Point of View

 

The Team

The Society is led by a strong professional and technically experienced team that takes pride in execution!

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Advisory Board

 

Suren Poruri

 

Srinivas Bhairy

 

Maruthi Sivakumar Vutla

 

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Executive Board

 

Namita Iyer (President)

 

Satish Vellanki (Vice President)

 

Saifi Khan (General Secretary)

 

Umamaheshwararao Lankoti (Joint Secretary)

 

 

Alolita Sharma 

  

Sumit Upadhyay (Member of Board)

 

Yaser Ansari

(Member of Board)

 

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Community Leads

 

 

Ananth Pattabiraman

 

 

Ragu Pattabiraman

 

Saurabh Bhatia

 

 

Sumanth Krishna

 

The success of TWINCLING Society in accomplishing its mission 'to promote and develop Open Source software' is due to the support of large number of members, patrons and professional management !

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

We have collected here frequently asked questions during Meetups, on mailing lists and College visits.

What is TWINCLING Society ?

TWINCLING Society is India's first Independent, Autonomous, Open Source Promotion and Development society.

Are you a Registered organisation ?

Yes. TWINCLING Society is a Registered, "not for profit" organization, incorporated in Hyderabad (A.P.) India, under the Andhra Pradesh Societies Registration Act, 2001. (10th December, 2001, vide G.O.Ms.No. 742, Revenue (R&M), dt. 10.12.2001).

Why was TWINCLING Society created ?

The Society was incorporated to -

• develop world-class Open Source software.
• create an organization that provides a pragmatic, customer focussed, process-oriented and quality-based  promotion environment for Open Source software.
• create an independent legal entity to which individuals and organizations can donate resources (hardware, software, bandwidth, build environment, office space, process consultants etc), provide finance (money for operations, sponsorship for events, invited talks, expos etc) and at the sametime be assured that the donations will be used for the benefit of the public.
• create an independent legal entity capable of "suing and being sued in its own name". This provides legal protection to the engineers working on Open Source software projects at TWINCLING Society.
• create, define and protect the 'TWINCLING' brand, as applied to its software products and services.

What does it mean to say, TWINCLING Society is a "not-for-profit" organization ?

A "not-for-profit" organization is one where the net profits or earnings of an organization are "NOT" shared between the members of the society (e.g. Executive Team). This is also referred to as the 'principle of non-distribution'. By way of illustration -

• The Executive Team members contribute to further the aims and objects of the society and not for financial remuneration.
• The Society can sell a product directly or engage in economic activity, as long the organization pursues a public purpose and profits are not shared with any of the members.
• The Society can design, implement and sell opensource software, hardware, embedded software etc and make profits. The profits add to the balance and financial stability and viability of the society.
• The Society can employ people for providing customer service and support, or doing the administrative work etc.
• The Society can maintain a library where books, periodicals, microfiche etc. are available on loan to library-members who pay annual dues.
• The Society can acquire property, lease floor space etc. by entering into legally binding financial transactions.

What makes TWINCLING Society unique ?

Some aspects that stand out are -

• non-Affiliation
• Professional management
• Meritocracy
• Technical excellence
• Focus on Open Source
• Pragmatic approach
• Software innovation
• creating value for customer and stake holders

What TWINCLING Society does not stand for ?

We donot believe in, activism, ideological regurgitation, libel, flaming, slander, wasting time and opportunity.

Where I can read in more detail about TWINCLING Society ?

Please visit the website at http://www.twincling.org/

What is the concept of SIGs ?

The Board of Directors in their quest to bring the best of Open Source to the members have aligned the Society activities around the (Special Interest Group or SIG model. The S.I.G. model is the corner stone of focussed activities in societies like the I.E.E.E. (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) and A.C.M. (Association of Computing Machinery).

The four SIGs identified are :

• OpenSource (twincling)
• Storage technologies (storage)
• OpenSource and Entrepreneurship (WiTi)
• Ethical Hacking (defHack)

Each SIG will have a chair(person), mailing list and volunteer leads. In this quarter, the chair for each SIG will be nominated and volunteer leads will be identified.

Which districts in Andhra Pradesh have you visited for College visits ?

Please see the map below 

In addition to AP, we have visited Kolhapur, Sangli and Ichalkaranji in Western Maharashtra as part of our outreach program to students and colleges interested in Open Source.

I am a member of TWINCLING Society and want to deliver a talk in a particular college or school. How can I represent TWINCLING Society ?

Great to know that you are a member of the Society. Every member of TWINCLING Society is also an Ambassador of the Society. To formally represent the Society as an Ambassador, please write to info@twincling.org with the following information: . Your name . Your photograph . Your contact number . Your email address . Specific topics in OpenSource that you would like to promote. We will review the information and register your entry on this website.

Can companies be part of TWINCLING Society ?

No. However, individuals can be nominated by organizations who are welcome to join the Society, upon written acceptance of the charter.

What is TWINCLING Society stand on patents ?

The current patent scenario in India is as follows -

• software patents are not admissible under the Indian Patents Actpassed on 22/03/2005. (cf. Indian Patents (Amendment) Ordinance 2004promulgated on 26/12/2004 and Patents (Amendment) Rules 2005.).
• embedded software is patentable in India.

The Society takes a stand commensurate with the prevailing law of the land.

The best approach to address this issue is to "out innovate" the proprietary software in terms of features, usability and customer support, so that the market segment is completely commoditized. Legally, this helps create OPA or Open Source As Prior Art. Innovation is the best defence against patents.

How can I contribute to TWINCLING Society ?

Glad you asked that question.There are many ways in which you can contribute to TWINCLING Society - . as an 'amicus' (friend of TWINCLING Society) join the society, attend its meetings, seminars and provide support by your presence, write articles, write blogs. . as a sponsor (provide hardware, test beds, software, speakers for TSM, place your job ads on this website). . as a donor (donate money, provide office space) . as a business associate (market twincling, undertake promotion campaigns) . as a operations manager (work with Executive Team, handle day to day operations) . as a public relations consultant (liason with the press, issue press releases, interview the project managers, present the management vision to the public at large.) . as a process consultant (ISO 9001:2002, CMM) help improve organizational processes and tailor them to align with ISO requirements. Introduce pragmatic CMM that enables high software quality and assurance, leading upto CMM Level 4 certification. . as a developer (world class quality assurance, code assurance, passionate about testing, writing very high quality code)

How can I donate money to TWINCLING Society ?

There are two options available for donors from India -

• Please draw your Cheque or Pay Order in favour of M/s. TWINCLING SOCIETY, payable at Hyderabad.
• Alternatively, if you have an account with ICICI Bank, you can transfer the money to TWINCLING SOCIETY, SBTAS A/c no. 02 02 01 00 22 60.

All donations require a statement from the donor party as to the amount, organization address and a designated contact person with telephone number. Currently, the Society cannot accept any donation by way of foreign remittance.

Do I get any tax benefits on donations to TWINCLING Society ?

The registration under Sec. 80G of Income Tax Act will commence in July, 2008. As of now, no tax benefits are available to individuals making donations to the Society.

How can I donate computer hardware to TWINCLING Society ?

The Society greatly appreciates your assistance in providing memory (SDRAM, ECC RAM etc.), cards (ethernet, iSCSI, RAID, SSL, Crypto etc), boards (including backplane), servers (multiproc, blade etc.), old laptops, or any other computer hardware.

Please provide a written inventory statement with names, serial no.s of the assets and their quantity. The beneficiary must be stated as M/s. TWINCLING SOCIETY, Hyderabad, A.P. The document should be signed by an authorized signatory of your organization. A Gate Pass will also be required. The Society will make arrangements for transportation of the hardware from your premises.

How does TWINCLING Society handle spam or hacking of its systems ?

The system administration and 3rd party monitoring team proactively conducts log analysis, ip traceback, e-mail headers (X-Sender, X-Originating-IP) checks, investigate e-mail spoofing attempts, spurious email address and data, password strength checks and monitor system usage and access patterns.

What is the privacy policy for this website ?

The privacy policy describes the privacy management practices and make you aware about how your information is collected, used or disclosed. For complete details, please visit http://www.twincling.org/node/13

What is the terms of use for this website ?

Your usage of this website, is subject to your acceptance of the terms of usedetailed in the legal section.

Where can I know the rules for posting on mailing lists ?

The objective of stating the terms and condition, relevant extracts from Indian IT Act 2000, posting rulesand guidelines, is to ensure that the mailing list member subscribers have as much flexibility as possible, while at the sametime shielding them from spammers, abusers and cyber criminals.

I have an idea for an opensource product. Can TWINCLING Society help ?

Please reflect on your idea for a product and write down a proposal

• explain the idea
• provide results of gap analysis
• highlight perceived benefits
• specify opportunities that can be tapped.

The proposal may also outline -

• the project plan
• effort estimation
• number of contributors required
• hardware infrastructure requirements
• software, compiler tool chain, libraries

You are welcome to send your proposal in .txt, .sxw, .pdf or .html format to info@twincling.org The response team will get back to you in a weeks time to discuss the proposal.

Can I do a project with TWINCLING Society ?

Yes, the Society takes on few students for its Open Source product development every year. You get a very good experience of working with a professional software engineers as you would in a software company. Once you complete and submit (ie. checkin) your deliverables, you have to participate in a discussion. You will be awarded a certificate of completion, which you can stick into your BTech project or MCA project report. The Certificate will be signed by the President of the Society.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where can I get more information ?

Please send your queries to info@twincling.org

 

Bye Laws

 

1. Name of society
   TWINCLING SOCIETY

2. Location of office
   8-3-677/43, S.K.D. Nagar, Yellareddy Guda, Hyderabad 500073, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA.

3. Membership

   • Number of members
     7 members
   • Category of members
     -
   • Admission fee and the Annual subscription or Monthly subscription
     nil

4. General Body

   1. The Annual General Body meeting (AGM) will be held once in a year, in the month of March.

   2. Functions:

      • To confirm the minutes of the previous year Annual General Body meeting.
      • To receive and adopt the Committee's Annual report of the activities of the society.
      • To elect the Executive Committee.
      • To appoint the Auditor and fix their remuneration.
      • To consider the recommendation of the Committee.
      • To consider and pass the Budget for the year.
      • To transact any business of formal nature as may be allowed by the Chairperson of the meeting.

5. Executive Committee

   1. Executive Committee shall consist of seven (7) members and maximum of nine (9) and out of them, the following office bearers shall be elected by the Executive Committee viz. President, Vice President, General Secretary, Joint Secretary and Treasurer and the remaining persons all the Executive Committee.

   2. The members of the Executive Committee shall be duty bound to at least the signatures of all the members of newly elected Executive Committee and to see that the signatures of the outgoing Governing Body tally with the annual list as filed with the Office of the Registrar of Societies before 15 days of the succeeding month in which elections were held.

   3. The functions of the Executive Committee and Office Bearers are as follows:

      1. PRESIDENT
         He presides over all the meetings of the General Body and Executive Committee. He can caste his vote in the case of a tie in the decision making. He can supervise all the branches of the society.

      2. VICE PRESIDENT
         He shall assist the President in discharging his functions. In the absence of the President, he will perform the duty of the President as entrusted by the President.

      3. GENERAL SECRETARY
         He is the Chief Executive Officer of the Society and custodian of all records relating to the Society. He has to take on record all minutes of the society. He would convene both the Executive Committee and General Body of the Society with the permission of the president. He guides the Treasurer in preparing the budget and expenditure statement to place the General Body for its approval.

      4. JOINT SECRETARY
         He undertakes the work entrusted by the Executive Committee. He has to assist the Secretary in discharging his duties. In the absence of the Secretary, he can perform the duties of the Secretary.

      5. TREASURER
         He is responsible for all financial transactions and funds of the Society. He has to maintain accounts properly along with the vouchers. He has to prepare the accounts of the Society jointly with the President or Secretary.

      6. OFFICE BEARERS
         They are responsible persons who attend to such activities of the Society, which the Executive Committee entrusts to them.

      7. QUORUM
         Half of the total members for General Body meeting and one-fourth of the total members for Executive Committee meeting.

      8. FUNDS
         The funds shall be spent only for the attainment of the objects of the Society and no portion thereof shall be paid to, transferred directly or indirectly to any of the members through any means.

      9. AMENDMENTS
         No amendment or alteration shall be made in the purpose of the Society unless it is voted by one-fourth of its members present at a special meeting convened to the purpose and confirmed by two-thirds of the members present and at a second special meeting.

      10. WINDING UP
          In case the Society has to be wound up the property and funds of the Society that remain after discharging the liabilities of any, shall be transferred or paid to some other institutes with similar aims and objects.

 

Bye Laws (Definitions)

Pursuant to the clauses of the Andhra Pradesh Societies Registration Act, 2001, (10th December, 2001, vide G.O.Ms.No. 742, Revenue (R&M), dt 10.21.2001) the following definitions are stated hereunder -

 

1. 'Alter' and 'alteration' shall include the making of additions and supplying of Commissions;
2. 'Bye-laws' means the bye-laws of a society;
3. 'Committee' means the executive committee appointed under Section 14 or any person or body of persons to whom the management of the affairs of a society is entrusted by its bye-laws;
4. 'Court' means in the cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, the City Civil Court, and elsewhere, the Principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction;
5. 'Document' includes summons, notice, requisition, order, or other legal process, and registers, whether issued, sent or kept in pursuance of the provisions of this Act or any other laws or otherwise;
6. 'Financial Year' means the period of twelve months for which the accounts of a society are required to be made up by the bye-laws and if the bye-laws do not so provide, the period of twelve months ending with the 31st March of each year;
7. 'Government' means the State Government of Andhra Pradesh;
8. 'Member' means a person, individual or body corporate, who / which, having been admitted to membership in any society has not resigned or ceased to be a member, or been removed from membership, in accordance with the bye-laws of that society;
9. 'Memorandum' means the memorandum of association of a society as originally framed or as altered, from time to time, in pursuance of the provisions of this Act or the Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Public Societies Registration Act, 1350 Fasli (Act 1 of 1350F) as the case may be;
10. 'Notification' means a notification published in the Andhra Pradesh Gazette and the word notified shall be construed accordingly;
11. 'Officer' includes any director, manager, treasurer, trustee, secretary, member of the Committee, or any person appointed by a society to sue and be sued on its behalf and any other person empowered under the rules or the bye-laws to give directions in regard to the business of a society;
12. 'Registrar' means an officer of the Registration Department, not below the rank of Sub-Registrar as may be specifically empowered by the Government to exercise the powers of a Registrar under this Act;
13. 'Registrar General' means the Inspector General of Registration appointed by the Government under Section 3 of the Registration Act, 1908 (Central Act 16 of 1908);
14. 'Society' means a society registered or deemed to be registered under this Act; and
15. 'Special Resolution' means, resolution passed by a majority of the total members of the society and not less than three-fifths of the members present and voting in a meeting, of which not less than fourteen clear days notice, exclusive of the date of despatch of the notice and the date of meeting, specifying the intention to propose the resolution as special resolution, has been duly given.

 

Society Administration

To ensure smooth functioning of the Society and its growth as a respected institution, Society administration is an area of focus.

 

Past Office Bearers

TWINCLING Society thanks the following Office bearers for their contributions in the past years.

Sasidhar Kalagara (Past President)

 

Sharon Myrtle (Past Member of Board)

 

Martin Samuel Rao (Past Member of Board)

 

Ganesh Bollapragada (past Vice President)

 

Kumar S. (Past Treasurer)

 

Vijay Nagender (Past Member of Board)

 

Mahesh Patil (Past Member of Board)

 

Narender Rao (Past Joint Secretary)