[OLPC India] [bytesforall_readers] BJP on FOSS fence: Modi embraces Microsoft

Sat Apr 18 03:40:52 EDT 2009

I agree with the views below. What laptops are the BJP talking about? Whom
and how will they distribute and to whom? What are their views on FOSS? How
will they promote it?

Ananya S Guha.

On 4/18/09, Edward Cherlin <echerlin at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Comments below.
>
> On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 4:33 AM, Pranesh Prakash <pranesh at cis-india.org>
> wrote:
> > Dear All,
> > Very interesting to see the lip-service of netas.
> >
> > <snip>
> > "If it's [FOSS is] mentioned in the manifesto, there must be some logic
> in it"
> > </snip>
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > From: Rahul Rai <rahul4unity at gmail.com>
> > Date: Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 16:02
> > Subject: [FSUG-Bangalore] Free/open source or windows???
> > To: fsug-bangalore at mm.gnu.org.in
> >
> >
> http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/janus-act-govt-love-for-windows/446771/
> >
> >
> > Janus Act: Govt love for Windows
> > Gaurav Sharma
> >
> > Posted: Apr 14, 2009 at 0440 hrs IST
> > Ahmedabad
> > Party’s manifesto speaks of open source software; Modi govt signs pact
> > with Microsoft
> >
> > This is one big contrast in the party’s manifesto and its actual
> > practice. The BJP’s IT vision as mentioned in its manifesto and its
> > implementation in Gujarat could not have been more different.
> >
> > The party has promised to standardise open standard and open source
> > software in its IT vision, but by its own claim, the IT savvy state
> > government has signed MoUs with Microsoft India Pvt Ltd in the Vibrant
> > Gujarat summit. The aim: to enhance adoption and use of IT in the
> > state education sector using the licensed software.
> >
> > The recently released ‘BJP’s IT Vision for Transforming India,
> > Empowering Bharat’, is an example of this contrast.
> >
> > The party has promised laptops at Rs 10,000 to one crore students with
> > interest-free loans for anyone unable to afford it.
>
> The OLPC XO costs less than Rs 10,000, but it is only sold to
> governments who agree to give it to schoolchildren at no cost. Poor
> little Nepal is doing so, but big rich India can't afford it. Boo hoo.
>
> What laptops are these? For which students? To what educational
> purpose? To continue to turn out "experts" on only authorized topics,
> who have no concept of their own rights or the rights of the people?
> The point of Free Software is not saving money. It is human rights,
> the freedom to use software fully, and not have its essential nature
> locked away in trade secrets, copyrights, and patents.
>
> I so wish we had a Gandhi today. Instead of leading Indians to the
> ocean to pick up salt in violation of the unconscionable British
> monopoly, he could have them spreading Free Software freely in the
> people's own languages, and freeing all the books, the scientific
> journals, all knowledge that can benefit human society.
>
> According to economic theory, the market price of goods and services
> will be reduced in a Free Market to just enough over the cost of
> production to keep producers in business. But no corporation is
> willing to compete in a Free Market of ideas when it can induce
> governments to grant it economic favors in the form of monopolies of
> information.
>
> Well, we don't have a Gandhi. But that need not stop us from sharing
> Free Software with every student, no matter what the government
> provides, unless we are all too cowardly, too comfortable, too
> dependent to lift a finger in our own interests.
>
> You can add Linux to any Windows system, or you can carry your own
> personal version on a USB flash drive or CD-ROM. Ask me how.
> Macintoshes already have BSD Unix built in. You don't even have any
> chains, and yet you are still slaves. Your countries have achieved
> independence from the colonial masters, but you are not independent
> from anybody.
>
> Try it. You have nothing to lose but your helplessness.
>
> > The party has also
> > admitted that Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is the only way out
> > to reduce the price of the device from Rs 35,000 to Rs 10,000.
>
> Well, OLPC got Microsoft down to $10 for Windows XP and a few
> applications on the XO. I don't know what these people's problems are.
>
> > The BJP’s IT Vision says: “Our government will actively promote Free
> > and Open Source Software, including the operating system, which will
> > also introduce the habit of innovation in the student community.”
> >
> > But this is in direct contrast to what the Gujarat government did
> > during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit 2009, in January.
> > As per the agreement, Microsoft will extensively promote capacity
> > building by establishing IT academies across 12 districts, train
> > 20,000 teachers, prepare IT and Digital Literacy curriculum, build IT
> > readiness under ‘MS Partners in Learning’ and implement a
> > comprehensive education solution, including Education Management and
> > Information System and Campus Management.
>
> OLPC India Deployments
> Current
>
>    * <i>Khairat school, Khairat-Dhangarwada Village, Maharashtra
>    * Parikrma Center for Learning, Bangalore
>    * Aradhna Convent School, Bangalore
>    * Holy Mother School, Nashik
>    * Saint-Anthony School, Dugawar (U.P.)
>    * Auroville, Tamil Nadu
>    * Katha Khazana School, Govindpuri, Kalkaji, New Delhi
>
> Potential
>
>    * Poorva Maadhyamik Vidyalaya (Pre Middle School) पूर्व माध्यमिक
> विद्यालय , Bhagmalpur, District Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh
>    * Chiragh Grammar School, Meerut (U.P.) and Project Writeup
>    * Belgaum District, Karnataka
>    * Belgaum District, Karnataka
>    * Ahmedabad, Gujarat funded by MangoTree Group
>
> Yes, Ahmedabad. The government can't do it, but MangoTree Group can.
>
> > When questioned about the contrast, none of the party leaders had a
> > straight answer for this seeming contrast.
> >
> > BJP’s national IT cell convener, Pradyut Bora, said: “This should be
> > asked to the state government. But, policies can always change.”
> >
> > Meanwhile, state leaders of the BJP declined to comment on the issue.
> > Yamal Vyas, BJP media cell convener, Gujarat, said: “Although I am not
> > authorised to say anything on this, but if it’s mentioned in the
> > manifesto, there must be some logic in it.”
>
> Yeah, right. Politics is always too important to leave to politicians.
> As Franklin Delano Roosevelt told a group that wanted his help with a
> bill, "Gentlemen, you have convinced me. Now all you have to do is
> create a mass movement that will _force_ me to do it."
>
> One of the things that you have to understand is that pretending to
> work on poverty is very expensive, but actually ending poverty will be
> very profitable. And the profits will not go to those who stood by
> wringing their hands.
> --
> Silent Thunder (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) is my name
> And Children are my nation.
> The Cosmos is my dwelling place, The Truth my destination.
> http://earthtreasury.org/worknet (Edward Mokurai Cherlin)
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