A supporting mail from ISOC Delhi Chapter in support of NIR in the Country.
There are about 160 operational ISPs in India most of them are smaller/ medium size operators catering to the niche market in the country.
Since there is ample competition in the market, cost remains a big challenge. Every ISP is conscious about the price. One of the major cost factors in the ISP operation is buying IP resources for which they have to take APNIC Members by paying money in Australian Dollar which is still a big amount for most of the small/mid size operators.
Thus there is an ardent need to have NIR in the Country to reduce the operational cost for ISPs. NIXI which is an excellent example of public private partnership in the country is capable of handling this extra charge of NIR beside the IX & .IN ccTLD.
NIXI is technically and financially capable of handling this project. Major ISPs are connected with NIXI and it has support from Department of IT as well as ISP Association, hence credibility is not an issue.
NIXI in association with ISPAI has been conducting various training programs conducted by APNIC and other consultants also supported International Events such as APNIC-SANOG Meet, ICANN, IGF, SANOG etc as a prime sponsor – can easily fulfill the training requirements pretty well in vernacular languages keeping Indian requirement in mind.
ISOC Delhi Chapter strongly fees that NIR should come to India sooner then later under the aegis of NIXI.
Lalit Chandra Mathur
Secretary, ISOC Delhi Chapter
Now the issue has moved from Neutrality to Participation and Drum Beating.
Participation: How it would not get improved by forming NIR for India !! With the availability of resources, e.g. the usage of cars by the common man in India or for that matter any other materialistic thing become way of life when they are available in the country. People from the same India used to visit foreign countries for shopping and today with the availability of goods, the entire approach has changed. I must clarify here if this reference is irrelevant to NIR; “Participation” also lies in the same category.
Beating the Drums: The India model needed a small IP Pool allocation as a policy and my visit/effort were sufficient to get the proposal accepted but never believed in beating drums and that too fake ones atleast. ISPAI takes up ‘what matters for India’ and tries to get it addressed favorably. Yes, lobbies are there to oppose NIR by referring / instilling various fears in the minds of community and now the stage has reached to divert / sell us fear of “low-voting-power-because-of-NIR”.
Therefore the new question is whether this voting power would go up or down with the NIR ? For that, we must go in the past and reflect upon our decisions to support for EC position. After we succeeded in getting the post 3/4 years back, a representation was made again. Unfortunately, by this time the Indian community had felt and found out that our first decision was a grave mistake and our second representation lost. Indian community is very wise and democratic so, they do give opportunity but take it back when it is not the right decision.
I have been the President of ISPAI for the last 4 years and maintain my humbleness in believing in what is good for the country. Whatever knowledge I have, I am proud to say, is in positive direction.
NIXI meets the NIR criteria on endorsement, u/s 25 not-for-profit company, self sustained rather sufficient funds, Capability/Experience - No dispute case pending even for ".in" and willingness to follow all the operational procedures laid in the books for NIR. The issue on "Neutrality" has also been duly clarified by Mr. Ajay Kumar in his mail.
The Indian community is capable of handling this new diversion approach / tactic and also ready to take the remarks that we keep “wavering”. I am sure the world community like Andy, Phillips and others can see that how many hurdles / diverting topics are being created and if we ignore the same, there would be a further delay.
I would like to clarify, as the President of ISPAI, that the entire ISP community supports NIXI for the NIR and there is nothing pending in terms of the application formalities communicated. During similar discussions, many issues erupted on neutrality to which we must state that the ISPAI community is very much part of NIXI in any type of composition one wants to term. We won’t appreciate any excuses / reasoning / diversions to delay NIR any further.
Last but not the least; I have responded to Jonny also that India is looking forward to this New Year Gift from APNIC, as smooth as the other six countries got their NIR.
Regards
Rajesh Chharia
President
ISPAI (Internet Service Providers Association of India)
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