Content to Connectivity: The Prospective Digital Platform for Inclusive Growth and Development in Indian Agriculture

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Content to Connectivity: The Prospective Digital Platform for Inclusive Growth and Development in Indian Agriculture1

Keynote Address

by

Prof. M. Moni,

Professor Emeritus & Chairman Centre for Agricultural Informatics and e-‐Governance Research Studies,

SHOBHIT University, NCR Delhi

Principal Consultant & Advisor (e-‐Governance), DAMSON Technology, Lucknow &

Former Director General, National Informatics Centre, Government of India [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

1 Keynote Address delivered the National Workshop on “Open Access to Agricultural Knowledge for Inclusive Growth and Development”, organized by National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), in collaboration with agINFRA – CIARD – FAO – GFAR [Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR) of FAO Rome], on 29-‐30 October, 2014 at Hyderabad (India).

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Abstract

Indian Agriculture sector is the largest employer in India's economy but contributed around 13.7% in 2012-‐13. There are about 125 Million farm households needs “scientific agricultural knowledge and innovation”, over and above their traditional knowledge to increase their agricultural productivity, and strengthen supply chain and value chain of agricultural and food production systems. According to Mckinsey Global research Institute’s Report “12 Technologies to empower India” (2014), the estimated collective impact of technology interventions in Agriculture is US $45 Billion to US $80 Billion in 2025. Every activity in the agricultural supply chain involves the creation, processing and communication of information. The transformation from agrarian to industrial and now to Information and knowledge society has largely been brought out, as a result of the accumulation of knowledge and the advancement of ICTs.

Open Access is to ensure that knowledge related to agricultural research knowledge is in the public domain and available to all, especially to small and marginal farmers. . The dissemination of agricultural research information and knowledge is a major challenge. Until it is known to the World, this research has no meaning. Open access to indigenous knowledge resources shall avoid misrepresentation of indigenous knowledge. Platform for Opening up Knowledge in Agricultural Innovation for Development is envisaged. The Current Status of Open Knowledge Resources in Agriculture in India needs a large scale of participation. The Gaps are expanding and Needs to improve Open Knowledge Access are to be addressed through Capacity Building. The Scope for further Collaboration – National and Global Agencies – is enormous but needs to be undertaken on priority basis. Indian Agriculture requires “building bridges and creating synergies” for productivity increase.

This Paper deals with issues related to “Content to Connectivity” to synergize into prospective “Digital Platform” for Inclusive growth and agricultural development in India.

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Introduction

The National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), a

premier Institution of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), is organizing the

Workshop on “Open Access to Agricultural Knowledge for Inclusive Growth and

Development”, in collaboration with the global agencies such as agINFRA, CIARD,

FAO and GFAR. This Workshop aims to (a) review the current status of Open

Knowledge Resources in Agriculture in India, (b) identify gaps and needs to improve

Open Knowledge Access and Use, and (c) scope for further collaboration with

National and Global Agencies. Experts from both national and international

organizations are participating in this Workshop, and are expected to deliver keynote

lectures. My Keynote Address is titled “Content to Connectivity: The Prospective

Digital Platform for Inclusive Growth and development in Indian Agriculture”. The

Mission shall be: “Open Access to ensure knowledge related to agricultural research

knowledge is in the public domain and available to all, especially to small and

marginal farmers”.

Indian Agriculture – Building Bridges and Creating Synergies for Productivity Increase

Indian Agriculture sector is the largest employer in India's economy but

contributed around 13.7% in 2012-‐13. Rural India has about 70% of India’s population,

as its demographic dividend, and is in need of better roads, potable water,

education, health, supply chain, electricity, broadband, job creation, security and

linkage to input and output markets, and technology. There are about 125 Million

farm households needs “scientific agricultural knowledge and innovation”, over

and above their traditional knowledge to increase their agricultural productivity,

and strengthen supply chain and value chain of agricultural and food production

systems.

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Rural India has sustainable lifestyles but strives to have sustainable

development and growth. To make farming competitive and profitable, there is an

urgent need to step up investment, both public and private, in agro-‐technology

development and creation of new / modernization of existing agri-‐business

infrastructure. The World Bank, in its report, titled “India – Taking Agriculture to

Market” (2008)2 stated that “the rapid growth of the Indian economy is bringing new

forces for change in agricultural marketing and processing systems”.

I wish to refer to the Hon’ble President of India’s Address to the Joint Session

of Parliament on 9th June 2014 and the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s Speech in the

Parliament on 11th June 2014, and both of them have stressed upon : (a)

development through good governance, (b) Improving supply-‐side constraints on

Agro and Agro-‐based products, (c) modernization of farming practices, (d) national

land use policy, (e) availability of real-‐time data on agricultural products, (f) farm

health management (soil health card), (g) “lab to land”, (h) “per drop more crop”, (i)

multi-‐skill development, (j) Youth led development, (k) Internet connectivity to

villages, and (l) digital India.

While addressing the Agricultural scientific community on the 86th

Foundation day of Indian Council of Agricultural research (ICAR), at the NASC

Complex in Delhi, on 29th July 2014, the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Shri

Narendra Modi, has emphasized: (a) creation of a talent pool of young, educated and

progressive farmers, and agricultural research scholars in all districts of the country,

(b) Development of a digitized database of all agricultural research in the country,

(c) Reaching out Agriculture technology to the farmers”.

Our Hon’ble President of India, during his inaugural address in the Asia-‐Africa

Agri Business, on 4thFebruary 2014, has said that (a) as demonstrated by the Action 2 World Bank (2008): “India -‐ Taking Agriculture to the Market”, Washington, DC. © World Bank.

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/7919 License: CC BY 3.0 Unported.

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Plan for ICT for Agriculture, launched in 1995, India has recognized ICTs to be

powerful catalysts for sustainable agricultural development, (b) there is need for ICT

to facilitate the development of extension services, value chain, production and

marketing systems, and agriculture risk management, (c) the ICT for Agriculture Plan

calls for strong cooperation between Asia and Africa, and (d) during the ICT4Ag

Conference, held in Kigali, Rwanda, from the 4th to the 8th of October 2013,

stakeholders “highlighted the need to have a South-‐South Cooperation Programme

on ICT for Agriculture”.

During my long tenure of about 35 years at National Informatics Centre, I was

instrumental in visualizing and operationalizing “district information system” project

of NIC (DISNIC) in 28 development sectors (Agriculture, Animal husbandry, Fisheries,

Industries, Education, SC Development, ST development, Health, Transport, Rural

development, etc.), in about 512+ districts, way back in 1987-‐95, along with the

establishment of NICNET facilities in all District Collectorates of the Country. This

happened to be the first e-‐Government / e-‐Governance Programme in India and in

the World. During 1995 – 2013, I was instrumental in visualizing and implementing ICT

projects Viz., AGMARKNET, AGRISNET, SEEDNET, FISHNET, FERTNET, PPIN, APHNET

(NADRS), WeatherNet etc., strengthening “ICT in Agriculture” in India, in

collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture. The Action Plan on “IT for Agriculture

(IT4Ag) in India” was prepared through the National Conference on “Informatics for

Sustainable Agricultural Development” in May 1995, called ISDA-‐95

recommendations. The AGMARKNET Project and National Animal Disease Reporting

System (NADRS) project have received International attention. The Proposed Agri TV

Channel can get benefit from such projects, if I&B Ministry desire so.

The Mckinsey Global Research Institute (MGI)’s Research Report titled “12

Technologies to empower India” (2014) identifies 12 technologies in six sectors

(Health care, Education, Financial services, Agriculture, Infrastructure and

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Government Services), which can create $550 Billion to $ 1 Trillion of additional

impact per year in 2025 and for the Agriculture Sector : “80 – 90 million acres of

farmland can benefit from precision farming methods (using sensor and GIS-‐based

soil, water and water Data to guide farming decision) , which would be taught by

community agricultural extension workers using smart tablets; 90 to 100 million

farmers can benefit from real-‐time market information delivered on mobile devices;

IT systems and digital communication can vastly improve PDS food procurement,

storage and distribution processes, benefitting 300 million to 400 million individuals

who depend on subsidized grains. The estimated collective impact of technology

interventions in Agriculture is US $45 Billion to US $80 Billion in 2025”. It requires

both Potential Awareness and Knowledge Awareness, to be created on a large scale.

Digital learning -‐ one of NDA Government’s priorities of Digital India

Digital India Programme, as launched by the NDA-‐II Government on 20th

August 2014, promises to transform India into a connected knowledge economy

offering World-‐Class Services at the click of a mouse. “When we move a mouse,

whole world moves” – Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, said in Tokyo

(Japan) during his official visit, on 2nd September 2014. The Digital India Programme

is envisaged to provide “thrust to Nine Pillars of Growth Areas” viz., Broadband

Highways, Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity, Public Internet Access

programme, e-‐Governance : Reforming Government through Technology, e-‐Kranti

(empowerment) : Electronic Delivery of Services, Information for All, Electronic

Manufacturing, Jobs in IT Sector, and Early Harvest programmes.

Keeping in mind global trends, Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister

of India, emphasized on “digitalization of education”, in his Independence Day

speech this year. Programmes such as “Campus Connect”, “National Digital Library

(NDL) – e-‐Library” to be made operational by the academic year 2015, “India MOOCs

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(Massive Open Online Courses) Platform”, “SWAYAM” (Study Webs of Active-‐

Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) of on-‐line courses, and National Repository of

Open Educational Resources (NROER) having digital and digitisable resources

(audio, video, interactive images and documents) in different languages, will get its

own priority in India now. Consortia like INDEST, UGC-‐INFONET, etc. are providing

information to the users on the basis of capacity of their parent organizations. The

active role being played by the Ministry of Human Resources Development is

noticeable. Development of e-‐content in each discipline is, undoubtedly, a

challenging job.

Knowledge for Innovation (K4I) – A National Agenda

Knowledge is an increasingly significant factor of production in modern

agriculture. Every activity in the agricultural supply chain involves the creation,

processing and communication of information. Timely access to information can add

value at each link of the agricultural supply chain. Information and communication

technologies (ICTs) can facilitate efficient data, information and knowledge flows

across the supply chain.

Many innovative initiatives in ICTs in agriculture in the public, private and non-‐

government sectors are underway in India. Key issues such as feasibility, scalability,

sustainability, and overall impact are being addressed. Equally important is to enable

smallholder access to ICTs and through them to a wide range of support systems and

institutions for inputs, credit, expert knowledge, scaling, value addition and impact.

New developments in bandwidth for connectivity and cloud computing, farmer

access to mobile technologies, rising use of social networking tools, spread of

precision agriculture, and increasing links among farmers and local and global

markets, underscore the value of access to timely knowledge flows across the

agricultural supply chain.

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The transformation from agrarian to industrial and now to Information and

knowledge society has largely been brought out, as a result of the accumulation of

knowledge and the advancement of ICTs. With increased use of ICT, specific

adaptations of technologies such as knowledge bases, expert systems, knowledge

repositories, group decision support systems, intranets, extranets, workflow, Data

Warehouses, Web conferencing etc., have been introduced to further enhance KM

efforts. The purpose is to facilitate knowledge mining for leveraging organizational

knowledge.

Organizations that want to prosper in the Knowledge Society, require fusing

synergistically IT as knowledge-‐creation tools and human beings with collaborative

knowledge creation capabilities, to become a knowledge-‐creating organisation

(Ikujiro Nonaka et al, 1996)3 . There exist two types of knowledge: i.e., tacit

knowledge (e.g. intuitions, unarticulated mental models, or embodied technical

skills) and explicit knowledge (i.e. a meaningful set of information articulated in clear

language including numbers or diagrams). One school of thought, especially

Japanese, tend to consider knowledge as primarily “tacit”, i.e. personal, context-‐

specific, and not so easy to communicate to others, let alone via computers. Another

school of thought, especially Western Countries, tend to view knowledge as

“explicit”, i.e. formal, objective, and not so difficult to process with computers.

Knowledge Representation (KR) has been impacting and innovative research areas

for decades together.

Knowledge and Innovation have played an important role in the development

of society throughout the history. Knowledge Creation is a gradual process of adding

value to previous knowledge through innovation. One of important aspects of

3 Ikujiro et al (1996) : Ikujiro Nonaka, Katsuhiro Umemoto and Dai Senoo (1996) -‐ “From Information Processing to Knowledge Creation: A Paradigm Shift in Business Management”, Technology In Society, Vol. 18. No. 2, pp. 203-‐218, 1996;

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Knowledge Economy is the gradual shift from material goods to intangible goods

(Suliman Al-‐Hawamdeh, 2003)4 .

Knowledge Management (KM) facilitates (a) utilizing current expertise, (b)

leveraging learning from previous experiences, (c) enabling rapid scaling up, (d)

mitigating risk of attrition, and (e) sharing best practices, in organizations who aim at

productivity.

Knowledge Representation (KR) is a key pillar of Knowledge Management,

Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science and Software Engineering. The field of

Artificial Intelligence (AI) explores ways to build representations of information

from the World’s richness and to manage these representations over time for a range

of purposes from decision making to actuation.

Among the emerging concepts is one that revolutionized the way to establish

the parameters of where, why, and how to store that information -‐ CLOUD

COMPUTING (www.km4dev.org). Advances in ICT have finally realized “end-‐user and

mobile computing”, which have enhanced autonomy in terms of information and

action at the both individual and group levels. Cloud Computing and Virtual

Networking (Next Generation Networks -‐ NGN) will shape K4I Processes.

The Paradigm shift is “Knowledge for Innovation” (K4I). In Europe,

Knowledge4Innovation (K4I) is an open, independent, non-‐profit Platform, with a

wide variety of stakeholders including small and large Companies, Universities and

Research Centers, Regions and Cities, Trade organizations and Think Tanks. There is a

broad consensus that People, such as Researchers, Entrepreneurs, Civil servants and

Society at large, play a significant role when it comes to Innovation.

4Suliman Al-‐Hawamdeh (2003) : “Knowledge Management – Cultivating Knowledge Professionals”, Chandos Publishing (Oxford ) Limited, UK.

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e-‐Governance -‐ Libraries as Information delivery Points

In India, many e-‐Governance projects have been initiated during the last 15

years with huge investments by the Central as well as State Governments. India has

experienced prolific advancements due to National Telecom Policies (NTP), National

Knowledge Networks (NKN), National e-‐Governance Plan (NeGP) and involvement of

public and private Institutions, including civil society to foster Citizen-‐Centric Services,

and now with the Digital India Initiatives. Investments in National e-‐Governance

Programme (NeGP) of INR 23000 CR, Public Information and Infrastructure (PII),

National Fibre Optics Network (NFON) of INR 21000 CR [expected to go up to INR

40000 CR], and National Knowledge Network (NKN) of INR 5600 CR, have no

“specific role” for Information and Library Science Professionals, in view of the fact

that the Libraries have been the “information delivery points” and “information

generation points” in a structured manner for decades together. In India, there are

about 5 lakhs libraries providing information access to Public.

While delivering the Keynote Address in the National Conference on

“Knowledge Management in the Globalized era”, Organized by Association of

Agricultural Librarians and Documentalists of India (AALDI), NASC Complex, New

Delhi, 21-‐23 April 2010, I have suggested to the Director General, ICAR who was the

Chairman of the Inaugural Session, to consider setting up a Working Group on

“Knowledge Management in the Globalized Agricultural Development: Role of

Agricultural Librarians and Documentalists” under the 12th Plan Working Group for

formulating Agricultural Sectoral Plans. In India, there are more than 500 Libraries

functioning in agricultural establishments, providing services to more than 35000

S&T professionals and about 500,000 agricultural graduates and research scholars, in

the campus of National Agricultural Research and Education System in India.

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While delivering the Keynote address in another National Conference on

“Knowledge Organization in Academic Libraries (KOAL) 2012”, organised by the

Association of Academic Libraries, I suggested:

(a) Promotion of Specialized Information Centres (SICs) through on-‐line

Portals,

(b) Information service through Academic Libraries to Common Public,

especially Farmers, in Rural India,

(c) Launching of a 4-‐Year B.Tech Course on Informatics and Computing

(Library & Information Science and Engineering -‐LISE) to synergize

Computer Science, Information Technology and Library Science,

(d) Information Delivery Point for e-‐Governance Programme, and

(e) Setting up a Task Force on "e-‐Governance : Role of AAL" for making “e-‐

Governance delivery” more vibrant in the country.

The role of Library and Information Science (LIS) Professionals is increasing

day by day, in respect of knowledge management and knowledge dissemination to

all stakeholders, through the ICT Infrastructure being created through various

Mission Mode Projects.

The focus of Knowledge Management is connecting people, processes and

technology for the purpose of leveraging organizational knowledge. Open Access,

Open Source and Open Libraries (PLANNER 2008 Conference Theme of INFLIBNET)

facilitate Knowledge Management, when there has been impact of globalization and

change on the development of libraries, information infrastructure, and society.

Open Library is a synergy of Internet Connectivity and WWW Technology.

It is very appropriate to look into (a) adaption of Knowledge Management

(KM) methods, (b) involvement of Librarians and Documentalists in Knowledge Base

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Development and Knowledge dissemination in 22 (Constitutionally recognized)

Indian languages using Open Technology “Openness”, and (e) also the relevance of

“Library & Information Science”, in the era of “Knowledge Economy”, for inclusive

growth in India through “e-‐Governance”.

Paradigm Shift in Information Management

The Paradigm Shift in “Information Representation” is towards Data

standards and Metadata Standards for application in Information System

Management. Information representation and retrieval (IRR) is known as abstracting

and indexing, information searching, and information processing and management.

Information System Management Professionals are expected to know this principle

of Library and Information Science (LIS). But this is not happening in India.

Resource Description Framework (RDF), a W3C recommendation in February

1999, is an infrastructure for encoding, modelling and exchanging metadata (Heting

Chu, 2010)5 . RDF uses XML as the transfer syntax and is a foundation for processing

metadata.

Representation information is not the same thing as metadata and describes

data in administrative, descriptive, technical, structural and preservation terms. In

the Lifecycle model, metadata is covered under the Description term. For example,

Digital Objects are stored as “bit streams”, which are not understandable to a

human being, without further data to interpret them. Representation information is

the extra structural or semantic information, which converts raw data into

something more meaningful. For example, structure information can tell a computer

to interpret a string of bits as ASCII characters and semantic information can explain

5Heting Chu (2010): “Information Representation and Retrieval in the Digital Age”, ASIST Monograph series, USA. Email: [email protected].

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what a particular mathematical symbol means. Open Archival Information System

(OAIS) Version 7 describes about “Representation Information”.

Advancements in Information Technology are taking place, both horizontally

and vertically, due developments in the areas of: Social Media Networks, Data

Analytics & Modelling, Mobile Apps and Enterprise Mobility, Mobile and Cloud

Computing, Open Data and Open Gov, Data Security and Social Platform, Advanced

Computational Intelligence, Data Storage Technology, Internet Speed, WWW and

Its Language HTML, Smart Phone & Connected-‐TV, and Tablet Computers and Apps.

Information Management is facilitated by the use of Information Technology

and Information Sciences. Information Management, Information System

Management and Information Technology Management are vertical disciplines but

related as Information Science ! Information Management ! Information System

Management ! Information Technology Management, and hence they are to be

understood intrinsically, to derive maximum benefit as ROI in an Organisation.

Paradigm Shift in Librarianship

Library Science Education in India is undertaken in about150 University

Departments, by around 500 faculty members, and produces more than 5000 Library

graduates annually. While delivering my invited talk titled “Library and Information

Science : Paradigm Shift”, in the Department of Library and Information Science,

University of Delhi, on their Annual Day Celebration,26th April 2012, I have reiterated

that :

A. Librarians as Change Agent

• Today’s Global challenges require a new Librarianship, based

on Community engagement;

• How can Librarians promote Social change?

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• How can Librarians bridge the gap existing between

“technology” and “end-‐user”?

" Remote Sensing technology and farmers – How to

utilize?

" Information technology and farmers

" Agricultural technology and farmers

" Post-‐Harvest technology and farmers

" Agro-‐met advisories and farmer

" Livestock management and farmers ….

• Information resources – Print media (library), Video media,

digital media, Databases, Data centres, YouTube, Facebook,

Google Map, Bhuvan Map etc

• Information Search Engines (top 5): Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask

and AOL :

• MetaSearch Engines: WebCrawler etc.

• Video Conferencing, Chat, AgCHAT, Social networks etc

B. Libraries– partners in nation building

C. Any Shift noticed? : “More Librarians” are required to emerge than “More

Libraries’

It is necessary to introduce Library and Information Science (LIS) as

curriculum, in different levels, in about 4 lakhs schools and 28000 colleges, to make

“India a Knowledge Society”. Students who come out from 10th Standard and from

Colleges shall be taught on “Information Science”, in view of “Information

Exchange” revolution taking place through Internet and Mobile communications.

Dissemination of Agricultural Research Information – A Major Challenge

Agriculture is multidisciplinary subject consisting of crop sciences

horticulture, forestry, animal sciences and fisheries, etc. each of which has its own

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importance. The dissemination of research information is a major challenge. Until it

is known to the world, this research has no meaning. Hence, scholarly journals serve

as vehicles for the dissemination of scientific information. In India, there are about 23

Professional Societies and about 51 scholarly journals advance the interests of

specific disciplines in agriculture. If all of the professional societies in the ICAR

institutes embrace open access, indeed another green revolution can be achieved

(Aneeja Guttikonda and Sridhar Gutam, 2009)6.

There is also need to formulate an IT strategy to automate and bring all

agriculture libraries into one network. The Agriculture Network Information Center

(AgNIC) is one example of a successful cooperative liaison in the field of Agriculture

(Shilpa, Satish and Rajashekhar, 2013)7.

A key challenge for institutions of National Agricultural Research System

(NARS) in India, is to develop institutional mechanisms and capacities in using ICTs

for ensuring diverse data, information and knowledge flows and services among

scientists, research managers, faculty, students, farmers and other stakeholders. ICTs

can then support new ways of interaction, collaboration, and new governance and

institutional models to enhance agricultural innovation and sustainable development.

NAARM Vision 2050 Document envisages that NARS should get transformed to

national Agricultural Innovation System (NAIS).

Innovation is now regarded as a very important strategic priority to help

tackle the challenges facing agriculture and the rural world. Innovation is the

application of new knowledge to production processes, i.e., the appropriation of

new knowledge by the decision-‐maker (in this case, the producer). The management 6 Aneeja Guttikonda and Sridhar Gutam (2009) : “Prospects of open access to Indian agricultural research: A

case study of ICAR”, First Monday, Volume 14, Number 7 – 6, July 2009; http://firstmonday.org. The Authors are working with NAARM, Hyderabad (India);

7 Shilpa S U, Satish S.Uplaonkar and Rajashekhar Mahadevagouda (2013): “Agricultural Libraries in the Knowledge Web: Library Networks and Consortia”, e-‐Library Science Research Journal, Vol.1, Issue.3/Jan. 201; 3 ISSN : 2319-‐8435.

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of knowledge is, therefore, a key element of innovation. The Platform for Opening

up Knowledge in Agricultural Innovation for Development (OKAID), as discussed in

the EMBRAPA International Workshop (2011) 8 , as given below, is worth

consideration for operationalisation in India.

Opening Access to Agricultural Knowledge Global Initiatives

“Open data" means "available without restrictions" and "machine readable". In

agriculture, there is a major barrier that effectively stops people getting what they need.

Many agricultural innovation organizations invest only a small fraction of their resources in

8 EMBRAPA International Workshop (2011) on “Opening up knowledge in agricultural innovation for

development” Organized by EMBRAPA / FAO / CGIAR / IICA / FORAGRO / GFAR , held at EMBRAPA, Brasilia, from 29/11 to 01/12, 2011;

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communicating their results and ensuring they are well adapted to the needs of rural society,

and most provide less than 10% of their available information on the Internet”. Much

attention has been focused internationally on how digital information and communication

technologies (ICT) can improve access to technical data and knowledge in all sectors

including agriculture. This drive has been reflected in the Post-‐2015 Development Agenda

and called for a “data revolution” for sustainable development, with a new international

initiative to improve the quality of statistics and information available to citizens.

In recent years, efforts to make Agricultural data, Information and Knowledge

more accessible have increased (Esther Dzalé, Devika Madalli and Johnnes Keizar, 2014)9.

Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), the Cooperative Group on International

Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and numerous other partners have been promoting the

Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD) movement to

open up access to agricultural knowledge worldwide. CIARD is a global movement dedicated

to open agricultural knowledge.

According to the CIARD website (www.ciard.net), “everyone has experienced

frustration in trying to get hold of data and information to help them in their work, even in

the so-‐called ‘information age’, with apparently easy access to the information-‐packed

Internet. Frequently it proves impossible”.

Global consultation reinforces CIARD in making agricultural knowledge accessible

and useful for smallholders. CIARD harnesses and reflects growing international interest in

opening access to agricultural knowledge among all actors in food security and rural

development, including through the G8, the G20 and the Global Conference on Agricultural

Research for Development (GCARD). Within the CIARD movement, the Route map to

Information Nodes and Gateways (RING) has been established, and contains about 986 data

sources. The “Open Data in Agriculture” has promoted, as the follow up of G8 Group

9 Esther Dzalé Yeumo Kaboré, Devika Madalli and Johnnes Keizar (2014): “Opening and Linking Agricultural

Research Data”, D-‐Lib Magazine, January/February 2014, Volume 20, Number 1/2

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meetings, another international alliance has been formed under the title of "Global Open

Data for Agriculture and Nutrition" (GODAN).

International Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture (INFITA), Pan

America Federation of Information Technology in Agriculture (Pan-‐AFITA), European

federation of Information Technology in Agriculture (EFITA), Asian Federation of Information

Technology in Agriculture (AFITA), Indian Association of Information Technology in

Agriculture (IAITA) etc., have also been promoting “Open Systems” through ICT in

Agriculture throughout the World.

The European Commission – SCAR (Standing Committee on Agricultural

Research) Publication titled “Food for thought: Agricultural Knowledge and

Innovation Systems Towards 2020” (2014), is providing interesting aspects on

agricultural research policies and innovation in agricultural research, proposes

approaches for engaging the agricultural researchers in targeted research &

innovation, discusses alternative approaches and revisions to the existing ones,

proposes approaches for stimulating the entrepneurship.

Shared innovative practices are emerging through the AgShare projects, not

only for creating and sharing Open Educational Resources (OER), but also for

collaborating with stakeholders and with students to bridge the gap between theory

and local practice in African University Agriculture Curriculum (Christine Geith and

Karen Vignare, 2013)10.

The renewed worldwide interest in agriculture and in issues relating to food

crises in different parts of the world has highlighted the need for providing quality

10 Christine Geith, Karen Vignare (2013 ): ” AgShare Open Knowledge: Improving Rural Communities through

University Student Action Research”, Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, Volume 17: Issue 2, July 2013.

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information to actors in rural development. The Global initiatives are visible

through the following institutions:-‐

1. AIMS (http://www.aims.fao.org) -‐ Agricultural Information

Management Standards, is a space for accessing and discussing

agricultural information management standards, tools and

methodologies connecting information workers worldwide to build a

global community of practice; is primarily intended for Information

Workers ( i.e. Librarians);

2. agINFRA – a Data Infrastructure for Agriculture

3. GODAN (www.godan.info) -‐ Global Open Data for Agriculture and

Nutrition .

4. CIARD (www.ciard.net) -‐ the Coherence in Information for

Agricultural Research for Development -‐ "to develop common

standards, share knowledge and contribute to coherent, effective and

open institutional approaches to agricultural knowledge";

5. RING (www.ring.ciard.net) -‐ Route map to Information Nodes and

Gateways -‐ acts as a global directory of web-‐based information

services and datasets for agricultural research for development;

6. GFSP (www.gfsp.org) -‐ Global Food Safety Partnership,

7. RDA (www.rd-‐alliance.org) -‐ Research Data Alliance internal groups :

8. Agriculture Data Interoperability Interest Group and the Wheat Data

Interoperability Working Group.;

9. e-‐Agriculture of FAO -‐ is a global Community of Practice (COP), where

people from all over the world exchange information, ideas, and

resources related to the use of information and communication

technologies (ICT) for sustainable agriculture and rural development; 10. CGIAR (www.cgiar.org) -‐ set up to transfer knowledge to the poor

countries as well as help them be part of knowledge production;

All these initiatives have more or less a common goal -‐ to identify the requirements of

the agricultural community related to “access to agricultural data” and to “allow

and/or to enhance access to open and linked data”, making use of infrastructures

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that can support the management of large volumes of information and knowledge

and disseminate related open access policies and information between stakeholders.

National Initiatives

a. Indian National Agricultural Research System (NARS) – Adoption of Open Access Policy 2013

The Consortium for e-‐Resources in Agriculture (CeRA), established in

November 2007 in ICAR, facilitates accessibility of scientific journals to all

researchers / teachers in the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) by

providing access to information, specially access to journals online which is

crucial for having excellence in research and teaching. Indian Council of

Agricultural Research (ICAR) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of

India, has adopted Open Access Policy during 2013 – OAP 2013 -‐ (Source :

http://www.icar.res.in) . The features of OAP 2013 are as follows:-‐

1. Each ICAR institute to setup an Open Access Institutional

Repository;

2. ICAR shall setup a central harvester to harvest the metadata

and full-‐text of all the records from all the Open Access (OA)

repositories of the ICAR institutes for one stop access to all

the agricultural knowledge generated in ICAR;

3. All the meta-‐data and other information of the institutional

repositories are copyrighted with the ICAR. These are

licensed for use, re-‐use and sharing for academic and

research purposes. Commercial and other reuse requires

written permission;

4. All publications viz., research articles, popular articles,

monographs, catalogues, conference proceedings, success

stories, case studies, annual reports, newsletters,

pamphlets, brochures, bulletins, summary of the completed

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projects, speeches, and other grey literatures available with

the institutes to be placed under Open Access;

5. The institutes are free to place their unpublished reports in

their open access repository. They are encouraged to share

their works in public repositories like YouTube and social

networking sites like Facebook ®, Google+, etc. along with

appropriate disclaimer;

6. The authors of the scholarly articles produced from the

research conducted at the ICAR Institutes have to deposit

immediately the final authors version manuscripts of papers

accepted for publication (pre-‐prints and post-‐prints) in the

institute’s Open Access repository.

7. Scientists and other research personnel of the ICAR working

in all ICAR institutes or elsewhere are encouraged to publish

their research work with publishers which allow self-‐

archiving in Open Access Institutional Repositories.

8. The authors of the scholarly literature produced from the

research funded in whole or part by the ICAR or by other

Public Funds at ICAR establishments are required to deposit

the final version of the author's peer-‐reviewed manuscript in

the ICAR institute’s Open Access Institutional Repository.

9. Scientists are advised to mention the ICAR’s Open Access

Policy while signing the copyright agreements with the

publishers and the embargo, if any, should not be later than

12 months.

10. M.Sc. and Ph.D. thesis/dissertations (full contents) and

summary of completed research projects to be deposited in

the institutes open access repository after completion of

the work. The metadata (e.g., title, abstract, authors,

publisher, etc.) be freely accessible from the time of

deposition of the content and their free unrestricted use

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through Open Access can be made after an embargo period

not more than 12 months.

11. All the journals published by the ICAR have been made Open

Access. Journals, conference proceedings and other

scholarly literature published with the financial support

from ICAR to the professional societies and others, to be

made Open.

12. The documents having material to be patented or

commercialised, or where the promulgations would infringe

a legal commitment by the institute and/or the author, may

not be included in institute’s Open Access repository.

However, the ICAR scientists and staff as authors of the

commercial books may negotiate with the publishers to

share the same via institutional repositories after a suitable

embargo period;

Implementation

13. The Directorate of Knowledge Management in Agriculture

of ICAR (DKMA) to function as nodal agency for

implementation of the ICAR Open Access policy. The DKMA

will organize advocacy workshops and capacity building of

scientific & technical personnel, repository administrators,

editors and publishers on Institutional Repositories,

application and usage of Free and Open Source Software;

End Note

14. OA initiative is not a single event. It is a process and expects

full compliance over a period of three years. Therefore, the

proposed modest policy is a first step in the journey towards

formal declaration of openness and then after reviews

progress, compliance and impact periodically.

The OAP 2013 envisages its compliance by 2016 in the ICAR. However, the

OAP 2013 does not include its compliance in the other components of Indian

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NARS -‐ Agricultural Educational and Research System (SAUs/CAUs), and also

its links to Global Initiatives such as GODAN, CAIRD, RING etc.

b. National Knowledge Commission’s Working Group on Open Access and Open Educational Resources

The Working Group on Open Access (OA) and Open Educational

Resources (OER) of the National Knowledge Commission 0f NKC), 2008

emphasized that e-‐content and curriculum initiative should initially focus on

the rapid production and acquisition of content in high need areas like

agriculture, teacher training, basic and applied sciences and engineering,

technical education, liberal arts and social sciences, communication skills,

ethics and values, public health, and high end skills including management. In

these areas, some of the course material needs to be developed in different

regional languages. To further extend the efficacy of this OER system, a

distributed method of e-‐evaluation needs to be created to measure both

teachers and students utilizing the system. The students that do graduate

from India’s Colleges and Universities will be less and less employable as they

lack the necessary skills and relevant knowledge to compete in the global

labor marketplace. And most frustrating of all, Indian students coming from

socio economically disadvantaged backgrounds will find fewer and fewer

opportunities for social and academic mobility due to quality constraints”. In

particular, OER, in various regional languages, needs to be developed for the

Agricultural Sector. It is rightly observed that “with the inclusion of Open

Access and Open Educational Resources materials, the cost of providing

education to these students comes down drastically”.

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Open Access to Indigenous Knowledge – Shall we allow misrepresentation of Indigenous Knowledge?

I wish to quote Professor Alexander Flor (2014)11 on Open Access to

Indigenous Knowledge: “Within the current ICT environment, the ideal of having all

explicit or documented knowledge made available on the Web is now a possible.

Furthermore, the prospect of digitally capturing all tacit or undocumented

knowledge and also making these openly available is real. Extending this view to

indigenous knowledge, we can argue that having been the product of generations of

practice and thus steeped in wisdom, indigenous knowledge should be made freely

available, at the very least to flatten generational learning curves. This is, particularly,

true in traditional agriculture and folk medicine, which have become valuable sources

of prescriptive technologies for organic agriculture and ethno-‐medicine, respectively,

and are now being seriously considered as repositories for climate change adaptation

options. Indigenous knowledge on feeding (agriculture) and healing (medicine)

cannot just be made openly available to any person who may misuse it or

irresponsibly wield the power attendant to it. Misrepresentation of indigenous

knowledge. Should we still encourage open access to indigenous knowledge

resources?” .

Content to Connectivity: The Prospective Digital Platform for Inclusive Growth in India

The World Bank ICT strategy is “Connect, Transform and Innovate”. Cloud

networking offers a combination and integration of cloud computing and virtual

networking (Ahlgren et al 2011)12.The UK (July 2013) Report “Connectivity, Content

11 Alexander Flor (2014): “Open Access to Indigenous Knowledge”, published in the blog

(https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140313094651-‐173195569-‐open-‐access-‐to-‐indigenous-‐knowledge), Professor of Information and Communication Studies at University of the Philippines -‐ Open University, March 13, 2014;

12Ahlgren. B, Aranda. P.A, Chemouil.P, and Queslati. S (2011) : “Content, connectivity, and cloud: Ingredients for the Network of the Future”, Communications Magazine, IEEE (Volume:49 , Issue: 7 ), July 2011, Page(s): 62 -‐ 70 ISSN : 0163-‐6804, INSPECAccession Number: 12093086, Digital Object Identifier :10.1109/MCOM.2011.5936156.

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and Consumers – Britain’s digital platform for growth”, recognised the role that

digital infrastructure and connectivity has, in delivering economic and social

benefits, and also announced the intention to develop a digital communications

infrastructure strategy to ensure that the United Kingdom (UK) has the right

infrastructure in place to meet the needs of users in 2025-‐30 and ensure that the UK

remains a leading digital nation. Can’t India take a clue from this Report? Next

Generation Network (NGN) Architecture will be based on information-‐ centric

networking, cloud computing integrated with networking, and open connectivity.

What India needs is “Information Infrastructure” (Content), in addition to the

on-‐going massive efforts of “ICT Infrastructure” (Connectivity) by the Government.

“Connectivity to Contents” and “Contents to Connectivity” are two sides of a COIN

so as the COIN is to have its appropriate value and shining. The suggested Action

Plan is as follows:-‐

• Networking of Knowledge Generating Institutions and establish a

Knowledge Grid across the nation covering all Scientific Organizations,

Industry and Educational Institutions and other stakeholders;

• Development of ICT based Knowledge Portals for all sectors of economy

and linked to the National Knowledge Grid;

• e-‐Learning to focus on rural population and poorest of the poor and bring

them onto mainstream so that they could have access to knowledge and

service deliveries;

• Incorporation of Knowledge Management related aspects in both

Information Technology Act 2012 and RTI Act 2005;

• Conversion of 5 Lakhs Libraries to access Public Information as well as to

function as delivery channels for e-‐Governance Service Deliveries;

• Inclusion of “Knowledge Management in Government” as one of the

deliverables in e-‐Government/e-‐Governance programme;

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• Inclusion of LIS Professionals as Digital Information Life Cycle

Management Managers;

• Developing Digital Open Knowledge Resources in 22 Constitutionally

recognized Indian Languages ;

• Capacity building for agricultural knowledge management and

communication;

• The existing National Knowledge Network (NKN) to be renamed as

“National Knowledge and Innovation Network” to emphasize on

“innovation” more appropriately.

Digital library activities are gathering momentum in developing countries.

Since most higher education and research institutions in India are funded and

controlled by the Central and State Governments, clear-‐cut national plans and

polices are needed for infrastructure, standards, metadata, interoperability, multi-‐

lingual databases, training, co-‐ordination, copyright, and archiving and preservation

methods, so that our heritage knowledge and culture can overcome the ravages of

time, and present and future generations can benefit and be guided by them. Multi-‐

lingual Digital Libraries, accessible through 500,000 physical libraries in the country,

will be the “Prospective Digital Platform for Inclusive Growth (e-‐Inclusion)” in India.

Conclusion

I am very happy to participate in this nationally important Workshop on

“Open Access to Agricultural Knowledge for Inclusive Growth and Development,

being organized by the National Academy of Agricultural research Management

(NAARM), in collaboration with the global initiatives viz., agINFRA, CIARD, and FAO.

Open Access India is part of GODAN (http://godan.info/) as community of practice

and the workshop is related to Agriculture domain. The Current Status of Open

Knowledge Resources in Agriculture in India needs a large scale of participation. The

Gaps are expanding and Needs to improve Open Knowledge Access are to be

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addressed through Capacity Building. The Scope for further Collaboration – National

and Global Agencies – is enormous but needs to be undertaken on priority basis. The

“Content to Connectivity”, under the Digital India Programme, needs to be

strengthened for Inclusive Growth and Development of Indian Agriculture.

“Knowledge for Innovation (K4I)” has to become a national agenda.

(Speech Text ends here)