Technological issues
Comrade VS was a laborer himself and climbed the heights as a trade union leader. Hailing from Kuttanad ,his interest in agricultural issues and farmer's struggle is also in tune with his make up. But as an opposition leader, the interest and his interventions in technical issues like IT, biotechnology etc. brought out the visionary in him. This along with his passion for environmental issues clearly showed the world the leadership mettle he is made off. In IT his approach was not one of wait and watch. As an opposition leader ,he does not leave actions to be done at will by the government and then criticize later .He was proactive and the opposition could weigh the pros and cons of any technological initiatives from the government before the government gets committed. This was the case in all his interventions. This enables the
government, rather forces them to analyze things properly.
For instance the governments move to depend entirely on Microsoft for all e-governance projects was warned before and on the launching ceremony of
'Akshaya' itself. His words "we need to look into all options with an open mind. A very expensive initiative will not be best suited for our state. We should look for tested and proven alternatives, which are less expensive and more accountable. It will be a good idea to develop the
'Akshaya' project as well as our e governance efforts on free and open software which is available at very low cost, and which throws wide possibilities for localized development, local content creation, greater accountability, and much greater security to our data. We have the examples of several countries like Peru, some African nations and even Germany who have all decided to opt for free software."
'Akshaya -Bridging the digital divide' was launched to make the state 100% digitally literal. But VS opined, "'Digital Literacy' should mean 'Digital Independence' and 'Digital Freedom'. It should help develop 'Digital Creativity'. It should never lead to 'Digital Slavery'". The full text of his speech can be found here
His interventions have paid some dividends too. Akshaya has started exploring the options of free software as well. This also was a major boost to those who promote free software as a viable alternative. Also this will lead to saving crores as otherwise the state would have already lost crores from the public exchequer.
He is of the firm opinion that in the new LPG era the global forces are using even science and technology as a tool of exploitation and profit generation.Hence research institutions should remain in public sector. The inaguaration of the new building for Rajiv Gandhi BioTechnological Park gave him an option to put this view before the honourable president Dr.APJ Kalam and the public.The full text can be found here
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