LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: The Technocrat

N Vittal had the courage to dream big. He then became the IT lobbyist within
the government to frame and drive IT and telecom policies, which had a big role
in India's flourishing IT and the ongoing telecom revolution. Dataquest honors
him with a Lifetime Achievement award for his manifold contributions

The Chambers dictionary defines a bureaucrat as a person responsible only for
his departmental heads. However, in an Indian context the mortals at large call
them babus often harassed by political netas and they have other names like file
pushers, opportunists et al. Amid the stereotypical and pre-conceived notions of
typical Indian bureaucrats, some do stand out and their deeds bring
transformation on a grand scale. Nagarajan Vittal is one such former bureaucrat
who defied established conventions and challenged his peers. Hated by the
politicians, admired and respected by the common man, Vittal has seen the worst
and best in his professional life and picked both bouquets and brickbats with
poise all along.

N VITTAL

Current Position Part-time director, Texas Instruments India, and chairman, N Vittal Center, New Delhi

Previous Positions

1974-77 Development Commissioner, Kandla Trade Zone, Ministry of Commerce

1977-80 Industries Commissioner

1981-82 Health and Family Welfare, Government of Gujarat

1982-87 MD, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizer Company

1988-90 Additional Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy

1990-93 Secretary, Department of Electronics

1993-94 Chairman, Telecom Commission, and Secretary, Department of Telecommunications

1994-96 Secretary, Department of Electronics

1998-02 Central Vigilance Commissioner

2002-May 2004 Chairman, Commission on People Empowerment, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Significant Achievements

n As IT Secretary, sowed the seeds of technology exports. Accelerated STP scheme, and launched the EHTP scheme n Initiated industry-govt interaction and became IT lobbyist within the government and garnered support for the industry n In the span of just one year, got the National Telecom Policy (NTP) 1994 approved. A major landmark and a starting point for the IT and telecom revolution in India n Brought in the mindset “telephone on demand” through NTP 1994 n Included as one among the “Fifty men and women who shaped the economy” by BT magazine in 1997

What made Vittal different? To begin with he was an upright IAS officer of
the 1960 batch. That's not all. He sowed the seeds of software exports by
accelerating the Software Technology Parks (STP) scheme and redefined the
behemoth called Department of Telecommunications (DoT), shaking it out of its
slumber so that every Indian could have a telephone number. In true gladiatorial
style, he fought his own department and convinced politicians that a telephone
connection is a fundamental right and should be available "on demand"
like any other utility. This is what the flagship and path breaking National
Telecom Policy (NTP) announced by government of India theorized, full credit for
letting which see light of day, in 1994, should go to Vittal. The NTP was indeed
the starting point of India's IT revolution, which coincided with the equally
path breaking New Economic Policy (NEP) announced by the then finance minister
Dr Manmohan Singh. The billion dollar IT entities of today like Infosys, Wipro
and TCS all happened because of the maturing of Indian telecommunications. The
starting point was the NTP of 1994, powered by the visionary thinking of people
like Vittal in those early days of Indian IT.

Vittal Unplugged

Understanding Vittal is as complicated as understanding Indian bureaucracy.
As we wade through his achievement files, his various avatars become evident.
However, let us demystify three postings, significant ones that brought in
disruptive changes, but wholesome changes nevertheless, in the country. The
first was his appointment as the secretary, Department of Electronics, in 1990:
here he enabled sweeping initiatives aimed at boosting the Indian software
industry by bringing in Foreign Direct Investments (FDI). Big-ticket investments
like IBM and Motorola came to India and the country's IT capabilities became
evident on a global scale. At this point in time, he also played an instrumental
role in creating the Electronics Hardware Technology Park (EHTP) scheme aimed at
promoting electronics hardware. For boosting the software industry's growth,
Vittal took some initiatives then unheard of in government circles, one such
being government-industry interaction. He invited all the IT company heads and
garnered their inputs for better policy making. This made the industry confident
that the government support would actually make matters better for them. In
1993, Vittal was made chairman of the Telecom Commission, which provoked as well
as pleased people in the corridors of power at that juncture. In mid-1994, the
NTP was approved by the government, which accepted most of Vittal's
recommendations, with both the PMO and the finance ministry fully backing it.
The national telecom policy as a matter of fact set the tone for the Indian
telecommunications industry for the times ahead. It would be surprising to many
that Vittal was able to push the national telecom policy in just one year but he
did not continue longer as chairman as he was again moved back as secretary in
the Department of Electronics where he served till 1996.

The next big break came in 1998, in which Vittal was appointed the Chief
Vigilance Commissioner (CVC). Here the experience he had derived in promoting IT
in the past came handy in bringing transparency to the CVC. He took some
concrete steps in that direction. The first thing he did was to ramp up the
whole CVC site, and making himself accessible to the people's complaints. To
weed out tainted hands in various government departments, he posted the names of
the corrupt people on the web and recommended penalties. This opened up a new
premise in the enforcement of penalties. Meanwhile the late 1990s were also the
years of the stock market scam with big bulls like Harshad Mehta raking in huge
money out of the loopholes in the systems of mainly the financial institutions
like banks. These money launderers rode on the gestation times involved in
transferring funds. So to put a stop to that, the CVC directed in 1998 that all
the banks must computerize at least 70% of their operations by 2001. Today, at
the end of 2004, almost 80% of the Indian banks have adopted IT in one way or
the other. This is in addition to bringing transparency to the operations of
banks also gave new shape to the now booming BFSI vertical. One could even say
that the i-flex' and Finacles and the whole lot of financial services became a
major force in India only after initiatives such as the one the CVC had taken.

Today after nearly four decades in government service, Vittal spends his
retired life in a quite neighborhood in Chennai. But he is in constant touch
with the industry through various forums like seminars and roundtable
discussions. He is also chairman of the recently launched Vittal Center for
Management and Informatics. He is also part-time director with Texas Instruments
India. In no way has retirement drawn his teeth. With his plate full of various
activities, Vittal practices what he preaches and he still walks the walk.

Shrikanth G in
Chennai

Vittal-speak: Method in Madness

Vittal is a roving encyclopedia for he is a bibliophile and has authored
hundreds of articles and numerous books. His reading traverses the length and
breadth of everything from ancient Tamil literature to medieval European history
to IT. An avid speaker, Vittal is a living example of courage in adversity,
overcoming diabetes, which he contracted at a young age-he attributes his
successful fight with diabetes to long walks which he says have seen him through
this far. Vittal talked to Dataquest about the road he had traveled so far and
the beliefs and value that he had upheld all the while. His answers were laced
with spiritualism and satire and intense seriousness in equal measure. Over now
to the man himself.

Philosophy in Life

King George used to say, "I wasted time, and now time wastes me."
We should make the most of the time given to us. Here one should factor three
things. To achieve success, have a positive attitude, be creative, and top it
with good common sense. These three are good combinations for producing good
results. Moreover, I have been a diabetic since the age of 25 and living with
two shots of insulin everyday. Actually the early onset of diabetes made me
realize the value of time as I consider it as an early intimation to mortality.
So with the time I have, the ultimate goal was to achieve more putting the
personal woes in the back burner, and an overall positive attitude has been the
fundamental philosophy of my life.

On Authority sans Knowledge

In the IAS the situation is bit paradoxical. You are given authority but no
knowledge. For instance, an IAS officer is a generalist and he is not a
specialist. So assuming authority gives you knowledge will be disastrous. To put
an end to this paradox, I made a habit of acquainting myself on the intricacies
of each department I went to by sending a questionnaire to all the departmental
staff. A few sample questions would be: what are our objectives, and those of
this department? Are we doing what we are supposed to do? Questions like this
made the staff important and boosted their morale and narrowed the gap between
authority and knowledge. For instance, on my very first days in the DoT I sent
questions to more than 5,000 staffers and this enabled to me get a road map in
just about eight weeks.

On the RAMA Method

When you are a rebel and say something out of the box, you need to
substantiate it with sound common sense. Even then it will pass through a
process I call the RAMA method. Any radical approach would be met by: Resistance
and rejections. Then people will get Annoyed. Ultimately then things will Mellow
down and will lead to Acceptance and achievement. That is what I call RAMA.

On NTP 1994

The starting point of all the reforms probably is Sam Pitroda, the first
chairman of the Telecom Commission. He shook up the whole system. In his tenure
he looked at where India has been successful. It was the Department of Atomic
Energy and Pitroda wanted to model DoT on the lines of atomic energy. And then
the Athreya Committee submitted its report and it favored the corporatization of
the DoT and called for a managerial approach in dealing with issues. The NTP 94
saw the light of the day despite stiff resistance from within the DoT and we
ultimately got it approved and the ball was set rolling. My innings was short as
chairman at DoT, but I am happy that it led to big changes in the system. For
instance, in the days before the policy, in one of the meetings I referred to
the eight plan document that stated that by year 2000, the waiting period for
getting a new telephone would not exceed two years. I asked the ministers and
other officers, Why not two days? Why not make the telephone available on
demand? Everybody laughed and ridiculed me.

The fruition of NTP 94 and the telephone on demand system I advocated could
be contrasted with Bertrand Russell's famous quote, "Every opinion
becomes respectable if you hold it sufficiently for longer period of time".
When I said telephone on demand during the time I first became chairman
everybody ridiculed me. Six months later it became a policy.

As CVC

So after a year or so as chairman of the DoT, I was back on the pavilion as
secretary, Department of Electronics, till 1996. In 1998, I took over as CVC and
confronted a new set of challenges: eliminating corruption. And what better way
of doing it than doing it with IT. I made the CVC site pro-active and listed the
names of corrupt officials on the site. Also through the Net I created awareness
among the public about the CVC and its role. The call for computerizing the
banks was another thing. The use and adoption of IT in vigilance brought in a
great degree of transparency in various processes.

Vittal's Brainchild: The NTP 1994

Riding on the new economic policy the NTP 1994 was the first attempt by the
erstwhile DoT to liberalize and usher in reforms in the telecom space. What it
sought to achieve: telecommunications for all and within reach of all. The
policy said: "Telephones should be available to all on demand by
1997". Other stipulations merit attention: all villages should be covered
by 1997; PCO should be provided for every 500 persons by 1997, and all
value-added services available globally like email, audio/video services, etc
should be available in India. The policy also envisaged that India should be
promoted aggressively as a manufacturing base for telecom equipment. Meanwhile,
NTP 1999 further liberalized and paved the way for the privatization of basic
services and further streamlined the mobile telephony regime. Significantly what
Vittal once advocated in 1993, of dividing the DoT along its regulatory and
service provider functions, became a reality with the emergence of the TRAI in
the late 1990s as an independent regulatory body.