The Hindu : National : 50 years of efforts cannot be negated: Pitroda

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 04, 2004

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National

50 years of efforts cannot be negated: Pitroda

By Kalpana Sharma

MUMBAI, APRIL 3. The grey hair and the jet-black beard are still in place, and so is Sam Pitroda's ability to churn out one-liners.

The man responsible for India's telecom revolution by making long-distance telephony available in the remotest areas, is today upset at what he terms are "lies" being told by the ruling alliance at the Centre.

"I have heard people say that nothing was done in the last 50 years and all of a sudden everything has been done in five", he said. "This is propagation of lies, insulting my intelligence."

Mr. Pitroda, who is based in the United States, worked as Rajiv Gandhi's telecom advisor from 1984 to 1989.

How many could forget the contribution of India's founding fathers, their vision that resulted in institutions that created the nation's base of technologically and scientifically trained people, the Green Revolution, the White Revolution and the steps taken by Rajiv Gandhi's technology missions? he said.

All the seeds they planted then had grown and borne fruit. "I am more worried about the kind of seeds we are planting now that will bear fruit in the next 15 years."

Mr. Pitroda says that India is at a crossroads today. "I am convinced that we have the talent. But we must focus on taking technology to the largest number of people, not just to the top five per cent."

Just as his generation did what seemed impossible then, by taking "voice to the villages" through telecom, the next generation should plan how to take data to the villages through broadband.

Did he think India was `shining'? "India is shining in Nariman point," Mr. Pitroda said, referring to South Mumbai's business district. "But not in Dharavi."

He pointed out that a country with 400 million unlettered people could not speak of being an economic powerhouse.

The key question concerning India's huge dollar reserves was how they would be used. "Are we going to use this for more BPOs [business process outsourcing] to solve the problems of the West or take the risk of solving our own problems of water and sanitation?"

Leaders must recognise that people needed technology, not religion or heritage. "We don't want to go backward."

The former telecom adviser is one of the rare non-resident Indians in the U.S. who has openly expressed unhappiness at the killings in Gujarat in 2002.

"When people talk of what happened in Gujarat, I feel ashamed," he said.

Many of his fellow-NRIs in the U.S., the "Templewallas" as he called them, who had sent funds to the Sangh Parivar organisations in India, could use their money to build temples in the U.S., because religion was not an issue there. ``Yet they want religion to be an issue here."

He said he wanted an India where everyone has an equal place. "We want to celebrate diversity, not emphasise differences."

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