Mumbai: A photo of an Indian Engineer in his thirties surfaced on popular social media site Twitter, soon to be known just as “X” early in the morning Sunday, and thus started Sam Pitroda trending.
The youthful photo had a simple question: “Name of This Indian Engineer Who Invented Electronic Diary?”
Soon later, Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda, popularly known as Sam Pitroda started trending.
Yes, it is true. It was Sam Pitroda who had invented Electronic Diary in 1975.
Yet Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda was little known in India even by this great invention, and came to limelight only after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi “imported” him from the United States and made him his advisor.
Rest is all history.
Sam Pitroda, Inventor, Telecommunication Engineer and Entrepreneur, based in Chicago, was born in Titlagarh, Odisha in a Gujarati family.
Sam Pitroda completed his schooling from Vallabh Vidyanagar in Gujarat and Master's in Physics and Electronics from Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara. In 1964, Pitroda went to the United States and obtained another Master's degree, this time in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.
Two years later, Pitroda joined GTE in Chicago where he invented Electronic Diary in the year 1975 and started being regarded as one of the earliest pioneers of hand-held computing.
During his six decades as an Engineer, Pitroda filed a number of patents in Telecommunications, including the US Patent on Electronic Diary that was filed on October 10, 1975. The latest set of patents relate to mobile phone-based transaction technology, both financial and non-financial.
Despite all his work in a still emerging field of Electronics and Telecommunication Pitroda was little known in India - his home country. It was however during the tenure of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who requested Pitroda to come back home and work as his advisor that he came to the limelight. Pitroda had taken US citizenship that he renounced to take Indian citizenship again so that he can work with the Indian government.
In 1987 during his tenure as advisor to Rajiv Gandhi, Pitroda headed six Technology Missions related to Telecommunications, water, literacy, immunization, dairy, and oilseeds.
Pitroda launched the Center for the Development of Telematics (C-DOT) spent nearly a decade with Rajiv Gandhi to build an Indian Information Industry.
The task was to extend Digital Telecommunications to every nook and corner of the country, including remote villages.
Pitroda returned to Chicago after Rajiv Gandhi lost the 1989 General Elections and resumed his business interests. He came back to India again when the United Progressive Alliance government came to power following the 2004 General Elections, and then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited him to head the National Knowledge Commission of India.
Pitroda also headed an expert committee on ICT in Railways. Manmohan Singh appointed him Advisor to Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations with the rank of Cabinet Minister in October 2009.
Pitroda again returned to Chicago, and now known as Father of India's IT and Telecom Revolution, is Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress, and is actively working for the return of Congress rule in New Delhi. He is said to have overseen Rahul Gandhi's recently concluded tour of the United States.
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