scheme, http://www.bangaloretrafficpolice.gov.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66&btp=66 ; the surveillance scheme supported by the MPLAD Scheme, http://mplads.nic.in/circular08112012.pdf; Mumbai's proposed video surveillance scheme, http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/wipro-tata-ibm-reliance-among-31-bids-for-cctv-scheme-in-mumbai-112112600160_1.html.

[7] Information on the Forum is available at http://gdsf-india.com/Global-Digital-Surveillance-Forum1/images/GDSF-Bengaluru-Conference-program.pdf.

[8] http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SS88XH_1.6.0/iva/int_i2frs_intro.dita

[9] http://www.intelli-vision.com/products/recognition-suite

[10] http://www.hgh-infrared.com/Products/Optronics-for-security

[11] http://www.ifsecglobal.com/cbc-high-end-surveillance-tech-on-display-at-ifsec-india/

[12] http://surveillance.rsf.org/en/category/corporate-enemies/

[13] http://www.cyberoam.com/firewall.html

[14] http://www.esri.com/products/arcgis-capabilities/big-data

[15] http://www.fastech-india.com/packetBrokers.html

[16] http://www.kommlabs.com/products-verbaprobe.asp

[17] http://www.acsgcorporate.com/osint-software.html

[18] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/UAV-proves-ineffective-in-anti-Maoist-operations/articleshow/20400544.cms

[19] http://dronecenter.bard.edu/drones-in-india/

[20] https://www.digitalglobe.com/products/analytic-services

[21] http://www.aurora-is.com/

[22] http://www.ideaforge.co.in/home/

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/surveillance-industry-in-india-analysis-of-indian-security-expos

Academia and Civil Society submit critical comments to DIPP on draft National IPR Policy

sinha — 2015-03-08T11:27:05Z

As our readers may be aware, the DIPP had initiated public consultation on the drafting of India’s first National IPR policy in November 2014.

These were published as two separate blog posts on Spicy IP (Part I and Part II).

The second round of consultation on the National IPR Draft Policy (draft policy) ended on January 31, 2015. Last week, we brought to you a guest post by Raghul Sudheesh who presented criticisms submitted by Prof. NS Gopalakrishnan, Director and Dr. TG Agitha, Associate Professor at Inter University Centre for Intellectual Property Rights Studies (IUCIPRS at CUSAT).

This two part post highlights two more submissions: first, made by Prof. Srividhya Ragavan (University of Oklahoma), Prof. Brook Baker (Northeastern University), Prof. Sean Flynn(American University) (click here); and second, by Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore (CIS). In November 2014, the professors also made submissions to the Office of United States Trade Representative (USTR) objecting to US’ threats of unilateral trade sanctions, and argued in support of India’s current IPR regime.

The following sections discuss the submission made by Prof. Srividhya Ragavan, Prof. Brook Baker and Prof. Sean Flynn. The authors have shared with us a draft version of the submission as well (authored by Prof. Raghavan and Prof Baker) and you may access it here. The two submissions are substantially similar, and therefore, I have discussed the points made in the final submission only.

Broad observations and caveats

According to the authors, the policy begins with a noble objective to maintain a balance between rights and obligations (protections, limitations and exceptions) as a means to serve constitutionally recognized ends of developing scientific and creative capacities of Indian society. However, the objective soon loses steam when one comes across clauses disturbing the balance in favour of rights holders (highlighted in subsequent sections).

The document also erroneously treats IP as an end in itself, rather than a means to higher social goals and functions; and fails to mention that there exist non-IP centric policies, which are equally, possibly better suited to meet such goals. The document depicts IP as a magic tool to disperse greater creativity and innovation. In view of such dubious characterisation of IP, the authors are quick to add that the policy would be more aptly titled “Views on the Future of Creativity and Innovation in India”! To fix this muddled projection of IP, the authors at the very outset recommend that the policy imbibe the following norms, broadly:

Firstly, intellectual property systems are means to the greater ends of society, not ends in themselves.
Secondly, the ends that IP is meant to serve include to promote both production of and access to fruits of science and creativity.
Thirdly, in order to achieve the production and access promoting ends of there is a need for context-specific tailoring of protections and exceptions and limitations to achieve a proper balance of rights and obligations.

Further, the policy recommends India becoming more active in negotiations at the international level, and in this regard the authors suggest India to actively resist and reject any TRIPS plus provisions. They express concern about the policy’s intent on commercializing IP, and warn about not going overboard with the commercialization, lest it interferes or diminishes access to medicines, and state that this is where the policy should have mentioned flexibilities in Indian IP law. While addressing specific clauses, the authors warn that steps to introduce a trade secret legislation should be mulled over more, and the proposed law should reconcile with protection of traditional knowledge. Reviewing legislations and their implementation is a welcome step, but law makers need to be extremely cautious before adding more protections to the IP mix. The authors also raise their doubts about the competence and expertise of the think-tank constituted to draft the policy.

What the policy should have done instead (as per the submission)

Articulated the limited role of IP in fostering innovation, creativity and societal goals more accurately – the policy goes as far as to deem copyright and patents as ‘intellectual creations’ on page one! The policy should also have highlighted literature which indicated that IP promises are grossly overemphasized particularly with respect to low- and lower-middle income countries.
Not glorified IP as a magic tool at the altar of other instruments (effective instruments include capacity building, technology transfer, and investment strategies) to increase economic growth. For instance, the IP Hall of Fame section proposes to celebrate only ‘IP innovators &creators’ and ignores other innovators/creators.
Stressed on the importance of limitations and exceptions – the policy calls for case studies of “successful use of IPRs” but not of limitations and exceptions to intellectual property rights, nor of open access tools like Creative Commons licensing or of any other knowledge governance policies. By neglecting the role of limitations and exceptions and focusing on IPRs only, the policy also takes two steps backwards by ignoring amendments to patent and design laws – changes which facilitated the introduction of flexibilities into India’s IPR law. The policy should have also defended India’s compulsory licensing decisions and produced evidence to support the same.
Held back on its enthusiasm to increase the infrastructure for IP specialist courts. In a country where the poor is struggling with access to justice, it is unjustified to put such matters on the backburner and focus on IP adjudication.

In the end, the authors draw up a list of core IP debates that the policy should address, inter alia: clarification of patent eligibility threshold on controversial subject matters; reexamination of the policy on exhaustion of IP rights; calibration and defining the impact of competition law on the exercise of IP exclusive rights; deciding whether India will continue to improve the compulsory and government use licensing regime to broaden permissible grounds for such licenses; articulating India’s position on counter IP overreach of other countries on IP and trade such as USTR’s unilateral Special 301 Watch List and US International Trade Commission investigations; increasing collaboration with developing countries to take a coordinated stand on common IP and trade issues; clarifying and broadening standards for fair use and affordable access to copyright protected works and translation of the same, especially with respect to educational and scientific resources, etc.

Public consultation on the first draft of the National IPR Policy concluded this month. The DIPP received many submissions on the draft policy and also held stakeholder meetings. We’ve discussed two other submissions on SpicyIP (here and here), and this post discusses the submission made by Centre for Internet and Society, India. For our readers’ information, Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit research organisation that works in the areas of issues of intellectual property law reform, openness, privacy, freedom of speech and expression and Internet governance, accessibility for persons with disabilities, and engages in academic research on digital humanities and digital natives.

Like the other two submissions, CIS’ submission also reiterates that a National IPR Policy is not something to be rushed into without adequate evidence and consultation. The submission highlights certain principles that should be followed in the the formulation of a National IPR Policy, and also provides comments and recommendations for the draft policy. To begin with, the submission claims that the vision and mission are at odds with the methods suggested by the draft Policy. While the vision encourages growth for the ‘benefit of all’ and embraces the philosophy that knowledge owned (should be) ‘transformed into knowledge shared’ and, the mission expresses a commitment to establish a balanced, dynamic and vibrant intellectual property system in India, both sections leave much to be desired. The policy should also have envisioned (and set a mission) towards:

The creation of a balanced IP framework and committing to do so by including adequate limitations and exceptions; duly acknowledged that IP is not necessarily the best and the only solution to promoting creativity, innovation and access; and prevent unreasonable and disproportionate remedies to IPR law violations; and
Recognized that upholding freedom of expression and due process of law are essential pillars of any IP regime.

One of the (many) assumptions made by the policy is that increased IP will lead to a corresponding growth in innovation. The submission flags this and cites evidence to prove that there exists no established nexus between intellectual property and innovation, and there are reports which suggest that an increase in patents is not directly proportional to an increase in innovation and productivity. Many academic papers have concluded that the connection between patents and innovation/productivity is at best, unambiguous, and there are no positive correlations in the developing countries.

The submission also warns against introduction of a utility model protection system and mentions a couple of drawbacks- explosion in litigation of poor quality patents and legal uncertainty – which impact small business the maximum in terms of costs; risk of the system being used by foreign companies more than local firms. Utility model rights can be, and have been, used by companies to cordon off entire areas of research. Reports also suggest that in China, the abundance of utility models has led to lowering of quality of innovation. Creation of a second-tier patent protection system would lead to a deluge of low quality patents, and the impact of such a system remains debatable, especially in a developing country like India.

The policy also makes an unequivocal commitment to increase IP output at national research labs and universities. The submission cautions against use of excessive IP to cordon off timely access to valuable research produced at public funded institutions and points out that the commitment is at odds with its vision of ‘knowledge sharing’. Any IP resulting from of publicly funded research should automatically belong to the funder. Further, a focus on maximising IP will lead to research being conducted only in areas of commercial value. The objective of the section goes against the recent steps by the government to make research openly accessible in Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Biotechnology as well as other institutions. On a similar note, the submission recommends that the government develop and support the evolution of open standards. The Policy must not encourage use of IP to limit access to standards, because these are the foundational rules any technology must adhere to enter the market or ensure quality. To make the government’s ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives a success, it is imperative that standards are openly accessible – not just for the technology sector, but also India’s manufacturing sector. It would also help to establish reasonable and non-discriminatory patent pools, so that even small scale entities can commercialise their inventions based on standards with relative ease. For instance, CIS has earlier proposed that the establishment of a a government-aided patent pool of standard essential technologies in mobile phones will facilitate cross-licensing. This may potentially help avoid a patent thicket and patent licensing war in India, the kind that has erupted internationally.

On the issue of negotiating international treaties and agreement, the submission recommends that the policy state that such negotiations shall be conducted in consultation with various stakeholders, and in a transparent manner. Regional FTAs should not override nor dilute TRIPS’ flexibilities.

Lastly, it strongly pushes the policy to not just ‘study the role of limitations and exceptions’ as future policy development, but also commit to include, adopt and periodically renew of limitations and exceptions in India’s intellectual property laws.

In conclusion, the submission seeks the creation of a policy which encourages greater use of exceptions and limitations to the otherwise exclusionary use of intellectual property, encourages the expansion of the public domain, secures proportionality in enforcement of IP rights, promotes alternatives to IP – including open access to scholarly literature, open educational resources, free/open source software, open standards, open data, and aims to create a regime of intellectual property that aims to serve the public interest and not just the narrow interest of private right holders.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/academia-and-civil-society-submit-critical-comments-to-dipp-on-draft-national-ipr-policy

Joint Report on Training of the Use of eSpeak in Hindi with NVDA

nirmita — 2015-03-19T01:24:34Z

The training programmes were conducted at the National Association for the Blind, New Delhi on February 5 and 6, 2015 and Blind Relief Association, Delhi on February 13 and 14, 2015. Fifteen participants attended the first training programme at National Association for the Blind. Seventeen participants attended the second training programme held at Blind Relief Association.

The training at National Association for the Blind, Delhi had representations from organizations serving the blind and visually impaired from all across Delhi. Those who took part were either heads of IT Department or computer instructors. The aim of inviting the IT heads and computer instructors was to promote the use of NVDA in their training programmes and also facilitate reading and writing in Hindi.

The training programme at Blind Relief Association was mainly attended by special educators for the blind. The aim of promoting use of NVDA and knowledge of reading and writing in Hindi using eSpeak amongst these special educators was that these special educators would be working closely with the blind community. If the special educators are sensetized, the use of regional languages can be maximized.

List of Participants at National Association for the Blind

1	Bharti Kalra	bhartikalra56@gmail.com	Computer Instructor, National Association for the Blind
2	Jaikaran	dhaiajaikaran@gmail.com	Gail India Pvt. Ltd.
3	Shivani	shivaniharit@redifmail.com	Student, National Association for the Blind
4	Shabnam	shabnamdumh@gmail.com	Research Assistant, National Association for the Blind
5	Neetu	ng.neetugoyal@gmail.com	Computer Instructor, National Association for the Blind
6	Dr. R.S. Chauhan	chauhan.ddn@gmail.com	Freelancer
7	Varsha singh	varshactet@gmail.com	Volunteer, National Association for the Blind
8	Neelu Suneja	sunejaneelu@gmail.com	Head, IT Department, Blind Relief Association
9	Rajpal	rajpal007@gmail.com	Senior Computer Instructor, Blind Relief Association
10	Ganesh Bhatt	bhattg526@gmail.com	Student, National Association for the Blind
11	Maneesh sharma	sharma.manish445@gmail.com	Student, National Association for the Blind
12	Mohammad Sajid	mdsajidsdp11@gmail.com	Student
13	Sanjeev Luthra	sanjeevluthra737@gmail.com	Student
14	Nilesh varma	nileshvarma940@gmail.com	Student
15	Irfan Mir	meererfan@gmail.com	Student

List of Participants at Blind Relief Association

1	Rajpal	E-1/11B, Om Vihar Extn, Uttam Nagar	rajpal007@gmail.com
2	Arun Tiwari	Village Poterganj, Post Pathwali, Dist Gaunda	Mrtiwari1982@gmail.com
3	Rishoo Singh	House No.44, Meethapur, Badarpur	mr.rsingh2908@gmail.com
4	Vijay Tiwari	House No.62, Gokhle Nagar, Konch, Dist Jalaun	tiwarivijay322@gmail.com
5	Shiv Kumar	Village Post Padri, Distt Rewa	shivkumarrawat144@gmail.com
6	Sonia Setia	742/3, Ward No-14, GuruNanak Pura, Rohtak	soniasetia1986@gmail.com
7	Sandeep Kumar	Satyara ganj, Behind Bus stand, Dist. Rewa	sandeepkumarj61@gmail.com
8	Rini Singh	village post Jhanjhara, Pasraha, Dist. Khagriya	rinisingh2792@gmail.com
9	Rajbhan Saket	Gram Atarala Kala, Tehsil Hanmana, Dist. Rewa	rajbhan591@gmail.com
10	Rajbala Bhagel	Dubey Gas Agency, Dayalbagh, Agra	rajbalabhagel@gmail.com
11	Priyanka Devi	Town jhinjhana, Dist. Shamli	kashyappriyanka250@gmail.com
12	Pramod Kumar	Gram Atroley,Post Lakhua, Dist. Ghaziabad	pkpramodpk9@gmail.com
13	Mritunjay Kumar	Hingua, Miyatala, Dist. Chappra	mritunjay1942@gmail.com
14	Mary Mini	AICB, Braille Bhawan, sector-5, Rohini	minimary1994@gmail.com
15	Avnish Kumar	N166/122, J.J. Camp, Badli	avnishk910@gmail.com
16	Hidayat Husen	House No.311, Zakir Hussain Ward, Gohalpur, Jabalpur	Hidayatansari420@gmail.com
17	Biranchi Sahoo	Japharapur, G.P Khairabad, Dist. Jajpur	Biranchi.caviodisha@gmail.com

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/training-on-use-of-espeak-hindi-nvda

[OpenGLAM] Nominate an OpenGLAM project today for the 2015 Muse Awards

praskrishna — 2015-05-27T14:08:55Z

It's that time of the year again to nominate projects for the Muse Awards! This is like the Oscar of GLAM awards in the USA and welcomes international submissions.

Our esteemed jury comprises of:

Glen Barnes, Founder/CEO of MyTours and co-founder of Open New Zealand
Dominic McDevitt-Parks, Digital Content Specialist, National Archives and Records Administration
Subhashish Panigrahi, Programme Officer, Centre for Internet and Society
Jane Park, Project Manager, Creative Commons
Lieke Ploeger, Community Manager, Open Knowledge Foundation
Merete Sanderhoff, Curator, National Gallery of Denmark

Submissions are due Feb 23.

Please submit your OpenGLAM projects!!! This is a volunteer driven process, and we throw a big award ceremony with lots of champagne at the annual AAM conference.

More details here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/news/open-glam-nominate-open-glam-project-today-for-2015-muse-awards

Preliminary Submission on "Internet Governance Issues" to the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India

geetha — 2015-02-12T14:52:04Z

On January 30, 2015, Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) held a consultation on Internet governance. A committee was set up to draft a report on Internet governance, with a focus on issues relevant to India. The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is represented on the committee, and has provided its preliminary comments to ASSOCHAM.

ASSOCHAM convened a meeting of its members and other stakeholders, at which CIS was represented. At this meeting, inputs were sought on Internet governance issues relevant for India, on which the industry body proposed to make comments to the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Such a discussion, proposing to consolidate the views of ASSOCHAM members in consultation with other stakeholders, is a commendable move. This submission presents preliminary comments from the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) in light of ASSOCHAM's consultation on Internet governance.

I. About CIS

1. CIS is a non-profit research organization that works, inter alia, on issues relating to privacy, freedom of expression, intermediary liability and internet governance, access to knowledge, open data and open standards, intellectual property law, accessibility for persons with disabilities, and engages in academic research on the budding Indian disciplines of digital natives and digital humanities.

2. CIS engages in international and domestic forums for Internet governance. We are a Sector-D member of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU),[1] and participated in the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), 2012 (Dubai) [2] and the Plenipotentiary Conference, 2014 (Busan).[3] We have also participated in the WSIS+10 Multistakeholder Preparatory Platform (MPP)[4] and the WSIS+10 High Level Event, organized by the ITU.[5]

3. CIS is also a member of the Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) at ICANN. Pranesh Prakash, our Policy Director, held a position on the NCUC Executive Committee from December 2013 to November 2014.[6]

4. CIS has been engaging at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) since 2008, and has organized and participated in over 60 panels to date.[7] We have also organized panels at the Asia-Pacific Regional IGF (APrIGF). [8] Our Executive Director Sunil Abraham is a member of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) for the India-IGF, and has attended in its meetings.[9] We are also in the process of developing international principles for intermediary liability, in collaboration with international civil society organisations like EFF and Article19. [10]

II. Structure of Submission

5. In this submission, we identify issues in Internet governance where engagement from and within India is necessary. In particular, brief descriptions of issues such as freedom of expression and privacy online, cyber-security, critical Internet resources and ICANN, multistakeholderism and net neutrality are provided.

III. Internet Governance Issues

6. The history of the Internet is unique, in that it is not exclusively government-regulated. Though governments regulate the Internet in many ways (for instance, by ordering website blocking or filtering, licensing of ISPs, encryption controls, investment caps, etc.), the running of the Internet is largely in the hands of private businesses, technical organisations and end-users.

7. International processes like the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS), and forums such as ICANN, the ITU, the IGF and the UN are involved in governing in the Internet in many ways. Regional organisations like the OECD, APEC and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) are also involved (for instance, in cyber-security matters).

8. The issues surrounding Internet governance are many, and range from telecom infrastructure and technical coordination to human rights and access to information.

Rights Online

9. The status of 'human rights online' has come under discussion, with the NETmundial Outcome Document affirming that offline rights must also be protected online. These issues are important in the context of, among others, the large scale violations of privacy in light of the Snowden Revelations,[11] and increased instances of website blocking and takedowns in different parts of the world.[12]

10. Internationally, issues of freedom of speech, privacy and access or the digital divide (though it is debatable that the latter is a human right) are discussed at the UN Human Rights Council, such as the resolution on human rights and the Internet, and the UN Human Rights Commissioner's report on the right to privacy in the digital age , which discusses the need for checks and balances on digital mass surveillance. During the Universal Periodic Review of India in 2012, India noted a recommendation from Sweden to " ensure that measures limiting freedom of expression on the internet is based on clearly defined criteria in accordance with international human rights standard ".

11. Freedom of speech and privacy are also relevant for discussion at the ITU.[13] For instance, at the Plenipotentiary meeting in 2014 (Busan), India proposed a resolution that sought, among other things, complete traceability of all Internet communications. [14] This has implications for privacy that are not yet addressed by our domestic laws. A Privacy Bill and such other protections are only in the pipeline in India.[15]

12. At ICANN as well, the root zone management function may affect freedom of expression. If, for instance, a top level domain (TLD) such as .com is erased from the root zone file, hundreds of thousands of websites and their content can be wiped from the World Wide Web. A TLD can be erased by Verisign if a request to that effect is raised or accepted by ICANN, and signed off on by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the US government. Similarly,the WHOIS database, which contains information about the holders of domain names and IP addresses, has implications for privacy and anonymity.

13. In India, the judiciary is currently adjudicating the constitutionality of several provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (as amended in 2008), including S. 66A, S. 69A and S. 79. A series of writ petitions filed, among others, by the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) and Mouthshut.com, relate to the constitutionality of the nature of content controls on the Internet, as well as intermediary liability. [16]

14. A judgment on the constitutionality of Ss. 66A, 69A and 79 are crucial for end-users and citizens, as well as companies in the Internet ecosystem. For instance, an uncertain intermediary liability regime with penalties for intermediaries - S. 79, IT Act and Intermediaries Guidelines Rules, 2011 - disincentivises ISPs, online news websites and other content providers like Blogger, Youtube, etc. from allowing free speech to flourish online. [17] The ongoing cases of Kamlesh Vaswani v. UOI and Sabu George v. UOI also have consequences for ISPs and search engines, as well as for fundamental rights.[18] International and domestic engagement is desirable, including in consultations with the Law Commission of India (for instance, the consultation on media laws).

Critical Internet Resources

15. Critical Internet Resources form the backbone of the Internet, and include management of IP addresses, the domain name system (DNS) and the root zone. [19] ICANN, a global non-profit entity incorporated in California, manages the IANA functions (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) for the global Internet. These functions include allocating the global pool of IP addresses (IPv4 and IPv6) to Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), administering the domain name system and maintaining a protocol registry.

16. At present, the IANA functions are performed under a contract with the NTIA. On March 14, 2014, the NTIA announced its intention to transition oversight of the IANA functions to an as-yet-undetermined "global multi-stakeholder body". The deadline for this transition is September 30, 2015, though the NTIA has expressed its willingness to renew the IANA contract and extend the deadline. ICANN was charged with convening the transition process, and set up the IANA Coordination Group (ICG), a team of 30 individuals who will consolidate community input to create a transition proposal. At the moment, thenames (CWG-Names),numbers (CRISP) and protocols (IETF) communities are debating existing draft proposals. A number of new entities with which ICANN will have contractual arrangements have been proposed. At ICANN's meetings in Singapore (February 7-12, 2015) and Buenos Aires (June 2015), these proposals will be discussed.

17. At the same time, a parallel track to examine ICANN's own transparency and accountability has been introduced. The CCWG-Accountability is considering ICANN's accountability in two Workstreams: first, in light of the IANA transition and second, a revision of ICANN's policies and by-laws to strengthen accountability. ICANN's accountability and transparency are crucial to its continued role in Internet governance.

18. Several issues arise here: Should ICANN continue to remain in the US? Should the IANA Functions Department be moved into a separate entity from ICANN? Ought ICANN's by-laws be amended to create oversight over the Board of Directors, which is now seen to have consolidated power? Ought ICANN be more transparent in its financial and operational matters, proactively and reactively?

19. It is, for instance, beneficial to the stability of the Internet and to India if the IANA department is separate from ICANN - this will ensure aseparation of powers. Second, stronger transparency and accountability mechanisms are necessary for ICANN; it is a growing corporate entity performing a globally Internet function. As such, granular information about ICANN's revenues and expenses should be made public. See, for ex.,CIS' request for ICANN's expenses for travel and meetings, and ICANN's response to the same.

20. The most ideal forum to engage in this is ICANN, and within India, working groups on Internet governance at the Ministry level. As such, ASSOCHAM may seek open, transparent and inclusive consultations with the relevant departments of the Government (the Ministry of External Affairs, DeitY, Department of Telecommunications). At ICANN, industry bodies can find representation in the Business Constituency or the Commercial Stakeholders Group. Additionally, comments and proposals can be made to the ICG and the CCWG-Accountability by anyone.

Cyber-security

21. Cyber-security is often used as an umbrella-term, covering issues ranging from network security (DNSSEC and the ICANN domain), cyber-crime, and cyber-incidents such as the Distributed Denial of Service attacks on Estonian public institutions and the Stuxnet virus that attacked Iran's nuclear programme. Within the ITU, spam and child safety online are also assessed as security issues (See Study Group 17 under ITU-T).

22. At the international level, the UN Group of Governmental Experts has published three reports to date, arguing also that in cyber-security incidents, international humanitarian law will apply. International humanitarian law applies during armed attacks on states, when special rules apply to the treatment of civilians, civilian and military buildings, hospitals, wounded soldiers, etc.

23. The ITU also launched a Global Cybersecurity Agenda in 2007, aiming at international cooperation. Such cooperative methods are also being employed at the OSCE, APEC and the SCO, which have developed drafts of Confidence Building Measures. The Global Conferences on Cyberspace (London 2011, Budapest 2012, Seoul 2013, The Hague 2015) resulted in, inter alia, the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime. India has not ratified the Convention, and remains tight-lipped about its security concerns.

24. Surveillance and monitoring of online communications is a crucial issue in this regard. In India, the surveillance power finds its source in S. 5, Telegraph Act, 1888, and the Rule 419A of the Telegraph Rules, 1951. Further, S. 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Interception Rules, 2009 enable the government and authorized officers to intercept and monitor Internet traffic on certain grounds. Information regarding the implementation of these Rules is scant.

25. In any event, the applicability of targeted surveillance should be subject to judicial review , and a balance should be struck between fundamental rights such as freedom of speech and privacy and the needs of security. An accountability model such as that present in the UK for the Interception of Communications Commissioner may provide valuable insight.

26. In India, the government does not make public information regarding its policies in cyber-security and cybercrime. This would be welcome, as well as consultations with relevant stakeholders.

Models of Internet Governance

27. Multi-stakeholderism has emerged as one of the catchphrases in Internet governance. With the display of a multi-stakeholder model at NETmundial (April 2014), controversies and opinions regarding the meaning, substance and benefits of multi-stakeholderism have deepened.

28. The debates surrounding stakeholder-roles in Internet governance began with ¶49 of the Geneva Declaration of Principles and ¶35 of the Tunis Agenda, which delineated clear roles and responsibilities. It created a 'contributory' multi-stakeholder model, where states held sovereign authority over public policy issues, while business and civil society were contributed to 'important roles' at the 'technical and economic fields' and the 'community level', respectively.

29. As the WGEC meeting (April 30-May 2, 2014) demonstrated, there is as yet no consensus on stakeholder-roles. Certain governments remain strongly opposed to equal roles of other stakeholders, emphasizing their lack of accountability and responsibility. Civil society is similarly splintered, with a majority opposing the Tunis Agenda delineation of stakeholder-roles, while others remain dubious of permitting the private sector an equal footing in public policy-making.

30. The positions in India are similarly divided. While there is appears to be high-level acceptance of "multi-stakeholder models" across industry, academia and civil society, there exists no clarity as to what this means. In simple terms, does a multi-stakeholder model mean that the government should consult industry, civil society, academia and the technical community? Or should decision-making power be split among stakeholders? In fact, the debate is more specific.

31. In India, the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) for the India-IGF was established in February 2014, and some meetings were held. Unfortunately, neither the minutes of the meetings nor action points (if any) are publicly available.

32. The Indian government's position is more complex. At the 68^th UN General Assembly session in 2011, India argued for a (multilateral) 50-member UN Committee on Internet-related Policies (CIRP). However, the Ministry for Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) has, over the years, presented differing views at the IGF and ITU through its two departments: DeitY and DoT. Further, at the meetings of the Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation (WGEC), India has presented more nuanced views, suggesting that certain issues remain within the governmental domain (such as cyber-security and child online protection). At the 9^th IGF (Istanbul, September 2014), Mr. R.S. Sharma of the DeitY echoed such a view of delineated roles for stakeholders.

33. A clear message from the Indian government, on whether it favours multistakeholderism or governmental policy authority for specific issues, would be invaluable in shaping opinion and domestic processes. In any event, a transparent consultative procedure to take into account the views of all stakeholders is desirable.

Emerging Issues

Net Neutrality

34. In simple terms, net neutrality concerns differential treatment of packets of data by carriers such as ISPs, etc. over networks. The issue has gained international attention following the U.S. FCC's regulatory stance, and the U.S. Court of Appeal's 2014 decision in Verizon v. FCC. Though this decision turned on the interpretation of 'broadband providers' under the Communications Act, 1934, net neutrality has since been debated in the US, both by the FCC and other stakeholders. There is no international consensus in sight; the NETmundial Outcome Document recognized net neutrality as an emerging issue (page 11, no. IV).

35. In India, a TRAI consultation on Over-The-Top Services on August 5, 2014 brought concerns of telecom and cellular operators to light. OTTs were seen as hijacking a portion of telcos' revenues, and as lacking consumer protection and privacy safeguards. While these concerns are legitimate, net neutrality regulation is not yet the norm in India. In any event, any such regulation must take into account the consequences of regulation on innovation, competition, and consumer choice, as well as on the freedom of the medium (which may have detrimental impacts freedom of expression).

36. Though net neutrality regulation is being mooted, there is as yet anarray of definitions of 'net neutrality'. The views of telcos themselves differ in India. Further study on the methods of identifying and/or circumventing net neutrality is necessary before a policy position can be taken.

IV. Conclusions

37. CIS welcomes ASSOCHAM's initiative to study and develop industry-wide positions on Internet governance. This note provides brief descriptions of several issues in Internet governance where policy windows are open internationally and domestically. These issues include freedom of expression and privacy under Part III (Fundamental Rights) of the Constitution of India. The Supreme Court's hearing of a set of cases alleging unconstitutionality of Ss. 66A, 69, 69A and 79 (among others) of the IT Act, 2000, as well as consultations on issues such as pornography by the Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Committee and media laws by the Law Commission of India are important in this regard.

38. International and domestic engagement is necessary in the transition of stewardship of the IANA functions, as well as ICANN's own accountability and transparency measures. Similarly, in the area of cyber-security, though several initiatives are afoot internationally, India's engagement has been cursory until now. A concrete position from India's stakeholders, including the government, on these and the question of multi-stakeholderism in Internet governance would be of immense assistance.

39. Finally, net neutrality is an emerging issue of importance to industry's revenues and business models, and to users' rights such as access to information and freedom of expression.

[1] CIS gets ITU-D Sector Membership, goo.gl/PBGKWt (l.a. 8 Feb. 2015).

[2] Letter for Civil Society Involvement in WCIT, goo.gl/gXpYQD (l.a. 8 Feb. 2015).

[3] See, ex., Hariharan, What India's ITU Proposal May Mean for Internet Governance, goo.gl/hpWaZn (l.a. 8 Feb. 2015).

[4] Panday, WSIS +10 High Level Event: Open Consultation Process MPP: Phase Six: Fifth Physical Meeting, goo.gl/3XR24X (l.a. 8 Feb. 2015).

[5] Hariharan, WSIS+10 High Level Event: A Bird's Eye Report, goo.gl/8XkwyJ (l.a. 8 Feb. 2015).

[6] Pranesh Prakash elected as Asia-Pacific Representative to the Executive Committee of NonCommercial Users Constituency, goo.gl/iJM7C0 (l.a. 8 Feb. 2015).

[7] See, ex., CIS@IGF 2014, goo.gl/Werdiz (l.a. 8 Feb. 2015).

[8] Multi-stakeholder Internet Governance: The Way Ahead , goo.gl/NuktNi; Minimising legal risks of online Intermediaries while protecting user rights, goo.gl/mjQyww (l.a. 8 Feb. 2015).

[9] First Meeting of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group for India Internet Governance Forum, goo.gl/NCmKRp (l.a. 8 Feb. 2015).

[10] See Zero Draft of Content Removal Best Practices White Paper, goo.gl/RnAel8 (l.a. 8 Feb. 2015).

[11] See, ex., UK-US surveillance regime was unlawful 'for seven years', goo.gl/vG8W7i (l.a. 9 Feb. 2015).

[12] See, ex., Twitter: Turkey tops countries demanding content removal, goo.gl/ALyO3B (l.a. 9 Feb. 2015).

[13] See, ex., The ITU convenes a programme on Child Online Protection, goo.gl/qJ4Es7 (l.a. 9 Feb. 2015).

[14] Hariharan, Why India's Proposal at the ITU is Troubling for Internet Freedoms, goo.gl/Sxh5K8 (l.a. 9 Feb. 2015).

[15] Hickok, Report of the Group of Experts on Privacy vs. The Leaked 2014 Privacy Bill, goo.gl/454qA6 (l.a. 9 Feb. 2015).

[16] See, Supreme Court Of India To Hear Eight IT Act Related Cases On 11th April 2014 - SFLC, goo.gl/XLWsSq (l.a. 9 Feb. 2015).

[17] See, Dara, Intermediary Liability in India: Chilling Effects on Free Expression on the Internet, goo.gl/bwBT0x (l.a. 9 Feb. 2015).

[18] See, ex., Arun, Blocking online porn: who should make Constitutional decisions about freedom of speech?,goo.gl/NPdZcK; Hariharan & Subramanian, Search Engine and Prenatal Sex Determination: Walking the Tight Rope of the Law, goo.gl/xMj4Zw (l.a. 9 Feb. 2015).

[19] CSTD, The mapping of international Internet public policy issues, goo.gl/zUWdI1 (l.a. 9 Feb. 2015).

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/preliminary-submission-on-internet-governance-issues-to-assocham

Figures of Learning: The Visual Designer

sneha-pp — 2015-11-13T05:33:30Z

As part of its Making Methods for Digital Humanities project, CIS-RAW organized two consultations on new figures of learning in the digital context. For a proposed journal issue on the theme of ‘bodies of knowledge’ which draws upon these conversations, participants were invited to write short sketches on these figures of learning. This abstract by Tejas Pande examines the figure of the visual designer, and emerging practices of mapmaking.

Making Methods for Digital Humanities (2M4DH) project seeks to make specific interventions around methods in the larger debates and practices of Digital Humanities, which includes producing content within the field, building a living repository of knowledge content by developing methods as well as interfaces, platforms and knowledge infrastructure, and bringing together a range of practitioners, performers and researchers from different disciplines who are not necessarily only working on the digital. As part of this project two consultations were held in Bangalore, around figures of learning in the digital context. The following is a series of abstracts for a proposed journal issue, that perform multi-media writing, bringing in artistic practice, video, sound and theoretical concepts to describe a particular practice of learning and knowledge in India and focus on a specific body, figure or person that is at the centre of that knowledge practice.

The Visual Designer

Tejas Pande

Mapping is the visual articulation of a living complex system, and locates itself at the nodes that allow for exchanges of knowledge from diverse disciplines. Over the course of history, it has come to represent exchanges of information of a very diverse nature. Commonly associated with representations of physical spaces, maps have since accommodated a growing need to chalk out relationships between spaces (physical, or temporal), ideologies, and institutions. This expanded notion of mapping has affected the way creators of maps regard the practice of mapmaking itself. Armed with a growing arsenal of tools (offline and web-based) to map such networks with, mapmaking has opened up to a host of professionals, amateurs, and anyone else with a desire to express spatial-temporal relationships.

In such contexts, it is worthwhile to ask ourselves what is the role of traditional scientists, cartographers, and visual designers, who have been responsible for assimilating knowledge and making it visually palatable for wider audiences. The role of such mapmakers is further complicated by the expanded view of the craft of designing itself. For instance, graphic designer Aris Venetikidis began appearing on social media feeds in 2012 after his contribution to TEDx Dublin as the mapmaker genius behind the redesigned prototype of the Dublin Bus system. The new visualisation was met with critical praise, but interestingly his design process had steered the original mapmaking effort into that of quasi-transportation planning. Traditional mapmakers are being forced to intimately understand flows that constitute systems they wish to represent for others. Visual studies have historically emphasized decoding information embedded in collectively-generated syntax. Increasingly, multi-disciplinary practices have forced traditional designers to refashion their role in larger processes of production. What if their role was framed in the context of not only the rules of design process and problem definition, but the institutions within whom they operate, as well?

In my opinion, these figures have come to serve as facilitators in a process of knowledge creation and sharing, and use mapmaking as their primary visual tool to form networks of exchanges. Examples drawn from emerging planning practices, especially in the urban sphere, will be used to examine the role of a mapmaker, too.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/raw/figures-of-learning-the-visual-designer