Response of Professionals in IKM

A Response of Professionals^[i] in Information Kerala Mission to the points raised in the study commissioned by the Free Software Foundation

I. A few questions to whom ethics and truth is a way of life

1. A study titled ‘Information Kerala Mission - Vision, Mission and Reality’ has been commissioned by the Free Software Foundation and clandestinely circulated to the press and electronic media from 16 July onwards. No copy of the document is yet available on the web site of the Free Software Foundation[iii]. We[iv] had approached Shri Arun M., Secretary of the Free Software Foundation, for a copy of the report by e-mail immediately after the reports started appearing in the media. The document was however made available to IKM eleven days after release to the media. Why is there such a veil of secrecy around this report? Why is the Free Software Foundation which vouches for freedom of thought and expression behaving in a very scheming and cunning manner and remaining reluctant to part with the information gathered by them?

2. The Free Software Foundation which officially participated in a one to one with the Executive Mission Director, Information Kerala Mission on the findings of the study in the News Hour programme on Asianet on 18 July by deputing one of the authors of the study Shri R. Dinesh, interestingly has later gone back saying that Free Software Foundation is not directly involved in the study and that only some functionaries of FSF have participated in the study[v]. Why again an unusually crafty and dubious somersault over the ownership of the study report?

3. The report of the study conducted in May is still a draft even after it has been leaked out to the press and the authors came out openly in the media in defence of the report. If it is still a draft what was the urgency in circulating the draft. Was it for misleading the Honourable Members of the Legislature, which was in session, or was it the notification of the tender for LSGI computerisation by KSIDC, which was so pressing on the authors?[vi] Is it professional to take the public for a ride with fiction and falsehoods which an organisation and the authors themselves cannot defend academically and professionally? Is there a focused attempt to go back on the distortions and to later say that mistakes were inadvertently made?

4. The draft report which is supposed to be a case study of the pilots at Vellanad and other Grama Panchayats is very vague and weak in its methodology.[vii] The report is purposefully silent about how many field visits were done, what was the scope of the study, objectives, what were the sources of data, what was the sampling criteria, method of analysis etc. The study is strikingly hushed about the identity or the profile of persons which the study team approached for information, particulars of who furnished the data, what is the expertise and profile of the persons who responded to their questions, what was the questionnaire circulated for conducting the study etc. On our enquiry, we understand that nobody had formally approached the Local Self Government Institutions for any information, and that somebody had visited Vellanad, Madavoor and Vilavoorkal Grama Panchayat offices in the pretext that they are from IKM, and had asked some staff members to show them the systems. Why this anonymity and why this purposeful and deliberate attempt to cover up the sources of information in a study undertaken in public interest? Why was undercover and surreptitious methods used copiously in the study? Is this the manner in which a study by professionals is to be conducted?

5. Malicious and defamatory statements aimed at tarnishing individuals have also started coming up immediately after the FSF report was leaked out. Does the FSF own this up also? Why should FSF play into the hands of anybody who is bent on tarnishing and slandering individuals and institutions? Whose interests is FSF protecting by taking up insidious and slanderous campaigns? Does this go along with the FSF code of ethics on public enlightenment and professional integrity? Or is the study itself only a cover-up for nefarious designs in the offing?

[i] IKM is a collective and the professionals in IKM undertake activites together. Everyone in IKM has contrtibuted to this. The role of the authors have been only to consolidate and to strtucture the responses into a document.

[ii] A.Shaji, Joint Director of Information Kerala Mission is on deputation from Keltron, is certified ISO auditor, and has more than twenty one years experience in ICT.

Ram Mohan R.K., Joint Director and Head of Software Development Division has more than twelve years of experience in BHEL and SEI-CMM Level 5 certified companies in Technopark.

Sajith S., Project Coordinator, IKM, is post graduate from IRMA and has more than ten years experience in participative technology development.

K. Premkumar, Team Leader (Technical Support & Infrastructure) is on deputation from the Agency for Non-conventional Energy & Rural Technology (ANERT) and has more than eleven years experience in ICT.

K. Anvar Sadath, Senior Project Associate and District Coordinator Malappuram, IKM is a noted columnist on ICT and was District Programme Officer for the Akshaya Project in Malappuram.