New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was not only responsible for ushering in the information technology and communication revolution that has contributed to changing the Indian economy but also understood the benefits and potential of “machine intelligence” soon after taking over in 1984, his wife and veteran Congress leader Sonia Gandhi recalls.
In her memoir, “Belonging: A Journey of Love”, released on Tuesday, Sonia Gandhi says when Rajiv Gandhi took over, a new phrase the people increasingly began to hear was “the India of the twenty-first century” and he stuck to his vision despite the less-than-encouraging response and the resistance to innovation.
“When he spoke of it, a future of telecommunications, he was mocked as a ‘computer boy’ and the subject of his enthusiasm dismissed as ‘rich men’s toys’,” she wrote.
Sonia Gandhi said that Rajiv Gandhi, “always a doer” and “convinced of the benefits of science and technology”, did his best to foster “new systems into what had become archaic and inefficient practices in the government”, making sudden, spontaneous visits to government departments to check if the newly installed computers were being used.
“In many of these efforts, he encountered obstinate resistance and criticism, but he was not the one to be deflected from his purpose,” she said, adding he made light of the discouraging attitudes and believed that he would be vindicated eventually.
She recalled that when at home, they discussed the reactions, as reported in the media, Rajiv Gandhi would “laugh and tell our children that the benefits of machine intelligence would be understood one day; his critics would then have to change their minds”.
Sonia Gandhi cited the hands-on approach of her husband, who had trained and worked as a commercial pilot before entering politics, for the technological development in the country.
“Just as he’d roll up his sleeves and get down to fixing a part of an engine, he dedicated time and effort to building up and expanding telecommunication networks throughout the country,” she wrote, adding that he had engaged a “talented and eager Indian American telecom engineer, Sam Pitroda, as his advisor”.
However, the impact of the technology missions extended far beyond telecommunications, she said.
“The technology missions Rajiv initiated – drinking water, literacy, immunisation, oil seeds, and later dairy – resulted in India becoming polio-free, raising our literacy level to 74 per cent, and becoming the world’s largest producer of milk,” Sonia Gandhi wrote.
(IANS)
