Centre for Internet and Society

Internet becomes vernacular with relaunch of e-bhasha

praskrishna — 2015-04-03T05:49:42Z

With the relaunch of e-bhasha as a mission mode project, there is a fresh urgency to create content and technical solutions in Indian languages.

The article by Ankita Lahiri was published in Governance Now on March 23, 2015. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

Computer literacy is often linked to the knowledge of English. With the launch of the e-bhasha project, the government is hoping to make the internet more accessible. The project aims at providing computing tools in Indian languages, thus making government services available to a substantial part of India. These tools were developed more than a decade ago, but sadly remained non-utilised. However, the government has now decided to bring in the e-bhasha project under the umbrella of the national e-governance plan (NeGP) as a mission mode project (MMP).

The project that is being jointly driven by the department of electronics and information technology (DeitY) and technology development for Indian languages (TDIL), will be implemented in all departments across states and promises to provide all government services in 22 scheduled Indian languages. It will also provide a range of technical solutions, browsers and content in local languages. The multilingual aspect will ensure that government services have a wider reach and are accessible to citizens in local languages. The department hopes to get approval for the MMP by early next year.

Although TDIL has been finalised as the nodal implementing agency, the idea is to create a separate body, the centre of excellence (CoE) for localisation of Indian languages that will do the actual implementation on the ground level. Discussing the wing’s role, Swaran Lata, officer-in-charge, human-centred computing division, TDIL, told Governance Now: “We are like the backbone MMP. We will provide tools and solutions that can be used to generate the content in Indian languages. We will also provide standards and guidelines for the electronic governance domain. The final service delivery will be the responsibility of the various departments.”

Elaborating on how this platform can potentially transform the lives of the common citizen, Rajat Moona, director general, centre for development of advanced computing (C-DAC), said, “More people will get connected to government services now. It will bring the government closer to the citizen. The platform will change the way people carry out government services.” C-DAC has been working on local language computing and has been a key player driving the initiative on the technology front.

As an MMP, e-bhasha will have two main components: productisation and capacity building. The first step towards creating the e-bhasha platform will be the productisation. As Rajendra Kumar, joint secretary, DeitY, pointed out, “E-bhasha is all about the use of computing tools in Indic languages. It is about the productisation of these software tools, which means the ultimate utilisation of these tools for the end user.” In order to fully implement the MMP, proper training as to how to implement it at the ground level has to be given. The capacity building module of the MMP aims to train both the government departments as well as their technical teams. The training will be implemented jointly by DeitY and TDIL.

Commenting on the need for capacity building Lata said, “People still don’t have the skills to develop applications in multilingual or bilingual languages.” The training will be given through classroom sessions and various trouble shooting groups. Lata explained that applications will be classified in two groups – new projects and continuing projects. For each group the challenges will be different. For pre-existing applications, the entire application might have to be rewritten since the application as such might not have any provision for local languages. “The localisation of applications will vary according to the existing applications,” she said.

After this, content in these languages will be generated by various institutes and research and development organisations. Explaining that the service delivery framework for the MMP has already been designed, Rajendra Kumar said that the centre will extend total support to all the states in implementing the project.

Where India stands

Work to provide support in the form of tools and content in Indic languages has been going on in the country for more than two decades. C-DAC has been involved in this since 1988. The centre has been working towards developing tools that support Indic languages. Moona said, “We have been supporting Indic languages since 1988, whether it is from left to right or vice versa and languages with multiple fonts, like Konkani.

“As an integral part of the e-bhasha MMP, the centre will provide software tools that will facilitate the citizen in accessing government services in the local languages,” Moona said adding that, “Through the tools, we provide localisation support of government services. We provide government frontend in local languages. That is what the e-bhasha MMP is all about.”

C-DAC has already developed a number of solutions that support the Indic languages including a mobile touch keypad that can be downloaded from its website. Further a screen reader and various templates are also available. “The keyboard is slowly disappearing. We have a touchscreen that supports 27 Indic languages,” Moona said.

One of the key initiatives by TDIL has been in the form of the Sakal Bharti font, a type of open font format (OFF). It is a standard font, applicable to all the 22 schedule languages, irrespective of the platform, programme and language. It allows one to view and edit any document without any loss of data. Similar efforts have also been made by private players in creating the required tools to increase the reach the Indian languages. The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) has launched several initiatives, including translating Wikipedia in regional languages and creating screen readers that support indigenous languages.

With the increase in internet penetration and the resulting increase in demand, private players, including digital giants Google and Microsoft, have joined hands to promote content in Indian languages. The initiative called the Indian languages Internet Alliance (ILIA) was launched by Google to cater to the Hindi-speaking population by providing content and solutions. Launched around the same time as the e-bhasha project, the two projects are expected to complement each other.

“It is heartening to see support from the government for this initiative. The initiative would shape the thinking around the government’s e-bhasha initiative and we are happy to partner with the government around the three pillars of e-bhasha: e-governance, e-education and culture,” said a Google spokesperson.

In support of the private initiatives that are coming up, Lata explained that an ecosystem has been built. “What happens is that in areas where it is not commercially beneficial, it has to be the government which steps in first. I think the government has received a wake-up call in terms of both e-governance as well as languages.”

The chicken or the egg?

The resources have been available with the government for the last two decades, yet it is only now that the push for local languages has got the attention it much needed. According to Kumar, while C-DAC has been involved in developing these tools and their language department, GIST, has been around for at least 15 years the implementation in e-governance did not happen.

Lata further elaborated, “It is not the correct perspective to say that the localisation of languages is just a frontend issue. It is an architectural issue and a language solution should enable people to search access and retrieve data in the local languages.”

The surge in the number of users as well as the new government’s heightened interest in electronic governance has created an increased demand. “The push for Indian languages has been there for a long time. Many government websites are bilingual (English and Hindi). However, with the introduction of electronic governance a lot of activities have been happening. The need for Indian languages has become much higher,” Moona said. “It is an evolutionary process. Internet governance is still a new thing in India, it is only after its introduction that the tools and support for local languages has been required.”

Sunil Abraham, executive director, CIS, said, “Creation of Indic content cannot be left to a single government entity. It needs massive effort from all concerned stakeholders. The reason that there is very little Indic content online is because most internet users today either are comfortable using English or don’t have sufficient purchasing power to sustain different business models. As more and more Indians come online, more and more businesses will begin to leverage Indic content. However, focused and enlightened investments by the government would be very useful in helping Indic languages catch up on the internet.”

With Indic languages receiving a push from both the government and private players, it might just be time that the internet really becomes a tool for everyone.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/governance-now-march-23-2015-ankita-lahiri-internet-becomes-vernacular-with-relaunch-of-e-bhasha

Internet at Liberty, 2010

praskrishna — 2011-08-23T02:40:31Z

Event in Budapest

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/internet-liberty

Internet at Liberty Conference

praskrishna — 2012-06-25T05:59:27Z

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Internet at Liberty 2012: Promoting Progress and Freedom

praskrishna — 2012-05-26T04:17:46Z

Following the highly successful Internet at Liberty 2010, activists and experts from around the world converged on May 23-24 to explore the most pressing dilemmas and exciting opportunities around free expression in the digital age.

The Internet as a global, free, and open resource, is constantly developing. Over the past year we have seen how the Internet can shift power, broaden scope, and accelerate political and economic change. Simultaneously, governments and multinational companies shape what is possible online. Today, more than any time in history, technological and political forces are colliding to draw lines about how the Internet functions.

Internet at Liberty 2012, sponsored by Google, brought together global activists and representatives of academic centers, corporations, governments, the media and NGOs. The conference explored ways to expand the free flow of information online. Look for debates about today's most pressing internet freedom issues, and action-oriented workshops.

Agenda

= streamed live on the CitizenTube YouTube channel at youtube.com/citizentube

May 23, 2012

8:30 a.m.	Registration & Breakfast
9:30 a.m.- 10:00 a.m.	Welcome & Introduction
10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.	Plenary I Debate 1: Should laws and regulations that affect the Internet favor individuals over the state? Speakers: John Kampfner - Author and historian Noomane Fehri - Tunisian National Constitutional Assembly Renata Avila - Lawyer and Advocate for Transparency, Global Voices Stewart Baker - Former Assistant Secretary, US Department of Homeland Security Susan Glasser - Editor in Chief, Foreign Policy
11:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m	Break
11:45 a.m. - 1.00 p.m.	Break-out Discussions
1.00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.	Lunch
2:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.	Workshop I Choice of workshops: New Frontiers in Citizen Journalism Economics of Internet Freedom Mobile Security Survival Guide: What Every Activist and Rights Defender Needs to Know About Communicating More Safely Video for Change: How To Create, Share and Use Video for Impact and Attention Social media: Strategies & tools for advocacy campaigns Shielding the Messenger: Protecting platforms for free expression
3:45 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.	Afternoon Break Research Displays
4:45 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.	Plenary II Debate 2: Is the Internet--and global communication among citizens--best served by today's organic mix of governing forces, or do we need a more centralized, global system? Speaker: Ben Wagner - European University Institute Gary Fowlie - Head, ITU Liaison Office to the United Nations Riz Khan (Moderator) - Reporter, Al Jazeera English
5:45 p.m. - 7.00 p.m.	Reception Research Displays
7.00 p.m.	Dinner Keynote Panel Speaker: Riz Khan - International Journalist, Television Host, Author at Al Jazeera English Sana Saleem Chiranuch “Jiew” Premchaiporn

See the original agenda in Google News

May 24, 2012

8:30 a.m. - 9.00 a.m	Registration & Breakfast
9.00 a.m. - 10.00 a.m.	Plenary III Research Lightning Round Speaker: Guy Berger, Mapping Digital Media Around the World Jeffrey Ghannam, Digital Media After the Arab Spring Katrin Verclas, Mobile Monitor Nadim Kobeissi, Securing Private Networks with Cryptocat Lucas Dixon, DDOS Protection Sarah Kendzior, The Impact of Social Media in Azerbaijan Claudio Ruiz, Freedom of Expression in Chile Christopher Fabian, uReport: UNICEF Innovations Nicklas Lunblad, Internet Freedom as Economics Issue Zeynep Tufekci
10.00 a.m. - 11.00 a.m.	Morning Break Research Displays
11.00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.	Workshop II Choice of workshops: New Frontiers in Citizen Journalism Economics of Internet Freedom Mobile Security Survival Guide: What Every Activist and Rights Defender Needs to Know About Communicating More Safely Video for Change: How To Create, Share and Use Video for Impact and Attention Social Media: Strategies & tools for advocacy campaigns Shielding the Messenger: Protecting platforms for free expression
	Lunch
1.30 p.m. - 3.00 p.m.	Plenary IV Debate 3: In a world where nearly nine out of ten Internet users are not American, what is the responsibility of United States institutions in promoting internet freedom? Speaker: Sunil Abraham - Centre for Internet and Society Cynthia Wong - Center for Democracy and Technology Mohamed El Dahshan - writer, journalist Dunja Mijatović - OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Judy Woodruff (Moderator) - Senior Correspondent, PBS Newshour
3.00 p.m. - 4.00 p.m.	Closing Session

See the original agenda in Google News

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/internet-at-liberty-2012

Internet at Liberty 2012

praskrishna — 2012-06-25T04:35:31Z

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Internet At Liberty 2012

praskrishna — 2012-07-05T05:24:33Z

Activists and experts from all over the world came together for this event organised by Google on May 23 and 24, 2012 to explore free expression in the digital age.

Sunil Abraham was a speaker in Plenary IV Debate 3: In a world where nearly nine out of ten Internet users are not American, what is the responsibility of United States institutions in promoting internet freedom? Cynthia Wong, Mohamed El Dahshan, Dunja Mijatović and Judy Woodruff were the other speakers in this panel. See the video below:

Video

Internet at Liberty 2012: Plenary IV - Sunil Abraham, Cynthia Wong, Mohamed El Dahshan and Dunja Mijatović

View the video on YouTube

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/internet-liberty-2012

Internet Article

praskrishna — 2011-05-01T01:58:07Z

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Internet Archive

praskrishna — 2015-01-02T14:42:18Z

internet archive

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Internet and Open Public Data

praskrishna — 2013-07-03T04:53:25Z

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Internet and City Word File

praskrishna — 2011-02-18T08:07:13Z

word file

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Internet and City PDF file

praskrishna — 2011-02-18T08:15:45Z

pdf file

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Internet and City (PDF)

praskrishna — 2011-02-15T13:03:39Z

pdf

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Internet and City

praskrishna — 2011-02-15T12:59:11Z

Word file

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Internet Analysts Question India’s Efforts to Stem Panic

praskrishna — 2012-09-04T11:46:03Z

The Indian government’s efforts to stem a weeklong panic among some ethnic minorities has again put it at odds with Internet companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter.

This article by Vikas Bajaj was published by New York Times on August 21, 2012. Sunil Abraham is quoted. This was reposted in NDTV on August 22, 2012.

Officials in New Delhi, who have had disagreements with the companies over restrictions on free speech, say the sites are not responding quickly enough to their requests to delete and trace the origins of doctored photos and incendiary posts aimed at people from northeastern India. After receiving threats online and on their phones, tens of thousands of students and migrants from the northeast have left cities like Bangalore, Pune and Chennai in the last week.

The government has blocked 245 Web pages since Friday, but still many sites are said to contain fabricated images of violence against Muslims in the northeast and in neighboring Myanmar meant to incite Muslims in cities like Bangalore and Mumbai to attack people from the northeast. India also restricted cellphone users to five text messages a day each for 15 days in an effort to limit the spread of rumors.

Officials from Google and industry associations said they were cooperating fully with the authorities. Some industry executives and analysts added that some requests had not been heeded because they were overly broad or violated internal policies and the rights of users.

The government, used to exerting significant control over media like newspapers, films and television, has in recent months been frustrated in its effort to extend similar and greater regulations to Web sites, most of which are based in the United States. Late last year, an Indian minister tried to get social media sites to prescreen content created by their users before it was posted. The companies refused and the attempt failed under withering public criticism.

While just 100 million of India’s 1.2 billion people use the Internet regularly, the numbers are growing fast among people younger than 25, who make up about half the country’s population. For instance, there were an estimated 46 million active Indian users on Facebook at the end of 2011, up 132 percent from a year earlier.

Sunil Abraham, an analyst who has closely followed India’s battles with Internet companies, said last week’s effort to tackle hate speech was justified but poorly managed. He said the first directive from the government was impractically broad, asking all Internet “intermediaries” — a category that includes small cybercafes, Internet service providers and companies like Google and Facebook — to disable all content that was “inflammatory, hateful and inciting violence.”

“The Internet intermediaries are responding slowly because now they have to trawl through their networks and identify hate speech,” said Mr. Abraham, executive director of the Center for Internet and Society, a research and advocacy group based in Bangalore. “The government acted appropriately, but without sufficient sophistication.”

In the days since the first advisory went out on Aug. 17, government officials have asked companies to delete dozens of specific Web pages. Most of them have been blocked, but officials have not publicly identified them or specified the sites on which they were hosted. Ministers have blamed groups in Pakistan, a neighbor with which India has tense relations, for creating and uploading many of the hateful pages and doctored images.

A minister in the Indian government, Milind Deora, acknowledged that officials had received assistance from social media sites but said officials were hoping that the companies would move faster.

“There is a sense of importance and urgency, and that’s why the government has taken these out-of-the-way decisions with regards to even curtailing communications,” Mr. Deora, a junior minister of communications and information technology, said in a telephone interview. “And we are hoping for cooperation from the platforms and companies to help us as quickly as possible.”

Indian officials have long been concerned about the power of modern communications to exacerbate strife and tension among the nation’s many ethnic and religious groups. While communal violence has broadly declined in the last decade, in part because of faster economic growth, many grievances simmer under the surface. Most recently, fighting between the Bodo tribe and Muslims in the northeastern state of Assam has displaced about half a million people and, through text messages and online posts, affected thousands more across India.

Officials at social media companies, speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid offending political leaders, said that they were moving as fast as they could but that policy makers must realize that the company officials have to follow their own internal procedures before deleting content and revealing information like the Internet protocol addresses of users.

“Content intended to incite violence, such as hate speech, is prohibited on Google products where we host content, including YouTube, Google Plus and Blogger,” Google said in a statement. “We act quickly to remove such material flagged by our users. We also comply with valid legal requests from authorities wherever possible.”

Facebook said in a statement that it also restricts hate speech and “direct calls for violence” and added that it was “working through” requests to remove content. Twitter declined to comment on the Indian government’s request.

Telecommunications company executives criticized the government’s response to the crisis as being excessive and clumsy. There was no need to limit text messages to just five a day across the country when problems were concentrated in a handful of big cities, said Rajan Mathews, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India.

“It could have been handled much more tactically,” he said.

Others said the government could have been more effective had it quickly countered hateful and threatening speech by sending out its own messages, which it was slow to do when migrants from the northeast began leaving Bangalore on Aug. 15.

“It has to also reach out on social networking and Internet platforms and dismantle these rumors,” Mr. Abraham said, “and demonstrate that they are false.”

A version of this article appeared in print on August 22, 2012, on page B4 of the New York edition with the headline: Internet Moves by India to Stem Rumors and Panic Raise Questions.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/www-nytimes-vikas-bajaj-aug-21-2012-internet-analysts-question-indias-efforts-to-stem-panic

Internet

praskrishna — 2012-07-05T05:15:57Z

Internet at Liberty 2012

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Internet.jpg

Centre for Internet and Society

Internet becomes vernacular with relaunch of e-bhasha

Where India stands

The chicken or the egg?

Internet at Liberty, 2010

Internet at Liberty Conference

Internet at Liberty 2012: Promoting Progress and Freedom

Agenda

Registration & Breakfast

Welcome & Introduction

Plenary I

Break

Break-out Discussions

Lunch

Workshop I

Afternoon Break

Plenary II

Reception

Dinner

Plenary III

Workshop II