Umashankar’s suspension smacks of victimisation:: JAYA

“Umashankar’s suspension smacks of victimisation”
Special Correspondent News » States » Tamil Nadu
CHENNAI, August 5, 2010
 
AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa has alleged that suspension of IAS officer C. Umashankar smacked of victimisation by the DMK government.
In a statement here on Wednesday, Ms. Jayalalithaa questioned the powers of the State government to place an IAS officer under suspension on the pretext that he had entered the Civil Services using a bogus community certificate.
“All civil service appointments in the country are done by the Union Public Service Commission. It is the responsibility of the UPSC to vet the antecedents of every recruit and verify their certificates,” she said.
She said the DMK government’s claim that Mr. Umashankar, belonging to Dalit community, had entered the service using a forged community certificate had given room for speculation on the reasons behind this.
Ms. Jayalalithaa recalled the government’s decision to launch Arasu Cable Corporation and the appointment of Mr. Umashankar as its Managing Director, and said the real motive behind it was to pose a challenge to the Maran brothers’ Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV).
Scapegoat
Ms. Jayalalithaa said after an agreement was suddenly reached between the warring cousins of Mr. Karunanidhi’s family, the IAS officer was made the scapegoat and shunted out.
She alleged that though Mr. Umashankar was appointed as the MD of Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT), he was removed from the post because he questioned the disappearance of ETL Infrastructure Ltd., a subsidiary of ELCOT, along with Rs. 700 crore assets.
Explanation sought
Demanding an explanation from Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on what happened to ETL and the fate of the Rs. 400 crore invested in Arasu Cable Corporation, she wanted to know why was a Dalit officer in government service being victimised.
 
Keywords: C. Umashankar, AIADMK, DMK
 
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article551957.ece

‘Karunanidhi family and government harassing me’

‘Karunanidhi family and government harassing me’
T S SekaranExpress News ServiceFirst Published : 27 Jul 2010 03:42:33 AM ISTLast Updated : 27 Jul 2010 09:30:35 AM IST

CHENNAI: Suspended IAS officer C Umashankar has moved the National Commission for SC/ST in New Delhi, to protect him from the illegal harassment by the Tamil Nadu government, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s family and the powerful Maran brothers, who are closely related to the CM.
In his complaint against the State government, Umashankar, who was suspended last week while holding the post of Commssioner, Small Savings, alleged that he was subjected to frequent transfers as he was honest and sincere in his duties and worked bearing in mind the public interest.
 
 
He said the TN government was free to institute any disciplinary proceedings against him in accordance with the provisions of the All India Service Act, Public Servant Enquiries Act, the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure. But the government was not competent to conduct any enquiry against him on the allegation that he had produced a false community certificate. The CM was insisting on the police to register an FIR against him. “The State government, headed by the present CM, is intolerant and vindictive against me because I recommended penal action against the Maran brothers and made public the scam in ETL Infrastructure, where the hand of MK Alagiri, (CM’s son) and a central minister of the DMK is involved. Thus, the State power is being misused against me,’’ Umashankar contended in his complaint.
 
 
He also urged the Commission to ensure that enquiry, if any, regarding his caste certificate was conducted by the Central Vigilance Commission or the Central Bureau of Investigation or any other central agency not under the control of the TN government. Appropriate action might also be initiated to allow him to work under the central government or any of the agency of the central government not under the control of the TN government, the complaint said and also requested the Commission to ensure proper security to him and his family members through the central security force.
 
 
http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/suspended-ias-officer-in-tn-alleges-harassment/193176.html

Is Secretary of MCIT, Govt. of INDIA favouring C 1 for eProcurement in INDIA?

Govt. of INDIA promoting stolen IPR ? GoAP accepting stolen IPR of C1 for eProcurement ?

Add’l Secretary of eGovernance at MIT/DIT along with CEO of NISG are favouring C 1 for eProcurement in GoAP and other States in INDIA. Both of them are curbing competation in INDIA.

GoAP did not even follow the IT Act 2000 for TRANSPARENCY and ACCOUNTABILITY.

Please read the background information on C 1 Owner

C 1 India people’s background information.

EXPRESS UPDATE

remember this? the bmw case

Hit and Miss

Six years after five people died in a road accident, prime accused Sanjeev Nanda resurfaces on Delhi’s Page Three circuit. And the case drags on

KAVITA CHOWDHURY

NEW DELHI: ALMOST six years after a speeding BMW killed five people, including three police constables, and maimed one on a freezing January night at Lodhi Road in the capital, the identity of the driver of the vehicle continues to be a mystery. The name first mentioned in this connection was that of Sanjeev Nanda, former Naval chief Admiral S M Nanda’s grandson, who was allegedly travelling in the car with two of his friends; all of them were reportedly inebriated. But in court, eyewitnesses claimed that the killer vehicle was not a car at all, but a truck! ”There is no evidence whatsoever that Sanjeev was driving the vehicle,” says Ramesh Gupta, Nanda’s lawyer. ”The only evidence available are some broken bits of the BMW numberplate.” With the prosecution case’s weak, the Delhi High Court had no hesitation in granting bail to Nanda in October 1999 after keeping him in custody for 10 months. While on bail, Nanda filed an application to go abroad for higher studies. A personal bond of Rs 5 crore was set up in February 2002, and Nanda was on his way to the US for an MBA course. He has resurfaced recently in the capital circuit as the managing director of a leading city hotel. In legal circles, the BMW case is cited as a classic instance of ”witnesses turning hostile”. The sole survivor of the accident, one Manoj, startled the entire country by stating during the trial that it might have been a truck that ran them over, not a BMW. Star ”eye-witness” Sunil Kulkarni, also turned hostile within eight months of the accident. TO think that the chargesheet, when filed in 1999, looked pretty watertight. While Nanda and his friend Manik Kapoor were charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 of the IPC), and causing grievous injury, the third friend Siddhartha Gupta, his father Rajeev Gupta and domestic help Bhola and Shyam Singh were accused of tampering with evidence. (Siddhartha was later discharged.) The chargesheet said that after running over six people, Nanda stopped the car 50 metres away, stepped out and looked around for a while. Though the injured were crying out for help, he reportedly ignored them and drove away. Two persons were allegedly entangled in the rear portion of the car. ”Instead of helping them, he sped away in the vehicle, resulting in the death of the two persons at the spot,” the chargesheet said. Nanda then allegedly drove to 50, Golf Links, his friend Siddhartha’s house, and parked the car in the driveway. Siddhartha’s father Rajeev and the two domestics helped hide the evidence, the chargesheet said. Five years after the incident, the sessions court recorded Nanda’s statement. While defense lawyers deny any charge of a delayed trial, records show that in 2001, Nanda himself had sought closing of the evidence of the prosecution witnesses on the grounds of slow trial.

Deposing before the court of ASJ S L Bayana in January this year, Nanda denied any connection with the incident, but accepted that he had had beer on that night. The BMW, however, was not his, nor was he driving it, he said. Though the statement of the other accused is currently being recorded, in public opinion the BMW accident is yet another case that has run out of steam in convicting the accused.

CASE FILE

Flashback
• ON THE NIGHT of January 9, 1999, five people died and one was injured when a vehicle ran them over on Lodhi Road, New Delhi
• DURING TRIALl, key witnesses turned hostile; the killer vehicle became ”maybe a truck”
• THE COURT IS currently recording statements of the
accused

ARCHIVE

Sunday, November 07, 2004

http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=58436

______________________________

GoAP is MISLEADING the ENTIRE Country on eProcurement //

GoAP eProcurement Case Background

1. October 2000
Information Technology Act 2000 was passed. Use of 128 Bit SSL & Digital
Certificate made mandatory for ecommerce activities. As per IT ACT 2000 for
any electronic document to be legally valid, it should be digitally signed by
Digital Certificate issued by any Liscensed Certifyign Agency (CA) approve by
Controller of Certifying Agency (CCA).

2. September 2001
Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) Core implementation committee was
formed to implement eProcurement and PWC (Price water house coopers was 3. Feb 2002
CCA granted license to Safescrypt on 5th February, 2002, India’s first CA.
SAFESCRYPT Ltd, a Satyam Infoway company affiliated with VeriSign Inc,
issued the country’s first digital signature certificate to the Minister for
Communications and IT & Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Pramod Mahajan, at an\n
official ceremony here on Wednesday.
SafeScrypt is the first Indian company to get a certifying authority licence for
digital signature from the Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA). The
company received this licence earlier this week.

3. Feb 2002
CCA granted license to Safescrypt on 5th February, 2002, India’s first CA.
SAFESCRYPT Ltd, a Satyam Infoway company affiliated with VeriSign Inc,
issued the country’s first digital signature certificate to the Minister for
Communications and IT & Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Pramod Mahajan, at an
official ceremony here on Wednesday.
SafeScrypt is the first Indian company to get a certifying authority licence for
digital signature from the Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA). The
company received this licence earlier this week.

4. In Feb 2002,
Department of Public Relation, Madhya Pradesh floated a tender for eTendering,
eProcurement which categorically specified that IT ACT 2000 needs to be
complied and Digital Certificate/SSL/PKI should be used to ensure secrecy of
price bid. No MNC consultant appointed to draft tender document. 5 Companies
participate in the same including Applitech Tendercity.com I Pvt. Ltd (Tendercity),
NexTenders, ITI/Antares, CNet, etc.

5. May 2002
Sometime in May 2002, GoAP floated a Tender for eProcurement software more
specifically eTendering and Reverse Auction engine by Govt. of AP. No mention
of PKI/SSL/Digital Certificate – what was Rs. 35 Lakh paid to then to PWC?

6. Mid 2002
Out of many bidders who had submitted the tender a consortium comprising of
C1 India Pvt. Ltd., Microsoft & Antares System Ltd & Compaq had submitted the

bid. Other bidders included companies like Wipro and consortium of Boradvision
and TCS. Consortium head by C1 India Pvt. Ltd (C1) won the tender. GoAP
approves rate of Rs.4500/Tender (GoAP Pays) & 0.24% of the Tender Value
(winning bidder pays to C1 India Directly)7. In June 2002,
GoAP enters into a secret agreement with C1 India to do a pilot project and not
the consortium which had won the contract? WHY?

8. On 29 th Jan 2003,
www.eprocurement.gov.in launched without compliance to IT ACT 2000, Digital
Certificate, PKI. GoAP gives lame excuse that since Digital Certificates are not
available, hence the same was not integrated in spite of the fact that first Digital
Certificate was issued to Shri. Promod Mahajan as early as Feb 2002.
What started as a Pilot Project for nine months, gets extended for another 9
month unilaterally in spite of the fact that system did not comply to IT ACT
2000.

9. Jan 2003
C1 India gets a 128 bit SSL Certificate from Verisign for
www.eprocurement.gov.in domain? WHY?
1.) .gov.in domain belongs to only government organizations, how come the same was issued to a private company.
2.) 128 Bit SSL was procured from a US Company, whereas IT Act mandates that it should be procured only from liscensed CA. Why was the same not procured from TCS, Safescrypt.
3.) TCS, Safescrypt would have never issued a 128 Bit SSL certificate to C1 India Pvt. Ltd, as .gov.in domain belongs to only Govt. departments. A US company issued the same without any verification, because they were interested in dollars.

10. March 2003
PWD, Chhattisgarh floats a tender for eTendering with Department of Public
Relations, Madhya Pradesh specifications.
Tendercity, C1 India, Wipro, Antares/ITI, Nex Tener & other 3 companies
participated in the tender. Tender gets awarded to NexTender, a mumbai based
company in spite of Tendercity Being the lowest Bidder.

11. April 2003
C1 quotes to PWD, Chhattisgarh Rs. 1000/Tender as fix service charge
irrespective of Tender Value & No fee to be paid by PWD, Chhattisgarh?
Tendercity shares the same information with GoAP. GoAP calls for a steering
committee and yet no action is taken to revise fee being paid to C1 India i.e.
Rs. 4500/Tender (GoAP pays) & 0.24% of Tender Value (winning bidder pays)

12. July 2003
The first lawsuit under Indian cyber law, Antares Systems Ltd, the Bangalore-
based IT firm, has filed a case against an e-governance project in the Delhi High
Court for alleged infringement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) and unfair
competition. The case has been filed against C1 India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of
Nasdaq-listed CommerceOne. The Government of Andhra Pradesh and Principal
Secretary, Department of IT and Communications, AP have been arraigned as
parties.
Antares has urged the Delhi HC that C1 India and the AP Government be
restrained from infringing its copyright in its e-tendering software product
Tenderwizard and from relying upon, in any manner whatsoever, the features of
Tenderwizard, said the company’s Senior Vice-President, Mr R. Kamath.

13. July 2003
India’s First Digitally Signed eTender was enabled by Tendercity for  Poorva Kshetra Vidyut Vitran Company Ltd, Madhya Pradesh ElectrictiyBoard, MP (MPPKVVCL, MPSEB,MP). 10 Digital Certificates (TCS) were issued to contractors across India.

14. December, 2003
Northern Railway floats a Tender for eTendering. C1 India, Wipro/NexTender,
Antares, HCL, Tendercity Participated in the tender. Tender awarded to
HCL/Boradvision Consortium. Rate approved Less than Rs.1500/Tender. GoAP
takes no action and does not revise the service fee it pays to C1 India.

15. Feb 2004
Tendercity writes letter to IT Secretary, GoAP, and Principle Secretary GoAP and bring to their notice that PKI compliance is not there on eprocurement.gov.in and that the eTendering services available at a very competitive rates in open market. No Action taken by the GoAP Officers.

16. Mid 2004
On PWC recommendations, JV option was dropped (JV between eTendering
service provider and Government of AP) and eProcurement services was
continued to be used in ASP model
Why did PWD suggested not to go ahead with JV option? probably because in
case of JV Government of AP would have made a lot of money? Total fee
reimbursed by GoAP & Various Bidder to C1 India in last 3 years is in tune of
Crores of Rupees. If GoAP had procured the software, it would have costed
Rs. 0, because that what C1/PWC quoted to NIC, in December 2004 for
eTendering Software.

17. July 2004
GoAP steering committee meets in October, 2004. Price bid revised to as follows w.e.f. 1 st April 2004 as follows
– GoAP pays nothing – i.e. Rs. 4,500/Tender waived off
– For Tender<50 Cr – each participating bidder pays 0.04% of Tender value or\n18. December 2004
PWC Partners with C1 India for NIC tender for eTendering.
Having played a instrumental role in causing great exchequer loss of GoAP, by
recommending ASP Mode, C1 India reward PWC with partnership for NIC Tender. C1 ditched PWC (presumably) by quoting Rs.0 as software price to
NIC.

18. December 2004
PWC Partners with C1 India for NIC tender for eTendering.
Having played a instrumental role in causing great exchequer loss of GoAP, by
recommending ASP Mode, C1 India reward PWC with partnership for NIC
Tender. C1 ditched PWC (presumably) by quoting Rs.0 as software price to
NIC.

19. 1st April 2005
Digital certificates made mandatory from April 2005. Digital certificate are used
only of Authentication purpose at time of Login. Only price bids are digitally
signed and leaving room for service provider to tamper with technical bids,
document uploaded, etc.

20. Mid 2005
Tendercity alleges of eProcurement scam in one of the reply it filed in Delhi
High Court. The same document is shared with various AP departments, but no
action is taken.

21. 24 thNovember 2005,
Tendercity demonstrate to IT Secretary Shri Narsing Roa, the loopholes and
security defects in www.eprocuremnet.gov.in in person in his chamber. IT
Secretary assures that proper action will be taken against the culprits.
Tendercity gets an invitation from HUDA for demonstration of security loopholes
in the system but the same is postponed by CE after a brief 5 minute meeting.22. 3rdDecember, 2005\n
Tendercity demonstrates to Principle Secretary & MD APTS the security
loopholes in http://www.eprocuremnet.gov.in and ideal security features that should be
enabled. Principle Secretary IT&C promise to take the\n appropriate action.

22. 3rdDecember, 2005
Tendercity demonstrates to Principle Secretary & MD APTS the security
loopholes in www.eprocuremnet.gov.in and ideal security features that should be
enabled. Principle Secretary IT&C promise to take the appropriate action.

23. 5th December, 2005
GoAP accepts vide their email dated 5 th December, 2005 that
1.) www.eprocurement.gov.in is property of GoAP
2.) GoAP sees no harm if a 128 Bit SSL Certificate has be procured from USA
instead from a licensed CA as per CCA norms and that too by C1 India. In
layman terms it means a private company owns www.eprocurement.gov.in
3.) GoAP accepts that till December 2005, price bid submitted by 10,000 of
contractors 9800 eTender enabled so far reached the server in readable fashion
without any encryption, but that OK. It’s public money and it can go down the
drain.
4.) GoAP accepts that only C1 India can access the Price bid of contractors, as
they are the system administrator and super Admin of the website. Since no
government office has access to database, and generally they are corrupt the
system is secure. As per GoAP, private company which has been given the
custody of Rs.32,000 Cr. worth of eTender price bid security are trustworthy and
walking gods.
5.) GoAP states that C1 India does not access the readable price bid of all
contractors that is there in Database, and which can be accessed by C1 India

24. 10 th December, 2005
To cover things up, IT Secretary gives a clean chit to Service provider – C1 India
by means of issuing unsigned certificate making a claim that there is nothing wrong with the system.
_________________________________

____Please read this article. The E-governance Muddle http://www.dqindia.com/content/search/showarticle.asp?artid=74532 What was expected to bring transparency in government transactions has got mired in a slew of allegations. Dataquest probes the charges made by an IAS officer against his own clan… Shubhendu Parth Friday, September 02, 2005 If any of you need any more information, please write to me. Thanks Sincereley V. M. Kumaraswamy, MBA\n\n”,0] ); D([“ce”]); //–> Shubhendu Parth Friday, September 02, 2005

If any of you need any more information, please write to me.

Thanks

Sincereley

V. M. Kumaraswamy, MBA

MAY 5th, 2005 Letter to DIT / TDIL / RCILTS // NO ANSWER // Is this what egovernance Secretary and Joint Secretary doing in INDIA.

MAY 5th, 2005 Letter to DIT / TDIL / RCILTS // NO ANSWER //

 

 

Is this what egovernance Secretary and Joint Secretary doing in INDIA.

Joint Secretary of egovernance is worried about how he can promote NISG and his friends in NISG. He has not replied for any of the emails. It shows his negligence on what needs to be done in INDIA. IS HE FIT for the JOB ??

Subject: What is the status of FOURTEEN RCILTS-Resource Centre for Indian Language Technology Solutions FUNDED by TDIL ? Can we get update on this please !!

 

Date: 5/11/2005 9:15:34 PM Pacific Daylight Time

 

From: vmkumaraswamy@yahoo.com
Reply To:
To: secretary@mit.gov.in, jsegov@mit.gov.in, omvikas@mit.gov.in, sakumar@mit.gov.in, pchopra@mit.gov.in, slata@mit.gov.in, vkumar@mit.gov.in, mjain@mit.gov.in, schandra@mit.gov.in
CC: vmkumaraswamy@yahoo.com, novamed@aol.com, minister@mit.gov.in, mos@mit.gov.in
BCC:
Sent on:

Sent from the Internet (Details)

 

Hello TDIL TEAM at DIT

 

You all must know the progress made by these FOURTEEN RCILTS Centers. You all know that each one of the Centeres got funded to the tune of 1 to 2 Crores. Some might be even more.

 

Conceived in the millennium year, The Resource Centre for Indian Language Technology Solutions, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, is one of fourteen such Centres, spread all over the country, set up to provide information in various Indian Languages in Electronic form and make them available in native languages aiding the dissemination of information to the larger masses.

 

Funded by The Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India, this Centre concentrates on hosting information in Assamese and Manipuri, the official languages of the North-East Indian states of Assam and Manipur.

 

List of Resources Centres

Resource Centre
Languages Associated With
Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
Hindi, Nepali
Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai
Marathi, Konkani
Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati
Assamese, Manipuri
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Kannada, Sanskrit (Cognitive Models)
Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta
Bengali
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Foreign Languages (Japanese, Chinese) & Sanskrit (Language Learning Systems)
University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad
Telugu
Anna University, Chennai
Tamil
MS University, Baroda
Gujarati
Utkal University, Orissa
Oriya
Thapar Institute of Engg. & Tech., Patiala
Punjabi
ER & DCI, Trivandrum
Malayalam
CDAC, Pune
Urdu, Sindhi, Kashmiri
_______________________________________

We would like to find out what are the positive things that are developed by these FOURTEEN centers in different languages that are being used by people of INDIA.

Did these centeres solve the problems of Localisation of Languages in INDIA ? What was the General Direction given to these centeres when money was FUNDED to these centeres ?

Does the DIT has any signed documents o these FOURTEEN Centeres ? If YES, Can we have a copy of that please.

I hope I get reply for my questions about RCILTS.

Thanks
Sincerely

V. M. Kumaraswamy

September 24th, 2005 Letter to DIT / TDIL / RCILTS // NO ANSWER // Is this what egovernance Secretary and Joint Secretary doing in INDIA.

September 24th, 2005 Letter to DIT / TDIL / RCILTS // NO ANSWER //

Is this what egovernance Secretary and Joint Secretary doing in INDIA.

Subject: What are these RCILTS are doing now ? Can we get some information from each center please / ALSO fro TDIL TEAM/ We had written a letter to TDIL TEAM on May 11th, 2005 //
Date: 9/24/2005 5:53:18 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time
From: vmkumaraswamy@yahoo.com
To: gb@iitg.ernet.in, bbc@isical.ac.in, sityash@satyam.net.in, rciltg@satyam.net.in, gslehal@mailcity.com, rmk@iitk.ac.in, njrao@mgmt.iisc.ernet.in, chairman@mgmt.iisc.ernet.in, ravi@erdcitvm.org, pb@cse.iitb.ernet.in, sangham1@rediffmail.com, gvs@jnuiv.ernet.in, gvs10@hotmail.com, rp@annauniv.edu, knmcs@uohyd.ernet.in, mdk@cdac.ernet.in
CC: minister@mit.gov.in, mos@mit.gov.in, secretary@mit.gov.in, jsegov@mit.gov.in, omvikas@mit.gov.in, sakumar@mit.gov.in, pchopra@mit.gov.in, slata@mit.gov.in, vkumar@mit.gov.in, mjain@mit.gov.in, schandra@mit.gov.in, vmkumaraswamy@yahoo.com, novamed@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)

RCILTS means Resource Centre for Indian Language Technology Solutions

 

TDIL has 11 or 12 RCILTS for different Languages

 

What is the status of FOURTEEN RCILTS-Resource Centre for Indian Language Technology Solutions FUNDED by TDIL ? Can we get update on this please !!

 

We have not received any reply from TDIL TEAM at GOI

 

We have not received any reply from TDIL TEAM for our email dated May 11th, 2005.

Assamese :

 

Prof. Gautam Barua
Department of computer Science and engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT ) , Guwahati – 781 001(Assam)
Tel – 0361-2690325 Extn. 2029, 2690321 – 28 (O), 2634121 (R)
E-mail – gb@iitg.ernet.in
Website-www.iitg.ernet.in/rcilts

 

Bangla :

 

Prof. B.B. Chaudhary,(CI)
Head, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Unit,
Indian Statistical Institute ( ISI ), Kolkata.
Tel-033-25778085, 25777694, 25775502, 25571927(R)
Fax-25776680, 25773035
E-mail- bbc@isical.ac.in

 

Gujarati :

 

Prof. Sitansu Y. Mehta,
Department of Gujarati, Faculty of arts,
M.S. Univerdity of Baroda, Baroda-390002
Tel- 0265-2792959
E-mail- sityash@satyam.net.in/rciltg@satyam.net.in

 

Gurumukhi :

 

Prof. G.S. Lehal
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
Thapar Instiute of Engineering Technology
Deemed University, Patiala-147 001
Tel-0175-2393007
E-mail-gslehal@mailcity.com

 

Hindi :

 

Prof. R.M.K. Sinha
Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT ), Kanpur-208 016
Tel-2598570(R), 2597170(O)
Email-rmk@iitk.ac.in
website- www.iitk.ac.in

 

Kannada :

 

Prof. N.J. Rao
Centre for Electronics Design and Technology(CEDT)
Indian Institute of Science ( IISc ), Bangalore-560 012
Tel-080-23092377(O), 23092378, 23092567
E-mail- njrao@mgmt.iisc.ernet.in /

 

chairman@mgmt.iisc.ernet.in

 

Malayalam:

 

Shri.Ravindra Kumar
ER&DCI,Vellayambalam
Thiruvanantpuram 695033
Ph.0471-723333 Fax0471-331654
E-mail:ravi@erdcitvm.org
website-www.blonnet.com/2002/04/06/03hdline.htm

 

Marathi :

 

Prof. Pushpak Bhattachrya (CI)
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT ), Powai, Mumbai-400 076
Tel-022-25767718 (O), 25768718 / 25721955 (R)
Fax-022-25720290 / 25723480
E-mai- pb@cse.iitb.ernet.in

 

Oriya :

 

Prof. (Ms) Sanghamitra Mohanty
Department of Computer Science & Appplication
Vanivihar, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar- 751004
Tel- 0674-2580216 (O), 2540868 (R)
Fax-0674-2581850
E-mail- sangham1@rediffmail.com
Website: www.rcilts-utkal.org

 

Sanskrit :

 

Prof. G.V. Singh
School of Computer and Systems sciences
Jawaharlal Nehru University ( JNU ), New Mehruli road, New Delhi-110 067
Tel-011-26101895 (R) / 26107676
E-mail – gvs@jnuiv.ernet.in /

 

gvs10@hotmail.com

 

Tamil :

 

Dr. T.V. Geetha
Co-Ordinator ( RC-ILTS-Tamil )
Sxchool of Computer Science & Engineering
Anna University, Chennai-600 025
Tel – 044 – 22351723
Fax – 044 – 22350397
E-mail – rp@annauniv.edu
website- www.ns.annauniv.ac.in

 

Telugu :

 

Prof. K. Narayana Murthy
Department of Computer & Information Science
University of Hyderabad, P.O. Central University
Hyderabad – 500 046
Tel – 040-23010500 Extn. 4056(D),
23010064(O) , 23010374(R)
Fax – 040-23010120, 23010145
E-mail – knmcs@uohyd.ernet.in

 

Urdu :

 

Shri M.D.Kulkarni
Center for Development of Advanced Computing ( CDAC)
Pune University, Ganesh Khind Road. Pune-411 007
Maharashtra
Tel – 020-25652461 / 79 / 83 / 84
Fax – 91-20-25657551
E-mail – mdk@cdac.ernet.in,

________________________________________________________________
NO RESPONSE from any one yet !!!
________________________________________________________________

TDILDr. Om Vikas Sr. Director, DIT Ministry of Communications & IT Electronics Niketan 6, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road New Delhi � 110 003 Tel.: +91-11-24363076 email: omvikas@mit.gov.in

CDAC Noida Sh. V N Shukla Director (Sp. App.) Centre for Development of Advanced Computing Anusandhan Bhawan, C-56/1 Institutional Area,Sec- 62 Noida 201 307 U.PTel. +91-120-2402551/2/3/4/5 email: vnshukla@cdacnoida.in

____________________________________________________________

TDIL Team at DIT

 

Patron: Sh. Brijesh Kumar	secretary@mit.gov.in
Adviser: Sh. R. Chandrashekhar	jsegov@mit.gov.in
Om Vikas	omvikas@mit.gov.in
S.A.Kumar	sakumar@mit.gov.in
Pardeep Chopra	pchopra@mit.gov.in
Swaran Lata	slata@mit.gov.in
V.K.Sharma	vkumar@mit.gov.in
Manoj Jain	mjain@mit.gov.in
S.Chandra	schandra@mit.gov.in

TDIL-MCIT,GoI  

 

 

Technology Development for Indian Languages, Government of India

http://tdil.mit.gov.in/news.htm

 

Omvikas@mit.gov.in

http://tdil.mit.gov.in/apr_2005.htm

 

Transiting from catch-up to competitive phase ICT
is the enabling technology for productivity
enhancement and socioeconomic development.
There is sprawling digital divide between nations
basically due to non-affordability of IT appliances
and non-availability of requisite computing facility fonts and software tools in local languages.
Conscious efforts are being made through UNESCO
in this direction. Certain nations have also initiated
their own programmes to develop information
processing tools and applications in their languages.
India has taken a major initiative towards ensuring
ICT in local languages for rapid socio-economic
development and participation of people at large.
With this backdrop, the national mission on
Technology Development for Indian Languages promoted development of basic information
processing tools and linguistic resources for Indian
languages through academic and government
supported R&D institutions spread over the country.
There are 22 officially recognized languages and 11
scripts in vogue in India. One script may be used for
more than one language. Hence, India is a unique
country with multilingual, multi-script environment.
Although with her talented manpower, India has
emerged as pioneer in Information Technology, with
the ability, to handle turnkey projects from abroad at
lower cost, higher accuracy and at faster pace.
However, purchasing power as compared to
developed nations such as USA is 1/15. In India
illiteracy persist at about 34.6% and literacy in
English is less than 5%. This necessitates support
for R&D in the focused areas to develop basic
information processing technologies and
consolidating and packaging them in user friendly
form and releasing them to the masses for free-use.
This will greatly promote people participation in
the process of using this technology and developing
innovative products and services.

 

Besides, the activities towards preparing for knowledge based
society would be through the projects such as cross
lingual information access, multilingual search,
voice-enabled query system, etc. Report on the
release of fonts and basic information processing
tools for Tamil and Hindi entails list of various tools
and linguistic resources being available for free use.
Similar releases will follow for other languages.
ELITEX-2005 showcased the multilingual products
and services under the theme Grass root
applications using ICT.

There is lot more in the open domain which needs to
be searched and integrated appropriately into user-friendly
tools/ products for free use in the multilingual environment.
UNESCO downloads covers the free downloadable software
on UNESCO website under different categories such as
Operating System, Digital Library, Development Tools,
Productivity Tools, Science, etc. Identification of such tools
and integrating them into user friendly products and services
for mass use in developing countries is desirable. Prof. R.K. Joshi,
highlights the issues about Font Designing and Font Technology
in the context of complex Indian scripts in great detail in the article
Indian Language: Font Designing and Font Technology. The
article on Smart Fonts discusses various issues related
to smart font such as what is Smart Fonts, what are different
smart font formats, what is Graphite, why was Graphite developed,
how is Graphite different from OpenType and other complex
script technologies? LaTex tool is a powerful macro-based
text formatter written by Donald Knuth, and is popular in the
scientific community. LaTeX is the de facto standard for the
communication and publication of scientific documents. This
is in open domain and can be used for multilingual publication.
The article on Digital Library of India describes various
activities like digitization of books, manuscripts, magazines,
journals, etc., and development of Digital Library tools like
Cross-lingual Information Access, Multilingual Crawler, Multimodal
Interface for physically challenged, Automatic search Indexing
tools, Multimodal authoring tools, Text summarization, Folk
songs search and retrieval techniques undertaken at different
centres like CDAC Kolkata, IGNCA Delhi, IIIT Hyderabad,
IIIT Allahabad is covered. Greenstone: a suite of software for
building and distributing fully-searchable, metadata-driven digital
library, digital library collections, and features of ABBYY FineReader 7.0
Professional Edition, optical character recognition (OCR) system,
with high-recognition accuracy and format retention facility are
also described. These basic technologies will enhance IT applications
in local languages and facilitate the country transit from catch-up
phase into competitive phase.

 

 

 

I request Members of eGovINDIA Group and INDIA RTI to take interest in this start writing email letters and phone calls to DIT, RCILTS in respective States, TDIL and others.

Also I request members to file for information using Right to Information Act 2005. We have provided some information for you to file the RTI Application. Any member can use this information and letters written by me to DIT, RCILTS and TDIL to file RTI Application.

I will authorize them to use these email letters and information for the benefit of our NATION. LOCALIZATION of LANGUAGES is an important issue for all of us.

If any of you need additional information on this, PLEASE write to me.

Thanks
Sincerely

V. M. Kumaraswamy, MBA
eGovINDIA and INDIA RTI, Founder and Moderator

________________________________________________________________________

 

If you need any more information from me, I will be able to provide that for you.

 

Thanks

Sincerely

signed

V. M. Kumaraswamy, MBA

FOUNDER and MODERATOR

eGovINDIA, INDIA RTI, ellaKAVI,

eGovNORTHEAST, eGovASSAM

 

India’s largest e-governance yahoo-group under the title eGovINDIA. You can reach this group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eGovINDIA India WhistleBlower Act: The Action Group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/INDIA_WBA

INDIA RTI is a Right to Information in INDIA discussion group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/INDIARTI

Exclusive Discussion Group on Judicial and Legal Reforms in INDIA. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JUDICIALREFORMS

VISTA =Viruses, Infections, Spyware, Trojans, Adware – VISTA is from MS – This is what DIT promoting for eGovernance in INDIA.

We all know that Some States are sigining agreements with MS. VISTA belongs to MS

NISG has signed an MOU with MS.

Even Hon’ble Minister Dayanidhi Maran promoting VISTA of MS in INDIA.

Even Mr. R. Chandrashekar, Addl’ Secretary of eGovernance is approving VISTA of MS.

Even DIT and MIT is allowing MS to write CURRICULUM of INDIAN SCHOOLS through MS by siging PROJECT SHIKSHA MOU.

DIT formed TDIL – I did not get requested information from DIT and TDIL on all RCILTS Locations / 30 days are over / All information needs to be provide at FREE of COST by all RCILTS Locations. // LOCALIZATION of INDIAN LANGUAGES FUNDS SCAM and CORRUPTION by DIT/TDIL by forming RCILTS ? // DIT, TDIL, CDAC and RCILTS are not responding to letters // Right to Information Act 2005 applies to all of these RCILTS Centers and to DIT / TDIL

From: “Venkat Kumaraswamy” <vmkumaraswamy@yahoo.com>

Subject: DIT formed TDIL – I did not get requested information from DIT and TDIL on all RCILTS Locations / 30 days are over / All information needs to be provide at FREE of COST by all RCILTS Locations. // LOCALIZATION of INDIAN LANGUAGES FUNDS SCAM and CORRUPTION by DIT/TDIL by forming RCILTS ? // DIT, TDIL, CDAC and RCILTS are not responding to letters // Right to Information Act 2005 applies to all of these RCILTS Centers and to DIT / TDIL .
To: pio.dit_hq@mit.gov.in
CC: vmkumaraswamy@yahoo.com, “V M Kumar” <novamed@aol.com>, “India RTI” <indiarti@yahoogroups.com>, “eGovINDIA Group” <egovindia@yahoogroups.com>

E KAVI, e Gov India, India RTI, Judicial Reforms &

India Whistle Blower’s Action Group

Facilitating Emergence of New India:

Based on Values of Transparency & Accountability, E Governance, Natural Justice, Human Rights and Human Dignity

 

======================================

March 24th, 2006

Shri B.B.Bahl,
Joint Director and PIO (RTI)
Office of PIO (RTI)
Room No 1016
Electronics Niketan
Department of Information Technology (DIT)
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
6, CGO Complex, New Delhi

Tel: 011-24301116
Fax: 011-24363099
Email: pio.dit_hq@mit.gov.in

Dear Shri B.B.Bahl,

Sorry to write this long email. This is important for our NATION. Localization of all Languages are important factor in INDIA.

E-mail is an efficient and timely communication tool used to carry out departmental activities and to conduct business within the Government of India, with business partners and with citizens. E-mail has become an important component of any office automation system. It expedites exchange of information, speeds up the decision making process and reduces paperwork, resulting in increased productivity, reduced costs and better delivery of services and programmes.

 

http://darpg.nic.in/Content/Guidelines-emailDec04.doc

The RTI legislative intent is clear; People are entitled to know how their money is spent. The onus is on all of us to make the Act work. In effect, therefore, the right conferred on the citizen is an exhaustive one. It allows them to assess and examine every government decision, to study the reasons recorded by the government for taking a particular step, and to utilise information so gathered to ensure that government acts in a transparent and just manner.

Indeed, the preamble to the RTI Act puts it well when it says, “democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information” and adds these “are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed”.

Localization of Languages which is a MUST for EFFECTIVE Implementation of eGovernance, RTI Act and all other Acts of INDIA.

There are 18 to 20 official language.

Only 5 % in INDIA speak English. Only 30 to 40 % in INDIA knows Hindi.

85 % to 90 % of people speak there own STATE LANGAUGE. We need to CATER to these people. This should happen in INDIA. GOI needs to think about this for it’s future. Real RTI Activists who are in the field knows about this problems.

Right to Info Act hits language barrier

http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=9593

Minister Dayanidhi Maran Says Only FIVE percent speak ENGLISH in INDIA. SO 95% of population needs to know RTI rules and regulations in different Languages of INDIA.

Please go through my long email written to DIT, TDIL, RCILTS and others to get information since 2004. NO RESPONSE from any one, expect one from ASSAM RCILTS. That too it is NASTY EMAIL from IIITB, Guwathi, Assam. I will send that copy also to you. No one has provide me any information. I have all the emails written to RCILTS and TDIL and DIT requesting information as per RTI Act 2005.

Who is the PIO who can provide the information for all these RCILTS. It is already passed 30 days to provide me the information as per RTI ACT 2005. All information should be provided at FREE of COST to me and to all members of the eGovINDIA, INDIA RTI, eGov Assam, eGovNORTHEAST, ellaKAVI and other groups. All our group members wants to know about the LOCALIZATION of INDIAN LANGUAGES. DIT has formed this TDIL. TDIL had formed RCILTS and funded for 14 RCILTS Centers. Each one being ONE or Two Crores ( I might be wrong here. Please correct me on this.).

Technology Development for Indian Languages “TDIL”

http://tdil.mit.gov.in/homepage.asp

TDIL

The Department of Information Technology initiated the TDIL (Technology Development for Indian Languages) with the objective of developing Information Processing Tools and Techniques to facilitate human-machine interaction without language barrier; creating and accessing multilingual knowledge resources; and integrating them to develop innovative user products and services.

TDIL Thrust Areas

Translation Support System
Human Machine Interface System
Knowledge Tools
Knowledge Resources
Localisation
Language Technology Human Resource Development
Standardization
(ISCII, Unicode, INSFOC, INSROT)

COPY of my email letter to DIT, TDIL and RCILTS.

—————–
Forwarded Message:

 

Subj: LOCALIZATION of INDIAN LANGUAGES FUNDS SCAM and CORRUPTION by DIT/TDIL by forming RCILTS ? // DIT, TDIL, CDAC and RCILTS are not responding to letters // Righet to Information Act 2005 applies to all of these RCILTS Centers and to DIT / TDIL .

 

E KAVI, e Gov India, India RTI, Judicial Reforms &

India Whistle Blower’s Action Group

Facilitating Emergence of New India:

Based on Values of Transparency & Accountability, E Governance, Natural Justice, Human Rights and Human Dignity

 

======================================

LOCALIZATION of LANGUAGES is an IMPORTANT ISSUE for all of us in INDIA.

DIT, RCILTS and TDIL have neglected this area !!
YOU ALL CAN SEE THIS from these letters.

Members of the eGovINDIA and INDIA RTI needs to act on this issue and expose the CORRUPTION and SCAM in this area.

MAY 5th, 2005 Letter to DIT / TDIL / RCILTS // NO ANSWER //

Is this what egovernance Secretary and Joint Secretary doing in INDIA.

Joint Secretary of egovernance is worried about how he can promote NISG and his friends in NISG. He has not replied for any of the emails. It shows his negligence on what needs to be done in INDIA. IS HE FIT for the JOB ??

Subject: What is the status of FOURTEEN RCILTS-Resource Centre for Indian Language Technology Solutions FUNDED by TDIL ? Can we get update on this please !!
Date: 5/11/2005 9:15:34 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: vmkumaraswamy@yahoo.com
Reply To:
To: secretary@mit.gov.in, jsegov@mit.gov.in, omvikas@mit.gov.in, sakumar@mit.gov.in, pchopra@mit.gov.in, slata@mit.gov.in, vkumar@mit.gov.in, mjain@mit.gov.in, schandra@mit.gov.in
CC: vmkumaraswamy@yahoo.com, novamed@aol.com, minister@mit.gov.in, mos@mit.gov.in
BCC:
Sent on:

Sent from the Internet (Details)

 

Hello TDIL TEAM at DIT

 

You all must know the progress made by these FOURTEEN RCILTS Centers. You all know that each one of the Centeres got funded to the tune of 1 to 2 Crores. Some might be even more.

 

Conceived in the millennium year, The Resource Centre for Indian Language Technology Solutions, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, is one of fourteen such Centres, spread all over the country, set up to provide information in various Indian Languages in Electronic form and make them available in native languages aiding the dissemination of information to the larger masses.

 

Funded by The Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India, this Centre concentrates on hosting information in Assamese and Manipuri, the official languages of the North-East Indian states of Assam and Manipur.

 

List of Resources Centres

Resource Centre
Languages Associated With
Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
Hindi, Nepali
Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai
Marathi, Konkani
Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati
Assamese, Manipuri
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Kannada, Sanskrit (Cognitive Models)
Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta
Bengali
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Foreign Languages (Japanese, Chinese) & Sanskrit (Language Learning Systems)
University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad
Telugu
Anna University, Chennai
Tamil
MS University, Baroda
Gujarati
Utkal University, Orissa
Oriya
Thapar Institute of Engg. & Tech., Patiala
Punjabi
ER & DCI, Trivandrum
Malayalam
CDAC, Pune
Urdu, Sindhi, Kashmiri
_______________________________________

We would like to find out what are the positive things that are developed by these FOURTEEN centers in different languages that are being used by people of INDIA.

Did these centeres solve the problems of Localisation of Languages in INDIA ? What was the General Direction given to these centeres when money was FUNDED to these centeres ?

Does the DIT has any signed documents o these FOURTEEN Centeres ? If YES, Can we have a copy of that please.

I hope I get reply for my questions about RCILTS.

Thanks
Sincerely

V. M. Kumaraswamy
___________________________

September 24th, 2005 Letter to DIT / TDIL / RCILTS // NO ANSWER //

Is this what egovernance Secretary and Joint Secretary doing in INDIA.

Subject: What are these RCILTS are doing now ? Can we get some information from each center please / ALSO fro TDIL TEAM/ We had written a letter to TDIL TEAM on May 11th, 2005 //
Date: 9/24/2005 5:53:18 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time
From: vmkumaraswamy@yahoo.com
To: gb@iitg.ernet.in, bbc@isical.ac.in, sityash@satyam.net.in, rciltg@satyam.net.in, gslehal@mailcity.com, rmk@iitk.ac.in, njrao@mgmt.iisc.ernet.in, chairman@mgmt.iisc.ernet.in, ravi@erdcitvm.org, pb@cse.iitb.ernet.in, sangham1@rediffmail.com, gvs@jnuiv.ernet.in, gvs10@hotmail.com, rp@annauniv.edu, knmcs@uohyd.ernet.in, mdk@cdac.ernet.in
CC: minister@mit.gov.in, mos@mit.gov.in, secretary@mit.gov.in, jsegov@mit.gov.in, omvikas@mit.gov.in, sakumar@mit.gov.in, pchopra@mit.gov.in, slata@mit.gov.in, vkumar@mit.gov.in, mjain@mit.gov.in, schandra@mit.gov.in, vmkumaraswamy@yahoo.com, novamed@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)

RCILTS means Resource Centre for Indian Language Technology Solutions

 

TDIL has 11 or 12 RCILTS for different Languages

 

What is the status of FOURTEEN RCILTS-Resource Centre for Indian Language Technology Solutions FUNDED by TDIL ? Can we get update on this please !!

 

We have not received any reply from TDIL TEAM at GOI

 

We have not received any reply from TDIL TEAM for our email dated May 11th, 2005.

Assamese :

 

Prof. Gautam Barua
Department of computer Science and engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT ) , Guwahati – 781 001(Assam)
Tel – 0361-2690325 Extn. 2029, 2690321 – 28 (O), 2634121 (R)
E-mail – gb@iitg.ernet.in
Website-www.iitg.ernet.in/rcilts

 

Bangla :

 

Prof. B.B. Chaudhary,(CI)
Head, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Unit,
Indian Statistical Institute ( ISI ), Kolkata.
Tel-033-25778085, 25777694, 25775502, 25571927(R)
Fax-25776680, 25773035
E-mail- bbc@isical.ac.in

 

Gujarati :

 

Prof. Sitansu Y. Mehta,
Department of Gujarati, Faculty of arts,
M.S. Univerdity of Baroda, Baroda-390002
Tel- 0265-2792959
E-mail- sityash@satyam.net.in/rciltg@satyam.net.in

 

Gurumukhi :

 

Prof. G.S. Lehal
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
Thapar Instiute of Engineering Technology
Deemed University, Patiala-147 001
Tel-0175-2393007
E-mail-gslehal@mailcity.com

 

Hindi :

 

Prof. R.M.K. Sinha
Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT ), Kanpur-208 016
Tel-2598570(R), 2597170(O)
Email-rmk@iitk.ac.in
website- www.iitk.ac.in

 

Kannada :

 

Prof. N.J. Rao
Centre for Electronics Design and Technology(CEDT)
Indian Institute of Science ( IISc ), Bangalore-560 012
Tel-080-23092377(O), 23092378, 23092567
E-mail- njrao@mgmt.iisc.ernet.in /

 

chairman@mgmt.iisc.ernet.in

 

Malayalam:

 

Shri.Ravindra Kumar
ER&DCI,Vellayambalam
Thiruvanantpuram 695033
Ph.0471-723333 Fax0471-331654
E-mail:ravi@erdcitvm.org
website-www.blonnet.com/2002/04/06/03hdline.htm

 

Marathi :

 

Prof. Pushpak Bhattachrya (CI)
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT ), Powai, Mumbai-400 076
Tel-022-25767718 (O), 25768718 / 25721955 (R)
Fax-022-25720290 / 25723480
E-mai- pb@cse.iitb.ernet.in

 

Oriya :

 

Prof. (Ms) Sanghamitra Mohanty
Department of Computer Science & Appplication
Vanivihar, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar- 751004
Tel- 0674-2580216 (O), 2540868 (R)
Fax-0674-2581850
E-mail- sangham1@rediffmail.com
Website: www.rcilts-utkal.org

 

Sanskrit :

 

Prof. G.V. Singh
School of Computer and Systems sciences
Jawaharlal Nehru University ( JNU ), New Mehruli road, New Delhi-110 067
Tel-011-26101895 (R) / 26107676
E-mail – gvs@jnuiv.ernet.in /

 

gvs10@hotmail.com

 

Tamil :

 

Dr. T.V. Geetha
Co-Ordinator ( RC-ILTS-Tamil )
Sxchool of Computer Science & Engineering
Anna University, Chennai-600 025
Tel – 044 – 22351723
Fax – 044 – 22350397
E-mail – rp@annauniv.edu
website- www.ns.annauniv.ac.in

 

Telugu :

 

Prof. K. Narayana Murthy
Department of Computer & Information Science
University of Hyderabad, P.O. Central University
Hyderabad – 500 046
Tel – 040-23010500 Extn. 4056(D),
23010064(O) , 23010374(R)
Fax – 040-23010120, 23010145
E-mail – knmcs@uohyd.ernet.in

 

Urdu :

 

Shri M.D.Kulkarni
Center for Development of Advanced Computing ( CDAC)
Pune University, Ganesh Khind Road. Pune-411 007
Maharashtra
Tel – 020-25652461 / 79 / 83 / 84
Fax – 91-20-25657551
E-mail – mdk@cdac.ernet.in,

________________________________________________________________
NO RESPONSE from any one yet !!!
________________________________________________________________

TDILDr. Om Vikas Sr. Director, DIT Ministry of Communications & IT Electronics Niketan 6, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road New Delhi � 110 003 Tel.: +91-11-24363076 email: omvikas@mit.gov.in

CDAC Noida Sh. V N Shukla Director (Sp. App.) Centre for Development of Advanced Computing Anusandhan Bhawan, C-56/1 Institutional Area,Sec- 62 Noida 201 307 U.PTel. +91-120-2402551/2/3/4/5 email: vnshukla@cdacnoida.in

____________________________________________________________

TDIL Team at DIT

 

Patron: Sh. Brijesh Kumar	secretary@mit.gov.in
Adviser: Sh. R. Chandrashekhar	jsegov@mit.gov.in
Om Vikas	omvikas@mit.gov.in
S.A.Kumar	sakumar@mit.gov.in
Pardeep Chopra	pchopra@mit.gov.in
Swaran Lata	slata@mit.gov.in
V.K.Sharma	vkumar@mit.gov.in
Manoj Jain	mjain@mit.gov.in
S.Chandra	schandra@mit.gov.in

—————————————————————————————————

TDIL-MCIT,GoI � Technology Development for Indian Languages, Government of India

http://tdil.mit.gov.in/news.htm

 

Omvikas@mit.gov.in

http://tdil.mit.gov.in/apr_2005.htm

 

Transiting from catch-up to competitive phase ICT
is the enabling technology for productivity
enhancement and socioeconomic development.
There is sprawling digital divide between nations
basically due to non-affordability of IT appliances
and non-availability of requisite computing facility �
fonts and software tools � in local languages.
Conscious efforts are being made through UNESCO
in this direction. Certain nations have also initiated
their own programmes to develop information
processing tools and applications in their languages.
India has taken a major initiative towards ensuring
ICT in local languages for rapid socio-economic
development and participation of people at large.
With this backdrop, the national mission on
�Technology Development for Indian Languages�
promoted development of basic information
processing tools and linguistic resources for Indian
languages through academic and government
supported R&D institutions spread over the country.
There are 22 officially recognized languages and 11
scripts in vogue in India. One script may be used for
more than one language. Hence, India is a unique
country with multilingual, multi-script environment.
Although with her talented manpower, India has
emerged as pioneer in Information Technology, with
the ability, to handle turnkey projects from abroad at
lower cost, higher accuracy and at faster pace.
However, purchasing power as compared to
developed nations such as USA is 1/15. In India
illiteracy persist at about 34.6% and literacy in
English is less than 5%. This necessitates support
for R&D in the focused areas to develop basic
information processing technologies and
consolidating and packaging them in user friendly
form and releasing them to the masses for free-use.
This will greatly promote people�s participation in
the process of using this technology and developing
innovative products and services.

 

Besides, the activities towards preparing for knowledge based
society would be through the projects such as cross
lingual information access, multilingual search,
voice-enabled query system, etc. Report on the
release of fonts and basic information processing
tools for Tamil and Hindi entails list of various tools
and linguistic resources being available for free use.
Similar releases will follow for other languages.
ELITEX-2005 showcased the multilingual products
and services under the theme �Grass root
applications using ICT�.

There is lot more in the open domain which needs to
be searched and integrated appropriately into user-friendly
tools/ products for free use in the multilingual environment.
UNESCO downloads covers the free downloadable software
on UNESCO website under different categories such as
Operating System, Digital Library, Development Tools,
Productivity Tools, Science, etc. Identification of such tools
and integrating them into user friendly products and services
for mass use in developing countries is desirable. Prof. R.K. Joshi,
highlights the issues about Font Designing and Font Technology
in the context of complex Indian scripts in great detail in the article
�Indian Language: Font Designing and Font Technology�. The
article on �Smart Fonts� discusses various issues related
to smart font such as what is Smart Fonts, what are different
smart font formats, what is Graphite, why was Graphite developed,
how is Graphite different from OpenType and other complex
script technologies? �LaTex� tool is a powerful macro-based
text formatter written by Donald Knuth, and is popular in the
scientific community. LaTeX is the de facto standard for the
communication and publication of scientific documents. This
is in open domain and can be used for multilingual publication.
The article on �Digital Library of India� describes various
activities like digitization of books, manuscripts, magazines,
journals, etc., and development of Digital Library tools like
Cross-lingual Information Access, Multilingual Crawler, Multimodal
Interface for physically challenged, Automatic search Indexing
tools, Multimodal authoring tools, Text summarization, Folk
songs search and retrieval techniques undertaken at different
centres like CDAC Kolkata, IGNCA Delhi, IIIT Hyderabad,
IIIT Allahabad is covered. Greenstone: a suite of software for
building and distributing fully-searchable, metadata-driven digital
library, digital library collections, and features of ABBYY FineReader 7.0
Professional Edition, optical character recognition (OCR) system,
with high-recognition accuracy and format retention facility are
also described. These basic technologies will enhance IT applications
in local languages and facilitate the country transit from catch-up
phase into competitive phase.

————————————————————–

I request Members of eGovINDIA Group and INDIA RTI to take interest in this start writing email letters and phone calls to DIT, RCILTS in respective States, TDIL and others.

Also I request members to file for information using Right to Information Act 2005. We have provided some information for you to file the RTI Application. Any member can use this information and letters written by me to DIT, RCILTS and TDIL to file RTI Application.

I will authorize them to use these email letters and information for the benefit of our NATION. LOCALIZATION of LANGUAGES is an important issue for all of us.

If any of you need additional information on this, PLEASE write to me.

Thanks
Sincerely

V. M. Kumaraswamy, MBA
eGovINDIA and INDIA RTI, Founder and Moderator

________________________________________________________________________

 

If you need any more information from me, I will be able to provide that for you.

 

Thanks

Sincerely

signed

V. M. Kumaraswamy, MBA

FOUNDER and MODERATOR

eGovINDIA, INDIA RTI, ellaKAVI,

eGovNORTHEAST, eGovASSAM

 

India’s largest e-governance yahoo-group under the title eGovINDIA. You can reach this group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eGovINDIA India WhistleBlower Act: The Action Group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/INDIA_WBA

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How can DIT/MIT depend on Dr. MSS on eGovernance and planned 100000 CSC’s under NeGP? :: e.Petition Farmers Smarter Than Quack PhD M.S. Swaminathan

e.Petition To

The President of India

July 13, 2006

 

Petitioner:

Ravinder Singh, WIPO Awarded Inventor and Engineer, New Delhi-110016

 

Respondents:

The Cabinet Secretary, Patel Bhawan, New Delhi-110001,

The Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Krishi Bhawan, 110001.

 

Subject;

Illiterate Farmers Wiser Than Quack PhD M.S. Swaminathan,

National Disgrace for 50 Years

 

Summary;

My late illiterate Grand Father, 25 years his senior, was much more wiser and farming expert than Quack PhD M.S. Swaminathan. Swaminathan had the dubious distinction of promoting and supporting world’s most eccentric, unviable and unfeasible Ganga- Cauvery Link that may have cost $150b, enough to bankrupt Tamil Nadu and even after wasting colossal resources very little Ganga water would have reached Cauvery basin.

 

Quack PhD MS Swaminathan also promoted wasteful irrigation projects like Indira Gandhi Canal that has wastefully drained 500 maf of Indus Water in heart of Thar Desert that has cooled the desert and weakened the monsoon thereby impacting and threatening agriculture in India. Over 30 large dams are proposed in Narmada basin, more that 10 largest of them already built that contribute very little to irrigation or food production.

 

He was directly responsible for identifying least productive farming zones for high cost canal irrigation. Quality of seeds continues to be substandard and even spurious seeds, pesticides and fertilizers are sold to farmers. He did little and failed though member and chair of so many committees and commissions. Credit to farmers, harvesting, storage, transporting and distribution system continues to be extremely inadequate and substandard and moneylenders forcibly take away farmers crops when the prices are lowest and earn hefty profits.

 

Small farmers are much wiser and intelligent than Quack PhD MS Swaminathan. To overcome exploitation by middlemen who jack up commodity prices many fold within days of arriving in the market, they grow so many crops of average yield than few specialized crops for optimum yields.

 

India imported 18,000 tons of Mexican wheat seeds in 1966 as he rose in ranks to head IARI as its director. Imports of such a huge quantity of seeds indicates total failure IARI efforts but he continues to enjoy top ranks 40 years hence even as per capita food availability has declined to below independence level and India ranks on top in hunger and lowest in calorie and nutritional intake in the world.

 

He caused extreme embarrassment to India in Conned claims that wheat variety developed by him has more protein than milk and earned international rebuke.

 

 

Details;

 

1.)  It is a fact that my late grand father, 25 years senior, was much wiser and knowledgeable than Quack PhD MS Swaminathan. When I was 5 years old in 1960, he introduced me to farming, particularly irrigation. I asked him questions and he answered them and justified his planning.

 

Ø      Why we have share in four Persian wheel wells* on four sides of 14 acre plot than one in the center? Answer; Yield of the wells is sufficient for 2 acres in summers only. Wells dries up after few hours of use in a day. Water is lost in channel in reaching the distant part of the plot. (*100% share in one, 50% in two and 30% in fourth)

 

Ø      Why we have only 2 acres under crops mainly fodder and vegetables? Answer; May and June are very hot and dry months Persian wheel can irrigate only 2 acres. The most fertile section and nearest to the fully owned Persian wheel was most suitable.

 

Something I learnt at age 5, Quack MS Swaminathan doesn’t know in 81 years. He was Co-conspirator in Ganga Cauvery Link project, supported Garland Canal Project and River Link Loot Program.

 

Quack PhD MS Swaminathan is also responsible selecting least fertile or unfertile lands over a thousand kilometers from Dam source in the case of Indira Gandhi Canal and now Narmada canal so most of the water is lost on way and produce negligible food.

 

Ganga waters could be utilized in Ganga Basin itself to produce 30 million tons of food required in South than 50 billion tons of water in a $150b Ganga Cauveri link, most to be lost on way to leakages, breaches and seepages.

 

2.)  My grand father died in 1991. I was assisting my father in managing the farm. After a year of studying agriculture in Doaba area, reading books and participating in Krishi Melas, meeting few leading plant breeders, including Basmati breeder, I confidently asked small farmers;

 

Ø      Why do you grow so many crops getting average crop yields, when you can more than double yield specializing in 2-3 crops using better seeds etc?

 

Answer; we are happy growing 10 crops or more even if yield is half. We earn only Rs.1 per kg for Potato, Rs.2 for most vegetables but if we have to buy it from the market it cost Rs.5 to Rs.25 per kg. We earn only Rs.2.5 per kg for wheat but if we buy it from the market we pay Rs.4 to Rs.5 per kg. In addition the farm residue is used as cattle feed.

 

Ø      THIS EXPLAINS WHY INDIA IS ON TOP OF HUNGRY & STARVING LIST AND LOWEST ON CALORIE & NUTRITION INTAKE. PER CAPITA FOOD INTAKE IS BELOW PARTITION LEVEL.

 

3.)  Surely Quack PhD MS Swaminathan is an absolute idiot. Obviously all the dubious awards he was showered with ought to go to my grand father and a small farmer.

 

4.)  It is shocking this dubious character accepted to Chair perhaps 50^th committee National Commission on Farmers and took 18 months to come out with “Draft Report” which considering the experience he has in two days.

 

http://krishakayog.gov.in/ncpdraft.pdf

http://krishakayog.gov.in/tor.pdf

 

“4.1 Definition

For the purpose of this Policy, the term “farmers” will include landless agricultural labourers, sharecroppers, tenants, small, marginal and sub-marginal cultivators, farmers with larger holdings, fishers, dairy, sheep, poultry and other farmers involved in animal husbandry, pastoralists, plantation workers, as well as those rural and tribal families engaged in a wide variety of farming related occupations such as sericulture and vermiculture.” Draft National Policy For Farmers, April13, 2006

 

Firstly he included in definition every one producing food as farmer, though Cultivators, poultry, fishery, plantations are entirely different practices that have completely different practices and problems. Cultivators form over 90% of the farmers clubbing everything with it was an “Eccentric Idea.” Canal / tube-well irrigation, seeds, harvesting, procurement, storage, transportation and distribution of grains exclusively relate to cultivars than plantations, fisheries etc.

 

Quack M.S. Swaminathan

 

5.)  Instead of removing commission agents, middlemen and streamlining marketing, his idea of Cooperative Farming, Group Farming, Small Holders Estates, Contract Farming, Corporate Farming, Company Farming, Government State Farms etc is an attempt to “Eradicate Farmers And Turn Them In To Labor.” So the brain behinds Reliance farming plans is this crook Swaminathan.

 

Ø      His recommendations favor large industry but this quack doesn’t know that small farmers, targeted group shall reject the programs.

 

6.)  It is important to note that potential yields of local cultivars were much more even at the time of independence than average crop yields today. The missing factors all these years were Irrigation, Farm Credit, Inadequate Support Price, Poor Storage and Handling and Middlemen Exploitation. THERE IS NO SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN THESE 60 YEARS though he was Chairing and members of over 100 committees or commissions. 

 

7.)  He was among the prime conspirators to propose “Ganga Cauvery Link To Cost $150b” which has been repeatedly thrust on India in different forms. Food can be produced in Ganga Basin itself using 50 billion tons of water efficiently and exporting 30 MT of food to South.

 

Ø      He is so stupid that he perhaps never knew that $150b or of the cost of Ganga Cauvery Link Canal will be charged to TN or other partners that shall make TN bankrupt. Eventually little or no water may reach Cauvery due to losses on way.

 

8.)  Wasteful Dams on Narmada, release of 500 maf water in Thar Desert, destroying desert eco system affecting Monsoon have severely impacted agriculture are indicators of GROSS INCOMPETENCE. He never offered any dissent all these 50 years.

 

http://www.answers.com/topic/m-s-swaminathan

 

9.)  In the above link you have the manipulative skills of Quack PhD holder, getting rewarded for non performance.

 

The article following this e.petition explains how he manipulated Scientific Papers etc.

 

10.) But the crucial observation is that “India Imported 18,000 Tons of Mexican Wheat Seed” is an illustration that IARI seeds program was a total failure. And he completely failed from 1952-67 period during which time he climbed to become “Director” of IARI rewarded for all the failures. Indian seeds program lagged so much behind Mexico that there was perhaps “No Improvement” in Swaminathan tenure up to 1967.

 

11.)  Looking at his continuous Chairing of several committees since 1982 from age 57 onwards indicates his gross failure and getting rewarded for non performance.

 

12.) Is it not a shame that India could not find a replacement of M.S. Swaminathan “Morris Oxford” – Dented and Rusty Ambassador of Indian Agriculture in 50 years?

 

Remedy:-  Compulsorily Retire Him From All Committees.

 

Ravinder Singh

 

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4215

http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/pubs/92prom.html

 

In an article he was asked to provide for the report Swaminathan tells his readers how, ‘Genes have been transferred by scientists in India from Amaranthus to potato for improving protein quality and quantity’. This information is marked out in bold type. In fact, however, this GM potato has been shown to be little more than hype. Even Prof. C Kameswara Rao – a keen biotech supporter – has pointed out that it is ‘unlikely to see the light of the day in this decade’. According to Prof Rao, ‘I noticed that the potato used to make wafer chips in England has 6.0 to 6.5 per cent of protein, while that of the GE potato is only about 2.5 per cent. I do not understand how this dismal product could generate so much euphoria…’ (‘Dismal’ GM potato a decade away)

 

Just how credible Swaminathan and his promotion of a locally aware biotechnology really are remains open to question. His track record remains controversial and some, like Dr Claude Alvares of the Goa Institute, accuse him of being a shrewd political operator whose real strength lies in knowing how to get things done and how to adapt his rhetoric to create a veneer of public acceptability:

 

FOCUS ON ASIA

Here’s a profile of the Godfather of India’s Green Revolution, M.S. Swaminathan who’s a key speaker at the 3-day International Conference which opens in New Delhi, India, today (Tuesday): “Agricultural Biotechnology: Ushering in the Second Green Revolution”.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4179

Swaminathan, India’s premier Green Revolution scientist, has a talent for dressing up the industry lobby’s agenda in the rhetoric of village India, women’s empowerment, eco-tech etc., creating a facade of an unthreatening, ecologically and socially sensitive biotechnology ‘domesticated’ to local conditions.

But how credible Swaminathan and his promotion of a locally aware biotechnology really are remains open to question. His track record remains controversial. There are accusations of scientific fraud as well as scandals involving the suicide of scientists at the institute from which he launched the Green Revolution. But these have been buried beneath a plethora of awards and honours.

The real importance of Swaminathan’s record is that it points to the errors India will repeat if it embarks on a Swaminathan-led “Second Green Revolution”.
—

M.S. Swaminathan – a GM WATCH profile

(for all the links: http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=291&page=S )

Since 1988 the plant geneticist Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan has headed his own M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in Chennai (Madras) India. The Foundation sees GM crops, and biotechnology in general, not only as having immense potential but as ‘the only way we can face the challenges of the future’. It also sees India as needing to ‘move forward vigorously in mobilising the power of biotechnology’ in order not to lag behind China and more developed countries. (The Chennai Declaration: Bridging the Genetic Divide)

As M.S. Swaminathan is considered the Godfather of the Green Revolution in India, his promotion of GM crops is inevitably projected as an ushering in of a second Green Revolution. Indeed, that is the title of an International Conference in August 2004 in New Delhi, organised by the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation in partnership with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the biotech industry-backed International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Application (ISAAA).

The conference, whose speakers include Swaminathan, has been organized to ‘deliberate on the recommendations of the Task Force on Application of Biotechnology in Agriculture’. This Task Force, headed by Swaminathan, had been charged by the Indian Government with the task of making recommendations on how to reform India’s biosafety system.

The Task Force’s recommendations have proved controversial. Greenpeace India accused it of seeking ‘to strip away regulation of biotechnology, rather than improve it’ while P.V. Satheesh of the Deccan Development Society had earlier warned that the real agenda behind the reforms was to introduce ‘fast track approval’. (Swaminathan Panel Recommendations on Biotechnology Flawed and Dangerous)

Although a GM proponent, Swaminathan does not present as a pugnacious propagandist for the technology in the style of Norman Borlaug, that other Green Revolution scientist. For instance, the alternative title of Swaminathan’s Foundation is ‘The Centre for Research on Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development’. And traditional organic farming is researched there alongside genetic engineering which Swaminathan argues can assist organic agriculture. The Foundation is also at great pains to emphasise the need for technology development and dissemination to be ‘pro-nature, pro-poor, and pro-women’ in orientation. Similarly, Swaminathan and the Foundation promote the idea of ‘biovillages’, which combine IT and biotechnology with the rhetoric of village india, women’s empowerment, etc.

This more sophisticated stance, together with Swaminathan’s international status as the scientist-hero who brought about India’s Green Revolution, has meant that biotechnology supporters have found him an attractive figure to involve in the promotion of GM crops both in India and beyond. In UNDP’s highly controversial Human Development Report 2001, for instance, the Lead Author, Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, in seeking to justify the report’s support for GM crops quotes Swaminathan. Swaminathan, in turn, quotes Ghandi on the need to remember the poor.

In an article he was asked to provide for the report Swaminathan tells his readers how, ‘Genes have been transferred by scientists in India from Amaranthus to potato for improving protein quality and quantity’. This information is marked out in bold type. In fact, however, this GM potato has been shown to be little more than hype. Even Prof. C Kameswara Rao – a keen biotech supporter – has pointed out that it is ‘unlikely to see the light of the day in this decade’. According to Prof Rao, ‘I noticed that the potato used to make wafer chips in England has 6.0 to 6.5 per cent of protein, while that of the GE potato is only about 2.5 per cent. I do not understand how this dismal product could generate so much euphoria…’ (‘Dismal’ GM potato a decade away)

The answer to Rao’s question is simple. The fact that the GM potato is a locally-led and philanthropically directed project gives it the hallmarks of acceptability. This makes it a perfect poster child for promoting the technology. In a similar way, Swaminathan provides an acceptable face for GM crops in the Third World, creating a facade of an unthreatening, ecologically and socially sensitive biotechnology ‘domesticated’ to local conditions.

Just how credible Swaminathan and his promotion of a locally aware biotechnology really are remains open to question. His track record remains controversial and some, like Dr Claude Alvares of the Goa Institute, accuse him of being a shrewd political operator whose real strength lies in knowing how to get things done and how to adapt his rhetoric to create a veneer of public acceptability:

‘At a Gandhi seminar, he will speak on Gandhi. At a meeting in Madras, on the necessity for combine harvesters. At another meeting on appropriate technology, he will plump for organic manure. At a talk in London, he will speak on the necessity of chemical fertilizers. He will label slum dwellers “ecological refugees”, and advertise his career as a quest for “imparting an ecological basis to productivity improvement”. This, after presiding over, and indiscriminately furthering, one of the ecologically most devastating technologies of modern times – the [High Yielding Varieties] package of the Green Revolution.’

While Swaminathan is feted around the globe as the hero of India’s Green Revolution, the manner in which he achieved such prominence is much less well known. He did so, charges Alvares, in a way that has a parallel in India claiming credit for its conquest of space when it was riding piggyback on Soviet science and technology. Swaminathan imported borrowed science evolved in Mexico by Norman Borlang and American interests. In taking India down this path, his critics say, he neglected high yielding indigenous varieties adapted to local conditions in favour of chemical and irrigation dependent varieties which have with time had adverse effects on both productivity and the environment, often with catastrophic consequences for India’s millions of small and marginal farmers.

 

It is also alleged that Swaminathan’s rise to prominence went hand in hand with the suppression of the work of Indian scientists who were making a case within the agricultural mainstream for less input-intensive farming. One of these was Dr R.H. Richharia who worked all his life to develop indigenous rice species and whose guiding principle was, ‘Your work is only valuable if it helps the poor farmers’. Richaria almost single-handedly put together a germplasm collection of over 20,000 rice varieties. Currently in the possession of the Indira Gandhi Agricultural University in Chhattisgarh; this collection was at the centre of a major controversy when Syngenta attempted to take it over under the guise of collaborative research, a move only thwarted by civil society pressures. Dr Richaria himself sees Swaminathan and his backers as being linked to both his removal from his post at the Central Rice Research Institute and attempts to gain control over his germplasm collection. Of the latter he says, ‘He was behind it all, because he held all the power… He was the all in all.’ (Crushed but not defeated)

Perhaps most disturbingly, Swaminathan has been censured for making misleading scientific claims and has been linked to scandals involving the suicide of scientists at the institute from which he launched the Green Revolution. However, even these scandals, as we shall see, have had no serious adverse impact on Swaminathan’s career.

He is the recipient of almost every conceivable award – national and international. He has also been India’s Secretary for Agriculture (1980-81), the Director of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (1966-72), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (1972-80) and the International Rice Research Institute (1982-88), the Independent Chairman of the FAO Council (1981-85), and the President of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (1984-90).

Swaminathan was born in India in 1925 in what is now the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He almost became a police officer, but a change of career path led to a Ph.d in genetics from Cambridge in 1952. By 1966, Swaminathan was Director of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi. With help from the Rockefeller Foundation, he started importing large quantities of cross-bred wheat seed developed by Norman Borlaug in Mexico. Swaminathan disseminated these plants, which were far more tolerant of chemical fertilisers, in the Punjab. He would later marry this plant to an Indian variety. ‘Our history,’ he says, ‘changed from that time.’

Swaminathan’s apparent scientific successes were first acknowledged in 1971 with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership. This award set the precedent for a plethora of awards and honours in the years to come, including over 40 honorary doctorates from universities around the world and the World Food Prize in 1987.

As well as achieving a rapid dissemination of Norman Borlang’s dwarf strains of Mexican wheat, Swaminathan claimed to have developed a new wheat (Sharbati Sonora) by subjecting the Mexican parent lines of the Sonora variety to radiation. At a popular lecture in Delhi in 1967, Swaminathan claimed that Sharbati Sonora contained as much protein and lysine as milk. Dr. Claude Alvares takes up the story:

‘In three subsequent papers he continued to claim a high lysine content. In 1967, Dr Y.P. Gupta, an Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) scientist, disputed the claim and said that the figures had been manipulated. A number of researchers from abroad also stated that the lysine content of Swaminathan’s wheat and that of the Mexican wheat did not differ in any significant content. Finally the Central International de Mejoramiento de Maizy Trigo (CIMMYT) itself reported in 1969 that there was no significant difference between Sonora and Sharbati Sonora.

Yet nine months after the CIMMYT report appeared, Swaminathan once again submitted the 1967 Food Industries paper to a short lived journal called Plant Foods for Human Nutrition, in which he again claimed a value of two and half times the normal lysine value for Sharbati Sonora. Eight months later [in 1971], he was given the Magsaysay Award, for having “developed a wheat variety containing three per cent lysine”, and which, the Magsaysay Foundation claimed, “was now alleviating the deficiency of essential amino acids in the Indian diet so harmful particularly to brain development in young children.” Every word of the citation was false… The award, however, was instrumental in Swaminathan being made the director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)’.

What brought the lysine scandal to public notice was the suicide in May 1972 of Dr. Vinod Shah, an agronomist at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute. The IARI was where Swaminathan had launched his Green Revolution.

According to Bharat Dogra, a very senior and respected journalist in India who has researched Swaminathan and contemporary agricultural scientists for many years, Dr Shah had been repelled by the ‘glaring irregularities, victimisation, nepotism, bogus research, sycophancy’ he had found at the IARI. (Bharat Dogra, The Life and Work of Dr R.H. Richaria, p.99) Dr Shah’s death was not the only suicide by a scientist at the institute but ‘it attracted more attention partly because of his youth and partly because of the suicide note left behind by him in which he clearly explained the dishonesty and irregularities… which had disillusioned him so much.’ (Bharat Dogra, p.100)

It also emerged that Dr Shah had met with Swaminathan, the IARI’s Director, some time before he committed suicide. Following that meeting, he had stopped taking any food. His suicide note was addressed personally to Dr Swaminathan. It alleged, ‘A lot of unscientific data are collected to fit in your line of thinking.’ It also said, ‘A person with ideas and constructive scientific criticism is always victimised’. (Bharat Dogra, p.107)

An Achievement Audit Committee Report had already been critical of the ‘pompous or exaggerated statements made in IARI documents’ (Bharat Dogra, p.101) as well as of the generally poor quality of research at Swaminathan’s Institute – research which failed to meet the claims made for it. And the lysine content of Swaminathanís wheat was not the only case of ‘blatantly dishonest research’ to come to light in the enquiries made following the allegations contained in Dr Shah’s suicide note. (Bharat Dogra, p.102)

A pulse variety known as Baisaki Moong was claimed to have achieved very high yields in IARI research in the late 60s and early 70s. However, enquiries showed that in trials around the country its performance had been nowhere near as good. In Punjab and Delhi, for instance, ‘the yields were only about half of those claimed to have been obtained in the IARI experiemnts’  (Bharat Dogra, p.102).

Claims relating to a super-nutritious maize developed at IARI also ‘became a major scientific scandal’. Initially the research had been credited with having developed ‘a new strain of maize with the protein content doubled and having nutritious value like milk’ It was even claimed that mothers were reporting that children fed on this maize were less irritable than milk-fed babies. ‘Subsequent experience revealed all such claims to be figments of imagination’. (Bharat Dogra, p.103)

The most serious accusations had come from Dr Y.P. Gupta of the Bio-Chemistry Division of the IARI. Gupta had worked on the lysine content of various wheat varieties and contested Swaminathan’s published data on the protein and lysine content of Sharbati Sonora from an early stage. Gupta specifically alleged that the figure for Sharbati Sonora’s parent plant had been deliberately reduced in a half-yearly report in order to make Sharbati Sonora appear in a more favourable light.

After the circumstances surrounding Dr Shah’s suicide had caused uproar in the Indian Parliament, the government had felt compelled to appoint an enquiry committee headed by the late Dr P.B. Gajendragadkar, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court. Dr Alvares takes up the story:

‘The committee examined the charge of unjustified claims and ruled against Swaminathan… In 1974, the New Scientist published a detailed report on M S Swaminathan’s lysine falsehoods. Swaminathan survived the attack. Immediately after the Emergency, it was the Statesman in a detailed report dated May 17, 1977, that re-opened the entire debate. It was only on this occasion, for the first time since 1967, that Swaminathan admitted that the data concerning lysine was incorrect. Six years had passed since he had won the Magsaysay Award, which, if the citation was totally wrong, was improperly conferred.’

Swaminathan tried to put down the scandal to an ‘analytical error’ which he said was the fault of one of his subordinates but, Dr Alvares argues, there are other indicators that support a lack of ethics:

‘One is his harassment of all those scientists who had exposed his claims on lysine in the first place. Within a year, for example, of questioning the data in 1967, Dr Y.P. Gupta’s students were taken away from him, he was denied promotions, his junior was selected to become his head, and his application for a Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) assignment was held back by the IARI till [after] the due date.’
 

It was only 15 years later that the Supreme Court of India was able to vindicate Y.P. Gupta. Dr Gupta, the court ruled, ‘has been the victim of unfair treatment’ and the court went on to describe the attitude of his employer as ‘unethical’. It also termed the action of the institute’s academic council, chaired by Swaminathan, as ‘callous’, ‘heartless’, and ‘shocking’. (The Great Gene Robbery)

However, none of this stopped Swaminathan becoming chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SACC). Then in 1982 he left India for the highly paid post of Director General of the Rockefeller- Foundation assisted International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), based at Los Banos in the Philippines. After seven years with IRRI, Swaminathan returned to India to devote his efforts to his M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF).

The Foundation is now at the centre of Swaminathan’s promotion of India’s second Green Revolution. Its conferences have provided platforms for the industry. In 2004 two events were organised at Chennai to commemorate ‘the occasion of the International Year of Rice 2004’: a National Colloquium on Molecular Breeding and Shaping the Future of Rice, and a Forum on Biotechnology and the future of rice. Both events were dominated by panelists who favored the introduction of the GM seeds, like Golden Rice Network Coordinator and former Monsanto employee, Gerard Barry and William James Peacock of CSIRO. (GM supporters confronted in India)

An MSSRF event had also provided Gerard Barry with a PR platform four years earlier to promote Monsanto’s provision of royalty-free licenses for the development of ‘golden rice’, as well as the corporation’s willingness to open its rice-genome sequence database to researchers around the world. GM lobbyist C.S. Prakash was another speaker on that occasion. (Gene revolution may not feed all)

Critics like the New Delhi-based food and trade policy analyst, Devinder Sharma complain that the right lessons have not yet been learned from Swaminathan’s first Green Revolution before the second is being promoted. The Indian scientist and environmentalist, Vandana Shiva points out that the Green Revolution:

‘has led to reduced genetic diversity, increased vulnerability to pests, soil erosion, water shortages, reduced soil fertility, micronutrient deficiencies, soil contamination, reduced availability of nutritious food crops for the local population, the displacement of vast numbers of small farmers from their land, rural impoverishment and increased tensions and conflicts. The beneficiaries have been the agrochemical industry, large petrochemical companies, manufacturers of agricultural machinery, dam builders and large landowners.’ (The Green Revolution in the Punjab)

And there have been high human costs from forcing the Green Revolution’s industrial farming model onto small and marginal farmers. Writing in response to the news in summer 2004 that many hundreds of poor farmers had once again taken their own lives, often by drinking pesticides, Devinder Sharma noted, ‘the tragedy is that the human cost is entirely being borne by the farmers’.

The greatest irony, writes Sharma, is that ‘those who created the problem in the first instance are the ones who are being asked to provide the solutions.’ (Farm Genocide: The Killing Fields of the Green Revolution)

BY: “R Singh” <corruptionfree04@yahoo.com>

e-Governance: the minister speaks: Dr Shakeel Ahmad, Minister of State for IT and Communications.

e-Governance: the minister speaks

Faiz Askari interviews Dr Shakeel Ahmad, Minister of State for IT and Communications.

http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20060626/market01.shtml

There was a time when the Government of India (GoI) didn’t really count as a buyer of IT. This situation has changed drastically over the past few years. What’s fuelling the growing use of IT in government is the fact that it has acknowledged the potential of IT and started looking at it as a component of progress.

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) is the catalyst of the GoI’s e-governance initiative. Dr Shakeel Ahmad hails from rural Bihar. Perhaps that is why he has the zest to drive IT into the rural areas. Aware of and concerned with the ground realities and basic infrastructure (or lack thereof) at the village level, Dr Ahmad understands that the key for the development of the masses lies in information technology and communications (ICT). That’s why he is trying to drive this development in an accelerated manner through various ICT boosters.

Reaching out to the rural masses has always a problem. The government is now making sincere efforts to provide telecom access in the rural areas. Towards this, about 5.5 lakh villages out of 6 lakh have already been provided with telephone connectivity. The remaining 42,000 villages will be provided with village public telephones (VPT) by November 2007. This data shows the results-oriented approach and the serious efforts of the government to reach out to rural India.

States Dr Ahmad: “The Universal Obligation Fund is also in the planning stage. This will be for the creation of shared infrastructure for mobile services in the rural areas. It will ensure access to mobile networks in rural areas of the country. For providing Internet access, information kiosks have already been planed as common service centres (CSCs) in rural areas to provide Internet connectivity and access to the rest of world. These CSCs will be 100,000 in number.”

Broadband connectivity to all villages has also been planned. The Ministry of Human Resource Development has requested DOT for the provision of broadband connectivity in all schools and colleges in the country, including those in rural areas. This initiative will give the rural masses exposure to IT applications, and will go a long way in bringing them a level of progress that’s on par with those in urban areas.

Bridging the digital divide

In some of the southern states, IT implementation and adaptation is happening at a fast pace. On the other hand, states like Orissa, Bihar and UP are yet to make their mark in IT. Ahmad agrees. “It’s true that in some states or regions IT development and adaptation is happening at a higher pace as compared to other parts of the country. In the recent past these states have acquired better e-readiness due to a variety of reasons. The Department of IT (DIT) is aware of these facts, and is trying to objectively gauge the gap in the e-readiness of such states through its yearly e-readiness evaluation exercise which was launched a few years ago. Currently, DIT e-Governance schemes such as SWAN (State Wide Area Network) are being formulated with a package of technical assistance which may be required by the lagging states for various projects activities. Beyond this, capacity building is another important activity which has been taken up to address the issue. I am confident about the outlook…that the states or regions which are lagging in IT infrastructure and applications will soon catch up.”

Highlights

e-India   About 5.5 lakh villages out of 6 lakh have already been provided with telephone connectivity. Broadband connectivity to all villages has also been planned. The Ministry of Human Resource Development has requested DOT for the provision of broadband connectivity to all schools and colleges in the country, including those in rural areas.e-Future PC and Internet penetration may remain in assisted mode for some more time. IT penetration at the back-end of government and business processes will change the Indian scenario in the next three to five years.

Rural broadband

India’s broadband usage is still nascent when compared to that of other South Asian countries. The government has analysed the need for this, and is rolling out broadband infrastructure at a rapid pace. 300 towns have already been covered, and more than one million broadband connections have been provided. However, such services require a critical mass before actual rapid growth takes place.

“Wireless broadband holds hope for providing connectivity in sparsely-populated rural areas. However, for full utilisation of the capabilities of the infrastructure being created, it is essential that content development in the local language takes place,” Dr Ahmad points out.

Challenges loom with regard to connecting the rural and urban parts of UP, Jharkhand, Bihar, MP and Orissa. Eradicating hurdles like poor power supply and low computer awareness is going to be a difficult task. “The five states mentioned have made proposals for their SWAN. An empowered committee has approved these proposals. Adequate provision has been made for alternate power back-up for at least the prime business hours. As far as the low computer awareness is concerned, I would like to mention that major schemes like the setting up of the 100,000 CSCs in rural areas have specially been designed to increase the computer awareness level among the rural masses. In addition, to provide assisted computer awareness, we are going to launch specialised training programmes for the locals as they would be the trainers or drivers of those CSCs. In other words, we can say that capacity building and training in specific areas have been some of the integrated efforts made by DIT,” notes Dr Ahmad.

Localisation of IT applications

Microsoft has rolled out software in many Indian languages. Several other applications are being progressively made available in regional Indian languages. This is a logical pattern as India is a diverse country with varying requirements in different parts of the country. “IT applications have to adapt to local conditions to be more effective at the grass-root level. This localisation can be achieved with public-private partnership,” says Dr Ahmad.

With robust demand, the IT infrastructure for the education sector is rapidly coming up. “I am very happy to see that various educational institutions are coming forward to meet the growing demand for IT education. The government has to ensure that standards are maintained by the new institutions/organisations entering computer/IT sector education. This has to be taken up both at the formal and non-formal levels. For example, DOEACC is fulfilling the need in the area as an accreditation agency,” Dr Ahmad points out.

Skilled manpower in the telecom sector is an issue for India. Telcos such as Bharti and Reliance are planning to open their own training institutes. In this context, BSNL has already got adequate training infrastructure with premier training institutions at Ghaziabad and Jabalpur. Apart from this, it has various regional training institutions for regular updations of the skill-sets of its employees. Training needs are reviewed at regular intervals. Whenever it is felt that the training structure needs any amendment or change, training structures are amended.

Vision for e-governance

“In my opinion, e-Governance is going to bring in a massive change in the way India is governed,” declares Dr Ahmad. The focus of e-Governance is on government, government-to-business, and business-to-government services. The approach is to provide a ompletely changed face of the government to citizens and to businesses. To get some visible results in a time-bound manner, the GoI, under the NeGP, has identified 26 mission mode projects. These projects will be covering G2G, G2C, C2G, G2B and B2G services. “We already have a successful example when the railway reservation system was created. It has changed the citizen’s interface, and the impact of this is astonishing. Similarly, the MCA-21 project, when fully implemented, will completely eradicate the earlier complaints of sluggish interaction between Indian business entities and the Department of Company Affairs,” insists the minister.

The MCA-21 project, when fully implemented, will completely eradicate the earlier complaints of sluggish interaction between Indian business entities and the Department of Company Affairs.

ATM banking has changed the picture of day-to-day monetary transactions. This has been possible only because of the implementations of core banking solutions and reliable connectivity. Internet banking is an advance on that, and has made banking even easier to handle; again, this has been achieved through Internet applications. The future seems to be more fruitful as the advancements are actually moving ahead with IT implementations.

“I can predict that in the near future we will see more examples coming to reality, and they will be achieved through IT advancements. PC and Internet penetration may remain in assisted mode for some more time.

However, IT penetration at the back-end of the government and business processes is going to change the Indian scenario in a big way within the next three to five years,” forecasts Dr Ahmad.

Highlights – COMMUNICATIONS, IT AND POSTS

COMMUNICATIONS, IT AND POSTS

 http://www.dmaran.nic.in/highlights.htm

TELECOM

• 46 million telephone connections by end of April 2006. This is almost double of 75 million connections in April 2004.
• 42 million connections added last year compared to 24 million in 2004-05. In past four months about 22 million telephone subscribers have been added. This rate of growth is expected to increase further.
• BSNL/MTNL announced a new tariff plan of Rs.1 per minute STD tariff for any destination (down from the level of Rs. 4.80 in May 2004).
• Tariff emulated by most of the private service providers also. With the reduction in ADC, rate of growth of telecom subscribers would increase further.
• Expected that of the targeted additions of about 100 million phones by December 2007 (total 250 million phones by Dec. 07), a significant share would come from BSNL/MTNL. BSNL has floated the tender for procurement of 63.5 million additional mobile lines.
• Project for release of 45 MHz spectrum from Defence for growth of mobile services has been launched. This additional spectrum is likely to be made available in the beginning of the year 2007.
• Project for sharing of infrastructure by mobile operators has been launched in Delhi and Mumbai. This would facilitate sharing of passive and active infrastructure and network operating expenses.

Rural Telephony

• Providing of Village Public Telephone (VPTs) in remaining unconnected 66,822 villages component of Bharat Nirman .
• BSNL awarded the work for providing VPTs in all the remaining 66,822 uncovered villages by November 2007 with support from Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund.
• 25,000 VPTs provided as on 30th April 2006. Efforts being made to complete it in 2006 itself.
• 46,253 Rural Community Phones (RCPs) to be provided in villages with population exceeding 2000 and without a Public phone facility other than a VPT. As on 30th April 2006, 24,000 RCPs have been provided.
• Agreements signed for providing Rural household Lines (RDELs) in 1,685 commercially unviable Short Distance Charging Areas( SDCAs). More than 4,00,000 RDELs have been provided so far.
• Scheme for sharing of infrastructure for enhancing rural mobile penetration is in advance stage of finalization.
• To facilitate speedy rural penetration entry handsets with a price-tag of Rs. 1700 have been launched. Efforts are on to make it available at about Rs 1000.
• Planning made to provide mobile coverage in villages with population more than 5000 by September 2006 & villages with population more than 2000 by March 2007.

Broadband

• Broadband Policy announced in October 2004 with a vision of covering 20 million broadband subscribers by the end of 2010.
• Nation-wide Broadband Services launched by BSNL & MTNL wef. 14.1.2005 to cover 200 towns in one year. The spread now covers 300 towns with about one and half million connections given out of which share of BSNL/MTNL is 70%.
• To encourage expansion of broadband connectivity at a faster pace, both outdoor and indoor usage of low power Wi-fi and WiMax systems in 2.4 GHz– 2.4835 GHz band has been delicensed. The use of low power indoor systems in 5.15 – 5.35 GHz & 5.725 – 5.875 GHz has also been delicensed.

Licensing liberalisation

• FDI Ceiling increased from 49 per cent to 74 per cent in the telecom services.
• Licence fee for NLD, ILD, IP-II, VSAT commercial and ISP with internet telephony (restricted) licences was reduced to 6% of AGR w.e.f. 1-1-2006.
• Entry fee for NLD reduced to Rs. 2.5 Crore from Rs. 100 Crore. Entry fee for ILD reduced to Rs. 2.5 Crore from Rs. 25 Crore.
• Lease line charges reduced to make the bandwidth available at competitive prices to facilitate growth in IT enabled services.
• In respect of states having two telecom circles e.g. Tamilnadu, Maharashtra, U.P and West Bengal, Calls between Chennai and rest of Tamil Nadu, Mumbai and rest of Maharashtra, Kolkata and rest of West Bengal and Andaman & Nicobar and UP East and UP West service areas treated as Intra service area calls.
• NLD service providers permitted to access the subscribers directly for provision of leased circuits/closed user groups and can provide last mile connectivity. The ILD service providers can also access the subscriber directly only for provision of leased circuits/closed user groups.
• Access service providers allowed to provide Internet telephony, internet services and broadband services.
• With a view to make international bandwidth available at competitive rate, BSNL is planning to lay Tuticorin–Sri Lanka submarine cable. It is likely to be made operational in first quarter of 2006-07.
• Project for submarine cable connectivity between India and Singapore, India and Gulf countries, initiated by MTNL and BSNL to provide cost effective international bandwidth.

Manufacturing

• Zero-Customs duty on all import of component and raw materials required for manufacturing telecom equipment including Custom duty on all 217 ITA-1 items to boost manufacturing sector. Mobile phone components exempted from 4% CVD. Mobile telephone removed from the 'one- out- of- the six criteria' for income tax return purpose.
• Ericsson set up GSM Radio Base Station Manufacturing facility in Jaipur. Elcoteq has set up handset manufacturing facilities in Bangalore. Nokia set up its manufacturing plant in Chennai. LG Electronics set up plant of manufacturing GSM mobile phones near Pune. Ericsson recently launched their R&D Centre in Chennai. Flextronics setting up an SEZ in Chennai.
• Two more SEZ in telecom sector in advance stage of approval.
• Proposals implemented/under implementations of US$ 620 million in telecom sector.
• Companies like Flextronics, Motorola, Foxconn, Aspocomn etc. decided to set up their manufacturing bases with an investment of about US$ 650 million.
• AMD signed a “milestone agreement” with SemIndia to bring semiconductor manufacturing facilities to India. It envisages an investment of US$3 billion over four years.
• Microsoft Corp to invest US$1.7 billion in India over four years.
• Intel announced their investment plan of more than US$1 billion in five years.
• CISCO to invest US$1.1 billion including US$750 million for an R & D centre.
• Revival of Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) started with the revival plan of Rs. 1025 crore. GSM equipment manufacturing started at ITI plants at Mankapur and Rae Bareli with technology partnership of Alcatel, France.
• Telecom & IT sector expected to attract US $ 10-11 billion in next 2-3 years. While Telecom manufacturing sector expected to attract about US $ 1.5-2 billion, Telecom services sector also expected to attract US $ 2-3 billion.

  INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

• National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) drawn up covering 26 Mission Mode Projects and 8 support components to be implemented at the Central, State and Local Government Levels.
• Planning Commission allocated funds as Additional Central Assistance (ACA) to all the States for taking up Capacity Building measures as a first step towards NeGP.
• Scheme for the establishment of State Wide Area Networks (SWANs)approved in 22 States/UTs at a total outlay of Rs.3,334 crore over a period of 5 years, extending data connectivity of 2 Mega bits per second up-to the block level in all States and Union Territories in the country
• Proposal formulated to establish 100,000 Common Services Centres (CSCs) in rural areas which would extend the reach of electronic services, both government and private to the village level.
• Draft Policy prepared for Investments for setting up semiconductor fabrication and other micro and nano technology manufacture industries in India.
• India became a major destination for FDI investments in Information Communication Technology sector as world leaders in ICT like Intel, Cisco, SemIndia-AMD, Microsoft, Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia, Kyocera, Siemens, LG, Samsung, etc., announced large investment plans for India.
• Several manufacturers launched their low cost PC at a price below Rs. 10,000.
• Free Software Tools and Fonts in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu made available free to the public distribution.
• National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) set up state-of-the art hardware and software and re-launched the .IN Registry.
• Four Internet Exchange Nodes set up and made operational at Noida (Delhi), Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, and as many as 40 ISPs have been connected with these nodes.
• Keeping in view the global trends in IPv6, DIT took initiative towards IPv6 transition and a National Roadmap for IPv6 implementation which includes an awareness building programme, research and development, test bed projects on IPv6 migration and deployment by Network providers.
• Expert Committee on Information Technology Act set up to review the IT Act which proposed appropriate amendments. Based on the recommendations of the Committee, the amendments to the IT Act have been finalised.
• 112 Community Information Centres (CICs) set up in Jammu and Kashmir. Another 23 CICs in J&K will be made operational by July 2006. CICs are also being established in the government schools in Andaman and Nicobar Islands (41 CICs) and Lakshadweep Islands (30 CICs) for imparting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based education.
• National facility for electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) evaluation of electronic equipments and systems, first of its kind in India and third in South East Asia, set-up at Chennai.
• Joint project approved for setting up Nanoelectronics Centres at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay with a total outlay of Rs.99.80 crore over a period of five years.

POSTS

• DoP hosted the Draft Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill 2006 on its website and invited views and suggestions.
• Direct Post launched for distribution of advertising material by the Post Offices.
• Logistics Post Service introduced in 11 States.
• Speed Post Gold Service introduced between business districts of Delhi and Mumbai
• Finance Marts opened in 142 selective post offices in the country
• On-line domestic money transmission service called iMO was introduced to assure speed in delivery of money.
• Metro Mail operations streamlined and geared up in seven Metros.
• Accidental Death Insurance at a very low premium of Rs.15/- provided by Oriental Insurance Company (OIC) for a policy of Rs. one lakh for one year – for Savings Bank account holders.
• Children Policy introduced to provide insurance cover to the children of the policyholder.
• Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) constituted to recommend various steps required to eliminate the financial deficit.