Dear All, I am writing this email soon after the Lok Sabha passed the Amendment to the Copyright Act 1957. It has been a very interesting experience working on this Amendment and seeing it approved. Six years ago when the XRCVC first got in to the process, we never realized that the road ahead was so complex and would take so many twists and turns. At last it is through and we wait the Presidential approval and the final Gazette notification. I'd like to thank so many people and organizations that have helped make this possible. To start with, the work of Late Prof Vinod Sena who had made a deposition to Parliamentarians prior to 2006. I would like to thank organizations who supported the representation we had worked on as part of the Publication Access Co-ordination Committee (PACC). Simultaneously the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) also started putting on pressure. We had many ups and downs largely as a result of the constant transfers of Copyright Registrars and us having to start the work all over again. The demand for a suitable Amendment gained more momentum with the DAISY Forum of India (DFI) demanding the appropriate change. Further, many other organizations joined as part of the National Access Alliance (NAA). A big thank you to all of them. I'd also like to thank the Parliamentary Standing committee who called us and gave us a patient hearing and in spite of pressure saw logic and merit in our arguments. Further, a big thank you to our Parliamentarians, many of whom we contacted personally who made this possible. We acknowledge the very positive role of Shri Kapil Sibl, Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource and Development and Mr. G.R. Raghavender, Director - Book Promotion, Copyright , Education Policy, UNESCO, Indian National Commission & International Co-operation Cell / Registrar – Copyright A big thank you to Rahul Cherian, Nirmita Narsimhan, Ketan Kothari, Dipendra Manocha, Kanchan Pamnani, Shamnad Basheer with whom we have had the pleasure of working, planning and giving shape to this historic Amendment. I'd also like to place on record XRCVC's gratitude to Sightsavers whose Project Access has helped make this social advocacy project dream a reality. Thank you once again one and all.
Best Regards, Dr. Sam Taraporevala ------------------------------------------ Director Xavier's Resource Center for the Visually Challenged (XRCVC) St. Xavier's College, Mumbai - 400 001 s...@xrcvc.org +91 22 22623298 (D) +91 22 22620661-5 (B); extn: 366 +91 22 24112478 (R) +91 22 24228769 (R) +91 9869378436 (M) ---------------------------------------- The information contained in this electronic message and any attachments to this message are intended for the exclusive use of the addressee(s) and may contain proprietary, confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately and destroy all copies of this message and any attachments. WARNING: Computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The Organisation accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email. www.xrcvc.org Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
