Dr Subbu's opinion on Mr Sam Pitroda

While I was working in Delhi, I had limited interaction with Mr Sam Pitroda, I found him a person of great humility and innovative thinking. When a person is in power, he or she gains a lot of self-confidence leading to arrogance. 

Power may come from politics, money, knowledge, and adulation from people. I found Sam quite different. He was willing to engage in public issues of the day during the UPA government. He was the chairman of the National Knowledge Commission with the rank of cabinet minister. He was an adviser to the PM and UPA chairperson. 

As a faculty member of a business school interested in public policy, I found that quite refreshing. I had a great discussion with him on the policies of the government and the challenges in implementation. He was discussing taking broadband to villages which the Modi government has continued.

I jointly attended a meeting at Indian Angel Network where I saw him listening intently to develop the start-up ecosystem and intervening in the discussion about Intellectual property rights and the improvement in the government ecosystem. 

Sam Pitroda is Satyen Gangaram Pitroda. Americans made short-form Satyen Gangaram as Sam. He comes from a lower middle-class family. 

In political parlance, he is a backward caste individual and a self-made man. After doing post-graduation in physics and electronics from Baroda University, he went on to obtain a master's degree in electrical engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. 

Sam has numerous patents under his name. He invented the electronic diary and digital switching and others. 

On his trip to India, he found it extremely hard to call back his family in Chicago, so he decided to modernize India's telecom system. He wrote to PM Indira Gandhi and was asked to present the plan to Mrs. Gandhi's Cabinet. He presented the plan, and nobody was interested in the meeting except for Mr. Rajiv Gandhi. When Rajiv Gandhi became PM, Sam Pitroda started C-DOT, the Centre for Development of Telematics. Smaller Telephone exchanges, Digital switching, and PCO (Public Call Office) revolution happened during that time. It was the pre- mobile revolution in India.

He also headed a technology mission during the Rajiv Gandhi regime related to telecommunications, water, literacy, immunization, dairy, and oilseeds. He spent a decade with Rajiv Gandhi as the leader of an effort to build an Indian information industry. After Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, He went back to the US.

PM Vajpayee wanted Sam to work for his government during 1998-2004.

Sam Pitroda got the example wrong to criticize the Modi Government for trying to make a unitary policy for India. India is known for its unity in diversity. 

Though there are differences in terms of language, religion, castes, and race but there is an Indian-ness that has evolved in the last five thousand years and particularly in the last 80 years. 

While criticizing Sam Pitroda's statement, we must not forget his contribution to India's development.

What's your take on recent developments and on going issues surrounding Mr Sam?

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Dr. M. Subramanian
Director – MBA Program
PhD (Finance),FDPM (IIM-A), MBA, MFC
Fin-Tech, Blockchain & Analytics

Visit : www.rlims.ac.in