[Reader-list] Corrupt Rajasthan Govt 's ant-FOSS actions

[A. Mani]

Update on the corrupt Rajasthan Govt 's ant-FOSS actions.

Also see : http://www.jagran.com/rajasthan/jaipur-10160989.html


Best

A. Mani


--
A. Mani
CU, ASL, AMS, CLC, CMS
http://www.logicamani.in




____________Forwarded message____________________________


From: Guru गुरु <Guru at itforchange.net>
Date: Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 5:49 PM
Subject: [fosscomm] Press release for "Letter to Rajasthan Government
on Tender document for purchase of laptops"
To: Fosscom Network <network at fosscom.in>


Please share widely in your media networks...
regards,
Guru
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Please find enclosed a press release concerning a letter sent to the
Government of Rajasthan for a tender floated by the Government for the
purchase of laptops pre-loaded with proprietary software. The letter
requests the government to re-consider distribution of laptops to
students without appropriate teacher preparation, and to consider Free
and Open Source Software as a possible alternative to proprietary
software.

The tender document, press release (also produced below) and the
letter can  be accessed from the following link:
http://itforchange.net/Letter_Rajasthan_government_Laptop_purchase_feb2013

Request you to kindly do the needful.

For Immediate release

February 22, 2013

Eminent educationists across the country have strongly criticised the
recent move of the Government of Rajasthan to provide 112,000 laptops
to students, pre-loaded with proprietary software applications such as
Microsoft Office 2010 Professional and Adobe Acrobat Professional and
have written to the Education Minister advising against this move. Dr
Vinod Raina, member of the Central Advisory Board of Education, an
advisory body to MHRD, said “The decision of the Rajasthan Government
violates the National Policy on ICT in School Education passed by the
Central Advisory Board for Education.” The National ICT Policy clearly
recommends the use of a wide variety free and open source software
applications for its rich learning potential.

These are many high quality FOSS alternatives to the Adobe and
Microsoft proprietary applications specified in the bid document, and
Gurumurthy Kasinathan, Director of IT for Change said “the government
can save anywhere between 50 to 100 crore rupees on this laptop
procurement by going for FOSS”. The letter points out that large
states such as Kerala, Karnataka and Gujarat are using these FOSS
applications in their ICT programmes in schools and their benefits
have been acknowledged by a CABE sub-committee on ICTs and education.
This committee has also pointed to the danger of the “appropriateness
of proprietary software in terms of pedagogy, equity and larger public
interest... more so because information about these technologies is
mostly spread by their vendors, whose major concern, understandably,
is to sell them more and more”.

The letter states that apart from economic considerations, the use of
software that teachers cannot share or modify based on local needs
will be educationally inadvisable. Dr Rohit Dhankar, Digantar member
of the National Curricular Framework, 2005 focus group, said, 'Imagine
a carpenter who cannot sharpen or modify his tools in any way. This
person will be totally governed in his work-style and work-habits by
the tool manufacturers; and would almost be a slave to their ways of
thinking about how carpentry can be done. Anyone using computers on a
predetermined set of unchangeable operating systems is likely to be a
bigger slave in ways of thinking and using computers as the software
developers want him to do. Most of us are slaves of these soft-ware
companies, and therefore, find it very hard to imagine alternative
ways.' The letter also suggests that merely distributing laptops to
students is unlikely to have significant benefits in the absence of
systemic preparation including teacher training and local
infrastructure maintenance.

The bid document of the Rajasthan Government as well as the letter to
the Minister are available on

http://itforchange.net/Letter_Rajasthan_government_Laptop_purchase_feb2013




Thanks and Regards,
Neeru
09916893596

Neeru Malhotra
________________________________
Research Assistant
IT for Change
In special consultative status with the United Nations ECOSOC
www.ITforChange.net