Sixty years of IT in India

By the 1980s, software development by various companies began in right earnest

I was struck by a recent headline that appeared in the business pages of newspapers, stating that the IT-related exports from India are expected to touch US $ 8 billion in !"#$% In these days when colossal figures related to scams hit the headlines, this figure, coming out of hard, honest

work, largely by &'eneration () is heartwarming% *nd to put this figure in historical perspecti+e, software and ser+ices exports fetched us US $ ! billion in #,,8 and -" billion in !"#"% IT contributes about per cent of India.s gross domestic product and employs about !%$ million software professionals% *ll this in a matter of less than /" years0 The year !"#$ marks the start of the 1iamond 2ubilee of the entry of computers into India% 3rofessor 4% 5a6araman, whom all of us consider as the 7hishma 3itamaha of computer education in India, summari8es the story of IT in his recent monograph &9istory of computing in India : #,--- !"#")% It traces the milestones of the growth of IT in India from day one, #,--, when the first U;-made digital computer named 9<=-!> was set up at the Indian Statistical Institute ?ISI@, =alcutta by 1rs >ohi >ukher6ee and *mesh 5oy% 5a6araman points out that this machine had but a memory of #"!$ ?!$ bit words@ and arri+ed at the ISI without any manuals% >ukher6ee and 5oy had to write them and a do8en people used them% 7ut a truly Indian-made computer was made by 3rofessor 5% Aarasimhan at the Tata Institute of Bundamental 5esearch ?TIB5@ 7ombay, when he put together a pilot computer to design logic circuits in #,-/% This was later expanded to produce the TIB5 automatic calculator or TIB5*=, inaugurated ?and christened@ by 2awaharlal Aehru% 3rofessor 3%4%S% 5ao, who was part of the TIB5*= team describes the story in exciting detail in the scholarly book &9omi 7habha and the =omputer 5e+olution) edited by 3rofessors 5% Shyamasundar and >%*% 3ai ?Cxford, !"#D hereafter called the S E 3 book@ dedicated to 5% Aarasimhan, whom they call the doyen of Indian computer science% Soon after, ISI combined with 2ada+pur Uni+ersity and produced another home made, second generation transistor-based computer named ISI2U% <+en as these computers were getting built and used, two important de+elopments occurred in the #,/"s% Cne was the establishment of the IITs, particularly IIT ;anpur, where the *merican partners brought in

what was at that time a state-of-the-art computer I7> #/!", along with a Bortran II compiler% 3rof% 5a6araman points out in the S E 3 book how important this high-le+el language was at the time F no+el, contemporary and easier learnt than others% The second related de+elopment was the teaching and training program that IIT; embarked on% 5a6araman wrote has first bestseller &3rinciple of =omputer 3rogramming), which he forced the publishers to price at 5s #-G- so that many students can buy and learn from itD it has run its -" edition now% The machine, the mentor, the manuscript, and the bright-eyed mentees basking in the new-found mode of *merican informality in learning ?access to all, !$G @D this in+igorating cocktail made hundreds of students take to computers and IT% The decade of the #, "s is eHually important% This was the period when the self-reliant growth of the computer industry blossomed, through the 1epartment of <lectronics and the <lectronics =ommission of India% <=II designed the Trombay 1igital =omputer T1=-#! and sold this and other +ersions in the market% In the pri+ate sector, Tata =onsultancy Iimited ?T=S@ was established and by #, - T=S, under 1r% B%=% ;ohli, installed 7urroughs machines and began to export software% Aational Informatics =entre ?AI=@ was established, where 1r% Seshagiri set up networks such as AI=A<T and the 4ery Small *perture Terminal ?4S*T@, pro+iding opportunities for data sharing, monitoring and e-mail ?my first emails were courtesy AI=@% =omputer >aintenance =orporation ?=>=@ was also set up% 7y the #,8"s, software de+elopment by +arious companies began in right earnest% 7y #,8- software export by T=S, =>= and others touched US$ J" million% ?1r% ;ohli has a fascinating chapter in the SE3 book@% 3ri+ate sector entered the IT field in full measure, intercity connecti+ity +ia <5A<T became operational and the Aational Supercomputer =entre was established at IIS= 7angalore, where 5a6araman mo+ed% ;anpur.s loss was 7angalore.s gain%

Two interesting examples of the adage &necessity is the mother of in+ention) came about during the #,8"s% Cne was the need to make +oting and +ote-counting tamper-proof during elections in the country% The <lectronic 4oting >achine ?<4>@ was de+eloped by <=II and 7harat <lectronics, and used% The second is the imposition of computer export ban by the US on India, which led our home-grown experts to design parallel processing machines, called 3*5*>% * ma6or milestone in boosting computers and IT in India was in the mid #,8"s when the go+ernment liberali8ed computer import and use, with Seshagiri, and 3itroda as ad+isors ?read them recount their experience in the SE3 book@, through the AI= and =entre for 1e+elopment of Telematics ?=1CT@% Burther liberali8ation and globali8ation of the economy in #,,# made pri+ate players such as Infosys, Kipro, Satyam and others become globally recogni8ed% 5a6araman points out how factors such as &night in India, day in *merica) and correcting the L!; problem came in handy for Indian IT companies% 7y the year !"#", IT had gi+en employment to o+er !%- million Indians and brought in US$-" billion% This fascinating story of the birth and growth of IT in India has some special features so rele+ant to current times% Interesting how indi+iduals make all the difference : Aehru, 7habha, >ahalanobis, Sarabhai, Aarasimhan, ;ohli, >enon, Srikantan, 5a6araman ?not to forget 3rof% >ahabala and the IIT; 1irector ;elkar@, Aarayanamurthy, 3rem6i : with their dedication, character, ethical standards, selfless ser+ice and commitment% See how e+en the Satyam aberration was Huickly and admirably corrected% O Tempora O Mores Cr should I sayM !ometh the moment cometh the manN