Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda also known as Sam Pitrod

) is an Indian inventor, telecommunication engineer and entrepreneur. He was born in Titlagarh in the eastern Indian state of Odisha to a Gujarati people, Gujarati family. He is popularly known as the Father of India's Computer and IT Revolution as he helped in bringing computerization. He was also an advisor to the PM during Dr. Manmohan Singh's tenure.

Early life

Pitroda was born in

Titlagarh Titilagarh is a town and Municipality in Balangir district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Odisha. Geography and Climate Titilagarh is located at . It has an average elevation of 215 metres (705 feet). Demogr ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

, India to Gujarati parents. He had seven siblings and is third oldest among them. The family was deeply influenced by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

and his philosophy. Consequently, Pitroda and his brother were sent to Gujarat to imbibe

Gandhian philosophy Gandhism is a body of ideas that describes the inspiration, vision, and the life work of M.K. Gandhi. It is particularly associated with his contributions to the idea of nonviolent resistance, sometimes also called civil resistance. The ter ...

. He completed his schooling from

Vallabh Vidyanagar Vallabh Vidyanagar, also known as V.V.Nagar, is a town and a municipality in Anand district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is located between Ahmedabad and Vadodara, from the town of Anand. V.V.Nagar is renowned as an educational hub of Guj ...

in Gujarat and completed his master's degree in physics and electronics from

Maharaja Sayajirao University The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, formerly Baroda College, is a public university in the city of Vadodara, in Gujarat state, India. Originally established as a college in 1881, it became a university in 1949 after the independence of ...

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...

. After completing his master's degree in physics, he went to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1964 and obtained a master's degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from the

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In 1966 he went to work for

GTE GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing furth ...

in Chicago. He is regarded as one of the earliest pioneers of hand-held computing because of his invention of the Electronic Diary in 1975. In 1974, Pitroda joined

Wescom Switching Wescom Switching Incorporated was a designer and manufacturer of digital telecommunication products such as private branch exchanges (PBXs) from 1974 until its sale (along with Wescom Inc.) to Rockwell International in 1980. Rockwell continued the ...

which was one of the first digital switching companies. He developed the 580 DSS switch, over nearly four years. It was released in 1978. Wescom was acquired by

Rockwell International Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense and commercial electronics, components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avionics and industrial products. R ...

in 1980, where Pitroda became vice president. During his four decades as an engineer, Pitroda filed scores of patents in telecommunications. The latest set of patents relate to mobile phone-based transaction technology, both financial and non-financial. He spent nearly a decade with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as the leader of an effort to build an Indian information industry. The task was to extend digital telecommunications to every corner of the country, including remote villages, like the one of his birth. Pitroda launched the Center for the Development of Telematics (C-DOT) and served as Advisor to the Prime Minister on Technology Missions related to water, literacy, immunization, oil seeds, telecom, and dairy. He is also the founding chairman of India'
Telecom Commission
Pitroda returned to India a second time in 2004 to focus on building knowledge institutions and infrastructure. Pitroda served as chairman of the

National Knowledge Commission National Knowledge Commission was an Indian think-tank charged with considering possible policies that might sharpen India's comparative advantage in the knowledge-intensive service sectors. It was constituted on 13 June 2005, by the then Prime ...

(2005–2009), a high-level advisory body to the Prime Minister of India, to give policy recommendations for improving knowledge-related institutions and infrastructure in the country. During its term, the

submitted around 300 recommendations on 27 focus areas. Pitroda also founded the National Innovation Council (2010), and served as the Advisor to the Prime Minister with rank of a cabinet minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovation, to help democratize information. Pitroda founded and served as Chairman of C-SAM. The company maintains its headquarters in Chicago with offices in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and

. Pitroda holds around 100 technology patents, has been involved in several start-ups and lectures extensively. Pitroda has also started several businesses as a serial entrepreneur (Wescom Switching, Ionics, MTI, Market, WorldTel, C-SAM, etc.) in the US and Europe. He has also served as an advisor to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

and in 1992, his biography ''Sam Pitroda: A Biography'' was published and became a bestseller on ''The Economic Times'' list for five weeks. He is living in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

since 1964 with his wife and two children and also in Delhi.

Return to India

On a 1981 trip back to India, he was frustrated by how hard it was to call his family back in Chicago, and decided he could help modernize India's telecommunications system. In 1984, Pitroda was invited to return to India by the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

. On his return, he started the Center for Development of Telematics

C-DOT The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) is an Indian Government owned telecommunications technology development centre. It was established in 1984 with initial mandate of designing and developing digital exchanges. C-DOT has expanded to ...

, an autonomous telecom R&D organization. He had previously become a

naturalized US citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

, but renounced his US citizenship to take Indian citizenship again in order to work in the Indian Government. In 1987 during his tenure as advisor to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Pitroda headed six technology missions related to telecommunications, water, literacy, immunization, dairy, and oilseeds. In the 1990s Pitroda returned to Chicago to resume his business interests. In May 1995, he became the first chairman of

WorldTel WorldTel Limited was established in January 1995 as part of an International Telecommunication Union initiative to help mobilize development of the telecommunications sector in developing countries. The primary catalyst for its creation was a McKi ...

initiative of the

International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...

. When the

United Progressive Alliance United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party ...

government came to power following the 2004 General Elections, Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...

invited him to head the

of India. In July 2009, the Government of India invited Pitroda to head an expert committee on ICT in Railways. In October 2009, Pitroda was appointed as advisor to PM of India Manmohan Singh on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations with the rank of Cabinet Minister. In August 2010, Pitroda was appointed Chairman of the National Innovation Council. He was appointed as the chancellor of the

Central University of Rajasthan Central University of Rajasthan (CURAJ) is a central university located in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India. CURAJ has 12 schools, 30 academic departments and one community college covering technology, science, humanities, commerce, management, public ...

by the President of India in 2013. In 2017, he was appointed as Chairman of Alpha-En Corporation, a Lithium Metal Clean Technology company.

Awards

Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award is an annual prestigious award instituted from Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi. This consists of a cash award of 5,00,000 rupees plus a citation and a plaque. Background The award w ...

, 2000 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to telecommunication and harnessing it for the social and economic transformation of developing countries * ''

Dataquest ''Dataquest'' is an Indian magazine focused on information technology related articles. The magazine is published monthly by Cyber Media India Ltd, South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geogr ...

'' gave Pitroda a lifetime achievement award in 2002. * In 2008, Pitroda was elected as a world prominent leader by the World Network of Young Leaders and Entrepreneurs. *

(ITU) conferred the World Telecommunication and Information Society Award to Pitroda in Geneva on 17 May 2011. He was awarded in recognition of his dedication to promoting Information, communication, and technology as a means of providing a better life for humanity and social and economic empowerment. He was the first Indian to receive this award. * In May 2010, the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a Public university, public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus esta ...

college of medicine presented him an honorary degree. *

Sambalpur University Sambalpur University is located in Burla town, of district Sambalpur, India, in the state of Odisha. Popularly known as Jyoti Vihar, it offers courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. The governor of Odisha is the chancellor of t ...

honored Pitroda with D.Sc. on its 23rd convocation on 14 July 2010. * The Government of India awarded him the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

in 2009 for his contribution to Science and Engineering. * The Skoch Challenger Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009 for ushering in the telecom and IT revolution in India. *

Andhra University Andhra University (IAST: ''Āndhra Vișvakalāpariṣhat'') is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926. History King Vikram Deo Verma, the Maharaja of Jeypore was one of the biggest do ...

honored Pitroda with D.Sc. in 2008. * Award for Public Service in the Field of Telecommunications, IEEE Communications Society, 2007, for exceptional contributions in developing indigenous systems and telecommunications infrastructure in India * He was felicitated on 31 March 2009 by Akhila Bharatiya Viswakarma Mahasabha (ABVM) for service to the Viswakarma community, in the presence of Chief Minister of Delhi, Smt. Sheila Dikshit. * World Telecommunication and Information Society Award, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 2011, for his outstanding contribution to improving life in rural communities through information and communication technologies. Sam Pitroda is the first Indian to receive this prestigious award * He addressed the 2nd Indian Student Parliament in 2012. * He was awarded Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions in the field of telecom technology & innovation by American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI) at its 31st National Convention held on 3 Dec 2016 at Cal State University, Pomona, CA * He addressed the gathering of students and faculties of Seshadripuram First Grade College - Yelahanka, Bangalore, and various other students and faculties from other institutions across Bangalore about the topic of 'Innovation and Advancement in Modern Education' on 14 October 2017.

Philanthropy

Sam Pitroda currently chairs five major NGOs.

The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology

The first is the Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions founded in 1990 with Darshan Shankar. It has now turned into The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology near Bangalore in India. The foundation promotes Ayurveda, India's traditional medicinal knowledge. Today, FRLHT has over 200 scientists and professionals on a 19-acre campus and has documented over 7,000 herbal medicinal plants. It also has over 100 herbal medicine gardens, approximately 500 acres each. Sam Pitroda is chairman, the board of trustees at the institute.

The Global Knowledge Initiative (GKI)

In 2009, Sam Pitroda founded The Global Knowledge Initiative (GKI) along with Nina Fedoroff and Sara Farley in Washington, DC as a non-profit organization with a mission to forge, optimize, and sustain knowledge partnerships between the people and institutions of higher education and research around the world. They build and support purpose-driven networks to solve shared challenges in science, technology, and innovation.

India Food Banking Network

In 2010, Pitroda established the India Food Banking Network (IFBN) to create a network of Food Banks in India to systematically capture and distribute food to empower and support the food security mission in India. Today, IFBN has food banks in Delhi, Gurgaon, and Noida with plans to expand into Mumbai, Bangalore, Calcutta, and others. Sam Pitroda is chairman of the advisory board of the India FoodBanking Network.

People for Global Transformation

People for Global Transformation were launched in 2012 along with Mr. Hubert Vedrine, France's former Chief of Staff for President Mitterrand. PGT is a global think tank that brings together an interdisciplinary group of 15 leading voices from across the globe to help shape the 21st century's discourse on development and governance and provide innovative policy recommendations. The group particularly endeavors to generate greater transversal thinking on the transformational potential of technology and its consequences for all.

Action For India

Also in 2012, Pitroda founded Action For India to help social innovators in India overcome barriers to scale and achieve greater impact at the Bottom of the Economic Pyramid.

Others

In addition to these six NGOs, Sam Pitroda is also: * Founding commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission * Chairman of the m-Powering Development Initiative of the ITU in Geneva * Chairman of the Vikram A. Sarabhai Community Science Centre * Board Member of the World Wide Web Foundation * Board Member of the Institute of Design, IIT, Chicago

Books

Books by Pitroda

IEEE Transactions on Communications, Special Publication on Telecommunication in Developing Countries
Volume COM-24, Number 7, July 1976
Part II here

Exploding Freedom: Roots in Technology
Allied Publishers Limited, 1993
Foundation for the Future: Human Resource Development
Commonwealth Secretariat, 1993
Development of Gujarat: People’s Perceptions
Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research, Ahmedabad, 1997
Vision, Values, & Velocity
Silicon India, 2001
March of Mobile Money: The Future of Lifestyle Management
Harper Collins, 2010
Dreaming Big: My Journey to Connect India, Penguin India, 2015
ref name=SamBook2015>
Redesign the World - a Global Call to Action, published by Penguin India, 2021
Pitroda also holds a collection of over 40 years of his personal daily diaries and workbooks.

Books about Pitroda

Sam Pitroda: A Biography
by Mayank Chhaya, Konark Publishers Pvt Ltd, 1992
Part II
This biography of Sam Pitroda by Mayank Chhaya was on the bestseller list in India.

Contributions

In 1993, Pitroda helped to establish (with Darshan Shankar) the

Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Tradition Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) is a registered Public Trust and Charitable Society, which started its activities in 1993 under the guidance of Sam Pitroda and Anant Darshan Shankar. The Indian Ministry of Science & ...

and The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology near

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

in India. The foundation promotes

Ayurveda Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population repo ...

, India's traditional medicinal knowledge. The two founders were honored in 2003 by

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

References

External links

*
online press conference of Sam Pitroda

Profile

Sam Pitroda
Collected news and commentary at ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

''
Biography of Sam Pitroda
by Mayank Chaya] {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitroda, Sam 1942 births Living people Businesspeople from Odisha People from Balangir district People from Vadodara Illinois Institute of Technology alumni Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in science & engineering Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda alumni American people of Gujarati descent Former United States citizens Businesspeople from Chicago People with acquired American citizenship Gujarati people Recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman