CSI

       Introduction

           The seed for the Computer Society of India (CSI) was first sown in the year 1965 with a handful of IT enthusiasts who were a computer user group and felt the need to organize their activities. They also wanted to share their knowledge and exchange ideas on what they felt were a fast emerging sector. Today the CSI takes pride in being the largest and most professionally managed association of and for IT professionals in India. The purposes of the Society are scientific and educational directed towards the advancement of the theory and practice of computer science & IT.

In a span of less than 4 decades, the organization has grown to an evitable size of 30,000 strong members consisting of professionals with varied backgrounds including Software developers, Scientists, Academicians, Project Managers, CIO's, CTO's & IT vendors to just name a few. It has spread its branches all over the country. Currently rooted firmly at 62 different locations, CSI has plans of opening many more chapters & activity centers in smaller towns and cities of the country. The idea is to spread the knowledge, and provide opportunities to as many interested as possible.

   History

         Computer Society of India established in the year 1965 is today the largest IT professionals Society in India. The purposes of the Society are scientific and educational directed towards the advancement of the theory and practice of computer science, computer engineering and technology, systems science and engineering, information processing and related arts and sciences. It shall endeavor to:

 ·        Promote interchange of information, in these disciplines and sub-disciplines, amongst the specialists and between specialists and the public.

 ·        Encourage and assist the professionals engaged in these fields to maintain the integrity and competence of the profession and Foster a sense of partnership amongst the professionals, engaged in these fields.

 ·        Means to these ends are the holding of meetings for the reading and discussing of professional papers, the publication and circulation of works of literature, science and art pertaining thereto and any other activities necessary, suitable and proper for the fulfillment of these objectives.

  Organization

          The Society functions under the guidance of an Executive Committee. The members of this Committee are elected by the voting members of the Society.
The functional head of the Society is the President and is assisted by the Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer.
The other members of the Execom are the Regional Vice Presidents of Eight Regions and Divisional Chairpersons of Five Divisions.
Apart from the above the Immediate Past President continues to be associated with the Execom.
An elected Nominations Committee of three members conducts the annual elections.
Executive Director is a new position created in CSI since July 2002.
The Executive Secretary under the guidance of Executive Director co-ordinates with the day to day activities of the Society and is assisted by Administrative Officer and functional staff members.
The Society has its administrative headquarters and secretariat in Mumbai at the following address:

Computer Society of India,
122, T.V. Industrial Estate,
S.K. Ahire Marg,
Worli,
Mumbai - 400 030,
INDIA
Phone: 91-22-24943422, 91-22-24934776
Fax: 91-22-24950543
Email: csi@bom2.vsnl.net.in

 Chapters

        A Chapter of the Society is a group of members in a particular locality or city. The chapters play a major role in achieving the objectives of the Society. It has direct links with the members. For the benefit of members, the chapter organizes monthly technical meetings, product presentations, exhibitions, film and video shows. The chapters also host Regional, Divisional, National, International events along with the sponsoring agencies. The Chapter activities are managed by a committee of elected members headed by the Chairman. The Chairman is assisted by the Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer. The committee has eight members each one taking care of the activities relating to the divisions of the Society. The chapter elections are conducted by the chapter nominations committee consisting of a chairman and two members who are also elected by the chapter members .India being a large country, the members spread across the country in various chapters.

Divisions

       For technical activities the society is divided into 5 divisions as given below:
Division I: Hardware
Division II: Software
Division III: Sc.Applications
Division IV: Communications
Division V: Education and Research - Possible SIG

The divisional activities are coordinated by the Chairman of each division. They are elected by the voting members once in two years. The elections are held to odd and even numbered divisions in alternative years. The Division Chairman is a member in the Executive Committee of the CSI. The contact details of the Division Chairmen are included in the ExeCom page of this section.
Divisional seminars, workshops are conducted both at regional, national and international level. Divisions can join together to organize events which are normally hosted by chapters. 

   Regions

Region 1:Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and other areas in Northern India.

Region 2: Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, North Eastern States and other areas in East & North East India.

Region 3: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and other areas in Western India.

Region 4: Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Orissa and other areas in Central & South Eastern India.

Region 5: Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh

Region 6: Maharashtra and Goa

Region 7: Tamil Nadu,Pondicherry,Andaman and Nicobar,Kerala,Lakshadweep

Region 8: International Members

All members of the CSI with their mailing address in a region shall be the members of that region. A change in the mailing address when recorded by the CSI headquarters shall cause the member's affiliation to change to the region corresponding to his new mailing address.

The activities in each region are coordinated by the Regional Vice President who gets elected by the voting members from the respective regions once in two years.

The Regional Vice President is a member in the Executive Committee of the CSI. The contact details of the Regional Vice Presidents are included in the ExeCom page of this section.

Regional conference is an annual activity conducted in each region and is hosted by a chapter in that region.

Global Affiliations and CSI

  ·        Representing the Indian community in the International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) since 1974.

 ·        Representation in all the technical Committees and some of the working groups of IFIP. CSI has also organized IFIP sponsored events and conferences in India.

 ·        Has reciprocal membership agreement with the British Computer Society and the Australian Computer Society and the IEEE Computer Society.

 ·        Has been given the responsibility for selection of candidates in India for CICC Training Course in Japan.

 ·        Being closely associated with students, the Society has developed a well-established network of "Student Branches" all across the country. The activities conducted for the

 Student Branches

         Students associated with the Society include lecture meetings, seminars, conferences, training programmes, programming contests and practical visits to installations. CSI has a strong Educational Directorate which undertakes activities related to Certification of professionals related to the latest technologies. It's recent initiative of distance education in the Business Domain areas offers technology enabled learning supported by personal counseling & expert advice. In an ever changing environment, CSI offers professional counseling being a great need of the hour. And this is done by being in close contact with its young members through various events, conferences, symposia to name a few.

 R n D

The key to constant development is R&D. CSI hopes to contribute in this by supporting research and development activities in the areas of information technology. It constantly endeavors to provide publicity to projects of high relevance to the industry through its newsletter and listings at the website. The Society has been partially funding the visits of some of the IT professionals for presentation of papers at renowned international IT conferences.CSI is honored that the Indian Government has also entrusted the 'Computer Society of India' with the task of training the physically challenged so as to provide career opportunities to them in Computer related activities.

 Membership

          The Society is targeted at the user community at large. Hence the membership of the Society is open to all professionals involved in the field of information technology.

The membership categories include Individual and Institutional. In the Individual member category there are five grades namely Fellow, Senior, Member, Associate and Student, whereas Institutional membership includes organizations and educational institutions.

 A professional can also apply for life membership in the Society.

Normally, a professional joins the Society as an Associate member and upgrades himself to Senior Member grade over a period of time.The Fellowship is awarded to life members of the Society based on their contribution to the Society. The honorary Fellowship is given to non-members in recognition of their contributions to the promotion of IT.

1     Membership Eligibility

Fellow:

The grade of Fellow is one of unusual professional distinction and shall be conferred only on invitation of the ExecCom upon a person of outstanding qualifications and experience in the fields of interest to CSI as specified by the Constitution and who has made important individual contributions to one or more of these fields. 

 A candidate for the award of Fellow grade shall have been a member of the CSI for a period of five years or more preceding April 1 of the year of election.

Senior Member:

The grade of 'Sr member' is a professional grade limited to those who have made significant professional contribution in the fields of interest to CSI.  Proposals for transfer to this grade shall be made by the membership committee and approved by the EXECOM.  The candidate shall be either:

a. An Engineer or Post Graduate and a member of the Society for 7 years or have 10 years recognized standing in the computer field.

 b. A graduate from a course of study from an accredited educational Institution and a member of the Society for 10 years or have 15 years recognized standing in the computer field.

 c. Non-graduate with experience in the Computer / D P profession and a member of the Society for 15 years.  The Membership Committee may however enroll a member directly as a Senior Member with the approval of the EXECOM, if the applicant has qualification and experience better than stated above.

 A member of the Society having continuous membership of 10 years will be invited for applying to this grade.  This process will be done with reference to date 31st December.

Member:

The grade of Member is a professional grade limited to those who have demonstrated professional competence in the fields of interest to CSI. For transfer to this grade, a candidate shall be either:

 a. An Engineer or Post Graduate and be a member of the Society for 3 years or have 5 years recognized standing in the computer field.

 b. A graduate from a course of study from an accredited education institution and be a member of the Society for 5 years or have 8 years recognized standing in the computer

field.

 c. Non-graduate with experience in the Computer / D P profession and member of the Society for 10 years.

 The Membership Committee may however enroll an individual directly as a member if the applicant has qualification and experience better than stated above.

 Associate Member:

The grade of Associate is limited to those in good standing of recognized technical or scientific organization.

For admission to this grade the Candidate should be:

a. An Engineer or Post Graduate and have work experience of at least 1 year in the field of Computer Science or

 b. A graduate with 2 years experience in the field of Computer Science.

 Student members can request for transfer to this grade.  For transfer to this grade the candidate shall be either:

a. An Engineer or Post Graduate and be a student member for at least one year; or

b. A graduate and be a student member for at least two years.

Student Member:

The grade of Student is limited to:

 a. Those who pass 10 + 2  academic program and are enrolled for a degree course either full time or part time at accredited educational institutions and carrying at least thirty percent of a normal full time academic program, in areas of interest to the CSI or

 b. Those who pass 10 + 2 academic program and are doing diploma courses approved by the State Directorate of Technical Education, subject to their passing a module of the CSI examinations or

c. those who pass 10 + 2 academic program and are doing a course in a non-formal institution, subject to their passing a module of the CSI examinations.

 d. those graduates doing a course in areas of interest common to the CSI. 

e. those who are student members of any technical or scientific Society with interest common to the CSI.

2     Benefits to Members

The "Computer Society of India" is a professional body where computer professionals meet to exchange views and information, to learn and share ideas.

The wide spectrum of members is committed to the advancement of the theory and practice of Computer Engineering and Technology Systems, Science and Engineering, Information Processing and related Arts and Sciences.

CSI is the oldest and largest organisation of IT professionals in India having 25,000 members and 63 chapters and more than 200 Students Branches across the country exclusively focusing on the interest of the IT Professionals.

In order to create value to its members and provide benefits, the Society has planned various schemes and some of them include:

Specific benefits to members

• 20% discount on membership of IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS)
• CSI members can pay their IEEE-CS fees in US$ drawn on US Bank account in favour of IEEE CS payable at USA to CSI. CSI in turn will remit to IEEE CS. The above discount is over and above all other discounts offered by IEEE CS to its members.
• Similar discount is also planned for IEEE Education Programme, CSDP.
• Discount on registration fee for all events conducted by CSI.

 Technical Value Addition to Members

CSI publishes " CSI Communications " ( monthly) and CSI Journal (quarterly) which are mailed to members. While the student members get the issues of CSI Communications alone, they can subscribe to the CSI Journal, at a nominal price.

Libraries of various Institutions / Colleges can subscribe to CSI Communications and CSI Journal.

CSI promotes and provides financial support for research work in contemporary areas in IT and Computer Science. Preference is given to CSI members. Members whose papers are selected for presentation in leading International conferences such as VLDB, ICDE etc can approach CSI for travel support to attend such conferences.

For more information, visit the CSI website at www.csi-india.org

3          Membership Subscription Fees

Due to the recent Amendments in CSI Byelaws, the membership year will be April to March. The membership fees for the period April 2006 to March 2007 will be as follows:

Individual Member:
New : Rs 400/- + Rs. 200/- (Entrance fee) = Rs. 600/-
Renewal : Rs. 400/-

Student Member:
New : Rs 200/- ( No entrance fee for students) 
Renewal : Rs. 200/-

Institutions (Non-academic):
New : Rs. 5000/- + Rs. 2000/- (Entrance fee) = Rs. 7000/-
Renewals : Rs. 5000/-

Institutions (Academic/ Educational):
New : Rs. 3000/- + Rs. 1500/- (Entrance fee) = Rs. 4500/-
Renewals : Rs. 3000/- 

Life Membership Fee

PRORATA FEES

NOTE :

A. For Students:

1.  A student member must attach a bonafide certificate from the college Principal stating that he/she will be a full time student of the institute for the period form which membership (with CSI) is taken.

B. For Life Members:

1.  Rebate of 10% of fee on life membership for those who are CSI voting members for minimum 10 years.

2.  Life membership fees can be paid either in one full installment or in two equal installments, the second installment to be paid within six months or before 31st March, whichever is earlier.

3. Life members can avail of photo ID card by paying Rs.100/- along with 2 stamp-size coloured photographs.

C. For Institutional Nominees:

The Nominees of the Institutional Member must send their individual forms duly filled. Photocopies of the Individual Application form may be used, if needed.

D. General Notes:

The information should be filed in BLOCK LETTERS (in English)

The Date of Birth, Qualification and Experience must be supported by photocopies of the Certificates. The original Certificates should not be attached.

Entrance fee is applicable for new members only.

The fees are subject to review from time to time.

Out station cheques, Money Orders, Indian Postal Orders or Cash will not be accepted for payment of fees at CSI HQ. 

Foreign Members - Add US$ 20 for airmail.

On the BACK SIDE LEFT HAND TOP CORNER of the Demand Drafts the following details are to be written.

Membership Number (in case of old Members)

Name of the Member

Address

In case, the subscription fees are sent through the chapters, then the records will be updated only on the receipt of the communication from the chapter.

Demand Draft should be drawn in favour of 'COMPUTER SOCIETY OF INDIA' and should be sent directly to the Executive Secretary, Computer Society of India, 122, T.V. Industrial Estate, S.K. Ahire Marg, Mumbai - 400 030, INDIA.

Pay through UTI Bank Acct No.060010200003582 - UTI Bank Pay Slip to be attached with membership form. 

Pay only by cheque or DD at UTI Branches

CSI Funded Minor Research Projects

A. Objective

The Computer Society of India will provide financial assistance to:

1. Permanent College Teachers(age below 45 years) , in the fields of Computer Science/Information Technology, who are Members of CSI, working in an Institution which is an institutional Member of CSI for developing innovative techniques and learning methods in the area of Computer Education.

2. Students studying at post-graduate level for developing innovative techniques in computer applications with relevance to hardware under approved supervision.

A. Operational Features

Teachers (as at para(i) / PG students) who wish to avail of financial assistance under this CSI research scheme are required to submit the research proposal as per proforma inAppendix-I to the CSI Education Directorate Chennai. through his/her College. The project proposals are considered by the CSI (Research Committee) once a year.. and final decisions are taken by the CSI ExeeCom keeping in view the recommendations made by the Research Committee and the availability of funds for the scheme.

A. Level of Assistance

The following will be the level of assistance for Minor Research Projects:
i. Projects involving development of hardware : upto Rs.50,000/- ii. Projects in software development : upto Rs.30,000/-

Assistance is available for items like equipment, books and journals , field work, and contingency expenditure including printing of questionnaire, computation work and preparation of Project Report.

A. Duration of Implementation

The duration of the project will be ten months from June to march of the next year

A. Release of Funds

The amount sanctioned for the project under the scheme would be released as under
- 50% on approval;
- 25% on completion of 3 months, accompanied by the progress report and Statement of expenditure for the 1st instalment;
- 25% on completion of project, on getting the Project report along with Statement of expenditure and utilization certificate.

A. General

All assets in the form of equipment or other items will become the property of the host institution on completion of the project. Books and Journals purchased with the CSI's assistance may be retained by the Investigator after the completion of the project.

Assistance will be available to a teacher / PG student for only one Research Project in a period of five years.Prior approval of the Computer Society of India will be necessary for publishing the results of the study on the project supported by the CSI. In all such cases however, the Investigator should acknowledge the support received from the CSI. The researcher is required to submit two copies of the final report alongwith an abstract of research in standard format within two months of the end of the tenure of the project, which will be part of the academic auditing.

The applications should be forwarded through the Director / Principal of the Institution.

 1  NOTIFICATION

 Computer Society of India, National Headquarters, Education Directorate invites proposals for Research funding for the Year 2006-2007.
1. Last date for receipt of proposals is 31st January 2007
2. Meeting of Expert Committee for review of proposals received for recommending for funding to be on or before 11.02.2007.
3. Approval of EXEECOM for recommended Research Projects on or before 15.03.2007.
4. Intimation of approved Projects to the Project Investigators & Institutions on or before 20.03.2007.
5. Release of funds from CSI Head Office to the Institutions on or before 24.03.2007.
6. Project implementation period 01.06.2007 to 31.03.2008.
Application in prescribed Format in 2 hard copies and a soft copy to reach on or before 31st January 2007 at:
Director (Education),
Computer Society of India,
IV Cross Road, CPT Campus,
Taramani,
Chennai - 600 113.
Email : csiedums@vsnl.com

2  RnD Projects

"CSI announced R&D funding to help in carrying out minor research projects by Academicians / PG Students (Engineering Colleges and Technological Institutions) during the year 2006-07. This is being implemented by Education Directorate. R & D support as per the announcement was restricted to the academicians / PG Students in Engineering Colleges & Technological Institutions who are members of CSI and the respective institutions are Institutional Members of CSI.

Details about the scheme of R & D were uploaded in CSI Website. The last date for receipt of proposals was 31-01-2007. Repetitive announcements were made through CSIC and also CSI Website. CSI received 9 applications from the colleges. The Expert Committee of CSI scrutinized these and recommended 7 proposals for a total funding of Rs.1,64,500/-

One of the proposals recommended by expert committee was withdrawn by the researcher due to his leaving the institution on foreign assignment. Remaining proposals totalling to Rs.1,44,500/- were approved and funds were released by Education Directorate towards first installment of 50% of approved amount by 23-03-2007.