Opening Up Open-Source

Context: Constraints in public procurement processes are holding back the technology from realising its potential. Its uptake must be incentivised.

Significance of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)

• Provides an alternative model to public service: To build digital technologies for population scale.
  • Some great examples of public services being delivered through systems that use FOSS building blocks, including Aadhaar, GSTN, and the DigiLocker.
• Freedom to edit: Unlike proprietary software, everyone has the freedom to edit, modify and reuse open-source code.
• Result in many benefits: Such as reduced costs, no vendor lock-in, the ability to customise for local context, and greater innovation through wider collaboration.
• Creates more trust between the government and citizens: 
  • FOSS communities can examine the open-source code for adherence to data privacy principles, help find bugs, and ensure transparency and accountability.
  • Many solutions launched by the government, including Digilocker, Diksha, Aarogya Setu, the Covid-19 vaccination platform CoWIN have benefited from valuable inputs provided by open-source developers.

Concerns regarding FOSS:

• Less trustworthy: “Free” in FOSS is perceived to be “free of cost”, and hence many think that the solutions based on FOSS are not good enough. For example, FOSS is often mistaken to be less trustworthy and more vulnerable,
• Lack of accountability: In the case of FOSS, there appears to be an absence of one clear “owner”, which makes it harder to identify who is responsible.

Way Forward:

• Addressing accountability concerns: By having the government’s in-house, technical staff understand available documentation and getting key personnel to join relevant developer communities.
• This has been tried out in several projects successfully but needs to be strengthened further.
• Incentivise the uptake of FOSS in government: Giving greater weightage to FOSS-specific metrics in the evaluation criteria and offering recognition to departments that deploy FOSS initiatives, such as a special category under the Digital India Awards.
• Curate a repository of “GovTech ready” building blocks: That is certified for use in government and audited for security compliances. 
• Encouraged FOSS-innovations: Through “GovTech hackathons and challenges”, The best innovations emerging from these challenges can get a leg up by listing them on government procurement platforms such as GeM. 
• One such challenge — a #FOSS4Gov Innovation Challenge — was recently launched to accelerate the adoption of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in government.
• Need for a credible institutional anchor: To be a home for FOSS led innovation in India. Such an institution can bring together FOSS champions and communities that are scattered across India around a shared agenda.
• Kerala’s International Centre for Free & Open Source Software (IC- FOSS) is a great example of such an institution that led to Kerala being a pioneering state in the adoption of FOSS.