[Fsf-friends] And now the Kerala Electricity Board goes Microsoft

CK Raju ckraju@zyberway.com
Tue, 15 Apr 2003 20:40:58 +0530


On Friday 11 April 2003 03:13 pm, Dileep M. Kumar wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 11, 2003 at 02:28:43PM +0530, Suraj Kumar wrote:
> >>>I'm sure  communism will not happen  in india, given  the amount of
> >>>damage US did  to the face of communism by  pointing its fingers at
> >>>badly implemented communism in  countries such as the Soviet Union,
> >>>thanks to Stalin.
>
> The so-called communist people in Kerala is as worst as other parties,
> in their  attitude towards foreign  MNCs/Corporates.  They shamelessly
> change their opinion/deeds if they get their contribution.

And to top it all, the IKM project was made to own up by the CPI(M) of Ke=
rala,=20
to send a signal, that the left parties have abandoned their anti-imperia=
list=20
stand and that they are not against such 'developments'. A lot of the 'le=
ft=20
leaders' were made to  either 'write' or 'speak' in favour of the same=20
project, a sort of trap laid by the same 'intellectual technical brains' =
that=20
not only conceived the project, but also, studied the minutest detail of =
how=20
'bureaucracy works (both within the political party as well as in=20
government)' to make the 'project', a Government project, or rather in th=
eir=20
own words, "a people's project".=20

This 'project' is now turning out to be the technical=20
base for all other departments, who have to share data with citizen=20
database. This was the 'killing blow' invented by the 'project leaders',=20
subsequently claimed by them to be the world's largest database deploymen=
t on=20
MS platforms, wherein, the database needs to be linked with all other pri=
me=20
departments, once accepted by Government, eventually ensuring that all=20
subsequent departmental computerisation would be on MS platforms.

Hence wherever some kind of 'user interface' is planned for computerisati=
on,=20
every technical committee would end up eventually recommending MS. While=20
'they' would try to silence the dissent, occasionally throwing some 'nuts=
'=20
like the one Satish Babu mentioned earlier (in a Public Works Dept, which=
 has=20
nothing to do with citizen database), where Free Software would=20
technically be part of some Government project, even if it is to serve th=
e=20
purpose for namesake only, the lion's share is 'reserved' for MS, and tha=
t is=20
exactly where the Government of Kerala is heading.=20

Moreover, since the project was later co-opted by the present Government,=
 this=20
will not be politically challenged in any 'democratic institution' or at =
any=20
'democratic forum' and even if it does, the purpose would be to contain t=
he=20
dissenting voices.  In my opinion, this can be countered only through pub=
lic=20
opinion where perhaps 'media' can play a positive role. We can use this l=
ist=20
for clarifying our position through discussions, but eventually it has to=
 be=20
followed up by 'action' that can attract the 'media' and 'public conscien=
ce'.

CK Raju