ANAND PARTHASARATHY
Frontline, Sep 26 -Oct 9, 2009
THE so-called “Internet Age” we live in imposes what is being called “Internet speed”. This accelerated lifestyle is exemplified in an extreme form by the saying attributed to Marshall McLuhan, media guru of an earlier, more leisurely era: “If it works, it’s obsolete.” Something the lay buyer of personal computing products has come to rue as hardware and software are often outdated even as one decides to acquire them. When events happen at such a frenetic pace, it is difficult to take stock and calmly assess the historic significance of fast-evolving trends such as outsourcing before they are overtaken by events and technology.
That may explain why compiling information technology happenings can be a frustrating exercise, with McLuhan-like obsolescence threatening a publication in the brief time between concept and publication. Yet, for India at least, the story of the country’s rise to become a respected, globally accepted brand in IT is a key component of its wider history, and the task of telling it can be both daunting and challenging. That is reason enough to welcome Dinesh Sharma’s contribution to the subject, arguably the most comprehensive treatment so far of the birth pangs, early development, growth and maturity of India’s information technology industry.
For those who are part of the IT-driven business today as well as for lay readers, the book is a timely reminder of how the industry, which has played a large role in transforming India into a trillion-dollar economy, owes its growth to individuals and governments in almost equal measure across a five-decade time span. Indeed, Sharma, a veteran science communicator, who is currently Science Editor of the Delhi-based tabloid daily Mail Today, is the right person to undertake the task – bringing a combination of subject knowledge and detachment to bear on his measured yet highly readable account. This is no mean achievement because the rise of Indian IT must necessarily touch on the actions and decisions of a few dozen individuals, in positions of authority, most of whom are still around. It would have been easy, with the advantage of hindsight, either to laud or to trash their actions. Sharma avoids both pitfalls. While many of the protagonists may not agree with his judgments, they will be forced to respect them for a calm and uniform objectivity.
Read full review at
http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20091009262007600.htm
From the era of Nehru and Bhabha
... to the age of outsourcing
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
"Well researched, balanced, objective": SPAN
By LAURINDA KEYS LONG
SPAN, Sep-Oct 2009
One lesson from Dinesh C. Sharma’s well-written and meticulously researched history of India’s IT industry is the caution against presuming one can find a moment when this phenomenon is static long enough to examine, categorize, guide or predict it. This leads to the question: Was the book not obsolete by the time it rolled off the printing press?
The answer in this case is no. And not only because of Sharma’s skill as a story-teller who, even with a subject some might consider dry, writes with humor, a sense of adventure, painting portraits of flawed heroes, the best intentions gone awry through human hubris and just plain fallibility. For Sharma’s story, just as a classic Greek drama, has a moral, more than one. His tale reminds us of the adage that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Sharma’s book is of interest not only to historians and IT professionals, but psychologists, statisticians, and students of social and political science. His writing is also forward-looking, with a careful examination of India’s higher education system and how it can be developed to produce the graduates the country needs, not only for institutional research and national development, but to lead the businesses and private industries that will create jobs for the growing population.
Read full review at: http://span.state.gov/wwwhspseptoct0944.html
SPAN, Sep-Oct 2009
One lesson from Dinesh C. Sharma’s well-written and meticulously researched history of India’s IT industry is the caution against presuming one can find a moment when this phenomenon is static long enough to examine, categorize, guide or predict it. This leads to the question: Was the book not obsolete by the time it rolled off the printing press?
The answer in this case is no. And not only because of Sharma’s skill as a story-teller who, even with a subject some might consider dry, writes with humor, a sense of adventure, painting portraits of flawed heroes, the best intentions gone awry through human hubris and just plain fallibility. For Sharma’s story, just as a classic Greek drama, has a moral, more than one. His tale reminds us of the adage that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Sharma’s book is of interest not only to historians and IT professionals, but psychologists, statisticians, and students of social and political science. His writing is also forward-looking, with a careful examination of India’s higher education system and how it can be developed to produce the graduates the country needs, not only for institutional research and national development, but to lead the businesses and private industries that will create jobs for the growing population.
Read full review at: http://span.state.gov/wwwhspseptoct0944.html
Friday, September 11, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Story of a transformation
Deccan Herald, September 1, 2009
l
| Dinesh Sharma’s latest book ‘The Long Revolution’, which talks about the birth and growth of India’s IT industry, was released at a City bookstore | |
| The book The Long Revolution by Dinesh C Sharma could not have found a better place than Bangalore for its launch. As the author claimed, this City has helped him a lot in bringing about this book as it is a book about the IT industry. The book was launched by the author recently at a City bookstore. He read excerpts from the book, which was followed by a panel discussion with historian and author Ramachandra Guha, N Seshagiri, former Director General, National Informatics Centre and S Sadagopan, Director IIIT, Bangalore. The book tells the tale of a great transformation. How a country became a front-runner in the technology and knowledge-based sector and turned into the favoured investment destination for the US giants. The author has spoken about the birth and growth of India’s IT industry. In fact, this is the first book which has covered everything about the IT sector in this country. From the time of its inception till it grew to become such a big giant, all minute details are covered by Dinesh. He has also emphasised on the fact that the Government of India has played a very important role in nurturing the IT industry. The decisions taken by the government, the amendments made, the laws passed, everything has been digged out by Dinesh. Read full story here: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/22610/story-transformation.html | |
Monday, August 31, 2009
India's IT boom a brainchild of Indira Gandhi: New book
Business Standard, Bangalore, August 29, 2009
Rajiv Gandhi is often credited with ushering in IT revolution by implementing the new computer policy, liberalising the hardware imports in 1984 but the policy which provided a headstart to India in software exports was actually brought in by his mother Indira Gandhi weeks before her assassination, a new book on Indian IT revealed.
The 1984 policy providing the provision for software exports through satellite links was approved by Indira Gandhi's cabinet but was announced by the government headed by Rajiv Gandhi on November 19,1984, the book titled "The Long Revolution:The Birth and Growth of India's IT Industry" written by science journalist and author Dinesh C Sharma said.
It was the provision of exports via satellite which attracted American firms like Texas Instruments (TI) and opened up new gateway for software exports from India. Two other companies were licensed along with TI to set up software units with satellite links but only TI took off, it said.
In fact,a number of policy initiatives including liberalisation of policies for computer and electronics sector, rural digital telephone exchange, software technology parks and computerisation of railways, which are linked with Rajiv's era, were set in motion by Indira Gandhi after she came to power in 1980, it said.
"Post-1980, Indira Gandhi was a changed person. It was almost as if she was repenting for the excessive socialist policies unleashed under her rule in 1970s" Sharma told PTI. Dr.N.Seshagiri-former Director General of National Informatics Centre and one of the 'computer boys' of the Rajiv Gandhi era - who was present at the launch of the book here last night, said the technology initiatives of Indira Gandhi were vigorously pursued by Rajiv when he became the Prime Minister after her assassination.
Full story at: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india\s-it-boombrainchildindira-gandhi-new-book/72150/on
Friday, August 28, 2009
Book by scribe launched
Indian Express, August 29, 2009
BANGALORE: Historian Ramachandra Guha on Friday released “The Long Revolution,” a book on transformation of India from the exporting spices and gems in ancient times to a frontrunner in the technology and knowledgebased sector, authored by senior journalist Dinesh C Sharma.
The book, according to Guha, is an outcome of the research by the author under the New India Fellowship programme instituted to document the post-independence India.Dinesh C Sharma, the science editor of an English daily, said the book is an attempt to present a clearer picture on the IT revolution. “The industry has its myths and hypes, claims and counter-claims. This book is an attempt to set the record straight,” he said at the book launch.N Seshagiri, former director general, National Informatics Centre and S Sadagopan, director, IIIT, Bangalore, participated in the panel discussion that followed.The unlikely beginning of India's IT revolution
Times of India, August 29, 2009
BANGALORE: India's IT history is not just IT after Y2K. There's been a lot before and there's been a lot after Y2K, computer scientist and IIIT-B Director S Sadagopan told a gathering of book readers and IT professionals.
Sadagopan was speaking at a bookstore on Friday where a discussion on the IT revolution had been organized. He was forthright in stating that IT had its roots in the technology initiatives taken by scientists in the '60s and '70s, especially from great institutions like BARC and TIFR.
"My students were shocked when they read Dinesh Sharma's The Long Revolution: The Birth and Growth of India's IT Industry. They never knew that many small initiatives and the right political help at the right time made a tremendous difference. If you're used to thinking Y2K was everything about IT, you won't get to know much about technology. This book sets the perspective right by citing interesting anecdotes in the making of India's technological revolution."
N Seshagiri, former DG of National Informatics Centre, outlined the history of technology development in the country. "The signal moment was Rajiv Gandhi's initiatives. We networked the entire Asiad games and managed the show in just six months. The networking between Delhi and Mumbai was stupendous. After that, Rajiv asked me to network the entire country. That's how we became a technology nation."
Ramachandra Guha, historian, said the new book on IT would given an insight into India's history in the decades after Independence. "We at the New India Foundation are geared to generate knowledge about India's post-Independence history. I congratulate Sharma on his excellent work."
Sadagopan was speaking at a bookstore on Friday where a discussion on the IT revolution had been organized. He was forthright in stating that IT had its roots in the technology initiatives taken by scientists in the '60s and '70s, especially from great institutions like BARC and TIFR.
"My students were shocked when they read Dinesh Sharma's The Long Revolution: The Birth and Growth of India's IT Industry. They never knew that many small initiatives and the right political help at the right time made a tremendous difference. If you're used to thinking Y2K was everything about IT, you won't get to know much about technology. This book sets the perspective right by citing interesting anecdotes in the making of India's technological revolution."
N Seshagiri, former DG of National Informatics Centre, outlined the history of technology development in the country. "The signal moment was Rajiv Gandhi's initiatives. We networked the entire Asiad games and managed the show in just six months. The networking between Delhi and Mumbai was stupendous. After that, Rajiv asked me to network the entire country. That's how we became a technology nation."
Ramachandra Guha, historian, said the new book on IT would given an insight into India's history in the decades after Independence. "We at the New India Foundation are geared to generate knowledge about India's post-Independence history. I congratulate Sharma on his excellent work."
Friday, August 7, 2009
Software F1
Great research (Sharma has clearly taken his cue from Ram Guha) makes for a fascinating journey, well told
Outlook, August 3, 2009
By Sunit Arora
It never ceases to amaze how openly Indians have welcomed computers into their lives. We embrace those little boxes as symbols of efficiency, venerate them as dispensers of knowledge, even worship them. That’s why it’s completely normal that the author talks about taking “darshan” of an ageing, giant IBM mainframe at Osmania University in 1962. “The prasadam we all got was a set of punched cards,” he adds in all seriousness. Quaint—but remember, there were very few computers those days (1,000 systems in all for the entire country in 1977). That’s precisely why this book scores: it explores the terrain before the garages, barsatis and two-wheelers today’s software czars started off with, and nicely details the government’s “benevolent hand” in the birth of India’s IT industry.
Research and import-substitution were the first driving forces that aimed at building a local, self-dependent computer industry. But not much came of it—we missed the hardware bus. The real trigger was the end of IBM’s 25-year-old tenure in India in 1977. Sharma tackles this crucial phase well, arguing that IBM’s ouster was necessary and ended up giving a crucial boost to local computer fledglings like CMS and CMC. Then came the fundamental shift thanks to Rajiv Gandhi’s “computer boys”—computers were seen as serving consumers, not just as research tools. That set the stage for everything miraculously falling into place. Great research (Sharma has clearly taken his cue from Ram Guha) makes for a fascinating journey, well told.
How about another one on brilliant Indian minds shaping the second round of IT boom in faraway Silicon Valley, Dinesh?
This is the definitive story of the IT sector’s magical transformation, says SHANTANU GUHA RAY
Tehelka, July 18 2009
AS THE Indian government embarks on the unique identity card scheme, the fact that it’s chosen former Infosys co-chairman Nandan Nilekani to head the project shows its realisation that to implement such an ambitious project (Rs 120 crore have been allocated for it in Budget 2009-10 by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee), it needs to harness one of the best brains in the information technology (IT) industry. It’s both a tribute to Indian IT and a challenge for its A-team to deliver.
The miracle of the Indian IT revolution has been tracked for a long time by science journalist Dinesh C Sharma: he was one of the few reporters whose incisive coverage of the sector — not many hacks followed it because of the technicalities involved — even impressed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the man responsible for allowing the sector to take off in India by calling in Satyen Ghanshyam (Sam) Pitroda.
In his latest book, Sharma calls the IT revolution a miracle of the new millennium because, thanks to changed communication systems, Indians could now break the stranglehold of companies such as IBM and transform pygmy software companies into multi-million dollar enterprises. That, in turn, helped the knowledge economy expand.
In The Long Revolution, Sharma not only tells the story of how a country that was known for its export of gems, handicrafts, silk and spices became a major software exporter, but he does so in great detail, with meticulous research. And he states, with confidence, that the miracle can and will be sustained. Global economic slowdown or not, Sharma remains convinced that outsourcing will continue to mean Bangalore! Or Gurgaon, or Pune! How about another one on brilliant Indian minds shaping the second round of IT boom in faraway Silicon Valley, Dinesh
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
"A 'must read' for all IT Professionals in India"
Current Science, 25 June 2009
Reviewed by S Sadagopan
This is an unusual book in more ways than one. Right from its title it talks of the ‘long’ revolution, unlike many accounts both from India and abroad, which project Indian IT to have started with Y2K!
It is written by a person with a background in journalism, and yet the book is well researched, has copious references, includes a comprehensive index and provides due acknowledgements to
the hundreds of organizations and individuals.
Though a long book, it is immensely readable. There are nuggets (like DoE putting conditions to Fairchild Semiconductors) that are not widely known to the younger generation; these add special value to the book. All in all, a timely book that is a ‘must read’ for all IT professionals in India who are keen on ‘tracing the roots’ and anyone wanting to understand the true nature of an undoubtedly important revolution that is taking place in India over the past five decades (more visible in the past 10+ years).
'This Book is Worth its Weight'
Civil Society, April 2009
This book is worth is weight. Dinesh C Sharma tells us the fascinating story of the growth of India's IT sector from start to finish. He writes like a good journalist digging out heaps of unknown stories. Never does he bore the reader.
We get to know how the foundation of the IT boom was laid. Sharma takes us from the Nehru-Bhabha era to the Indira Gandhi years. Rajiv Gandhi's great contribution, of course, very big. He took technology to a new level by frocussing on its wider application. The growth of a ribust IT sector has a lot to do with state patronage and the importance government gave to building quality technical education.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Tireless research echoes throughout the book : New Indian Express, May 24, 2009
By Bala Murali Krishna
The rise of India as an information technology powerhouse, and back office of the world, is infinitely more complex than the simple IITs-to-Silicon- Valley-to-Nasdaq stories of fabled Ind ian American entrepreneurs. Politics, egos, turf battles, policy missteps, plain shortsightedness, bureaucratic red tape and, perhaps, accidents shaped the path of IT in this country......
Sharma, a journalist who has written extensively on science and technology, goes all the way back to the rivalry between P C Mahalanobis, best known as the architect of India’s five-year plans, and Homi Bhabha, best known for setting up India’s nuclear establishment, to lay out the country’s path in IT development. He narrates in detail the roles of prime ministers Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and technocrat Sam Pitroda, and the circumstances that forced IBM out of the country in 1977. Tireless research echoes throughout the book, be it in the discovery of key facts from government documents or notable insiders, or indeed in laying to rest some popular myths. If Sharma is correct, Neh ru’s role in the establishment of the IITs is exaggerated, Rajiv Gandhi’s influence on IT began long before he became prime minister and the first computer to arrive at IIT, Kanpur, was never carried on a bullock cart.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Monumental research on Indian IT: Science Reporter, May 2009
By Hasan Jawaid Khan
How did it all begin? And how long is this roller-coaster ride of the Indian IT industry going to sustain? A professional journalist, Dinesh provides answers to these and innumerable other questions, which an IT industry watcher would be looking for, with a light touch that is the hallmark of a true journalist. And the monumental research that has gone into the book is truly fascinating......
......A thoroughly researched, lucidly written and skillfully
presented book that is a must read not just for students of IT as well
as IT professionals but for all those who have a penchant for historical
accounts.
Monday, April 27, 2009
"Scholarly volume, eminentlyl lucid and highly readable"
The Story of India's IT Prowess
By Biman Basu
Inventional Intelligence, April 2009
Today one can do railway and air bookings without stepping out of home. One can pay bills and taxes and do purchases from around the world online. One can withdraw money from ATM anywhere, any day, any time using debit or credit card; one doesn’t need to go to the bank any
more. All this not only means more convenience for the people but also greater efficiency. The driving force behind this change is the emergence of India as a global player in information technology, made possible by several factors including development of skilled manpower,
and pragmatic government policies. Unfortunately, not many users of IT in India are aware of the chequered history of the growth and development of the country’s computer and IT industry. Dinesh C. Sharma’s scholarly volume adequately fills the void. The Long Revolution traces every twist and turn in the long story of India’s IT revolution.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Fascinating story, says Prof Sadagopan, Director, IIIT Bangalore
Prof S Sadagopan, director of the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, has written a chapter-wise ten part review of 'The Long Revolution' in his technology blog -http://ss.emergic.org
....In chapter 7 “Big boys, garage, startups and software codes” is perhaps the most fascinating chapter as it documents the Indian software story and the risk of Silicon Valley of India, namely, Bangalore along with the iconic company Infosys. It is interesting observation to link Kishanagarh in Rajasthan (the place of Narendra Patni of “Patni Computer Systems”) to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Narendra working with Lexis-Nexis to “key in” data in India and publishing in USA through his company Data Conversion Inc (DCI) is the first instance of “off shoring”. InterestinglyDCI was punching five mile of paper tape every day!.......
Read the full review at http://ss.emergic.org/page/2/
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Spotlight: IT: A Passage Through India, The Statesman, April 5,2009
By Aditi Roy Ghatak
When men of mettle clash, sparks fly. That was possibly how the race to win the information technology race in India took off; courtesy the Bhabha and Mahalanobis clash at a time Calcutta was still the centre for scientific excellence – the computing industry included. What began under the visionary Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis as IT’s long revolution, only to lose its way in Calcutta, even as it travelled through Bombay acquiring muscle in Bangalore and Hyderabad is quite a fascinating tale. The origins may be irrelevant in an India where leading multinationals have sited their R&D operations. Nevertheless, the Mahalanobis story – getting India’s first automatic calculators and unit record machines for the Indian Statistical Institute; following it up by a facility to develop and fabricate computing machines locally; driving the non-profit Indian Calculating Machine and Scientific Instrument Research Society to develop calculators and scientific instruments in September 1943; and the then establishing an ISI unit for repair and maintenance of calculators – deserves to be revisited. Who else but Mahalanobis could inspire Samarendra Kumar Mitra and Soumyendra Mohan Bose, outstanding engineers of the times, to go through the junkyards of Chandni Chowk to dig up war material to build India’s first ‘analogue electronic computer’ in 1953 at the ISI’s Electronic Computer Laboratory, made ready for this specific purpose in 1950? The revolution was on track as Mahalanobis got large mainframes from British Tabulating Machine, Ural from the Soviet Union and another computer from IBM and even later when the ISI and Jadavpur University collaborated to developed a digital computer, ISIJU. By then, though, the revolution was encountering a parallel force. Homi J. Bhabha was charting a brilliant course with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research that eventually developed the TIFR Automatic Calculator. Also, Bhabha won the battle for the tag of National Computer Centre for his own computer installations, simultaneously taking the lead in spearheading the electronics development policy, especially after the war with China. Bengal took the back seat since then.
Dinesh C. Sharma’s chronicle The Long Revolution: The Birth and Growth of India’s IT Industry undertakes a journalist’s – rather than a scientist’s journey – through the electronics committee which Bhaba headed, paving the way for the Electronics Commission and the Department of Electronics. The Calcutta initiative had clearly been wrested by Bombay and with the Leftists sowing the seeds of suspicion around computers in the heart and souls of the middle-class Bengali, the computer revolution went way off target in this city.
Birth and Growth of India's IT Industry : Interview in Techgoss April 2, 2009
By Suneetha
Sam Pitroda, widely regarded as the father of the telecom revolution in India, released this historical book by Dinesh C Sharma, a senior tech journalist. “The Long Revolution: The Birth and Growth of India's IT Industry”, while detailing every important milestone in the tech sector, tells us the real story behind what was perceived as IBM's eviction from India in 1977.
Here is an interview with the author Dinesh C Sharma.
Q (Techgoss): How did you get into writing this particular book?
A: (Dinesh C Sharma): I have been a journalist since 1984. My first job as a trainee journalist with the Press Trust of India 1984 exposed me to two generations of data communication technologies – teleprinter with its paper tapes and the computer-based communication network which was just being introduced in the agency. This was also the beginning of my interaction with the information technology industry as a reporter, which continued over the next decade and beyond.
In the late 1990s, I crossed the fence for a brief while. First I – along with two other friends - floated a dotcom company, then worked as part-time head of India operations of a business-to-business portal for software industry launched by a former investment banker from New York. All these experiences gave me valuable insights into inner workings of the industry. Then while reporting for Cnet.com in 2000s, I realized that interest about the Indian industry was growing in America and yet there were a lot of misconceptions. The same was the case with new generation of Indians who were introduced to the sector in late 1990s. So, I thought of writing a book.
When I did so, the first thought that came to my mind was the story of IBM and Coca-Cola being 'thrown out of India' during the Janata Party regime in 1977. As a reporter, I kept hearing different versions of this story. So, I thought here is my story line – from IBM leaving India in 1977 to IBM's comeback in early 1990s. To the journalist inside me, this appeared to me a killer plot. Barring the IBM's exit and the period of early growth of the industry till 1984, I was a witness as well a recorder of all major events in this period. But when I started researching into the IBM episode, I realized the story actually begins when early computing machines came to India in the pre-independence days. That's how the plot got extended. So this is the first book on the Indian IT industry that tells the story right from the day first computers arrived in India. Much of research and writing for this book took place between 2005 and 2007. I got a one-year fellowship from the New India Foundation, Bangalore, for writing the book.
Read full interview at: http://www.techgoss.com/Story/28S13-Birth-and-Growth-of-India-s-IT-Industry.aspx
Sam Pitroda, widely regarded as the father of the telecom revolution in India, released this historical book by Dinesh C Sharma, a senior tech journalist. “The Long Revolution: The Birth and Growth of India's IT Industry”, while detailing every important milestone in the tech sector, tells us the real story behind what was perceived as IBM's eviction from India in 1977.
Here is an interview with the author Dinesh C Sharma.
Q (Techgoss): How did you get into writing this particular book?
A: (Dinesh C Sharma): I have been a journalist since 1984. My first job as a trainee journalist with the Press Trust of India 1984 exposed me to two generations of data communication technologies – teleprinter with its paper tapes and the computer-based communication network which was just being introduced in the agency. This was also the beginning of my interaction with the information technology industry as a reporter, which continued over the next decade and beyond.
In the late 1990s, I crossed the fence for a brief while. First I – along with two other friends - floated a dotcom company, then worked as part-time head of India operations of a business-to-business portal for software industry launched by a former investment banker from New York. All these experiences gave me valuable insights into inner workings of the industry. Then while reporting for Cnet.com in 2000s, I realized that interest about the Indian industry was growing in America and yet there were a lot of misconceptions. The same was the case with new generation of Indians who were introduced to the sector in late 1990s. So, I thought of writing a book.
When I did so, the first thought that came to my mind was the story of IBM and Coca-Cola being 'thrown out of India' during the Janata Party regime in 1977. As a reporter, I kept hearing different versions of this story. So, I thought here is my story line – from IBM leaving India in 1977 to IBM's comeback in early 1990s. To the journalist inside me, this appeared to me a killer plot. Barring the IBM's exit and the period of early growth of the industry till 1984, I was a witness as well a recorder of all major events in this period. But when I started researching into the IBM episode, I realized the story actually begins when early computing machines came to India in the pre-independence days. That's how the plot got extended. So this is the first book on the Indian IT industry that tells the story right from the day first computers arrived in India. Much of research and writing for this book took place between 2005 and 2007. I got a one-year fellowship from the New India Foundation, Bangalore, for writing the book.
Read full interview at: http://www.techgoss.com/Story/28S13-Birth-and-Growth-of-India-s-IT-Industry.aspx
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Book Released, The Hindu,, March 22, 2009
http://www.thehindu.com/2009/03/22/stories/2009032254560400.htm
PTI, March 20, 2009
http://www.zibb.com/article/5100429/Indian+IT+sector+should+focus+more+on+domestic+mkt+Pitroda
Eanaadu, March 21, 2009:
"It was long, exciting journey"
Author's statement at the launch of "The Long Revolution", March 20, 2009, New Delhi
"Writing this book has been a fascinating journey. It was long and lonely at times but enjoyable all the time. It was a journey of discovery and learning and I was excited all the time while writing this book.
It was challenging too, because information technology has been a subject of great debate, discussion and public discourse in this country for the past more than a decade or so. There are too many myths and popular perceptions - and a lot of hype - about this sector. I had to cut through all this and present a clearer picture. How far I have been successful, it is for you – the readers – to decide. I am open to criticism and I welcome it.
It was also a challenge on another count – I was dealing with a period spanning half a century, and not just one or two decades. Some people warned me not to take this up, but there were many who encouraged me to go ahead. I am happy I did so. I was fortunate to have met and interacted with people who played a key role in different epochs of this sector. Some of them have been associated with this industry for close to half a century. Prof R Narasimhan was one such. He was the designer of India’s first digital computer in 1950s.Interactions with such people, coupled with research into archival records wherever possible, helped me decipher key turning points in this long saga of information technology in India."
Friday, March 20, 2009
'India didn't throw out IBM in 1977': Book Times of India , March 19, 2009
Arvind Padmanabhan/IANS
NEW DELHI: Contrary to the general perception that India had forced US IT giant IBM toexit the country in 1977, evidence shows that the governmen
t was not only keen to retain the company but had also held secret parleys for that with the company's top brass in the US, says a new book.
The closed-door talks with IBM were piloted by the then Electronics Commission led by senior technocrat N Seshagiri, says the detailed account of the IBM era in the book, entitled "The Long Revolution: The Birth and Growth of India's IT Industry".
Authored by senior science and technology writer Dinesh C Sharma, the book says there was a stalemate in the official talks with IBM India to recast its Indian operations to fall in line with a new law -- the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.
It was for this reason that the chairman of the Electronics Commission and secretary in the Department of Electronics, MGK Menon, had deputed Seshagiri to open an informal dialogue with IBM top brass in America.
Read full story at:http://infotech.indiatimes.com/News/India_didnt_throw_out_IBM/articleshow/4285785.cms
NEW DELHI: Contrary to the general perception that India had forced US IT giant IBM toexit the country in 1977, evidence shows that the governmen
t was not only keen to retain the company but had also held secret parleys for that with the company's top brass in the US, says a new book.
The closed-door talks with IBM were piloted by the then Electronics Commission led by senior technocrat N Seshagiri, says the detailed account of the IBM era in the book, entitled "The Long Revolution: The Birth and Growth of India's IT Industry".
Authored by senior science and technology writer Dinesh C Sharma, the book says there was a stalemate in the official talks with IBM India to recast its Indian operations to fall in line with a new law -- the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.
It was for this reason that the chairman of the Electronics Commission and secretary in the Department of Electronics, MGK Menon, had deputed Seshagiri to open an informal dialogue with IBM top brass in America.
Read full story at:http://infotech.indiatimes.com/News/India_didnt_throw_out_IBM/articleshow/4285785.cms
Friday, March 13, 2009
Exploring India’s ITinerary - Business World March 13, 2009
BY NELSON VINOD MOSES
Writing a book on India’s IT industry is a brave attempt considering the frequency with which it has been discussed and dissected by journalists, academics, analysts and consultants, and the obvious fatigue that has set in. Dinesh C. Sharma, writing as a New India Foundation fellow (fellowships are awarded to scholars and writers working on different aspects of the history of Independent India), treads on a road well-worn, but pulls away from most other writers because he attempts to chronicle the IT story from the origins to the present.
The Long Revolution is a comprehensive catalogue of the country’s struggles, many false starts, state-created inertia, gradual discovery and eventual emergence as a global IT giant. Sharma’s narrative begins in the 1920s and ’30s, when the use of IT in India started at about the same time as the rest of the world. This was thanks to P.C. Mahalanobis and Homi Jehangir Bhabha, who took the first few baby steps that has since exploded into a revolution. This was the pre-computer age of tabulating machines and unit recording machines. Mahalanobis and Bhabha used predecessors of computing machines to solve their own pain points — the former using it to analyse data from the National Sample Survey, and Bhabha for designing and running nuclear reactors. What began then is traced all the way through to the present.
Sharma’s task is tough because the story of the Indian IT industry is synonymous with outsourcing to most casual observers. But the book goes beyond that, and focuses on the history of the use of IT in India, and also the software, hardware, semiconductor and design industries. The IT story is believed to have started after the liberalisation in 1991, when a progressive software policy created the perfect storm for the industry to carve out India as the premier IT outsourcing destination. The book dives below the tip of the 1991 iceberg to emerge with a lot of relatively unknown data and interesting anecdotes. Some of these stories from the pre-1991 era are either not well-known or are otherwise untold.
Read the full review at: http://www.businessworld.in/index.php/Books-and-Guides/Exploring-Indias-ITinerary.html
Writing a book on India’s IT industry is a brave attempt considering the frequency with which it has been discussed and dissected by journalists, academics, analysts and consultants, and the obvious fatigue that has set in. Dinesh C. Sharma, writing as a New India Foundation fellow (fellowships are awarded to scholars and writers working on different aspects of the history of Independent India), treads on a road well-worn, but pulls away from most other writers because he attempts to chronicle the IT story from the origins to the present.
The Long Revolution is a comprehensive catalogue of the country’s struggles, many false starts, state-created inertia, gradual discovery and eventual emergence as a global IT giant. Sharma’s narrative begins in the 1920s and ’30s, when the use of IT in India started at about the same time as the rest of the world. This was thanks to P.C. Mahalanobis and Homi Jehangir Bhabha, who took the first few baby steps that has since exploded into a revolution. This was the pre-computer age of tabulating machines and unit recording machines. Mahalanobis and Bhabha used predecessors of computing machines to solve their own pain points — the former using it to analyse data from the National Sample Survey, and Bhabha for designing and running nuclear reactors. What began then is traced all the way through to the present.
Sharma’s task is tough because the story of the Indian IT industry is synonymous with outsourcing to most casual observers. But the book goes beyond that, and focuses on the history of the use of IT in India, and also the software, hardware, semiconductor and design industries. The IT story is believed to have started after the liberalisation in 1991, when a progressive software policy created the perfect storm for the industry to carve out India as the premier IT outsourcing destination. The book dives below the tip of the 1991 iceberg to emerge with a lot of relatively unknown data and interesting anecdotes. Some of these stories from the pre-1991 era are either not well-known or are otherwise untold.
Read the full review at: http://www.businessworld.in/index.php/Books-and-Guides/Exploring-Indias-ITinerary.html
How HCL wrote the growth programme for the industry
Financial Express, February 19,2009
The changing character of computer usage in India—from mainframes and minis to microcomputers—at the start of the 1980s threw up new demands for computer education. In the mainframe era, the role of a computer user was limited. The software was written by IBM and the machine was also serviced by IBM. The same happened in electronic data processing centres and the RCCs. With the introduction of microcomputers, the situation changed.
HCL, which pioneered this shift, had to educate customers on how to use its computers. One of its early advertisements said, ‘Even a typist can use our computers,’ emphasizing that companies don’t have to depend on outsiders to operate their computers.
The origins of computer training in the private sector can be traced to HCL. Rajendra Singh Pawar, a 1972 electrical engineering graduate of IIT Delhi, joined HCL in September 1976, after a stint with Larsen & Toubro and DCM Limited.
Read full excerpts at: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/how-hcl-wrote-the-growth-programme-for-the-industry/425208/
The changing character of computer usage in India—from mainframes and minis to microcomputers—at the start of the 1980s threw up new demands for computer education. In the mainframe era, the role of a computer user was limited. The software was written by IBM and the machine was also serviced by IBM. The same happened in electronic data processing centres and the RCCs. With the introduction of microcomputers, the situation changed.
HCL, which pioneered this shift, had to educate customers on how to use its computers. One of its early advertisements said, ‘Even a typist can use our computers,’ emphasizing that companies don’t have to depend on outsiders to operate their computers.
The origins of computer training in the private sector can be traced to HCL. Rajendra Singh Pawar, a 1972 electrical engineering graduate of IIT Delhi, joined HCL in September 1976, after a stint with Larsen & Toubro and DCM Limited.
Read full excerpts at: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/how-hcl-wrote-the-growth-programme-for-the-industry/425208/
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Comprehensive, detailed... accessibly written - Business Standard Feb 26, 2009
History of India's IT odyssey
By Subor Roy
The popular media in India has been extensively covering the Indian software story ever since it became visibly successful around the turn of the century. As the success has proved durable, the need to know how it all began and grew to its present state has become acute. This book succeeds in filling that gap admirably. It is a comprehensive and detailed history of the Indian IT industry, made possible by the use of invaluable archives and conversations with many of the key players. It is also very accessibly written.
Read full review at:http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=350151&tp=
By Subor Roy
The popular media in India has been extensively covering the Indian software story ever since it became visibly successful around the turn of the century. As the success has proved durable, the need to know how it all began and grew to its present state has become acute. This book succeeds in filling that gap admirably. It is a comprehensive and detailed history of the Indian IT industry, made possible by the use of invaluable archives and conversations with many of the key players. It is also very accessibly written.
Read full review at:http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=350151&tp=
Review in Hindi Business Standarad:
यूं लिखी गई आईटी की कामयाबी गाथा
यह किताब बहुत अच्छे ढंग से हम तक ये सभी जानकारियां उपलब्ध कराती हैं। यह भारतीय आईटी उद्योग का व्यापक और विस्तृत इतिहास है। किताब की भाषा सरल है और इसमें एक प्रवाह दिखता है।
सुबीर रॉय / March 04, 2009
भारतीय सॉफ्टवेयर उद्योग की सफलता जगजाहिर होने के बाद मुख्यधारा के मीडिया ने सफलता की इस गाथा के बारे में छापने या प्रसारित करने में गहरी दिलचस्पी दिखाई है।
अब चूंकि साबित हो चुका है कि यह सफलता टिकाऊ है, इसलिए हमें यह जानने की जरूरत है कि इस सफर की शुरुआत कैसे हुई और कैसे यह उद्योग लगातार तरक्की करते हुए अपने मौजूदा स्तर तक पहुंचा है।
यह किताब बहुत अच्छे ढंग से हम तक ये सभी जानकारियां उपलब्ध कराती हैं। यह भारतीय आईटी उद्योग का व्यापक और विस्तृत इतिहास है। पुराने दस्तावेजों और आईटी उद्योग की दिग्गज शख्सियतों के साथ बातचीत ने इस को बेशकीमती बना दिया है। किताब की भाषा सरल है और इसमें एक प्रवाह दिखता है।
http://hindi.business-standard.com/hin/storypage.php?autono=15309
The Silicon Route - Down to Earth March 15 2009
By Ananth Nayak
....Sharma is an effective chronicler, attentive to the minutest of details. He points out the efforts to develop computers in India benefited from a fortuitous turn of events. In 1959 Homi Bhabha ran into ibm’s director of research E R Piore on board a flight to Zurich. When Bhabha mentioned plans to acquire a powerful computer for atomic energy work in India, Piore suggested that his company could help. This was the beginning of an almost 20-year association of state-backed Indian computing endeavour with the US computer biggie.
Sharma is not the archetypal business history writer dismissing all state-sponsored efforts. He notes a large industrial infrastructure for electronics manufacturing was created in the public sector. But he does not overplay the role of the pre-liberalized state in India. He is attentive to the fact that Indira Gandhi’s restrictive policies were responsible for India missing the hardware bus.
The Long Revolution is not just about highbrow state research. There are interviews with small software developers in Noida and Hyderabad. There is a delightful description of the computerization of railway reservation.
The book ends on a hopeful note. “There are many more Silicon Valleys waiting to be discovered,” Sharma writes. But will the Silicon Valleys come with more Satyams. There are fault lines in India’s revolution that require examination. The book shows us that.
Read full review at: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20090315&filename=news&sec_id=15&sid=35
....Sharma is an effective chronicler, attentive to the minutest of details. He points out the efforts to develop computers in India benefited from a fortuitous turn of events. In 1959 Homi Bhabha ran into ibm’s director of research E R Piore on board a flight to Zurich. When Bhabha mentioned plans to acquire a powerful computer for atomic energy work in India, Piore suggested that his company could help. This was the beginning of an almost 20-year association of state-backed Indian computing endeavour with the US computer biggie.
Sharma is not the archetypal business history writer dismissing all state-sponsored efforts. He notes a large industrial infrastructure for electronics manufacturing was created in the public sector. But he does not overplay the role of the pre-liberalized state in India. He is attentive to the fact that Indira Gandhi’s restrictive policies were responsible for India missing the hardware bus.
The Long Revolution is not just about highbrow state research. There are interviews with small software developers in Noida and Hyderabad. There is a delightful description of the computerization of railway reservation.
The book ends on a hopeful note. “There are many more Silicon Valleys waiting to be discovered,” Sharma writes. But will the Silicon Valleys come with more Satyams. There are fault lines in India’s revolution that require examination. The book shows us that.
Read full review at: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20090315&filename=news&sec_id=15&sid=35
Friday, January 30, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
First exhaustive study on how India became a software giant - Mail Today
THESE DAYS the information technology industry is making headlines for the wrong reasons. But the edifice on which it stands today has been carefully built over the past three decades and more, and this could give hope for its long-term survival.
The initial software writing skills in India developed parallel to hardware design innovation. In the era of mainframe computers, software came bundled with hardware. Application software had to be written specifically for each computer. Since all commercial computers came from multinationals, software writing skills also developed on these computers with the help of US firms. This made IBM and ICL storehouses of programmers. When TIFR acquired the large mainframe from CDC,it got its scientists trained in programming at CDC. Subsequently, these skills spread to others through training and hands-on experience. Initial training skills in programming developed at the IITs through interaction with IBM, which supplied computers, and faculty from collaborating American universities.
(Extracted from The Long Revolution, by Dinesh C. Sharma, with permission from HarperCollins)
Read more at http://epaper.mailtoday.in/epaperhome.aspx?issue=1812009
The initial software writing skills in India developed parallel to hardware design innovation. In the era of mainframe computers, software came bundled with hardware. Application software had to be written specifically for each computer. Since all commercial computers came from multinationals, software writing skills also developed on these computers with the help of US firms. This made IBM and ICL storehouses of programmers. When TIFR acquired the large mainframe from CDC,it got its scientists trained in programming at CDC. Subsequently, these skills spread to others through training and hands-on experience. Initial training skills in programming developed at the IITs through interaction with IBM, which supplied computers, and faculty from collaborating American universities.
(Extracted from The Long Revolution, by Dinesh C. Sharma, with permission from HarperCollins)
Read more at http://epaper.mailtoday.in/epaperhome.aspx?issue=1812009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
The Story of a 'Little India' in Satyam - The Hindu BusinessLine
D. Murali
These are days when any link with Satyam merits a second look, and a closer one. But this is a positive story, about how the first commercial dedicated satellite link of VSNL to be used by an Indian software company was of Satyam, as Dinesh C. Sharma recounts in ‘The Long Revolution: The birth and growth of India’s IT industry’ ( www.harpercollins.co.in).
In 1992, just a handful of 64 kbps (kilobits per second, a measure of bandwidth) circuits were in use, Sharma writes. A Hyderabad-based start-up, Satyam Computer Services, which had signed up its first major offshore customer in June 1991, applied to VSNL for a dedicated satellite link in August that year, he adds.
“Using this link, Satyam wanted to execute a re-engineering contract, worth $1 million, for John Deere Corporation by remotely working on Deere’s IBM mainframes located in Chicago.”
Read more at: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/01/17/stories/2009011750761800.htm
These are days when any link with Satyam merits a second look, and a closer one. But this is a positive story, about how the first commercial dedicated satellite link of VSNL to be used by an Indian software company was of Satyam, as Dinesh C. Sharma recounts in ‘The Long Revolution: The birth and growth of India’s IT industry’ ( www.harpercollins.co.in).
In 1992, just a handful of 64 kbps (kilobits per second, a measure of bandwidth) circuits were in use, Sharma writes. A Hyderabad-based start-up, Satyam Computer Services, which had signed up its first major offshore customer in June 1991, applied to VSNL for a dedicated satellite link in August that year, he adds.
“Using this link, Satyam wanted to execute a re-engineering contract, worth $1 million, for John Deere Corporation by remotely working on Deere’s IBM mainframes located in Chicago.”
Read more at: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/01/17/stories/2009011750761800.htm
"Engaging account" - The Hindu BusinessLine
Software Sops
By D Murali
The Hindu BusinessLine, January 17, 2009
The Department of Electronics (DoE) Secretary, Nagarajan Vittal, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, K. Roy Paul, and Economic Advisor, Pronab Sen, were the three individuals who changed the outlook of the DoE, writes Dinesh C. Sharma in The Long Revolution: The birth and growth of India’s IT industry (http://www.harpercollins.co.in/). “With similar wavelength and energy,” says Sharma, “the trio ensured that the DoE shed its image of being a scientific department to become an industry- and business-oriented ministry.”
He recounts how, within a week in office, Vittal met representatives of MAIT (Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology) and Nasscom (National Association of Software and Services Companies). “The industry wanted high-speed data communication links to facilitate software exports… Extending export concessions and tax holidays to the software sector was the other demand.”....
Read more at: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/01/17/stories/2009011750080900.htm
By D Murali
The Hindu BusinessLine, January 17, 2009
The Department of Electronics (DoE) Secretary, Nagarajan Vittal, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, K. Roy Paul, and Economic Advisor, Pronab Sen, were the three individuals who changed the outlook of the DoE, writes Dinesh C. Sharma in The Long Revolution: The birth and growth of India’s IT industry (http://www.harpercollins.co.in/). “With similar wavelength and energy,” says Sharma, “the trio ensured that the DoE shed its image of being a scientific department to become an industry- and business-oriented ministry.”
He recounts how, within a week in office, Vittal met representatives of MAIT (Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology) and Nasscom (National Association of Software and Services Companies). “The industry wanted high-speed data communication links to facilitate software exports… Extending export concessions and tax holidays to the software sector was the other demand.”....
Read more at: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/01/17/stories/2009011750080900.htm
Authorspeak: Why I wrote this book?
"Today we find computers being used everywhere. This was not so some thirty years back. I became aware of the use of computers in our lives when I got a computerised marks sheet for my tenth grade examination in June 1976.A few years later, I was formally introduced to computer science during the undergraduate course in science at Nizam College, Hyderabad. An introductory course in FORTRAN IV – a computer language released by IBM in 1962 – made students learn basic programming without seeing or touching a computer. .....Over the next two decades I was exposed to computers and had a chance to report on the so-called 'computer era' in the 1980s..... In 2000s, while reporting for American technology news network, Cnet.com, I realised that interest about the Indian industry was growing in America and yet there were a lot of misconceptions. The same was the case with new generation of Indians who were introduced to the sector in the past one decade or so. This prompted me to do a full book on this sector.
When I decided to write a book, the first thought that came to my mind was the story of IBM and Coca-Cola being ‘thrown out of India’ during the Janata Party regime in 1977. Somehow this story had remained ingrained in my mind since my adolescent days. Then as a reporter, I kept hearing different versions of this story. So, I thought here is my story line – from IBM leaving India in 1977 to IBM’s comeback in early 1990s. To the journalist inside me, this appeared to me a killer plot. Barring the IBM’s exit and the period of early growth of the industry till 1984, I was a witness as well a recorder of all major events in this period. But when I started researching into IBM episode, I realized the story actually begins when early computing machines came to India in the pre-independence days. That’s how the plot got extended. Much of research and writing for this book took place between 2005 and 2007. I made multiple trips to Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad, besides work done in my place of residence – New Delhi. This is the journey of this book, in brief."
-From author's preface to "The Long Revolution: The Birth and Growth of India's IT Industry"
When I decided to write a book, the first thought that came to my mind was the story of IBM and Coca-Cola being ‘thrown out of India’ during the Janata Party regime in 1977. Somehow this story had remained ingrained in my mind since my adolescent days. Then as a reporter, I kept hearing different versions of this story. So, I thought here is my story line – from IBM leaving India in 1977 to IBM’s comeback in early 1990s. To the journalist inside me, this appeared to me a killer plot. Barring the IBM’s exit and the period of early growth of the industry till 1984, I was a witness as well a recorder of all major events in this period. But when I started researching into IBM episode, I realized the story actually begins when early computing machines came to India in the pre-independence days. That’s how the plot got extended. Much of research and writing for this book took place between 2005 and 2007. I made multiple trips to Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad, besides work done in my place of residence – New Delhi. This is the journey of this book, in brief."
-From author's preface to "The Long Revolution: The Birth and Growth of India's IT Industry"
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