Some thoughts on future course

Let me outline some of the things that I have thought of:
Its not possible for everyone to go and work in Bihar. But there are lot many people who are interested to help. People also have differing interests. They have different working styles and thought process. People also work in different capacities and they are distributed wide and far. It is in fact a good thing. Moreover, Bihar already has organizations which are very active. Now, given these facts, it would be hard(the ratio of gain/resource would be very low) to motivate to do something completely new.


This situation appears to me very similar to the free software movement way back in 1980's. Proprietary software(software that is prevented from sharing) was reigning the market, but, there were some people/group who used to write softwares and share among themselves freely. Stallman(the father of free software movement) knew that he had to develop a new operating system to help all people share their work among themselves freely. The decision was crucial. He could have developed his fancy operating system, but in those days Unix was the most famous and all people were well versed with Unix. For the very reason that people were very familiar with Unix operating system, he laid aside the notion of fancy operating system and concentrated on a free version of Unix. He not only did this, he was developed a solid philosophy for the community . It is only today that we can see the benefits of such rock solid philosophy. The third thing that he did was to develop the infrastructure based on which different tastes of people could be serviced, but *at the same time, and without being very obvious, the cause was furthered, that is development of free software.

The above description has lot to teach us. We must also be aware that our work might have legal consequences and hence we have to be extremely careful.

Based on Stallman's idea and the facts about people and Bihar laid above, I have thought of the following(these are just suggestions in the hope that it maximizes the gain/resource ratio):

1. We will develop a solid philosophical framework for our work.
2. We will recognize and highlight the talent from Bihar.
3. We will create an infrastructure whose main objective would be following
a. Provide an interface between the various classes of people (who are distributed all over with differing interests) and the existing organizations already working in Bihar.
b. The infrastructure will help the existing organizations to further their cause while at the same time on the other side let people contribute in their own way.
c. The infrastructure will *help people to work in parallel and without intervention.

Some of the probable benefits of the above laid points
1. Developing a solid philosophical framework will help us attract the intellectuals as well. (Why do you think so many intellectuals are present in free software movement).
2. Recognizing the talent and highlighting the talent of Bihar would *help in formation of various sub-groups of like minded people. It's very important to bring people good (not necessarily like-minded)together, or network people.
3. The third point will help us in re-using the existing work and subsequently building upon them.

How can they be implemented?
1. Developing a solid philosophical framework is little tricky. However, I have thought something on these lines
a.We shall gain respect by respecting others i.e. we shall avoid indulging in any act that brings disrespect and hatred to other communities.
b. We shall share our work freely.
2. Recognizing the talent and highlighting is little easier. We can develop a online directory. The directory will be open to the community and anyone can edit it and see it. The directory structure will contain extensive information.
3. The third point can be achieved by developing a good website and dedicated group responsible for bringing the organizations and corresponding people together i.e. think of the organizations as the slot and right(willing) people will have to be fit in their. People can do it themselves as well.