Centre for Internet and Society

City Poster 6

praskrishna — 2010-07-29T05:43:58Z

image 4

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City Poster 4

praskrishna — 2010-07-29T05:43:59Z

image 8

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City Poster 1

praskrishna — 2010-07-29T05:43:58Z

image 3

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City Links

praskrishna — 2016-07-09T07:50:11Z

My City Links

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City in the Internet 1: Geography Imagined (Part 2)

praskrishna — 2011-08-02T06:06:43Z

In the last post, I have articulated the nature of understanding and imagination of our urban and rural geography. As mentioned, the understanding of the land, its water and people is an essentially one, that comes through living and experiencing. In this post I will be posing issues around the historical legacy of maps in the Indian context. The issues of imagination of our cities is very much related to this legacy along with the shift that we are witnessing in geographical representation of maps on the Internet.

Story: The elusive government maps

The Survey of India office on the first floor of the Janpath Office and Shopping complex is a curious location for an outlet distributing maps of all the parts of India. Right in the middle of the capital city’s colonial pride (Cannought Place), the Survey of India office is perched in one of the first floor rooms of the complex. Paritosh Mukherjee had been going around the building for ten minutes to find the elusive office, but like all things “Dilli” and “sarkari”, you got to be a man to find it. When he asked the person selling the “imported” shoes in the shop below, he got a rude answer “age chalta ban. yeh enquiry office nahi hai bhai”. Somehow Paritosh was always reluctant to ask directions in this city. Maybe it was his small stature or perhaps his accented hindi he picked while at Doon that made him stand out. He knew being so self conscious in this big city doesn’t help, but deep inside he feared the public places and would rather prefer the comfort of his office or his barsati in Greater Kailash. The pan stain in the stair was a relief, and its aroma immediately alerted his neuro-sensors on the right side of his brain that intuitively told him a government department is very near.

“Aap kaha se aarehe hai?” (Where are you coming from?) asked the lady at the counter wearing the red lipstick. Paritosh was about to say Saath; the NGO where he was doing his research project but some of his Delhi training took over, and he said “Madam sirji ne kutch map mangaye hai; Department of Agriculture, Delhi University. Main unke leye research kar raha hoon” (Sir has asked me to get some maps. I am doing research for the Department of Agriculture, Delhi University) . The red lipstick warmed up and gave him the catalog of Maps. Wow! he said to himself; he just crossed the first hurdle to reach the circle of bureaucratic trust. He remembered how his local friend had once explained the nine concentric circles of babus trust that need to be crossed to reach the inner sanctuary of the Indian government bureaucracy. He called it the Garba Graha (the sanctum of a Hindu temple), where all the prayers are answered. Being a son of a Lajpat Nagar contractor, he knew the value of being in the center!

“Bhiaya yeh to out of print hai, aur koi chaiye to bataiyee?” (They are out of print. If you need anything else, let me know?) said the thin bespectacled man at the payment counter, who reminded him of Ritwik Ghatag’s film characters. He sat behind the heavy wooden counter with glass partition separating the rowdy public from the sacred babus space. The counter was the symbolic physical manifestation of the 8th circle of trust. The bespectacled babu looked surreal in the inner circle; as if he had always been there, since India became independent from the Bristish Raj. Piles of files behind him, ashtray that came as a gift from a Karol baug stationary trader, the dak-dak of the fan above, the filtered sunlight from the concrete jali exposing the dusty layer on the counter where Paritosh stood trying to make sense of the situation. Of late he had begun to enjoy these excursions in these old government departments. Even though things got done at its own pace, he found them more honest than the new corporates offices that pretended to be clean and efficient.

The exercise was becoming frustrating now. The maps were either out of print, or out of stock or restricted. He tried hard explaining to the clerk that the maps are important for his research but he was not moved at all. Moreover the the clerk was getting more and more irritated by him and in a second snapped; “the Government is not making maps for you. Moreover with the security concern these days, do you think we will give all these to the terrorists on a silver plate. Do you know these maps were measured by the British and Indian engineers for years together and are some of the finest maps in the world? Do you know that we have details in 1: 5,000 where you spot the difference between a cow and a buffalo. Sir aap naye lagto ho yaha pe. Yeh map jo aap ko chaiye restricted hain. Appne department walo ko bolo ki letter likhe Director saheb ko. Aesai nahi melete yeh maps. Proper channel se aaiye!” (Sir, it seems you are new. These maps are restricted. Tell your department people to write a letter to our director. You cannot get these maps like this. Please come through proper channel)

The clerk was merely following orders, Paritosh said to himself. “Maps of a cities are very informative and important and hence the secrecy around it. They are perhaps the instruments that can be used by some evil minds to blow up our cities or worse occupy India or perhaps these guys are just purely sarkari and hence do not want to help. Maps are not my right, are they? Maybe I am being too naive in thinking they will give them to me”. Soon enough though, he discovered the “proper channel” to get them.

The state is the proprietor of the “scientific” and “authentic” imagery of the space. It is perceived to be so important and authentic that it is denied to common citizens. The accuracy of the documentation is in fact an important condition that becomes the reason why the state is perceived to be in the position to decide future development, present taxation and other policies applicable to various parcels of land. The claim to scientific accuracy coupled with secrecy is a potent combination that a state perhaps deploys to control space. Maps are the perfect instruments of such control, not to forget many others like Census data, Archaeological information, Geological data, etc.

The map as a state function

Maps have traditionally been associated with the state in the form of local government bodies, its survey departments and scientific arms. The initial mapping exercises in India for example were efforts as part of the larger objective to control and rule over the colonized territory by the East India company and then the British empire. The first survey of India during the 18th century was carried out by the Army of the East India Company. The survey themselves were done under various categories such as revenue survey, topographical surveys, economic survey, The reliance on the correct scientific methods for accuracy and speed were important considerations. For example the use of geodetic survey by Colonel William Lambton while initiating the “Great Trigonometric Survey of India”. The British took extreme pride in their work, as evident by the words of A. S Waugh the Survey General of India, “This magnificent Geodetic understanding, which at present times extends from Cape of Camorin to Tibet and from meridian of Calcutta to that of Kashmir…”. The survey amongst other activities of documenting was in some sense concerned with the efficient management and utilization of all the resources. This was also the means by which the “native” population was dominated both at economic and cultural realm. The idea of the superior western scientific culture that is extremely accurate, precise and understands the geography of a place (unlike the uneducated locals) got further reinforced in the process of surveying and production of maps. In the process the rich history of the Indian traditions of geographical representation was perhaps seen as inaccurate and not scientific and hence not of much use. The older traditions of maps making were perhaps almost forgotten and relegated to background.

Fig 1: Historic Map: Sawai Madhavpur

The above image is a historic map of Sawai Madhavpur old town indicating the water management and engineering plans for the area. Notice the qualitative visual description in the map by the use of colors, textures, text and landmarks. The visual representation techniques are consistent with the place, expressing the qualities of space.

Fig 2: Historic Route Map; Shahjahanabad to Kandahar

Fig2 shows a more utilitarian map for finding ones way from Shahjahanabad to Kandahar; a route map. The route is abstracted as a straight line and important landmarks and rest areas are marked on the line with description as to what to expect. A very creative expression indeed; the map expresses the challenges of the journey.

Fig 3: Map of Puri

Above is a beautifully painted map of the religious town of Puri. It shows the temple complex and also expresses the context of its existence; the mythological stories, the festivals, wars and imagined position of the town in the regional geography of forest, animals and water bodies. It expresses the geography in a poetic fashion loaded with anecdotes; much the way in which common people understand it.

All the three maps are from the book “Indian Maps and Plan: From earliest times to advent of European Surveys” by Susan Gole, Manohar Publisher, 1989, New Delhi. These maps are very different from the survey maps that the British made in India. Obviously the later is based on accurate ground survey hence claims to be true representation of the exact physical condition as it exists on the surface of the land. The older maps on the other hand, almost always told the story of the place, its people and their belief systems. They were perhaps more contextual to the place and not merely physical representations.

Interestingly enough the surveyed map of the British India also became the basis of the partition of India and Pakistan. In some sense the arbitrary line drawn on a piece of map for the partition of India leading to displacement of some 12.5 million people and perhaps a million deaths, demonstrates the power of the “scientifically measured maps” in the hand of few

Maps for National Identity

The British maps were part of the large legacy, India received apart from efficient Railways, Post and Telegraph, Census and so on. But maps were important as they were the tools for forging a new national identity at one level, but also the tool to reinforce cultural identity (especially language) through drawing up of new sate boundaries. The map was the mediator of the imagination of our territory; “The Indian subcontinent extends from the great high Himalayan mountains in the North, seen here as green undulations to the tip of the Southern coast of Kanya Kumari where the three seas meets”, as said by our school geography teacher. The good old map was the perfect companion of the children that had to be taught about the diversity of India, its flora, fauna, people and their distinct culture. We grew up imagining a lot of India through these maps. It was the tool for national integration at one level and for reinforcement of regional and state identity at another level.

Apart from the fact that all the maps that were available in the pre-internet era had similar visual quality (and seem to be offspring of the mother map), the information of the map was essentially the function of the state. The state was the surveyors, authenticator and producer of these maps. Access to maps is not necessarily your right. The state has the right to refuse to general public the sale of map of certain areas like restricted border zone till this date.

The state was central to the imagination of national, state and city spaces which as mediated through maps.

More often than not, maps became the medium in the hands of the state to “teach” or orient the citizen of India the wonders of India, like the uninterrupted Himalayan mountain ranges, holy rivers, western ghats and the long coastline. Maps really were seen as important means for maintaining national identity and pride. Apart from their symbolic value maps also had some practical value for navigation and locating spots.

Maps were essentially line drawing with or without color fills. The natural features were depicted using various graphical hatch like the grasslands, marshes, water or hills. Transportation networks depicted through different thickness or type of lines; the broken one for pedestrian trails, the toothed one for the railway line and so on. Essentially elegantly abstracted diagrams of space in the true tradition of cartographic representation as perfected by the Western World. It is obvious that depiction is abstract and refers to space that exists which you wish can visit to see, feel or touch if need be. The medium that carried this visual were also varied but the image was more or less constant. For example school textbooks, stand alone maps or maps of various government departments to name a few. The visual construct of the map had many constants like use of lines, fills, landmarks, natural and man-made features to name a few.

Why in some culture people prefer asking direction than use maps?

Use of map to find directions is essentially the result of the western modernist framework where the individual is the center in the imagination of the society. The individual with his preference, freedom and choices has to be preserved at all cost. The self becomes the center of existence and must never be violated. The use of map to navigate in cities or countryside is the perfect way of preserving the “self” in a public domain. Why be dependent on the advice of the person on the street when one can get the job done in a more efficient fashion? In contrast to this people in many other cultures love to ask directions and most like to give direction in most animated and excited fashion. There is no fear or shame in asking directions, and in bargain people often strike a conversation about family and kids. This chance interaction, the meeting of strangers, the conversation about life, the meeting of the eye and a shared smile is the glue that binds our cities and creates the public realm. The “public” of cities is not defined through spaces alone but how people interact on the streets. The reliance on people rather than a piece of paper for locating oneself in city space is a symptomatic case, that very much explains the nature of our cities.

Indian cities are as much defined by community action in public places as much by their form. The conversation with strangers or casual acquaintances on the road is the glue that perhaps binds the Indian cities.

The other issue that gets raised is about how people, their verbal description, and animated gestures are preferred to visualize a route or landmark in space of cities. So the imagination of space is not always mediated through the “top view” of a map. The personal interpretation and description are as important as the spatial triangulation.

The use of place-markers, text and pictures in google maps and similar such sites seems to be mimicking this aspect of the city; the opinions of people, their memory and impressions.

Fig 4: Users Opinions in Google Earth

Fig 5: The users view on Google earth

All of a sudden we are able to hear people in maps. This is an important development and needs further examination. The fundamental attitude is towards looking at our surroundings; in this case from the top. The “gaze” is an important conceptual phenomenon that will be need to be accounted for while understanding the deployment of any such image as a way of exploring geographical space. “The gaze is outside; I am looked at, that is to say, I am a picture” (Lacan, 126).

These maps (Figure 4 & 5) as such show the worms eye view superimposed on the bird eye view. The individual interpretation in space which is common (Cities; belongs to all) is a consistent pattern that one finds in most of the geographical representation of space on the internet. Two conditions come together here; the representation (in this case a satellite picture) of space that claims to be accurate and neat along with individuals marking there engagement with the same.

In some sense it (satellite maps on internet) presently represents two extreme scales; that of a large neat space of the city and the individuals readings of the space. Maps have, after a long time broken from the clutches of the state but still do not necessarily connect with larger social cultural processes of the city like the old maps did. It is still “work in progress”, but offer immense opportunities in creating representations of space that can tell lot more stories of our cities. Like many other mediums that have transformed due to the internet (like collaborative music, videos etc), there seems to be a possibility of creative expressions in generating new maps that may represent the rich vitality of our cities.

Maps perhaps were never tools to find directions. Are they not the story tellers of a place?

References

Gole, Susan. Indian Maps and Plan: From earliest times to advent of European Surveys, Manohar Publisher, 1989, New Delhi

Lacan, Jacques. What is a Picture? in The Visual Culture Reader by Mirzoeff Nicholas. Routledge, 2002. New York

Read the article in Pratyush's Blog

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/internet-society-and-space-in-indian-cities/geography-imagined

City in the Internet 1: Geography Imagined (Part 1)

praskrishna — 2012-03-13T10:43:50Z

“The estuaries that flirt with the land mass before they finally perish in the vast deep blue ocean beyond were perfect in their shape and grace. And you know what; from top it appears like a surreal landscape that is so restive and peaceful, almost heaven. The countryside is actually very beautiful”, says Pratyush Shankar in his latest blog post. A random conversation between two person discovering the joys of seeing our existence through Google Earth!

The use of maps through the Internet has seen a many fold increase in recent times. With availability of satellite information to anyone through various websites we are witnessing a sea change in the manner in which our space (cities, countryside and landscape) is being gazed upon. This is an important time historically, as it has the potential to fundamentally alter our imagination of space; right from the scale of a country to our neighbourhood block.

The Internet today is perhaps right in the middle of such mediation of the city and people. The Google maps, satellite imagery, road maps, place markers, are leading to a re-imagination of our own environment. Let us try and explore some of the key concepts that gets raised in the process of such expressions of space and its mental constructs. This is the part one of the essay and by the end of the next post I will try and speculate its impact on city spaces (yes the real space!)

Story 1: Geography is sensed and lived in

As a child growing up in a not so small town of Kota, Shailendra and his group of friends swore allegiance of silence and if needed deceit when it came to their weekend forays outside the city; a swim in the river Chambal. The swim was a big no-no for kids, as stories of people being washed away in the strong current of the merciless river that had steep banks, were drilled into every potentially aberrant child of the town. If not the force of the water it definitely had to be the crocodiles that wait for days together, at the dark bottom of the river for that one sweet sound of a child swimming above. After that it is only gore and blood. But Shailendra and his friends could not resist the temptation of a good swim in the cool water. He often boasted about his dives and his long swims and that he saw a crocodile come his way but swam faster than that wretched creature. And some time during a leisurely mood as he and his friends sat on the banks of the river, smoking Charminar with the Chambal swiftly passing below, he spoke about his dream of leaving this small city of aunts, cousins, family festivals, marriage, river and crocodile for the “big city”; the city of lights, new friends and endless possibilities. This is how he understood his city; small, protective and the big river on its periphery. The city was compact, the river dangerous, the slopes of the city lead to a valley which had rich but soft soil; not so perfect for foundations of buildings but great for mango orchards they frequented last summer. The orchards were owned by the Garasia’s, the land owning class of the villages around, and they made good money. They could marry off their daughters to neighboring villages and throw a lavish dinner for the community. Not bad at all, he thought considering the fact that this community had small land holding and almost no access to credit . Further downstream the villagers were much richer. The Patidar community here had access to capital from their ancestral assets and strong community networks as they used the river water for intense irrigation; they grew basmati rice, export quality very much “Made in India”. Their sons studied in boarding school at Mt. Abu and would often show0ff their recent shopping booty from Mumbai or Delhi. Enough land and plenty of water can do wonders he thought!

Shailendra and his friends understood the geography as much as they understood the economic processes that are associated with land and water all across the length and breath of the country. The agricultural modes as linked to the geography of land is as common a knowledge, as the fact that one has to remove slippers before entering the temple premise. The geographical understanding of a place or region is necessarily one of soil, surface drainage, river, canals and how it impacts building and agriculture activity. This is true for most souls of the large number of villages and towns of India. The geography taught at the local school’s is as abstract and distant as Galelio’s invention of telescope or closer home the 1857 mutiny against the British. Land is understood through immediate examples that affect and lets us understand the structure of space around; the relationship of land, its water bodies, forest, its produce, livestock, agriculture and people. It is this web of relationship that provides the primary reading of landscape. A reading emerging from survival and dreams. An understanding that is bodily and involves all sense.

Story 2: Geography is contested

The push and the subsequent fall was bad, considering the fact that it was only suppose to be a friendly game of football with the boys from the municipal school. Pyjama chhap; that’s what Ajay used to call these boys. Ajay knees were badly bruised, something he had got used to since he joined the school football team. But the injuries and the resultant bandage were in fact trophies he did not mind showing off in his neighborhood. Sweet pain eh! But today his encounter with the boys from Municipal School no -32, Kandivalle in the football match left him a bit shaken. There was something about that push, something strange in the eyes of the boys who did him in. No apology, no shake of hands but a brutal look as if that bunch might kill him if he come anywhere close to them. Ignoring the skirmishes, he soon carried out with his show of bandages in the knee and slight limp in school; a typical John Travalto one. This had been a regular ritual he performed often to woo the girls of the class, a show that said “I am the Alpha male and have just returned from a battle where I proved my supremacy. I am broken here and bruised there. Some sympathy, some support, some sweet nothing talk or maybe a gentle caress might help”. And life goes on. A daily ritual of updating the facebook profile, completing the homework, sourcing the “ultimate porn”, avoiding dad, recharging the sim, football practice and girls.

Life rolled on till the day Ajay was again confronted with the same pyjama chaap kids of the Municipal school. This time it was beyond the security of his school compound in the market street exposed to the elements. The same dirty look and menacing stare. He tried to smile but before he could realize the one in the center with a dark face and curly hair shouted “matherchod bahut shaana ho gaya hai tu” (mother fucker you have become too smart these days). Now this one was a pure googly. Ajay was stumped, confused and more than anything else he was sweating with fear. Why me and why here in full public view. But..but what is the matter boss, he said? Matter is very clear, said the other one with a squint eye; your dads behind eviction of two shops, one house, three families and four dogs. You assholes have brought these families to street because your dad brought the municipal bulldozers to clear the plot in front of his clinic so that he can plant trees and have a nice parking for his clients. Now this was heavy… very heavy. Ajay just could not fathom why it had to be him. And.. and what is in that piece of land anyways. A large neem tree, dusty rough surface, some shanty and a nullah flowing with the exposes water pipe.

The encounter lasted a few seconds but it was devastating. He ran to the comfort of his house and immediately asked for hot masala maggie. Oh sweet home; it felt so good to curl up on the couch, switch the channels of the television, check the emails; all so personalized and predictable. He wanted all the familiar comforts that day…

Ajay soon outgrew the incident and went about planning his daily inaction’s, weekly bunks and occasional dates. But that incident also changed him. He had a keener eye now, for both sensing trouble and also to things around him he earlier had failed to notice.

He understood how the rivulet that flows from the ghats to the sea, actually is the life line of some twenty thousand families that stay there with their dogs, cats, shops, scooters and some even cars. He knew that the mangroves of the city are now piece of trophy used by the environmentalist to rally for protection and stop the International Airport project. He knew how the Mumbai floods were actually man-made as subsequent corrupt municipal officers choose to ignore the fundamentals of topography and water. That is how he learned about the geography of his city; from being absolutely ignorant about his surroundings, he suddenly knew how his city is the space of conflict, of emancipation, deceit, opportunity and corruption. The fractured geography of his city told the story of survival, human ingenuity and violence.

The “image from top”

“The view of the Earth from the Moon fascinated me—a small disk, 240,000 miles away. It was hard to think that that little thing held so many problems, so many frustrations. Raging nationalistic interests, famines, wars, pestilence don’t show from that distance”

Frank Borman, Astronaut aboard Apollo 8, ‘A Science Fiction World—Awesome Forlorn Beauty,’ Life magazine, January 1969.

The view of the earth from moon and satellites in the late 50′s and 60′s contributed to imagination of the planet as an artifact that is small, vulnerable and alone in space. It fed a whole generation of activists, scientist and media to speak about the earth as a unique place. The image of earth with its deep blue surface, clouds and spots became the single most important symbol that fueled the the hearts and minds of the generation, that questioned the development model of the western world. It attacked the core values of modernity and growth that was drunk on technology, performance and confidence to master the elements of nature. But at the same time, it hearled a very different way of reading space. Riding on the growth of both print and visual mediums it led to an explosion of imagery that showed the “God’s view of the earth”. A fantastic collage of calm blue oceans, neat forests and swirling clouds streams. The good old map that existed in Geography- II textbooks of schools were so boring now; way too abstract and almost a diagram.

That old maps did not inspire any spatial imagination but it did have these lines where none existed. The straight lines of longitude, the dark red meridian, the political boundary of nations, the dark circular one of the capital city. And yes the arrows; the ones showing the direction of the ocean current, swirling all around the blue waters. Maps are much maligned lot these days. Often seen as expressions of the intent to document, control and exploit the land that was colonized by them, maps were instrument of power struggle in India and elsewhere. But they do exist amongst us like many other colonial legacies. Maps are provocative, they express an opinion and engage with the user to form a dialogue of questions and answers. For example the map of Delhi metro is statement of origin-destination possibilities of the large city. A statement of the state of flows and possibilities for movement of one self in the space.

Maps are a statement of processes of space which may or may not express visually. For example the map showing the per-capita consumption of cereals in a district, may or may not manifest as a form. It is the story of the people, their ability to access food supplies etc.

The map is telling a story that made you develop an imagination of space. The satellite image leaves nothing for imagination.

But the view from top has often been perceived to be the real space; as it actually exists. Unlike maps that are either surveyed and drawn, Google Maps and such derivatives on the internet today use an “image from top” as a basic conceptual ground to explore space. Let us now try to deconstruct this phenomenon further.

The image of space below taken from top is important from the point of view of creating grounds for further information. The image pretends to be complete, authentic, accurate and real. There is no possibility for error. The camera are special, there lens accurate, the satellite is state of art and the image is not “photo-shopped”. This portrayal assumes that the visual image is the baseline reality to be recognized. The image then claims to be “the” window to reality and becomes the mediator between the person and his/ her imagination of the surrounding space. Unlike maps wherein the first cut documentation is a bodily involvement of people with space while conducting physical surveys, it is the snap of the camera in case of satellite images. Whereas it is common knowledge that ground physical survey are way too accurate in terms of their dimensional characteristics, the “image from top” are seen to be more closer to reality. This raises interesting questions from the point of view of our understanding of space be it the forests, oceans, rivers, countryside or cities.

Will the dependence on the image (satellite pictures) and its derivative maps that we are witnessing through the internet today for visualizing space lead to a viewer that is satisfied with the “happy” image of his surroundings? Does it mean that the visual (image) becomes more important than the “process” (be it processes of nature, human survival, achievement etc) when imagining space. In short are the meanings attached to the image limited now than before.

So are we headed towards a more homogeneous imagination of our space and its parts due to the mediation by the same image through the internet? The forest are dense, the plantations greens, the coastline smooth, the old city organic and water bodies are deep blue.

Wait! The story has a new twist

But there is something also happening to the image on the internet. There are place markers, text, suggestions, stories, links to other site and even pictures overlaid on the satellite images or its maps. The story is getting interesting now; the technological possibility of user participation is creating a new layer of information and opinions on the maps. Far from being a specialized cartographic exercise, maps are being now created by people. It expresses their impressions, choices and preferences about their space.

This phenomenon of the individual expressions over the expanse of the vast space is new and needs to be further understood. More about it in the next post…..

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/internet-society-and-space-in-indian-cities/city-in-the-internet

Citizens' forums want UID project scrapped

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T12:26:10Z

Citizens’ forums and groups have stepped up their attack on the Unique Identification Project calling for the complete scrapping of the project.

Addressing the media persons on Wednesday, Thomas Matthew of Citizens’ Action Forum said all the transactions undertaken by the UID project should be scrutinised under an accountable public body policy.

“The State government should make the financial and technological implications and costs incurred so far, including details of contracts awarded with respect to the UID project,” he said.

One of the main concerns of the groups has been the lack of public discussion on the feasibility or desirability of the project.

“It was launched as an ID card for citizens, but was later changed to a number for all citizens. UID claims that there are several benefits of possessing a number, but passes on the responsibility to Registrars,” Matthew said.

While UIDAI Chairperson Nandan Nilekani announced that the number was voluntary, the need to have such a number for obtaining any other form of service including bank accounts, would force a person to get an ID number, he added.

Executive Director of The Centre for Internet and Society, Sunil Abraham said even though the scheme is supposed to only provide verification of identity, there was no guarantee of safeguard against its misuse by potential third party users like telecom companies, banks and government departments.

“Though claims have been made of huge savings as the UID will stem leakages from welfare schemes, such as employment guarantee scheme, PDS and the LPG subsidy, but no feasibility studies have been conducted to assess the veracity of such a claim,” Sunil said.

Read the original article in the Deccan Herald

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/citizens-forums-want-UID-scrapped

Citizen Media Summit 2015

praskrishna — 2015-02-08T14:57:29Z

The Citizen Media Summit 2015 was held in Cebu City, Philippines on January 24 and 25, 2015. Subhashish Panigrahi was a speaker at the event.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/citizen-media-summit-2015

Citizen Kino

praskrishna — 2012-06-15T11:14:21Z

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

Citizen Engagement Framework for e-Governance Projects and Framework and Guidelines for Use of Social Media by Government Agencies

praskrishna — 2012-09-10T14:40:10Z

Notification dated August 17, 2012 by Department of Electronics & Information Technology.

TO BE PUBLISHED IN PART I SECTION OF THE GAZETTE OF INDIA

Government of India

Ministry of Communications and Information Technology

Department of Electronics & Information Technology

Electronics Niketan

6, CGO Complex

*****

New Delhi-110 003
August 17, 2012

Notification

Citizen Engagement Framework for e-Governance Projects and Framework and Guidelines for Use of Social Media by Government Agencies

No. 3(77)/2010-EG II Whereas the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India (GoI) is driving the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) which seeks to create the demand driven atmosphere for uptake of and sustainability of e-Services as well ensure effective citizen engagement and communication with all stakeholders using various offline as well online channels including Social Media.

AND Whereas Awareness and Communication in e-Governance are a high priority in order to ensure wide spread dissemination of e-Services and service access channels and DeitY, GOI has been mandated to enhance visibility of e-Services enabled under NeGP

AND WHEREAS an immediate need has been felt to create frameworks for citizen engagement and use of social media which would enable government agencies to undertake meaningful engagement with citizens as well leverage social media platforms more effectively for such engagements

AND Whereas the Competent Authority has approved the Framework for Citizen Engagement for e-Governance Projects and Framework and Guidelines for Use of Social Media by Government Agencies

NOW, this Department hereby notifies the Framework for Citizen Engagement for Governance Project and Framework and Guidelines for Use of Social Media by Government Agencies w.e.f the date of notification. The Frameworks can be downloaded from www.mit.gov.in and www.negp.gov.in

(Krishna Bidani)

Deputy Director

The Manager

Government of India Press

Faridahad (Haryana) ; Alongwith Hindi Version

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