[FSUG-Bangalore] Explicit support for FOSS and Open Standards in BJP IT vision document

[vinay ವಿನಯ್]

Dear All,

The extent of mainstream political support for Free and Open Source 
Software (FOSS) and Open Standards seems to be getting stronger. The 
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition party in the current 
parliament, today released a National IT vision document 
(http://www.lkadvani.in/eng/images/stories/it-vision.pdf) 
<http://www.lkadvani.in/eng/images/stories/it-vision.pdf> which contains 
strong support for FOSS and Open Standards, such as:
1) Ten Million students to get a laptop (worth Rs 10,000 or around USD 
200) which will be loaded with FOSS, (Page 21 of the document)
2) Creation of royalty free open standards ; call for all government 
software to be based on open standards (page 36, 37)
3) Promotion of user generated, FOSS knowledge repositories in Indian 
languages - similar to Wikipedia (page 20)

The Left parties in India has been a traditional supporters of FOSS and 
open standards, with Kerala being a pioneer in the adoption and 
promotion of FOSS. Now with the BJP too clearly coming out in support of 
FOSS and Open Standards, there seems to move towards a political 
consensus favoring FOSS and Open Standards.

In this connection, a few organizations are planning to hold a workshop 
in Delhi later this month where major political parties will be invited 
and their support for the adoption and promotion of FOSS and Open 
Standards will be sought. A draft FOSS manifesto 
(http://public-software.in/FOSS-manifesto) has been shared earlier on 
this list for endorsements from individuals and institutions which would 
also be discussed in this workshop.

Other than the support for FOSS, there are other significant promises as 
well including

a. Providing a Rs 10,000 fully powered laptop to 10 million students 
across the country
b. Broadband Internet (2 Mbps) in every town and village, at cable TV 
prices (less than $4 per month).
c. National Mission for Promotion of IT in Indian Languages.
d. Unrestricted VoIP.
e. Domestic IT hardware industry to be promoted to minimise dependence 
on imports.
f. Domestic hosting industry to be promoted to minimise international 
bandwith charges.

Thanks,
Vinay.



-- 
Vinay Sreenivasa
IT for Change
91-98805-95032
vinay at itforchange.net

http://itforchange.net
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