Hi, There is a factual error. I am not employed with Prajavani. I write just one column per week as freelancer. Regards, Pavanaja *From:* wikimedia-in-blr-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org [mailto: wikimedia-in-blr-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org] *On Behalf Of *Srikanth Ramakrishnan *Sent:* 13 May 2014 12:50 *To:* Wikimedia India Community list *Cc:* Kannada Wikipedia Discussion List wikikn-l(a)wikipedia.org; Mailing list for Wikimedians / Wikipedians in Bangalore, India *Subject:* Re: [Wikimedia-in-blr] [Wikimediaindia-l] On CIS's grants request from Wikimedia Foundation Hi all, I have one important question here. The Foreign Contribution Regulatory Act prohibits money received from abroad to be used as payments or salaries to anyone employed with the press or media. I believe Dr. Pavanaja is a columnist for Prajavani. How does this work out? It's just a preemptive question. On 12 May 2014 17:45, Hari Prasad Nadig <hpnadig(a)gmail.com> wrote: Fellow Wikimedians, As you all know, Center for Internet and Society, Bangalore has sought funding of about *1.8 Crores* through the FDC process from Wikimedia Foundation to carry out work on seven local language projects in India that includes Kannada, Telugu among others. [1] The funds primarily cover the salaries of the people belonging to the CIS-A2K team among other administrative expenses and other expenses as outlined on their proposal page. The proposal was up for Community review and comments until April 30th and many have recorded their response about it [2]. Several community members have come forward in pointing out that the staff salaries being paid and that being proposed - are quite on the higher side (which is up to 2.4 Lakhs per month per person). Apart from the concerns on extremely high salaries for Indian norms of the team members of CIS-A2K team, there have been some serious concerns raised about some apparent Conflict of Interest [3] and non-compliance with the local laws (mainly Karnataka Societies act and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act). However, looks like the proposal has moved forward through the FDC process for funding despite the concerns raised and has gotten through to the next stage. More concerns have now been raised by several community members on the Staff Assessment discussion page here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/… I invite you to participate in the discussion and help steer this in the right direction. [1] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_C… [2] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/… [3] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_J… Thank you, -- Hari Prasad Nadig http://hpnadig.net http://twitter.com/hpnadig http://flickr.com/hpnadig _______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Regards, Srikanth Ramakrishnan, What goes around, may not necessarily come around, it may simply bounce back. Please sign this petition for Volvo buses in Coimbatore: https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/the-transport-minister-tamil-nadu-in… _______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Dear Pavanaja, Please correct me if I'm wrong. You have received an annual compensation of about *17 Lakhs* last year (that also excludes travel and other reimbursements) as per the declaration made by Vishnu on the talk page of this proposal [1]. This came from the funds granted to CIS that was received from WMF through FCRA. And this will be increased by 20% for this year? Further, for Kannada alone, *12.3 Lakhs* seem to be set aside out of which you seem to be the primary beneficiary. [2] And all this while, you have been a columnist for Prajavani. This seems to be a clear violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act as outlined by Srikanth on the copied email. Regards, [1] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/… [2] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_J… On 13 May 2014 22:29, Srikanth Ramakrishnan &lt;rsrikanth05(a)gmail.com <mailto:rsrikanth05@gmail.com>> wrote: Pavanaja, as per the FCRA: 3. (1) No foreign contribution shall be accepted by any- (g) association or company engaged in the production or broadcast of audio news or audio visual news or current affairs programmes through any electronic mode, or any other electronic form as defined in clause ® of sub-section (I) of section 2 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 or any other mode of mass communication; (h) correspondent or columnist, cartoonist, editor, owner of the association or company referred to in clause (g). Writing a weekly column, as a freelancer makes one a columnist. * * * * On 13 May 2014 15:52, Pavanaja U B &lt;pavanaja(a)vishvakannada.com <mailto:pavanaja@vishvakannada.com>> wrote: Hi, There is a factual error. I am not employed with Prajavani. I write just one column per week as freelancer. Regards, Pavanaja *From:*wikimedia-in-blr-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimedia-in-blr-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org> [mailto:wikimedia-in-blr-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimedia-in-blr-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org>] *On Behalf Of *Srikanth Ramakrishnan *Sent:* 13 May 2014 12:50 *To:* Wikimedia India Community list *Cc:* Kannada Wikipedia Discussion List wikikn-l(a)wikipedia.org <mailto:wikikn-l@wikipedia.org>; Mailing list for Wikimedians / Wikipedians in Bangalore, India *Subject:* Re: [Wikimedia-in-blr] [Wikimediaindia-l] On CIS's grants request from Wikimedia Foundation Hi all, I have one important question here. The Foreign Contribution Regulatory Act prohibits money received from abroad to be used as payments or salaries to anyone employed with the press or media. I believe Dr. Pavanaja is a columnist for Prajavani. How does this work out? It's just a preemptive question. On 12 May 2014 17:45, Hari Prasad Nadig &lt;hpnadig(a)gmail.com <mailto:hpnadig@gmail.com>> wrote: Fellow Wikimedians, As you all know, Center for Internet and Society, Bangalore has sought funding of about *1.8 Crores* through the FDC process from Wikimedia Foundation to carry out work on seven local language projects in India that includes Kannada, Telugu among others. [1] The funds primarily cover the salaries of the people belonging to the CIS-A2K team among other administrative expenses and other expenses as outlined on their proposal page. The proposal was up for Community review and comments until April 30th and many have recorded their response about it [2]. Several community members have come forward in pointing out that the staff salaries being paid and that being proposed - are quite on the higher side (which is up to 2.4 Lakhs per month per person). Apart from the concerns on extremely high salaries for Indian norms of the team members of CIS-A2K team, there have been some serious concerns raised about some apparent Conflict of Interest [3] and non-compliance with the local laws (mainly Karnataka Societies act and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act). However, looks like the proposal has moved forward through the FDC process for funding despite the concerns raised and has gotten through to the next stage. More concerns have now been raised by several community members on the Staff Assessment discussion page here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/… I invite you to participate in the discussion and help steer this in the right direction. [1] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_C… [2] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/… [3] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_J… Thank you, -- Hari Prasad Nadig http://hpnadig.net http://twitter.com/hpnadig http://flickr.com/hpnadig _______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Regards, Srikanth Ramakrishnan, What goes around, may not necessarily come around, it may simply bounce back. Please sign this petition for Volvo buses in Coimbatore: https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/the-transport-minister-tamil-nadu-in… _______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Regards, Srikanth Ramakrishnan, What goes around, may not necessarily come around, it may simply bounce back. Please sign this petition for Volvo buses in Coimbatore: https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/the-transport-minister-tamil-nadu-in… _______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Hari Prasad Nadig http://hpnadig.net http://twitter.com/hpnadig http://flickr.com/hpnadig _______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Vishnu, There have been detailed discussion on how the salaries seem to overshadow everything else in CIS's proposal of *1.8 Crore*. And it is not just me, many other community members who have logged their comment there have felt that the salaries are quite extravagant to Indian standards. Even the staff assessment takes note of this. You yourself seem to be drawing around *24 Lakhs *per annum (which is 2 Lakhs per month!) that excludes travel and reimbursements as declared by you. [1] I'm pretty sure even the readers on this mailing list recognize that these are pretty huge salaries that we're talking about for Indian standards in non-profits for the responsibilities outlined.

Further, on the FCRA compliance issues, the compliance to Karnataka Societies Act and the concerns about Conflict of Interest - there are apparently some grave issues *which require that more documentation is made public* by the CIS as stated by me at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/… and at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/…

I'm afraid that just the explanations may not suffice here as the concerns are serious in nature. I sincerely hope that you shall open up the documents for at least the sake of transparency.

Vishnu, //Please note that CIS has never kept its documents closed to open them again. // //We had also thrown open all our document to the general public for scrutiny during May 2013. I have written to members on this list and other Wikimedia lists, inviting them to come and scrutinize all our documents during this Open Week.// Please let me know when is this open week for 2014.

I would like to come and have a look at the MoU you signed with WMF.

Since WMF is silent on answering crucial questions on the MoU, could you please answer one question: What is the exit clause for your working partnership with WMF?

[..snip..] On 14 May 2014 12:53, Vishnu &lt;visdaviva(a)gmail.com <mailto:visdaviva@gmail.com>> wrote: Please note that CIS has never kept its documents closed to open them again. CIS gets its financial and institutional documents scrutinized every year and reports to multiple authorities as part of various statutory compliances. [...] Noted. Kindly make the following documents public: 1. Information about the AGMs and elections held by CIS for its governing body for all these years. 2. Latest copy of the Memorandum of Association as filed with the Registrar of Societies, Karnataka (as mandated by Clause 13 of the Karnataka Societies Registration act). 3. The annual filings of CIS with the Registrar of Societies, Karnataka for all these years. 4. The property ownership documents of the premises where CIS office works from. 5. The MoU signed by CIS with WMF. 6. The FCRA certification and compliance related documents.

In that case, you could perhaps provide the rental agreement made and signed by CIS with the owner? And perhaps the electricity bill (which specifies the name of the owner)?