The father of India?s communications revolution, Sam Pitroda, has been appointed advisor to the Prime Minister on infrastructure, innovation and information. Pitroda will have the rank of a Cabinet minister.
FE was the first to report, in its August 11 edition, that Pitroda was poised to get a Cabinet status to lead the government?s e-initiatives. When FE had asked him whether he was going to join the government, he had replied, ?You will come to know of it officially when it is announced officially?.
This is the government?s second major appointment of a professional in the Cabinet rank, the first being the induction of former Infosys co-chairman Nandan Nilekani as head of the Unique Identification Database Authority of India.
On Wednesday, Pitroda told FE, ?The notification came on Tuesday and now I will have to look for an office and finalise other details?. About his new role, Pitroda said that ?his job would be to operationalise the national knowledge network, overseeing the broadband connectivity to all the panchayats, enabling greater citizen-government interface, greater usage of ICT in public transport and justice and preparing an action plan for innovation for the next decade.?
He said that an integration of the national knowledge network and broadband connectivity would provide better service delivery to the citizens.
As head of the National Knowledge Commission, Pitroda had submitted a series of reports for reforms in higher education, elementary education, health, agriculture, traditional medicine and ICT.
Appointed head of the Centre for Development of Telematics in the early eighties by Rajiv Gandhi, Pitroda is credited for ushering in the country?s telecom revolution. Now, India is among the fastest-growing telecom markets in the world.
Recently, railways minister Mamata Banerjee made Pitroda the head of a committee to suggest ways to commercially utilise the railways? nationwide optic-fibre network, run by RailTel.