CPIM Supports Free Software in Their Manifesto

Dear All,

The political support for Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)
continues  to increase.

The CPI(M) manifesto released on the 16th of March calls for the
promotion of FOSS. The manifesto can be accessed at
http://www.cpim.org/manifesto.pdf

Following are some of the highlights of the policy -

• Promoting free software and other such new technologies, which are
free from monopoly ownership through copyrights or patents;
• Scrapping the Public Funded R&D Bill, that seeks to allow patenting
of products that are developed through public funded laboratories
• Revamping the functioning of the Patent offices to ensure strict
adherence to the Indian Patent Act; Stop training and orientation of
Indian Patent office personnel by the US and European Patent offices

With key parties from both the left and the right end of the political
spectrum  endorsing FOSS, the Congress is left as the only major
national party which is yet to formally take a position on FOSS. One
hopes that the Congress too will soon extend its support for free
software when it releases its own manifesto next week, and explicitly
acknowledge the significant political, socio-cultural and economic
advantages of FOSS over proprietary software platforms. During last
UPA govt some initiatives to adopt Free Software and Open standards
are already happened such as Knowledge Commission report supporting
FOSS in Governance & Education, 11th 5 year plan endorsing FOSS to
counter digital divide & National Draft Policy on Open standards for
E-Governance. Also the threat of Software patents came up during last
UPA regime.  Hope Congress will continue the support to Free software
and Open standards by clearly stating it on their election manifesto.
Also the stand on software patents is also getting important .  (See
http://public-software.in/FOSS-manifesto for a call from the Network
of the FOSS Community in India (http://fosscom.in ) to the political
parties, to recognise the advantages of FOSS in their election
manifestos).


Thanks,
Anivar Aravind


--
Any responsible politician should be encouraging a home grown Free
Software industry because it creates the basis for future jobs.
Learning Windows is like learning to eat every meal at McDonalds.
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