On Thursday 05 February 2009 18:41, Venkatesh Hariharan wrote: > A draft FOSS manifesto for Indian political parties > > http://osindia.blogspot.com/2009/02/draft-foss-manifesto-for-indian >.html > > With elections approaching in April 2009, it was time to create a > draft FOSS manifesto for Indian political parties. This is a first > draft and I have written this keeping in mind that most Indian > politicians would not be familiar with FOSS. Hence, the usage of > simple language that anyone can understand. If you feel that any > section here needs improvement, please let me know. > Comments/suggestions welcome. > > venky > ==== > > A draft FOSS manifesto for Indian political parties > > The Free and Open Source Software community in India calls upon > political parties to make FOSS usage and promotion a central part > of the IT, e-government and education plans in their election > manifestos. FOSS is software which is liberally licensed to grant > the right of users to study, change, and improve its design through > the availability of its source code. The open, inclusive and > participatory nature of FOSS is a natural fit for the vibrant > traditions of Indian democracy
for the vibrant Indian tradition of knowledge sharing and democracy > . > Since software is the foundation of > the knowledge economy, India's IT infrastructure should be built on > FOSS and not on closed, proprietary software systems. > > We believe that encouragement of FOSS will result in: > > * Development of the domestic IT industry > * Creation of jobs > * Encouragement of skills development and upgradation > * Enable localization of software to Indian languages > * Reduction of India's dependence on monopolistic proprietary > software vendors > * Encourage the usage of open standards > * Bridging the digital divide > * Rapid modernization and computerization of India's education > system * Technology upgradation of India's Small and Medium > Enterprises * Efficient usage of budget outlays for e-government > * Faster technology development through Collaborative > Innovation > > We call upon political parties in India to support the Indian FOSS > community by: > > 1. Encouraging the use of FOSS in Indian education system. This > will inculcate the virtues of collaboration, sharing and > participation in children from a very young age and make > computerization of schools affordable. > 2. Eliminating proprietary software from the education syllabus > and making the syllabus vendor-neutral, thus giving teachers and > students the choice of software that suits their budgets and needs. > 3. Using FOSS in e-government to the maximum possible extent and > ensuring that government tenders are open and do not favor > proprietary software vendors. All software developed with > tax-payers money should be released under a FOSS license to > encourage collaboration; and the sharing of code and best > practices. > 4. Mandating the usage of open standards that are free from > royalties and vendor lock-in so that the interaction between the > government and citizens happens in a free and open manner befitting > a democracy. > 5. Encouraging freely shareable, FOSS based knowledge > repositories like Wikipedia in Indian languages. > 6. Encouraging the usage of the collaborative model of FOSS in > scientific research. Science thrives on collaboration and the > sharing of knowledge. The current trend of privatizing knowledge > leads to secrecy in science and reduces collaboration. We must use > the FOSS model based on collaboration, community and shared > ownership of knowledge to spark a renaissance of knowledge in > India. > 7. Eliminating software and business method patents that have Eliminate ambiguities in Indian patent law which allow surreptitious grant of software and Bussiness method patents. Such patents > lead to huge amounts of litigation in developed countries. Indian > traditions have held that knowledge grows by sharing and diminishes > when hoarded. Patents on software and business methods grant undue > monopolies on ideas and prevent independent invention and the > sharing of knowledge. > > India has one of the most youthful populations in the world and it > is important that they have access to the tools with which the > information society is built. The freedom to to freely distribute these software tools, > modify the source > code, the ability to share knowledge and build communities make > Free and Open Source Software the best, long-term model for India's > development. We therefore urge all political parties to encourage > the usage of FOSS for India's development. -- Rgds JTD -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
