Tuesday, December 25, 2018

MeitY Issues Draft IT Rules for Social Media, Messaging Platforms Up for Public Consultation

Download the Draft Rules from this link | http://meity.gov.in/writereaddata/files/Draft_Intermediary_Amendment_24122018.pdf


Highlights of the Rules

  • Rules advise users against displaying libellous, blasphemous content
  • Content threatening unity, integrity, sovereignty of India forbidden
  • Platforms need to appoint a nodal person for coordination with agencies
Amid concerns over Central government's powers to snoop into computers, the Electronics and IT Ministry has come out with draft IT rules focused on social media platforms.

"The instances of misuse of social media by criminals and anti-national elements have brought new challenges to the 'Law Enforcement Agencies' (LEA)," the ministry said in a statement.

"These include inducement for recruitment of terrorists, circulation of obscene content, spread of disharmony, incitement of violence, public order, fake news etc. A number of lynching incidents were reported in 2018 mostly alleged to be because of fake news or rumours being circulated through 'WhatsApp and other Social Media' sites."

Accordingly, the ministry published the draft rules for public consultation which mandate platforms to publish rules, regulation and privacy policy for users to access their services.

"The intermediary shall publish the rules and regulations, privacy policy and user agreement for access or usage of the intermediary's computer resource by any person," the draft rules said.

The rules laid out by the social media platforms should advise the users against displaying or uploading any information which is "grossly harmful, harassing, blasphemous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, libellous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically objectionable, disparaging, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling."

Further, the rules also must forbid users from posting content which "threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states, or public order, or causes incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence or prevents investigation of any offence or is insulting any other nation".

Any information which "threatens critical information infrastructure" should also be advised against by the social media platform, it said.

As per the draft guidelines, a platform which has more than fifty lakh users in India or is in the list of intermediaries of social media platforms specifically notified by the Centre should be incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 or the Companies Act, 2013 and have a permanent registered office in India.

They would also have to appoint a nodal person of contact and alternate senior designated functionary in India for round-the-clock coordination with law enforcement agencies and officers to ensure compliance to their orders or requisitions made in accordance with provisions of law or rules.
The IT norms further said: "The intermediary (platforms) shall report cyber-security incidents and also share cyber-security incidents related information with the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team."

The intermediary should inform its users at least once every month, that in case of non-compliance with rules and regulations, user agreement and privacy policy the intermediary has the right to immediately terminate the usage rights of the users, the ministry said in its four-page draft rules.

"When required by lawful order, the intermediary shall, within 72 hours of communication, provide such information or assistance as asked for by any government agency or assistance concerning security of the State or cyber-security."

"The intermediary shall enable tracing out of such originator of information on its platform as may be required by government agencies who are legally authorised," it said. 

The intermediary should publish on its website the name of the Grievance Officer and his contact details as well as mechanism by which users or any victim who suffers as a result of access or usage of computer resource by any person in violation of rule.

The ministry said that it had prepared the draft rules to replace the rules notified in 2011. 

"The consultation process was initiated with Inter-Ministerial consultations and thereafter with other stakeholders, including major social media platforms or messaging services platforms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo, WhatsApp, and other associations like IAMAI, COAI, and ISPAI representing intermediaries", the ministry statement said.

The deadline for the submission of comments on the draft rules is January 15, 2019.

Source | https://gadgets.ndtv.com



Mr. Pralhad Jadhav

Master of Library & Information Science (NET Qualified)
Research Scholar
Senior Manager – Library
Khaitan & Co
Twitter Handle | @Pralhad161978
Mobile | 9665911593

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

e-library of rare books launched in Pune - Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI)

e-library of rare books launched in Pune - Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI)

BORI houses one of South Asia’s largest collection of rare manuscripts

The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI), which houses one of South Asia’s largest and most invaluable agglomeration of rare manuscripts, opened its treasure vault digitally by launching an e-library of ancient religious and historical works on Wednesday.

Nearly 1,000 rare books and manuscripts in Sanskrit and its related languages are presently available for readers worldwide to savour in this first phase of digitisation.

The institute, named after legendary Indologist Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, was set up in 1917 and has in its possession nearly two-and-a-half-lakh rare books and manuscripts, some of them in an extremely brittle state. “The rationale behind the e-library is to preserve at least some of these books. Hence, we chose to digitise 20,000 among the rarest-of-the rare books and four to five thousand will be available for readers to read them online for free,” said noted Indologist Prof. Shrikant Bahulkar.

Three fully-automated Zeutschel high-resolution German scanners were specially procured by the institute at a cost of 15 lakh each.

“ We began with screening the two lakh-plus manuscripts to zero down on the ones we would digitise,” said Mithilesh Kulkarni of Nyansa, a firm specialising in heritage digitisation.

Chinmay Bhandari of Nyansa said that the entire process was one of ‘non-destructive’ digitising, which ensured that even books in decrepit condition were preserved while scanning. “For the past two years, our 15-member team was working in three shifts every day and we digitised more than 3 lakh pages each month,” Mr. Bhandari said.

Among the BORI’s notable publications are a 19-volume edition of The Mahabharata, collated with copious critical material, and legendary Sanskrit scholar P.V. Kane’s five-volume History of Dharmashastra (1930). “The work on the Mahabharata, universally acknowledged by scholars and researchers the world, is still on with the Cultural Index to the Mahabharata still being prepared under the guidance of scholar Dr. Ganesh Umakant Thite,” said Prof. Bahulkar.

Source | The Hindu | 20th December 2018


Mr. Pralhad Jadhav

Master of Library & Information Science (NET Qualified)
Research Scholar
Senior Manager – Library
Khaitan & Co
Twitter Handle | @Pralhad161978
Mobile | 9665911593

A case for content - Scientific papers should be judged by their content and not by the journals in which they appear


A case for content - Scientific papers should be judged by their content and not by the journals in which they appear
 
The best scientific research is not necessarily published in the most popular mainstream journals, and history has many examples to prove this. In 1986, when J. Georg Bednorz and K. Alex Müller made a breakthrough with their discovery of high temperature superconductivity in a ceramic material, they did not publish their results in the sought-after journals. They chose to publish in a journal that was not very well known: Zeitschrift für Physik B. Their discovery was awarded the Nobel prize in 1987.



Source | The Hindu | 19th December 2018


Mr. Pralhad Jadhav

Master of Library & Information Science (NET Qualified)
Research Scholar
Senior Manager – Library
Khaitan & Co
Twitter Handle | @Pralhad161978
Mobile | 9665911593

3 Day’s Workshop on “Digital Library” organized by ZIET KVS Mumbai

3 Day’s Workshop on “Digital Library” organized by ZIET KVS Mumbai

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan New Delhi organized a 3 Days’ (18th to 20th December 2018) Workshop on Digital Library for KV Librarian’s at ZIET, Mumbai.

I had invited as a Guest Speaker for two sessions for the said workshop.

About KVS ZIET

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, an autonomous institution under Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India, has been a pioneer in the field of school education since its establishment in 1964. 

Keeping in view of the pivotal role of training for employees and to further augment the efforts, a focused approach was felt necessary. Accordingly, one Zonal Institute was established at Gwalior in November 2002. Zonal Institute Mumbai came into existence from 1-4 -2003.

About the Session 

Session 1

Rethinking of Innovative Services & Techniques for Libraries in Digital Era
·         App-Based Current Aware Services (CAS) in Digital Library Environment
·         AI (Artificial Intelligence) Based Selective Dissemination of Information in Digital Library Environment
·         Big Data – Tools to manage big data in Library & Information Centre in Digital Library Environment

Session 2

WEB 2.0: Connect, Create & Collaborate
Tools & Techniques – can broadly be grouped into five categories
·         Synchronous Communication
    • Instant Messaging
·         Content Deliver
    • RSS Feed,
    • Podcasting & Vodcasting
    • SMS Enquiry Services
·         Collaborative Publishing Tools
    • Blogs & Wikis
·         Collaborative Service Platforms
    • Social Network,
    • Tagging,
    • Social Bookmarking Services &
·         Hybrid Application, Programs & Programming
    • Mashups, AJAX, API, and Tool bar

My sincere thanks to Shri N R Murli, Deputy Commissioner & Director of ZIET and Mrs. Kanta Bara, Librarian for providing me the opportunities.










Regards

Mr. Pralhad Jadhav

Master of Library & Information Science (NET Qualified)
Research Scholar
Senior Manager – Library
Khaitan & Co
Twitter Handle | @Pralhad161978
Mobile | 9665911593