Centre for Internet and Society

DN Volume 8 (1)

praskrishna — 2011-11-18T09:20:30Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/dnviii1.jpg

DN Episode Podcast

praskrishna — 2012-02-15T04:15:07Z

A podcast from the Digital Natives

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/dn-episode-podcast

DML Conference 2013

praskrishna — 2013-03-04T03:54:58Z

The Centre for Internet & Society and Digital Media & Learning Research Hub Central are jointly organizing the DML Conference 2013 in Chicago from March 14 to 16, 2013.

Conference Theme: "Democratic Futures: Mobilizing Voices and Remixing Youth Participation"

The fourth annual conference - DML2013 - will explore the shifting contours of participatory democracy with a focus, for example, on the role of networked publics in mobilizing social movements; the remixing of civic engagement; and youth-driven forms of social innovation and community transformation. This conference is meant to be an inclusive, international and annual gathering of scholars and practitioners in the field, focused on fostering interdisciplinary and participatory dialog and linking theory, empirical study, policy, activism, and practice.

The Digital Media and Learning Conference is an annual event supported by the MacArthur Foundation and organized by the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub located at the UC Humanities Research Institute, University of California, Irvine.

Nishant Shah has a featured session at the DML Conference. See http://bit.ly/13zhpmz

Feature Session: Whose Change Is It Anyway? Futures, Youth, Technology And Citizen Action In The Global South (And The Rest Of The World)

Whose Change Is It Anyway? seeks to explore new entry points into the discourse on youth, technology and change, with a specific focus on (but not restricted to) the Global South and the last decade of citizen action. This conference track seeks to fashion frameworks and structures that provide new ways of interpreting and understanding outcomes that technology mediated citizen action has to offer, as well as the future of citizen led interventions: What enables, catalyzes and moves young people to reinvent themselves as citizen actors? What are the interventions and narratives of change that fail to fit into a ‘success’ rubric, but are still significant in the processes of change they initiate? How do we understand these ‘new’ events as hybrids, connecting with existing histories, contexts, media and technologies in their regions? Is there an alternative discourse that does not necessarily adopt frameworks arising from the knowledge centers of the West? Do these discourses help challenge and rework global vocabularies by offering new ways of looking at citizen action and change? The track will invite provocative hypotheses, in-depth analyses, dialogues and contestations around these ideas, through innovative interactive presentation formats. The dialogue will be informed by experimental and new methods of information and knowledge production, focusing on the Global South and its larger transnational contexts at the junctures of youth, technology and change.

Organizer(s):

Nishant Shah

Participants:

Radhika Gajalla

Kavita Philip

Ramesh Srinivasan

Nighat Dad

Contact:
Email us at dmlhub@hri.uci.edu or subscribe to our mailing list at http://bit.ly/dmlhub-l to receive up-to-date information regarding the 2013 conference.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/dml-conference-2013

DML 2013 Conference

praskrishna — 2013-03-21T09:48:33Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/dml-2013-conference.pdf

DML 2013 – Fourth Annual Conference

praskrishna — 2013-03-21T09:52:59Z

The fourth annual conference – DML2013 – was organized around the theme “Democratic Futures: Mobilizing Voices, and Remixing Youth Participation” and was held between March 14-16, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. The Centre for Internet and Society was one of the sponsors for this event.

We had a special track that ran through the conference on "Whose Change Is It Anyway? Futures, Youth, Technology And Citizen Action In The Global South (And The Rest Of The World)". Noopur Raval was one of the 16 presenters that we had selected on the tracks. Nishant Shah was one of the members in the Conference Committee.

Whose Change Is It Anyway? Futures, Youth, Technology And Citizen Action In The Global South (And The Rest Of The World)

Whose Change Is It Anyway? sought to explore new entry points into the discourse on youth, technology and change, with a specific focus on (but not restricted to) the Global South and the last decade of citizen action. This conference track sought to fashion frameworks and structures that provide new ways of interpreting and understanding outcomes that technology mediated citizen action has to offer, as well as the future of citizen led interventions: What enables, catalyzes and moves young people to reinvent themselves as citizen actors? What are the interventions and narratives of change that fail to fit into a ‘success’ rubric, but are still significant in the processes of change they initiate? How do we understand these ‘new’ events as hybrids, connecting with existing histories, contexts, media and technologies in their regions? Is there an alternative discourse that does not necessarily adopt frameworks arising from the knowledge centers of the West? Do these discourses help challenge and rework global vocabularies by offering new ways of looking at citizen action and change? The track invited provocative hypotheses, in-depth analyses, dialogues and contestations around these ideas, through innovative interactive presentation formats. The dialogue was informed by experimental and new methods of information and knowledge production, focusing on the Global South and its larger transnational contexts at the junctures of youth, technology and change.

For more info on the event, click here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/dml-hub-net-dml-2013

Divyansha

praskrishna — 2021-09-08T13:04:27Z

Divyansha

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/about/people/Divyansha.png

Division of Stakeholders' Comments

praskrishna — 2014-10-29T13:15:59Z

Division of Stakeholders' Comments

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/DivisionofStakeholdersComments.png

Disinformation 3

praskrishna — 2018-12-11T13:43:47Z

Disinformation 3

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Disinformation 2

praskrishna — 2018-12-11T13:41:42Z

Disinformation 2

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Disinformation2.jpg

Disinformation 1

praskrishna — 2018-12-11T13:39:30Z

Disinformation 1

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Disinformation1.jpg

Discussion Paper on Standard Essential Patents and Their Availability on FRAND Terms

praskrishna — 2016-04-27T15:28:22Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/discussion-paper-on-standard-essential-patents-and-their-availability-on-frand-terms

Discussion on 'Press Freedom in the Era of Social Media'

praskrishna — 2011-06-23T06:25:08Z

Anja Kovacs will participate as a panelist in the conference jointly organised by UNESCO and UN Information Centre (UNIC) to commemorate World Press Freedom Day 2011 on May 3 at the UN Conference Hall, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi.

The discussions will focus on the impact of social media on press freedom: its benefits, challenges and limitations.

Download the agenda here [PDF, 166KB]

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/notices/press-freedom

Disabled kid? sorry, no admission!

praskrishna — 2016-11-30T15:28:17Z

Mita Sarkar, a mother of a six-year-old girl who has cerebral palsy (CP) had to approach around ten private schools for her daughter's admission. She heard the same response from every school she approached: “Education is for all and we accept all children, but we are not equipped to school your child”.

The article by Akhila Damodaran was published in the New Indian Express on November 28, 2016. Nirmita Narasimhan was quoted.

Mita says, “When Monali was seven months old, she had a traumatic brain injury. She lost more than half of her brain cells. Now her condition is similar to kids with cerebral palsy.” She has right side hemiparesis – a weakness in the right side of the body. She has difficulties with motor coordination, walking, speech and attention span.

“But according to her doctors, psychologist and therapists, her intelligence level is good and she can continue a regular school curriculum with some facilitation and acceptance from the schools, teachers and peers,” says the mother. With her tireless pursuit to seek admission for her daughter, Mita finally struck gold with a private school. Monali is currently in LKG.

Inclusive Education

Though the Persons with Disabilities (PWD) Act 1995 and Right to Education states that children with disabilities have equal rights to education and can be admitted in a normal schools, many schools seem to make an excuse that they do not have enough manpower and resources for admitting children with special needs. The PWD Act recognises CP as a disability.

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, a programme started by the government for universalisation of elementary education also states that equity, to mean not only equal opportunity, but also creation of conditions in which the disadvantaged sections of the society - children of SC, ST, Muslim minority, landless agricultural workers and children with special needs, etc. - can avail of the opportunity. Access, not to be confined to ensuring that a school becomes accessible to all children within specified distance but implies an understanding of the educational needs and predicament of the traditionally excluded categories - the SC, ST and others sections of the most disadvantaged groups, the Muslim minority, girls in general, and children with special needs.

Nirmita Narasimhan, Policy Director of the Disability Access vertical of Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), says, “Inclusive education is a good model, provided there are good staffs and resources available. The staff should get equal pay as that of other teachers. It is a good method to sensitise normal children about the disability issue as well.”

Rights not being Implemented

G N Nagaraj, President, The Karnataka State Disabled and Caregivers Federation says there are no proper facilities available for special children. “There are no sufficient special educators for such children. The attendance is poor. How many disabled children are passing SSLC? If the government is spending so much, what is finally happening? We filed an RTI three years ago to find the number of disabled students who passed SSLC and we learned that it is only around thousand from all over Karnataka who have passed SSLC,” asks Nagaraj.

Separate Wing for Disabled Children

But the advocate C V Sudhindra believes the Act that allows inclusive education may not be a practical proposition. He explains, “Children with disability will find it difficult to adjust in a classroom with abled children. It could be demoralising for them. They would mingle with abled children and understand what skills they are deprived of. It is a burden on the institution to have facilities for special children. The needs for every disability vary. You need have not just a trained teacher but also other facilities like toilets. It affects the normal functioning of a school.”

He adds a separate school is ideal for them. He cites an example, “You cannot accommodate people with disabilities in the Olympic competition. That is why we have Paralympic competition. The Act should be in tune with reality and should not affect the regular affairs of the people.”

Ruby Singh, an activist who is the founder of ALFAA, agrees with the advocate. She says the Bill can encourage parents to get their children educated and get employed. “When the government can allocate land and subsidy to schools, it can also allocate funds for a special wing with good resources and where more courses and opportunities are created for special children. The services should switch from charity mode to rights mode,” she says.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/news/new-indian-express-november-28-2016-akhila-damodaran-disabled-kid

Disabled demand rollback of GST on aids

praskrishna — 2017-07-09T02:21:46Z

It has been eight years since Mansoor Ahmed changed his caliper. The one he owns was bought for Rs 20,000. Now, they cost more than double. “It is a challenge to buy a caliper when the cost of living has gone up so much. I know really poor people who haven't changed calipers in 15-20 years. After a point, it could cause the disability to worsen,“ says Ahmed, a senior manager with a Bengaluru-based non-profit.

The article by Sandhya Soman was published in the Economic Times on July 7, 2017.

For disabled people like Ahmed, the 5% GST on basic aids and appliances like calipers, Braille writers and cochlear implants is an additional load. “We are already burdened by other costs -illnesses and medicines. It's quite unfair if I must pay more if I have to walk,“ says Ahmed.

The decision to tax aids and appliances for the disabled continues to draw flak despite a hastily put together statement last week reducing GST and capping it at 5% for 22 categories of products. Cars will continue to have 18% GST even if they are retrofitted for a disabled driver. The disabled find it hard to reconcile that they will have to shell out more while items such as sindoor and bangles got a waiver. This is the government that launched the Ac cessible India campaign and Inclusive India campaign. I don't understand why they should charge people to walk with a cane,“ says Nirmita Narasimhan, policy director, The Centre for Internet and Society.

The economic burden is accentuated by a lack of institutional support, whether in terms of accessibility to public transport or provision of affordable aids. “There is close correlation between poverty and disability . Most of us can't step out of our houses as roads, pavements and public transport are inaccessible,“ asks Javed Abidi, director, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People.

Narasimhan notes in her submission to the government that the 21 million disabled record low literacy level (59%, below national average of 74.4%) and low work participation (36.3%).

To reduce the financial burden, Abidi and others fought to do away with taxes on aids since 2000. “We could bring down tax rates, sometimes as high as 20%, on various items to 5%. In 2006, it became zero and the last decade was the most important one for disability rights. Instead of making aids more affordable, we are now going back 10 years and charging 5% again,“ says Abidi, a wheelchair user.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/news/economic-times-july-7-2017-sandhya-soman-disabled-demand-rollback-of-gst-on-aids

Disability rights groups oppose changes to Copyright Act

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T12:26:01Z

Disability rights groups are up in arms against a Bill proposing an amendment to the Copyright Act, 1952, reports Aarti Dhar in an article published in the Hindu on April 23, 2010.

Disability rights groups are up in arms against a Bill proposing an amendment to the Copyright Act, 1952, that prevents non-governmental organisations, educational institutions and persons with disabilities from converting reading material including textbooks and reference material into audio, digital and other formats that can be used by differently-abled persons.

The amendment Bill, introduced in the Rajya Sabha this week, if passed in its current form, will prevent over 70 million people with disabilities in India, including persons with visual impairment, dyslexia, and cerebral palsy, from exercising their Right to Education and other fundamental rights, according to the National Access Alliance, a group of organisations and leading professionals working for the benefit of the print-disabled in India.

Licensing procedure

The extremely “cumbersome, restrictive and lengthy” licensing procedure proposed by the government for conversion to these formats will mean that students with print disabilities will be deprived of their Right to Education which has now become a fundamental right.

Members of the Alliance have been campaigning for the amendment to be re-worded to ensure that the conversion of books into all formats is allowed, all stakeholders, including organisations, educational institutions and persons with disabilities, are allowed to undertake the conversion; and the conversion should not be subject to red tape which will lead to delay. The campaigners had met Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal who assured them that the interests of persons with disabilities would be addressed. However, the amendment proposed by the Minister does more harm than good, Rahul Cherian and Nirmita Narasimhan, both members of the Alliance, told The Hindu.

Seeking support

The Alliance is now meeting members of Parliament from across the political parties to seek support. The Bharatiya Janata Party, the Left parties and the Nationalist Congress Party have already extended support to them and assured that their cause would be taken up.

According to CPI (M) MP Brinda Karat, the present amendment lacked concern for the disabled people. “Their cause is genuine and it needs to be addressed,” she told The Hindu, adding that the matter would be taken up once the Bill comes to the Standing Committee.

Members of the Alliance will continue their nationwide mass mobilisation for the cause to bring more attention to the plight of persons with print disabilities in relation to the lack of reading material in accessible formats.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/disability-groups-oppose-copyright-amendments