Good development and thanks for sharing minutes with us However, No strict deadline has been fixed for seeing decisions was being taken implemented.
On 1/16/15, Mohammed Asif iqbal <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear all, > Hope you guys are doing great. > As you are aware; I, Prasant Verma, dipendra manacha are currently engaged > by department of electronics & IT, government of India and volunteering our > time to formulate action plan and strategy for converting all government web > sites into accessible. We had high level advisory committee meeting on > December 30, 2015 where Executive director Indian railway was also present. > Please to note that they are taking step in the right direction in terms of > attempting to make their IRCTC equal access. We are committed to ensure > that we will continue to work till we achieve our objectives. I am > publishing the minutes for your reference. Please note that scanned copy > was forwarded by Ministry and I did OCR it; however it does not offer high > quality of reading but it does the job. Please note that this is rather > long so read it at your leisure. > Thanks again to everyone who helped us by giving their input for identifying > additional 50 frequently visited web sites. > Thanks and let's work diligently towards positive change. > Smile > Asif > f > vmrvwr > GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY > .A—JdXaA -Jt AfS ft «S > 3TTT > DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY > > Website: www.delty.gov.in > v„ 18(2)/2O09-*-Infr» (Vol.IIl) > To, > Chairman & Members of the HLAC (As per list enclosed) > Subject: Minutes of the meeting of High Level Advisory Committee (HLAC) > related to Accessibility. > Sir/Madam, > The undersigned is directed to enclose herewith a copy of the minutes of the > meeting held on December 30, 2014 at DeitY, Electronics Niketan, CGO > Complex, New Delhi to finalize action plan to implement the National Policy > on Universal Electronic Accessibility for kind perusal/further necessary > action, please. > (G. Swarnambal) Deputy Director Tel: 011-24301167 > Enel: List of Participants in HLAC.^ ^ > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > & > •> r, K A. V National ^-Governance Plan > m > ▼ ELECTRONICS NIKETAN > 6 6, C.G.O. COMPLEX > 10003 Public services closer home NEW DELHI-110003 > 18(2)/2009-e-Infra (Vol. Ill) > Department of Electronics & Information Technology E-Infrastructure Division > Subject: Minutes of the meeting of High Level Advisory > Committee (HLAC) > related to > Accessibility > 1. A meeting to finalize action plan to implement the National Policy on > Universal Electronic > Accessibility was held on December 30, 2014 at Department of Electronic and > Information > Technology (DeitY), New Delhi under the chairmanship of Secretary, DeitY. > List of participants > * > is enclosed in Annexure. > 2. Dr. Ajay Kumar, DeitY welcomed the Chairman and members and gave a > background about the > formulation of the policy on universal electronic accessibility. He informed > that multi¬stakeholders were involved in drafting the policy. He further > informed that since there are not direct action-pomts in the policy, a HLAC > was constituted with multiple stakeholders’ participation to decide further > course of action to implement the policy. Afterwards, he requested > Secretary, DeitY to chair the meeting and also to give his opening remarks. > 3. Secretary, DeitY asked all the members to introduce themselves and > accordingly, every member gave his/her brief introduction. In addition, he > stated that the basic objective of this meeting is to decide key action > points to operationalize the policy. Afterwards, he asked Shri Dipak Singh, > HoD (e-Infra) to start the presentation. > 4. Sh. Dipak Singh gave a presentation covering the details of the policy. > He shared that the National Policy on Universal Electronic Accessibility, > 2013 was approved by the Cabinet in October, 2013. This policy recognizes > the need to eliminate discrimination on the basis of disabilities and to > facilitate equal access to electronics and Information and Communication > Technologies (ICTs). He also highlighted its major objectives. Further, he > explained the agenda items before HLAC. > 5. Afterwards, the following items were discussed and decisions were taken: > 5.1 Websites Accessibility > (i) Design and implementation strategy for converting inaccessible > government websites into accessible websites; > It was proposed that in the first instance, 100 most visited/popular > Government websites may be migrated into fully accessible sites. In this > regard, following was submitted before HLAC for moving forward: > project to convert 100 most popular/visited inaccessible websites into > accessible sites. > • After migration, NIC may get these websites certified by STQC as per > Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (GIGW). > • For the websites of remaining Government organizations, NIC may issue a > notification to concerned organizations that they may go through ‘Content > Management Framework’ and make their websites accessible as per GIGW > guidelines. > Secretary, DeitY asked the members to deliberate on this item and > accordingly, the > following views were expressed by the members: > • Ms. U. Hazarika, Ministry of Railways stated that they are very much > willing to make their website accessible but there is a major concern > regarding sharing the source code of website with vendor/s. Hence, there > should be some empanelment agency, which could provide the competent vendors > for such tasks. > • Shri A. K. Awasthi, Department of Empowerment of PwDs also was of the > view > that there should be an agency, which could empanel the vendors for making > the websites accessible. In addition, he also expressed his concern > regarding the competency of the vendors empanelled by NICSI. > • Dr. Neena Pahuja, ERNET India appraised that ERNET India had already > conducted the accessibility compliance testing of 50 most popular/visited > Government websites. > • Dr. Rajendra Kumar, DeitY appraised the HLAC that STQC has taken a > project > on GIGW compliance testing of 1000 Government websites. > • Dr. Ajay Kumar, DeitY was of the view that there are two major points > involved in this item: first is to make websites accessible and second is > the accessibility audit of these websites. Accordingly, we require two types > of agencies to perform these tasks. > • Shri Sunil Abraham, CIS was of the opinion that there should be a common > template for all Ministries/Departments. > • Chairman asked that NIC is taking care of this aspect i.e. one template > for all Ministries/Departments. Chairman was also of the view that source > code should be on open standard and it should be robust. Accordingly, we > should inspire for open source based systems. > Decision: > After detailed deliberation, the following was decided: > • In lint Instance, NIC will convert 100 most popular/visited > inaccessible > Government websites into accessible sites. > • After migration, NIC may get these websites certified by STQC as per > Web > Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) published by the Web > Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C). > There are three levels in these guidelines, which are A, AA and AAA. All the > Government websites should try to achieve AAA level conformance but > conformance to at least AA level accessibility is must for all websites. > • For the websites of remaining Government organizations, ERNET India and > NICSI will empanel various agencies, which can take up accessibility related > projects of different Government Ministries/Departments. > Identify possible solutions for converting inaccessible government > notifications > into accessible; > The following was submitted before HLAC: > • It is a common practice that government notifications/ order are signed > by concerned official and scanned copy of the same are uploaded on the > concerned Government websites. However, blind/ low vision citizens cannot > access this notification as it is in image format and screen reader can not > read images. > • To overcome this issue, the best practices around the world are > adoption > of ePub format or OCR (Optical Character Recognition) based PDF, which > produces digital documents. > • Hence, it was proposed that a notification may be issued by DeitY > through > E~ Governance Group that all the Government notifications/orders should be > in ePub or OCR based PDF only along with a technical write-up regarding > conversion. > Decision: > DeitY through e-Governance Group will issue a notification that all the > Government notifications/orders should be digitally signed and in ePub or > OCR based PDF only along with a technical write-up regarding conversion. > Identify non-graphics CAPTCHA solutions and provide assistance in > implementations. > The following was submitted before HLAC: > • Visual CAPTCHA does not offer equal access to blind/visually impaired > persons due to their disability, > • In place of the visual image based CAPTCHA, which are not accessible to > several users including the blind/visually impaired, generation of OTP on > citizen's mobile, audio, answering Logic Questions, etc. may be considered > for possible solution. These questions provide the needed security to the > website and at the same time, are accessible to everyone. The web > accessibility guidelines also recommend use of these alternate types of > CAPTCHA. However, the audio CAPTCHA is also not an alternative since for > many users including visually impaired, it is not easy to both listen to the > much distorted audio and type the text at the same type on the website. > • Hence, DeitY through e-Govemance Group may issue a further > notification > along with CAPTCHA standard/s that for all Government websites, in place of > visual CAPTCHA, either OTP or answering logical questions may be suitably > followed. > Secretary, DeitY asked the members to deliberate on this item and > accordingly, the following views were expressed by the members: > • Shri Lokesh Joshi, NIC expressed his concern regarding asking simple > question in CAPTCHA. He was of the opinion that this may cause security > related issues. > • Dr. Ajay Kumar, DeitY apprised the HLAC that in many banks, no > CAPTCHA > is used. > Decision: > DeitY through e-Governance Group will issue guidelines that in addition to > Visual CAPTCHA, which is already in place, additional methods of logical > CAPTCHA like OTP or answering logical questions should also be exercised to > facilitate differently-abled persons. > 5.2 Formulating access specification templates, which can be inserted in RFP > for all government procurements. > Formulations of access requirement specification, which should be mandatory > inserted with all Government of India RFP as a part of Government of India > procurement guidelines had been drafted. The same was sent to NIC for their > inputs/comments as well. Based on the inputs, the same was revised and > accordingly, the finalized template was placed before HLAC for approval. > The template was explained in brief. Chairman was of the view that since all > the major aspects, which are given in the template have already been covered > in GIGW, we may insert only one line in RFPs that all the procurements > should be GIGW compliance. > Decision; > DeitY through e-Governance Group may issue a notification that all > Government procurements should be GIGW compliance. > 53 Appointment of ERNET India as a nodal agency for empanelment of third > party agencies for accessibility conformance of websites as being done by > CERT-IN for empanelment of third party agencies for security audit > This item was already covered in 5.1 (i), hence, no further discussion was > held on the same. ERNET India and NICSI may charge 5% of the total cost as > operational overhead for development of accessible websites. > 5.4 It was proposed that to make W3C Compliant websites, there is a need for > the following types of trainings: > • Training for web developers, > • Training for disabled persons, and > • Training for procurement personnel including vendors. > In this regard, a proposal had been received from ERNET India for Setting up > of ICT Resource Centers for Skill Development and Capacity Building of > Different! y-abled Persons and Awareness Programs for disabled* with outlay > of Rs 2398 lakhs for 3 years. > Sh. Dipak Singh, DeitY requested ERNET India to give a presentation on the > project proposal. Mrs. Tejal Tewari from ERNET India made the presentation > on their proposal covering various points such as past experience of ERNET > India in the execution of such projects, a brief outlay of their proposal > and end users along with complete details of establishment of ICT centres > for differently-abled persons. > The Chairman commented why should ERNET India will execute such types of > logistic projects? He further stated that the major role of ERNET India is > to work on technology. Organizing trainings etc. through resource centres > should be done by the Department of Empowerment of PwDs, Ministry of Social > Justice and Empowerment. He enquired whether Department of Empowerment of > PwDs is having any such schemes for trainings. Shri A. K. Awasthi, > Department of Empowerment of PwDs informed that his department supports such > activities and at this stage, Department of Empowerment of PwDs may support > training projects with total budget out-lay up to 5 crores. In addition, he > also informed that Department of Empowerment of PwDs will consult its > various National Centres and NGOs for organizing such training programmes. > Decision: > After detailed deliberation, it was decided that Department of Empowerment > of PwDs will organize aforementioned trainings by leveraging existing > Institutions and NGOs. For this purpose, ERNET India may be appointed as a > Technical Consultant to Department of Empowerment of PwDs. > Afterwards, the Chairman asked the members to offer their views, if any > related to the policy and accordingly, the following major views were > expressed: > • Dr. Neena Pahuja, ERNET India informed that ERNET India is going to > organize workshops regarding usage of technical products very soon. > • Shri A. K. Awasthi, Department of Empowerment of PwDs asked that there > is > a major need for low cost technology tools for disabled. > • Dr. Rajendra Kumar was of the view that we need TTS in regional > languages. > • Sh. Sunil Abraham, CI^ informed that we have various schemes for > differently-abled persons but we also require the data regarding usage of > these schemes. In addition, in spite of addressing all kind of disabilities, > our focus should be initially on one or two. He also informed that TTS > developed by TDIL and C-DAC cannot be used on mobile phones. > • Sh. Prashant Vcrma, NAB informed that only 1% information is accessible > to disabled persons. To make this more accessible, awareness on tools should > be created. > • Sh. Md. Asif Iqbal, PwC informed that major problem is implementing TTS > for Indian languages is because of the Indian languages are not in Unicode. > Afterwards, the following action items were also decided: > (i) A sub-committee may be formed, which may submit the reports on the > following: > • Status of existing TTS tools in regional languages for disabled > persons; > and > • Actual need for TTS in regional languages. > (ii) In first instance, TTS may be developed in five Indian languages. > (iii) To prepare these aforementioned reports and development of TTS in five > Indian languages, various agencies may be hired with financial support from > DeitY. > The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair. > 1. Secretary > Department of Electronics & IT Electronics Niketan CGO Complex New Delhi. > 2. Secretary > Ministry of Human Resource Development Department of School Education & > Literacy Shastri Bhawan New Delhi. > 3. Secretary > Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Department of Health & Family Welfare > Nirman Bhawan, C-Wing New Delhi-110001. > 4. Secretary > Min. of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Nirman Bhawan New Delhi-110011. > 5. Secretary > Ministry of Science & Technology Department of Science & Technology > Technology Bhawan New Mehrauli Road New Delhi* 110016. > 6. Secretary > Department ofTelecommunication Ministry of Communications & IT Sanchar > Bhawan New Delhi. > 7. Chairman Railway Board Rail Bhawan New Delhi-110011. > 8. Secretary > Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports Department of Youth Affairs & Sports > C-Wing, Shastri Bhawan New Delhi-110001. > 9. Director General > Dte. General of Employment & Training Ministry of Labour & Employment Room > No. 108, Shram Shakti Bhawan New Delhi. > 10. Chairperson > National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, > Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation & > Multiple Disabilities 16-B, Old Rajinder Nagar New Delhi-110060. > 11. Director > Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Institute for the > Physically Handicapped > Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment > Government of India > 4, Vishnu Digamber Marg > New Delhi-110002. > 12. Director > Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for Hearing, Handicapped > KC Marg, Bandra(W) Reclamation > Mumbai-400050. > 13. Director > National Institute for the Orthopaedically Handicapped > BT Road, Bonhooghly > Kolkata-700090. > 14. Director > National Institute of Mental Health & Neuroscience(NIMHANS) > Hosur Road > Bengaluru-560029. > 15. Director > National Institute for the Visually Handicapped > 116, Rajpur Road > Dehradun, Uttarakhand-248001. > 16. Director > Artificial Limb Manufacturing Corporation of India(ALIMCO) > GTRoad > Kanpur-209217. > 17. Shri Jagdish Kumar Director > Department of Disability Affairs Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment > Paryavaran Bhawan, CGO Complex New Delhi-110003. > 18. Shri Rajesh Arya Director(Trg) > Deptt of Personnel & Training Block 4,3rd floor, Old JNU Campus New Mehrauli > Road, New Delhi-67. > 19. Director General C-DAC, > Pune University Campus Ganeshkhind, Pune. > 20. The Head Barrier Break > Office No. 102, Highway Commercial Complex IB Patel Road, Opp. Laghu Udyog > Industrial Estate Goregaon (E), Mumbai-400063. > 21. The Head > Centre for Internet & Society > #194,2nd ‘C’ Cross, Doralur 21"1 Stage > Bengaluru-560071. > 22. The Head > National Association for the Blind (NAB) India > R.K. Puram > New Delhi-110022. > 23. The Head Enable India > 1“‘A’Main Road Koramangala, 8* block Bengaluru-560095. > 24. Group Coordinator, E-Infrastructure Division, DeitY > 25. HoD(TDIL), DeitY > 26. HoD(E-infra), DeitY > > > Celebrating Louis Braille birthday Jan4th > > > > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of > mobile phones / Tabs on: > http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > To unsubscribe send a message to > [email protected] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU Celebrating Louis Braille birthday Jan4th Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
