[Fsf-friends] Comrades’ new-found love with IT

[കേരളീയന്‍ भारतीयन]

Sandeep,

May be you have some ill-motivation to put baseless allegations against
CPI(M). However you may please note that CPI(M) and IKM are separate entity.
The fall-out of IKM cannot be ascribed to CPI(M).  The concern of CPI(M) is
well known and they expressed it briefly in their political resolution
adopted by its party congress. Its relevant portion is quoted below

<quote>
* Science & Technology

2.75    The development of any country depends in a critical manner on its
scientific and technological capabilities. In India, in the era of "economic
reform", the turning away from the agenda of self–reliance has meant the
downgrading of State support for science and technology. Public sector
research organisations and key research programmes are being starved of
funds and are suffering for lack of personnel. On the plea of bridging the
gap between research and industry, government research organisations are
increasingly being turned into contract research organisations, thus
providing MNCs with cheap knowledge workers, instead of being allowed to set
a forward–looking agenda of scientific and technological research and
innovation for the Indian industry.

2.76    This trajectory needs to be reversed. Indian industry, particularly
the small and medium scale sector, which provides the bulk of our
employment, cannot survive if technology costs are kept high. We need
indigenous development of technology to bring down the cost of advanced
technology to industry and retain the competitiveness of the small and
medium level enterprises. Indian agriculture also needs latest inputs from
scientific research to improve its productivity. Therefore, self reliance in
science and technology  needs to be the focus for a developing country such
as India. Currently, almost all of the public funds on R&D are concentrated
with the central government and its institutions. There is a need that
matching funds be allocated to state governments and its institutions also.

2.77    Open access to scientific and technological knowledge is critically
important to developing nations. The information technology sector and the
free software movement have shown that new technologies and methodologies
can be developed by cooperative communities without monopoly ownership –
either through copyrights or patents. There is a need to develop similar
ways of promoting "science/knowledge commons", across  many different
scientific and technological disciplines, like biotechnology and drug
discovery.*
</quote>

You may get it from this url :
http://cpim.org/xix%20cong/19%20Congress.Political.Resolution.pdf

I did not get what you mean by untapped vote bank. If you are talking about
free software community, Your assumptions are totally wrong. You may take a
survey on voting pattern of free software activist in India, which may
enable you to get a better picture.

As a democratic organisaton, CPI(M) cannot conduct a secret meeting. It
always used to publish the outcome of its meetings, which are evolved
through a democratic processes, in the relevant forums.

- Keraleean
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