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Sam Pitroda

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Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda
Born (1942-11-16) 16 November 1942 (age 81)
Titlagarh, Orissa, India
Occupation(s)Telecom engineer, development guru, inventor, entrepreneur
Website[1] Profile on C-Sam.com

Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda, better known as Dr Sam Pitroda is an inventor, entrepreneur and policymaker. Currently chairman of India's National Knowledge Commission, he is also widely considered to have been responsible for India's communications revolution [2].

He is the Chairman of World-Tel Limited, an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) initiative. He holds many key technology patents, has been involved in several startups, and lectures extensively around the world on management, governance and the implications of communications and information technology.

He is the founder and CEO of C-SAM, Inc, which has developed a suite of patented mobile transaction technology called OneWallet. The company has offices in London, Tokyo, and offshore development centres in India in Mumbai and Vadodara. He has served as an advisor to the United Nations and in 1992, his biography, 'Sam Pitroda: A Biography' was published, and became a bestseller on The Economic Times list for five weeks. Mr. Pitroda has lived mainly in Chicago, Illinois since 1964, with his wife and two children.

Early life

Sam Pitroda was born in India in Titilagarh, Orissa.His parents hailed from Gujarat and migrated to Orissa. They were deeply influenced by Gandhi and his philosophy. Sam Pitroda and his brother were sent to Gujarat to imbibe Gandhian philosophy. Sam completed his schooling from Vallabh Vidyanagar in Gujarat and completed his Masters in Physics and Electronics from Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara. After completing a Masters in Physics from Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara he went to the US and did his Masters in electrical engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

Career

Early Career

Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s he was involved in the cutting edge technology research work in telecommunications and handheld computing. He is particularly known for having introduced microprocessors in telephone switches leading to early digital switching. His invention of the Electronic Diary in 1975 is now regarded as one of the earliest examples of hand-held computing. With over 100 patents to his credit Pitroda has been a leading name in telecommunications and information technology for over three decades.

He went on to found Wescom Switching. Wescom was acquired by Rockwell International, where Pitroda became a Vice President.

In 1983, he also designed his own computer-themed card game called Compucards which used binary numbers (1, 2, 4, 8...) instead of decimal and had a computer bug as the joker. The equivalent of a king in a regular deck of cards was the 'Programmer' that bore an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Pitroda himself.

During his four decades as an engineer Mr. Pitroda has been involved filing scores of patents in telecommunications. The latest set of patents relate to mobile phone based transaction technology [(http://www.c-sam.com)] [(http://www.sampitroda.com])] which cover the entire spectrum of transactions, both financial and non-financial, via mobile phones.

Government service

In 1984, Mr. Pitroda was invited to return to India by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. On his return, he started the Center for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), an autonomous telecom R&D organization. In 1987, he became advisor to Mrs. Gandhi's successor, Rajiv Gandhi and was responsible for shaping India's foreign and domestic telecommunications policies. He is largely considered responsible for the telecommunications revolution in India and specifically, the ubiquitous, yellow-signed Public Call Offices (PCO) that quickly brought cheap and easy domestic and international public telephones all over the country.

An unpleasant and public disagreement over the degree of autonomy he would be granted with K.P. Unnikrishnan, the Minister for Telecommunication in the V.P. Singh government that followed Rajiv Gandhi's, led to his exit from public service and return to Chicago.

For the subsequent decade, Pitroda continued his business interests in computer manufacturing and software. When the 2004 elections were declared, Rahul Gandhi asked for his help for a small committee that he was forming to advise him on policy issues.

When the United Progressive Alliance government came to power following the 2004 General Elections, the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh invited him to head the National Knowledge Commission.

In January 2008, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh honoured Sam Pitroda with a Doctorate of Science.

In July 2009, the Railways Budget 2009 invited him to head a new committee to commercialise the Indian Railways' optic-fiber network.

Awards

Pitroda is the recipient of prestigious Canada India Foundation ("CIF") Chanchlani Global Indian Award (2008). The award instituted by the Canada India Foundation is presented annually to an outstanding Indian who has demonstrated global leadership, vision, and personal excellence, which has made all of us of Indian origin extremely proud of our heritage. Mr. Pitroda received this award in presence of the Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper and former president of India Dr. Abdul Kalam.

He was also awarded the Dataquest IT Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

He has been awarded the Padma Bhushan award in 2009 by the Government of India for his contribution to Science and Engineering.

Other contributions

In 1993, Sam Pitroda established[1] Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Tradition (FRLHT) near Bangalore in India. At present, he is a Governing Council Member. The aim of the foundation is to make full use of India's rich and diverse medicinal knowledge.

References

  1. ^ Columbia University honors FRLHT and Dr. Darshan Shankar.
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