The first and only state to move completely at Free Software was Kerala
and
this was primarily due to the direct action by the Left-backed Kerala School Teachers Association http://kstakerala.in/ and supported by
local FS
activists.
Thanks Vikram for the update. Any more direct links on this? I am not finding much data on this. ICFOSS seems to claim the credits.
I am not sure how you missed "ICFOSS has been registered as a Society. The first Director of ICFOSS took charge from 1 March 2011." from http://icfoss.in/
The IT@School project by the Kerala govt was active much before 2001 and while initially suggesting proprietary software later moved to Free Software with KSTA's direct intervention
Papers discussing different aspects of the IT@school project are http://www.itforchange.net/sites/default/files/ITfC/PPP%20vs%20integrated%20... and http://espace.library.curtin.edu.au/cgi-bin/espace.pdf?file=/2013/03/15/file...
I think the metrics to measure who made the biggest impact on FOSS in India would vary a lot as the contributions have been different. For example, KSTA has been active in promoting Free Software for quite a while and has directly impacted Government policy and adoption of FS in all aspects of education in Kerala. http://www.thehindu.com/2005/02/01/stories/2005020110210300.htm
I am sure that somebody must have done a study on the impact of FOSS.in