Dear Wikimedia community,

The highlights of the month of November for the Wikimedia Chapter (India) are provided below:

Administrative matters

Membership

The Chapter membership stands at 185 as of 30 November 2011. This is nearly double the number of members we had two months ago. The Chapter saw an increase of 72 members who applied for spot membership at WikiConference 2011 organized last month in Mumbai.

Donations

Dr Amit Keshri became the first person to donate to our Chapter. We express our sincere thanks to Dr Keshri and others for their generous contributions towards the young chapter.
Total donations received in Nov 2011 - INR 3601.
Average donations in Nov 2011 - INR 900.25.

FCRA

We have applied for FCRA prior permission under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act with the Government of India on 5 November 2011 to be able to receive funds [1] from Wikimedia Foundation. The expected time for processing is 3 to 4 months.

New organizations like ours can receive foreign contributions after seeking project based prior permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs. We are seeking permission so as to receive the grant amount allotted to us by the Wikimedia Foundation in the United States

Another alternative is to apply for FCRA registration, which will facilitate the receipt of foreign contributions. However, such permissions are only granted to organizations with a proven track record of function in their chosen field of work for a period of three years.

Wiki Conference India 2011

The first Annual India WikiConference 2011 ^[1] was organized in Mumbai on 18-20 November 2011 at the University of Mumbai. The conference was jointly hosted by the Wikimedia community in Mumbai and the chapter, along with scores of volunteers from around the country. This was the first time that the Indian Wikimedia community has come together to participate at a national level to organize a conference at this scale.^[2] The conference organizing team was lead by Pranav Curumsey (Chair), Pradeep Mohandas (Treasurer) and Moksh Juneja (Secretary).^[3]

Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, inaugurated the conference by delivering a keynote on "Community Building: The Wiki Way in India". He also said that this event was probably one of the largest Wikimedia events in the world. Approximately 700 delegates from all over the country attended the three day national conference. Full and partial scholarships were given to 98 awardees out of 7070 applicants. MOre than 50 sessions^[4] focused on community building, improving quality of articles, Mediawiki, establishing partnerships, Wikipedia India Education Program and sharing of experiences and best practices. Some of the invited speakers included Professor Krishna Kumar, Anand Kumar and Arnab Goswami. The state of Indic Wikiprojects track showcased the current state of each Wikimedian community in India. The conference also received very impressive and enthusiastic coverage from the national and international media.^[5]

As a part of the Chapter track, an overview^[6] was presented by President Arjuna Rao Chavala. The "Noteworthy Wikimedian Recognition" ceremony^[7] was anchored by Arun Ramarathnam, member of the executive committee which honored several Wikimedians across different Wikiprojects pertinent to India.^[8]

Images and presentations from the conference have been uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons^[9].

Chapter thanks the organizing team for doing a phenomenal job for making this event successful, and to to all the chapter members and volunteers spread across the country who contributed so much of their time and effort. Chapter also thanks Wikimedia Foundation and all other sponsors for their support and cooperation.

City and Language SIG

The Wikimedia Chapter is proud to announce the first batch of City and Language SIG Chairs^[10] from its members as given below:

• Odiya SIG - Subhashish Panigrahi (Odiya user page of Subhashish).
• Bengali SIG - Jayanta Nath.
• Sanskrit SIG Swaroop Rao.

We look forward to your continued support and active participation in our activities.