Reports/ExCom Induction Meet 2017

The elections to Wikimedia India Chapter for year 2016 were held on 30 April 2017 along with Annual General Meeting for year 2016. Out of 22 nominations 18 made it into the final slate of candidates. Members of the Wikimedia India elected Seven candidates to a two-year term which will expire in 2018. The seven elected members are Yohann Thomas, Sanket Oswal, Rahul Deshmukh, Viswa Prabha, Suyash Dwivedi, Santosh Shingare, and Krishna Chaitanya Velaga.

The induction meet for newly elected members to executive committee took place on 30 July – 2 July 2017, at IIT Bombay.

Attendees

 * 1) Yohann Thomas
 * 2) Sanket Oswal
 * 3) Rahul Deshmukh
 * 4) Viswa Prabha
 * 5) Suyash Dwivedi
 * 6) Krishna Chaitanya Velaga
 * 7) Santosh Shingare (Physically absent; attended on-line)

Invitees

 * 1) Col. Ashwin Baindur (retd.); A veteran editor from English Wikipedia
 * 2) Tanveer Haasan; Program Director at CIS-A2K

Day 1
At 11:00 am, on arrival of all the members, the meeting was formally kick started by introducing each other and talks about their past work. New members were introduced to the ground rules of Wikimedia and Wikimedia India. After lunch, a brief discussion on Memorandum of Association (MoA), Socitey's Act of Karnataka, running of non-profits etc. took place. The code of conduct, expectations, and responsibilities of an EC member was briefed by Yohann Thomas (Acting President). Before breaking off, a walk through of Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), Affiliations Committee (AfCom), Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC), Role of CIS, fundraising strategies etc. was conducted.

Day 2
The second day of the meet started at 9:30 am with introduction to statutory compliance requirements and practices, followed by a session about the Chapter's financial parameters. Before lunch, the operating procedures, functions, roles, and responsibilities, of the Executive Committee as a whole were admitted by the former EC members. Later on former EC members Yohann Thomas, Sanket Oswal, and Viswanathan Prabhakaran, shared their experiences with the Chapter; what went good, what did not, and why. In between, on an online video call, Col. Baindur congratulated the members on being elected and mentored them on future strategies for sustainable growth of Wikimedia movement in India. Before wrapping up for the day, Tanveer from CIS-A2K attended the meet, and shared his views on collaborating with each other for progress.

Day 3
After the Wikimedia Movement Strategy meet in the morning, the EC members formally assembled to elect the new office bearers and assign the roles of responsibility to each member.

Election of office bearers

 * President
 * Rahul Deshmukh was proposed for the role of President by Sanket Oswal, seconded by Viswanathan Prabhakaran. Rahul Deshmukh was unanimously elected to be the President of the Chapter


 * Secretary
 * Yohann Thomas was proposed for the role of Secretary by Krishna Chaitanya Velaga, seconded by Suyash Dwivedi. Yohann Thomas was unanimously elected to be the Secretary of the Chapter


 * Treasurer
 * Sanket Oswal was proposed for the role of Treasurer by Yohann Thomas, seconded by Santosh Shingare (online). Sanket Oswal was unanimously elected to be the Treasurer of the Chapter



Assignment of Roles
Apart from the office bearers, members at-large have also been assigned different working areas, for smooth and constructive functioning of the Chapter.

Resolutions

 * Resolution to be passed for supporting and providing assistance to the user groups in existence and incubation, from India. (In-principle)
 * Decided to participate proactively and assist the Wikimedia Foundation 2030 Movement Strategy Meet on 2 July 2017 at IIT Bombay
 * Formulate steps on how to tackle the members who don't comply with the policies and create an internal committee to suggest inputs on handling such situations.
 * Decision to form several internal teams/groups such as Media language team, Grants Advisory Committee etc. to increase the involvement of members of the society in the daily working.
 * The Executive Committee, on behalf of the Chapter, sincerely thanks the staff of IIT Bombay for their support and hospitality for the meet.