On Friday 11 April 2003 03:13 pm, Dileep M. Kumar wrote:
On Fri, Apr 11, 2003 at 02:28:43PM +0530, Suraj Kumar wrote:
I'm sure communism will not happen in india, given the amount of damage US did to the face of communism by pointing its fingers at badly implemented communism in countries such as the Soviet Union, thanks to Stalin.
The so-called communist people in Kerala is as worst as other parties, in their attitude towards foreign MNCs/Corporates. They shamelessly change their opinion/deeds if they get their contribution.
And to top it all, the IKM project was made to own up by the CPI(M) of Kerala, to send a signal, that the left parties have abandoned their anti-imperialist stand and that they are not against such 'developments'. A lot of the 'left leaders' were made to either 'write' or 'speak' in favour of the same project, a sort of trap laid by the same 'intellectual technical brains' that not only conceived the project, but also, studied the minutest detail of how 'bureaucracy works (both within the political party as well as in government)' to make the 'project', a Government project, or rather in their own words, "a people's project".
This 'project' is now turning out to be the technical base for all other departments, who have to share data with citizen database. This was the 'killing blow' invented by the 'project leaders', subsequently claimed by them to be the world's largest database deployment on MS platforms, wherein, the database needs to be linked with all other prime departments, once accepted by Government, eventually ensuring that all subsequent departmental computerisation would be on MS platforms.
Hence wherever some kind of 'user interface' is planned for computerisation, every technical committee would end up eventually recommending MS. While 'they' would try to silence the dissent, occasionally throwing some 'nuts' like the one Satish Babu mentioned earlier (in a Public Works Dept, which has nothing to do with citizen database), where Free Software would technically be part of some Government project, even if it is to serve the purpose for namesake only, the lion's share is 'reserved' for MS, and that is exactly where the Government of Kerala is heading.
Moreover, since the project was later co-opted by the present Government, this will not be politically challenged in any 'democratic institution' or at any 'democratic forum' and even if it does, the purpose would be to contain the dissenting voices. In my opinion, this can be countered only through public opinion where perhaps 'media' can play a positive role. We can use this list for clarifying our position through discussions, but eventually it has to be followed up by 'action' that can attract the 'media' and 'public conscience'.
CK Raju