The Centre for Internet and Society
https://cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 31 to 45.
JP Das's Books to be Made Available Free on Wikipedia
https://cis-india.org/openness/news/jp-dass-books-to-be-made-available-free-on-wikipedia
<b>Noted Odia-language author and art historian Jagannath Prasad Das's works will be available on Wikipedia for free.</b>
<p>A scanned version of the article published on October 16, 2015 is below:</p>
<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/JPDas.png" alt="null" class="image-inline" title="JP Das" /></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/news/jp-dass-books-to-be-made-available-free-on-wikipedia'>https://cis-india.org/openness/news/jp-dass-books-to-be-made-available-free-on-wikipedia</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaCIS-A2KOdia WikipediaAccess to Knowledge2015-12-15T08:18:51ZNews ItemORF India-UK Technology Partnership Conference
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/orf-india-uk-technology-partnership-conference
<b>As the consequence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much anticipated visit to the United Kingdom, representatives from stakeholder groups such as government and industry came together at Observers Research Foundation, Delhi, to deliberate upon various facets of India-UK Technology Partnership.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The spectrum of gathering had representation from companies such as Rolce Royce and ADS as well as from British High Commission and Indian Administration. The meeting was preceded by an informal tea session where all the dignitaries had one-to-one conversations on topics like Digital India, Make in India and investment in defence sector.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The conference was commenced by the opening address of Amitabh Kant, a man who’s associated with the Central Government on the Make in India project. The entire address of Mr Kant was centred on the scheme of Make in India and by presenting a series of facts he also highlighted the areas on which both India and UK have to work upon. Following are the certain takeaways from his illustrious address:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li style="text-align: justify; ">When the world has become a barren economic landscape, India is riding on a growth rate of 7.5%. The government, however, wishes for a higher rate of 9%.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">In order to make the Make in India scheme a success, the government of India is taking various steps such as making India a simpler place to do business by removing archaic and restricting laws, digitization of governance, rigorous opening up of the economy, integrating itself with the global market supply chain and clearance of 15 sectors where conditions were involved.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The government is also pushing for almost 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in sectors such as construction and infrastructure and increasing the bar for Railways as well. There’s also a rise in number of young and upcoming entrepreneurs in India who are attracting investments from foreign players such as Softbank.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">India is becoming a hub for global Research & Development (R&D) as many companies are setting up their R&D headquarters at Hyderabad and Bangalore.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The total amount of FDI inflow from UK is $22.56 billion. The major contributors to this figure are HSBC, Standard Chartered, Vodafone, Barclays, Uniliver, etc. This amount accounts to 8.5% of total inflows to India.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The most concerning figure is the share of India in the total outflows of the UK to the world which stands at a meagre rate of 1.19%. On the other hand 74% of FDI projects in UK are by Indian companies such as Tata, Ranbaxy, etc. These companies have also contributed a lot in improving the employment rate of UK. Moreover, India’s exports to UK are higher than its imports.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">PM Modi’s visit to the United Kingdom led to the meeting of CEOs from both sides. The issues raised by CEOs from UK included consistency and predictability of India’s tax regime (with reference to Vodafone case) while Indian CEO’s highlighted problems in UK’s visa regime.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">London should play a pivotal role in providing investment in infrastructure. In addition to this, long term lending is required railways and roadways. In pursuing the given policy, more awards are rolled out by the railways then the last several years. Indian banks have raised their resources through Rupee bonds.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Both countries are working towards realising National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF) which will be a joint partnership between NIIF and UK government. India, on the other hand, shall create fastrack mechanism to expedite the clearances of UK projects.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">New involvements in the field of design, patents and innovations are also desired. India is looking forward to have a technological collaboration with London which is the finance sector of the world. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After his address, a question was extended to him by one of the panellists which queried about UK investment in defense sector. Mr Kant replied to this question by saying that India is increasingly trying to ease out routes to defence FDI. He said that 16 articles from licensing route have been taken out and the government of India is working on defense procurement policy. He concluded his answer by quoting various defense collaborations between Indian companies with foreign players such as that of Tata and Boeing.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Glenn Kelly, Department of Security, British High Commission</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Mr. Kelly continued the proceedings with an address which was focussed on government’s approach towards India-UK Technological Partnership. He highlighted British departments such as UK Trade, Investment, Defense and Security Organisation which is a joint venture between Foreign and Commonwealth office and Department for Business. He talked about certain figures which explained UK’s defense export policy. According to his address, UK’s share in defense exports is 10 billion pounds which is 2nd largest in the world and its security exports stand at 6 billion which is 6th largest in the world.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Mr. Kelly saw PM Modi’s visit to UK as a good move towards defense diplomacy and bilateral defense relations. He talked about UK defense and technology R&D departments such as DSTL and Qinet which handle research on defense matters too sensitive to do in private sector. He also mentioned that UK defense and security industry is a home to world’s largest aerospace sector. There are more UK defense SMEs than France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Norway combined. He also highlighted that India is not an easy place to attract defense SMEs.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Mr. Kelly also talked about various government initiatives that deal with security exports to India. UK government has created a Triple Ministerial Lock on refusal especially for India. Till now, only 0.5% of export license requests have been refused. He also mentioned the TEPIDOIL model of security exports which deals with bilateral military collaboration for training equipment, personnel, information, doctrine, organisation, infrastructure and logistics. Mr Kelly constantly emphasised on military to military links and enabling genuine strategic engagement between two countries.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Mr. Kelly concluded his address by highlighting certain Technical/Commercial issues related to India-UK partnership:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>FDI cap: Management of technology is too expensive to develop.</li>
<li>Protection of Intellectual Property: Indigenisation of reverse engineering.</li>
<li>No Cost No Commitment (NCNC) Trials – risk of developing technology for a trial that could be cancelled.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>L1: Not conducive to developing latest technology </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Mr. Kelly’s address posed a very significant question to the panel: Is there a need for a new Government to Government (G2G) partnership on defense technology or is it the responsibility of UK and Indian industries?</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Steven Gillard, Vice President, Defence Customer Business - India at Rolls-Royce</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Mr Gillard, who was earlier a bureaucrat at UK Ministry of Defense, started his address by highlighting uniqueness in India-UK defense security relationship. He said that Indian culture is engrained in British conscience so much so that it helps businessmen to go an extra mile for India. By citing the example of Rolce Royce, he mentioned that the company’s engines have been made in India for past 16 years which empowers the engineers from places like Bangalore. According to Mr Gillard, the uniqueness of India-UK defense security relationship lies in our willingness and ability to participate in Make in India campaign.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Mr Gillard asked everyone on the panel to share their “breakfast table” thoughts on this issue. He assured that UK entrepreneurs are willing to invest in India. He also deliberated the idea of not only technology transfer but also capability transfer. Capability transfer is related with the notion of self reliance.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Panel Discussion</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After the address of three keynote speakers, the agenda was opened up for a general panel discussion. This discussion went for almost 40 minutes where all the dignitaries contributed their perspectives, questioned the points laid down by keynote speakers and tried to come up with an alternative mechanism.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The discussion started with the ORF representative highlighting the presence of rampant corruption in defense and security deals for the support of which he quoted the example of Bofors. This led to many panellists believe that Government to Government deals should be encouraged as they work really well, there’s more transparency and there aren’t many blockades. <br /><br />One of the panellists questions the address of Mr Kelly by saying that NCNC trials are not a technological issue but a procurement issue. There are so many capabilities but facts on grounds are miserable (quoting the figure indicating India’s share in total UK outflows from Mr Kant’s speech). Mr Kelly’s approach was also questioned on the fact that UK defense industry has been very aerospace centric. Mr Kelly replied to this question by saying that UK doesn’t own the portions of its own defence industry. <br /><br />The representative from ADS put forward a caveat saying 1980s was the era of doing business with the Soviets, and then came the Americans and Israelis. UK has been neglected by India’s bilateral defense trade priorities. Other panellists questioned UK’s willingness to be co-dependent and not just co-development in defense R&D sector. The current frustration would be solved only with reforms in our civil and procurement mechanism. <br /><br />While replying to Mr Gillard, one of the panellists said that co-transferability of technology and capability has to be both ways due to existing geo-strategic relationship. It would be very arrogant for UK to say that it’s a one way street.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The representative from the Indian Navy started his argument by mentioning that in 1960s, 80% of ships in Indian Navy were from UK. He further said that UK has to leave the mercantile approach at work with India through Make in India mechanism. Mr Gillard replied to this argument by saying that due to Section 17 of Defense Procurement Policy of India, UK SMEs are struggling to enter Indian markets. He said that UK entrepreneurs need to be told that India is a long term market and there’s a lack of government support.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In the end, Mr Kelly and Mr Gillard assured Indian representatives that UK defense sector is very much willing to collaborate with India and investment in Indian defense and security sector will not only be pushed through DRDO but also through SMEs on both sides.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On this note, the meeting was concluded and all the dignitaries proceeded for lunch and continued their personal interactions and clarifications.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/orf-india-uk-technology-partnership-conference'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/orf-india-uk-technology-partnership-conference</a>
</p>
No publisherKaran TripathiAccess to Knowledge2015-12-01T02:27:51ZBlog EntryCommunity Prioritisation of Content Donation: Kannada Wikisource
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/community-prioritisation-content-donation-kannada-wikisource
<b> CIS-A2K has initiated a community consultation in order to prioritise and streamline the work on Wikisource projects across FLA. Due to the commitment of volunteers from the respective FLA and the institutional partnerships that A2K has developed we have been able to bring a large corpus of content under free licence into our Wikisource projects. CIS-A2K promotes both content donation and content acquisition strategies in order to bring in free licence content.
</b>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Textbody">The re-releasing of the content under CC-BY-SA is a difficult task no doubt, but the even more difficult task is to get the donated content digitised and made available on Wikisource. As this activity involves three intermediary steps of scanning the original document, uploading the same on commons.wikimedia.org and finally recreate the same page on Wikisource by typing.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Textbody">It is common knowledge that Indian Language Wikimedia communities consist of very few volunteers and in many communities it is Wikipedia that is the chief attraction for volunteers. This compounds the problem towards work that has to be done on Wikisource. To overcome this problem CIS-A2K has initiated a community consultation and prioritisation effort. CIS-A2K consults community in form of posts on Village pump, mailing lists and other channels of communication and update them about the overall content donated towards Wikisource projects and requests for suggestions and feedback as to the plan to digitse and bringing the content on Wikisource.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Textbody">For the month of November, 2015 CIS-A2K discussed the plan with the Kannada community Wikimedians and proposed a plan of aggregating all the content that has been donated towards Kannada Wikisource and copyright lapse content that has been identified by Wikimedians. A2K team is currently utilising its institutional partnership with Christ University in digitising the content of Sri. Niranjana a prominent Kannada author that was donated by Prof. Tejaswini Niranjana. As a result of this collaboration with the community A2K team shall be posting a comprehensive list of the content donated to Kannada Wikisource along with copyright lapse books that are available digitally on Digital Library of India and Osmania University Digital Library and other such platforms.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Textbody">This consultation process with the Kannada Wikimedia community also seeded an idea of creating a 'Book Bank' for Kannada Wikimedians. The objective of the book bank is to provide authentic references, citation material and other primary sources of information for content generation. As a first step towards building of the proposed book bank, we have purchased encyclopaedic material on Stone Inscriptions found in Karnataka, Women writers of Karnataka, Literary history of Karnataka and Kannada Dictionaries. The material acquired under 'Book Bank' will serve as resources for community and will be provided to the community members upon request for the same.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Textbody">Following lists provide information about the current status of projects undertaken on Kannada Wikipedia:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard"><strong>Projects which are active on Wikisource:</strong></p>
<ol style="text-align: justify;">
<li>Vimochane - 50 pages to be typed out of 355</li>
<li>Abhaya - 63 to be typed of 326 pages</li>
<li>Doorada Nakshatra - 23 typed out of 175</li>
<li>Rangammana Vathara - 23 to be typed of 209 pages</li>
<li>Ekangini - 41 typed of 228 pages</li>
<li>Kalyanaswami - 100 typed of 251</li></ol>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Textbody">These books are scanned and uploaded on Kannada Wikisource</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Textbody"><strong>Books to be uploaded on Wikisource:</strong></p>
<ol style="text-align: justify;">
<li>Chirasmarane</li>
<li>Mrutyunjaya</li>
<li>Deekshe</li>
<li>Navodaya</li>
<li>Palike banda panchamruta</li>
<li>Swami Aparampara</li></ol>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Textbody"><strong>Books available to be scanned:</strong></p>
<ol style="text-align: justify;">
<li>Banashankari</li>
<li>Nandagokula</li></ol>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Textbody">CIS-A2K has visited the following libraries in order to optimise the efforts put into Kannada Wikisource:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Textbody">1) Central Library, Cubbon Park, Bangalore</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Textbody">2) Kannada Shaitya Parishat, Chamarajpet, Bangalore</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Textbody">3) B.M. Shri Pratishtana Library, Bangalore</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Textbody">4) Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs, Basavanagudi, Bangalore</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Textbody">The visits have resulted in identifying many books that were hitherto unavailable with A2K team. We are in process of getting these books and digitise them so that they can be uploaded on Kannada Wiisource. A2K team is hopeful that the increased levels of activity and consultation held with the community will help the overall progress of Kannada Wikisource project.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/community-prioritisation-content-donation-kannada-wikisource'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/community-prioritisation-content-donation-kannada-wikisource</a>
</p>
No publisherhasanOpen Educational ResourcesCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaKannada Wikisource2015-12-15T07:42:09ZBlog EntryAnalysis of Institutional Partnerships: University of Mysore and Guru G Learning Labs
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/analysis-of-institutional-partnerships-university-of-mysore-and-guru-g-learning-lab
<b>University of Mysore considered to be one of the most prestigious institutions in the country has been famous for its innovative pedagogic techniques and opening up for students various avenues of knowledge acquisition.</b>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard">The Kannada Encyclopedia project that was taken up by the Kuvempu Kannada Adhyana Samsthe, (KIKS), Manasagangothri, Mysore was one of its kind during its inception. It is safe to say that though Kannda has seen many other projects and attempts towards compiling encyclopedias, to this day the Vishwakoshas produced by University of Mysore are among the top picks regarding quality of the content, scope of the information and its reach with the general public. Many other encyclopedia projects such as “Bala Vignana Kosha” compiled by Shivaram Karanth, “Jnana Gangothri” by Niranjana, the “Kananda Sahitya Vishwakosha” from the Kannada University, Hampi have provided encyclopedic content to the Kannada readers.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard">The idea of the University of Mysore complied Vishwakoshas was simple. It seeked to provide basic and elemenatry information about key topics all around the universe (physical, spiritual, material, cultural, social, behavioural, political and many other domains of knowledge) to the general public. The intention was to make information accessible and easily understandable. It was not expected to educate or assist people in gaining profieciency regarding a certain topic but was expected to provide salient features, brief history and concise introduction.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard"><strong>Rationale for Institutional partnership:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard">The compilation of topics that were to be part of the Vishwakosha was done alphabetically and till date 13 Vishwakoshas have been produced along with one Kannada Vishaya Vishwakosha which exclusively deals with matters pertaining to Kannada land, language, literature, politics, culture, entertainment and other aspects of Kannada life. The Vishwakosha project was a method to democratise the process of production of knowledge. People from all walks of life were invited to contribute to the Vishwakosha along with the academicians and researchers. The submissions were then scrutinised by the review committee and was edited, information added as per the requirements. As this was not a text only Vishwakosha many attempts were made to source images as well. These were not used as ornamental or page filling purpose but was also informative in its own way with adequate meta data.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard">These encyclopedias have been extremely popular with the Kannada audience both for the content and for its competitive pricing. Prasaranga, the publication division of University of Mysore had also offered an discount for people who would purchase the entire set of Vishwakoshas at a special rate. The Vishwakosha project faced many problems and the last volume of the Vishwakosha was released in the year , while the first volume was released in . University of Mysore has also digitised the Vishwakoshas and made it avaialable for general public on a CD.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard"><strong>Plan of Action:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard">Access to Knowledge team sought to bring these treasure troves of Knowledge onto the digital platform and update the information available on these Vishwakoshas. It was a shot in the arm for the activities being conducted by CIS-A2K when University of Mysore agreed to re-release all of its encyclopedias under free licence for the benefit of larger Kannada community. University of Mysore also agreed to handover soft copies of the few encyclopedias (that were already digitised) to create and redirect content towards Kannada Wikipedia.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard">A2K team has conducted three skill building and Wikipedia orientation workshops with the students of University of Mysore in order to kick start the content generation activities. These workshops were received very positively by the students. However due to lack of an active community and serious infrastructural issues the students could not continue with the activities that had been planned. Due to the inactivity of these new volunteers we have witnessed a decrease in the activity of content generation effort as aimed earlier.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Textbody">CIS-A2K facilitated extracting the legacy text from the soft-copies, converting them to Unicode, distributing the files among volunteers and Christ University interns and uploading them to Kannada Wikisource. These articles will serve as primary material for new content generation on Kannada Wikipedia. CIS-A2K celeberated Open Knowledge Day in collaboration with University of Mysore.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard">The non availability of infrastructual requirement, administrative difficulties such as scheduling of academic calendar offered the A2K team many invaluable lessons towards fostering an institutional partnership. A2K team adopted corrective measures and has been using the encyclopedias donated by University of Mysore as a primary reference for the subsequent edit-a-thons. A2K has also created a project page on Meta to attract Kannada Wikimedians towards content generation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard"><strong>Outcome and Output:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard">A2K team utilised its institutional partnership with Christ University in the initial stages and digitised volumes of Kannada Encyclopedias. These were used both as references for the edit-a-thons conducted by CIS-A2K and as a primary reference material that was curated into an independent article on Kannada Wikipedia. Many Kannada Wikimedians have joined hands with A2K in acheiving this. This is an on-going activity.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard"><strong>Plans for Future:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard">As University of Mysore has rich archival collection particulalry in Indian Languages, A2K team intends to talk to individual departments to bring this content to Open Knowledge repositiries.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard">A2K team would like to involve various Departments to dedicate some staff on an hourly basis towards speedy completion of the project.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard">The existing MoU is understood as a one time activity of content donation (print and e copy of Vishwakosha) where as A2K would like to continue this activity as a long term engagement that will facilitate in building research skills and writing skills.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard">A2K team intends to request to University of Mysore should select/suggest some student volunteers for the digitisation project. With the inclusion of Kannada PA A2K team would collaborate with key Departments at the University of Mysore to conduct digitisation and translation sprints that will be facilitated by and other Wikimedians.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="Standard">A2K team would like to collate all the new articles created with the help of the content donated by University of Mysore and circulate it as a newsletter on a monthly basis and sent to the Kannada community and University of Mysore.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/analysis-of-institutional-partnerships-university-of-mysore-and-guru-g-learning-lab'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/analysis-of-institutional-partnerships-university-of-mysore-and-guru-g-learning-lab</a>
</p>
No publisherhasanOpen Educational ResourcesCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipedia2015-12-15T07:39:15ZBlog EntryTTT 2015
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/ttt-2015
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society's Access to Knowledge team (CIS-A2K) conducted a four day training workshop for Wikimedians all over India in order to facilitate conducting and organising outreach activities for promotion of Wikimedia activities within Indian language communities. Wikimedians from 21 language communities had participated in this training workshop including Wikipedians working for Nepali and Maithili Wikipedia.</b>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">CIS-A2K was successful in providing an idea exchange platform during the TTT workshop. Wikipedians from all over India got a chance to discuss their respective Wikimedia projects and identify best practices that could be customised for their own Wikimedia projects.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">CIS-A2K conducted TTT 2015 with a clear objecive of training Indian Wikimedians in conducting effective outreach activites, As a reflective exercise on the efficacy of our TTT camp held in Bangalore during February, 2015 we are now conducting follow-up with the participants and I have contacted three Wikipedians (for the month of November 2015) and following are the updates:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Sailesh Patnaik (Odia Wikimedian):</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Activities till now:</p>
<ol>
<li>Attended Google I/O Bhubaneswar to deliver a talk about Wikipedia movement.</li>
<li>Has organized a workshop at KIST Bhubaneswar with 50+ participants.</li>
<li>Was invited by GDG Bhubaneswar group to deliver a talk about Wikipedia project during Google Dev Fest.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Presented a seminar at CET Bhubaneswar after the invitation from the organizing committee of the Perception (The Annual tech fest of CET , Bhubaneswar).</li></ol>
<p>Upcoming Activities</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Planning to organize a Wiki Takes Bhubaneswar photowalk and am also planning a GLAM project with a Cooperative society powered by Central Government and spread Open Source movement in Odisha.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">V.T. Narayanan and Sayant Mahato (Samskritam Wikipedians):</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Activities till now:</p>
<ol>
<li>In May 2015, Samskrita Bharati organized a camp in Kalladka.</li>
<li>In July 2015 : Rashtriya Sanskrit Samsthan, Sringeri (Now Sringa Giri) organized a symposium for their staff and students.</li>
<li>In August 2015, Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidya Peeta, Tirupathi organized introductory classes on Wikipedia. Sayant Mahato attended the programme and expained in detail about Sanskrit Wikipedia.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Later in August 2015, at Aksharam, Bangalore, Samskrita Bharati conducted a " Medha Shibiram" exclusively oriented to youngsters and students who are based outside India like in USA. The Shibiram was well received both by the students and their parents. The participants were very interested to know about Sanskrit Wikipedia.</li>
<li>Samskrita Bharati is engaged in the work of editing the existing articles in Wikipedia. </li></ol>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/ttt-2015'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/ttt-2015</a>
</p>
No publisherhasanCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWikipedianSpeak2015-12-15T07:36:25ZBlog EntryOdia Wikimedia community meetup at Cuttack
https://cis-india.org/openness/odia-wikimedia-community-meetup-at-cuttack
<b>Odia Wikimedians are planning to gather in Cuttack and discuss about future project ideas for the community.</b>
<p>Agenda:</p>
<ul><li>Discussion about existing projects and planning for future</li><li>Implementing the community's plans<br /></li><li>Responsibilities of CIS-A2K's new program Associate Sailesh Patnaik</li><li>Restarting monthly meetup plans in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar</li></ul>
More in the <a class="external-link" href="https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%87%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%86:%E0%AC%AE%E0%AD%87%E0%AC%B3%E0%AC%A3/%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%9F%E0%AC%95/%E0%AD%A9">event page</a>
<p> on Odia Wikipedia.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/odia-wikimedia-community-meetup-at-cuttack'>https://cis-india.org/openness/odia-wikimedia-community-meetup-at-cuttack</a>
</p>
No publisherSailesh PatnaikWikipediaCIS-A2KOdia WikipediaAccess to Knowledge2015-12-29T12:07:56ZEventAbuse of Dominant Position in Indian Competition Law: A Brief Guide
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/abuse-of-dominant-position-in-indian-competition-law-a-brief-guide
<b>Every car owner would give a knowing nod when spoken to about the struggle of finding reasonably priced spare parts for their cars. While original parts can only be found at limited dealerships (which would invariably be miles away from home), once found, a small block of plastic would be worth a proverbial fortune.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In a path breaking judgment delivered by the Competition Commission of India (hereinafter ‘CCI’ or ‘the Commission’), fourteen car manufacturers were penalised, the amount adding up to INR 2544.65 crores, for anti-competitive practices which included grossly marking-up the prices of original car parts. They (the manufacturers) found to have abused their dominant position in the market of car parts.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In this post, the issue of ‘abuse of dominant’ position as per S.4 of the Competition Act (‘the Act’) shall be analysed. The three steps to determine a contravention of S.4 shall be discussed in terms of factors considered by the Commission to assess each, and lastly, penalising powers of the Commission will be looked into.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: justify; ">1. Relevant Market</h1>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The first thing to be determined in cases of alleged abuse of dominant position is the 'relevant market' in which the accused party has a dominant position. The purpose served by delineating a relevant market is to define the scope within which the position of an enterprise is to be tested for dominance and abuse thereof. The 'relevant market' is defined in terms of 'product' and 'geography', that is to say, the relevant market identifies the particular product/service or class of products produced or services rendered by an enterprise(s) in a given geographic area. Identification also includes identification of enterprises that compete to supply those products or services.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">A. Product Market</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Both the dimensions of the relevant market are governed by several factors. For example, product market has been defined to comprise all those products or services that are regarded as interchangeable or substitutable by the consumer, because of characteristics of the products or services, their prices and intended use.<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1">[1]</a>The CCI held that relevant product market is to be looked at form both demand and supply perspectives based on the characteristics of the product, its price and intended use.<a href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2">[2]</a> So, in the <i>BCCI </i>case, the relevant market was decided on the consideration of demand substitutability of various forms of entertainment. It was held that a cricket match could not be held to be substitutable by any other sport based on neither characteristics nor the intention of the viewer to watch a cricket match.<a href="#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3">[3]</a> Substitutability of products was in question again in <i>Schott glass </i>case where transparent and amber tubes made of the same type of glass and for the same purpose (storing chemicals), were held to be unsubstitutable because light sensitive chemicals could not be stored in transparent tubes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The relevance of defining a relevant product market is made clear by this hypothetical used by the CCI- "Simply because many wholesale traders of grains also do wholesale trading of vegetables does not imply that grains and vegetables are substitutable or that grains and vegetable <i>mandis</i> are interchangeable."<a href="#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4">[4]</a></p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">B. Geographical Market</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Relevant geographic markets could be local or national depending upon the facts in each case, but it cannot be global. <a href="#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5">[5]</a> These are areas where demand and supply of goods of services can be said to be homogenous and distinguishable from markets in neighbouring areas.<a href="#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6">[6]</a> Naturally, several factors then, like regulatory trade barriers, local specification requirements, national procurement policies, adequate distribution facilities, transport costs come under the purview of consideration. Therefore, if all such factors were uniform throughout the country vis-à-vis a product, the whole country would be the relevant geographical area.<a href="#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7">[7]</a> If not, then areas displaying uniformity would be. The intention of the consumer may also be used in defining the relevant geographical boundary. In a case of purchase and allocation of apartments, the Commission upheld <i>"geographic region of Gurgaon"</i> to be the relevant market because it observed that it was the intention of the buyer to buy an apartment in Gurgaon because it had developed a unique brand image over the years, a characteristic which other regions did not share. <a href="#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8">[8]</a></p>
<h1 style="text-align: justify; ">2. Determination of dominant position</h1>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Having determined the relevant market, the second step lies in determining whether the enterprise holds a dominant position in that market. Under the provisions of the Act, dominance refers to the ability of an enterprise to operate independently of market forces, and its position of strength, which enables it to affect competitors or consumers or the relevant market in its favour.<a href="#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9">[9]</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Various factors to be taken into account for determination of dominance are listed under S. 19(4) of the Act. Consequently, it might be said that market share, though a major factor, is not the sole yardstick in determination of dominance. This viewwas reaffirmed in <i>Mr.RamakantKini v Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital, Powai, Mumbai</i>.<a href="#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10">[10]</a> The Commission was assessing the dominance of the Hiranandani hospital. The relevant market was for provision of maternity services by super specialty and high-end hospitals within a distance of 12 kilometers from the Hiranandani Hospital. The Commission, in the case, clarified that the market shares of an entity is 'only one of the factors that decides whether an enterprise is dominant or not, but that factor alone cannot be decisive proof of dominance'.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In other cases, the Commission has adopted the practice of looking at the facts in totality to determine dominance. The case in point being <i>In Re M/s ESYS Information Technologies Pvt LtdvIntel Corporation (Intel Inc) &Ors.</i><a href="#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11">[11]</a> Along with the market share commanded by Intel, the Commission recognized various other factors- like consumer preference owing to the brand name, the existence of strong entry barriers in the relevant market, the significant intellectual property rights of Intel and the scale and scope enjoyed by Intel.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In <i>Pankaj Kumar</i>, the Commission opined that dominant position would be one in which the enterprise would have the ability to operate independently of competitive forces in the relevant market. In <i>Sheil</i>, the OEMs were held to be dominant in light of the fact that they had entered agreements with overseas equipment suppliers (OES) which effectively made the OEMs the sole proprietors of equipment of their companies, thereby, shielding themselves from competition.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: justify; ">3. Abuse, assessment of</h1>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The mere fact of dominance is inconsequential in so far as attracting the Act is concerned. What has to be shown is the abuse of the said dominance. An enterprise or a group is said to be abusing its dominant position if its activities, on perusal, are found to be fit any of the activities listed under S. 4(2).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Such activities may be divided into two categories- Exclusionary activities and exploitative activities.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Exclusionary activities are those in which the dominant entity uses its dominance to restrict entry of competition into the relevant market. For example, in <i>Re Shri ShamsherKataria v Seil Honda<a href="#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12"><b>[12]</b></a></i>, where there existed agreements between the dominant entities and the Overseas Suppliers of original car parts which prevented the Overseas Suppliers from supplying parts to independent repairers, such agreements were held to be anti-competitive as they restricted entry of new firms.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Exploitative activities, meanwhile, are those where the dominant entity exploits its dominance by imposing discriminatory and/or unjust conditions on other firms or consumers. A case in point would be <i>Pankaj Agarwal</i>, where, in a case pertaining to allotment of apartments, the contracts drafted unilaterally by DLF enabled them to be arbitrary about allotment of super-area, secretative about information relevant to the purchaser, like, the number of apartments on a floor, and to cancel allotments and forfeit booking amounts. The Commission held the contracts to be exploitative against buyers, and thus, abusive.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">A. The issue of per se violations</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">An issue at hand while discussing what amounts to abuse is whether commission of any act falling within S. 4(2) is <i>per se </i>violative of competition law. To elaborate, if an act by a dominant power, say, unjustly exploits the consumer, but is in pursuance of some policy or rule, would the dominant entity be held to be abusing its position? No such distinction or characterisation appears in the Act, but was introduced by the Commission in its decision in <i>Dhanraj Pillay v Hockey India<a href="#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13"><b>[13]</b></a></i>. In that case, Hockey India, a dominant entity in the market for organisation of private professional hockey activities in India and for services of hockey players, decided against adding World Hockey Series in the list of sanctioned events, thus, disincentivising players from participating in the same. The Commission noted that sanctioning of events was a regulatory function of Hockey India, and could not be found, <i>per se,</i> of violation of competition laws. Creating a further distinction between means and ends, the Commission noted that it had to proven that the clause in contention was applied by Hockey India in a discriminatory/unjust manner.<a href="#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14">[14]</a> So, what is left somewhat in the grey is whether the activity is in contravention of the Act if it results in abuse, or if it is done in a discriminatory manner.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: justify; ">4. Penalties and Sanctions</h1>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To an enterprise held to be abusing its dominant position, the Commission can do several things-</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Direct the enterprise to discontinue such acts that amounted to abuse. (S.27(a)). Examples of use of this power by the Commission can be found in cases like<i>In Re Shamsher Kataria<a href="#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15"><b>[15]</b></a> </i>and <i>Atos<a href="#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16"><b>[16]</b></a></i>, where the dominant parties were ordered to cease and desist from indulging in activities that had been found to be in contravention of S.4.</li>
<li>Impose penalties of up to ten percent of the average of the turnover for the last three preceding financial years. (S.27(b)).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">There has been some concern about this provision for though it provides the upper limit, it gives no guidelines for the calculation of penalties. The Commission, too, is yet to come up with guidelines of its own. So, as of now, the Commission has complete discretion in calculation of penalties to be imposed upon each of such person or enterprises which are parties to such abuse. However, the COMPAT has put some conditions on the Commission so far as awarding penalties is concerned. In a case, COMPAT admonished CCI for CCI's practice of awarding large penalties without providing any reasoning for the same. Furthermore, in the same judgment, COMPAT held that penalties are to be calculated on the basis of the 'relevant turnover'. <a href="#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17">[17]</a> So, in a case of abuse against a multi-product company, the turnover used to calculate the penalty would be the turnover from the particular product(s) in contention, and not the overall turnover.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, irregularity is rampant in this sphere of the functioning of the Commission and the Appellate Authority, for the COMPAT itself failed to follow its precedent of 'relevant turnover' in <i>M/s DLF Limited v Competition Commission of India &Ors<a href="#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18"><b>[18]</b></a></i>. COMPAT did not restrict the calculation of the penalty on the basis of DLF Limited's turnover arising only from the residential segment, despite the relevant market in that case being the market for 'high-end residential accommodation'. COMPAT upheld the penalty levied by the CCI, which was calculated on the basis of DLF's turnover pertaining to its entire business (i.e., the development of residential, office and commercial properties). <a href="#_ftn19" name="_ftnref19">[19]</a></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Lastly, the Commission can pass an order to cause the division of the dominant enterprise such that does not abuse its dominant position. (S.28)</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Conclusion</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Competition Act, 2003 is the successor of the Monopolistic and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969. It underwent great changes in 2007. Thus, the prevalent competition law jurisprudence in India has ages barely seven years, and may not be as thorough as the US jurisprudence, which has been evolving since 1901. In spite of that, it is a progressive bit of legislation which, unlike the MRTP Act which had little tolerance for any dominance, recognizes the changing market conditions and does not have problems with dominance <i>per se</i>, but it does not veer away from its objective of keeping the market competitive.</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<p><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1">[1]</a> Atos Worldline v Verifoneindia, Case No. 56 of 2012, ¶6.3</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<p><a href="#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2">[2]</a> Surinder Singh Barmi v BCCI, Case 61 of 2010; Kapoor GlassPvt Ltd v Schott Glass, Case 22 of 2010.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<p><a href="#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3">[3]</a> BCCI, id. at ¶8.34.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<p><a href="#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4">[4]</a> MCX Stock Exchange v NSE, Case 13 of 2009, ¶10.24.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<p><a href="#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5">[5]</a> BijayPoddar v Coal India Ltd., Case 59 of 2013.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<p><a href="#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6">[6]</a> Atos, supra note 1 at ¶6.3.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<p><a href="#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7">[7]</a> BijayPoddar, supra note 5 at ¶40</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn8">
<p><a href="#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8">[8]</a> Pankaj Agarwal v. DLF, C. Nos. 13 & 21 of 2010 and 55 of 2012, ¶6.23.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn9">
<p><a href="#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9">[9]</a> In Re Shri Shamsher Kataria v. Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. &Ors, Case No. 03 of 2011¶¶8.1.7, 8.1.8</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn10">
<p><a href="#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10">[10]</a> Case No. 39 of 2012.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn11">
<p><a href="#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11">[11]</a> Case 48 of 2011.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn12">
<p><a href="#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12">[12]</a> Supra note note 9 at ¶8.1.11.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn13">
<p><a href="#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13">[13]</a> Case 73 of 2011.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn14">
<p><a href="#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14">[14]</a> Id., ¶10.13.5(a)</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn15">
<p><a href="#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15">[15]</a> Supra note 9 at ¶11.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn16">
<p><a href="#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16">[16]</a> Supra note 1 at ¶6.32.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn17">
<p><a href="#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17">[17]</a> M/s Excel Crop Care Limited v Competition Commission of India, Appeal 79 of 2012, ¶62.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn18">
<p><a href="#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18">[18]</a> M/s DLF Limited v Competition Commission of India &Ors, Appeal No. 20 of 2011, Appeal No. 22 of 2011, Appeal No. 19 of 2012, Appeal No. 23 of 2011, Appeal No. 12 of 2012, Appeal No. 20 of 2012, Appeal No. 29 of 2013, Appeal No. 8 of 2013, Appeal No. 9 of 2013, Appeal No. 11 of 2013</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn19">
<p><a href="#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19">[19]</a> Cyril Shroff & Nisha Oberoi, <i>India: Abuse of Dominance</i>, Global Competition Review. Available at http://globalcompetitionreview.com/reviews/69/sections/235/chapters/2749/india-abuse-dominance/ (last visited on 18/11/2015).</p>
</div>
</div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/abuse-of-dominant-position-in-indian-competition-law-a-brief-guide'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/abuse-of-dominant-position-in-indian-competition-law-a-brief-guide</a>
</p>
No publisherSarthak SoodAccess to Knowledge2015-12-09T13:20:40ZBlog EntryAccess to Knowledge Bulletin — May 2013
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-may-2013
<b>In this issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are pleased to bring you updates about the open exhibition held at our office for celebrating five years of our existence, Access to Knowledge work plan (2013-14), and the revised budget (September 2012 - February 2013).</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikimedia Foundation, beginning from September 1, 2012, awarded the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. Consequently, Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program became the <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan" target="_blank">Access to Knowledge (A2K) program</a> of CIS. In this newsletter, we are pleased to bring you updates about the recently concluded exhibition organised in our offices in Bangalore and Delhi and share with you the feedback to the Access to Knowledge work plan from the wikipedia community.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_To_Knowledge/Team" title="Access To Knowledge/Team">A2K team</a> consists of three members based in Bangalore: <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team">T. Vishnu Vardhan</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team">Dr. U.B. Pavanaja</a> and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team">Subhashish Panigrahi</a> and one member <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team">Nitika Tandon</a> in Delhi. <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team">Noopur Raval</a>, Programme Officer left the organisation on April 24, 2013. Archives of our newsletters are <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at <a href="http://bit.ly/TOcXId" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/TOcXId</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/celebrating-5-years-of-cis"><strong>Celebrating 5 Years of CIS</strong></a><br />CIS is now 5 years old and we recently celebrated this by holding an open exhibition in our offices in Bangalore and Delhi from May 20 to 23, showcasing our work and accomplishments over the five year period. We had about 170 visitors coming in to our office. Renowned artists like Tara Kelton, Kiran Subbaiah, Navin Thomas, Abhishek Hazra and Sharath Chandra Ram exhibited their work. The four-day event attracted press coverage: <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/bangalore-mirror-vandana-kamath-may-18-2013-ngo-invites-public-to-peruse-its-accounts">Bangalore Mirror</a> (May 18, 2013), <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/dna-india-may-19-2013-subir-ghosh-a-lifetime-of-five-years-on-the-internet">DNA</a> (May 19, 2013), <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-may-22-2013-cis-highlights-changes-ushered-in-by-the-internet">Hindu</a> (May 22, 2013), <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-may-24-2013-report-on-pavanaja-talk-at-cis">Prajavani</a> (May 23, 2013), <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/udayavani-may-25-2013-report-on-cis-5-years-celebration">Udayavani</a> (May 25, 2013) and <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/bangalore-mirror-vandana-kamath-may-31-2013-shooting-cyber-cafes-before-they-die">Bangalore Mirror</a> (May 31, 2013). <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/celebrating-5-years-of-cis">Download all the posters that were part of the exhibition here</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Announcements</strong></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/resources/access-to-knowledge-work-plan">Access to Knowledge Work Plan</a> (April 2013 - June 2014): CIS has announced its detailed plan with projection of outcomes and expected impact of the A2K programme activities. The document has been made in consultation with various stakeholders and keeping in mind the objectives, opportunities and challenges faced by each of the Indian language Wikimedia projects. Feel free to share any feedback.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">WMF-A2K Revised Budget (draft) and Utilization (September 2012 - February 2013): In our effort to increase transparency with the working of CIS-A2K programme, we are <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF-A2K_Grant_Budget_and_Utilization_Sept12_-Feb13.pdf">sharing</a> with you the A2K Programme Budget along with the utilization for the above period. The proposed revisions to the budget along with some notes are <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF-A2K_Revised_Budget_%28draft%29_and_Utilization_Sept_12-Feb_13.pdf">here</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-tiss-mou" class="external-link">CIS Signs MOU with TISS</a>: has signed a MoU with TISS as part of which we will collaboratively work towards building Digital Knowledge Partnerships with select higher education institutions.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">India Access to Knowledge IRC can be accessed here: <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/IRC/13th_May">May 13, 2013</a> (All Language Discussion) and <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/IRC/26th_May">May 26, 2013</a> (Odia Language Discussion).</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Blog Entries</strong></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-needs-assessment">Odia Wikipedia: Needs Assessment</a> (by Subhashish Panigrahi, May 11, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/access-to-knowledge-work-plan-synopsis-of-feedback-by-wikipedians">Access to Knowledge Work Plan: Synopsis of Feedback by Wikipedians</a> (by Nitika Tandon, May 20, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/wikipedia-introductory-session">Wikipedia Introductory Session organized for Data and India portal consultants</a> (by Subhashish Panigrahi, May 30, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/my-first-wikipedia-training-workshop" class="external-link">My First Wikipedia Training Workshop – Theatre Outreach Unit</a>, University of Hyderabad (by T. Vishnu Vardhan, June 19, 2013). </li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Events Organised</strong></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-udupi-april-29-2013">Kannada Wikipedia Workshop</a> (April 29, 2013, Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the workshop and gave a talk on Kannada Wikipedia</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Event Participated</strong></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/kannada-irc-meet-may-7-2013">Kannada IRC Meet</a> (organised by the Wikipedia Community, May 7, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja participated in this.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Upcoming Event</strong></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/digital-humanities-for-indian-higher-education">Digital Humanities for Indian Higher Education</a> (co-organised in collaboration with HEIRA-CSCS, Tumkur University, CILHE-TISS and CCS (IISc), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, July 13, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Press Coverage</strong></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-may-24-2013-report-on-pavanaja-talk-at-cis">Report on CIS 5 Years Celebration</a> (Prajavani, May 23, 2013). Prajavani published a report of Dr. U.B. Pavanja’s talk “From Palm Leaf to Tablet – Journey of Kannada”.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/udayavani-may-25-2013-report-on-cis-5-years-celebration">Report on CIS 5 Years Celebration</a> (Udayavani, May 25, 2013). Udayavani published a report of the evening programme hosted as part of the Centre for Internet and Society's 5 year celebrations in its Bangalore edition.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/hmtv-may-30-2013-wikipedia-and-telegu-wikipedians">A Feature on Wikipedia and Telegu Wikipedians</a> (HMTV, May 30 – 31, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan is quoted in this half an hour feature on Wikipedia and Telugu Wikipedians. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-live-phone-in-programme">Wikipedia Live Phone-in Programme</a> (HMTV, June 1, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan speaks about Telegu Wikipedia in the discussion that was telecasted live.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/advocacy/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a> with ITU and G3ict, and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/dnbook">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/position-papers">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/digital-natives-with-a-cause-a-report">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> with Hivos, etc. We have conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k/blog/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/internet-governance/front-page/blog/cis-feedback-to-nia-bill">NIA Bill</a>, etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO. CIS staff participates in the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meetings regularly held in Geneva, and participate in the discussions and comments on them from a public interest perspective. Our Policy Director, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/accessibility/blog/national-award">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/news/nirmita-nivh-award">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Follow us elsewhere</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="https://twitter.com/cis_india">Twitter</a></li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/28535315687/">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="https://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Support Us</strong><br />Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Request for Collaboration</strong><br />We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at <a href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a> or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at <a href="mailto:nishant@cis-india.org">nishant@cis-india.org</a></p>
<p><i>CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-may-2013'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-may-2013</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-07-04T04:17:49ZPageKannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Coverage in Prajavani)
https://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage
<b>Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted a workshop in Hasan on June 4, 2013. Prajavani carried a report on June 5, 2013.</b>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/PVHasan.png" alt="Prajavani (June 5, 2013)" class="image-inline" title="Prajavani (June 5, 2013)" /></p>
</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>A Kannada Wikipedia workshop was conducted in Hasan by Dr. U.B. Pavanaja on June 4, 2013. Above is the report published by Prajavani in Kannada.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage'>https://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-07-02T07:05:25ZNews ItemKannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Coverage in Samyukta Karnataka)
https://cis-india.org/news/samyukta-karnataka-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage
<b>Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted a workshop in Hasan on June 4, 2013. Samyukta Karnataka published a report of the workshop on June 5, 2013.</b>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/SamyuktaKarnataka.png" alt="Samyukta Karnataka Report" class="image-inline" title="Samyukta Karnataka Report" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Above is the report in Kannada of the workshop conducted in Hasan on June 4, 2013.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/samyukta-karnataka-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage'>https://cis-india.org/news/samyukta-karnataka-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-07-02T07:16:11ZNews Item‘Miracle at Marrakesh’ to help visually impaired read
https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-ramya-kannan-june-30-2013-miracle-at-marrakesh-to-help-visually-impaired-read
<b>The treaty will make access to books for the visually impaired, blind and print disabled easier.</b>
<hr />
<p>The article by Ramya Kannan was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/miracle-at-marrakesh-to-help-visually-impaired-read/article4864281.ece?homepage=true">published in the Hindu</a> on June 30, 2013. Pranesh Prakash is quoted.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On Friday, in the same city that established the World Trade Organisation nearly two decades ago, another significant treaty was born. In Marrakesh, Morocco, international negotiators signed a treaty that will make access to books for the visually impaired, blind and print disabled easier.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After a week of intense debate among the negotiators (facilitated by the World Intellectual Property Organisation), the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or otherwise Print Disabled emerged.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">It will address the ‘book famine’ for the visually impaired by “requiring its contracting parties to adopt national law provisions that permit the reproduction, distribution and making available of published works in accessible formats through limitations and exceptions to the rights of copyright right holders.” Very simply, it allows the waiver of copyright restrictions in order for books to be available in formats such as formats such as Braille, large print text and audio books.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">Pranesh Prakash of the Centre for Internet and Society, in his closing remarks said: “It is historic that today WIPO and its members have collectively recognised in a treaty that copyright isn't just an ‘engine of free expression’ but can pose a significant barrier to access to knowledge.”</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">To recognise that copyright should not frustrate access for some groups of people and thereby to free books from that ‘constraint’ is of immeasurable significance for people otherwise unable to access books in the conventional format.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">The treaty also provides assurances to authors and publishers that that system will not expose their published works to misuse or distribution to anyone other than the intended beneficiaries. “There are no winners and no losers, this is a treaty for everyone,” said Moroccan Minister of Communications Mustapha Khalfi, going on to describe it as the “Miracle in Marrakesh.”</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">There are an estimated 285 million blind and partially-sighted people in the world, of which the largest percentage lives in India. Only 1 to 7 per cent of all books published are available in formats accessible to them. India’s key campaigner for the treaty, the late Rahul Cherian of Inclusive Planet was full of beans when he spoke to <i>The Hindu</i> in December last year, anticipating the possibility of a treaty half a year later.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">“It is a breakthrough!” he said excitedly as he broke the news, “The Extraordinary General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organisation has referred the Treaty for Visually Impaired Persons to a diplomatic conference in June of 2013.”</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-ramya-kannan-june-30-2013-miracle-at-marrakesh-to-help-visually-impaired-read'>https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-ramya-kannan-june-30-2013-miracle-at-marrakesh-to-help-visually-impaired-read</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaIntellectual Property RightsCopyrightAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2013-07-02T10:07:28ZNews ItemWiki Rahasya: Panel Discussion on Suvarna News
https://cis-india.org/news/suvarna-news-june-13-2013-wiki-rahasya-panel-discussion
<b>Dr. U.B.Pavanaja participated in a panel discussion around Wikipedia in general and about Kannada Wikipedia in specific. This was telecast by Suvarna News 24x7 (Kannada) TV channel on June 13, 2013.</b>
<h3>Videos</h3>
<p><b>Part 1 </b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HeGts72SxiI" width="320"></iframe></p>
<hr />
<p><b>Part 2 </b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/s6txDACzK8c" width="320"></iframe></p>
<hr />
<p><b>Part 3 </b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VjQNQ9pKORg" width="320"></iframe></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/suvarna-news-june-13-2013-wiki-rahasya-panel-discussion'>https://cis-india.org/news/suvarna-news-june-13-2013-wiki-rahasya-panel-discussion</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaVideoOpenness2013-07-02T16:36:11ZNews ItemAccess to Knowledge Bulletin — March 2013
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-march-2013
<b>In the third issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are pleased to bring you updates from the Indic Wikipedia Visualisation project, reports of events organised in Goa, and press coverage of the Kannada Wikipedia Workshop held in Mysore.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_To_Knowledge/Team" target="_blank" title="Access To Knowledge/Team">A2K team</a> consists of four members based in Delhi: <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team" target="_blank">T. Vishnu Vardhan</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team" target="_blank">Nitika Tandon</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team" target="_blank">Subhashish Panigrahi</a> and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team" target="_blank">Noopur Raval</a>, and one member <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team" target="_blank">Dr. U.B. Pavanaja</a> who is working from Bangalore office.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at <a href="http://bit.ly/TOcXId" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/TOcXId</a>.</p>
<h3>Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/indic-wikipedia-visualisation-project-visualising-basic-parameters">Visualising Basic Parameters</a> (by Sajjad Anwar and Sumandro Chattapadhyay, March 26, 2013): Sajjad and Sumandro bring you a visualisation of the growth of Indic Wikipedia in this first post on Indic Wikipedia Visualisation project. </li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/wikipedia-session-at-bits-goa">Introductory Wikipedia session at BITS Goa</a> (organised by CIS, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, Goa, March 7, 2013). The Access to Knowledge team was invited by Nikhil Dixit from BITS to organise a Wikipedia editing session. Nitika Tandon led the editing session.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/kannada-wikipedia-workshop">Kannada Wikipedia Workshop</a> (organised by CIS, Institution of Engineers, JLB Road, Mysore, March 24, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the event.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Co-organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/wiki-womens-day-in-goa">Wiki Women's Day in Goa</a> (organised by the Wikimedia India Chapter and CIS, Nirmala Institute of Education, Panaji, Goa, March 8, 2013). Nitika Tandon participated in this workshop held on International Working Women's Day, and shares the developments in this report.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/wikipedia-workshop-for-kannada-science-writers">Wikipedia Workshop for Kannada Science Writers</a> (organised by Wikimedia Chapter India, Karnataka Rajya Vijnana Parishath and CIS, Karnataka Rajya Vijnana Parishath Conference Hall, Banashankari 2nd Stage, Bangalore, March 17, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja participated in the event.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Upcoming Event (Co-organised)</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/telegu-wiki-mahotsavam-2013">Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam 2013</a> (co-organised with the Telegu Wikipedia community, Hyderabad, April 9 to 11, 2013). Vishnu Vardhan is participating in this event as a speaker. A public event will be held on April 11 from 5.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. at Golden Threshold (Sarojini Naidu's house) in Hyderabad.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Participated In</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-womens-workshop-bangalore-2013">Wikipedia Women's Workshop Bangalore 2013</a> (organised by Wikimedia India, Servelots Infotech, Jayanagar, Bangalore, March 8, 2013). The event was covered by <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-womens-workshop-bangalore-2013">Kannada Prabha</a> on March 9, 2013. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja participated in the event.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-at-avenir">Wikipedia at Avenir</a> (organised by the Wikipedia community, Netaji Subhash Engineering College, Kolkata, West Bengal, March 11, 2013). CIS supported the event.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Report from Other Organisations</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikipedia Community members helped the Higher Education Innovation and Research Applications Programme (HEIRA) of CSCS Bangalore organize a day-long workshop on ‘Digital Literacy’ at Ahmednagar College, Ahmednagar, Maharasthra on January 17, 2013. Tanveer Hasan of HEIRA shares with us the developments in <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/ahmednagar-marathi-wikipedia-workshop-report">this report</a>.</p>
<h3>Media Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-report-in-prajavani">Kannada Wikipedia Workshop, Mysore</a> (Prajavani, March 25, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/advocacy/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a> with ITU and G3ict, and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/dnbook">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/position-papers">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/digital-natives-with-a-cause-a-report">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> with Hivos, etc. We have conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k/blog/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/internet-governance/front-page/blog/cis-feedback-to-nia-bill">NIA Bill</a>, etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO. CIS staff participates in the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meetings regularly held in Geneva, and participate in the discussions and comments on them from a public interest perspective. Our Policy Director, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/accessibility/blog/national-award">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/news/nirmita-nivh-award">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<h3>Follow us elsewhere</h3>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="https://twitter.com/cis_india">Twitter</a></li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/28535315687/">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="https://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Support Us</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.</p>
<h3>Request for Collaboration</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at <a href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a> or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at <a href="mailto:nishant@cis-india.org">nishant@cis-india.org</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-march-2013'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-march-2013</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-04-15T16:47:20ZPageAccess to Knowledge Bulletin — April 2013
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-april-2013
<b>In the third issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are pleased to bring you updates from the Indic Wikipedia Visualisation project, reports of events organised in Kolkata, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikimedia Foundation, beginning from September 1, 2012, awarded the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. Consequently, Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program became the <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan" target="_blank">Access to Knowledge (A2K) program</a> of CIS. In the third issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are pleased to bring you updates from the Indic Wikipedia Visualisation project, reports of events organised in Goa, and press coverage of the Kannada Wikipedia Workshop held in Mysore.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_To_Knowledge/Team" target="_blank" title="Access To Knowledge/Team">A2K team</a> consists of three members based in Delhi: <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team" target="_blank">T. Vishnu Vardhan</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team" target="_blank">Nitika Tandon</a> and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team" target="_blank">Subhashish Panigrahi</a> and one member <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team" target="_blank">Dr. U.B. Pavanaja</a> who is working from Bangalore office. <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team" target="_blank">Noopur Raval</a>, Programme Officer (Access to Knowledge) has resigned. April 24, 2013 was her last working day. Archives of our newsletters are <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at <a href="http://bit.ly/TOcXId" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/TOcXId</a>.</p>
<p><b>Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/indic-wikipedia-visualisation-project-visualising-page-views-and-project-pages">Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project #2: Visualising Page Views and Project Pages</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Guest Blog</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/indian-wiki-women-history-month">Indian WikiWomen celebrate Women’s History Month</a> (by Netha Hussain, April 29, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Event Organised</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-udupi-april-29-2013">Kannada Wikipedia Workshop</a> (April 29, 2013, Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the workshop and gave a talk on Kannada Wikipedia.</li>
</ul>
<p>Events Co-organised</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The following events were organised in the month of March but reports were written during the month of April. Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi held meetings with wikipedians:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wiki-meet-up-kolkata">Kolkata Wiki Community Meetup</a> (organised by CIS and Kolkata Wiki Community, March 14, 2013). </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-cuttack-community-meetup-march-16-2013">Odia Wikipedia - Cuttack Community Meetup</a> (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Cuttack, March 16, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-meet-up-bhubaneswar-march-17-2013">Odia Wikipedia – Bhubaneswar Community Meetup</a> (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Bhubaneswar, March 17, 2013). </li>
</ul>
<p>The following event was organised in the month of April. We will be publishing the report soon:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/telegu-wiki-mahotsavam-2013">Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam 2013</a> (organised by Telugu Wikipedia Community and CIS, Hyderabad, April 9 – 11, 2013). Vishnu Vardhan was one of the trainers at the Wikipedia Academy at Centre for Good Governance on April 9, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan spoke about the Access to Knowledge work in one of the sessions of Wikimedia Meeting with Media Heads on April 10, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan gave a talk on A2K’s plans for the growth of Telegu Wikipedia in 2013-14 at the Telegu Wikipedia general meeting on April 11, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan also gave a talk about Access to Knowledge in the digital era at the Wiki Chaitanya Vedika on April 11, 2013.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/advocacy/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a> with ITU and G3ict, and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/dnbook">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/position-papers">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/digital-natives-with-a-cause-a-report">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> with Hivos, etc. We have conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k/blog/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/internet-governance/front-page/blog/cis-feedback-to-nia-bill">NIA Bill</a>, etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO. CIS staff participates in the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meetings regularly held in Geneva, and participate in the discussions and comments on them from a public interest perspective. Our Policy Director, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/accessibility/blog/national-award">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/news/nirmita-nivh-award">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<p><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="https://twitter.com/cis_india">Twitter</a></li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/28535315687/">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="https://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Support Us</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Request for Collaboration</b><br />We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at <a href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a> or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at <a href="mailto:nishant@cis-india.org">nishant@cis-india.org</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-april-2013'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-april-2013</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-05-29T10:57:49ZPageApril 2013 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2013-bulletin
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) welcomes you to the fourth issue of its newsletter for the year 2013. In this issue we bring you an overview of our research programs, updates of events organised by us, events we participated in, news and media coverage, and videos of some of our recent events.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/celebrating-5-years-of-cis"><b>Celebrating 5 Years of CIS</b></a><br />We at the Centre for Internet and Society celebrate 5 years of existence with an exhibition showcasing our work and accomplishments over this time. The exhibition will be held concurrently at both our Bangalore and Delhi offices from May 20 to 24, 2013, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.</p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/google-policy-fellowship-call-for-applications-2013">Google Policy Fellowship</a></b><br />CIS is inviting applications for the Google Policy Fellowship programme. Google is providing a USD 7,500 stipend to the India fellow who will be selected by July 1, 2013. Fellowship focus areas include Access to Knowledge, Openness in India, Freedom of Expression, Privacy, and Telecom Send in your applications for the position by June 15, 2013.</p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><b>Jobs</b><br /> CIS invites applications for the posts of <a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/vacancy-for-developer">Developer</a> (NVDA Screen Reader Project), and <a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/programme-officer-internet-governance">Programme Officer</a> (Internet Governance). To apply send your resume to <a href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a> and <a href="mailto:pranesh@cis-india.org">pranesh@cis-india.org</a>. CIS also invites applications for the post of <a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/programme-officer-pilot-projects-access-to-knowledge">Programme Officer</a> (Access to Knowledge, Pilot Projects). To apply for this position send your resume to <a href="mailto:vishnu@cis-india.org">vishnu@cis-india.org</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is doing two projects in partnership with the <b>Hans Foundation</b>. One is to create a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India and another is for developing a screen reader and text-to- speech synthesizer for Indian languages. CIS is also working with the World Blind Union and many other organisations to develop a Treaty for the Visually Impaired helped by the WIPO:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>National Resource Kit for Persons with Disabilities</b><br />Anandhi Viswanathan from CIS and Manojna Yeluri from the Centre for Law and Policy Research are working in this project. Draft chapters have been published. Feedback and comments are invited from readers for the chapters on Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-kit-himachal-pradesh-call-for-comments">The Himachal Pradesh Chapter</a> (by Anandhi Viswanathan, April 30, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-kit-goa-call-for-comments">Goa Chapter</a> (by Anandhi Viswanathan, April 30, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-kit-jammu-kashmir-call-for-comments">The Jammu & Kashmir Chapter</a> (by Anandhi Viswanathan, April 30, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-kit-rajasthan-call-for-comments">The Rajasthan Chapter</a> (by Manojna Yeluri, April 30, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p>Note: <i>All of these are early drafts and will be reviewed and updated</i>.</p>
<p><b>Events Organised</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/girls-in-ict-day-mithra-jyothi">Girls in ICT Day</a> (April 25, 2013, Mitra Jyothi Auditorium, HSR Layout, Bangalore). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave a talk on Social Media and Kannada Language for Women with Disabilities. Sara Morais wrote an event report.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/events/global-accessibility-awareness-day-2013">Global Accessibility Awareness Day</a> (May 9, 2013, TERI, Southern Regional Centre, Domlur, Bangalore).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Announcement</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/cis-itu-d-sector-membership">CIS Gets ITU-D Sector Membership</a>: CIS has become a sector member of ITU-D.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a> and <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness">Openness</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Wikimedia Foundation <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">awarded</a> CIS a two year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop the growth of Indic language communities and projects by community collaborations and partnerships. This is being carried out by the Access to Knowledge team based in Delhi. CIS is also doing a project (Pervasive Technologies) on examining the relationship between production of pervasive technologies and intellectual property. CIS also promotes openness including open government data, open standards, open access, and free/libre/open source software through its Openness programme.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan"><b>Wikipedia</b></a><br />Beginning from September 1, 2012, Wikimedia Foundation <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">awarded</a> CIS a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. The <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_To_Knowledge/Team" title="Access To Knowledge/Team">A2K team</a> consists of four members based in Delhi: <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team">T. Vishnu Vardhan</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team">Nitika Tandon</a> and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team">Subhashish Panigrahi</a>, and one team member <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team">Dr. U.B. Pavanaja</a> who is working from Bangalore office. <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team">Noopur Raval</a>, Programme Officer has left the organisation. April 24, 2013 was her last working day.</p>
<p><b>Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/indic-wikipedia-visualisation-project-visualising-page-views-and-project-pages">Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project #2: Visualising Page Views and Project Pages</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/indian-wiki-women-history-month">Indian WikiWomen celebrate Women’s History Month</a> (by Netha Hussain, April 29, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/konkani-wikipedia-analysis">Analysis of Konkani Wikipedia: Facts & Challenges</a> (by Nitika Tandon, April 30, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-needs-assessment">Odia Wikipedia: Needs Assessment</a> (by Subhashish Panigrahi, April 30, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Event Organised</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-udupi-april-29-2013">Kannada Wikipedia Workshop</a> (April 29, 2013, Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the workshop and gave a talk on Kannada Wikipedia.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Events Co-organised</b><br />The following events were organised in the month of March but reports were written during the month of April. Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi held meetings with wikipedians:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wiki-meet-up-kolkata">Kolkata Wiki Community Meetup</a> (organised by CIS and Kolkata Wiki Community, March 14, 2013). </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-cuttack-community-meetup-march-16-2013">Odia Wikipedia - Cuttack Community Meetup</a> (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Cuttack, March 16, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-meet-up-bhubaneswar-march-17-2013">Odia Wikipedia – Bhubaneswar Community Meetup</a> (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Bhubaneswar, March 17, 2013). </li>
</ul>
<p>The following event was organised in the month of April. We will be publishing the report soon:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/telegu-wiki-mahotsavam-2013">Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam 2013</a> (organised by Telugu Wikipedia Community and CIS, Hyderabad, April 9 – 11, 2013). Vishnu Vardhan was one of the trainers at the Wikipedia Academy at Centre for Good Governance on April 9, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan spoke about the Access to Knowledge work in one of the sessions of Wikimedia Meeting with Media Heads on April 10, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan gave a talk on A2K’s plans for the growth of Telegu Wikipedia in 2013-14 at the Telegu Wikipedia general meeting on April 11, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan also gave a talk about Access to Knowledge in the digital era at the Wiki Chaitanya Vedika on April 11, 2013.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Other </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k"><b>Access to Knowledge</b></a><b> Updates</b></p>
<p><b>WIPO</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-intervention-eu-blocking-wipo-treaty-for-blind">CIS Intervention on the Treaty for the Visually Impaired at SCCR/SS/GE/2/13</a> (Geneva, April 18 – 20, 2013). Pranesh Prakash participated in the session and spoke about the rights of the visually impaired.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Internet Governance programme conducts research around the various social, technical, and political underpinnings of global and national Internet governance, and includes online privacy, freedom of speech, and Internet governance mechanisms and processes. Currently, CIS is doing a project with <b>Privacy International</b>, London to facilitate research and events around surveillance, and freedom of speech and expression.</p>
<p><b>Information Technology</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/it-amendment-act-69-a-rules-draft-and-final-version-comparison">IT (Amendment) Act, 2008, 69A Rules: Draft and Final Version Comparison</a> (by Jadine Lannon, April 27, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/indian-telegraph-act-419-a-rules-and-it-amendment-act-69-rules">Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, 419A Rules and IT (Amendment) Act, 2008, 69 Rules</a> (by Jadine Lannon, April 28, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/it-amendment-act-69-rules-draft-and-final-version-comparison">IT (Amendment) Act, 2008, 69 Rules: Draft and Final Version Comparison</a> (by Jadine Lannon, April 30, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/it-amendment-act-69-b-draft-and-final-version-comparison">IT (Amendment) Act, 2008, 69B Rules: Draft and Final Version Comparison</a> (by Jadine Lannon, April 30, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Resources</b><br />The below rules were published recently:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/resources/it-procedure-and-safeguards-for-interception-monitoring-and-decryption-of-information-rules-2009">Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/resources/it-procedure-and-safeguard-for-monitoring-and-collecting-traffic-data-or-information-rules-2009">Information Technology (Procedure and safeguard for Monitoring and Collecting Traffic Data or Information) Rules, 2009</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/resources/indian-telegraph-act-section-419-a-rules">Rules Under Section 419A of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885</a></li>
</ul>
<p><b>Newspaper Column</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/indian-express-april-6-2013-nishant-shah-off-the-record">Off the Record</a> (by Nishant Shah, Indian Express, April 6, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Privacy</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/indias-big-brother-the-central-monitoring-system">India´s ´Big Brother´: The Central Monitoring System</a> (CMS) (by Maria Xynou, April 8, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Events Organised</b><br />Maria Xynou gives an overview of the discussions and recommendations from the privacy round tables held in Delhi and Bangalore:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/report-on-the-first-privacy-round-table-meeting">A Privacy Round Table in Delhi</a> (organized by CIS and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, FICCI Federation House, Tansen Marg, New Delhi, April 3, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/report-on-the-2nd-privacy-round-table">A Privacy Round Table in Bangalore</a> (organized by CIS and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Jayamahal Palace, Jayamahal Road, Bangalore, April 20, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Announcements</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">2nd Expert Committee meeting on draft 'Human DNA Profiling Bill 2012': The Department of Biotechnology has constituted an Expert Committee to discuss various issues of this Bill in detail. Sunil Abraham has been nominated as one of the members of this Committee. A meeting of this Expert Committee has been scheduled for May 13, 2013 under the Chairmanship of Dr. T. S. Rao, Adviser, DBT.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Chinmayi Arun is one of the international experts supporting the Internet & Jurisdiction project, a global multi-stakeholder dialogue process.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Upcoming Events</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/privacy-round-table-chennai">A Privacy Round Table in Chennai</a> (co-organised with Data Security Council of India and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Residency Towers, Sir Thyagaraja Road, T Nagar, Chennai, May 18, 10.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/consilience-2013-law-technology-committee-nls-bangalore">Consilience – 2013</a> (National Law School of India University, Bangalore, May 26 – 27, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Other Event Hosted</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/a-talk-by-marialaura-ghidni">Or-bits.com — A Talk by Marialaura Ghidini</a> (CIS, Bangalore, April 19, 2013). Marialaura Ghidini gave a talk abou the creation and activities of or-bits.com, a web-based curatorial platform that she founded in 2009.</li>
</ul>
<h3>News and Media</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-april-1-2013-prashant-jha-clarify-and-define-terms-in-it-rules-panel-tells-govt">Clarify and define terms in IT rules, panel tells govt</a>. (by Prashant Jha, Hindu, April 1, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/privacy-surgeon-simon-davies-april-9-2013-india-takes-its-first-serious-step-toward-privacy-regulation">India takes its first serious step toward privacy regulation – but it may be misguided</a> (Privacy Surgeon, April 9, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/ndtv-video-april-11-2013-the-social-network-regulating-social-media-unrealistic-impossible-necessary">Regulating Social Media: Unrealistic, Impossible, Necessary?</a> (NDTV, April 11, 2013). Pranesh Prakash participated in a discussion on social media aired on NDTV.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/hindustan-times-zia-haq-april-12-2013-social-media-may-influence-160-lok-sabha-seats-in-2014">Social media may influence 160 LS seats in 2014</a> (by Zia Haq, Hindustan Times, April 12, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wall-street-journal-april-15-2013-r-jai-krishna-vote-will-social-media-impact-the-election">Vote: Will Social Media Impact the Election?</a> (by R. Jai Krishna, Wall Street Journal, April 15, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/d-w-april-15-2013-untangling-the-web-of-indias-ungovernable-net">Untangling the web of India's 'ungovernable' Net</a> (Deutsche Welle, April 15, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/gni-annual-report-mentions-cis">CIS in GNI Annual Report</a> (April 25, 2013). CIS gets mentioned in GNI Annual Report. Sunil Abraham is quoted in it. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/india-together-april-27-2013-satarupa-sen-bhattacharya-is-free-speech-an-indian-value">Is free speech an Indian value?</a> (by Satarupa Sen Bhattacharya, India Together, April 27, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access">Knowledge Repository on Internet Access</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS in partnership with the Ford Foundation is executing a project on Internet Access. It covers the history of the internet, technologies involved, principle and values of internet access, broadband market and universal access and will touch upon various polices and regulations which has an impact on internet access and bodies and mechanism which are responsible for formulation policies related to internet access. The blog posts and modules will be published in a new website: <a href="http://www.internet-institute.in">www.internet-institute.in</a>.</p>
<p><b>Upcoming Event</b><br />We are hosting an “Institute on Internet and Society” with the support of Ford Foundation India, which is to be held from June 8, 2013 to June 14, 2013. Call for registration and relevant details have been <a href="http://www.internet-institute.in/">announced</a>.</p>
<p>The following units have been published:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/internet-infrastructure">Internet Infrastructure</a> (by Srividya Vaidyanathan, April 30, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/isp-introduction">Internet Service Provider – Introduction</a> (by Srividya Vaidyanathan, April 30, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/telecom">Telecom</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility of telecommunications services and resources and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:</p>
<p><b>Newspaper Column</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/organizing-india-blogspot-shyam-ponappa-april-4-2013-prioritizing-communications-energy">Prioritizing Communications & Energy</a> (by Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard and Organizing India Blogspot, April 4, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/open-citizen-radio-networks-to-race-for-.radio-gtld">From Open Citizen Radio Networks to the Race for .RADIO gTLD</a> (by Sharath Chandra Ram, April 30, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Event Participated</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Broadband Policy Course (organised by Lirne Asia, Bangalore, April 5 – 6, 2013). Nirmita Narasimhan and Snehashish Ghosh attended the course.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p>The Centre for Internet and Society is a non-profit research organization that works on policy issues relating to freedom of expression, privacy, accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge and IPR reform, and openness (including open government, FOSS, open standards, etc.), and engages in academic research on digital natives and digital humanities.<br /> <b>Follow us elsewhere</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="https://twitter.com/cis_india">Twitter</a></li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/28535315687/">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="https://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p><b>Support Us</b><br />Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Request for Collaboration</b><br />We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at <a href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a> or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at <a href="mailto:nishant@cis-india.org">nishant@cis-india.org</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2013-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2013-bulletin</a>
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No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceDigital HumanitiesCISRAWOpenness2013-05-31T08:07:38ZPage