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Free and Open Source Software in India: Mobilising Technology for the National Good

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Free and Open Source Software in India: Mobilising Technology for the National Good Free and Open Source Software in India: Mobilising Technology for the National Good A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2018 Jasmine N. M. Folz School of Social Sciences/Social Anthropology 0 Contents List of Figures and Tables ............................................................................................................... 4 Acronyms ........................................................................................................................................ 5 Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 7 Declaration ...................................................................................................................................... 8 Copyright Statement ....................................................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1 – Introduction ................................................................................................................11 Development with a Small d ................................................................................................................. 13 What is software and what makes it free? ...................................................................................... 16 The Anthropology of FOSS .................................................................................................................... 20 Individualism, Freedom, and Autonomy ......................................................................................... 22 Some notes on terminology .................................................................................................... 26 FOSS v Free Software/Open Source Software ............................................................................... 26 The Indian FOSS Community ............................................................................................................... 26 Engineers v “geeks” & “hackers” ......................................................................................................... 27 Fieldwork ................................................................................................................................. 29 Ethical Considerations ............................................................................................................................ 34 Thesis Outline .......................................................................................................................... 34 Chapter Two – Contextualising FOSS in India: Nation-Making through Technology ................. 36 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 36 Historical Context ..................................................................................................................... 36 Technology and the colonial/postcolonial project ...................................................................... 36 Post-Independence Political Economy: From Non-alignment to Liberalisation .............. 38 Historical Overview of Indian IT Policy and Practice ................................................................. 41 The Rise of the Indian Software Engineer as a National and Global Phenomenon ......... 44 History of FOSS in India .......................................................................................................... 46 The First Decade: The 1990s ............................................................................................................... 49 Turn of the Century: 1999 – 2003 ...................................................................................................... 52 Delhi versus Microsoft: No Policy is also a Policy ........................................................................... 57 2004-2014: Growth and Divergence ................................................................................................. 59 2015-17: Accepted Technology, Contested Ideology .................................................................. 63 1 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 68 Chapter 3 – Evangelising FOSS: Indian FOSS as an Ethical Project ........................................... 69 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 69 Conversion ................................................................................................................................ 70 Finding FOSS............................................................................................................................................... 71 From Convert to Evangelist .................................................................................................................. 74 Spectrum of FOSS Evangelism ................................................................................................ 78 Linux User Groups .................................................................................................................................... 78 University Talks/Training ..................................................................................................................... 80 Lobbying: Mobilising Status in the Name of FOSS ....................................................................... 84 Ideological Purity and Practice ................................................................................................. 87 Socially Engaged Versus Technically Engaged Evangelism ...................................................... 88 Paid Evangelism ........................................................................................................................................ 88 LUGS v GLUGS ............................................................................................................................................ 90 Ideological Purity and Practice ........................................................................................................... 91 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 95 Chapter Four – FOSS as a Social Tool: FOSS Activists and the Indian Middle Class ................. 97 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 97 A FOSS Project that has little to do with FOSS........................................................................ 98 Indian Middle Classes ............................................................................................................. 101 Class and Caste Consciousness among FOSS Activists ............................................................. 106 Middle Class Social Movements in India ........................................................................................ 110 Staying in India ........................................................................................................................................ 112 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................116 Chapter 5 – Limits to Freedom and Potential for Openness: Gender and Indian FOSS .............117 Introduction ..............................................................................................................................117 Freedom and Responsibility at Work and Home .....................................................................118 IT Education and Career as a Family Concern ............................................................................. 118 Balancing Tradition and Modernity through Respectable Femininity ............................... 121 Hegemonic Masculinity in Indian IT ............................................................................................... 126 Technical Freedoms and Social Constraints: Women’s Work in the Indian FOSS Community ................................................................................................................................................. 132 Women’s Labour: Free as in Freedom or free as in Beer? ....................................................... 133 Merit and Other Obfuscations ........................................................................................................... 135 2 The Gender and Technology Slot ...................................................................................................... 137 Strategies for change ............................................................................................................................. 139 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 143 Chapter 6 – Developers and Development: The Political Economy of FOSS in India .............. 145 Introduction ............................................................................................................................
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