Dr N. Seshagiri, Founder Director General of National Informatics Centre and former Special Secretary to Government of India, brilliant pioneer of growth of India’s IT Industry, was born on 10th May 1940. He was awarded a Ph.D at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in Microwave Telecommunication Engineering. Subsequently in 1966 he moved to TIFR and worked on satellite communications and space-craft design. He was awarded the prestigious "Vikram Sarabhai " award for ‘optimal design simulation of low energy consumption space-craft design’.
Prof. MGK Menon was then Director of TIFR and saw immense intellectual potential in Dr. Seshagiri. Prof. Menon encouraged him to assist in setting-up of the Electronics Commission at Central Government level in Delhi. This involved evolving policy and planning for introducing information technology in order to improve the quality of life of the masses. Dr. Seshagiri`s vision led to the successful preparation of the first document on Perspective Plan for growth of electronics industry in India. As a follow up of the acceptance of this report at the Cabinet level, the Central Government approved the setting up of a National Data Centre at School of Life Sciences & Automation at J.N.U, New Delhi. This data centre was envisaged to serve as a national level repository of information, pertaining to various analytical reports, for industrial growth, in thrust areas, for the evolution of licensing policy, focused on indigenous growth of electronics production and promotion of R&D, enabling transfer of technology from laboratories to the field.
Recognising Dr. Seshagiri’s ability for hard-work coupled with his innovative and original thinking, Prof MGK Menon facilitated the carving out of a National Data Centre for Electronics, outside JNU , and set it up as separate entity under Dr. Seshagiri. It was entitled IPAG or Information Planning Analysis Group. This new setup offered tremendous path-breaking policy initiatives governing industrial promotion, boosting indigenization efforts by encouraging R&D for reduction of Imports and savings in Foreign Exchange.
Towards the latter half of 1976, bearing in mind the importance of the availability of right information at the right place at the right time, the Electronics Commission decided to retain policy framing & its implementation related work with Department of Electronics. The Electronics Commission decided to provide special impetus to the Informatics led improvements in the decision making process of various Government Departments/Ministries. This initiative was exclusively directed to usher-in operational excellence of governance both at Central as well as State levels. This led to the birth of National Informatics Centre and Dr. Seshagiri was entrusted with independent responsibility of its first Executive Director.
As the architect of the nationwide computer network (NICNET), Dr Seshagiri drafted the software and hardware policies that revolutionised information technology (IT) in the country. He was instrumental in setting up the DISNIC Programme in the country to usher in the ICT revolution in 520+districts in 1987. In 1998, under the Chairmanship of Prof. MGK Menon, he was the Member-Convenor of the prestigious National Task Force on IT which drafted the national IT policy with 108 recommendations to ‘’transform India into a global software power by 2008’. He was instrumental in the setting up of the software technology parks of India, which led to the emergence of Indian IT bellwethers such as Infosys and Wipro in Bangalore three decades ago. He strived hard to get the US-based global chip maker Texas Instruments to open its offshore development centre in Bangalore, with his `flood-in and flood-out software policy`. Dr. Seshagiri not only shaped computerization policies but brought to reality the software exports and systems manufacturing industry in India.
Dr Seshagiri was a great visionary and was always ahead of his time. He laid great importance on inducting ICT in governance across the country. What we see as E-Governance today is the outcome of the vision and hard work put in by Dr Seshagiri through the decades of 80s and 90s. During his 25-year leadership of NIC, he groomed a generation of scientists, engineers and technocrats to provide leadership in E-Governance across the country.
Dr Seshagiri was instrumental in establishing and grooming a number of Institutions. Some of these leading institutions include establishment of ITI-Equatorial Systems Limited for indigenous manufacture of VSATs in India, CDAC, NCTI AND NICSI. He authored over 20 books and more than 100 research papers.
Recognizing his massive and unique contributions, he was awarded Padma Bhushan, Vikram Sarabhai award, O P Bhasin award, Asiad Jyoti award, Karnataka Rajya-Utsav Jyoti award, to name a few.
He took Voluntary Retirement from government service in February 2000. Subsequently he served as Professor Emeritus at IISc- Bangalore and offered technical consultancy in frontier areas of IT.
Courtesy: pib.nic.in (Press Information Bureau)
Prof. MGK Menon was then Director of TIFR and saw immense intellectual potential in Dr. Seshagiri. Prof. Menon encouraged him to assist in setting-up of the Electronics Commission at Central Government level in Delhi. This involved evolving policy and planning for introducing information technology in order to improve the quality of life of the masses. Dr. Seshagiri`s vision led to the successful preparation of the first document on Perspective Plan for growth of electronics industry in India. As a follow up of the acceptance of this report at the Cabinet level, the Central Government approved the setting up of a National Data Centre at School of Life Sciences & Automation at J.N.U, New Delhi. This data centre was envisaged to serve as a national level repository of information, pertaining to various analytical reports, for industrial growth, in thrust areas, for the evolution of licensing policy, focused on indigenous growth of electronics production and promotion of R&D, enabling transfer of technology from laboratories to the field.
Recognising Dr. Seshagiri’s ability for hard-work coupled with his innovative and original thinking, Prof MGK Menon facilitated the carving out of a National Data Centre for Electronics, outside JNU , and set it up as separate entity under Dr. Seshagiri. It was entitled IPAG or Information Planning Analysis Group. This new setup offered tremendous path-breaking policy initiatives governing industrial promotion, boosting indigenization efforts by encouraging R&D for reduction of Imports and savings in Foreign Exchange.
Towards the latter half of 1976, bearing in mind the importance of the availability of right information at the right place at the right time, the Electronics Commission decided to retain policy framing & its implementation related work with Department of Electronics. The Electronics Commission decided to provide special impetus to the Informatics led improvements in the decision making process of various Government Departments/Ministries. This initiative was exclusively directed to usher-in operational excellence of governance both at Central as well as State levels. This led to the birth of National Informatics Centre and Dr. Seshagiri was entrusted with independent responsibility of its first Executive Director.
As the architect of the nationwide computer network (NICNET), Dr Seshagiri drafted the software and hardware policies that revolutionised information technology (IT) in the country. He was instrumental in setting up the DISNIC Programme in the country to usher in the ICT revolution in 520+districts in 1987. In 1998, under the Chairmanship of Prof. MGK Menon, he was the Member-Convenor of the prestigious National Task Force on IT which drafted the national IT policy with 108 recommendations to ‘’transform India into a global software power by 2008’. He was instrumental in the setting up of the software technology parks of India, which led to the emergence of Indian IT bellwethers such as Infosys and Wipro in Bangalore three decades ago. He strived hard to get the US-based global chip maker Texas Instruments to open its offshore development centre in Bangalore, with his `flood-in and flood-out software policy`. Dr. Seshagiri not only shaped computerization policies but brought to reality the software exports and systems manufacturing industry in India.
Dr Seshagiri was a great visionary and was always ahead of his time. He laid great importance on inducting ICT in governance across the country. What we see as E-Governance today is the outcome of the vision and hard work put in by Dr Seshagiri through the decades of 80s and 90s. During his 25-year leadership of NIC, he groomed a generation of scientists, engineers and technocrats to provide leadership in E-Governance across the country.
Dr Seshagiri was instrumental in establishing and grooming a number of Institutions. Some of these leading institutions include establishment of ITI-Equatorial Systems Limited for indigenous manufacture of VSATs in India, CDAC, NCTI AND NICSI. He authored over 20 books and more than 100 research papers.
Recognizing his massive and unique contributions, he was awarded Padma Bhushan, Vikram Sarabhai award, O P Bhasin award, Asiad Jyoti award, Karnataka Rajya-Utsav Jyoti award, to name a few.
He took Voluntary Retirement from government service in February 2000. Subsequently he served as Professor Emeritus at IISc- Bangalore and offered technical consultancy in frontier areas of IT.
Courtesy: pib.nic.in (Press Information Bureau)
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