Can I put this in Newsclick with you as author and your SFLC hat? On 4 Aug 2016 1:24 pm, "Prasanth Sugathan" <[email protected]> wrote:
> *The HRD ministry’s decision to partner with an affiliate of Microsoft > Corp for developing a web-based education platform, experts say, has some > loose ends, majorly the choice of a proprietary software over the open > source ones, despite their proven track record at premier institutions * > > A Rs 38 crore mandate awarded by the Union HRD Ministry in June to an > affiliate of Redmond-based Microsoft > <http://indianexpress.com/tag/microsoft/> Corp for developing a flagship > web-based education platform is coming under increasing fire in the > academic circles — both for the manner in which the contract was handed out > and on the choice of proprietary software over free open source options > already being deployed by premier educational institutions in the country. > > Microsoft was selected as the technical partner for the HRD ministry’s > SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) platform > based on the recommendations of a “technical committee”, presumably after > the tendering process for selecting a system integrator for SWAYAM —a MOOC > or massive open online courses platform — floated thrice through the > e-procurement platform since November last year failed to elicit any > response. While the Ministry of Human Resource Development has cited the > decision of a “technical committee” behind its choice of proprietary > software over open source software and that selecting Microsoft does not > run foul of the rulebook, the deal has raised eyebrows over the lack of > objective criterion on how the decisions were taken in the first place. > > The choice of proprietary software, entailing costs of Rs 38 crore and > more for tools such as SQL (structured query language), is being questioned > on the grounds that the selection of proprietary software on payment basis > was done despite a clear option of going in for open source platforms such > as Open EdX. For instance, Open edX — an open-source, not-for profit > platform floated by MIT and Harvard University that was released as open > source in March 2013 to act as the WordPress for MOOC platforms — is used > across at least 126 universities and organisations globally. Even more > intriguing is the fact that an MoU is already in place between IIT Bombay > and edX, under which edX released complete platform code in open source. > The signing of the MoU in June 2013 was actually facilitated by the > Ministry of HRD. Open source platforms such as Open edX allow users to use > plug-ins to expand the core functionality, thereby imparting tremendous > flexibility when it comes to scaling up the platform or modify it to suit > the specific requirements of a particular college or university. Since > January last year, IIT Bombay decided to opt for Open edX and launch a > customised version called IITBX as an extended online educational services > for the benefit of Indian learners and training workshops for teachers, > wherein the premier engineering institute has added significant > functionality to the Open edX platform to create and offer MOOCs. > Similarly, IIT Madras had a Google > <http://indianexpress.com/tag/google/>-based > Course Builder platform ported in their own computer infrastructure while > IIT Kanpur had a homegrown platform called MOOKIT, based again on open > source software. > > Even if the debate over open source and proprietary software were to be > set aside, there are varying interpretations on why the three tenders > floated since November 2015 failed to get any response. According to > sources, there was an industry consultation facilitated by PwC, the > consultant appointed by the ministry, in October 2015 and a pre-bid meeting > in December 2015. However, in the pre-bid meeting, most of those present > decided not to make a bid on the ground that there was no clarity in the > mandate and operational requirement itself. The reason for the lack of > clarity, experts say, is reflected succinctly if the RFPs (request for > proposals) floated for SWAYAM on November 21, 2015, and an earlier one > floated for the proposed National Career Services portal (on August 13, > 2014) were to be kept side by side and analysed — a discernible similarity > in the two architectures is difficult to miss even though the two projects > for which RFPs were issued are quite different. NCS is simply an econtent > platform while SWAYAM is a far more advanced MOOCs initiative. > > In response to specific questions sent by The Indian Express > <http://indianexpress.com/>, R Subrahmanyam, Additional Secretary > -Technical Education, the Ministry of HRD, said that Microsoft’s selection > was done after the tender for the selection of the System Integrator for > SWAYAM had been floated through the e-procurement platform three times but > returned no qualified bidder. “It was therefore decided to ask AICTE to > take up in-house development of SWAYAM portal by selecting suitable > platform. A technical committee assisted by consultants M/S PwC evaluated > both the open source and proprietary software and decided to use the > proprietary software keeping in view the needs of this large enterprise > model with complex inter-connected processes. After this, all the > proprietary software has been evaluated and the Microsoft Platform has been > selected as best suited based on objective criteria. The development is > currently going on the Microsoft Platform by a team of developers, led by > Microsoft.” > > On the issue of why open source options such as Open edX or Google Source > Builder were not considered, Subrahmanyam said: “All that appears ‘free’ is > not always free!”. He said “the option of using edX has been evaluated > carefully. Since the intellectual property of the courses placed on edX is > lost for the country, it was not found to be a viable option. There are > also substantial payments to be made to MIT for placing the courses on the > edX platform. The decision of the government was also to have a National > Platform for the MOOCs.” > > He, however, admitted that in the Microsoft deal, further payments might > be envisaged for proprietary tools that might be required to fully > operationalise the package. “There are certain tools that were required for > development of the IT platform. They have been procured using the DGS&D > (Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals) rate contract,” he said in > response to the query. > > Experts counter the arguments raised by the ministry of the ostensible > lack of scalability of open source software with respect to the needs of > “large enterprise model with complex inter-connected processes” by > specifically citing the example of enterprises such as the BSE switching > from proprietary hardware to open source — the first major financial > institutions in India to go open source by deploying an open source > platform. Corroborating the improvement in the transactional efficiency > from the switch, a BSE executive told The Indian Express: “For two decades, > we were constrained by the proprietary technologies and found that old > infrastructure had limitations in innovation, apart from the elevated cost > of upgrades.” “To improve this, BSE collaborated with Red Hat to build an > entirely new trading system on open source technology, powered by Red Hat > Enterprise Linux Operating System. Post this development and its > deployment, BSE has increased the volume from 10 million orders a day to > 500 million plus orders a day, cut hardware costs by 66 per cent, and has > also increased its trading speed from 10 milliseconds to 6 microseconds,” > according to company information. > > Also, among the open source platforms, edX itself is run by over 126 > institutions across the world, with several countries and private entities > announced their adoption of the edX open source platform to launch new > initiatives. There involve EdRuX in Russia, France Universite Numerique and > MOOC France Tv Education in France and nearly a dozen Chinese universities > joining to form an online education initiative in China under the XuetangX > platform. BITs Pilani is among the private sector institutions that run > edX-based courses. > > On the specific assertion that AICTE was doing “in-house” development of > the MOOCs platform, sources in the know said that the AICTE has no software > development team of its own and the Council’s own governance system has > been developed and is managed by an outsourced agency (L&T Infotech). A > query sent to the AICTE on the issue remained unanswered. Details about the > composition of the technical committee that, assisted by PwC, decided to > use the proprietary software were unavailable. Specifics of the “objective > criteria” cited by the Ministry of HRD that was used to select Microsoft > for the deal could also not be accessed. > > As regards the loss of IPR argument flagged by the ministry, experts point > to the fact that all content created using Government of India funding is > Open Educational Resources under the relevant Creative Commons licence and, > as a result, the question of IPR simply does not arise. On the similarities > in the RFPs for SWAYAM and one floated earlier for NCS, Viplav Baxi, the > chief product architect for an edTech startup Fliplearn Education said: > “The similarities (in the RFPs) are fairly outrageous. It’s clear that the > consultants who placed these advertisements do not know what MOOCs is and > possibly the other project also! MOOCs is necessary but it’s important to > approach it the right way”. > > -- > Prasanth Sugathan > Counsel,sflc.in, > K-9, Birbal Road, Second Floor, > Jangpura Extension, > New Delhi-110014 > Phone# +91-11-43587126 > Cell: +91 9013585902www.sflc.in > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "സ്വതന്ത്ര വിജ്ഞാന ജനാധിപത്യ സഖ്യം പൊതുവേദി" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > > _______________________________________________ > network mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in > >
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