Within the evolutionary historical past of Indian expertise and innovation, Satyanarayan (Sam) Gangaram Pitroda’s standing as India’s unique tech guru is safe, although he doesn’t get sufficient credit score for the telecom revolution that has seen the nation’s teledensity soar from round 2% within the Nineteen Eighties to over 90% at this time.
His fascinating journey from Titlagarh in Odisha to the powerways of India began with C-DoT which Pitroda arrange in 1984 on the behest of the younger and nonetheless unsullied prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. By then, the person with the wild mane had established himself within the US telecom business.
After finding out on the Illinois Institute of Know-how in Chicago, in 1966 he went to work for GTE, then the most important unbiased phone firm within the US. A profitable profession adopted and in 1975, he filed a patent for an digital diary that would monitor appointments and remind customers of upcoming occasions.
On one among his visits dwelling, he was confronted with the miserable actuality of India’s pathetic telecom infrastructure. With what he referred to as a mixture of “ignorance and vanity”, Pitroda determined he would do one thing about it.
An opportunity assembly with Rajiv Gandhi when he had gone to fulfill his mom, then prime minister Indira Gandhi, led to a mandate when the previous took over as PM.
The group he arrange grew to become a hothouse for gifted younger women and men exhilarated by the chance to work in a authorities group with a level of freedom and creativity that was unparalleled within the Indian context.
A reluctant smartphone consumer, he prefers face-to-face conversations and stumps youthful folks with a flurry of hand written notes.
With a grant of ₹36 crore from the federal government, C-DoT was given three years in 1984 to design a digital switching system appropriate for the Indian setting. Figuring out of 5 rooms within the beat-up state-owned Akbar Lodge in New Delhi’s Chanakyapuri space, the younger group with a mean age of 25, set about its mission with the zeal of a Silicon Valley startup.
It wasn’t unusual for lots of the 400-odd workers to work via the night time, typically utilizing the makeshift desks to catch a nap. Three years later, C-DOT delivered the primary of its Rural Computerized Exchanges which received encomiums for his or her ruggedness and skill to perform in essentially the most tough of environments. Considerably, these may very well be manufactured domestically, obviating the necessity for imports.
Additionally Learn: Duty changes in telecom to push Make in India for the world
It was the primary of the infant steps that might ultimately result in a telecom revolution within the nation. Inspired by its success, the Telecom Fee was established in 1989, and subscriber trunk dialing/public name workplaces (STD/PCOs) have been launched throughout the nation. Additionally they ushered within the first whiff of privatization in a sector which until then seemed to be caught in a time warp.
I’ve seen a variety of plastic and a variety of silicon. What I wish to know is what we will do with all this – Pitroda
Most of the younger individuals who lower their tooth at C-DoT, would go on to hitch the telecom business when it was opened to the personal sector, submit liberalization. By way of all of it, Pitroda was dedicated to the concept of serving to develop native applied sciences and served as C-DoT’s principal advisor, taking a token wage of solely ₹1 a yr.
On one event when he was requested to touch upon the lots of assembled {hardware} that was the hallmark of India’s IT business within the late Nineteen Eighties, he replied “I’ve seen a variety of plastic and a variety of silicon. What I wish to know is what we will do with all this.” By the Nineteen Nineties, as a world-class software program exports business began rising, Pitroda had obtained his reply.
After Rajiv Gandhi misplaced energy in 1989, C-DoT too misplaced favour with the brand new regime, and Pitroda was banished into relative obscurity.
A minimalist
Regardless of his influential place and wealth in addition to political swashbuckling, Pitroda has all the time been a minimalist, preferring a easy life-style. He’s blissful to cross up unique meals for plain dal and rice, a vestige of his Gujarati origins regardless of spending over half a century within the US. Time, he maintains, is within the thoughts and never on the wrist which is why he by no means wears flashy watches.
For a person who has been on the forefront of expertise for many years, he comes throughout as a closet Luddite nearly. A reluctant smartphone user, he prefers face-to-face conversations and stumps youthful folks with a flurry of hand written notes. Not surprisingly, he’s a paper lover: his library is famous, and he catches folks off guard discussing blockchain and flitting the subsequent second to the intricacies of Kabir.
Lengthy earlier than he obtained embroiled in political controversies, Sam Pitroda had proved that pushed by one man’s messianic zeal, government-funded R&D might ship tangible merchandise. C-DOT’s exchanges led to a mushrooming of privately operated STD cubicles all through the nation which gave Indians a style of the distinction good communications might make.
Additionally Learn: ‘Telcos need to be sustainable to invest in networks, ensure better services’