S~dhanlL VoL 7, Part 3, November 1984, pp. 203-222. © Printed in India.

Computer science and technology in India: A critical assessment

R NARASIMHAN and P V S RAO

Tam Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Bombay 400 005, India

Abstract. Information technology, which has as its base the integration of computing and
communication, is bringing about far-reaching changes in the ~:onomies and life-styles of the
advanced industrialized countries. In India, the preoccupation so far has been in the
development of computer technology to manufacture stand-alone computers. Even to
accomplish this the industrial capability is very fragmented. The mastery of information
technology in all its ramifications requires building up indigenous capabilities in a variety of
sub-technologies. In this context, this paper analy~s in some detail the current strengths and
weaknesses in computer science and technology in India and the efforts that need to be made to
build up a viable base in information technology to promote economic growth and modernize
industrial practices.

Keywords. Computer science and technology; information technology; information

economy; indigenous capability; laboratory machines; microproo~asor-based machines;
system building; manpower development; public education.

1. Introduction: Scope of the paper

The first electronic digital computer--ENmC--was commissioned for use in the early
1940s. In less than halfa century, computer technology in the West has gone through
four generations of development and talk about fifth generation computers is very
much in the air today: (see table 1 for a characterization of the 'generations'). From
another point of view, computers, which started out as stand-alone, 'number-
crunching' and commercial data-processing systems, have during this period become
all-pervasive 'engines' that are transforming the Western Societies into 'information
societies' and Western economies into 'information economies'. It is important to
understand the nature of these far-reaching changes and the technological and market
forces that have been instrumental in bringing about these changes. It is only within
such a broad framework--relating information processing science, technology and
industry, and considering their effects on society and economy--that one can properly
assess the current status of computer science and technology in India and the
effectiveness of the role they are playing in growing an information industry and in
transforming the Indian society into an information-conscious one. From the gaps and
shortfalls in current endeavours one should be able to identify actions that need to be
taken to realize the full benefits of this technology.
In an early effort at an analysis of the problems and prospects of the applications of
computers to development by developing countries, a trN Expert Group suggested four
levels of classification of countries according to their computer awareness and usage.
The levels were termed: initial, basic, operational and advanced. Table 2 summarizes
the characterizing features of these levels. If one analyses the levels of computer
awareness, literacy, usage, and mastery of the technology in India with reference to this
203
 I,o

Table 1. Five generations of computer and communications technologies

Generation First Second Third Fourth Fifth

Years 1946-56 1957-63 1964-81 1982-89 1990-

Example Eniac ~c~ 501 mM 360, 370 Cray XMP

computers Edvac mM 7094 PDP-I1 IBM 308
Univac CDC-6600 Spectra-70 Amdahl 580
IBM 650 Honeywell 200
Cray 1 Extensive development of
Illiac-IV distributed computing
Cyber-205 Merging of telecommuni-
cations and computer
Telecommuni- Telephone Digital trans- Satellite commu- Integrated technologies
cations technology Teletype mission nications systems digital Extensive modularity
Pulse-code Microwaves net work (ISDN)
modulation Networking
Optical fibres
Packet switching

Computer hardware Vao~um tubes Transistors lcs Distributed Advanced packaging and
Magnetic drum Magnetic-core Semiconductor computing systems int~rconnection techniques
Cathode-ray tube memories memories vt~l Ultralarge-scale integration
Magnetic disks Bubble memories Parallel architectures
Minicomputers Optical disks 3-D integrated-circuit design
Microprocessors Microcomputers Gallium arsenide technology
Josephson junction technology
Optical components
Computer software Stored programs High-level languages Very high-level Ada Concurrent languages
Machine code Cobol languages Widespread Functional programming
Autocode Algol Pascal operating packaged programs Symbolic processing (natural
Fortran systems Expert systems languages, vision, speech
Structured Object-oriented recognition, planning)
programming languages
Timesharing
LISP
Computer graphics
¢%

Computer 2-kilobyte memory 32-kilobyte memory 2-megabyte memory 8-megabyte memory 1 gigainstruction per second to 1
performance 10 kilo-instructions 200 KIPS 5 mega-instructions per 30 MIPS tetra-instruction per second
per second second

Source: (Kahn 1983~

tO
t~
206 R Narasimhan and P V S Rao

Table 2. Levels of computer usage

Level Characteristics

Initial There are no operational computers in the country. A few nationals have
had contact with computing. The only local sources of information are
computer salesmen.
l~,ie There is some understanding of computers in government (and private)
decision centres. A few computer installations are to be found. There are
some nationals involved in computer operations. There is some educa-
tion and training in computer technology in the country. Computers are
used in basic government operations.
Operational There is extensive understanding of computers in government (and
private) decision centres. Among the numerous computer installations
there are some very large machines. There are centres for education and
training in computer technology and some are of excellent quality. They
offer degree programmes in computer or information science. There is
design and production of software and some manufacture of hardware.
Computersare affecting many disciplines, particularly science, engineer-
ing, and medicine.
Advanced Most government and administrative work is carried out by computers.
There are well established professional activities and national meetings
on computers. There is a complete range of quality education and
training programmes. The number of computers, of all sizes, is
increasing rapidly. Time-sharing, teleprocessing, and remote job entry
are common. There is design and production of both hardware and
software. Many technologies have been changed or are in the course of
being changed. New applications of computers are found regularly.
There is strong participation in and contribution to international
activities.

(Source: United Nations 1971)

table, one would find that the levels prevailing in India span the entire spectrum
described in the table--from the initial to the advanced. There are centres for education
and training in computer science and technology in India and some of these are of
excellent quality. There are well-established professional activities and national
meetings on computers and computing. There is some manufacture of hardware and
there exists application software generation capability of high quality and sophisti-
cation in some areas. Institutionalised frameworks have been created in the country to
provide computing access to software entrepreneurs and others, and also to provide
maintenance and other support services to end-users of imported computers. Resource
groups have demonstrated their capability to engage in software technology generation
and spin-off at the leading edge of this technology. Capability to build customized
systems for complex real-time applications has been impressively demonstrated.
Software generation capability has also been built up in a limited way to compete
successfully in the international export market.
All this notwithstanding, the general status of computer science and technology in
India can only be described as patchy and unsatisfactory. There is very little penetration
of computer literacy in government and private decision centres. Computer literacy is
not part of the general educational curriculum of the vast majority of college-level
students, not to mention high school and vocational school students. To a very large
extent information processing needs are still met through ad hoc imports. There are still
 Computer science and technology 207

very few software companies or third party consultancy agencies providing effective
assistance to end-users in the country. Apart from the government sector, there are vast
areas of the economy of extreme importance to development that continue to function
in the pre-computer age. This is especially true of almost the entire service sector. The
single most important reason for this is the wholly underdeveloped status of the data
communication technology and infrastructure in India.
What one should like to be able to do is to work out policies, programmes, and
institutions to build on our available and demonstrated strength in order t o remove
progressively the existing weaknesses in the areas of computer science and technology.
But this is a formidable task and it would take us too far outside the scope of this paper
to attempt this in any systematic manner here. We shall rather focus on a limited set of
issues.
In the next section a brief sketch is given of the present status of computer and
information technology in the advanced industrialised countries and the way it is
transforming the industrial base and economies of these countries. As noted earlier it is
against this backdrop that the potentials of computer technology for our own internal
use could be meaningfully assessed and effective action programmes to realise these
potentials worked out.
In § 3, in the context of high-priority strategic and development-catalysing sectors
where computer technology should be applied, some plausible methodologies are
discussed. These are based on lessons that could be drawn from successful collabor-
ations between end-users, R&D establishments and manufacturing groups to design,
fabricate and commission for field-level use complex, customised, computer-based
systems. Some current weaknesses in the hardware manufacturing industrial base are
identified and options available for overcoming these are discussed.
In realising the full potential of computer and information technology, manpower is
the most critical resource. The current status of this resource in India and ways to
enhance its availability are discussed in § 4.
From the long term viewpoint it is of the utmost importance to ensure that leadership
is built up and maintained in teaching and academic research in the frontier areas of
computer science--in hardware, software, applications and theory. In § 5 trends in
these areas are considered and in the light of existing gaps and weaknesses in the
country, suggestions are made for systematic programmes to be undertaken.
Section 6 summarises our views on the steps to be taken to strengthen the status of
computer science and technology activity in India.

2. Information technology and the information economy

Information transacted in a market "enables the consumer to know something that was
not known beforehand; to exchange a symbolic experience; to learn or relearn
something; to change perception or cognition; to reduce uncertainty; to expand one's
range of options; to exercise rational choice: to evaluate decisions; to control a process;
to communicate an idea, a fact, or an opinion" (Porat 1977). Information activities are
concerned with creating (gathering, producing), processing (packaging, transforming,
analysing), or distributing (educating, communicating) information of relevance to the
end-usages described above. Information goods are products (materials, equipment,
systems, buildings) that support information activities. Performing information
208 R Narasimhan and P V S Rao

activities, or producing, operating, maintaining information goods, constitute informa-

tion occupations. The information sector is made up of all the information occupations
in an economy. In all OECDcountries, the contribution of the information sector to the
cNv has been growing (OECD 1982).
Information technology that underpins information occupations in the advanced
industrialized countries has been undergoing a radical transformation due to the
coming together of computer and communication technologies. These, as recently as a
decade ago, were developing independently of each other. The integration of these two
technologies has been made possible, of course, through spectacular developments in
microelectronics such as integration of hundreds of thousands of logic circuits on single
microchips, major developments in laser, printing and display technologies, the use of
fibre-optics and satellites in communications, and through basic innovations in the
deployment of software technology. The impact of these technologies is already
beginning to be felt on manufacturing and ser~ice industries in terms of their structure
and content, and on employment and skill requirements in information occupations. In
decades to come their impact is bound to be even more radical. It is important to
become aware of the relevance of some of the basic implications of these technologies to
the Indian industrial and economic scene.
Integrated circuit technology is making major changes in the production process of
consumer durables. The number of components per unit product is being drastically
reduced over a wide range of goods. One silicon chip in an electronic sewing machine
replaced 350 standard parts. There have been similar effects on the production ofcolour
TVsets, teleprinters, printing equipment, and other items. The overall results have been
the simplification of product design, increased automation of the production process,
improved quality of performance, simplification of maintenance, and reduction in cost
of production. Relatively small production runs (for example, under 5000 units) are
becoming economically viable.
In the service sector, retail traders are inceasingly using point-of-sales terminals, and
automated warehousing and inventory control through optical character recognition
techniques. Automated methods of handling paper-based transactions and electronic
funds transfer systems are being introduced in the financial sector operations.
Computer-assisted publishing, data-banks for legal and medical services, electronic
scanning and analysis techniques for medical diagnosis, computer-aided design systems
for design, layout and drafting, are some of the other innovations that are beginning to
be routinely adopted. The office environment, that has traditionally been one of under-
capitalization and low productivity, is under tremendous pressure to change through
the use of information technology.
Applications of information technology have given rise to new products--both
capital and consumer goods. In the former category ore numerically-controlled
machines and word-processors. In the latter category are electronic watches, home
computers, educational toys, video-games, etc.
Innovations within the technologies based on microelectronics--lasers, printing and
display technologies, optical fibres, satellites and software--have been largely centri-
fugal in nature. That is, they encourage vertical disintegration and decentralised and
fragmented production. By reducing the scale for optimal operation, they lower fixed
and working costs and make it easier for new entrepreneurs to enter these fields.
Digital transmission technology promises to be potentially the single most
innovative and industrially rewarding technology. By combining together in the most
 Computer science and technology 209

imaginative manner various facets of information technology (microprocessors, fibre-

optics, VLSl,satellites, specialized software for real-time and database applications), it is
becoming possible to transmit voice, data, TV, radio, and other communications
through a single medium with equal facility and without expensive conversions.
Centrifugal tendencies are already evident in oEco countries in providing terminal
equipment to public-switched networks and in providing a variety of innovative
network services themselves.
There are many lessons of direct relevance to the Indian scene that can be drawn from
these radical industrial and economic changes that are taking place in the advanced,
industrialised countries. The first and the most important one is the need to become
aware of information as an economic commodity, and of information technology as one
with a great potential for income-creation and modernization.
Information technology allows certain kinds of skills to be transferred from a worker
to a machine. Instead of negatively assessing this feature as one of deskilling, in the
Indian context we should try to derive benefits from "intelligent" machines which could
be used to increase productivity although operated by lower-skilled workers. The
relatively low capital cost of such machines should enable the deployment of more of
these machines to increase employment and production.
Another important feature of information technology is its intimate relationship to
the service sector. Services of all kinds are extremely undeveloped in India. Imaginative
deployment of information technology to bring high-quality professional and technical
services within the reach of the service-starved millions in the districts and rural areas is
an urgent necessity. There is tremendous scope for innovative entrepreneurship in
accomplishing this.
The status of computer technology in India must be assessed, as earlier emphasized,
in this larger context of its role in the creation of a wide base for the deployment of
information technology for purposes of development and modernization.
Manufacture of computers for stand-alone use is only a small facet of this more global
need. The real challenge is to build up the capability to design, fabricate and operate
computer-based systems to manage, monitor, control, and otherwise support a whole
variety of activities in the field, in the design room, in the production shop, in the office,
and in all kinds of services. What is the current status of our design knowhow to design
such systems? What is the current status of our technological and manufacturing base
to produce such systems? What is, finally, the status of our manpower resources to
absorb and use such systems in a productive manner? In the following sections we shall
briefly discuss these issues.

3. Indigenous capability in design and manufacture

3.1 Growth of manufacturing capability

Table 3 summarises the trends in the development of a production base for computers
in India over the last 25 years. This can be divided into four distinct phases.
3.1a Laboratory machines The first efforts in designing and building computers in
India, as in the advanced countries, were made by institutions concerned with education
and research. Credit-worthy and substantial though these efforts were for their time,
they are significant today only in a historical perspective. Understandably, such efforts
 I,o

Table 3. Design and production of computers in India---General trend

Contemporaneity
(Number o f years
LOcal lag with respect
Name of Designer/ Year of component to state of art)
computer Manufacturer availability Technology content (%) Technology Design Application area

First phase TW~C TWR 1959 Vacuum Tube Nil 2 1-2 Scientific work
-¢
(Laboratory IslJu IsL JU 1965 Transistor 5% 5 1-2 Scientific work
efforts) OLDAP TIFR 1969 Transistor 80 % 8 1-2 Realtime data acquisition
and control
Second phase 1401 IBM 1965 Transistor Nil 7-10 7-10 EDP
(Efforts by 1900 1CL 1967 TranSistor Nil 5 5 EDP and scientific
multinationals)
Third phase TDC 12 BARC/ECIL 1968 Transistor 80~ 8 5 Scientific
(Local TDC 16 EOL I973 ICS 10% 8 3 Realtime
production) TDC 312 ECXL 1973 ICs 10% 5 3 EDP & scientific
TDC 316 ECIL 1974 ICS 10% 3 1 Realtime & EDP
TDC 416 ECIL 1984 Ics (LSl) 10% 7 1 Realtime & EDV
TDC 332 ECIL 1981 ICS 10% 10 10 Scientific & EDP
Fourth phase Local 4 to 5 1982-83 LSl 5% 2 2 ~X~P,scientific
(Micro- Design Manufacturers and realtime
processor- Kit 40 to 45 1982-83 LSl 5% 2 2 Office automation
based Assembly Manufacturers
systems)
 Computer science and technolooy 211

did not lead directly to any manufacturing activities. The main contribution of these
early efforts was in the creation of a first generation of computer professionals in India.

3.1b Effort by multinationals The multinational companies attempted to establish

themselves in the Indian market using two methods: (a) reconditioning (rep-
air/replacement of worn-out or defective parts) of used machines imported into the
country, and (b) local assembly using imported kits and sub-assemblies. These
commercial programmes have been of little or no help in building up an indigenous
capability in design and manufacture of computer systems.

3.1c Production based on local desiyn and development Electronics Corporation of

India Limited (EOL) initiated a purely Indian effort for the development and
production of computers. This can be considered to be the first genuine step towards
the creation of a substantive design and production capability in India. The EOL
program, however, has suffered from several handicaps. The emphasis on exclusive
dependence on local components in the early stages ruled out the feasibility of
producing truly contemporary systems. The subsequent shift to the use of imported
components helped to reduce the gap to some extent. Failure to realise the importance
of advanced production techniques and stringent quality control measures resulted in
the early machines being unreliable in operation in the field. In the early stages there
were also inadequacies in software and systems support. All these factors resulted in
considerable customer dissatisfaction with the EOL systems. More recently, many of
these shortfalls have been rectified and the performance of these systems has improved
greatly. Nevertheless, EOL'S production effort continues to suffer from a high
cost/performance ratio. This is partly due to the high cost of imported components
because of the duties imposed, and to the failure on the part of EeL to change its design
and production technology fast enough to take advantage of cost/performance
improvements in microelectronics technology.

3.1d Microprocessor-based machines A large number (about 50) of manufacturers are

currently involved in the production of microprocessor-based computers. A few of
these systems, notably those built by organisations with adequate technical competence
and experience, or by technocrat entrepreneurs, are well designed and are suitable for a
variety of non-trivial applications. These manufacturers also offer extensive and
intensive software support. Table 4 summarises the features of a few of these computer
systems. It is obvious from the table that these machines compare very favourably with
their counterparts elsewhere in the world and can be depended upon for realtime,
scientific and EDP applications in this range.
Many of the other manufacturers in this field are producing microprocessor-based
systems which are primarily oriented towards office automation and the commerical
data processing market. Modelled essentially on personal computers (machines with
restricted capability that are intended to be used on a dedicated basis by a single
operator) which have been successful in the advanced countries, these machines have
proved to be quite successful here also. Very few among these systems, however,
support realtime applications such as data logging and process control. These
applications, in fact, are the ones of primary importance to our country.
Quite a few of the locally built microprocessor-based systems are aimed at word-
processing type of applications. Most of these systems are only assembled here, out of
semi-knocked-down or completely-knocked-down kits imported from various coun-
 ba
b,.)

Table 4. Microprocessor-based 16 bit computers produced in India: A comparative study

Software/Purchased/
~rial Level of Type of Production copied/locally Application area Reliability/ Other application
Num~r R&D Staff local/copy developed/modified aimed at ruggedness areas supported

Case 1 Good Copy of foreign System software copied. Scientific Good Reaitime ex
machine Application software
developed.
Case 2 Excellent Locally designed Local EDp adapted to Good Realtime, but
Scientific doubtful
Case 3, Good Locally designed Operating System- Realtime Good EDP, Scientific
acquired and
modified. Compilers
acquired. Application
software local.
Case 4 Good Locally designed Operating System- Realtime Good Commercial,
acquired and Scientific
adapted. Application
software local.
Case 5 Poor Copy of foreign machine All acquired Scientific Fair
Case 6 Poor Copy Of foreign machine All acquired Scientific Good
Case 7 Poor Copy of foreign machine All acquired Commercial Good Scientific,
possibly realtime

(For obvious reasons manufacturers are not explicitly identified. The information is based on studies carried out by NCSDCT)
 Computer science and technology 213

tries. Assembly from knocked-down-kits is a permissible operation but only as a first

step in a phased manufacturing programme which leads eventually to substantial local
manufacture. The real concern is that many of these so-called "manufacturing"
programmes will never go beyond the first step of assembly from imported kits; it
would be possible for them to change their identity after a few years and start kit-
assembly once again under another name for another product.
It should be useful to examine the reasons for this weakness in the Indian computer
scene. Designing systems locally requires highly trained manpower and can be quite
expensive. The risk factor in such design efforts is also quite high. Sophisticated
equipment is required for production and this, in general, has to be imported. Heavy
investment of capital can be cost-effective only if production can be sustained over a
long period and at a reasonable volume. Kit assembly avoids the expense and the
uncertainty in such a venture and is, therefore, a very attractive soft option.
The computer scene in India demonstrates that there is adequate competence in
,circuit, logic and systems design. It also demonstrates that our production technology
requires improvement along many dimensions. But the main handicap that manu-
facturing efforts suffer from is that the infrastructure to support them--the (profes-
sional) components industry--is practically non-existent. With increasing levels of
integration, the complexity of the ic chip is growing beyond imagination. As against the
early ic chips which contained a few tens of components, today's LSl chip easily has
several hundreds of thousands of components. The number of chips required for
implementing a machine of any given level of complexity is therefore rapidly
decreasing. There is also a corresponding decrease in the scope for logic and system
design by the computer manufacturer; in fact, circuit, logic and system design activities
have shifted from the computer manufacturer to the electronic device manufacturer.
Consequently, the value added in the process of computer hardware manufacture has
been decreasing very rapidly while the foreign exchange component of the finished
product has been correspondingly increasing, in the absence of local chip-
manufacturing capability.
Considering this and the fact that non-trivial contributions to circuit, logic and
system design are possible only at the level of chip design, it is obviously very essential
to establish local facilities for the design of Ic chips and for the production of the chips
so designed.
The Semiconductor Complex Ltd. recently set up in Chandigarh is expected to
manufacture chips of a restricted variety of limited complexity. However, looking to the
future, design capability to undertake the design of chips of much greater complexity,
and atleast limited fabrication capability to turn these designs into hardware, must be
created in the country. We shall return to this issue and comment on it more in §5.
Apart from chip-making capability, it is essential to have multilayer printed circuit
board making facilities and other related infrastructures. A well-integrated, long-term
plan is needed to create these high-technology system building infrastructures in the
country.
Electromechanical peripherals have also been a major problem. Copy adaptation of
successful designs from other countries is possible for electronics systems, but fails
completely in the case of electromechanical peripherals. This is because materials
technology and process know-how are important to ensure that crucial components
have the requisite dimensional stability and surface hardness which determine
equipment life and long term reliability. Information regarding these is invariably a
214 R Narasimhan and P V S Rao

jealously guarded trade secret and it is impossible to obtain such information by

examining the finished product. Know-how purchase therefore seems to be necessary in
this field.
Some manufacturing capability has been built up in the country for making
interactive terminals, data-entry terminals, floppy drives, typewriter/daisy-wheel
output terminals, etc. A considerably more well-planned effort is needed to strengthen
these activities, and also to undertake the manufacture of plotters, key-boards, tablets,
and a variety of other input/output devices.

3.2 R&D efforts in system building

Most of the earlier applications of computers in India have been of the "number-
crunching" type and have used the computer merely as a stand-alone facility.
Applications where a computer forms part of a larger system have been slow in
identification and development. The main reasons arc: (a) such systems require much
greater efforts to incorporate into a service environment; and (b) they have in general
to be designed on a custom basis. Physical realisation of such systems involves a variety
of activities: systems analysis and design; implementation of interfacing hardware,
appropriate systems software, and application software; and in some cases, even the
design and building of the special purpose computers themselves. A number of such
systems have nevertheless been designed in the country and successfully made use of.
Table 5 presents the salient features and other relevant details of some of these
systems. All these efforts were initiated because of strongly felt needs in important
areas. Special funding had to be provided to the respective organizations in most cases.
The requirements were for complex systems. The developmental efforts invariably
involved inter-institutioual cooperation, in some cases extending to as many as five or
six organisations. More significantly, these design efforts reflect the most important
development in contemporary information technology--the coming together of
computers and communication. All the examples listed in the table were development
efforts intended to lead to quantity production. The impact of these efforts was thus
significant even quantitatively. They were instrumental in the induction of computers
int0~ sectors which were not exposed to the computer culture earlier. This induction
brou~,ht about not merely a quantitative increase in efficiency and productivity but also
a substantial improvement in the quality of services available.
The development efforts in most of these cases were not, as is usually the case in
India, confined to merely proving the feasibility of an idea but included translating the
design into a production-worthy prototype which satisfied the technical and environ-
mental specifications laid down for it. In fact, they extended to the transfer of
know-how to the manufacturer, training the user in the various aspects of utilisation,
maintenance and optimum exploitation of the system and, finally, bringing about the
integration of the system into the operational environment in which it was expected to
be used.
The environmental and ruggedisation requirements for (atleast some of) these
systems were very stringent. A fallout from these efforts was, therefore, the establish-
ment of an adequate production base for ruggedised digital systems. A very unique
feature of these projects has been the extent of involvement of staff from the user
agencies. Instead of being presented with a fiat-aceompli (which is the case with
imported systems), the user participated in the development effort and in all the
 Table 5. R&D efforts in system building--A summary

Magnitude
of
develop- Number
Cost of ment of
Application Broad System development Unit cost effort systems
area functions complexity (approximate) (approximate) (man-years) Developed by User needed

Command and Data analysis, 3 minicomputers, 15 Rs. 7 crores Rs. 2 crores 300 TIFR 8£ five o t h e r Govt. agency 50 +
control simulation, selection major devices and organizations
of strategy, on line operation work
monitoring & stations and
control, interfaces
communication
Electronic Switching of voice, 1 minicomputer Rs. 2 crores Rs. 1 crore 100 T1FR Govt. agency 100+
switching telephone, telex, + hot standby
fascirnile and digital LRDE Govt. agency
data
Message Switching of 1 minicomputer and Rs. 35 lakhs Rs. 25 lakhs 15 CMC p'rl and others 20 +
switching message packets associated interface NCSDCT
between work
stations, electronic
mail, text
processing, etc.
Computer Computer network Packet broadcast Rs. 35 lakhs Rs. 3 lakhs 20 NCSDCT All installations 50+
communication based on the use of switch and special served by links
satellite (and other interfaces
broadcast) channels
Electronic Subscriber switching Special computer Rs. 3 crores -- 100 TRC P&T Department 1000+
exchanges for local telephones and interfaces
Data logging Analysis and display Minicomputer and Rs. 20 lakhs -- 20 TIFR Govt. agency 30 +
and analysis of weather radar display terminal
t.,J
data interfaces
216 R Narasimhan and P V S Rao

associated decision-making processes. This intimate involvement of the user, extending

far beyond mere utilisation of the system facilitated the penetration of computer
literacy into important sectors of government and industry.
At least two of these developmental efforts involved the development of specially
designed powerful and versatile computers with a range of applications which extended
far beyond the immediate purpose for which they were designed.
The value added in the process of system engineering in these cases has been quite
high, the hardware costs being 25 ~ or less of the total system cost. This demonstrates
very clearly that system engineering for such complex applications is a viable and
worthwhile activity in India, even if all subsystems have to be imported.
Manpower training has been another important, if indirect, fallout from such
developmental efforts. Large numbers of computer engineers received sophisticated
on-the-job training and practical experience in computer technology while working on
these projects.
On the other hand, the main weakness of these efforts has been that many of these
projects were undertaken as one-time efforts by organisations whose main interest did
not necessarily lie in the concerned application areas. These organisations had to
become involved in the projects because other organisations did not have the requisite
expertise. The tasks being intrinsically challenging, there was no hesitation in taking
them up. This meant, however, that there was no long-term continuity. It was not
possible to retain in these organisations the competence acquired during the
developmental effort for internal use, let alone for building further on it. Also, the heavy
interinstitutional involvement and interaction that were necessary during the develop-
ment of these systems had to be sustained without the aid of any formal frameworks or
duly instituted mechanisms for such interaction. This meant that division of
responsibilities and areas of accountability had to be evolved and adhered to, purely
informally, on the basis of personal equations between the respective group leaders--a
far from ideal mode of functioning. The high mobility of staff and the consequent
shortage of manpower were the other handicaps that these efforts had to put up with.
The absence of continuing programmes of activity in these areas meant that the staff
involved could not evolve long term objectives and programmes of work. This denied
continuity to their efforts and, hence, contributed to staff attrition.
These projects, nevertheless, succeeded in achieving their stated objectives. They
have turned out to be very effective in inducting computers into vital areas of national
activity which remained far outside the reach of commercially available, stand-alone,
computers. The main lesson to be drawn from these successful efforts is that there is
considerable scope in India for taking up customised system-engineering activities in a
variety of important application areas, but, viable institutional frameworks to undertake
such efforts on a long-term basis must be created in the country. This calls for much
imagination, organisational skill, and leadership of high calibre.

4. Manpower development

Qualified manpower is the single most critical resource in the information technology
area all over the world. This is especially true of India. For, not only is the manpower
currently being developed in this field here small in quantity, but we also tend to lose a
large percentage of the best of it through brain drain to the Western countries--mostly
 Computer science and technolofly 217

to the USA.Our strategies for manpower development in this extremely fast-moving

field, therefore, should be closely integrated with creating challenging opportunities for
work in order to hold these qualified persons in the country. We discussed at some
length in the last section policies and programmes needed to create such opportunities
for work for bright young people specializing in this field in India. In this section we
shall consider briefly the programmes that are needed to promote computer literacy in
general, and to create the manpower needed to cope with the design, engineering and
building of information technology equipment and systems for our internal use and for
export.
The manpower that is needed in this sector spans a very wide spectrum: from
hardware and software technicians, to information system analysts, system designers,
managers of production/implementation teams, and research and development
scientists. In addition, we also need maintenance engineers and technicians, and
marketing specialists. Currently in India we do not have a systematic educational and
training progamme to produce the wide-spectrum of skilled manpower that is needed
in this field. Except for the BEs, B.Techs, and M.Techs that IITs, Institutes of Science,
and some universities train in a formal way in computer science and technology, most of
the manpower that is actually employed in this area at present function after more or
less superficial on-the-job training.
A more systematic manpower generation scheme must take into account the
following components.

(i) Generation of fully qualified hardware and software scientists and engineers in
computer science and technology: These persons would go through a formal
educational programme in computer science and technology up to the bachelor's,
master's, or doctoral level. After qualification they should be able to function as senior
hardware and software engineers, systems analysts, and R&D scientists in information
technology.
(ii) Retraining of qualified application area specialists and first degree holders: Very
large numbers of students who graduate with a first degree in science, commerce and
other subjects with a reasonable exposure to mathematics, can be retrained to be
efficient programmers. Analogously, persons with degrees in specialised engineering
and technology areas can be trained to be qualified application area analysts and system
designers. Currently such persons tend to drift into the software industrial market as
entry-level programmers and coders. With proper training in the formal aspects of
computer systems (hardware and software) they could be moulded into application
area specialists so that their specialized formal backgrounds in the concerned
application areas could be put to effective use.
(iii) Vocational training and extension training in information technology: Students
who opt for vocational training at the secondary school level, and carefully selected
secondary school drop-outs can be trained to be coders, computer operators, data-
preparation personnel, and hardware technicians.
(iv) Training of public- and government-sector end-user groups: Most of the
development-related activities in developing countries like India--for example, basic
needs programmes, agricultural extension activities, transportation, energy generation
and distribution, communication, and so on--are in the government and public sectors.
The training of end-user groups in these sectors in computer usage and in understand-
ing the potential of information technology in these sectors is of fundamental
218 R Narasimhan and P V S Rao

importance. Except for isolated short-term programmes run by Institutes of

Management and similar organizations, in India at present there are no systematic
educational/training programmes to upgrade the technological literacy of government
departments/agencies and public sector organizations. At the service-level this absence
of contemporary technological literacy----especially in information technology--
constitutes a serious hurdle to effective modernization of these services.
(v) Public education in information awareness: Public education in computer literacy
and information awareness is of fundamental importance to India. A prerequisite to
effective deployment of information technology in development-catalyzingapplications
is the awareness that "information" is an economic commodity. Bringing about this
awareness both within the governmental sector and among the general public is an
essential requirement for development.
To cope with the manpower shortage problem, in the last few years a large number of
universities and teaching institutions have started computer science and computer
application courses and post-B.Sc, diploma courses. Although in this.context there has
been much discussion about curriculum development and related aspects, not enough
critical analysis has gone into more basic issues: for example, the adequacy of these
training programmes to meet the real needs, the facilities and the quality of staff
available for teaching, the professional quality of persons who result from these
programmes, the extent to which they are effectively being utilized for meaningful and
productive activity, and so on.
The manpower shortage has inevitably given rise to a large number of commercial
training establishments offering courses in computer programming. The training
offered by most of them is of questionable professional quality. There is, hence, a need
for a national level assessment procedure to test the competence of programmers
turned out by such commercial establishments. The National Standard Test for
Programming Competence (NSTPC)conducted by the Computer Society of India
answers this need. Organized every year in practically every major city in the country,
this test has been able to demonstrate the exceptionally poor quality of training offered
by such "schools".
Facilities for extension training and continuing education are yet very poorly
developed in the country. Perhaps the most systematic such part-time, in-service,
educational programme available is the one conducted in Software Technology by the
National Centre for Software Development and Computing Techniques (NCSOCr)in
Bombay. There is an urgent need to organize similar courses in a large number of
cities---especially in the non-metropolitan ones. Part-time courses that emphasize self-
study and provide creative access to a good library and liberal computer time are
perhaps of more value in a fast-moving technology like information technology, than
degree and diploma courses for the vast majority of the field-level workers.

5. Some issues in education and research

5.1 Education
Some of the educational aspects have already been covered in a general way while
discussing manpower development in the last section. Here we shall concentrate on two
specific sets of issues: the first relating to the need for upgrading the information
technology infrastructure for teaching engineering and technology courses, and the
 Computer science and technology 219

second relating to forward-looking research and development programmes in informa-

tion technology that need to be encouraged in the teaching institutions.
Earlier, in § 1, we saw that computers are beginning to be deployed in advanced
Western countries in an all-pervasive manner as information-processing "engines" to
support all kinds of activities. This applies equally to teaching and learning at all levels
from primary and secondary schools on up to the college- and post-graduate-level
education. The qualitative change that has been brought about in the learning
environment is perhaps nowhere more significant than in engineering education.
Imaginative and innovative deployment of microprocessor- and minicomputer-based
workstations (to facilitate complex design projects), word-processing and document
preparation facilities, and personal computers for student-level activities, all tied
together in a distributed computing network with high bandwidth data-
communication channels has made it possible to extend the scope of professional
education beyond what was imaginable hitherto. Using computer-aids, graphics
facilities, microprocessor-controlled machine tools, instruments, other laboratory
equipment, cameras, etc., students and other research personnel can carry out now in a
learning environment programmes and projects that would have been unthinkable a
decade ago. It is difficult to exaggerate the basic difference this kind ofcomputationally
rich environment makes to the training of engineers of all specializations--especially
so, of mechanical, chemical, structural, electronic, and architectural engineers.
Sadly, in India computers in engineering institutes--even in high quality centres such
as the IITs and the Institutes of Science---continue to function as 'number-crunching'
devices used exclusively for numerical problem-solving. Engineering practices that
underpin engineering education still continue in the pre-computer age. The engineering
student is hardly ever confronted with the possibility of modernizing these engineering
practices through the innovative deployment of microprocessor-based information
technology tools. Computer-aided design, computer-aided draughting, computer-
aided engineering, computer-controlled machine tools, microprocessor-based field
instruments for surveying, map-making, and so on, are not standard components of the
educational environment in which an engineering student is taught and trained. Thus,
our engineering institutes---even the very best of them--turn out professionals who are
illiterates as regards the vast potential of information technology in enriching their own
professional practices.
Enriching the information technology base of our engineering and technology
education programmes is perhaps one of the most important steps that needs to be
taken in India urgently. On this depends the possibility of modernizing the engineering
and technology activities in our economy. To compete successfully in a technologically
sophisticated world, our economy must also be technologically sophisticated; to
achieve this the work environment and the workers must also be so. The precondition
for these is an educational environment that sensitizes the students to the need for, and
the potential of, technologically sophisticated tools and practices. Appropriate
deployment of information technology in engineering education is the means to this
end.

5.2 Research
Apart from theoretical areas in computer science and software technology, there must
be a long-term, coordinated effort to promote R&D activities of high quality in the
220 R Narasimhan and P V S Rao

following thrust areas of information technology: Ic technology; telecommunication

technology; computer-aided design and engineering, including robotics; computer-aids
to document preparation, printing and publishing; and knowledge-based expert
systems. We shall consider very briefly what is possible to be undertaken in each of these
areas in the country.
We have already considered in § 3 the need for developing design centres and
capability to take up the design of customized LSI, and later on VLSl, chips. Some
capability must also be developed to convert these designs into physical chips. It has
been claimed that the Semiconductor Complex Ltd (SCL)would function as a silicon
foundry to fulfil this need. But there is a good case to be made for establishing a
national-level silicon foundry which would cater to design sophistication an order of
magnitude better than what the SCL has been set up to cope with. Education and
training in LSl and VLSldesign must aim to develop expertise much in advance of the
production base that has been created through purchased know-how and technology.
At least a pilot-level fabrication facility is a necessity to achieve this.
Our earlier discussions emphasized the far-reaching changes that have been brought
about in information industry through the convergence of computing and communi-
cations. In this context a number of technological issues have arisen for active study and
exploration. A variety of computing techniques in digital electronic switching are being
investigated. Two thrust areas that are emerging in this interdisciplinary domain of
computing and communications are: local area networks (LANS)and "intelligent"
private branch exchanges (vsxs). In both cases the objective is to develop an integrated
digital communication facility capable of handling voice, text, data, graphics, and video
in one physical framework. The Government of India is making a major investment to
create a Centre for R&D in digital switching and stored-program electronic exchange
technology. It is to be hoped that the activities of this Centre would reach into, and
make an impact on, the education and training programmes of our major engineering
institutes.
The Government of India has initiated with assistance from UNDP a training
programme in graphics and computer-aided design. But this programme is very modest
in its scope and certainly does not meet the full needs of the country. In fact, as we
argued earlier, CADand C^E are already well-enough developed as technologies to be
integrated into engineering education in India immediately. Any specialized centres
that are set up should really function as advanced R&D centres and contribute to the
growth of these technologies. Involvement in robotics technology, at least at the R&D-
level, is also an important need for us in India.
Computer-assisted text-processing, document preparation and publishing are of
very great relevance to India. Upgrading the average level of literacy of the population
of this country is a pre-requisite to success in modernizing our society and improving
the productivity of our economy. The plurality of languages and scripts in India make
the traditional hot-metal technology extremely unviable economically for large-scale
printing and publishing. This is all the more true if printing and publishing are to be
undertaken on a decentralized basis at the local community level. Computer text-
processing, composition, and off-set printing offer possibilities which are very rich in
creative potential. But before such technologies could be put to work at the production
level to support mass-literacy programmes, a large number of R&D problems have to
be solved: for example, standardization of scripts and design of fonts, text-processing
 Computer science and technology 221

software development for use with these scripts, input-output equipment design and
manufacture, and so on. Engineering and technology institutes can again play a seminal
role in all these R&D efforts.
Fifth generation computer technology, as we saw earlier, is causing much discussion
and generating much excitement among the computer scientists and technologists of
the advanced countries. Whether India can or should get involved in this technology at
the R&D level at this stage is a moot point. The hardware aspects of this technology
would undoubtedly be far outside the scope of what is feasible even at the laboratory-
level in India at present. However, the knowledge-engineering aspect of this technology
should not be outside our capability to explore and experiment with. Knowledge-based
expert systems for well-defined application areas are already being commercialized. It is
being predicted that one of the fastest growing uses of artificial intelligence (^0 would
be in biomedical application through the use of expert systems. The technological as
well as the computer science aspects of AI and expert system studies have considerable
scope for enriching our engineering education and training.
Although we have not said anything about software technology explicitly, it should
be clear that software underpins in an essential way all the information technology
specializations we have talked about so far. Acquiring advanced software expertise
should become an integral part of engineering education much as acquiring expertise in
advanced mathematics is looked upon as a necessity now.

6. Concluding comments
We have discussed in this paper in some detail the current thrust areas in information
technology and the far-reaching social, economic, and industrial changes that this
technology is bringing about in advanced industrialized countries. The coming together
of computing and communications has been the single most important cause for the
revolutionary impact of information technology.
In this background our main thesis in this paper may be summarized as follows. In
India we have so far been preoccupied with developing computer technology to build
computers to function as stand-alone "number-crunchers" or commercial data-
processing machines. Our industrial capability even to accomplish this is still
fragmented. We have not realized fully, however, that the future of computer technology
lies in its integration with communication technology. A prerequisite for this
integration is the modernization of communication technology in this country and
building up a viable infrastructure for digital data transmission. Information
technology, which has as its base the integration of computing and communication, is
of vital importance to India. The mastery of this technology in all its ramifications
involves building up our strength in a whole variety of sub-technologies such as:
microelectronics, lasers, fibre-optics, displays, digital communication, CAD-CAE,expert
systems, etc., and, underpinning all these, software technology. While formulating
policies and programmes and creating centres to build up our strength in all these
specializations, it is essential to ensure that the level of information technological
sophistication that supports our engineering education and training is also correspond-
ingly improved. Right now this level is very poor. We have pointed out various ways in
which the support of this technology to education could be improved.
222 R Narasimhan and P V S Rao

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