Press Release
Apr. 6, 09
Trivandrum
On 27th March 2009, On 27th March 2009, a section of the press carried a news which said Mr. Anvar Sadath, Executive Director, IT@School has received an international award from ODF alliance for his contribution to the ODF. It was surprising for many of us who wondered what his contribution to ODF was. Two days later, some of us received a press release issued by ODF alliance which made it clear that recognition was given to Mr. Anvar for the ODF adoption in schools of Kerala. The press release also had quotes from Mr. Anvar Sadath and Mr. Marino Marcich of ODF alliance.
“Anvar Sadath has bridged the digital divide in Kerala,” commented the ODF Alliance’s Marcich. “He was among the first to recognize that an open format like ODF means giving students, teachers, and parents alike the flexibility to use a wide range of software than they currently have, including free solutions. Just as importantly, Sadath translated ideas into actions for the benefit of educational development in Kerala.”
Being involved in IT@school project from year 2001, we knew that above statement is factually wrong. Anvar Sadath was never involved in the ODF adoption phase of this project for which the award has been granted. It was clear that a mistake has happened either from the side of those who applied for the award or by those who have given the award. Neither the recipient nor anyone else involved took the initiative to correct the statement. Hence some of us took the initiative to correct the situation by sending letters to ODF alliance and various individuals involved. We are happy to inform that ODF alliance accepting the mistake decided to correct the citation to recognise individuals and the teaching community involved. We welcome the constructive steps taken by ODF alliance in this regard.
However, recent reports in the local media and online forums tried to put this incident in bad light. We want to clarify that the recent reports on the issue in a section of the press attempting to link our opposition to the award as having political connotations is completely misplaced. Our intention, as activists of the Free software movement, is to correct a mistake on the side of the ODF Alliance . We are happy that the Alliance has been open to our criticism and have admitted the flaws in their selection process.
From the discussions attached with this press release, it can be seen that the entire discussion was to correct a mistake. We request not to inappropriately link this incident to other political issues.
Arun M Ph 09447034795
Anivar Aravind Ph 09663379908
Malayalam:
പ്രസിദ്ധീകരണത്തിന്
ഒ.ഡി.എഫ് അവാര്ഡ്: ഒരു വിശദീകരണം
ഏപ്രില് 6 2009
തിരുവനന്തപുരം
ഓപ്പണ് ഡോക്യുമെന്റ് ഫോര്മാറ്റിനു നല്കിയ സംഭാവനകളെ മാനിച്ചു കൊണ്ട് ശ്രീ. അന്വര് സാദത്തിനു (executive director, IT@school) ODF അലയന്സിന്റെ അന്താരാഷ്ട്ര പുരസ്ക്കാരം ലഭിച്ചതായി കഴിഞ്ഞ മാര്ച്ച് 27 നു ചില പത്രങ്ങള് റിപ്പോര്ട്ട് ചെയ്തിരുന്നു. ഈ മേഖലയില് പ്രവര്ത്തിക്കുന്ന പലരെയും പോലേ ഞങ്ങള്ക്കും ഈ വാര്ത്ത കൌതുകകരമായിത്തോന്നി. ഓപ്പണ് ഡോക്യുമെന്റ് ഫോര്മ്മാറ്റിന് അദ്ദേഹം നല്കിയ സംഭാവന എന്താണെന്നു ഞങ്ങള്ക്കും അറിയില്ലായിരുന്നു. രണ്ടു ദിവസം കഴിഞ്ഞു ലഭിച്ച ODF അലയന്സിന്റെ പത്രക്കുറിപ്പില് നിന്നാണ് IT@school ലെ ODF ന്റെ ഉപയോഗവുമായി ബന്ധപെട്ടാണ് ഈ പുരസ്ക്കാരം നല്കിയതെന്ന് ഞങ്ങള് മനസിലാക്കി. ശ്രീ. അന്വര് സാദത്തിന്റെയും ശ്രീ. മാരിനോ മറിച്ചിന്റെയും വരികളടങ്ങിയ പത്രക്കുറിപ്പും ഇതോടൊപ്പം ചേര്ക്കുന്നു.
ശ്രീ. മാരിനോ മറിച്ചി ഇങ്ങനെ അഭിപ്രായപ്പെടുന്നു. ” ശ്രീ. അന്വര് സാദത്ത് കേരളത്തിലെ ഡിജിറ്റല് ഡിവൈഡ് കുറച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു. സ്വതന്ത്രമായതുള്പ്പെടെയുളള വിവിധ തരം സോഫ്റ്റ് വെയറുകള് ഉപയോഗിക്കുന്നതിന് വിദ്യാര്ത്ഥികള്ക്കും അധ്യാപകര്ക്കും രക്ഷിതാക്കള്ക്കും ഒരു പോലെ സൗകര്യം നല്കുന്ന ODF പോലുള്ള തുറന്ന ഫോര്മാറ്റുകളുടെ പ്രാധാന്യം ആദ്യമായി തിരിച്ചറിഞ്ഞവരില് ഒരാളാണ് അദ്ദേഹം. മാത്രവുമല്ല , അതേ പ്രാധാന്യത്തോടു കൂടി കേരളത്തിലെ വിദ്യാഭ്യാസ പുരോഗതിക്ക് വേണ്ടി ഈ ആശയങ്ങളെ പ്രായോഗിക തലത്തില് അദ്ദേഹം നടപ്പിലാക്കുകയും ചെയ്തു. “
2001 മുതല് IT@school പരിപാടിയുമായി ചേര്ന്നു പ്രവര്ത്തിക്കുന്നവര് എന്ന നിലയ്ക്ക് മുകളില് പറഞ്ഞിരിക്കുന്ന കാര്യങ്ങള് വാസ്തവ വിരുദ്ധമാണെന്നു ഞങ്ങള്ക്കു വ്യക്തമായി അറിയാവുന്നതാണ്. പുരസ്ക്കാരത്തിനു പരിഗണിച്ച ODF സ്വീകരണത്തിന്റെ കാലഘട്ടത്തില് ശ്രീ. അന്വര് സാദത്ത് ഈ ഐടി@സ്കൂള് പദ്ധതിയുടെ ഭാഗമായിരുന്നില്ല. ഇതില് നിന്നു വ്യക്തമാകുന്നതു പുരസ്ക്കാരത്തിനായി സമര്പ്പിച്ച അപേക്ഷയില് നിന്നൊ അതു പരിഗണിച്ചവരില് നിന്നോ പിഴവു സംഭവിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു എന്നാണു. പുരസ്ക്കാരം ലഭിച്ചവരോ ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട മറ്റുള്ളവരോ ഈ പിഴവു പരിഹരിക്കാന് ശ്രമിച്ചില്ല. ഈ സാഹചര്യത്തിലാണ് ഞങ്ങളില് ചിലര് ODF അലയന്സിനും ബന്ധപ്പെട്ടവര്ക്കും കത്തെഴുതുന്നത്. തുടര്ന്നു ODF അലയന്സ് അവരുടെ ഭാഗത്തു നിന്നുണ്ടായ വീഴ്ച അംഗീകരിച്ച് പുരസ്ക്കാരരേഖ തിരുത്തും എന്നറിയിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു. ODF അലയന്സിന്റെ ഈ ക്രിയാത്മക സമീപനത്തെ ഞങ്ങള് സ്വാഗതം ചെയ്യുന്നു.
ഈ അടുത്ത ദിവസങ്ങളില് ചില മാധ്യമങ്ങളില് വന്ന റിപ്പോര്ട്ടുകള് ഈ സംഭവത്തെ തെറ്റായി ചിത്രീകരിച്ചുകാണുകയുണ്ടായി. ഈ അവാര്ഡിനോടുള്ള ഞങ്ങളുടെ എതിര്പ്പിനെ കക്ഷിരാഷ്ട്രീയപരമായ വിയോജിപ്പുകളായി ചിത്രീകരിക്കുന്ന ഈ വാര്ത്തകള് പൂര്ണ്ണമായും തെറ്റിദ്ധാരണാജനകമാണ്. സ്വതന്ത്ര സോഫ്റ്റ്വെയര് പ്രസ്ഥാനവുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ടുപ്രവര്ത്തിക്കുന്ന ആക്റ്റിവിസ്റ്റുകളെന്ന നിലയില് ODF അലയന്സില് നിന്നും വന്ന വീഴ്ചകള് തിരുത്താനും ഈ പുരസ്കാരം അര്ഹതപ്പെട്ടവര്ക്കായി ലഭ്യമാക്കാനുമാണ് ഞങ്ങള് ശ്രമിച്ചത് . ODF അലയന്സ് ഞങ്ങളുടെ വിമര്ശനത്തെ തുറന്ന മനസ്സോടെ സ്വീകരിക്കുകയും അവരുടെ അവാര്ഡ് സെലക്ഷന് നടപടിക്രമങ്ങളില് വന്ന വീഴ്ചകളെ ഉള്ക്കൊള്ളുകയും ചെയ്തിട്ടുണ്ട്.
അനുബന്ധമായി ചേര്ത്തിരിക്കുന്ന രേഖകളില് നിന്നു ഈ സംഭവത്തിന്റെ പൂര്ണ്ണ ചിത്രം ലഭിക്കുന്നതാണ്. ഇതിനെ മറ്റ് രാഷ്ട്രീയ പ്രശ്നങ്ങളുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെടുത്തരുതെന്നു അഭ്യര്ത്ഥിക്കുന്നു.
അരുണ് എം Ph 09447034795
അനിവര് അരവിന്ദ് Ph 09663379908
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Mail Communication
From: Arun M
Date: Sat, Mar 28, 2009 at 9:23 PM
Dear Friends,It was really shocking to see the press release from ODF alliance which has attributed the entire credit for promotion of ODF in the schools of Kerala wrongly to Mr. Anvar Sadath. Giving credits wrongly can be discouraging and painful to those who had done the real work. There are several hundreds of people in Kerala whose painstaking effort and dedication lead to the integration of Free Software and ODF in the schools of Kerala. It has a long history starting from year 2001.
Today we find that ODF alliance has credited the entire work to one person who had no role to play in the process. ODF alliance should have recognised the real individuals who worked for what we see as IT@school today.
You should have recognised Sri V. S Achuthandan, Chief Minister of Kerala ( Opposition leader then), whose political endorsement lead to the introduction of free software and ODF in the schools of Kerala.
You should have recognised hundreds of teachers who took the pain to learn and promote Free Software and ODF. Without their political courage nothing would have happend.
You should have recognised Mr. Biju Prabhakar, the former director of IT @school who initiated the introduction of FS and ODF in Schools of Kerala.
You should have recognised Mr. V K Sasidharan, who was the leading master trainer whose leadership brought together the entire change.
You should have recognised volunteers of Free Software community who communicated the importance of digital freedom in the schools of Kerala.
It’s a shame that a community organisation like ODF alliance could not to recognise the real heroes of this project. This press release can be seen only as a black humor.
“Anvar Sadath has bridged the digital divide in Kerala,” commented the ODF Alliance’s Marcich. “He was among the first to recognize that an open format like ODF means giving students, teachers, and parents alike the flexibility to use a wide range of software than they currently have, including free solutions. Just as importantly, Sadath translated ideas into actions for the benefit of educational development in Kerala.”
I would like to know how this statement can be substantiated. May be I’m missing something here! I would like to hear from you all.
Warm regards
Arun M
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From: Anivar AravindCrediting a bureaucrat who pushed to Introduce windows and Photoshop in Completely Free Software powered schools using his power position(in the name of some e-gov works http://www.gnu.org.in/fsf-india-sends-letter-to-education-minister-of ) is now awarded in the name of a collective effort done by other people & Departments like SCERT who designed the syllabus. I Dont have a problem if it is awarded to IT@school Project because it worth it. we like to know the rationale of statements like below .. Anivar Aravind
———-
From: Praveen Arimbrathodiyil
As far as I know from my experience with teachers, Freedom was the primary motivation in promoting Free Software. I suspect this is an effort to push proprietary software implementing ODF, using the momentum the community have built up in the past years with their hard work. If people look carefully, they can easily see, who would benefit from such a move.
I tend to think the quote below is true, because he may be first one to see the potential of “the flexibility to use a wide range of software than they currently have, including free solutions”. We adopted OpenOffice.org much before ODF came, in the days of sxw, because it was Free Software.
- Praveen
———-
From: Marino Marcich
Hello Arun: Thanks for the feedback. I can appreciate the intense interest in the award given the considerable efforts of so many who helped make the IT@School project a reality.
To be considered for the ODF Alliance Award, an individual or entity (project) must first be nominated. Anvar Sadath was nominated and received the award as an individual in recognition of the IT@School project. We did not receive a nomination for the IT@School project itself or any other individual involved in the IT@School project. Regretfully, we are unable to issue awards to people or projects that aren’t nominated. Though there were a number of worthy candidates in this category (education) around the world and we regret not being able to recognize their work, we felt and continue to believe that the nomination received for Mr Sadath in recognition of the IT@School project was the best.
There was considerable discussion regarding open source in the emails that followed. Please note as well that the award is for work done on ODF, not open source. ODF is not the “OpenOffice format” (while recognizing its origins), nor is it open source or even software for that matter. It is an open standard for document formats that can be implemented in both open source and proprietary software. It is “free” in the sense that it is freely available for implementation and use. Importantly, it comes with the “freedom” to choose from among many implementations, including but not limited to open source, and the freedom to migrate to a different brand of software if desired.
We recognize that any significant change of the kind witnessed in Kerala involves a team effort and the actions of hundreds of individuals. This award is a global recognition of the teaching community in Kerala and its many achievements. In the write-up of the project we would be happy to acknowledge the many people involved in this effort. We hope that you and others in this community can share in the award in the spirit in which it was intended. Sincerely,
Marino Marcich
ODF Alliance
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From: Anivar Aravind
Dear Marino,
I just want to point time line of IT@school Project & Its ODF Adoption for your clarity .
2004: Free Software Implementation in 8th Standard IT@school Project. Document Standard is sxw . Text books mentions Both Windows & GNU/Linux. IT@school Project Director is Biju Prabhakar . SCERT Started Developing Free Software Only Text Books under the leadership of Satyapalan sir. Software FREE Software Foundation is Training Teachers with the support of Kerala School Teachers Association . IT@school uses a Debian Based Custom Distribution made by Vimal Joseph
2005: 9th Standard syllabus Completly moves to Free Software. Text books Only Covers Free Software. Document Standard SXW IT@school Director: Biju Prabhakar IT@School decided to move to new Debian sarge based Distribution. IT@school Initates EDUSAT under the leadership of Biju Prabhakar
2006: 10th stanadrd also migrates to Free Software. New IT@school Distribution based on Debian Sarge included Open Office 2.0 (Which support ODF because of the peer pressure from Teachers) . Texts books were developed by SCERT covers this Change in Curriculam. IT@school Director : Biju Prabhakar ( he is left in 2006 August) SCERT ‘s Team head : Satyapalan Sir (retired in May 2006 after the Text book based on new Distribution & ODF i ready) . Next IT@School Director was Sankaranarayanan (short term) and then it was under DPI’s control
Anwar Sadath Comes as IT@school director after this.. After all the ODF adoption is happened. Also it is worth to mention that ODF adoption is a Logical Followup of Open Office adoption happened in 2004
Also it is worth to note that Kerala State Issued IT Policy in 2007 which clearly adopted ODF . Kerala Become first state in India adopted this change. Policy discussion were started in 2006 itself. Also Kerala was the only state which wrote to BIS to vote against OOXML in ISO Standardisation Process
Based on the above facts you can clealy identify that Anvar does not have any role in ODF adoption too. I consider this as a clear example of how award committees were misleaded by getting partial information. I just want to ask ODF alliance that what ODF related activity you have seen to award Mr. Anvar sadath.
I consider the campaign for IT@schools Free Software Adoption (ODF also Comes as a part of that) is something similar to the fight against OOXML in ISO . Alot of people amoung us were part of both of these campaigns . Both vere bottom Up collective eforts by a lot of people without central Coordination Force. Biju Prabhakar & Satyapalan sir understood that spirit in IT@School and facilitated the change. What will be the reponse if someone decided to award Sun’s CEO for fight againt OOXML .
ODF Alliance says you awarded person X for the act A . But Above facts proves that Act ‘A’ was done by another persons Y&Z . X was not on picture for that change. You can provide technical reasons of absence/mistake in Nomination by an ODF alliance member as a face saving reason. But It again points to the credibility of award and the verification of Facts by award commitee. We were trying to raise the issue in front of ODF Alliance because we value the contributions of your Organisation. we consider you act as a responsible organisation, which will take corrective measures, if the nomination sent by one of its member is misleading by providing only partial information. I really appreatiate the positive steps you suggested. I hope arun & Others must have a say on it.
Anivar Aravind
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From: Arun M
Dear Mario,
I appreciate the work being done by ODF Alliance, and importance of that organisation.
I can also understand the difficulties involved while evaluating/verifying projects from several different countries.Anivar has layed out facts behind IT@School project and indicated persons responsible for each stage.
From mail sent by Anwar Sadath, I understand that he was submitting the application on behalf IT@School and not on his behalf (Anwar pls correct if I am wrong). May be award committee mistook it for a representation from an individual.
If you go through the document sent by Anvar (which he mentioned as the document he had given to the committee) he did not make any personal claims of leadership (in ODF adoption). All the activities mentioned in that document happened under the leadership of Mr Biju Prabhakar IAS in IT@School and Prof Satyapalan in SCERT.I suggest that ODF Alliance revise the citation to recognise agencies like IT@School, SCERT, teachers who worked for the the change, individuals like Mr Biju Prabhakar and Prof Satyapalan who lead the work, along with Anwar Sadath, current Director, IT@School.
I think that credibility of an award depends on its genuineness. And we want ODF allience to be above doubts. As you also know I clearly understand the difference between free software, open source and ODF. That is the reason I said ODF was incidental to IT@School project. We would have happily lived with old staroffice format if there was no free software implementation of ODF. May be most important contribution of Kerala to ODF was recognition of ODF in policy document and letter state had sent to BIS on its position. Venky and others know the history.
This incident also highlights some weakness of process of ODF Award. A more open process would had helped all of us from this kind of embarrassing position.
Since every one agrees with the fact that it is IT@School deserves this recognition (please voice your difference, if any) as a corrective step we can work together to improve the citation of the award. If you need any help some in this group who knows entire project can volunteer.
Thank you for the positive note, and we take this award in good spirit. This award will be a major recognition to IT@School, and all the teachers, officials and volunteers who worked years for this.
Warmly,
Arun.
———-
From: Marino Marcich
Hello Arun: Sounds good. I will do a “write-up” (citation) for the award using the original nomination paper and additional information that has come to light in the subsequent email correspondence. I would then post this document on the web site and do a blog post on the citation. What is clear is that the original nomination paper got lost in translation in the press release, for which I, as drafter of the release, am solely responsible. I do hope this will clarify matters and sincerely regret any difficulties this has caused for anyone involved. Best,
Marino
From: Anvar Sadath
Date: 2009/3/29
Dear All,
First of Let me express the History of ODF Alliance Award.
On August 5th 2008, I got a mail from Mr Jaijit like this
Dear Mr Sadath,
Thank you for taking out the time to discuss the ODF adoption plans of schools in Kerala.
As discussed, we would like to nominate your initiatives for ODF adoption in schools in Kerala. I would really appreciate if you could send me a short writeup on initiatives taken by the schools in Kerala for ODF adoption in curriculum.
Please feel free to call me at 09818213076 for any clarifications. We would need this writeup by tomorrow.
With warm regards
Jaijit Bhattacharya
After seeing this mail I have responded to it by sending a document called ITSchool odf implementation-SA.odt on 06th August itself ( which is attached here with). Please see this document and you cannot find any part describing ‘Anvar Sadath’ is the man behind all these.
This was a usual practice for filing Awards and we forgot about it after months.
Later I got a mail from ODF Alliance asking for personal profile and then they declared this award.
I do attribute this to the entire teaching community and Free Software loving community of Kerala.
I took charge as the Executive Director of IT@School Project on 16th August 2008 and was instrumental in giving momentum to this initiatives, with some concrete Action Plans for implementation.
Some of such steps :
Up to 2007 March there were option for doing Practical Exams in both Windows and IT@School GNU/Linux platform, but less than 10 schools opted for IT@School GNU/Linux. As you are aware, if there is no practical evaluation the level of learning in schools wouldn’t be that much serious.
So it was an herculean task to make entire exams ( 15 lakhs students from 8th to 10th std) on Free Software within this short period. ( You all know how sensitive is our SSLC Exams). But we made it and it went without much issues in this year also.
ICT Scheme for 4071 schools which is 54 Crore per year project for the ICT Infrastructure deployment for 5 years ( Total 270 Crore). In the Tender ( which is through KELTRON) it was specifically mentioned that all hardware equipments should support our OS.
ICT Enabled Content generation using Free Softwares and extending the project to the Upper Primary classes as well ( 15 lakhs students more)
Broadband Implementation to all Schools ( It is the largest deployment of BSNL data One scheme in systems having FS, our team took so much pain to implement this)
E-Governance Programmes like Online Transfer and Postings, Online Text Book Ordering, Noon meal computerisation etc which was entirely on Free Software
( More details are available in www.itschool.gov.in )
For all these activities we are in constant touch with experts like Shri V K Sasidharan, Prof jayasankar, Shri Biju Prabhakar, Shri Sasi PM , Shri Vimal etc. Technical Institutions like SPACE ( in which I am a member of the Director Board) , CDIT, KELTRON, CDAC, IEEE, DOEACC etc also supported well.
And We shall continue this association…
Regarding Anivar’s statement
Crediting a bureaucrat who pushed to Introduce windows and Photoshop in Completely Free Software powered schools using his power position(in the name of some e-gov works http://www.gnu.org.in/fsf-india-sends-letter-to-education-minister-of ) is now awarded in the name of a collective effort done by other people & Departments like SCERT who designed the syllabus.
It’s easy to undermine some activities by calling it ‘bureaucratic’ . Last year there were some programmes like Single Window System, SSLC date collection etc in which the software development was done by agencies like NIC and IT@School didn’t have any role to play in th e development part. But even before FSF is thinking to write such a letter to the Education Minister we have decided to shift all these to Free Software platform and this year we have made it.
Our next challenge is Higher Secondary sector, for which we have started working on ..
Shall Write Later.Regards,
Anvar
From: Arun M
Dear Anvar,
Thanks for your detailed email. As you rightly corrected in the subject line, ODF award “should” have been a recognition to the academic community and the volunteers. Glad that you also endorse the position taken by some of us. Considering this, I suggest that lets all collectively demand ODF alliance to give this award to IT@school and SCERT ( State Council for Education and Training). It may be noted that Redhat India had done it properly when they awarded IT@ school for the introduction of Free Software in Education.
I hope this discussion will spark off some constructive debates on the present and future of IT@ School project. Many teachers and activists do have doubts and concerns regarding the current direction of IT@School. Earlier we used to have lots of public discussions which lead to the introduction of FS in Schools. I would also like to add that the introduction of ODF was never an aim in itself to IT@school, teachers or activists. It just happened over the process of furthering the freedom.
Warm regards
Arun M
From: Jaijit Bhattacharya
Dear Arun,
ODF Alliance is highly appreciative of the combined efforts of many stakeholders in the IT@School project.
However, the ODF Award per se is for individuals and not for projects or organizations.
The ODF alliance looks forward to supporting all your future initiatives in promoting ODF. The ODF Award is for an individual and n
From: Anvar Sadath
Dear Mr Arun,
Regarding the first paragraph, I am not the person to comment on it, let the organisers decide.
Regarding your comments aboutWe do discuss these things ( Implementation and Future Direction of ‘IT@School ) with almost all people who have ’good intention’ in this project and especially in the ‘Freedom Movement”. I don’t know who authorized you to make such a statement like ‘ Many teachers and activists do have doubts and concerns’ and I am sorry to say that we cannot take a position based on ‘somebodies personal motives’.
We do get feed backs from many parts and trying to in-coperate the suggestions and we shall continue it.If you have any doubts regarding this please ask to persons like Mr V K Sasidharan, Mr Sasi PM, Dr Achuthsankar, Mr Biju Prabhakar, Mr Satish Babu etc.
We do believe in implementing things which will ultimately benefit to the entire kerala community. We don’t believe in piloting some programme in 5-6 locations, gaining international attention, and then drop it / going for a new pilot…
Sorry, this is March end, I have lot many things to do…
Regards,
Anvar
From: Praveen A
2009/3/30 Jaijit Bhattacharya
I suggest you to clarify it in the press release, that should help
avoid confusionsFrom
http://www.odfalliance.org/blog/index.php/site/odf_alliance_awards/
“ODF Alliance awards recognize the contribution of individuals or
entities who have significantly advanced document freedom ”“or entities” seems redundant when you already say it is for
individuals and you intend to give it only for individuals.- Praveen
From: Joseph Thomas
Dear All,
Is it necessary that there shall be controversy in every thing.
Why not the free software community work in a collaborative or atleast in a contributive way.
Here what we see is a scramble for positions, recognition and awards.
If an award is given to somebody, others in the field accuse the recepient.
Why not we congratulate him and appreciate those who gave the award.Are the free software volunteers working for recognition and awards ?
Then, the very concept of voluntary work is denigrated !When an award is given for Anvar Sadath, the question being raised by Arun is why the award was not given collectively to the free software community or at least to IT@School.
Question is raised as to why the award was not given to Hon, Chief Minister of Kerala Com. V S Achuthanandan.
Please leave, atleast, Com. V S, alone.
He is not bothered about any award from theIs it mean that Anvar Sadath is at par with V S Achuthanandan or vice versa.
Please stop this type of generation of controversies, typical to the Kerala style.
As one of my non-malayalee friend pointed out, the advancement of Kerala is haunted by the controversies generated by the vested interests in the name of politics. The present Kerala society, including the free software volunteers, contending for recognition and awards, accusing the winner as well as the one who instituted the award, bear the legacy of this antogonistic positions crated by the vested interests.Let us, please, shirk off these sort of notions. Free software community has to go a long way to attain its cherished goals.
Whether it is FSF, FSF(I), SMC, IT@School, ORUMA, SPACE, OSSICS or even the industrial units that are offering services in Free Software, all are part of the movement.
It may be true that some of the individuals involved in the work or at the helm of the affairs now are from organisations that promoted proprietary software in the past. Or even who argued for it in the past. But when they correct themselves, should we, the free software community accept them into our fold ?
Should we drive them away saying that we dont want you in our fold ?
In that case how our movement can expand ?
Can all the free software activists vouch that they never used proprietary platforms ?
Those who correct their past mistakes deserve more appreciation that the one who never committed a mistake as he had no chance to do it.
I think, the arguement that those who stood for proprietary software are to condemned for ever is similiar to condemning Abdul Nasar Madani, who corrected himself of his past extremist positions.
Any way, better stop such petty controversies in the name of Free Software Ware Movement. Free Software can better be promoted through hard work for propagating it among the people and bringing more of the people who use proprietary software at present to our fold.
Such petty controversies create repulsions.
From: Praveen A
2009/3/30 Joseph Thomas :
Dialogue does not mean we are not collaborating. In the Free Software
community we may not agree with every views of each member but work on
things which we mutually accept. At the same we vocally oppose any
issues which we don’t agree with. That is the way we work. Even though
many in the community oppose using the term Open Source, and vocally
oppose those use it, that does not keep us from working together on
issues like document freedom and software patents.
Because we clearly see the award was not representative of the people
who did the actual work.
Every one may have their own motivations in involving in the Free
Software community, but that is not the point here. We are asking for
including people who were omitted, but deserved to be recognised. Also
the community is not asking to award itself, but the whole IT@School
project and SCERT.
You can’t be selectively Keralite. The high Free Software awareness in
Kerala is because of its dynamism. So you can’t expect people to be
silent when they see things are not right, especially when they have
worked hard to make it happen.
You forgot one thing, it the same Kerala that stands proud with its
deep penetration of Free Software. You don’t have to be silent to work
together. We can, and we are working together on areas we agree, and
that does not stop us from voicing our concerns and differences.
Nobody contested that point here. The debate here is to include people
who were omitted but should have been recognised. Anvar Sadath itself
recognised the collective effort.
From: Joseph Thomas
Dear All,
Despite the comments by Praveen, I still hold that free software movement in Kerala shed its antagonistic polemics within itself. One cannot be blamed if it doubts the real intention of such deliberately generated controversies.
If any body is denied its role to work within the movement, then questioning such actions are justified. But if the very freedom to work together is misused to create disputes and continue with polemics in the name of clarity of concepts or purpose, that will only lead to discrediting the movement.
This exactly is happening in Kerala.
The real force behind migration of IT@School from proprietary platform to free software platform was the KSTA, one of the teachers organisation that represent bulk of the school teachers in Kerala. It was in the back ground of state wide campaign and on the threat of trade union action by that organisation, the then UDF Govt had to agree to consider the use of free software in schools.
The same way, it was the KSEBOA & KSEBWA that spearheaded the movement for migration of its systems to free software.
None of them are claiming seniority in the use of free software. None of them claim recognition for their efforts. None of them are even referred to by those who claim the credit for every thing that happens in the realm of free software in Kerala.
Kerala Society and the government shall have dependable organisations to go for large scale use of free software. Free software movement has to establish that it is responsible and not anarchic. Such type of controversies over claim for recognition, claim for award etc shows the immaturity of the concerned or anarchic tendencies, deliberately brought in to discredit and retard the movement.
This exactly is happening in Kerala.
That has to be stopped forthwith, if the intention of the concerned is to see that free software is widely used.
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