[Commons-Law] Scanning in books to benefit blind students

[venx at justice.com]

i have a few questions for this group on behalf of someone i know who
is volunteering with a non-profit organisation in california to set up
a website to benefit blind students in india and other south asian
countries.

One of the initiatives involves scanning in NCERT books into the
computer and using the non-profit's own software to convert the books
to a format that makes it possible for the material to have an audio
or Braille output. This organisation is called Bookshare, Inc. Their
website is www.bookshare.org. 

Separately, the NCERT board has on its own put several of their books
online. However, these are not useful to the blind as they are not in
a format that can be used by the blind. 
 
1. Is it permissible to take something that is already on the web
(e.g., the books already available on the NCERT website) and upload it
to the non-profit organisation's website and make it available to the
blind?
 
2. Can the books be scanned directly into the non-profit
organisation's web site and be used to help the blind without using
what is on the NCERT website (but this would involve scanning in NCERT
books)? Some of these books are already there on the NCERT website and
some are not.
 
3. Are there any copyright laws in India as in the U.S. that allow 
distribution of copyrighted materials in specialized formats to people
with print disabilites?

please let me know if these questions are not clear. any kind of help
would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,

venkatesh vijayaraghavan

B.A., LL.B.(Hons.) (National Law School of India University)

20 Murrays Gate Road
Chennai 600018
INDIA
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