Home CSI NEWSTRAC A Newsletter from Computer Society of India, Mumbai Chapter OCT 2011   Chairman's Message Dear Members, Readers and Colleagues, I send you my heartiest greetings on the occassion of the festive Navratri and Diwali season from all of us at Mumbai Chapter. This quarter, especially the last month has been very significant for the computing world as well as for us in particular at the Mumbai Chapter. At the global level, we lost the tech czar Steve Jobs on 5th October, 2011 around 3-00 pm. An entrepreneur in high tech business, he was a visionary, a pioneer and a genius. A cofounder of Apple Inc., he was instrumental in first setting up and later in turning it around, a second time. His speech Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish (reproduced in the newsletter), which gives three stories, the first – connecting the dots, the second about love and loss and the third about death is a must read, and that will change your life. We bow down to the memory of Steve Jobs and offer a solemn obituary to him. In India we had the launch of the world’s cheapest – low cost tablet on the very same day – 5th October, 2011 by HRD Minister Mr Kapil Sibal in New Delhi. ‘Akash’ costing Rs. 2,250 has captured the imagination of the world and is set to bridge the digital divide. We also had the IT policy being presented for the year on 7th October, 2011. India’s IT Policy 2011 assures 28 million new jobs. The new policy is expected to fortify the regulatory and security framework to enable a secure cyberspace ecosystem. The draft policy document aims at leveraging ICT to transform India. The draft document is given in the ‘Security Corner’ and is open for comments and suggestions. Both these are great opportunities opening up in the field of computing. At the chapter level, we have been focusing on projects that will help us contribute to society and the computing fraternity. To that end, we are working on Centre for Advanced Studies (CAS) Framework - which will help rationalize and improve the educational and technical offerings of the chapter. The idea is to put the various programs together to provide certification courses, which can be taken up in a modular form and acquire individual credits to earn certification. We shall be communicating more details of this initiative in the near future. I am happy to say, that we have the full support, encouragement and backing of our President Mr. M. D. Agrawal, who is the driving force behind this project. Mr. Srinivas Eranki and his team is steering this project in right earnest and we hope to launch this framework this year. The next initative being worked on is the Security Forum, on which Mr Ashish Dandekar is working and a program for creating awareness on cyber forensics & crime, being pursued by Mr. Raj Sekhar. Both of them have taken up the work with their respective teams and are making good progress. The CSI Annual convention is at Ahmedabad on 1st to 3rd December, 2011. The. SEARCC 2011 International Conference is coming up on 12th & 13th December 2011, at Mumbai both of which are a must attend and to be marked on your calendar. Kindly support the SEARCC 2011 and participate in this International Conference brought to you in your home town Mumbai, in large numbers. We have our AGM coming up on 19th October, 2011 at 5.00pm at the new office in Samruddhi Venture Park. The annual report of the chapter and the audited accounts of the year 2010-11 as well as the minutes of the last AGM are given in this newsletter. Kindly make it a point to attend the AGM and participate in the proceedings and the members’ meet and networking dinner organized thereafter. Your continued participation and support is important for our chapter and therein lies our strength. Together we can! Together we will! With best regards, Dr. Vishnu Kanhere Chairman CSI Mumbai Chapter