Subject: Re: [Ext] Urgent
From: Siranush Vardanyan <[email-masked]>
To: Neeraj Kumar <[email-masked]>
Cc: Samiran Gupta <[email-masked]>, Ergys Ramaj <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2019 13:01:06 -0700

Dear Neeraj,

Thank you for your e-mail and concern you raised. 

First of all I would like to let you know that starting from ICANN65 the new fellowship process is in place and we have three times limit for being selected as a fellow, not two times as you have mentioned in your e-mail. Here are  the strict requirements for the Fellowship Program for your review: https://www.icann.org/fellowshipprogram

The selection process is done by the Selection committee members, who are assigned from ICANN Stakeholder Communities (https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/fellowship-selection-committee).  You can also read more about the selection criteria, based on which the selection is conducted -https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/fellowship-applicant-criteria.

All the names you have mentioned didn’t receive any fellowship outside of the mentioned criteria. The two names you have mentioned, who are selected for ICANN66 from India, will have their second fellowship. Our criteria clearly state  that second and third time fellows must prove their involvement and engagement in one of the ICANN communities and  based on which they had been selected.

The regions, which people are put in their application is solely the responsibility of the applicant and we can not judge it from their Social media. The applicant selection for the Fellowship Program is based on the information the applicant provides, including place of residence/citizenship. And since it is global in scope, it doesn’t really make a difference what country  one is from as far as selection goes. The selection committee looks at the rationale provided for what qualifies one as being from an underserved or underrepresented community (not country or region). This, however, does not exclude those who aren’t from such  communities. 

By all means the Fellowship Program is very competitive one and for ICANN66 we had 454 applications, out of them 22 were from India. The total selected number of fellows for ICANN66 is only 35 and the selection has been done based  on their work/activities, engagement and potential, which the applicants are putting in their applications. In addition, out of 35 selected candidates, 26 are first time/newcomers to the Fellowship Program, thus the selection committee pays attention to engage  more newcomers then second or third time fellows and they by no means are being ignored as you stated. ICANN staff is not engaged in anyway in the selection process, except facilitation of the process.

Sincerely,

Siranush

 

Siranush Vardanyan

Fellowship Program Manager

Public Responsibility Support, ICANN

Mobile: +374 94 947773

E-mail:  [email-masked]

Skype ID: siranush.vardanyan 

 

One World.  One Internet.

 

From: Neeraj Kumar <[email-masked]>
Date: Wednesday, July 3, 2019 at 3:36 PM
To: Siranush Vardanyan <[email-masked]>
Subject: [Ext] Urgent

Kind Attn. Ms Siranush Vardanyan

Fellowship Program Manager
Public Responsibility Support, ICANN

Madam,

This is regarding the ICANN 66 Fellowships result announced by ICANN.

It is very sad that Ms Mili Semlani is misrepresenting herself at multiple places within ICANN. She has got ICANN Fellowship as presentative from India but actually she doesn’t live in India.  She lives in Singapore as evident in her Linkedin & Facebook profiles (Screenshot attached).

 

If you see the people selected from India in the past few ICANN meetings, there is a small coterie of people who keep getting ICANN fellowship repeatedly while those who are working at the  ground level are ignored. 

ICANN 57
Anivar Ammanath Aravind – India – Civil Society
Ashish Agarwal – India – Government
Buddhadeb Halder – India – Civil Society
Manmeet Pal Singh – India – Internet End User

ICANN 58
Saurabh Dubey - India - Technical
Shiva Upadhyay - India - ccTLD Operations

ICANN 59
Amrita Choudhury – India – Civil Society
Anand Raje – India – Technical
Manmeet Pal Singh – India – Internet End User

ICANN 60
Buddhadeb Halder – India – Civil Society
Jay Paudyal – India – Business
Mohit Batra – India – ccTLD Operations

ICANN 61
Anna Thomas – India – Civil Society

ICANN 62
Jay Paudyal – India – Business

ICANN 63
Amrita Choudhury – India – Civil Society – Coach and Booth Lead
Mili Semlani – India – Civil Society

ICANN 64
Anna Thomas – India – Civil Society
Manmeet Pal Singh – India – Business, Internet End User - Coach

ICANN 65
Jay Paudyal – India – Business, Civil Society

ICANN 66
Mili Semlani – India – Civil Society, Internet End User
Mohit Batra – India – ccTLD Operations, Security, Technical

Both the selected people for ICANN 66 have been a fellow in the past.

Even if ICANN guidelines allow a person to get fellowship twice, still if fresh faces are applying then they should be preferred instead of repeating past fellows.

I request you to investigate this thoroughly and give justice to all applicants.

With regards,

Neeraj Kumar