Rahul was not a WMF scholarship recipient, he was sent by affiliate
organization CIS -A2K, which declared that they will send first 3
Wikimedians from India who were in the waiting list of WMF scholarship
recipient list, 2 of them declined to attend the conference. Instead of
arranging for the next person in the waiting list to attend the conference,
Rahul was sent without any transparency or documentation.
I repeat, this specific topic is not suitable for this mailing list as many
will not understand the perspective and community dynamics in India, and
thus the question was asked in India mailing list. I hope, further
discussions in this mailing list will be confined to the general questions
asked by Subhashis.
Regards,
Bodhisattwa
On Wed, 1 Aug 2018, 12:25 Peter Southwood, <peter.southwood(a)telkomsa.net>
wrote:
Any person not specifically banned from attendance is
“allowed” to attend
Wikimania. Do you have evidence that he was awarded a scholarship from WMF?
If not, I don’t understand what this is about.
Cheers,
Peter Southwood
*From:* Wikimania-l [mailto:wikimania-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] *On
Behalf Of *Bodhisattwa Mandal
*Sent:* 01 August 2018 08:36
*To:* Wikimania general list (open subscription)
*Subject:* Re: [Wikimania-l] Non-scholarship Wikimania support by
Wikimedia affiliates (was earlier posted on [Wikimediaindia-l] list)
Hi,
My question was not whether, the presence of Rahul was useful or not in
the Wikimania. My question was, why he was allowed to attend Wikimania
depriving other Wikimedians who were in the waiting list of scholarship
recipients in India, as the scholarship was said to be given to those who
were in the waiting list from India. Where was the documentation or
transparency? Even the WMIN EC members didn't knew about his tour. I
question about the validity of his selection over other Wikimedians from
scholarship waiting list.
Secondly, I posted the question in India mailing list, not here, because
some Indian Wikimedians are familiar with what's going on, has insight
about the matter. It would not be possible for others to understand the
scenario without knowing the perspective. So, I request to comment in India
mailing list and not here. Like other Indian Wikimedians attending the
conference, I heard many things which question if WMIN should get any
future support of volunteer community members of India or not, but that
also, I don't intend to discuss in this mailing list. I hope, someone will
definitely raise them in India mailing list soon.
So, let's start our discussion here what Subhashis wants to discuss in
general. For specific discussions related to WMIN and Rahul, the India
mailing list is open.
Thanks,
Bodhisattwa
On Wed, 1 Aug 2018, 11:28 Anirudh S. Bhati, <anirudhsbh(a)gmail.com> wrote:
This is an issue of internal governance and management. Rahul is a member
of the Executive Committee of Wikimedia India which constitutes six other
members who are collectively responsible for decision-making in the best
interests of the organization, as well as maintaining certain standards of
accountability and transparency. Has there been an attempt to bring this
to the attention of Rahul and the WMIN Executive Committee first?
That being said, I recall having a very productive meeting with Rahul at
Wikimania, who gave me a thorough appraisal of the current status of
Wikimedia India, recognizing that I am one of the founding members. My
impression is that Rahul also effectively acted as the ambassador for
Wikimedia India in several discussions, as other participants can also
probably attest. Personally, I appreciate his enthusiasm and efforts
towards keeping WMIN relevant in the broader Wikimedia movement.
On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 8:52 PM Subhashish Panigrahi <
psubhashish(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Though I’m not sure if it’d be right to take names here, but this is
probably an opportunity to discuss about:
- if there is a need for consensus when a Wikimedia affiliate provides
support to one person from another affiliate
- if an affiliate provides support if they share it on wiki for
transparency or not
- Wikimania scholarship recipients generally create Learning Patterns and
write reports. These are good practices in general but making it mandatory
for the scholarship recipients brings out a really valuable pool of
knowledge which otherwise might not be the case because of the
post-Wikimania fatigue. There is a need for more clarity if non-Wikimania
participants (individual/affiliate reps) who travel because of support from
another affiliate should also produce the same
- If an affiliate decides to provide support, should they announce
publicly (on regional mailman lists and meta/village pumps) if there is any
conflict. If there was a rationale that the former used to identify certain
individuals, should they share that as well?
I think discussing these above would be useful in general.
Bodhi, didn’t want to steal your thunder but I think some of the general
points (above) can be discussed which in someway would be useful for all
such future supports.
Subhashish
Begin forwarded message:
*From:* Bodhisattwa Mandal <bodhisattwa.rgkmc(a)gmail.com>
*Date:* July 27, 2018 at 12:32:20 PM GMT+5:30
*To:* wikimediaindia-l <wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
*Subject:* *[Wikimediaindia-l] Wikimania tour of Rahul Desmukh*
*Reply-To:* Wikimedia India Community list <
wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Hi,
WMIN chapter president Rahul Deshmukh attended Wikimania 2018 in Cape Town
without being selected for any type of scholarship. My question is why was
he sent to the conference depriving other community members from India who
were in the waiting list.
He spoke in the informal chairpersons' meetup for few minutes. The meeting
doesn't require president of the organization's presence, and already there
were 2 EC member of WMIN present, who could have attended the meeting.
To me, this is utter misuse of power and abuse of donation money.
Thanks,
Bodhisattwa
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