Contents
- DebConf 2021 bid for India
- Motivation Behind the bid
- Why India ?
- Diverse Free/Libre and Open Source Software Communities
- Debian Events
- Regular, Local, and Large FOSS Conference Experience
- Local Team
- Where in India
- How to reach ?
- Visas, Customs and Entering the Country
- Food
- Venue
- Costs
- Power
- Contact Details
- See Also
DebConf 2021 bid for India
DebConf 2021 bid for India
This page contains the bid information for ?DebConf 2021 in India. See CheckList.
Motivation Behind the bid
India has a diverse community of Debian users and developers distributed all over the country. The Indian Debian community has been looking forward to hosting a DebConf in India for a while now. We placed our first informal bid for a DebConf in India at DebConf Taiwan in 2018. Coming forward, we are bidding for DebConf 2021.
Why India ?
India is the country with the second largest population in the world. It is geographically, linguistically and culturally a very diverse country. We have always played various important roles in world history, being the birthplace of zero the number, yoga, chess and more. In India we believe in the philosophy of "Unity in diversity", we're a country that believes in understanding and accepting each other's differences and working together for a better future. 'Atithi Devo Bhava' is a common household Sanskrit mantra that translates to "be one for whom the guest is God", which says a lot about the hospitality of the Indian People. Although it has some of the biggest cities in the world, much of it is in Rural and there are some incredible sites to be discovered all the time. The geographical diversity of India is world-famous. In the North, we have the Himalayas and many mountainous regions and to the South, we have many beaches, there are deserts in the west and a lot of tribal cultures thrive in the east.
Among the various travel-oriented reasons for India, we want to bring to your attention the various Free and Open Source Software Communities which are present in various parts of India and are diverse in terms of Technology. There are many Libre Software User groups [LUGs] all over India.
Diverse Free/Libre and Open Source Software Communities
There are many free and open source communities in India. This is a good chance to introduce them to the global community of Debian.
Some of the free and open source communities in India are listed below:
- Free Software Movement of India (coalition of regional Free Software Movements)
- Swecha, Telangana
- Swecha, Andhra Pradesh
- Free Software Movement Karnataka (FSMK)
- Free Software Movement West Bengal
- Free Software Movement Maharashtra
- Free Software Foundation Tamilnadu
- Democratic Alliance of Freedom, Kerala
- Swadhin, Odisha
- Free Software Community of India (FSCI)
- Indian Linux Users Group-Delhi (ILUG-D)
- Swathanthra Malayalam Computing (SMC)
?PyDelhi
- Pune Linux Users Group (PLUG)
- Durgapur Linux Users Group (dgplug)
- Villupuram GLUG
?LinuxChix India
- Mozilla India
?PyLadies
- Women Who Go
- Rails Girls
- Student Developers Society
- ILUG Goa
- ILUG Bombay
- ILUG Chennai
- FSUG Thrissur
- FSUG Thiruvananthapuram
- ILUG Cochin
and the list is too big to be included here. Various other FOSS communities are also present and can be found on fsug.in
Debian Events
We have an active Debian community here organizing big and small events throughout the year, from Mini-?DebConfs, ?DebUtsavs, Debian Release Parties to Packaging Workshops we have all types of events.
https://wiki.debian.org/DebianIndia https://wiki.debian.org/ReleasePartyBuster https://wiki.debian.org/ReleasePartyStretch https://wiki.debian.org/ReleasePartyJessie https://wiki.debian.org/ReleasePartyWheezy
Regular, Local, and Large FOSS Conference Experience
We have hosted many other conferences in Different regions around India. Some of the most prominent one's being.
- Fedora Users and Developers Conference 2015 and 2011 in Pune
- Gnome Asia Conference in 2016 Delhi.
?PyCon India hosted each year in different cities having a large footfall.
- And various other conferences keep happening
Local Team
Name/nick |
Debian/Free Software experience |
DebConf experience |
Event Organizing Experience |
|
Sruthi Chandran |
Debian Developer |
Attended DebConf19. Involved in DebConf activities as part of Front Desk team. |
Involved in organizing big and small Free Software and Debian events through out India. ?DebUtsav Kochi, ?DebUtsav Goa were two recent events. |
|
Pirate Praveen |
Debian Developer |
|
Involved in organizing big and small Free Software and Debian events through out India since 2005. Part of organizing teams for almost all Mini-?DebConfs and ?DebUtsavs in India. |
|
Balasankar "Balu" C |
Debian Developer |
|
Experience in organizing a number of Free Software and Debian events in Kerala. Was one of the main people behind ?DebUtsav Kochi |
|
Abhijith PA |
Debian Developer |
|
Part of organizing team of ?DebUtsav Kochi and ?DebUtsav Goa |
|
Utkarsh Gupta |
Debian Developer |
Attended DebConf19. Was part of Content Team and Bursary Team |
Organizing team of ?DebUtsav Delhi |
|
Raju Devidas |
Active Debian contributor for many years |
|||
Andrew Lee |
Debian Developer |
Attended multiple ?DebConfs. |
DebConf18 local organizer |
|
Kannan VM |
Free Software enthusiast and Debian contributor |
|
Involved in organizing multiple Free Software, Wikipedia and Debian events in Kerala |
|
Kiran S Kunjumon |
Free Software enthusiast and Debian contributor |
|
Part of organizing team of ?DebUtsav Kochi |
|
Ambady |
Free Software enthusiast and Debian contributor |
|
Involved in organizing multiple Free Software, Wikipedia and Debian events in Kerala |
|
Suman |
Free Software enthusiast and Debian contributor |
|
|
|
Anupa Ann Joseph |
Free Software enthusiast |
|
Was involved in organizing women hackathons through out colleges in Kerala |
|
Akhil Varkey |
Admin of fasttrack.debian.net |
|
Involved in organizing multiple Free Software and Debian events in Kerala |
|
Ranjith Siji |
Free Software enthusiast |
|
Involved in organizing multiple Free Software, Wikipedia and Debian events in Kerala |
Tanmay, Manas, Samyak, Sakshi, Minto, Rakesh, Mangesh, Pranav, Kartik, Tarun, Siji, Balram, Syam, Joice ….. the list is long.
Where in India
Kochi (Ernakulam), Kerala - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kochi
How to reach ?
- Geographically, India is centrally located between East Asia, West Asia and Europe. This allows India to be easily accessible for a lot of people. India could be easily reached by air transport. Although International airports are present in many cities across India. The four major airports are Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. The Indira Gandhi International Airport Delhi and the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airports are some of the best airports in the world.
Cochin International Airport, Cochin (IATA: COK, ICAO: VOCI) is an international airport serving the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India. Located at Nedumbassery, about 25 kilometres (16 mi) northeast of the city, Cochin International Airport is the busiest and largest airport in the state of Kerala. It is also the fourth busiest airport in India in terms of international traffic and eighth busiest overall.
Visas, Customs and Entering the Country
Conference visa is generally issued to attend conferences/ seminars/ workshops. Duration of visa sought may allow for tourism/ sightseeing in India in addition to attending the conference, etc.
Please note the validity of the visa is effective from the date of issue.
e-Visa. Citizens of most of the countries will be able to apply the e-Visa. Please view the FAQ of the e-Visa page.
Food
Kerala is famous for a variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food items. Kerala has food options for all kind of food preferences - vegan, vegetarian, non-vegetarian, gluten-free, lactose-free etc.
Venue
Hotel Abad Plaza & Nearby Hotels
Website (main venue) - https://www.abadhotels.com/
- Location - MG Road, Kochi
- Transport - Airport to venue is around 22 kms. Well connected with metro/bus.
Accommodation - Hotel Abad Plaza & Abad Atrium, ibis Kochi City Centre Hotel, Hotel Imperial Residency, Hotel Pearl Palace, Hotel Span International
- Food - This is the downtown Kochi with numerous food options in addition to in-house restaurants in the venue hotels. Also we have a mall just near the venue with international food chains and local food.
- Venue details -
- We are planning on combining more than one Hotels to get enough number of hall facilities. Below listed are a few hotels we found suitable, all within 500m radius. Based on our final requirement, we can finalise on 2 or more hotels.
Hotel |
Hall name |
Capacity (PAX) |
Purpose |
Hotel Abad Plaza |
GRAND BALL ROOM |
350 |
Talk room 1 |
Hotel Abad Plaza |
VANTAGE POINT |
150 |
Talk room 2 |
Hotel Abad Plaza |
INNER CIRCLE |
50 |
Talk room 3 |
Hotel Abad Plaza |
IMPERIAL ROOM |
40 |
BoF room 1 |
Hotel Abad Plaza |
GARDEN COURT 1 |
20 |
BoF room 2 |
Hotel Abad Plaza |
GARDEN COURT 2 |
20 |
BoF room 3 |
Hotel Abad Plaza |
RENDEZVOUS |
20 |
Video team room |
Hotel Abad Atrium |
THE EVENT |
35 |
Orga room + Front desk |
Hotel Abad Atrium |
FORUM |
15 |
Venue hack lab |
Hotel Imperial Regency |
Vantage Point |
500 |
Noisy hack lab |
Hotel Imperial Regency |
Regal Hall |
200 |
Silent hacklab |
Hotel Imperial Regency |
OVAL DESK |
30 |
|
Hotel Imperial Regency |
The Imperial Insignia |
1000 |
|
Hotel Abad Metro |
SUMMIT |
60 |
|
ibis Kochi City Centre Hotel |
Meeting Room 1 |
30 |
|
ibis Kochi City Centre Hotel |
Meeting Room 2 |
50 |
|
Hotel Span International |
Hall |
70 |
|
ibis Kochi City Centre Hotel |
Meeting Room 2 |
50 |
|
Hotel Span International |
Board Room |
15 |
|
Hotel Pearl Palace |
Hall |
200 |
Abad Plaza to Pearl Palace - 439 m
Abad Plaza to Imperial Regency - 623 m
Abad Plaza to Span International - 686 m (it should be shorter than this if crossing the road)
An interactive map can be found at http://debconf.fosscommunity.in/
- Advantages - Good location, near city centre, very near metro station, near Centre Square mall.
- Downsides - Not one campus event as it will be spread across 2 or more hotels.
- Photos -
Costs
- Accommodation - 3250 INR (twin sharing)
- Conference Hall - 600 INR per person including lunch (number of persons or 40% of capacity, whichever is higher, will be considered)
- Dinner - 500 INR
- Estimated total cost - approx 51,00,000 INR (71,400 USD)
DebCamp
- Accommodation cost (assuming 50 sponsored people) - 25 twin sharing rooms x 3250 INR x 7 days = 5,68,750 INR
- Conference Hall + lunch - 40% of (150 pax hall + 50 pax hall) x 7 = 80 x 600 INR x 7 = 3,36,000 INR
- Dinner - 50 x 500 x 7 = 1,75,000 INR
DebConf
- Accommodation cost (assuming 150 sponsored people) - 75 twin sharing rooms x 3250 INR x 7 days = 17,06,250 INR
- Conference Hall + lunch - approx 14,00,000 INR
- Dinner - 150 x 500 INR x 7 = 5,25,000 INR
- Conference Dinner (assuming 300 participants) - 300 x 1500 INR = 4,50,000 INR
Power
Most common sockets found in India are Type D. Type C sockets (for low-power utensils) and Type M sockets (for heavy-duty equipments, power plug) are also used. Check link for details.
- Voltage/Frequency specification is 230V/50Hz.
Contact Details
* IRC Channel: #debian-in on OFTC
* Matrix: #debconfindia:poddery.com