Centre for Internet and Society

Campaign against curbs on websites gathers steam

praskrishna — 2012-04-25T11:19:29Z

For political cartoonist Aseem Trivedi and his blogger-cum-journalist friend Alok Dixit, who both ran a website against corruption, a tryst with the blind side of law triggered their mission against “gagging” of the new-age Indian Internet user.

The blog post by Arpan Daniel Varghese was published by IBN Live on April 23, 2012.

It all started when they were in Mumbai, taking part in the first public protest seeking a strong Lokpal led by social activist Anna Hazare. “During the course of the protest, we got word that our website had been taken off,” recalls Alok.

The Mumbai Police had banned the website without any prior notice, apparently after a complaint was filed by a Congress leader that some content on the site, CartoonsAgainstCorruption, was objectionable, he says.

“We then contacted Bigrocks, the domain provider, but they did not divulge the exact procedure to restore our website,” he adds.

Kerala High Court lawyer P Jacob, who has a masters in cyber law and is a researcher in the field, clarifies. “Let’s say that you are a website, blog or domain owner... As per the intermediary rules incorporated into the IT laws, introduced through an amendment in 2011, if a third person sends a complaint, be it a frivolous one, to you (the intermediary ) about some objectionable content, you will have to take off the said content within 36 hours.”

This could happen to any one and could be quite dangerous, points out Sunil Abraham, the executive director of The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS-India).� “If a company wants to target your organization’s social media network, they can keep sending fraudulent emails to you and you will have to keep deleting it unless you are ready to face litigation or government action. And then there is no penalty for abusing the provision. There is no transparency, the people who comment will not be told,” says Sunil.

It was this realization that drove Alok, who then quit his job as a reporter, and Aseem Trivedi to start a movement against such blind curbs. ‘Save Your Voice’ was thus born.

A research conducted by the CIS gave further credence to their fears that it was very “easy to ban any website in India.”

“We call it a policy sting operation,” details Sunil. “We sent out fraudulent take- down notices (or complaints) to seven of the largest intermediaries in India. They gladly over-complied and promptly took off the material in question. You can try this. You could look at a legitimate comment and complain that this is blasphemous, offensive or plain annoying. And without questioning your locus standi, the intermediary sites will have to take it off.”

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/campaign-against-curbs-on-websites

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praskrishna — 2011-11-22T14:16:31Z

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praskrishna — 2011-06-09T10:10:37Z

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praskrishna — 2011-11-21T05:38:19Z

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praskrishna — 2011-11-21T05:36:45Z

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Call, text, email complaint against rogue auto driver

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T10:45:39Z

Harassed by an auto driver? Helplines give you no relief? Here's the people's way to help you out. Just report your issue online, call or even SMS sitting in a noisy restaurant, and be heard.

Right from drivers with no proper identity cards, to those refusing to ply or those who attempt sexual assault enroute, you can report them all to a team of volunteers who manage a complaint book 24x7. There is also a map online, where you can pinpoint the exact place, time and even upload videos or photographs taken on the spot.

This complaint management system, recently launched by Kiirti (part of the Centre for Internet and Society) is an attempt to help tackle the cases of auto menace in the city. "It's quite like the Fix My Street initiative of the West. This is for the people and maintained by the people. What makes it different from the existing helpline mechanism in Bangalore is that there is better transparency and more options given to people on how they can file their complaint 24x7,'' explains Sudha Nair, project community manager for Kiirti in India.

All the complaints received will be scrutinised and verified by a backend support team of volunteers and then sent across to the department concerned for action. Besides, the complainant will be able to check the status of the complaint.

"Recently, in The Times of India, we read about the sad state of the official helplines provided by the transport department. There is no transparency in it nor is it available all the time, so we decided to launch this system. We are only working as a catalyst. The portal can also be effectively used by various RWAs to help check the problem in their area,'' Sudha added. Various NGOs like Janaagraha, Environment Support Group, Public Affairs Centre and Children's Movement for Civic Action have also come forward to support this initiative.

Read the original in the Times of India

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/complaint-against-rogue-auto-driver

Call to increase awareness of intellectual property rights

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T10:47:26Z

We need more knowledge on IPR itself, says IT Secretary

There is an imperative need to focus on intellectual property rights issues, provide more information to the public on what constitutes IPR and how to deal with violations, Information Technology secretary PWC Davidar said.

“We need more knowledge on IPR itself. Very few people are aware of what IPR is and therefore unaware that they are violating someone's IPR, for instance, even when they copy for an essay,” Mr. Davidar said at the inaugural of the seminar on Access to Knowledge. It was organised by the Consumers Association of India and Consumers International, Kuala Lumpur in association with the Madras Library Association.

Assignments

Even when it came to assignments in schools, colleges and universities, sometimes Ph.D. theses as well, one hears of people borrowing from others' work, Mr. Davidar said.

This kind of thing was very tightly controlled in the West, where software was used to pick up plagiarism. However, that was not so strictly enforced in India, he added.

Debate

Mr. Davidar also highlighted the debate on IPR in areas such as environment or health where lives could be at stake.

“When it comes to academics, you know clearly that you should not borrow without acknowledgement. It is not as simple in situations where a solution can save several lives or prevent destruction of property. Such technologies should be shared, without being safeguarded in the corporate domain by IPR,” he added.

R. Desikan, founder, CAI, provided a brief report on the activities of the organisation and stressed the need to increase awareness of consumer rights, and IPR. Pranesh Prakash, from Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, stressing the need to provide access to knowledge in the context of IPR, also hinted at the negative aspects that patents might have on consumers.

Knowledge economy

Former Chief Vigilance Commissioner N. Vittal said consumers were living in a knowledge economy.

Pointing to the example of Japan that worked backwards on creating their own process with an end product (already invented in the U.S.) in mind, he advised that India too should examine whether it could benefit from such reverse engineering.

“Knowledge only grows with distribution,” he added, alluding to the teaching of the Upanishads.

Read the original article in the Hindu

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/increase-awareness-of-ipr

Call for Comments for Report on Open Government Data in India

praskrishna — 2013-03-01T05:50:49Z

The Centre for Internet & Society is pleased to announce a public call for comments on the Report on Open Government Data in India prepared by Glover Wright, Pranesh Prakash, Sunil Abraham and Nishant Shah.

This report situates the current move towards open government data in India in the context of the country’s growingly sophisticated information and communications technology (ICT) practices as well as the Right to Information Act. It relies primarily on conversations—both on the record and off—with government officials, businesses, civil society organizations, and individual activists. For background it relies on a review of the literature relevant to OGD and RTI generally, to present a snapshot of where India stands now in respect to OGD, and to predict where it is likely to go in the near future. It seeks to understand what “open government data” means in an Indian context, and what effects institutionalized open data practices and ideas might have on Indian society. Finally, it suggests certain technical and policy strategies for developing, promoting, and implementing, and maintaining a robust open government data policy in India.

Please do write in to Pranesh Prakash (pranesh at cis-india.org) with any suggestions, criticisms, or general comments that you have by 30 January 2011.

Download the complete report here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-government-data-report

Call for Case Studies on ICT

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T11:12:44Z

CIS invites organisations to participate in a study focusing on best practices in the use of ICTs in education for persons with disabilities.

The study aims to document best practices in the use of ICT tools and platforms in developing countries, especially in the South, to make educational resources accessible to disabled persons. We are interested in looking at new and creative ways of knowledge building and sharing, development and deployment of low cost technologies, and innovative ways in which mainstream resources are made available to students with disabilities in the digital age. The study is intended to serve as a learning tool for educators facing similar challenges in developing countries. If you feel that your organisation could serve as a good example for others, and would like to be featured in our study, please contact Nirmita Narasimhan at nirmita@cis-india.org before 15th August.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/call-for-case-studies-ict

Call drops: Dealing with the menace or just shifting goal posts?

praskrishna — 2016-07-01T16:45:45Z

It is nothing short of an irony that the world’s second largest mobile user market that boasts of being the world’s fastest growing economy is plagued by poor infrastructure and overloaded networks to an extent that many callers are cut off even before they can finish a sentence. The fault in India’s much-acclaimed telecom revolution is a questioning, frequent phenomenon called “call drops”. There have been several signature campaigns and media pressure demanding that the government and telecom companies get their heads together to fix this raging demon of a problem. However, all they have been treated with is lip service and nothing more.

The article was published by India TV News on June 29, 2016

So, on one hand we have Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad claiming that the call drop problem is improving as telecom companies are installing towers, and on the other is TRAI that shows reports that operators like Aircel, Vodafone and Idea are using call drop masking technology incorrectly to fudge the data on call drops. Not long ago, we had Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself take up the issue and we saw a flurry of allegations and counter allegations flying between the government and the telecom companies on where the fault actually lies.

While the government claimed it had freed enough spectrum to fix network issues and blamed the companies for not investing enough in the infrastructure, the telcos hit back at the government saying they were facing regulatory hurdles in setting up of towers because of environmental issues posed by regulation. In all, we kept going in circles and the change promised remained as elusive as its perception.

Reality is that for cell phone users in India, call drop continues as a common phenomenon and figures released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) attest to this claim. According to TRAI, the figures have doubled in the last one year and the worst affected cell has more than 3% TCH drop (traffic channel call drop) rate, which is four times higher than the permitted limit. Quality of Service Regulations has allowed service providers a 2 per cent allowance of call drops on the basis of averaging call drops per month.

TRAI has recently conducted Audit and assessment of Quality of Service being provided by service providers through independent agencies for Cellular Mobile Telephone Service, Basic Service and Broadband Services in many states. In Ahmedabad all the operators have failed to meet the call drop rate benchmark of less that 2% expect Airtel 2G. Also in Mumbai most of the operators have not met the less that 2% call drop benchmark except Airtel 2G and 3G and Vodafone 2G.

Many other states have gone through this drive test and have failed.

This begs us to put up a serious question in the interest of the more than 103.518 cr users who shell out money for pathetic services - Is the problem actually being resolved or are we, the consumers, being taken for a royal ride?

Before we set out to give you a complete idea on the state of affairs and where we stand in terms of actually working towards fixing this problem, a look at some basics first to put things in context.

What is call drop?

A call drop technically signifies the service provider’s incapability to maintain a call, either incoming or outgoing, once it has been properly established. In India, call drops are a performance indicator for the country’s telecom networks. In many cities, mobile users have to rush from one room to another or drive around neighborhoods to find better signals or better voice quality.

Call drops now figure among the top customer issues with telcos in several Indian cities. There is very little transparency on call drop data but it can be said that most companies have multiple sites where the call drop incidence is much above the set 2 percent limit. New Delhi has been particularly hit after city authorities cracked down and sealed unlicensed mobile towers.

The problem had increased so much that India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the industry regulator, had specified that telecom service providers need to compensate users for dropped calls. The regulator said that the consumers will be paid Re.1 per call up to 3 dropped calls per day, only to be turned down by the Supreme Court, rendering the TRAI decision null and void.

Telecom companies had cried foul over the directive, firstly by saying that the regulator had no authority to levy such penalty and secondly, by saying that it wasn't possible to segregate the reasons for call drops.

SC gave a 99-page judgment and said that the regulation appears to be meant only to penalise telcos. The judgment highlighted various flaws in the ruling by the Delhi high court which upheld TRAIs regulation.

It further upheld the 2% exemption extended to service providers with regard to call drops and said the regulation would have penalized them despite it.

“A penalty that is imposed ‘without any reason’ either as to the number of call drops made being three, and only to the calling consumer, ‘far from balancing the interest of consumers and service providers’, is manifestly arbitrary, not being based on any factual data or reason,” the court said.

A ‘towering’ menace

Towers act as boosters that help radio waves travel better, and are a necessary part of the telecom architecture in any country. There are approximately 5,50,000 towers in India, and industry associations think another 1,00,000 are needed. The lower radio bands need less towers to travel longer distances, so when telecom companies offer services like 3G or 4G, they have to be at higher frequencies (2,100 MHz or 2,300 MHz instead of 900 MHz), which need more tower support.

Call drops occur due to several reasons.

Cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Jaipur and Patna have less towers than needed. Civic authorities across the country have shut down a total of around 10,000 towers and an additional 12,000 towers cannot be used due to various reasons.

Telecom companies are reluctant to share towers. This is because they are fixed investments by subsidiaries of telecom companies. Permission to erect a tower is given by the municipal body, but no uniform standards or procedures exist here.

The setting up of boosters on buildings remains a task, and permission has to be taken on a case-by-case basis. Things could improve if telecom connectivity were seen as being similar to water and power supply, and developers were to apply for a uniform set of permissions.

If we take the recent scenario the State-run telecom operator BSNL is said to expand its network in Chhattisgarh by installing 2,000 new mobile towers in the next two years, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, stepping forward to strengthen mobile connectivity in the state.

Telecom Secretary J S Deepak recently said that penal powers cannot be “one and final solution” for call drop and the telecom firms have committed Rs 12,000 cr to install new towers to check this problem.

“Government believes in the telecom sector. The quality of service must improve and industry has responsibility. They have committed 60,000 towers. Each tower cost about Rs 20 lakh which is around Rs 12,000 crore. The industry will make this investment in next three months,” he said recently.

Most of the mobile service providers have frequently failed in quarterly sample call drop tests conducted by Trai but operators have contested the results saying that they comply with benchmark set by the regulator.

On this, the operators raised issues such as regulatory hurdles by local authorities and opposition by residents associations to installation of mobile towers.

“All top CEOs have said they will set up war rooms to address this issue. We need to work with them to facilitate installation of mobile towers,” Deepak said.

“We are coordinating with minister (Ravi Shankar Prasad) to launch portal on EMF (radiation) next month. This will give data of about 4.3 lakh mobile towers. People can go online and check if a tower is emitting radiation within limit or not so that citizens are aware that it not an issue,” he added.

So after the launch of portal on EMF (radiation) next month, the fight on hurdles might be resolved, which will then raise questions on the operators if the call drop issue still persists.

Do companies benefit from call drops?

All the benefits depend on the tariff plan. If it’s measured in seconds, the telecom company gains nothing — no matter how many times the connection cut, billing resumes at the same rate. But if it is measured in minutes, or if the plan contains features such as a certain number of free calls in every billing cycle, call drops is a nightmare for the consumers.

Telecom firms claim that 95 per cent of tariff plans involves billing in seconds. Since call drops are the most common in overcrowded areas, interruptions tend to shorten the call and, to that extent, reduce the average revenue per user per minute. Since companies measure their performance on the basis of call drops too, it is risky for anyone to intentionally create conditions for drops, thus porting to another operator.

Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) in a report said that the telecom industry is facing a lot of challenges which are leading to call drops:

State bodies initiate actions against the towers without any prior notices like disconnecting electricity supplies, sealing the premises and even dismantling of tower sites.
Restrictions imposed by state governments and municipalities for wireless sites for erecting cell-sites in non-commercial areas, sealing of the cell-sites by municipal authorities.
Issues pertaining to Right of Way (RoW) – due to no approval, operators are not even in a position to put up sites. Frequent fiber cuts due to infrastructure projects are recurring phenomena in almost all circles.
Site outages on account of long power failures and delay in restoration of power supply by electricity boards.
Owner/legal issues, which is an important factor, because if the operator does not obtain the permission to set up the cell site, calls in the area would be dropped.
Interference due to illegal wide band radio and coverage restrictions arising out of cross border spectrum interference.
Shortage of spectrum amid surging data traffic growth and the lack of availability of a sufficient quantum of globally harmonized spectrum in contiguous form is the biggest impediment to the deployment of wireless technologies in the access network and hence for better quality of service resulting in increased call drops with the increase in data traffic.

Government’s role and what it can do

The government says that call drops can be addressed to a large extent through better management of spectrum, something that will only provide partial relief. The occurrence of call drops is higher at busy areas, typically city centres. This means there is an unequal spread of traffic across the spectrum.

Regardless of these technical roadblocks, there is actually quite a lot that the government can do.

General allowing of shared spectrum so that the same bandwidth is homogenously distributed among towers that are in a row.
Government rules prohibit spectrum swapping, but to tackle the issue a policy should be amended for the same.
Unused spectrum bands, which are either not used or have been missed due to the traffic in the bandwidth should be reformed and put to efficient use.
Every state should be encouraged to use uniform procedures on towers and policies regarding this should be amended.
Set up rules for companies to improve on their services. Besides penalty which has been dropped government should keep a check on telcos to work properly.

Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director at the Centre for Internet and Society said that Telecom companies in India have scarcity in terms of spectrum, which needs to be rationalised by allowing spectrum policy in India.

He also added that the government’s decision of not allowing spectrum supply doesn’t really make sense as India needs the policy. Also, the radiations emitted by the spectrum which are harming people should be scientifically taken care of.

What are the benchmarks for call drop that should be followed by the telcos?

TRAI has laid down the quality of service benchmarks for call drop rate to be less than 2 percent. The 2 percent call drop benchmark means that not more than 2 percent calls made from a network should automatically disconnected in a telecom circle.

Recently, the call drop test was conducted in Bhopal and Mumbai. TRAI found that most operators in Mumbai, except Airtel 2G/3G and Vodafone 2G, are not meeting the under 2 per cent call drop rate benchmark. In the drive tests conducted during May 10 to 13 in Mumbai, the call drop rates of No 1 carrier, Bharti Airtel's 2G and 3G networks, stood at 1.49 per cent and 1.94 per cent, while Vodafone-2G's was 1.68 per cent.

Other than Airtel and Vodafone in 2G, all operators failed to meet the Call Drop Rate benchmark in Bhopal. TRAI in a report said that Idea, Reliance and BSNL all have Call Drop Rates in the range of 10 percent or above. These are exceptionally high and clearly indicate urgent need for improvement in order to deliver reasonable levels of service.

What steps should be taken to improve the problem?

A lot has to be done to settle the issue. The mobile towers do not have an unlimited capacity for handling the current network load. So telecom companies need to increase the towers to tackle the load. This is being followed as telecom operators have decided to invest Rs.12,000 crore for installation of 60,000 more towers over the next three months, while the BSNL will install 21,000 BTS towers a report said.

A report by TRAI said that the problems like removal of towers from certain areas by authorities needs to be addressed. Also, with the increase in the usage of 3G networks, the growth rate of mobile towers supporting 2G networks has reduced, which also needs to be addressed.

Recently, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed that the call drop problem was improving with various telecom companies are installing about 1.24 lakh towers to mitigate the issue. In a report he said, “Things are improving....private telecom operators have installed one lakh towers, while the State-owned BSNL has put in place 24,000 Base Transceiver Station (BTS) towers across the country in the past one year to improve the call drop problem.”

The roadmap

Surveys are being conducted and a lot of efforts are being made by the operators and also TRAI to solve the call drop issue. However, in a country with the world’s second-largest mobile user market it is tough to solve the problem completely but not impossible. That, in theory, is the situation. On ground though, things don’t appear to be running in tune with tall claims by the government or the telecom companies. If the situation is improving, as the government claims, change needs to be visible, which is apparently not the case. Also, if the investments are being made to the tune of what the telecom companies are claiming, that would translate into solving the issue.

The moot point here is that if the number of towers is the root cause behind the millions of consumers facing this absolute nightmare of an issue, can this “go-getter” government not come to any arrangement so as to solve the issue? Perhaps, the government, which displayed exemplary enthusiasm in gaining a seat in the coveted Nuclear Suppliers Group, needs to translate some of that energy into getting to a solution for an issue plaguing a large and growing population of its billion plus populace. It would only serve some good. No pun intended.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/news/india-tv-news-june-26-2016-call-drops

CAGR

praskrishna — 2013-01-04T09:56:03Z

CAGR

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ಭಾಷಣದಿಂದ ಭಾಷೆ ಉಳಿಯಲ್ಲ, ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲೇ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಸಿಗುವುದು ಅಗತ್ಯ: ಪವನಜ

praskrishna — 2014-12-06T02:30:29Z

Media coverage of Kannada Wikipedia presentation at Mysuru on November 23, 2014.

The article was published in Just Kannada on November 23, 2014.

ಮೈಸೂರು, ನ.23 : ಧ್ವಜ ಹಾರಿಸಿ ಭಾಷಣ ಮಾಡಿದರೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಭಾಷೆ ಉಳಿಯುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಬದಲಿಗೆ ಕನ್ನಡಲ್ಲೇ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಮಾಹಿತಿಗಳು ಸಿಗುವಂತೆ ಮಾಡುವುದು ಅಗತ್ಯವಿದೆ ಎಂದು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಭಾರತೀಯ ಭಾಷೆಗಳು, ಸಮಾಜ ಮತ್ತು ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲ ಕೇಂದ್ರದ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥಾಪಕ ಡಾ.ಯು.ಬಿ.ಪವನಜ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು.

ವಿಸ್ಮಯ ಫೌಂಡೇಶನ್ ಭಾನುವಾರ ಕುವೆಂಪುನಗರದ ಉದಯರವಿ ರಸ್ತೆ ಕಲಾಸುರುಚಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಆಯೋಜಿಸಿದ್ದ ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದಲ್ಲಿ `ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯ: ಒಂದು ಪರಿಚಯ’ ಕುರಿತು ಮಾತನಾಡಿದರು.
ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿನಾಶದ ಹಾದಿಯತ್ತ ಸಾಗುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಇಂದು ಕೇವಲ ಕಥೆ, ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳಿಂದ ಮಾತ್ರ ಕನ್ನಡ ಉಳಿಯುವುದಿಲ್ಲ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದಂತಹ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕು. ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ, ಸ್ವಾತಂತ್ರ್ಯ ದಿನಾಚರಣೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಧ್ವಜ ಹಾರಿಸಿ, ಭಾಷಣ ಮಾಡಿದರೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಉಳಿಯುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಬದಲಾಗಿ ಅಗತ್ಯ ಮಾಹಿತಿಗಳು ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲೇ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದರೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಉಳಿಯುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂದರು. ದೇಶ-ವಿದೇಶಗಳ ಭಾಷೆ, ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿದು ಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ನಮ್ಮಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಕಡಿಮೆ ಇದೆ. ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರು ಕನ್ನಡ ಮಾಹಿತಿಗಾಗಿ ಹುಡುಕಾಟ ನಡೆಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಹುಡುಕುವ ಮುನ್ನವೇ ಅಗತ್ಯ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಒದಗಿಸಿದರೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಉಳಿಸಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂದು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು.

ಭಾರತೀಯ ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯದಲ್ಲಿ 20ಕ್ಕೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಭಾಷೆಗಳಿವೆ. ತಿಂಗಳಿಗೆ 50 ಕೋಟಿ ಹೊಸ ವೀಕ್ಷಕರು ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ಏಳು ಸಾವಿರ ಸಂಪಾದಕರಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಇದೇ ಮಾದರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಜೂ.2003ರಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯ ಆರಂಭಗೊಂಡಿದ್ದು, ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಇಲ್ಲಿಯವರೆಗೆ 18 ಸಾವಿರ ಲೇಖನಗಳು, 622 ಸಂಪಾದಕರು ಇದ್ದಾರೆ. ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ 22 ಮಂದಿ ಸಕ್ರಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದಕರು ಹಾಗೂ ನಾಲ್ಕು ಮಂದಿ ಅತಿ ಸಕ್ರಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದಕರಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ತಿಂಗಳಿಗೆ 18.50 ಲಕ್ಷ ಜನ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯ ಪುಟ ವೀಕ್ಷಣೆ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾರೆ ಎಂದು ಮಾಹಿತಿ ನೀಡಿದರು.

ನಾವಷ್ಟೇ ಅಲ್ಲ ಲಕ್ಷಾಂತರ ಮಂದಿ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನ(ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯ, ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲ)ಕ್ಕೆ ಹೊಂದಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಕನ್ನಡ ಕಲಿಯುವವರಿಗೆ, ಭಾಷಾಭಿಮಾನಿಗಳಿಗೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಅಗತ್ಯ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಹುಡುಕುವವರಿಗೆ ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿ ಮಾಡಬೇಕು. ಜನರಿಂದ ಜನರಿಗಾಗಿ ಜನರೇ ನಡೆಸುವ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶಕ್ಕೆ ಅಗತ್ಯ ಮಾಹಿತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಅಳವಡಿಕೆ ಮಾಡಬೇಕು ಎಂದ ಅವರು, ಕನ್ನಡ ಭಾಷೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ, ಸಂಸ್ಕಾರಗಳನ್ನು ಅನ್ಯರಿಗೂ ಪರಿಚಯಿಸುವ ನಿಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯವನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಿ ಎಂದು ಸಲಹೆ ನೀಡಿದರು.

ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿ ಕುವೆಂಪು ಕನ್ನಡ ಅಧ್ಯಯನ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆ ನಿವೃತ್ತ ಪ್ರಾಧ್ಯಾಪಕ ಪ್ರೊ.ಆರ್ವಿಯಸ್ ಸುಂದರಂ ಮಾತನಾಡಿ, ಒಂದು ಸಾವಿರ ವರ್ಷಗಳಿಂದ ಒಂದು ವರ್ಷವೂ ಎಡಬಿಡದೆ ಬರೆಯುತ್ತಿರುವ, ಕಲಿಯುತ್ತಿರುವ ಭಾಷೆ ಕನ್ನಡ. ಕನ್ನಡ ಭಾಷೆಗೆ ತನ್ನದೇ ಆದ ಇತಿಹಾಸ, ಪರಂಪರೆ ಇದೆ. ಒಂದೊಂದು ಶತಮಾನದವರೆಗೂ ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಅವಿಚ್ಛಿನ್ನವಾಗಿ ಇದೆ. ಇಂತಹ ಭಾಷೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ನಿರಂತರವಾಗಿ ಪ್ರಚಾರ ಮಾಡಬೇಕು. ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಆಯಾಯ ಪ್ರದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ನೆಲೆಸಿರುವವರು ಅಲ್ಲಿನ ಸ್ಥಳೀಯ ಭಾಷೆಗಳನ್ನು ಕಲಿತುಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕು ಎಂದು ಮನವಿ ಮಾಡಿದರು.

ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾನಿಲಯ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ನಿವೃತ್ತ ಕಾರ್ಯನಿರ್ವಾಹಕ ಸಂಪಾದಕ ಡಾ.ಹಾ.ತಿ.ಕೃಷ್ಣೇಗೌಡ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷತೆ ವಹಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ವಿಸ್ಮಯ ಫೌಂಡೇಶನ್ ಸಂಸ್ಥಾಪಕ ಸೋಮಶೇಖರ್ ಇದ್ದರು.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/just-kannada-november-23-2014-kannada-wikipedia-presentation-coverage

ಭಾರತೀಯ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಪ್ರೊಫೈಲಿಂಗ್ ಮಸೂದೆಯ ಸೀಳುನೋಟ

praskrishna — 2012-10-03T15:42:54Z

ಭಾರತೀಯ ದಂಡಸಂಹಿತೆಯನ್ನು ೨೦೦೫ರಲ್ಲಿ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿ ಮಾಡಲಾಯಿತು. ಇದರ ಉದ್ದೇಶ ಆಪಾದಿತರನ್ನು ಬಂಧಿಸಿದಾಗ ಅವರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ವಿವಿಧ ವೈದ್ಯಕೀಯ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಸಂಗ್ರಹಿಸಲು ಕಾನೂನುರೀತ್ಯಾ ಅವಕಾಶ ಕಲ್ಪಿಸುವುದು.

ದಂಡಸಂಹಿತೆಯ ಸೆಕ್ಷನ್ ೫೩ರ ಪ್ರಕಾರ, ಅಪರಾಧವನ್ನು ಸಾಬೀತು ಪಡಿಸಲು ವೈದ್ಯಕೀಯ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ ಸಾಕ್ಷ್ಯ ಒದಗಿಸುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂದು “ನಂಬಲು ತಕ್ಕಮಟ್ಟಿನ ಕಾರಣಗಳಿದ್ದರೆ”, ಆಪಾದಿತನನ್ನು ಬಂಧಿಸಿದಾಗ ಆತನನ್ನು ವೈದ್ಯಕೀಯ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆಗೆ ಒಳಪಡಿಸಬಹುದು. ೨೦೦೫ರ ತಿದ್ದುಪಡಿಯ ಮೂಲಕ, ಈ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆಯ ವ್ಯಾಪ್ತಿಯನ್ನು ಇವೆಲ್ಲವನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲಿಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ವಿಸ್ತರಿಸಲಾಯಿತು: ರಕ್ತದ, ರಕ್ತಕಲೆಗಳ, ವೀರ್ಯದ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ, ಲೈಂಗಿಕ ಅಪರಾಧಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಾಬ್ಗಳ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ, ಉಗುಳು, ಬೆವರು, ಕೂದಲಿನ ಸ್ಯಾಂಪಲ್ ಮತ್ತು ಉಗುರಿನ ತುಂಡುಗಳ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ. ನಿರ್ದಿಷ್ಟ ಪ್ರಕರಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಅವಶ್ಯವೆಂದು ನೋಂದಾಯಿತ ವೈದ್ಯರು ಭಾವಿಸುವ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಪ್ರೊಫೈಲಿಂಗ್ ಹಾಗೂ ಅಂತಹ ಇತರ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆಗಳ ಸಹಿತವಾಇ ಆಧುನಿಕ ಮತ್ತು ವೈಜ್ನಾನಿಕ ವಿಧಾನಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿ ವೈದ್ಯಕೀಯ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ ನಡೆಸಬೇಕು.

ಕ್ರಿಮಿನಲ್ ಪ್ರಕರಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಆಪಾದಿತ ಷಾಮೀಲಾಗಿರುವುದನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಯಲಿಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆಗೆ ಆದೇಶ ನೀಡುವುದರ ಕಾನೂನುಬದ್ಧತೆಯನ್ನು ತೊಗೊರಾಣಿ ಅಲಿಯಾಸ್ ಕೆ. ದಮಯಂತಿ ವರ್ಸಸ್ ಒರಿಸ್ಸಾ ಸ್ಟೇಟ್ ಮತ್ತು ಇತರರು (೨೦೦೪ ಕ್ರಿಮಿನಲ್ ಎಲ್ಜೆ ೪೦೦೩ – ಒರಿಸ್ಸಾ) ಪ್ರಕರಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಒರಿಸ್ಸಾ ಹೈಕೋರ್ಟ್ ಎತ್ತಿ ಹಿಡಿದಿದೆ. ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆಗೆ ಆಪಾದಿತ ಸಹಕರಿಸದಿದ್ದರೆ, ಅವನ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ವ್ಯತಿರಿಕ್ತ ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯ ಮೂಡುತ್ತದೆ.

ಈ ವಿಷಯದಲ್ಲಿ ವೈಯುಕ್ತಿಕ ಗೌಪ್ಯತೆಯ ಅಂಶಗಳನ್ನು ಪರಿಗಣಿಸಿದ ಬಳಿಕ, ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ ಆದೇಶಿಸುವ ಮುನ್ನ, ಈ ವಿಚಾರಗಳನ್ನು ಪರಿಗಣಿಸಬೇಕೆಂದು ಹೈಕೋರ್ಟ್ ನಿರ್ದೇಶನ ನೀಡಿದೆ: (೧) ಅಪರಾಧ ಎಸಗುವುದರಲ್ಲಿ ಆಪಾದಿತನು ಎಷ್ಟರ ಮಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಿರಬಹುದು? (೨) ಅಪರಾಧದ ಗಂಭೀರತೆ ಮತ್ತು ಅಪರಾಧ ಎಸಗಿದ ಸಂದರ್ಭ (೩) ಆಪಾದಿತನ ಪ್ರಾಯ, ದೈಹಿಕ ಮತ್ತು ಮಾನಸಿಕ ಆರೋಗ್ಯ (೪) ಅಪರಾಧದಲ್ಲಿ ಆಪಾದಿತ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಿದ್ದನ್ನು ಖಚಿತಪಡಿಸುವ ಅಥವಾ ಖುಲಾಸೆ ಮಾಡುವ ಸಾಕ್ಷಾಧಾರಗಳನ್ನು ಸಂಗ್ರಹಿಸುವ ಕಡಿಮೆ ಆತಂಕಕಾರಿಯಾದ ಮತ್ತು ಕಾರ್ಯಸಾಧ್ಯವಾದ ಇತರ ವಿಧಾನಗಳು ಇವೆಯೇ? (೫) ಆಪಾದಿತನು ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆಗೆ ಒಪ್ಪಿಗೆ ನಿರಾಕರಿಸಲು ಕಾರಣಗಳೇನು?

ಸಂಸತ್ತಿನ ಅನುಮೋದನೆಗಾಗಿ ಕಾದಿರುವ ೨೦೦೭ರ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಪ್ರೊಫೈಲಿಂಗ್ ಮಸೂದೆಯ ಉದ್ದೇಶವನ್ನು ಚುಟುಕಾಗಿ ಹೀಗೆ ಹೇಳಬಹುದು: “ದೇಶದ ಕ್ರಿಮಿನಲ್ ನ್ಯಾಯವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆಯ ಕಿಂಚಿತ್ ಸಂಪರ್ಕಕ್ಕೆ ಬಂದವರೆಲ್ಲರ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ವಿವರಗಳನ್ನು ದಾಖಲಿಸುವ “ಕೇಂದ್ರ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಬ್ಯಾಂಕನ್ನು” ರಚಿಸುವ ಮಹತ್ವಾಕಾಂಕ್ಷಿ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ.” ಅಂದರೆ, ಸಂಶಯಕ್ಕೆ ಒಳಗಾದ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗಳು, ಕಾನೂನು ಮುರಿಯುವವರು, ಕಾಣೆಯಾದ್ವರು ಮತ್ತು ಸ್ವ-ಇಚ್ಚೆಯವರು – ಇವರ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ವಿವರಗಳ ಡಿಎನ್ಎ ಮಾಹಿತಿ

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/cadcbecb0ca4caf-ca1cbfc8eca8ccdc8e-caaccdcb0cabcb2cbfc82c97ccd-caecb8cc2ca6cc6caf-cb8cb3cc1ca8c9f

cable

praskrishna — 2012-10-16T03:52:33Z

cable tv

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cable

praskrishna — 2012-10-16T04:17:26Z

cable

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