On Tuesday, 24 March 2026, Arvind Menon <[email protected]> wrote:
> You need to under CIS behind International Institute of Information > Technology Hyderabad grant.Grants team will make up all execuses for them. > > Nepal is not new. CIS has destroyed all Indian community team work in > India. > > They dont even respond to community anymore. CIS is that powerful. Why > Pawan Santosh travelled to Poland for Wikimania? He still has not answered. > > Sorry Nepal but CIS is the problem. > > > On Tuesday, 24 March 2026, Pankaj Sharma via WikimediaIndia-l < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> The community proposal to host the regional SAARC Conference in 2026 in >> Nepal >> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Conference_Fund/Wikimedia_SAARC_Conference_2026> >> was declined. The reasons provided was the event would be redundant and an >> unnecessary expense because a similar conference is planned in India in the >> year of 2025. However in 2025 conference in India didn't happened and >> surprisingly our proposal was declined beacuse of that. But why.!!! >> >> While Nepal’s proposal was viewed with skepticism regarding our capacity, >> the 2025 conference in India failed to materialize due to a failure in >> financial management and a lack of understanding regarding local FCRA >> regulations in India. This resulted in a substantial huge waste of >> Wikimedia Foundation resources. It is disheartening that the Conference >> Grant Program Officer applied Indian legal constraints as a blanket >> assumption for Nepal, hindering our community's growth based on a >> misunderstanding of our local context. >> >> I have a question: How did the legal situation in India affect the >> decision on a proposal of Nepal? >> >> Looking ahead to 2026 I was doubtful by the current grant applications >> from the International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad. I see >> that a request for 207,000 USD has been submitted for WikiConference India >> 2026. Simultaneously, the same individual representing the same >> institution, has applied for an separate 87,554.81 USD for an Open >> Knowledge Conference within a gap of few months of the first event with >> same purpose and target participants. >> >> As a Wikimedian this raises serious questions about the equitable >> distribution and potential misuse of community resources. While Nepal is >> told to scale down and gain experience with smaller events, a single >> institution is requesting nearly 300,000 USD for overlapping projects with >> same people in the organization role and same theme. >> >> If the Wikimedia Foundation is concerned about redundancy and extra costs >> when it comes to Nepal, why is it being overlooked when a single >> institution in India applies for two major grants for nearly identical >> purposes? We need more accountability and a fairer distribution of >> resources to ensure that all communities not just one can grow. We urge the >> foundation and the community to investigate these for the benefit of the >> entire regional community and stop wasting the resources make the process >> more transparent and accountable. >> >> Regards, >> Pankaj >> >
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