http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/10/stories/2009041055960900.htm

The BJP’s awkward embrace of Free Software

Deepa Kurup

The party’s discovery of the virtues of OS would appear to sit uncomfortably with its slogan “Let a hundred Bangalores bloom.”

The IT manifesto of the Bharatiya Janata Party has created ripples among software circles with its support for Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), and its opposition to “digital standards.” While the Kerala government has a policy that makes the use of FOSS in government and education mandatory, Tamil Nadu has implemented it in a few departments. Left parties have for long backed the Free Software movement politically. It is surprising that the BJP, with its strong pro-corporate and pro-patent leanings, should back this cause.

Even as the Free Software community is celebrating this latest endorsement, sceptics among its ranks are cautious about taking the BJP’s promises at face value. Its track record, when in power at the Centre and in the States, provides grounds for these misgivings.

Consider this. As late as January 2009, the BJP government in Gujarat, led by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, inked a deal with the global proprietary software giant Microsoft that includes a Microsoft-developed IT curriculum for high school students, teacher training, certification programmes, and offers free Microsoft software development tools to universities.

Less than two months on, the party manifesto in its “eEducation” section declares: “We will actively promote Free and Open Source Software, including operating systems, which will introduce the habit of innovation (‘tinkering’) among students.” In fact, in 2006 the BJP government in Rajasthan signed a similar deal with Microsoft under Project Shiksha, and in 2004, the BJP-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka, tied up with proprietary giant for education and e-governance initiatives.

Prabir Purkayastha of the Delhi Science Forum feels the manifesto reflects the “blinkered vision” of the BJP, which has “never taken an anti-monopoly stance.” Dr. Purkayastha points out how Free Software circles are abuzz with an interesting anomaly in L.K. Advani’s speech at the manifesto launch: “Mr. Advani referred to how impressed he was on his visit to the Microsoft Office in the U.S. He did not see the stark contradiction, as he proudly reflected on the number of Indians present there!”

FOSS activists, however, hope this means increased visibility for their cause, considering a large number of National E-governance Missions are in the pipeline, for which Rs. 6000 crore has been earmarked in the 11th Five Year Plan. The 40-page document also promises to set up an “IT standards-setting body,” carving it out of the Bureau of Indian Standards, and promises all government software will conform to these “open standards.”

Venkitesh Hariharan, a senior Red Hat official, says: “It is significant because so far there hasn’t been any conscious effort towards policy making. Public data and websites have been in both proprietary and open format.” Digital standards

As for their new stance on “digital standards” — that is, proprietary claims on algorithms and software programmes — the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government, notably, was the first to amend the Patent Act in March 1999 and in June 2002 as part of the WTO agreement under Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The seemingly innocuous phrase “software per se,” which the NDA government introduced into section 3(K) of the Indian Patents Act, was a loophole through which software could be brought under a patenting regime from a copyright one.

According to Dr. Purkayastha, the amendments had nothing to do with TRIPS which does not even include software or computer programmes in its ambit. “A 2004 ordinance provided for patenting of computer programmes used in combination with hardware. Later, while in the opposition the BJP opposed the bill — even though it was virtually drafted by their Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley. It was presented without any changes,” he says. This was revoked in 2005 by the United Progressive Alliance under pressure from the Left.

Corporates such as IT majors Infosys and TCS have long lobbied for patents. When contacted, a senior spokesperson from Microsoft, a company that will be hit hardest by an OS regime, told The Hindu that the company is “encouraged by the focus on IT by political parties,” describing the policy of the Government of India as one of “technology neutrality.”

The BJP’s discovery of the virtues of OS would appear to sit uncomfortably with its slogan “Let a hundred Bangalores bloom.”