Roti, Kapda, Bijli aur Bandwidth guy is no more…

Is there a person who doesn't own a company in a particular industry, but still can be called 'the public face' of the industry.??? Not just in the country, this person is the unofficial Ambassador of Indian Software Industry across the globe. It's a great tragedy that we won't be seeing his chubby smiling face anymore. Dewang Mehta, the torchbearer of our software revolution left us orphaned when he died recently in a Sydney hotel.

We were fortunate to meet him when he came to CII's Asia Society Conference in the city. We met him again the same evening at the inauguration of Tarang Technology Centre. So somebody remarked, "Listening to Dewang twice a day, rejuvenates our spirits!" We spoke to him informally about the outcome of the meet and also about his outlook on the industry.

About interaction with the government…

I clearly stated to the Prime Minister that without basic infrastructure, none of the dreams about a software revolution would ever come true. Our airports are inadequate to handle international flights, railways are choked with reservations and telecom sector is yet to wake up to the bandwidth reality. I emphatically stated to the Power Ministry that unless the peak demand load shedding is taken care we are not going to reach anywhere. As usual I chanted the same mantra, "Roti, Kapda, Bijli aur Bandwidth!"

The current meltdown in the US software market…

Now please don't tell me that there won't be fluctuations in a business. You should understand every industry undergoes such recession. Also this meltdown is only affecting the companies whose major clients are in the US. Otherwise companies doing business in European and Japanese markets are doing very well. Also 6 billion dollar business is too small to feel the pinch. About the old economy and the future… I would say the old economy should upgrade their infrastructure and computerize the whole system. But the brick and mortar companies are making an effort to diversify into software, which might prove counter productive. They should rather use their expertise to strengthen their hold on the market.

About NASSCOM's efforts in formalising the IT bill…

NASSCOM has been a vigorous advocate of protecting privacy and dropping the clauses that threatened it from the IT bill. There have been many positive and negative outcomes of the IT bill. For the first time in the country, E-commerce now has a legal stamp. There is now a legit structure for E-commerce. You can file your income tax returns on the net; you can pay property tax as well. What is more, you can now have valid electronic signature. Second, there is also a move for computerization of land records and the e-mail is now a legal document. Earlier the 1872 Act did not recognize computer printouts as legally presentable in the court of law. Lastly it has also defined Cyber Crime. This is critical if the new system is to be governed properly.

…And now we have to accept the fact, that the great man who extended his hand to uplift the software industry in all its flaws and shortcomings is only in our memories.