[smc-discuss] [വിക്കിഗ്രന്ഥശാലാസംഘം] Re: [Wikiml-l] #SMC12 വിക്കിമീഡിയ ചര്‍ച്ചയില്‍ വായിക്കാനായി ദേവികയയച്ച കുറിപ്പ്

[V. Sasi Kumar]

On Tue, 2013-10-22 at 22:16 +0530, manoj k wrote:
> Wiki library - > Wiki Grandhasala/Wikisource

Changed in this file.

Sasi
-- 
V. Sasi Kumar
Free Software Foundation of India
http://swatantryam.blogspot.com
sip:sasi at sip.linphone.org
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I am immensely happy to know that Swathanthra Malayalam Computing is completing twelve years of existence. I am also thankful for having been invited to the Malayalam Wiki Activists Meet and its discussions.

May I express my gratefulness and indebtedness to this movement that has materialised my dream of moving all my writings in Malayalam away from the conventional path of the book-market and make them reach the people directly. There are several limitations in bringing out English works under copyleft, especially for those who strive to establish themselves in the academic field. But no such hurdle or limitation is applicable to works in Malayalam. It was the activists of Swathanthra Malayalam Computing and wiki Granthasala that demonstrated to me that it is possible to present books in Malayalam, that too with full intellectual freedom - in a manner that is not amenable to the likes and dislikes of publishers.

It was free licensing that saved my book, "കുലസ്ത്രീയും ചന്തപ്പെണ്ണും ഉണ്ടായതെങ്ങനെ", from the mainstream and substreams. This did not bring down its demand in the market, but actually helped it in selling out two editions within just a few weeks. Even though the book is still available online in the wiki Granthasala, several publishers have come forward with offers to bring out a third edition. Now I am thinking of granting the right to the Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad.

At present, I am translating to Malayalam the book, "Contemporary India : A Sociological View" by Satish Deshpande. It is almost nearing completion. This book too will be published under copyleft licence. It is a general introduction useful to the social science students studying in Kerala. Since it includes also an elaborate index that is not present in the English edition, it will be especially useful for Malayalam speaking students. The publisher of this book is Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad. They fully encouraged the move to licence this book under copyleft. I thank them also especially for this.

I wish to keep apart a major part of my remaining intellectual life for translations and do wish to bring out all of them under copyleft licence with the permission of the respective authors. As the adage goes, “those who have planted one thousand trees are liberated from the eternal cycle of births and deaths”. Similarly, the path of salvation lies in writing or translating ten good books and making them available to future generations under a copyleft licence. So I earnestly hope that the wiki Granthasala and those who work for Free licencing will rise to greater and greater heights. 

Wishing all success to the meeting of Wiki activists and Swathanthra Malayalam Computing that is celebrating its 12th anniversary,

J. Devika,

Centre for Development Studies