Free Software Foundation of India

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Contents 1 FSF India 2 The FSF India Logo 3 Structure 3.1 Board of Directors 3.2 Working Group 3.3 Webmasters 4 See also 5 Notes 6 External links

[edit] FSF India

The Free Software Foundation of India, is a sister organisation to the Free Software Foundation. It was founded in Thiruvananthapuram(Trivandrum), the capital of Kerala in 2001,^[1] as a non-profit organization.^[2] The FSF advocates to promote the use and development of free software in India. This includes educating people about free and open source software and how it can help the economy of a developing country like India. FSF India regards non-free software as not a solution, but a problem to be solved. Free software is sometimes locally called swatantra software in India.

In 2003, after meeting with FSF founder Richard Stallman, the President of India Dr. Abdul Kalam^{[3] [4]} urged Indian computer scientists and professionals to use free and open source software ^[5] in research and development.^[6]

[edit] The FSF India Logo

The left side of the FSF India logo resembles the famed Ashoka Chakra, that also appears on the Indian national flag, while it's right half is a depiction of a compact disk. The combination of both symbols is intended to draw attention to the similarity between political freedom and free software, the latter of which the FSF promotes.

The Ashoka Chakra, in addition to being a long standing Hindu symbol of time, also resembles Mahatma Gandhi's charkha (spinning wheel) and thus in the current context, may symbolize the Indian independence movement which resulted in India's freedom from British occupation.

[edit] Structure

[edit] Board of Directors

• Nagarjuna G., Chairman
• Arun M., Secretary

[edit] Working Group

• Anand Babu
• Abhas Abhinav
• Baishampayan Ghose
• Frederick Noronha
• Jitendra Shah
• kg
• Kiran Chandra
• Mahesh T Pai
• Ramanraj
• Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay
• Sasi PM
• Sayamindu Dasgupta
• sb
• Sunil Mohan Adapa
• Suraj
• Tathagata Banerjee
• V. Sasi Kumar
• Warren Brian Noronha

[edit] Webmasters

• Anivar Aravind
• Baishampayan Ghose
• Sayamindu Dasgupta
• Sunil Mohan Adapa

[edit] See also

• Free Software Foundation
• Richard Stallman
• Abdul Kalam

[edit] Notes

1. ^ FSF-I inaugurated in Thiruvananthapuram by Dr. Richard M. Stallman
2. ^ The What, Why and When of Free Software in India
3. ^ Stallman Goes to India
4. ^ Kalam, Stallman discuss open source software
5. ^ Indian President Advises Open Source Approach
6. ^ Opt for open source codes for better software security: Kalam

[edit] External links

• Free Software Foundation of India Home
• A LinuxJournal interview with FSF-India team members
• Slashdot and Hindu articles (dated 2002) regarding Stallman's visit to India.
• Slashdot and Hindu articles (dated 2002) regarding Dr. Kalam's endorsement of free software.