Sam Pitroda

Indian inventor and businessman (born 1942) Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda, popularly known as Sam Pitroda (born 16 November 1942), is an Indian official, telecommunications engineer, innovator, and entrepreneur. He was born in Titlagarh, in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, into a Gujarati family. He served as an advisor to Rajiv Gandhi and Manmohan Singh during their respective tenures as the Prime Minister of India, as well as to the United Nations. He is the chair of the Indian Overseas Congress. He is often credited as the “Father of India’s Telecom Revolution” for his role in modernizing the country’s communications infrastructure and shaping India’s technology landscape during the 1980s. Early life and career In 1966, he began working for GTE in Chicago. He is considered a pioneer of portable computing, as he invented the electronic diary in 1975. He holds a master's degree in Physics and Electronics from Maharaja Sayajirao University (India) and a Master's in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology (USA). Government Advisor Between 2005 and 2009, he chaired the National Knowledge Commission in India and served as an advisor to Prime Minis