The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : CPI(M) for free and open source software

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 04, 2007
ePaper

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

CPI(M) for free and open source software

Special Correspondent

It will be a major step towards breaking monopolisation of knowledge, says Sitaram Yechury

SHARING VIEWS: P.M. Bhargava, Vice-Chairman, National Knowledge Commission, Sitaram Yechury, MP, and Debesh Das, Minister of IT, Government of West Bengal, at the `National Convention on Free Software' in Hyderabad on Saturday. — PHOTO: K. RAM ESH BABU

HYDERABAD: Communist Party of India (Marxist) has asked the Centre to shift to free and open source software in all its e-governance applications, as it will be a major step towards breaking the `monopoly' of proprietary software that currently exists.

In schools

It also wants the Government to introduce free and open source software in the curriculum from the school level, as its absence will prevent dissemination of information to students later in their career.

"Monopoly of knowledge has become the new avenue of earning profits and there is a need to liberate the stranglehold," CPI (M) Polit Bureau member and MP Sitaram Yechury has said.

Participating in the national convention on free software organised jointly by Free Software Foundation India (FSFI) here on Saturday, Mr. Yechury said as globalisation and technological advances were integrating the world, companies were looking for new avenues for generating profits.

Sharing not uniform

While the amount of global capital was increasing progressively, the number of people between whom it was being shared was shrinking.

Coupled with this was the restriction on knowledge dissemination that was leading to the widening of digital divide. "There is a greater monopolisation of knowledge and only free software movement can ensure that the restrictions are removed," he said.

`Nexus'

FSFI chairman G. Nagarjuna said proprietary software companies were controlling dissemination of knowledge in nexus with the Government and certain bodies like Nasscom acting as `agents' between the Government and the industry. While right to encode (write) and decode (read) software should be made mandatory, there was a need to declare proprietary encoding `criminal'.

Benefits

West Bengal Minister for IT Debesh Das said there were strategic benefits with free and open source software as it would reduce imports, enhance national security and reduce copyright infringement. National Knowledge Commission vice-chairman P. M. Bhargava said the world was entering into an era of knowledge imperialism using software as an effective tool and there was a need to counter this.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh