Sir, I have been editing in wikipedia and uploading pics on wikimedia. and
use them for my articles.
I'm an editor for kannada language wikipedia.(Radhatanaya)
I'm an editor for english mediam wikipedia. (Ragakuvara)
I have contributed more than 900+ articles for kannada.
For english nearly 10-12 articles. all approved.
This information I have given in my page. Why I have been banned. Please
try to help me. I'm very hardworking and faithful person. I have not done
any adverse work. I was a technical offier (Retired in 2004) in a reknowned
Research organisation for cotton !
Please help me so that I can upload photos and fix them for the articles I
write both in kannada & English
Regards,
-Holalkere rangarao laxmivenkatesh
Mumbai-400084
M : 9004356819
M : 9867606819
Hello everyone,
Wikimedia projects are supported by you—a network of generous
individual volunteers, groups, and organizations around the world.
Together, you collaboratively enrich, grow, and advance the Wikimedia
projects and free knowledge mission.
You may have heard about the Affiliations Committee’s decision to
recommend the de-recognition of Wikimedia India. Some community
members have asked what this means for the future of WIkimedia
communities in India. We want to share more information about the
AffCom decision, and reaffirm our commitment to and support for our
many communities across India.
The Affiliations Committee is a community-run body of volunteers that
represents and supports Wikimedia affiliates. After several years of
working with Wikimedia India to bring its activities in line with
chapter requirements [1], the Affiliations Committee recommended in
June 2019 that the Wikimedia Foundation not renew the chapter
agreement.
Wikimedia India was first recognized as a chapter in 2011. In 2015, it
experienced difficulties meeting chapter agreement obligations.
Working with the Affiliations Committee and the Foundation, the
chapter developed a plan of action and returned to good standing by
2017. However, between 2017 and 2019 the chapter was unable to secure
a license to act as a fiduciary organization, and is not currently
legally registered as a charity in India to accept funding from the
Foundation. The Foundation and Affiliations Committee both hope that
this licensing and registration can be secured, and that the chapter
will again be eligible for recognition.
We are grateful for the vibrant, growing community in India who has
shown great leadership and created significant impact within our
global movement. The Foundation currently supports eight Indic
language community user groups, and we expect two more to be announced
by AffCom in the coming weeks. We receive more than 700 million
pageviews to Wikipedia every month from readers in India, and the
growth of the Indic community is a top priority for the future of
Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects.
The Republic of India is of great importance to the Wikimedia
movement. The Wikimedia Foundation remains committed to supporting
volunteer editors, contributors, readers, and donors across India.
We’re grateful for all of your continued and growing efforts to
support Wikimedia projects and our free knowledge mission. We look
forward to continuing our work with you together.
On behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation,
Valerie D’Costa
Chief of Community Engagement
Wikimedia Foundation
You can help translate this message on Meta. [2]
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Requirements
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:CKoerner_(WMF)/Support_for_our_communi…
Sent by Chris Koerner (he/him)
Community Relations Specialist
Wikimedia Foundation
Hello,
Hope this email finds you well. The preparation of Wikimania 2019 is going
on, and we hope to see enthusiastic participation from India this year as
well.
You know that in addition to the main Wikimania scholarship, there has been
a practice to offer scholarships to Wikimedians from India. The practice
was started by Wikimedia India, and currently, CIS-A2K is working on this.
CIS-A2K has consulted Wikimedia India Chapter and is happy to announce that
This year 2 Wikimedians from Indian will be given support to attend
Wikimania.
Following are the criteria:
1.
The participants are selected based on the points they received from
Wikimania selection committee set up by WMF. They shared the list with us.
2.
Applicants who received scholarship earlier and attended past Wikimanias
are not selected in favour of applicants who never got a chance to attend.
3.
We have ensured 1 female participation in this list.
Based on these criteria User:User:Indrajitdas and
User:User:Dhanalakshmi_.K._T for Wikimania 2019 are selected.
We have already contacted them and they have accepted the invitation. The
required documents have been sent to the Wikimedians, and hope they will
get their visa very soon.
We are unable to support a partial scholarship for budgetary constraints.
Thanks and Regards,
*ANANTH SUBRAY P V*
Programme Associate at The Centre for Internet & Society
<https://cis-india.org/a2k/cis-a2k>
Secretary of Wikipedia & Education User Group
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_%26_Education_User_Group>
Co-founder of Lakshya
<https://www.facebook.com/lakshyaforchange/?eid=ARDO9f7NCVPHN1bsF2mChlPDM4qS…>
+91-9739811664
Congratulations all the friends from Wikipedians of Goa UG. I have
beautiful memories of knowing and working closely with some of you when I
was at CIS-A2K. Look forward to seeing you flourish and happy to
collaborate with you in a volunteer capacity. :)
Subhashish
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Kirill Lokshin <kirill.lokshin(a)gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jul 31, 2019 at 9:11 PM
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Recognition of the Wikipedians of Goa User Group
To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, Wikimedia
Movement Affiliates discussion list <affiliates(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Hi everyone!
I'm very happy to announce that the Affiliations Committee has recognized
[1] the Wikipedians of Goa User Group [2] as a Wikimedia User Group. The
group aims to build content related to Goa in all possible languages, to
conduct Wikipedia-related training in Goa, and to help build and sustain
the Konkani Wikipedia.
Please join me in congratulating the members of this new user group!
Regards,
Kirill Lokshin
Chair, Affiliations Committee
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Resolutions/Recognit…
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedians_of_Goa_User_Group
_______________________________________________
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
<mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
Hi,
As part of my job to support Wikidata community members in India, I have
created a coordination page for capacity building where volunteers can
request to enhance Wikidata related skills and someone from the community
can respond to the request. From my side, I will actively respond to the
requests, coordinate with other experts to respond if the request is beyond
my capacity to handle and also learn any new skills whenever possible.
The skill sharing will be 1;1 or mass session as per need. It will be
mostly online, thus reducing the expenditure and carbon footprint for
conducting an offline event.
The page can be found here -
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_India/Skill_sharing
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_India/skill_sharing>
Your active participation is highly appreciated.
Regards,
Bodhisattwa
Dear Krill,
Thanks for writing & finally opening up to the community on this topic. Let
me add some more to this, so that the global community can understand the
actual situation Wikimedia India (WMIN) is in now right now, in a more
in-depth way.
Ofcourse, before going forward I need to mention very clearly that the
contents of what, I am writing below, is in my personal capacity as a
volunteer.
While Affcom continues to claim, India Chapter lacks capacity, WMIN would
continue to contest all its reports are in order (
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Reports/Wikimedia_India#…
) and let's not forget they are zero-budget.and also self-financed. Your
letter further says that the board had abdicated from communication and
handed over to Abhinav. The board had also previously communicated with the
Affcom on their suspension notice stating it has been on flawed basis and
made in secrecy. What Abhinav has essentially asked is to put all
information in public domain and let it be for the community to review.
Everyone might not know, but Abhinav has been a board member earlier &
everything has been briefed to him with facts as cited in previous mail.
Affcom initially in their private mail and now today continue to ignore
facts on transparency and continue to blame change in communication
leadership
Why can't Affcom reply on facts and evidences and also be transparent ?
To make our global audience more aware on the situation of not-for-profits
organisations in India, I would want them to see this article <
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/07/democracies-need-a-little-help-from-th…
>.
There are truckloads of many more such information, on trouble with the
government. Since 2015, not-for profit organisations are under severe
scrutiny and I myself have had police officials doing check up on me at my
work place. Of course, as volunteers , we are ready to undergo these
hardships, for the betterment of the movement. But when we don't receive
basic mutual respect as an organisation from WMF, that's when it becomes
discouraging.
I was communicating with AffCom since we received the suspension notice in
November 2018 and I was also leading the April 2019 Con-call . I honestly
think that the any communication that happens between two individuals or
groups, goes ahead with mutual respect for one another. When we provide
justifications on mail, they don't reply us and ask us to be on Con-Call,
on con-call they hear us but don't take anything in action and our
responses on con-call remain not documented.
I did not see that respect from WMF to WMIN and I don't blame them, since
they have the other affiliate Centre of Internet & Society (CIS-A2K) , an
affiliate who has all paid employees , working full time on Wikimedia
projects in India.
If it were any other country,where WMIN was the sole affiliate, our voice
would have been better heard better and we would have been treated better.
Our annual reports were only delayed by 3.5 months due to government
bureaucracy which was delaying submission of our final financial results
(although we don't have enough funds, Chapter is mandated to share its
financial statement).
In the meantime, our quarterly reports were in line and also shared with
the wider community. There are so many affiliates who delay their
submission, so many of those affiliates have an annual budget and also
staff, WMIN had no such comfort but still it received this treatment.
I dont know what is the future of WMIN, but I can say one thing for sure
that as a board member, WMIN has been treated in bad faith by Affiliations
Committee. When thousands of NGOs struggle with a crisis and Affcom comes
up with statements, 'no evidence that the current organization’s leadership
will be able to drive this problem toward resolution”.' Why can't they see
that the same Chapter has been undergoing activities in such hard
circumstances without any funding.
Affcom should know that even after suspension notice, WMIN is indulging in
programmatic activities and they should know till 13th September they would
find us working & serving our purpose.
Regards,
Yohann Thomas
On Mon, Jul 15, 2019 at 3:33 PM Kirill Lokshin <kirill.lokshin(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
> Dear Wikimedia-l readers,
>
>
> AffCom understands the complexity and sensitivity of the circumstances
> surrounding the decision to de-recognize Wikimedia India as a chapter, and
> we would like to share more information around it. This decision was not
> taken lightly, and only came after consistent warnings, including
> suspensions of the chapter, and continued attempts by AffCom to bring the
> chapter’s activities in line with the requirements for chapter status. We
> understand that volunteers would like more information about this decision
> and past actions that influenced its outcome. We will attempt to provide an
> overview of the factors and history that led to this decision.
>
> Wikimedia India has been given ample time to address their lack of
> compliance with minimum chapter expectations since their initial signs of
> non-compliance in 2015 and concerns presented to them during their 2015
> site visits, initial 2016 suspension, and most recent 2018 suspension last
> November. The Wikimedia India Executive Committee (EC) has repeatedly
> failed to respond in a timely and complete manner to call requests, annual
> reporting timelines, and remediation deadlines for demonstrating
> compliance.
>
> It is worth noting that there may be issues related to incomplete
> information regarding the current relationship between WMIN and AffCom.
> Abhinav is a current WMIN representative, but he was recently appointed to
> the EC on June 14, 2019 [1] following the EC’s receipt of the final
> revocation notice sent on June 13, 2019. He was not informed of, nor did he
> participate in, our communications regarding the current suspension process
> before that time, so he has had to rely on second-hand knowledge of the
> situation. The remaining four members of the EC appear to have fully
> abdicated their responsibility for communications leadership and as such
> further confirm the chapter’s lack of capacity at this time.
>
> Suspension notices give explicit requirements for what and how to
> communicate with respect to a chapter’s capacity and provide a timeline for
> addressing gaps to meet requirements. We’re providing a table reflecting
> the most recent suspension notice, the requirements included, and the date
> they were to be delivered below for the community’s context:
>
> According to the suspension notice, Wikimedia India was to:
>
> Status
>
> Submit an Action Plan. By January 15, 2019, the chapter was to submit an
> updated Action Plan including a timeline with dates for completing the
> tasks outlined.
>
> Submitted past deadline.
>
> Received on March 4, 2019.
>
> Insufficient response; awaiting new action plan for potential
> reorganization as outlined in April call.
>
> Complete and submit the required overdue chapter activities and financial
> reporting. The chapter was to submit the reporting by December 1, 2018.
>
> Submitted past deadline.
>
> Received Activities Report on December 3, 2018 and Financial Report on
> December 22, 2018.
>
> Develop a strategy and timeline for addressing the following potential gaps
> in meeting the basic criteria for chapter status in terms of Legal
> Structure, Open Governance, Active Contributor Involvement, and Capacity.
> By
> January 15, 2019, the chapter was to submit a plan, via email or posted
> online, demonstrating how the chapter meets the specific chapter
> requirements outlined. If the chapter does not currently meet the
> requirements, they were to provide a plan and timeline for how to address
> these issues before June.
>
> Submitted past deadline.
>
> Received on March 4, 2019.
>
> Insufficient response as detailed in April call.
>
>
>
> Resolve concerns related to organizational best practices. By May 1, 2019,
> the chapter should be able to demonstrate that it is following the
> Wikimedia Foundation Board’s recommendations for organizational best
> practices
> <
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMF_Resolutions/Organizational_best_practic…
> >
> .
>
> Submitted past deadline.
>
> Received on June 4, 2019.
>
>
>
> More information on chapter requirements is also available on Meta:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Requirements
>
> Although the Affiliations Committee has decided not to renew this chapter
> agreement, this does not reduce the importance of the Republic of India to
> the Wikimedia movement. We regret that this action has become necessary due
> to the chapter’s failure to meet the requirements of continued recognition,
> as outlined in the table above. We would also like to reaffirm the
> committee’s deep and continued commitment to support affiliates in India
> across geographies and languages.
>
> As we have previously indicated, all rights and permissions granted by the
> Wikimedia Foundation to Wikimedia India in the Chapter Agreement will be
> revoked as of the termination of the agreement on September 14, 2019. In
> the meantime, we will continue to engage with Abhinav and the executive
> committee of Wikimedia India privately until we can align on a public
> communication plan and process to transition the chapter from its current
> recognition status. We will continue to discuss whether and how we can
> share the outcomes of these discussions on Meta once we have agreement
> between the executive committee and the AffCom on the best way to do this.
>
> Regards,
>
> Kirill Lokshin
>
> Chair, Affiliations Committee
>
> [1]
>
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2019-June/014128.html
>
> On Sun, Jul 7, 2019 at 4:50 AM Abhinav srivastava <abhinav619(a)gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Dear Friends From Affcom,
> >
> > I am posting an open public request for your notice of Suspension moved
> at
> > Wikimedia India (WMIN) which we continue to contest and to our ignored
> > demand of having a public hearing as shared with you all over mail and
> > shared again here under Annexure [A]. You have taken an official position
> > on suspension without even hearing us even once, unexplained accusations
> > have been provided and we continue to believe Affcom has been
> > insufficiently investigating facts before making judgements. We
> repeatedly
> > over and over again provided justifications over Mail but you never took
> > them to your notice and only over calls you heard us, provided your
> > rationale for expectation gaps but never took our oral commentary which
> > refutes your claims,in any action, anywhere. Now you say WMIN won’t
> remain
> > a Chapter after 14th September and be transformed into a User Group.
> >
> > Republic of India happens to be one of the only few countries where
> besides
> > volunteer driven Chapter and User Groups has a full-time staff based
> WMF’s
> > Allied Organisation CIS-A2K [1]. Wikimedia India activities [2] may be
> less
> > due to no source of funds [3] however, Community Members from India put
> > their efforts, strive hard to take the movement ahead. Whether it be the
> > previous financial year or the present, no Wikimedia Foundation Grants
> like
> > Rapid Grant, Project Grant etc have been applied by Wikimedia India
> members
> > to support any Chapter activity. They remain self-financed. We received
> > your notice last year when Wikimedia India was contesting a dispute with
> > CIS-A2K over attribution grabbing for our self-financed projects and
> > ignoring Chapter at important National level initiaves [4]. While working
> > with virtually no source of funds and struggles with WMF’s Allied
> > Organisation, your notice of suspension was the least bad we could have
> > had.
> >
> > We continue to contest your suspension notice. It was Suo Moto (on its
> own)
> > decision making and as found and re-stated above and below in detail,
> there
> > were gaps and misunderstanding in your basis. We also continue to contest
> > there has been a Rush-to-decision making. No written responses via Mail
> to
> > Chapter’s clarification are being provided and invitation for calls are
> > initiated where brief responses are shared on a Cloud Document. It has
> been
> > subsequently found by both parties on there being gaps in communication.
> > However, even after clarity during call, Affcom has not taken any action
> > over them.
> >
> > The basis of your suspension notice has been shared here for the wider
> > audience.
> >
> >
> > 1.
> >
> > Legal Structure : Affcom asked Wikimedia India to resolve and obtain
> its
> > necessary license in order to obtain funds. At present, as per
> > Government
> > of India restrictions it is difficult to obtain foreign funding.
> > Wikimedia
> > India informed the Affcom on roughly 13,000 Non-Government
> Organisations
> > (NGO)s [5] are struggling with a similar crisis to which Affcom
> > responded, “reconsider applying for a User Group.” and “no evidence
> that
> > the current organization’s leadership will be able to drive this
> problem
> > toward resolution”. Chapter efforts and commitment in resolving the
> said
> > crisis cannot be dusted in few words. A Government restrictive policy
> > which
> > has an impact on 13,000 NGOs and Affcom finding flaws in WMIN Board
> > Members
> > capability. WMIN would leave it for public interpretation.
> >
> >
> > Why not a capability audit for hosting zero-budget activities? While most
> > of the time are being spent on resolving the said crisis, WMIN continues
> to
> > undertake activities as listed. Taking the Open Knowledge Movement
> forward
> > remains a commitment for the Chapter irrespective of whatsoever political
> > climate may remain. Affcom was asked two questions respectively in this
> > regard however no response has been attained. The questions are
> >
> >
> >
> > 1.
> >
> > Would zero-budget activities, those self-financed not meet
> sufficiency ?
> > Please elaborate for us to stand better and to improve upon.
> > 2.
> >
> > Would resolving Legal Structure and being able to receive WMF Grants
> be
> > a necessary criteria for WMIN to meet sufficiency or continued
> > activities
> > not meet the fulfilment criteria?
> >
> >
> > (2) Open Governance : Affcom informed Chapter that a member needs to be
> in
> > physical presence at the Chapter Assembly to cast vote and raise voice
> and
> > asked The Chapter to change its bylaws. This information is anything but
> > false. This was communicated during the Call but Affcom did not bring
> > anything in action. Also, as per the Chapter Agreement between WMF and
> > WMIN, a copy of bylaws was provided in English Language to WMF. The
> bylaws
> > were approved by the then Chapter’s Council. No evidence has been brought
> > to notice on WMIN violating the Clause 7.2 of the Chapter’s Agreement,
> >
> > “The Wikimedia Chapter shall be required to advise the Foundation of any
> > planned or actual change in the bylaws or status of the Chapter which
> might
> > affect the Foundation or the continued existence or effectiveness of this
> > Agreement.”
> >
> >
> >
> > (3) Active Contributor Involvement :The November 10 email carried the
> > statement, “The chapter lacks broad and diverse membership, community
> > representation, as well as buy-in and involvement “ and “Membership seems
> > to be sourced through university leadership rather than through open
> > community participation and representation.” Chapter till date received
> no
> > evidence or logic construction on how the said argument was reached.
> Later
> > during the call, Affcom did acknowledge that there has been a
> communication
> > gap. Chapter further floated the idea of sharing the Member’s data base
> > after discussing privacy policy over them.
> >
> >
> >
> > (4) Capacity : WMIN was able to submit its annual reports on 21st
> December,
> > 2018 (3.5 months late) due to a notice by Income-Tax department which
> > caused delay in preparing our Financial reports. Although we do not have
> > any annual grants or use any money to support any activity, as per
> > Chapter’s agreement, affiliate is required to submit Financial Results.
> > Meanwhile, WMIN reported its activities on every quarterly basis and
> shared
> > it with the wider Indian community via India Mailing List and also other
> > channels [6], [7], [8],[9]. Annual activity report is a compilation from
> > the quarterly reports.
> >
> >
> >
> > Affcom claimed via Cloud document that no high level response submitted
> and
> > repeated delay is not accepted. WMIN informed Affcom that previous delay
> > needs to be looked at independently from earlier financial period and
> > suspension notice (WMIN then had a grant), but we received no response.
> >
> >
> >
> > (5) Organizational Best Practices : Affcom asked us to ‘Resolve’ issues
> > relating to Organizational Best Practices, however, no information had
> been
> > received on respective deliverables not been met. The November 10, email
> > carried the statement, “There are concerns about whether” referring that
> > Affcom was also not sure themselves. WMIN shared the best practices after
> > placing it in front of the community on member’s mailing list for more
> than
> > 15 days. To this Affcom responded that you are late with your submission
> > hence we are terminating your contract. They never shared an evidence and
> > when WMIN took its time placed it in-front of the community and then
> > submitted, they said delayed and instead of sending their response in
> > writing over mail they again invited us for a call. We continue to insist
> > on providing a written response via Mail but no action.
> >
> >
> >
> > (6) Action Plan : Affcom asked us to submit an Action Plan and we kept
> > asking what deliverable are needed. We cannot commit on resolving
> > Government restrictions within a said timeline as more than 13,000 NGOs
> > struggle with the similar crisis. We emphasised again and again we have
> > been running zero-budget activities and working for the movement. We
> asked
> > them to review Organizational Best Practices, based on gaps we could have
> > taken things into consideration. They rather said, you have missed the
> > deadline, so WMIN has to be closed now.
> >
> >
> >
> > To sum up, Affcom friends, you made up your own decision, you made up you
> > own hearing and you made up your own decision. It was a monologue masked
> in
> > the name of a dialogue.
> >
> >
> >
> > I encourage you all to be in our boots someday, hosting activities on
> > zero-budget, fighting with the Government bureaucracy to attain some
> > funding as a help, the challenge of having a staff-based organisation in
> > parallel, struggle with self-financing activities and most importantly
> > working with Affcom to save yourself from their de-recognition threats.
> >
> >
> >
> > If you believe you are correct, please abide to the request made under
> > Annexure [A] and put everything in public domain. Let community read for
> > themselves and decide. If Affcom is more transparent about its
> > investigation and actions then community would be able to better
> understand
> > the work and provide an opinion.
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> > Abhinav
> >
> >
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K
> >
> > [2]
> >
> >
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2019-April/013994.ht…
> > \
> >
> > [3] Foreign Currency (Regulation) Act, 1960 compliance do not permit
> India
> > Chapter to receive money from its primary fiscal sponsor, Wikimedia
> > Foundation.
> >
> > [4] Board of Directors at CIS, acknowledged in March, 2019 for a
> compliant
> > made in August, 2018 for CIS-A2K Staff not doing their duty to the order.
> >
> > [5]
> >
> >
> https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/07/democracies-need-a-little-help-from-th…
> >
> > [6]
> >
> >
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2017-July/013030.html
> >
> > [7]
> >
> >
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2017-October/013089.…
> >
> > [8]
> >
> >
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2018-January/013188.…
> >
> > [9]
> >
> >
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2018-April/013295.ht…
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Annexure
> >
> > [A] Reallocating the Affcom - WMIN Communication To Meta : No
> > communications over email, video call, social media, instant messaging,
> or
> > anywhere but wiki! While this would not just be aligned with the editing
> > spirit, it would promote greater transparency and also helpful for us to
> > communicate the message to our community members. While, we understand
> > Affcom had been advocating the same, however, taking care of privacy
> > concerns, do let us. Once we hear from Affcom on having no privacy
> > concerns, we may reallocate the discussions.
> >
> > If there a consent to this, would request a green light also for
> >
> > 1.
> >
> > Archiving the entire email conversation over a cloud document and
> > linking it to the relevant Meta page.
> > 2.
> >
> > Documenting Internet Calls in an attempt to resolve communication gaps
> > and linking them to Meta page for greater transparency.
> > 3.
> >
> > Based on Principal of Free Speech, allowing anybody to use the
> > discussion page for expression of their views.
> > 4.
> >
> > Any Volunteer is free to translate the text into the language of their
> > choice.
> > 5.
> >
> > Upload All PDF sent via Mails to Commons and link them to the Meta
> Page.
> > 6.
> >
> > All relevant customs and procedures which exist for any Meta page to
> be
> > in action.
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
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Sparing the unprofessional and dismissive tone, can you please be more
specific on the "CIS-A2K attribution grabbing case for a Chapter's
self-financed initiative" ?
Please back such aspersions (over a public-list) with relevant links and
all that ......
~Ambarish||WBGodric
Please read my earlier forwarded email dated Jul 8 [1] as "Forwarding esp.
for those Indian Wikimedians who are *not* on the Wikimedia-l list". I
missed it last time. Forwarding this mail for the same reason as this
matter is important for the Indian Wikimedians.
1.
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2019-July/014198.html
S
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Kirill Lokshin <kirill.lokshin(a)gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jul 15, 2019 at 3:33 PM
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Open Letter to Affiliations Committee :
Wikimedia India's Demand For A Fair And Transparent Hearing
To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Cc: Affiliations Committee list <affcom(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Dear Wikimedia-l readers,
AffCom understands the complexity and sensitivity of the circumstances
surrounding the decision to de-recognize Wikimedia India as a chapter, and
we would like to share more information around it. This decision was not
taken lightly, and only came after consistent warnings, including
suspensions of the chapter, and continued attempts by AffCom to bring the
chapter’s activities in line with the requirements for chapter status. We
understand that volunteers would like more information about this decision
and past actions that influenced its outcome. We will attempt to provide an
overview of the factors and history that led to this decision.
Wikimedia India has been given ample time to address their lack of
compliance with minimum chapter expectations since their initial signs of
non-compliance in 2015 and concerns presented to them during their 2015
site visits, initial 2016 suspension, and most recent 2018 suspension last
November. The Wikimedia India Executive Committee (EC) has repeatedly
failed to respond in a timely and complete manner to call requests, annual
reporting timelines, and remediation deadlines for demonstrating
compliance.
It is worth noting that there may be issues related to incomplete
information regarding the current relationship between WMIN and AffCom.
Abhinav is a current WMIN representative, but he was recently appointed to
the EC on June 14, 2019 [1] following the EC’s receipt of the final
revocation notice sent on June 13, 2019. He was not informed of, nor did he
participate in, our communications regarding the current suspension process
before that time, so he has had to rely on second-hand knowledge of the
situation. The remaining four members of the EC appear to have fully
abdicated their responsibility for communications leadership and as such
further confirm the chapter’s lack of capacity at this time.
Suspension notices give explicit requirements for what and how to
communicate with respect to a chapter’s capacity and provide a timeline for
addressing gaps to meet requirements. We’re providing a table reflecting
the most recent suspension notice, the requirements included, and the date
they were to be delivered below for the community’s context:
According to the suspension notice, Wikimedia India was to:
Status
Submit an Action Plan. By January 15, 2019, the chapter was to submit an
updated Action Plan including a timeline with dates for completing the
tasks outlined.
Submitted past deadline.
Received on March 4, 2019.
Insufficient response; awaiting new action plan for potential
reorganization as outlined in April call.
Complete and submit the required overdue chapter activities and financial
reporting. The chapter was to submit the reporting by December 1, 2018.
Submitted past deadline.
Received Activities Report on December 3, 2018 and Financial Report on
December 22, 2018.
Develop a strategy and timeline for addressing the following potential gaps
in meeting the basic criteria for chapter status in terms of Legal
Structure, Open Governance, Active Contributor Involvement, and Capacity. By
January 15, 2019, the chapter was to submit a plan, via email or posted
online, demonstrating how the chapter meets the specific chapter
requirements outlined. If the chapter does not currently meet the
requirements, they were to provide a plan and timeline for how to address
these issues before June.
Submitted past deadline.
Received on March 4, 2019.
Insufficient response as detailed in April call.
Resolve concerns related to organizational best practices. By May 1, 2019,
the chapter should be able to demonstrate that it is following the
Wikimedia Foundation Board’s recommendations for organizational best
practices
<
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMF_Resolutions/Organizational_best_practic…
>
.
Submitted past deadline.
Received on June 4, 2019.
More information on chapter requirements is also available on Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Requirements
Although the Affiliations Committee has decided not to renew this chapter
agreement, this does not reduce the importance of the Republic of India to
the Wikimedia movement. We regret that this action has become necessary due
to the chapter’s failure to meet the requirements of continued recognition,
as outlined in the table above. We would also like to reaffirm the
committee’s deep and continued commitment to support affiliates in India
across geographies and languages.
As we have previously indicated, all rights and permissions granted by the
Wikimedia Foundation to Wikimedia India in the Chapter Agreement will be
revoked as of the termination of the agreement on September 14, 2019. In
the meantime, we will continue to engage with Abhinav and the executive
committee of Wikimedia India privately until we can align on a public
communication plan and process to transition the chapter from its current
recognition status. We will continue to discuss whether and how we can
share the outcomes of these discussions on Meta once we have agreement
between the executive committee and the AffCom on the best way to do this.
Regards,
Kirill Lokshin
Chair, Affiliations Committee
[1]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2019-June/014128.html
On Sun, Jul 7, 2019 at 4:50 AM Abhinav srivastava <abhinav619(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
> Dear Friends From Affcom,
>
> I am posting an open public request for your notice of Suspension moved at
> Wikimedia India (WMIN) which we continue to contest and to our ignored
> demand of having a public hearing as shared with you all over mail and
> shared again here under Annexure [A]. You have taken an official position
> on suspension without even hearing us even once, unexplained accusations
> have been provided and we continue to believe Affcom has been
> insufficiently investigating facts before making judgements. We repeatedly
> over and over again provided justifications over Mail but you never took
> them to your notice and only over calls you heard us, provided your
> rationale for expectation gaps but never took our oral commentary which
> refutes your claims,in any action, anywhere. Now you say WMIN won’t remain
> a Chapter after 14th September and be transformed into a User Group.
>
> Republic of India happens to be one of the only few countries where
besides
> volunteer driven Chapter and User Groups has a full-time staff based WMF’s
> Allied Organisation CIS-A2K [1]. Wikimedia India activities [2] may be
less
> due to no source of funds [3] however, Community Members from India put
> their efforts, strive hard to take the movement ahead. Whether it be the
> previous financial year or the present, no Wikimedia Foundation Grants
like
> Rapid Grant, Project Grant etc have been applied by Wikimedia India
members
> to support any Chapter activity. They remain self-financed. We received
> your notice last year when Wikimedia India was contesting a dispute with
> CIS-A2K over attribution grabbing for our self-financed projects and
> ignoring Chapter at important National level initiaves [4]. While working
> with virtually no source of funds and struggles with WMF’s Allied
> Organisation, your notice of suspension was the least bad we could have
> had.
>
> We continue to contest your suspension notice. It was Suo Moto (on its
own)
> decision making and as found and re-stated above and below in detail,
there
> were gaps and misunderstanding in your basis. We also continue to contest
> there has been a Rush-to-decision making. No written responses via Mail to
> Chapter’s clarification are being provided and invitation for calls are
> initiated where brief responses are shared on a Cloud Document. It has
been
> subsequently found by both parties on there being gaps in communication.
> However, even after clarity during call, Affcom has not taken any action
> over them.
>
> The basis of your suspension notice has been shared here for the wider
> audience.
>
>
> 1.
>
> Legal Structure : Affcom asked Wikimedia India to resolve and obtain
its
> necessary license in order to obtain funds. At present, as per
> Government
> of India restrictions it is difficult to obtain foreign funding.
> Wikimedia
> India informed the Affcom on roughly 13,000 Non-Government
Organisations
> (NGO)s [5] are struggling with a similar crisis to which Affcom
> responded, “reconsider applying for a User Group.” and “no evidence
that
> the current organization’s leadership will be able to drive this
problem
> toward resolution”. Chapter efforts and commitment in resolving the
said
> crisis cannot be dusted in few words. A Government restrictive policy
> which
> has an impact on 13,000 NGOs and Affcom finding flaws in WMIN Board
> Members
> capability. WMIN would leave it for public interpretation.
>
>
> Why not a capability audit for hosting zero-budget activities? While most
> of the time are being spent on resolving the said crisis, WMIN continues
to
> undertake activities as listed. Taking the Open Knowledge Movement forward
> remains a commitment for the Chapter irrespective of whatsoever political
> climate may remain. Affcom was asked two questions respectively in this
> regard however no response has been attained. The questions are
>
>
>
> 1.
>
> Would zero-budget activities, those self-financed not meet sufficiency
?
> Please elaborate for us to stand better and to improve upon.
> 2.
>
> Would resolving Legal Structure and being able to receive WMF Grants be
> a necessary criteria for WMIN to meet sufficiency or continued
> activities
> not meet the fulfilment criteria?
>
>
> (2) Open Governance : Affcom informed Chapter that a member needs to be in
> physical presence at the Chapter Assembly to cast vote and raise voice and
> asked The Chapter to change its bylaws. This information is anything but
> false. This was communicated during the Call but Affcom did not bring
> anything in action. Also, as per the Chapter Agreement between WMF and
> WMIN, a copy of bylaws was provided in English Language to WMF. The bylaws
> were approved by the then Chapter’s Council. No evidence has been brought
> to notice on WMIN violating the Clause 7.2 of the Chapter’s Agreement,
>
> “The Wikimedia Chapter shall be required to advise the Foundation of any
> planned or actual change in the bylaws or status of the Chapter which
might
> affect the Foundation or the continued existence or effectiveness of this
> Agreement.”
>
>
>
> (3) Active Contributor Involvement :The November 10 email carried the
> statement, “The chapter lacks broad and diverse membership, community
> representation, as well as buy-in and involvement “ and “Membership seems
> to be sourced through university leadership rather than through open
> community participation and representation.” Chapter till date received
no
> evidence or logic construction on how the said argument was reached. Later
> during the call, Affcom did acknowledge that there has been a
communication
> gap. Chapter further floated the idea of sharing the Member’s data base
> after discussing privacy policy over them.
>
>
>
> (4) Capacity : WMIN was able to submit its annual reports on 21st
December,
> 2018 (3.5 months late) due to a notice by Income-Tax department which
> caused delay in preparing our Financial reports. Although we do not have
> any annual grants or use any money to support any activity, as per
> Chapter’s agreement, affiliate is required to submit Financial Results.
> Meanwhile, WMIN reported its activities on every quarterly basis and
shared
> it with the wider Indian community via India Mailing List and also other
> channels [6], [7], [8],[9]. Annual activity report is a compilation from
> the quarterly reports.
>
>
>
> Affcom claimed via Cloud document that no high level response submitted
and
> repeated delay is not accepted. WMIN informed Affcom that previous delay
> needs to be looked at independently from earlier financial period and
> suspension notice (WMIN then had a grant), but we received no response.
>
>
>
> (5) Organizational Best Practices : Affcom asked us to ‘Resolve’ issues
> relating to Organizational Best Practices, however, no information had
been
> received on respective deliverables not been met. The November 10, email
> carried the statement, “There are concerns about whether” referring that
> Affcom was also not sure themselves. WMIN shared the best practices after
> placing it in front of the community on member’s mailing list for more
than
> 15 days. To this Affcom responded that you are late with your submission
> hence we are terminating your contract. They never shared an evidence and
> when WMIN took its time placed it in-front of the community and then
> submitted, they said delayed and instead of sending their response in
> writing over mail they again invited us for a call. We continue to insist
> on providing a written response via Mail but no action.
>
>
>
> (6) Action Plan : Affcom asked us to submit an Action Plan and we kept
> asking what deliverable are needed. We cannot commit on resolving
> Government restrictions within a said timeline as more than 13,000 NGOs
> struggle with the similar crisis. We emphasised again and again we have
> been running zero-budget activities and working for the movement. We asked
> them to review Organizational Best Practices, based on gaps we could have
> taken things into consideration. They rather said, you have missed the
> deadline, so WMIN has to be closed now.
>
>
>
> To sum up, Affcom friends, you made up your own decision, you made up you
> own hearing and you made up your own decision. It was a monologue masked
in
> the name of a dialogue.
>
>
>
> I encourage you all to be in our boots someday, hosting activities on
> zero-budget, fighting with the Government bureaucracy to attain some
> funding as a help, the challenge of having a staff-based organisation in
> parallel, struggle with self-financing activities and most importantly
> working with Affcom to save yourself from their de-recognition threats.
>
>
>
> If you believe you are correct, please abide to the request made under
> Annexure [A] and put everything in public domain. Let community read for
> themselves and decide. If Affcom is more transparent about its
> investigation and actions then community would be able to better
understand
> the work and provide an opinion.
>
>
> Regards,
> Abhinav
>
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K
>
> [2]
>
>
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2019-April/013994.ht…
> \
>
> [3] Foreign Currency (Regulation) Act, 1960 compliance do not permit India
> Chapter to receive money from its primary fiscal sponsor, Wikimedia
> Foundation.
>
> [4] Board of Directors at CIS, acknowledged in March, 2019 for a compliant
> made in August, 2018 for CIS-A2K Staff not doing their duty to the order.
>
> [5]
>
>
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/07/democracies-need-a-little-help-from-th…
>
> [6]
>
>
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2017-July/013030.html
>
> [7]
>
>
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2017-October/013089.…
>
> [8]
>
>
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2018-January/013188.…
>
> [9]
>
>
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2018-April/013295.ht…
>
>
>
>
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Annexure
>
> [A] Reallocating the Affcom - WMIN Communication To Meta : No
> communications over email, video call, social media, instant messaging, or
> anywhere but wiki! While this would not just be aligned with the editing
> spirit, it would promote greater transparency and also helpful for us to
> communicate the message to our community members. While, we understand
> Affcom had been advocating the same, however, taking care of privacy
> concerns, do let us. Once we hear from Affcom on having no privacy
> concerns, we may reallocate the discussions.
>
> If there a consent to this, would request a green light also for
>
> 1.
>
> Archiving the entire email conversation over a cloud document and
> linking it to the relevant Meta page.
> 2.
>
> Documenting Internet Calls in an attempt to resolve communication gaps
> and linking them to Meta page for greater transparency.
> 3.
>
> Based on Principal of Free Speech, allowing anybody to use the
> discussion page for expression of their views.
> 4.
>
> Any Volunteer is free to translate the text into the language of their
> choice.
> 5.
>
> Upload All PDF sent via Mails to Commons and link them to the Meta
Page.
> 6.
>
> All relevant customs and procedures which exist for any Meta page to be
> in action.
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
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Dear Wikimedians and friends,
As some of you might already know that I have left from my position of
Community Advocate at the Centre for Internet and Society. My last working
month with CIS was June 2019. I am taking a breaking from professional work
to focus on my higher studies. I joined CIS-A2K when I was on my first year
of the college and now I have recently graduated as a Mechanical engineer
:D
My journey with the CIS-A2K in the last 3 and half years were great, I had
opportunity to work closely with Odia and Santali community, and also had
opportunities to collaborate with many Indic Wikimedians on different
projects. I also got to meet many of you during various national and
international conferences.
I would like to thank everyone in the movement for all their support and
love they have given to me, especially to my team at the CIS-A2K and the
Odia Wikimedia community. I worked under both Tanveer and Tito, they were
always supportive and have had encouraged me to work on different projects
and collaborations, from working with media houses, educational
institutions, Government of Odisha, UNESCO and others.
I will be still within the Wikimedia movement wearing different hats. This
is my personal email address, feel free to reach out to me anytime over
here or on social media channels.
Dhanyabaad! :)
*Sailesh Patnaik *"*ଶୈଳେଶ ପଟ୍ଟନାୟକ**"*
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sailesh-patnaik-551a10b4
*Twitter*: @saileshpat