Public Works For A Better Government

PUBLIC.RESOURCE.
ORG ~ A Nonprofit Corporation

Public Works for a Better Government
August 2, 2014
Honorable Sunil Soni, DIrector General

Bureau of Indian Standards
9 Bahadur Shar Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110 002
India
Dear Mr. Director General:
I am writing in response to the letter of August 1, 2014 from Mr. R. K. Srivastava, who
was writing in reference to my letter of June 25, 2014. Mr. Srivastava objected to the
posting of “192 standards/publications of BIS,” said that the “BIS has not appreciated”
the efforts, and then talked of legal actions.
First, let me be very clear that we did not post 192 Indian Standards on our web site.
We posted 19,200 Indian Standards on our web site. Our non-profit corporation did so
on a non-commercial basis for the express and stated purpose as noted on the cover
sheet of each such document:
Whereas the Parliament of India has set out to provide a practical regime
of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under
the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and
accountability in the working of every public authority, and whereas the
attached publication of the Bureau of Indian Standards is of particular
interest to the public, particularly disadvantaged communities and those
engaged in the pursuit of education and knowledge, the attached public
safety standard is made available to promote the timely dissemination of
this information in an accurate manner to the public.
The Right to Information Act (Act No. 22 of 2005) is a fundamental and central piece of
legislation in India. It is widely considered the gold standard in the world for citizen
access to the workings of government. The Right to Information Act in turn has deep
constitutional roots. As the Supreme Court of India forcefully noted in Paragraph 55 of
S.P. Gupta v. Union of India, A.I.R. 1982 S.C. 149:
The concept of an open government is the direct emanation from the

right to know which seems to be implicit in the right of free speech and
expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a). Therefore, disclosure of
information in regard to the functioning of Government must be the rule
and secrecy an exception justiﬁed only where the strictest requirement of
public interest so demands.
carl@media.org ! 1005 GRAVENSTEIN HIGHWAY NORTH, SEBASTOPOL, CALIFORNIA 95472 • PH: (707) 827-7290 • FX: (707) 829-0104
The Director General, Page 2
These benchmarks apply to all public authorities, including the Bureau of Indian
Standards. However, when it comes to Indian Standards, this is about more than just
ordinary government information. Indian Standards are Edicts of Government,
documents which are incorporated into numerous statutes and regulatory acts of the
governments of India and which are relied upon in numerous opinions of the courts.
Edicts of Government are the rules that define the rights and obligations of citizens.
When those edicts define the public safety of what we eat, the safety of our homes and
factories, and the safety of our water and roads, it is particularly important that we
know what they say. That we must all know the laws is a principle that goes far back in
the history of India. As Nehru taught us, Ashoka inscribed the edicts in rocks and
pillars so all could see and know, symbols that are so central to the identity of India
that the wheels of law are at the center of the Indian flag. See Indian Standard IS 1,
Specification for the National Flag of India (Cotton Khadi) (Second Revision).
It is well recognized throughout the world that Edicts of Government must be available
for people to read and speak, for the laws are owned by the people in any democratic
society. In the United States, this principle has been set down from the earliest
decisions of our Supreme Court in the seminal decision of Wheaton v. Peters, 33 U.S.
591 (1834) which held that the law has no copyright. Indeed, this principle is such a
long-held underpinning of public policy that it has been enshrined in the U.S.
Copyright Office, Compendium of Office Practices II, Section 206.01 (1984):
Edicts of government, such as judicial opinions, administrative rulings,

legislative enactments, public ordinances, and similar ofﬁcial legal
documents are not copyrightable for reasons of public policy. This applies
to such works whether they are Federal, State, or local as well as to those
of foreign governments. (Emphasis Added.)
I was inspired to make the standards of India more broadly available to the people of
India by a seminal report, the 2006 Report to the Nation of the National Knowledge
Commission. Chaired by Mr. Sam Pitroda, this report emphasized that “people’s access
to knowledge can transform India’s potential.” Mr. Pitroda began his report with the
inspirational words of Rabindranath Tagore:
Where the mind is without fear

and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been

broken up into fragments by narrow
domestic walls;
Where words come out from

the depth of truth
Can this inspiring thought be more true than vital information about our public safety?
Indian Standards are some of the most important documents that the Government of
India publishes. These documents are essential to the country’s ability to promote
domestic and international trade, and the broad public availability of mandated public
The Director General, Page 3
safety codes are enshrined in the governing documents of the World Trade
Organization (See Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption, and Application
of Standards, Annex 3, Uruguay Round Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade). It is
for this reason that the Bureau of Indian Standards is mandated to maintain a WTO
Technical Barriers to Trade Enquiry Point, as do all other countries that believe in free
trade.
Promoting foreign investment and trade is of course one of the important outcomes of
promulgating standards, but it is about much more than the economy. The excellent
work published by the Bureau of Indian Standards on behalf of the Government India
codifies technical knowledge across a wide range of important fields. The Bureau of
Indian Standards is the best place to learn about the creation of irrigation systems
(Water Resources Division), the state of art in fire safety (Civil Engineering Division
Committee 22), how to construct a building (IS SP 7), how to safely wire electrical
installations (IS SP 30), or the technical details of safe and effective agricultural
practices (Food and Agriculture Division).
Indian Standards are an essential store of knowledge, knowledge that should be

available to local and state government workers, students and teachers in regional
colleges, union officials and factory workers, farmers and food preparers, and many
others. We cannot put a price on this knowledge. As Bhartṛhari said, “knowledge is
such a treasure which cannot be stolen.” Indeed, I remember reading that in the halls
of Takṣaśilā, the first great university in the world, it was not considered proper for the
teachers to charge for their instruction. Instead, it was for the students to offer gifts of
appreciation.
I am so appreciative of the wonderful work that the Bureau of Indian Standards does
that this was the purpose of my writing to you, to offer to you what I can. In the course
of our work, we have spent a great deal of time working with Indian Standards,
transforming some of them into HTML and in some cases redrawing important
diagrams into SVG and encoding formulas in MathML. I hope you can use these
materials. I also wanted to offer to you, as has Mr. Sam Pitroda, our services to bring in
some of the bright lights of the Internet world to voluntarily work to make the
standards yet more useful and accessible.
Please let me know if we can reboot this conversation with no further needless talk of
legalities. We share a common purpose and appreciation in promoting the use of
standards, one of the most important tools in our modern world. I hope we can work
together in this important quest.
With best regards,
Carl Malamud
Public.Resource.Org

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PUBLIC.RESOURCE.

ORG ~ A Nonprofit Corporation

Honorable Sunil Soni, DIrector General

Dear Mr. Director General:

The concept of an open government is the direct emanation from the

Edicts of government, such as judicial opinions, administrative rulings,

Where the mind is without fear

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been

Where words come out from

Indian Standards are an essential store of knowledge, knowledge that should be

With best regards,

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