The Centre for Internet and Society
https://cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 471 to 483.
Access India Meet-Up, May 2009
https://cis-india.org/events/access-india-meet-up-may-2009
<b>Meet-up of members of Access India mailing list (open to invitees only)</b>
<p>Access India is an informal mailing list for the visually impaired
community in India, in which subscribers primarily discuss technology
and various aspects of its accessibility. Although the Access India
mailing list, originally started in 2002, was intended to be a forum for
discussing technology-related issues for the blind, it has over the
years expanded to cover a whole range of social, educational, cultural,
political
and other issues of significance to the visually impaired community in
India. It is one of the largest mailing
lists of blind persons in India and has roughly 500 members from all
over the
country. Members of the Access India community in various cities hold
informal gatherings from time to time. An annual national meeting of
Access India members is also held, where various issues affecting the
community are discussed in detail. </p>
<h3>Agenda</h3>
<p><br />2 PM: Welcome address by CIS, hosts of the meet.<br /><br />2:05 PM: A round of introduction by participants.<br /><br />2:30 PM: Presentation by representatives from AreaPal, a Bangalore-based social networking group founded by students. areapal allows users to locate and connect with people on the basis of their area and neighborhood. It is a genuine neighbourhood networking service. Apart from that, they also provide user-generated news, events and marketplace based information about a user’s area. For further information, please visit www.areapal.com.</p>
<p>2:40 PM: Question time.<br /><br />2:50 PM: Presentation by representatives from 3I Infotech, a company which recently launched e-Mudhra, an initiative to roll out digital signatures. The main focus of the discussion will be the accessibility of their product. For additional information, please visit http://www.e-mudhra.com/</p>
<p>3:00 PM: Question time.<br /><br />5. 3:10 PM: Presentation by representatives from iVolunteer, an organization that matches volunteers seeking volunteering opportunities<br />with organizations and individuals looking for volunteers in Bangalore. To learn more about the organization, please visit www.ivolunteer.in</p>
<p><br />3:20 PM: Question time.<br /><br />6. 3:30 PM: Introduction to Inclusive planet. Inclusive Planet is in the process of building the largest online portal for disabled persons in India. It is intended to be a comprehensive portal containing various resources including employment resources, educational resources, a match-making <br />channel, accessible books section, discussion boards, resources for medical facilities, sports and entertainment center, etc. We hope to have a <br />representative from Inclusive Planet demonstrate the site for us, inform us about its scope and expansion plans, and tell us about how we can contribute toward making the site totally accessible. Please visit http://www.inclusiveplanet.org/</p>
<p><br />3:50 PM: Question time.<br /><br />4:00 PM: Tea followed by open discussion on technology.<br /><br />4:45 PM: Vote of thanks and conclusion.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/events/access-india-meet-up-may-2009'>https://cis-india.org/events/access-india-meet-up-may-2009</a>
</p>
No publishersachiaEvent TypeAccessibility2011-08-31T10:50:37ZEventCan you read me?
https://cis-india.org/news/can-you-read-me
<b>Article by Sahana Charan in the Bangalore Mirror, 11 March 2009</b>
<p>Over 90% of govt websites can’t be accessed by people with disabilities; A Bangalore-based social research organisation has now initiated a nation wide campaign to make the web more accessible to them.</p>
<p>-----</p>
<p>Would it come as a shock to you that more than 90 per cent of government websites, including those dealing with social welfare issues, can be of no use to visually or hearing impaired persons or even some senior citizens? At least, that is what the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) found out when it did a random check on 23 websites of important government organisations. Of the 23 websites that were checked, 21 failed to meet basic standards which could make them accessible to persons with disabilities including those with visual and hearing impairment and motor disabilities.</p>
<p>The study revealed that The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) websites were the only ones that were designed to meet the needs of all persons including those with disabilities.</p>
<p>When Nirmitha Narasimhan, Programme Manager at CIS, who is visually-impaired herself, ran an automated tool over these websites, she found that most of them failed to meet basic standards. “We carried out accessibility testing on the homepages of 23 sites using an automated tool and of these 21 failed automated verification and only the RBI and IIM-B websites passed verification on the basis of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Priority 1 checkpoints. But even these websites had some problems. Overall the sites that failed the fewest tests were RBI, IIM-B, RTI and CMC Vellore,” she said.</p>
<h3>Access for All</h3>
<p>Considering that some of the websites that failed the accessibility test were important for all citizens, including the Railways, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, RTI and National Informatics Centre (NIC) websites, the research organisation decided to take this exercise forward by launching a national campaign for electronic accessibility. Their campaign has been so successful that they are now in talks with the central government to formulate a draft policy on electronic accessibility.</p>
<p>“Persons who have disabilities such as blindness or low vision, deafness, cognitive impairment and so on are unable to browse through websites like other persons, since they are unable to see graphics, flash presentations, hear audio clips etc. They use technologies such as screen readers (like Jaws and NVDA which read out whatever appears on the screen for a blind user) or other kinds of devices to perform the functionalities associated with using the computers. For deaf persons, it is necessary to have captioning for an audio clip to tell them what is being played,” says Nirmitha. But she adds that even for assistive technologies to be used, the websites need to have built-in features that will make them accessible to everyone.</p>
<h3>Guidelines</h3>
<p>“Most websites have features such as graphics which cannot be interpreted by technologies such as screen readers. In such a case, the website creator has to take care to give alternative texts which describe what the graphic is about. For instance, under a picture of a dog on a website, there should also be a line describing the picture,” adds Nirmitha, who is now working with web developers across the country to create awareness about guidelines for creating a website.</p>
<p>The World Wide Web Consortium (www) has come out with guidelines on how to build websites which are accessible to persons using assistive technologies. These guidelines are called the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and address the needs of all disabilities and inabilities. “In the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and many other countries, it is mandatory to implement these guidelines for all websites. Since ours is an internet-savvy nation, it is high time these rules were made mandatory here,” says Nirmitha.</p>
<p>CIS has conducted a series of workshops for web developers from organisations including NIC, JNU and many voluntary agencies so that they could incorporate WCAG. In Karnataka, all government websites are designed by NIC, so it goes without saying that none of them are disabled-friendly.</p>
<h3>Their Own Site Too</h3>
<p>Karnataka has over 9.4 lakh persons with disabilities of whom at least 10-15 per cent are able to use assistive technology and can access the net. In Bangalore city alone, close to one lakh persons are disabled and quite a few of them have knowledge of computers.</p>
<p>But it is a pity that the website of the Directorate for the Welfare of the Disabled and Senior Citizens cannot be accessed by people who need to use it the most.</p>
<p>Forget being disabled-friendly, the website has not been updated since 2007 and the gallery section still shows pictures of former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy.</p>
<h3>What the guidelines say</h3>
<p>For sites which have graphics, alternative text should be given at the bottom describing the graphic for the benefit of visually impaired persons.</p>
<ol><li>For the hearing impaired, video clips should be accompanied by text running at the bottom of the clip so that they will know what is being said.</li><li>Flickering text that cannot be deciphered by a screen reader (a technology used by the visually impaired that reads out test on the computer screen aloud) should be avoided.</li><li>For those with motor impairment, options can be given to avoid the use of mouse and where only one single key could be used. <br /></li></ol>
<p>
-----</p>
<p> To read the article at the Bangalore Mirror website, click <a class="external-link" href="http://www.bangaloremirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=10&contentid=20090311200903110104094299c3f999f&sectxslt=&pageno=1">here</a>. </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/can-you-read-me'>https://cis-india.org/news/can-you-read-me</a>
</p>
No publishersachiaAccessibility2011-04-02T16:11:00ZNews ItemWorkshop for Web Developers on Web Accessibility
https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/workshop
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/workshop'>https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/workshop</a>
</p>
No publisherroysonConferenceWorkshopAccessibility2011-08-23T22:52:40ZFolderDepartment of Information Technology Meeting on a National Policy on E-Accessibility
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/meeting-by-the-dit-on-a-national-policy-on-e-accessibility-at-delhi-on-jan-30th-2009
<b>On 30 January 2009, the Department of Information Technology hosted a meeting in New Delhi bringing together important stakeholders to discuss the issue of electronic accessibility for the disabled and persons with special needs in India.</b>
<p>Creating a barrier free internet is vital to creating a pluralistic and
democratic virtual environment, where all groups irrespective of
disability or levels of literacy are able to access culture and
knowledge goods and services which are available on the internet today. Since its inception last year, CIS has been campaigning for legislative, administrative and legal interventions in the area of web accessibility for the print disabled and working with different groups towards the common goal of having a National Policy on Electronic Accessibility in India.</p>
<p>On 30 January, the Department of Information Technology (DIT) called a meeting of all stakeholders to discuss the issue of web accessibility for disabled persons and persons with special needs. The meeting was attended by 34 key persons from the Government and private organisations around India. Sunil Abraham (Director--Advocacy, CIS) and Nirmita Narasimhan (Programme Manager, CIS) were amongst the attendees (a complete list of attendees is given below).</p>
<p>The meeting was chaired by N. Ravi Shankar, Joint Secretary, DIT, who in his opening remarks briefed the gathering about the initiatives of the Government in this area. He talked about the Government’s goal of providing Universal Accessibility and Internet for all. He informed the gathering that the DIT had already initiated schemes for ICT empowerment of visually impaired/hearing impaired children; under these schemes, 21 ICT Vocational Centers had already been set up and 100 additional ICT vocational centers would be set up in phase II. Additionally, he explained that the issue of Universal Accessibility had been internationally addressed at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2008 held in December 2008 in Hyderabad. He stressed the need for initiating inclusive developmental activities in the e-governance programme of DIT and language initiatives of TDIL (Technology Development for Indian Languages), in order to increase coverage and diversity, culminating in education for all alongside Internet for all.</p>
<p>Dr. Govind, Senior Director and Head of Department, E-Infrastructure and Internet Governance Division in the Ministry, highlighted the issue of web accessibility for visually impaired and other differently able persons and the need for initiating a concrete action plan for the same.</p>
<p>Javed Abidi, Director, National Center for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People talked at length about the need for web accessibility and proposed that the government should set a time line within which all existing government web sites should be made standards compliant. All new web sites should be created keeping compliance with WCAG 2.0 in mind right from the start and proposed that for existing web sites, we should adopt a staged approach and aim at ensuring complete compliance at least by 2010-2012.</p>
<p>Ms. Neeta Verma, Sr. Technical Director, NIC gave a presentation on the issues related with making web accessibility universal. She said that NIC has formulated guidelines for government websites, in association with DIT and DARPG. Compliance to these guidelines shall make Indian government websites Usable, User Centric and Universally Accessible. She proposed that even the Manual of Procedures (MoP) used in the Govt. should mandate Universal Web Access for Government business and day to day activities. Websites should not only be designed once for accessibility but also need to be sustainable in the long run.</p>
<p>All attendees gave their inputs on the issue of web accessibility. Shri Jaijit from Sun Microsystems stressed the fact that the need for standards was not essential for disabled persons alone, but was necessary for other groups as well, such as illiterate persons. Ms.Shilpi Kapoor from Barrier Break Technologies mentioned that most government web sites had to firstbe be made html compliant in order to be standards compliant and stressed the need for training, resource generation and sensitization. Shri Minocha, Director, NAB felt that a law similar to the one in USA should be implemented which mandates that any web site developed had to be Universally Accessible. He asked the Government. to look at daisy guidelines, digital library and procurement policy for differently abled persons. He strongly urged the Government to take into account not merely standards of website accessibility, but also brouser standards, document standards etc, since an accessible web site was not of much use if the content posted on it was in an inaccessible format. He also appreciated the efforts of NIC and C-DAC towards working for open source and cited the example of the Venezualian Government. He proposed that DIT should initiate a technology development or customization project in this area. Shri Vijaiy Krishnamani from Infosys stressed on the need for creating a common simple usable interface rather than multiple types. </p>
<p>Shri Vijay Kapur from Microsoft proposed for implementation of WCAG1.0 & 2.0 standards to bring out interactivity in web content like Arya and the Clint side document accessibility through the daisy consortium. </p>
<p>Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, CEO, NIXI offered complete support for all initiatives in the area of web accessibility and voiced the opinion that all software produced out of public funds should be made available in the public domain so as to encourage research and innovation. In addition to policy advocacy, he was also supporting a capacity building and awareness workshop on web accessibility for web developers from all over the country which was being organized by CIS in Ghaziabad from Feb 16th-18th. Smt.Jayalakshmi Chittor of CSDMS proposed that an audit process should be evolved to check government web sites for WCAG 2.0 compliance and cited the example of Malta for policy in this area. Some other issues which were stressed time and again by other attendees were the legal mandating of adherence to standards within a fixed time period, adequate representation of Indian language in Unicode format, adherence to WCAG 2.0 and not merely 1.0, supporting voice enabled web sites etc. Sunil Abraham Director Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) lauded the DIT/MCIT for the timely and critical accessibility initiative and strongly endorsed the suggestion to create a national policy document mandating accessibility for all publicly funded electronic infrastructure. CIS offered to provide a comparative analysis of national electronic accessibility policies from developed and developing countries and also prepare a draft policy for DIT/MCIT. Further, he urged DIT/MCIT to advocate for the adoption of the proposed WIPO Treaty for improved access for the blind, visually impaired and other reading disabled put forward by the World Blind Union and knowledge Ecology International.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After the round of discussions the following recommendations were made to the DIT/MCIT:</p>
<p>i) The Government should formulate a national policy to mandate necessary guidelines so that the web sites are standards compliant for universal web accessibility.</p>
<p>ii) Steps should be taken for sensitization and awareness generation towards this issue through trainings, publicity, workshops, conferences.</p>
<p>iii) R&D projects should be initiated for development of screen readers in Indian languages and other tools for universal web access.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Attendees</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Shri N. Ravi Shanker, Joint Secretary, DIT, New Delhi - Chairman <br />Dr. Govind, Sr. Director, DIT, New Delhi<br />Shri Mohan Ram, ED, ERNET India, New Delhi <br />Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, Additional CEO, NIXI, New Delhi<br />Shri Javed Abidi, Director, National Center for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP, New Delhi<br />Shri Dipender Minocha, Director, NAB, R.K. Puram, New Delhi<br />Ms. Neeta Verma, Sr. Technical Director, NIC, New Delhi<br />Shri A. Bandopadhyay, GM, Webel Mediatronics Ltd., Kolkata<br />Mr. Sunil Abraham, Director – Policy, Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore<br />Ms. Shilpi Kapoor, Founder and Managing Director, Net Systems Informatics (I) Pvt. Ltd. and Barrier Break Technologies, Mumbai<br />Shri Vijay Kapur, Microsoft India, New Delhi<br />Mr. Rahul Gonsalves, Web Accessibility Consultant, Bangalore<br />Jyotindra V.Mehta, Advisory Systems Consultant, IBM Global Services India<br />Mr. Zamir Dhale, Sense International India Office, Ahmedabad Gujarat<br />Shri Jaijit Bhattacharya, M/s Sun Microsystems, New Delhi<br />Ms. Jayalakshmi Chittor, CSDMS, Noida, U.P<br />Shri Manoj Jain, TDIL, DIT, New Delhi<br />Ms. Gitanjali Sah, UN Solution Exchange, New Delhi<br />Shri Pradeep Gupta, Managing Director, Cyber Media India Ltd., Gurgaon, Haryana<br />Shri Vijay Krishnamani, Infosys, New Delhi<br />Shri Ajai Kumar, C-DAC, Pune<br />Shri Indranil Das Roy, M/s Webel, Kolkata<br />Shri Deepak Maheshwari, Microsoft India , New Delhi<br />Shri Vikas Goswami, Microsoft India, New Delhi<br />Ms. Helen Mahtani, Programmer, NCPEDP, New Delhi<br />Shri Muthamma B. Devaya, Senior Program officer, NCPEDP, New Delhi<br />Ms. Nirmitha Naresimhan, Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore<br />Ms. Tejal Tiwari, ERNET India, New Delhi<br />Shri D.P. Misra, NIC, New Delhi<br />Shri Sachin Rizal, Sense International (India) Ltd., Ahmedabad Gujarat<br />Ms. Ritu Srivastava, CSDMS, Noida<br />Shri Santosh Kumar Gupta, CSDMS, Noida, UP<br />Shri Rajan Varada, UN Solution Exchange, New Delhi<br />Shri S.K. Aggarwal, Scientist ‘F’, DIT, New Delhi - Convenor<br /> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/meeting-by-the-dit-on-a-national-policy-on-e-accessibility-at-delhi-on-jan-30th-2009'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/meeting-by-the-dit-on-a-national-policy-on-e-accessibility-at-delhi-on-jan-30th-2009</a>
</p>
No publishernirmitaMeetingAccessibility2011-09-22T12:32:54ZBlog EntryAccessible websites could become a reality
https://cis-india.org/news/accessible-websites-could-become-a-reality
<b>Article by L. Subramani in the Deccan Herald, 11 February 2009</b>
<p>Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), a Bangalore-based NGO that researches on Internet's influence on families and individuals, had reported that about 99 per cent of government websites have failed in meeting with the accessibility guidelines issued by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium).</p>
<p>As Kanchan Pamnani speaks about web accessibility, she relates to us an old story learnt at school. A crane called his long-time friend, a wolf, for dinner and showed a tall, narrow jar that had delicious fishes in it. Unable to put its head inside and eat, the bewildered wolf returned home hungry, as the crane enjoyed putting its long beak inside the jar and tasted its content.</p>
<p>“What’s the point in information being available on the Internet? The visually challenged can’t access the content all the same, since the design and presentation of websites are not friendly to the screen reader software they use to access them through PC and laptops. And they need this the most, since it saves their time and energy when they get things done online,” Ms Pamnani said.</p>
<p>Despite being home to the world’s largest visually impaired population, the problem of inaccessible websites has been common in India. What hurts Ms Pamnani, a visually challenged lawyer and folks like her is the irony that several website developers in India comply with accessibility norms while creating websites for their foreign clients for fear of their product getting rejected and ignore the same while making sites for home-based organisations.</p>
<p>Some months ago, Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), a Bangalore-based NGO that researches on Internet's influence on families and individuals, had reported that about 99 per cent of government websites have failed in meeting with the accessibility guidelines issued by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). It had highlighted CMC Velore, RBI and IIMB as some of the institutions whose websites are either too difficult or impossible for persons with visual impairment to access with their special screen reading software.</p>
<p>“Someone has to take responsibility for this situation,” Pamnani mentioned. “Given that people from the IT community have created these websites, they will have to take the blame.”</p>
<p>Screen readers, which the blind use to get content of a computer in voice, comprises of text to speech engine (a sort of virtual larynx) and the software that allows users to interface with the system. However, graphically rich webpages or features that are primarily visual in nature become a potential minefield to the screen reader since it doesn’t know how that information can be rendered “readable” to the TTS engine.</p>
<p>Mindful of this bottleneck, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which play the role of rule-makers in the way the web functions, designed a set of guidelines web developers must use while creating websites. For instance, it calls for giving heading levels which makes screen reader users to press “Shift and the number key depending on which heading level (one to five) they want to reach” and straight away go to the heading instead of going line by line.</p>
<p>For webpages to be fully accessible, the guidelines ask developers to use HTML tags and create alternative, verbally described pages (to the graphically rich ones) that can be read by screen readers. Probably fearing the labour it takes, developers of websites are alleged to be overlooking the guidelines and disability activists say that the negligence is proving to be too costly for them.</p>
<p>“These days, most of the government documents are available on the Internet,” said Javed Abidi, Chairman, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled Persons (NCPEDP). “The technology is available and there is also the necessary awareness, but web developers seem to be taking this issue too lightly.”</p>
<p>Abidi and Pamnani have been talking about the situation with NASSCOM and were close to hosting a Dharna in front of the venue where the industry body was hosting its leadership summit on Wednesady. However, the protest was called off since NASSCOM agreed to focus on the issue.</p>
<p>“As a first step, the body has agreed to make their own website accessible,” Abidi, the New Delhi-based, wheelchair-bound disability activist, said. “Then they have agreed to urge their members to follow suit. Also, despite their attempts to take up accessibility as a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) issue, we want them to consider this as a rights issue, since the United Nations Convention for Rights of Persons With Disability (UNCRPD), which India has signed and ratified, states (in article 9) that access to information is a right.”</p>
<p>So Pamnani and several other visually challenged users of the Internet feel the day when they can log on to the website of an online store and purchase anything of their choice isn’t far away. </p>
<p>-----</p>
<p>To read the article at the Deccan Herald website, click <a class="external-link" href="http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Feb112009/cyberspace20090210117713.asp">here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/accessible-websites-could-become-a-reality'>https://cis-india.org/news/accessible-websites-could-become-a-reality</a>
</p>
No publishersachiaAccessibility2011-04-02T16:17:26ZNews ItemWorkshop for Web Developers on Web Accessibility
https://cis-india.org/events/workshop-for-web-developers-on-web-accessibility
<b></b>
<p align="justify"> <a class="external-link" href="http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/edu.htm">Solution Exchange</a>, an initiative of the United Nations Agencies
in India, and the Centre for Internet and Society are organizing a workshop on web
accessibility for web developers from organizations in the public and
private sector, with the support of <a class="external-link" href="http://www.nixi.in/">The National Internet
Exchange of India (NIXI)</a>. The workshop will be held in Delhi from February 16<sup>th</sup>-18<sup>th</sup>,
2009. CIS' media partner for the event is <a class="external-link" href="http://www.disabilityindia.com/html/news.html">Disability News India</a>.</p>
<p align="justify"> </p>
<p align="justify">This workshop, which will feature seven trainers and about thirty
participants, is the first one of its kind, bringing together
practitioners from NIC and other government departments, as well as
from small and medium enterprises across the country. The
primary aim of this workshop is to demonstrate the importance of
creating accessible web sites and to educate the developers of
government and private web sites on how to incorporate accessibility
features into new as well as existing web sites. <br /></p>
<p align="justify"><br /></p>
<p>The
training will comprise both theory-oriented and practical sessions.
The trainers will be specialists in various aspects of web
accessibility. The main focus will be on WCAG 2.0 guidelines. The
participants will be persons already involved in developing web sites
with good knowledge of HTML, XML, CSS, etc. The workshop will in a
sense not only help in training web developers in accessibility, but
will also attempt to increase capacity building by training potential
accessibility trainers. There will also be a session where
key persons involved in the working groups on accessibility, e-governance architecture and open standards will share the
National Informatics Centre perspective. </p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Many of the sessions will be documented as
lessons on accessibility and put up on the CIS web site. As part of
the outcome of the workshop, five inaccessible government web
sites will be identified and taken up for retrofitting with
accessibility features within the next few months. </p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>In its
move to support web accessibility, NIXI has already undertaken the
translation of the WCAG 2.0 standards into Hindi--the first translation of the WCAG into any Indian language. This is
intended to aid web developers in the need for creating accessible
web sites. </p>
<p>Please click on the links for more information about the <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/open-standards/accessibility/uploads/Sessions%20for%20the%20workshopv2.doc/at_download/file" class="external-link">proposed sessions</a> to be held at the workshop and the <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/open-standards/accessibility/uploads/TRAINERS.doc/at_download/file" class="external-link">participating trainers</a>. <br /></p>
<p>The
workshop will be held in the Human Resource Development Centre
Building of the CSIR in Ghaziabad (HRDC building, CSIR, Sector 19, Central Government Enclave, Kamla Nehru Nagar, Ghaziabad-201002, UP). <br /></p>
<h3>Map</h3>
<p>Please refer to the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.csirhrdc.res.in/sitemap.htm">map</a> as necessary. <br /></p>
<h3>Participants</h3>
<p>Click <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/open-standards/accessibility/uploads/Participants%20List%20for%20the%20web%20site.xls" class="internal-link" title="Workshop participants list">here</a> for a complete list of participants and their organisational affiliations. <br /></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/events/workshop-for-web-developers-on-web-accessibility'>https://cis-india.org/events/workshop-for-web-developers-on-web-accessibility</a>
</p>
No publishersachiaEvent TypeAccessibility2011-08-31T10:51:35ZEventUpdated List of Signatories for Letter Supporting WIPO Treaty for the Reading Disabled
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/signatory-list
<b>The list of signatories to a letter in support of the WIPO Treat for the Reading Disabled has been updated.</b>
<p>In November last year, CIS launched <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog-1/wbu-proposal-for-a-wipo-treaty-for-the-visually-impaired-and-reading-disabled" class="external-link">a nation wide
signature campaign</a> to support the treaty for the blind, visually impaired and
other reading disabled proposed by the World Blind Union to the WIPO. The letter was, at that time, endorsed by 16 organisations in the disability sector
throughout the country. The treaty is scheduled to come up again for discussion in a couple of
months. <br /></p>
<p>CIS has been carrying on its work of gathering support for the letter. The updated list of signatories is as follows.</p>
<p> </p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Name of Organization</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Contact Person</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Akhil Bharatiya Drishtiheen Kalyan Sangh</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mr. Ajay M.
Joshi</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Amulya Sahara</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Ashok Kumar
Goyal</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Andhjan Kalyan Trust</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mr. Praful N.
Vyas</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Arushi</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh.Anil Mudgal</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Astha</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Ms Radhika M.
Alkazi,</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Atmajyoti Vikas Samitee</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mrs. Priti Yadav</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Blind People's</p>
<p>Association
(Ahmedabad)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mr. R.P. Soni</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Blind Person's Association (Kolkata)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mr. Amiyo Biswas</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Blind Welfare Council</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Yusuf
Kapadiya</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Centre For Internet And Society</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sunil Abraham</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Devnar Foundation for the Blind</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Dr. A. Saibaba
Goud</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Discipleship Centre</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mr. John A</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Farook College</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Prof. K.
Kuttialikutty</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Ms.
Prabha Puran Sharma</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Human Development Institute</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Ms. R.C. Meena</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Indian Association for the Blind</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mr. S.M.A.
Jinnah,</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Indira Mahila Mandal Hudco New Nandeds</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Nagnath
Ramji Kadam</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Jamia Millia Islamia</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Prof. Zubair
Meenal</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Janta Adarsh Andh Vidyalaya</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mrs. Kalpana
Sharma</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Rajesh Gupta</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Jyoti Sroat School</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Bertha G. Dkhar</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>L.V. Prasad Eye Institute</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Ms. Beula
Christy</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Lakshmi Bai College</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Dr. Nalini
Govind</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Maulana</p>
<p>Azad Library (Aligarh Muslim <br />University)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mr. Shakeel
Ahmad Khan <br /></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Mitra Jyothi</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Ms. Madhu
Singhal</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Montfort Centre For Education</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mr. Michael
Mathew</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>National Association for the Blind, Delhi</p>
</td>
<td>
<p> </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>NAB-Phiroze</p>
<p>& Noshir Merwanji Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind (Mount
Abu)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Vimal Kumar
Dengla</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>National Association for the Blind (Uttarakhand)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mr. Shyam
Dhanak</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>National Association for the Blind (Chandigarh)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Vinod Chadha</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>National</p>
<p>Association for the Blind (H.)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Ms. Shalini Vats
Kimta</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>National Association for the Blind (India)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Suhas V.
Karnik</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>National Association for the Blind (Jharkhad)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Ar. Sahay</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>National Association for the Blind (Junagad)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Ms.
Rinaben V. Jasani</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>National Association for the Blind</p>
<p>(Karnataka),</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>(Mrs.) Saroja
Ramachandra</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>National Association for the Blind (Kerala)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Manoj Kurian</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>National Association for the Blind (Sikkim Branch)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mr. Rajesh Verma</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>National Association for the Blind(WestBengal)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Arup
Chakroborty</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>National Federation of the Blind (Guwahati)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mohd. Imran Ali</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>North Ex. Blind Welfare & Educational Society</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Subhash Garg</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Orissa Association for the Blind</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Bihari Nayak</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Rajasthan Netraheen Kalyan Sangh</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Jitendra
Bhargava</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Ramakrishna Mission Blind Boys' Academy</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Sunilbaran
Pattanayak</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Saksham</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Ms. Deepika
Sood</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Salwan Public School</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mrs. Vandana
Puri</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Ganesh</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Samrita Trust</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Seetarama
Sastry Nori</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>School for the Deaf Mutes Society</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Dr. Homiyar
Mobedji</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Score Foundation,</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>George Abraham</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Shikshit Yuva Sewa Samiti Basti</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mr. Gopal
Krishna Agarwal</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Shree Andhjan Vividhlaxi Talim Kendra</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Prakash
Mankodi</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Shri Navchetan Andhjan Mandal</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Himanshu
Sampura</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Shri Venkateswara College</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Ayesha Maliwal</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Shri Vrajlal Durlabhji Parekh Andh Mahila Vikas Grah</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. P.J. Mankodi</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Shruti Information Centre of Yashoda Charitable Trust</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Ms. Sonal Sena</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Shubham</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Dr. Sangeeta
Agarwal</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Springdales School</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Ms. Sonali Bose</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>St. Mary's School</p>
</td>
<td>
<p> </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Tagore International School</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Ms. Aparna
Sharma</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>The Blind Relief Association (Delhi)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Sh. Kailash
Chandra Pande</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>University of Hyderabad</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Dr. Madhireddy
Anjaneyulu</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Venu Eye Institute & Research Centre</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Ms. Tanuja Joshi</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Victoria Memorial School for the Blind</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mrs. Radha
Subrahmanian</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Welfare Centre For Visually Handicapped</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Mr. Profulla
Kumar Rout</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Welfare Society for the Blind</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Smt. Jharna Sur</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Xavier's Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (XRCVC)</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Dr. Sam
Taraporevala</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/signatory-list'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/signatory-list</a>
</p>
No publishersachiaAccessibility2011-08-25T08:35:54ZBlog EntryReport on the Internet Governance Forum
https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/igf-report-1
<b>CIS attended the UN Internet Governance Forum in Hyderabad, December 3-7, 2008. </b>
<p>As an outcome of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which took place in Hyderabad from December 3-7, 2008,</p>
<p>(a) CIS entered into an agreement with the W3C to make translations of the WCAG 2.0 guidelines into some Indian languages; and </p>
<p>(b) CIS, the UN Solutions Exchange group and the Daisy Forum of India (DFI) decided to work together on the web accessibility issue and form a core group of organizations across the disability sector for this purpose. </p>
<p>(c) CIS joined the Dynamic Coalition for Accessibility and Disability in the IGF. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/igf-report-1'>https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/igf-report-1</a>
</p>
No publishersachiaConferenceAccessibility2011-08-23T04:51:55ZBlog EntryGovernment websites: Access denied to special users
https://cis-india.org/news/government-websites-access-denied-to-special-users
<b>Article by L. Subramani in the Deccan Herald, 8 December 2008</b>
<p>The homepages of 23 government agencies have been identified as inaccessible to special users, the city-based Centre for Internet and Society has found.</p>
<p>The organisation carried out an automated test using software tools, on websites of agencies like the National Informatics Centre, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of HRD etc, the majority of which have failed to meet even the basic access criteria laid down in the guidelines of Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C).</p>
<p>“Except for the Reserve Bank of India and CMC Vellore, all the sites don't even meet priority 1 of WCAG (W3C Access Guidelines), which would ensure availability of text for non-text elements (images) and other graphical contents that can't be read out by screen reader software,” said Nirmita Narasimhan, who carried out the tests at CIS. She mentioned that all of the websites failed in priority 2 and 3 of the guidelines.</p>
<p>“Despite being one of the most important sites for persons with disability, the homepage of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment - which contains documents and important government schemes for persons with disability - has completely failed to meet the accessibility criteria.</p>
<p>This is not only against the spirit of laws that guarantee freedom of information, but also contradicts the government's own policy of making websites accessible to persons with disability,” she added.</p>
<h3>Handbook <br /></h3>
<p>Nirmita pointed out that the Right To Information handbook - an important reference for persons with disability, demanding information from government and private organisations - has been provided in an inaccessible document format.</p>
<p>She echoed the common contention that persons with disability are deprived of one of the most important aspects of modern technology, despite being empowered by technologies like screen readers and speech recognition software.</p>
<p>The information, coming soon after the International Day for Persons with Disabilities was observed, raises question marks over the government's commitment to break barriers, and its genuineness in creating an accessible society as per the Persons with Disability act (1995) and the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disability, to which it has been one of the early signatories.</p>
<p>Ganesh Prasad, Director (Systems and Process) at Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled described the test results as ‘not surprising, but certainly disappointing.’</p>
<p>“Given the urban conditions, visiting a place in person has become one of the most difficult things for persons with disability,” Prasad said.</p>
<p>Priority 1 of the guidelines calls for text descriptions of images or alternative pages with text contents, while priority 2 asks for the turning off of auto refresh and other deprecated features of W3C technologies, and recommends semantic information of the page for persons with disability to instantly know the contents.</p>
<p>-----</p>
Read the article on the Deccan Herald website <a class="external-link" href="http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Dec82008/state20081208105396.asp">here. </a>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/government-websites-access-denied-to-special-users'>https://cis-india.org/news/government-websites-access-denied-to-special-users</a>
</p>
No publishersachiaAccessibility2011-04-02T16:17:22ZNews ItemAccessibility Test Results: Government and Other Popular Websites
https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-of-accessibility-tests-conducted-on-some-government-and-other-popular-web-sites
<b>The CIS conducted some automated accessibility tests on a few Government web sites, including that of the National Informatics Centre, and on the web sites of some banks, medical and educational institutions. This is a report of the results. </b>
<p><a name="OLE_LINK2"></a><a name="OLE_LINK1"><strong>Summary</strong></a></p>
<p>We carried out accessibility testing on the homepages of 23 sites using the automated tool at <a href="http://www.contentquality.com/"><u>www.contentquality.com</u></a>. Of the 23 sites tested, 21 failed automated verification and only the RBI and IIM-B websites passed verification on the basis of WCAG Priority 1 checkpoints. However, all 23 sites had issues with Priority 2 and Priority 3 checkpoints and failed on these criteria. Most sites also used layout tables, without linearized alternatives. Overall the sites that failed the fewest tests were RBI, IIM-B, RTI and CMC Vellore. On the additional test carried out on the quality of the alternative text, only the Ministry of HRD passed; this test was not applicable for the CMC Vellore, RBI, RTI, IIM-B and DDA sites; all others failed the test.</p>
<p>Even a basic automated verification tool, thus, demonstrates the deplorable state of public website accessibility in India, where all sites surveyed, except two, did not even conform to the basic accessibility criteria enumerated in the WCAG priority one checkpoints.</p>
<p>The section below lists the tests that most sites commonly failed; this is followed by a section with the actual test details, including information on the URL, time of test, status, browser emulated and checkpoints passed/failed.</p>
<p><strong>Note:</strong></p>
<p>The web content accessibility
validation tool on www.contentquality.com, i.e. the HiSoftware Cynthia
Says portal, is designed to identify errors in content related to
Section 508 standards and the WCAG guidelines. This free tool is an
online test which only validates one page at a time – the tests above
were run for the homepages of the various sites and while this served
as an initial automated accessibility check, this was by no means a
comprehensive test for which more sophisticated tools as well as manual
checking would be required.</p>
<p><strong>Checkpoints</strong></p>
<p><strong>Priority 1</strong></p>
<p><strong>1.1</strong> (a) Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content). <em>This includes</em>: images, graphical representations of text (including symbols), image map regions, animations (e.g., animated GIFs), applets and programmatic objects, ascii art, frames, scripts, images used as list bullets, spacers, graphical buttons, sounds (played with or without user interaction), stand-alone audio files, audio tracks of video, and video.</p>
<p><strong>- RBI and CMC Vellore passed this, all others failed</strong></p>
<p><strong>6.3</strong> (l),(m) Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative accessible page.</p>
<p><strong>12.1 </strong> (i) Title each frame to facilitate frame identification and navigation.</p>
<p><strong>- HRD, DDA, NASSCOM, Hindu and Times of India failed. All others passed; in some cases this was not applicable. <br /></strong></p>
<p><strong>Priority 2</strong></p>
<p><strong>7.4</strong> Until user agents provide the ability to stop the refresh, do not create periodically auto-refreshing pages.</p>
<p><strong>11.2</strong> Avoid deprecated features of W3C technologies.</p>
<p><strong>12.3</strong> Divide large blocks of information into more manageable groups where natural and appropriate.</p>
<p><strong>13.2</strong> Provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites.<strong></strong></p>
<p><em>Priority 2 - Tables</em></p>
<p><strong>3.2</strong> Create documents that validate to published formal grammars.</p>
<p><strong>5.3</strong> Do not use tables for layout unless the table makes sense when linearized. Otherwise, if the table does not make sense, provide an alternative equivalent (which may be a linearized version).</p>
<p><u><span class="MsoHyperlink"><em>Priority 2 - Forms</em></span><em></em></u></p>
<p><strong>12.2</strong> Describe the purpose of frames and how frames relate to each other if it is not obvious by frame titles alone.</p>
<p><strong>12.4</strong> Associate labels explicitly with their controls.</p>
<p><strong>13.2</strong> Provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites.</p>
<p> <strong>- All passed 7.4 . With regard to all the other checkpoints, some sites passed and others failed.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Priority 3</strong></p>
<p><strong>4.3</strong> Identify the primary natural language of a document.</p>
<p><strong>9.4</strong> Create a logical tab order through links, form controls, and objects.</p>
<p><strong>9.5</strong> Provide keyboard shortcuts to important links (including those in client-side image maps), form controls, and groups of form controls.</p>
<p><strong>10.5</strong> Until user agents (including assistive technologies) render adjacent links distinctly, include non-link, printable characters (surrounded by spaces) between adjacent links.</p>
<p><strong>Alternative text validation</strong></p>
<p><strong>1.1 Validate that the alt text does not use the word image</strong> When users add alternative text to an image they tend to add the word "Image" when it really says nothing about the image, but describes the object versus the meaning of the object. This check will fail a page for the use of the word image in the alternative text. </p>
<p><strong>1.2 Validate that the alt text does not contain the text: .jpg, .gif, .bmp, .jpeg</strong> Many content creation tools will automatically add alternative text when you add an image to your content. The text is generally the image name. Validate that: .jpg, .gif, .bmp, .jpeg, are not found in the alt text. </p>
<p><strong>1.3 Validate that the alt text does not contain the text "image"</strong> Many content creation tools will automatically add alternative text when you add an image to your content. The text is generally the image name or the word image with a number associated, like image001. This checkpoint will fail a page if the string image is found in the alternative text. </p>
<p><strong>2.1 Validate that Alternative Text is greater than 7 and less than 81 characters in length</strong> Short alternative text may not be valid, warn the report user if alternative text was found that is less than seven characters in length. Additionally alternative text should not be larger than 80 characters, if the alt text is greater the long description attribute should be used. This check validates that the alt attribute does not exceed 80 characters in length. </p>
<p><strong>2.2 Validate that Alternative Text is not used to repeat words</strong> Alternative text should not be used to simply hide words with the hope of increasing your ranking on search engines. If you repeat a word more than 5 times your page may not be indexed. <br /></p>
<p><strong>- Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, JNU, IITD,
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, AIIMS and NASSCOM failed on
all these 4 points. Other results were split, with some passes and some
failures</strong></p>
<h3> TEST DETAILS</h3>
<ol><li><strong> National Informatics Centre</strong></li></ol>
<strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a href="http://indiaimage.nic.in/"><u>http://indiaimage.nic.in/</u></a><span class="leadin"></span>
<p><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/27/2008 12:01:55 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0 </p>
<p>Priority 1 - Failed 1.1, 6.3;<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 13.1, 13.3, 12.2; Failed 11.2, 13.2, 12.4<br />Priority 3 - Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 10.5<br />Alt text quality – Passed 1.2, 2.2; Failed 1.1, 1.6; Warning 2.1;<strong> <br /></strong></p>
<ol type="1" start="2"><li>
<p><strong>Lok Sabha</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://loksabha.gov.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://loksabha.gov.in/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 1:11:21 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 – Failed 1.1<br />Priority 2 – Passed 7.4, 12.3; Failed 11.2, 13.2, 12.4,<br />Priority 3 – Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5,10.5<br />5.3 – used lots of tables<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1 <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="3"><li>
<p><strong>Rajya Sabha</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://rajyasabha.gov.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://rajyasabha.gov.in/</u></a><span class="leadin"></span></p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://rajyasabha.gov.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://rajyasabha.gov.in/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 3:32:13 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 – Failed 1.1<br />Priority 2 – Passed 7.4, 13.1; Failed 3.2, 12.4<br />Priority 3 – Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5, 10.5<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1 <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="4"><li>
<p><strong>Ministry of Human Resources</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://education.nic.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://education.nic.in/</u></a><span class="leadin"></span></p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://education.nic.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://education.nic.in/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 3:43:36 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 – Failed 1.1, 6.3<br />Priority 2 – Passed 7.4, 12.4, 13.1; Failed 3.2, 11.2<br />Priority 3 – Passed 9.5,10.5 Failed : 4.3,9.4<br />Alt text quality – Passed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1 <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="5"><li>
<p><strong>Ministry of Urban Affairs</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a href="http://urbanindia.nic.in/moud/moud.htm"><u>http://urbanindia.nic.in/moud/moud.htm</u></a></p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://urbanindia.nic.in/moud/moud.htm" target="_blank"><u>http://urbanindia.nic.in/moud/moud.htm</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 9:11:56 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 - Failed 1.1<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 13.1; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.2<br />Priority 3 – Passed 10.5 ; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1 <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="6"><li>
<p><strong>Delhi</strong><strong> Development Authority</strong>:</p>
</li></ol>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://www.dda.org.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://www.dda.org.in/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 9:56:31 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p><a href="http://www.dda.org.in/"><u>http://www.dda.org.in/</u></a> </p>
<p>Priority 1 - Failed 1.1, 6.3<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 13.1; Failed 11.2, 13.2<br />Priority 3 – Passed 10.5 ; Warning 4.3, 9.4, 9.5<br />Alt text quality – N/A <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="7"><li>
<p><strong>Railways</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a href="http://www.indianrail.gov.in/"><u>http://www.indianrail.gov.in/</u></a></p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://www.indianrail.gov.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://www.indianrail.gov.in/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 10:01:28 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 - Failed 1.1<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 13.1, 13.2, 12.4 ; Failed 3.2, 11.2<br />Priority 3 – Passed 4.3, 10.5; Failed 9.4, 9.5<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1 <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="8"><li>
<p><strong>Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a href="http://socialjustice.nic.in/"><u>http://socialjustice.nic.in/</u></a></p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://socialjustice.nic.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://socialjustice.nic.in/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 10:07:22 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 - Failed 1.1<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 12.4 ; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.2<br />Priority 3 – Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5, 10.5<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1 <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="9"><li>
<p><strong>Ministry of Law and Justice</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a href="http://lawmin.nic.in/"><u>http://lawmin.nic.in/</u></a></p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://lawmin.nic.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://lawmin.nic.in/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 10:50:36 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 - Failed 1.1<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 13.1, 12.4; Failed 11.2, 13.2<br />Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1 <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="10"><li>
<p><strong>RTI</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a href="http://www.rti.gov.in/"><u>http://www.rti.gov.in</u></a> </p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://www.rti.gov.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://www.rti.gov.in</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/26/2008 3:54:10 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 – Passed 1.1, 6.3; Failed 12.1<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 11.2, 13.1, 12.4; Failed 3.2, 13.2, 12.2<br />Priority 3 – Passed 9.4, 9.5, 10.5; Failed 4.3<br />Alt text quality – N/A <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="11"><li>
<p><strong>NCERT</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://www.ncert.nic.in/index.htm" target="_blank"><u>http://www.ncert.nic.in/index.htm</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/26/2008 6:22:59 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0<strong> <br /></strong></p>
<p>Priority 1 –Failed 1.1, 6.3, 7.1<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 13.1, 12.4, 12.2; Failed 3.2, 13.2, 11.2<br />Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1<strong> <br /></strong></p>
<ol type="1" start="12"><li>
<p><strong>JNU</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://www.jnu.ac.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://www.jnu.ac.in/</u></a><span class="leadin"></span></p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://www.jnu.ac.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://www.jnu.ac.in/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 4:00:11 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 – Failed 1.1, 7.1<br />Priority 2 – Passed 7.4 ; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.1, 13.2, 12.4<br />Priority 3 – Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5, 10.5<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1 <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="13"><li>
<p><strong>IIT Delhi</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a href="http://www.iitd.ac.in/"><u>http://www.iitd.ac.in/</u></a></p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://www.iitd.ac.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://www.iitd.ac.in/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 5:07:01 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 – Passed 6.3; Failed 1.1, 7.1<br />Priority 2 – Passed 7.4, 13.1,12.2, 12.4; Failed 11.2, 13.2<br />Priority 3 – Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5, 10.5<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1 <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="14"><li>
<p><strong>AIIMS</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a href="http://www.aiims.edu/"><u>http://www.aiims.edu/</u></a></p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://www.aiims.edu/" target="_blank"><u>http://www.aiims.edu/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 10:11:37 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 - Failed 1.1, 7.1<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4,12.4, 13.1 ; Failed 11.2, 13.2<br />Priority 3 – Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5, 10.5<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1 <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="15"><li>
<p><strong>CMC Vellore</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a href="http://home.cmcvellore.ac.in/"><u>http://home.cmcvellore.ac.in/</u></a></p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://home.cmcvellore.ac.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://home.cmcvellore.ac.in/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 10:15:44 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 - Passed 1.1; Failed 12.1<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 11.2, 12.4, 13.1 ; Failed 13.2<br />Priority 3 – Passed 9.4, 9.5, 10.5; Failed 4.3<br />Alt text quality – N/A <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="16"><li>
<p><strong>IIM Ahmedabad</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a href="http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/"><u>http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/</u></a></p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 10:19:46 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0 </p>
<p>Priority 1 - Failed 1.1;<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 12.4, 13.1 ; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.2<br />Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1 <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="17"><li>
<p><strong>IIM Bangalore</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://www.iimb.ernet.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://www.iimb.ernet.in/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/26/2008 6:27:18 AM<br /><strong>Passed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 - Passed 1.1, 6.3;<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 11.2, 12.4, 13.1; Failed 3.2, 13.2<br />Priority 3 – Passed 9.4, 9.5, 10.5; Failed 4.3<br />Alt text quality – N/A<strong> <br /></strong></p>
<ol type="1" start="18"><li>
<p><strong>IIM Calcutta</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://www.iimcal.ac.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://www.iimcal.ac.in/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/26/2008 6:30:42 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 - Passed 6.3; Failed 1.1<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 12.4, 13.1; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.2<br />Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1<strong> <br /></strong></p>
<ol type="1" start="19"><li>
<p><strong>State Bank of India</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a href="http://www.sbi.co.in/"><u>http://www.sbi.co.in/</u></a></p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://www.sbi.co.in/" target="_blank"><u>http://www.sbi.co.in/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 10:26:29 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 - Failed 1.1;<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 12.4; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.1, 13.2<br />Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1 </p>
<ol type="1" start="20"><li>
<p><strong>Reserve Bank of India</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a href="http://www.rbi.org.in/home.aspx"><u>http://www.rbi.org.in/home.aspx</u></a></p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://www.rbi.org.in/home.aspx" target="_blank"><u>http://www.rbi.org.in/home.aspx</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 10:36:25 AM<br /><strong>Passed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 - Passed 1.1;<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 11.2, 13.1, 12.4; Failed 3.2, 13.2<br />Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5<br />Alt text quality – N/A<br /> <a href="http://www.rbi.org.in/commonman/English/Scripts/Home.aspx"><u>http://www.rbi.org.in/commonman/English/Scripts/Home.aspx</u></a> <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="21"><li>
<p><strong>NASSCOM</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a href="http://www.nasscom.in/Default.aspx"><u>http://www.nasscom.in/Default.aspx</u></a></p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://www.nasscom.in/Default.aspx" target="_blank"><u>http://www.nasscom.in/Default.aspx</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 10:47:00 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 - Failed 1.1, 6.3;<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4; Failed 11.2, 13.1, 13.2, 12.4<br />Priority 3 – Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5, 10.5<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1 <br /></p>
<ol type="1" start="22"><li>
<p><strong>The Hindu</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p> <a href="http://www.hinduonnet.com/"><u>http://www.hinduonnet.com/</u></a></p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://www.hinduonnet.com/" target="_blank"><u>http://www.hinduonnet.com/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 11:00:09 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0</p>
<p>Priority 1 - Failed 1.1, 6.3;<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4 ; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.1, 13.2, 12.4<br />Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1 </p>
<ol type="1" start="23"><li>
<p><strong>The Times of India</strong></p>
</li></ol>
<p><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/"><u>http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/</u></a> </p>
<p><strong>Verified File Name: </strong><a title="Opens New Window" href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/" target="_blank"><u>http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/</u></a><br /><strong>Date and Time:</strong> 11/25/2008 11:22:15 AM<br /><strong>Failed Automated Verification</strong><br /><strong>Emulated Browser:</strong> MS Internet Explorer 6.0 </p>
<p>Priority 1 - Failed 1.1, 6.3;<br />Priority 2 - Passed 7.4 ; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.1, 13.2, 12.4<br />Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5<br />Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h3> </h3>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-of-accessibility-tests-conducted-on-some-government-and-other-popular-web-sites'>https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-of-accessibility-tests-conducted-on-some-government-and-other-popular-web-sites</a>
</p>
No publishernirmitaAccessibility2011-08-17T08:50:16ZBlog EntryFirst Meeting on a National Policy for Web Accessibility
https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/first-meeting-on-a-national-policy-for-web-access-for-all
<b>The first meeting to discuss having a national policy for web accessibility to ensure universal and inclusive participation was held at the Centre for Internet and Society's office on 7 November 2008. It was aimed at formulating an action plan to work with the government and other private and public bodies to ensure conformity to accessibility standards for web sites.</b>
<p>The first meeting to discuss making compliance with web accessibility standards a part of the national policy agenda was held today (7 November 2008) at the CIS office. Fifteen participants representing organizations from the disability sector, media and law firms came together to discuss the why, what and how of mandatory compliance with web accessibility standards for Indian government web sites.</p>
<p>The meeting started off with brief introductions of the participants, followed by a presentation by Rahul Gonsalves introducing the concept of and need for web accessibility standards amongst web developers. In his presentation, Rahul gave some examples of the kinds of problems faced by different users of the net and simple solutions to solve these problems. Speaking from the perspective of a web designer, he pointed out that while the total cost of creating an accessible web site is merely about 2-3% more than a normal web site, revamping an existing web site to make it conform to accessibility standards is a more complicated and expensive task. He further clarified that for a website to be accessible, it is not merely enough that it is created in accordance with accessibility standards; all future additions and modifications must be made with accessibility in mind. Hence, persons working on the web site should be initiated into creating accessible web pages.</p>
<p>The second presentation of the day was by Jayna Kothari of Ashira Law Services. Jayna, a lawyer who is well known for taking up disability related cases in Bangalore, talked about the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995 (PWD Act) and highlighted provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which came into force in May 2008. She began by talking about the right to access information being a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 19 of our constitution and gave references to various sections in the PWD Act. The Act calls for the setting up of Central and State Co-ordination Committees to ensure that action is taken to give effect to the provisions of the PWD Act and that an accessible, barrier free and inclusive environment is created for persons with disabilities in all spheres such as health, education, employment, transportation, etc. Jayna also highlighted that article 9 of the UNCRPD called for persons with disabilities to have an equal right to access to information and communication. Hence the mandate was not restricted to government web sites only. She opined that we could potentially work with the State and Central Co-ordination Committees to include web accessibility on their agenda of urgent requirements.</p>
<p>Mr Ganesh of Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled talked about intervention at the level of educational organizations and training institutes. He said that instead of merely discussing strategies which are designed to target the Government and get its attention, we also need to work on building awareness amongst the coming generation of web site developers and appeal to schools, training institutes like the NIIT and other educational organizations and centres of learning to disseminate awareness about accessibility right from the beginning. The approach, in other words, has to be both top-down and bottom-up. Ushajee Peri from the Alternative Law Forum (ALF) talked briefly about the Right to Information Act (2005) and said that since the right to information is a fundamental right, we need to carefully analyse provisions of the Act under which we could push for web accessibility.</p>
<p>Mr. L. Subramani from the Deccan Herald talked in brief about media strategy and about how publications could help in creating awareness and pressure. Finally, Meenu Bambani from MPhasiS talked about the 11th Five Year Plan and cited various provisions from it which called for specific measures for disabled persons. After an entire chapter devoted to disability, nothing has as yet been achieved in the year since the plan came into force, even though India has ratified the UNCRPD. Meenu called for immediate action to push the Government for implementation of the chapter on disability in the 11th Five Year Plan. As per the plan, each Government department was to allocate 3% of its funds for supporting disabled persons; this has not been done so far. Meenu believes that 3 December, which is usually celebrated as the World Disabilities Day, should this year be spent in introspection on what we have not achieved and on how we can push the state and government authorities to take their international and national commitments with respect to disabled persons seriously.</p>
<p>There was also a brief discussion on how laws in different countries accommodated web accessibility. For instance in the USA, Section 508 requires web sites of all federal agencies to comply with web accessibility guidelines. In the UK, the Code of Conduct which was brought out by the Disabilities Rights Commission (DRC) under the Disabilities Discrimination Act 2002 (DDA) mandates that persons with disabilities should have the right to access goods, services, facilities and premises on an equal basis as others. Section 2.14 lists the different kinds of services and 2.17 specifically says that a website is a provision of service and hence should be accessible. PAS 78 lays down guidelines for web developers for creating accessible web sites. While some participants expressed curiosity about the actual number of disabled persons using the internet in India, it was generally understood that only by making web sites more accessible could we widen the net of disabled users and enhance universal access and participation.</p>
<p>Another area for intervention was presented by Sunil Abraham in the form of a discussion on the national policy for Open Standards. Sunil said that CIS had given an addendum to the response to the draft national policy on open standards which specifically dealt with web accessibility for disabled and elderly persons. By ensuring that WCAG compliance is inserted in the presentation layer of the Government Interoperability Framework (GIF), which the Government is shortly expected to release, we could make a definite and substantial intervention.</p>
<p>The final conclusions of the meeting were that there were different areas and scopes for intervention and they all had to be simultaneously pursued by different groups. Everyone agreed that we should try and work with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to make all government web sites accessible. Almost all participants felt that while it was not possible to impose web accessibility standards on private entities, we need not restrict ourselves to government web sites in our recommendations and should include at least public listed companies as well. Mr. Subramani felt that working with NASSCOM might be useful for that. Finally it was also decided that an appeal for web accessibility would be put out by CIS at the Walkathon to be organized by Samarthanam on 6 December, since it would be a good platform for spreading awareness and gaining support amongst disabled users, public authorities, organizations and the public at large.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/first-meeting-on-a-national-policy-for-web-access-for-all'>https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/first-meeting-on-a-national-policy-for-web-access-for-all</a>
</p>
No publishernirmitaConferenceMeetingAccessibility2011-08-25T08:38:03ZBlog EntryVisually impaired seek access to print materials
https://cis-india.org/news/deccan-herald-november-3-2008-l-subramani-visually-impaired-seek-access-to-print-materials
<b>An article in the Deccan Herald (November 3, 2008, page 4) by L. Subramani on the CIS signature campaign.</b>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Rahul Cherian is <a class="external-link" href="http://archive.deccanherald.com/Content/Nov32008/district2008110298528.asp">quoted in this article</a> published in the Deccan Herald.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), an organisation researching on the impact of internet on society, has initiated a signature campaign to persuade the Indian government to support the Treaty for the Improved Access for the Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons. <br /><br />The treaty, drafted earlier this year by the World Blind Union (WBU) and Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), asks governments of various countries to change their copyright laws to allow free access to information of several print disabled persons. <br /><br />The nation-wide campaign (in India) is being supported by organisations such as National Association of the Blind, Delhi and National Federation for the Blind (who is also an affiliate member of the WBU).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“Those who are visually challenged and otherwise print disabled are able to use computers independently with the help of screen readers and magnifiers (software technology), yet they are excluded from accessing copyrighted materials since such materials aren’t available in accessible formats,” said Nirmita Narasimhan, who oversees the campaign at CIS.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Treaty endorsement</b><br />Signatures are sought from individuals and organisations to urge the Government of India to endorse the treaty, which calls for copyright laws to be modified so that organisations of the blind and disabled can convert books available in the market into formats which can be accessed by persons with different visual and reading disabilities. <br /><br />“The Indian Copyright Act (1957) is not taking into account recent technology advancements that has empowered the print disabled to access printed materials,” said Rahul Cherian, a Chennai-based copyrights lawyer involved in drafting the treaty.<br /><br />“Collecting signatures from people would be an evidence of public opinion in India regarding the issue and would help us to persuade the Government to make our country a signatory to the treaty. This would mean that the government must make amending the national law a priority.”<br /><br />Rahul said Indian publishers are largely willing to endorse changes to the law, since they view improved accessibility would bring more readers to the market (it is believed about 30 million persons are print disabled in the country). He also feels opposition from authors is unlikely as it doesn’t seriously threaten their incomes.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">Interested can contact: Centre for Internet and Society, No D2, 3rd floor, Sheriff Chambers, 14, Cunningham Road, B’lore - 560 052. P: +91 80 4092 6283. M: 098458 68078. <i>The current address of the Centre for Internet & Society is No. 194, Second 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bangalore - 560071, Ph: +91 80 4092 6283 <br /> </i></p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/deccan-herald-november-3-2008-l-subramani-visually-impaired-seek-access-to-print-materials'>https://cis-india.org/news/deccan-herald-november-3-2008-l-subramani-visually-impaired-seek-access-to-print-materials</a>
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No publisherpraneshAccessibility2013-01-16T06:20:49ZNews ItemMeeting on National Policy for e-Access for All
https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/meeting-on-national-policy-for-e-access-for-all
<b>The world over, there is a move towards making the internet more accessible for persons with visual and print disabilities and for elderly persons. Many countries like the USA and UK have adopted legislation to make adherence to web accessibility standards mandatory. In India we are still relatively unaware of the importance of web accessibility. On Nov 7, 2008 at 11:00 am, the Centre for Internet and Society will host a meeting at the CIS office to discuss strategies and a plan of action to launch a campaign for making web content accessibility standards mandatory in India.</b>
<p>The internet has has breathed fresh life and energy into the situations of disabled persons throughout the world. It has enabled and liberated them in the most complete sense of the word and succeeded in elevating levels of independence, competence and confidence. Like any other technology however this comes with its share of problems, related to accessibility. Thankfully, many of these problems can be solved by merely setting some minimum standards in place at no extra cost or effort.</p>
<p>For any technology to be completely useful, it has to meet the criteria of utility, usability, affordability, acceptance and accessibility. Unfortunately, while the internet can surmount most of obstacles that are faced by disabled persons in relation to access to information, navigation or comprehension problems are equally severe barriers to visually and print disabled persons effectively using it. To help better understand the issue, explained below are some features which are quite problematic for persons with visual and reading disabilities. They are accompanied by some simple solutions which can be easily incorporated by web page creators.</p>
<p>Web pages often contain images and graphics which cannot be discerned by screen readers; text descriptions and explanations can be provided for these. Creation of links to skip to content can provide a huge relief for persons using screen readers, instead of them having to listen to unrelated or confusing content. There should be keyboard alternatives for every function that has to be executed with a mouse. Links without references such as “click here” or links without any specific destination should be avoided. Creators of web pages should not rely upon colours to convey meanings. Finally, since screen readers read content as it is in the code, web page creators should ensure that content is read correctly on the page as well as in the code.</p>
<p>Adherence to web accessibility standards can help avoid these problems. Countries like the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia have enacted legislations to make it mandatory for creators of web pages to follow their minimum standards for web page accessibility. India has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in October 2007. Unfortunately however, no move, has been made till date to adopt web accessibility guidelines or make such guidelines mandatory in our country. Consequently, a lot of government and private web sites are inaccessible for persons with disabilities, defeating the very purpose of ICT for development.</p>
<p>Considering these factors, we think it is time we make a concerted effort towards enabling a more inclusive online environment for all. Adopting a web accessibility standard does not merely make the web more accessible to disabled persons, it makes navigation and operation easier for everyone. The W3C has come out with a web accessibility standard called the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) which has been adopted by many countries. This makes the tasks of the countries easier in the sense that they already have a ready framework and guidelines available to work with.</p>
<p>We solicit your active support and presence in this movement for enabling mandatory adherence to web accessibility standards in India. You are invited to join the Google group for a national policy for e-Access (http://groups.google.com/group/e-access). We are planning to have a meeting of all interested parties and organizations who are committed to supporting this cause on the date and venue given below. We request you to attend along with other supporters. </p>
<h3>Meeting Details<br /></h3>
<p>Date: 7th Nov, 2008 (Friday)<br />Time: 11:00 am<br />Venue:<br />Centre for Internet and Society<br />No. D2, 3rd Floor, Shariff Chambers<br />14 Cunningham Road,<br />Bangalore - 560 052</p>
<p>Map: http://bit.ly/cis-map<br />Phone: +91 80 4092 6283</p>
<p>Please communicate your participation to us, by sending an email to<br />nirmita AT cis-india DOT org <br />M: +91 9845868078</p>
<p><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/agenda for Nov 7th meeting.doc.htm" class="internal-link" title="Agenda for e-Access Meeting">Download meeting agenda</a></p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/meeting-on-national-policy-for-e-access-for-all'>https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/meeting-on-national-policy-for-e-access-for-all</a>
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No publishernirmitaConferenceMeetingAccessibility2011-08-26T05:13:44ZBlog Entry