SIMPUTER PROJECT RECIPIENT OF THE FIRST DEWANG MEHTA AWARD FOR
INNOVATION IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
SHRI
PRAMOD MAHAJAN TO CONFER THE AWARD TOMORROW
Union Minister for Parliamentary
Affairs, Communications & IT, Shri Pramod Mahajan will confer
the First Dewang Mehta Award for Innovation in Information Technology
tomorrow. The Award instituted by Department of Information Technology
in the Ministry of Communications & IT has been conferred
to the Project conceived by the Simputer team. The team
has devised a low cost hand-held device with multiple connectivity
options based on free software. This award was constituted after
the sad demise of Shri Dewang Mehta, on the 12th April,
2001. The award has been instituted as a mark of respect to his
memory and to commemorate his contribution to the IT industry.
The Simputer project was conceived by seven trustees drawn from
Faculty of Computer Science & Automation at the Indian Institute
of Science and Encore Software Limited (formerly Ncroe Technologies).
The recipient of the Award shall receive Rs.5 lakhs.
The Simputer team recognised by this
award consists of S/Shri Vinay L. Deshpande, Managing Trustee,
co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Encore Software Limited, Bangalore,
Vijay Chandru from Indian Institute of Science, Shashank Garg
from Encore Software Limited, Ramesh Hariharan from Indian Institute
of Science, Swami Manohar from Indian Institute of Science, Mark
R. Mathias from Encore Software Limited and V. Vinay from Indian
Institute of Science. The Award has been instituted to recognise
innovation which has the potential to make a significant impact
on national development in bringing fame to the country. The concept
behind the award is to encourage innovations in an industry which
thrives on brilliance.
A brochure outlining the scheme for
the Dewang Mehta Award for Information Technology was sent to
institutions such as IITs, IIITs, IIMs, NASSCOM, MAIT, STPI, C-DAC,
NCST and other premier R&D organisations, Heads of major educational
institutions in IT as well major software units. For wider publicity,
an advertisement was also inserted for this Award in the National
Newspapers all over the country and was published on Department
of Information Technology and NASSCOM websites. The last date
for nomination was February 28, 2002.
In all, 92 nominations were received
for the First Dewang Mehta Award. A Committee of eminent persons
was constituted to evaluate the nominations and give its recommendations.The
Committee comprises of S/Shri Rajeeva Ratna Shah, Secretary, Department
of IT, Prof. Sanjay Dhande, Director, IIT, Kanpur, Dr. Vijayu
Bhatkar, Dishnet, Kiran Karnik, President, NASSCOM, Ajay Choudhary,
HCL, S. Ramadorai, TCS, Harish Mehta, Chairman, Onward Novell&Member
TiE and Prof. S.K. Brahmachari, Director, Centre for Bio-Tech.
The Committee in its deliberations felt that during the first
year of the award, those applicants who showed ingenuity and worked
on innovative concept should be considered. The basic thrust was
to identify a concept/product which was not only innovative but
whose application would have had an impact on the lives of the
common man. The Committee observed that the development of Simputer
stands out significantly higher than others and meets the criteria
set out. It was noted that Shri Vinay L. Deshpande and his team
at the Simputer Trust qualified for the First Dewang Mehta Award.
Simputer is a low cost hand-held
device with multiple connectivity option, based on free software
Open Source Initiative. Its primary input is a touch-sensitive
LCD display panel. It is based on GNU/Linux Software technology
that is open and modular. It enables the use of Smart Card Reader/Writer.
Simputer is targetted as a shared computing device for a local
community of users like village panchayats, village school, a
kiosk, or a shopkeeper. Simputer also has text-to-speech capability
in a variety of Indian languages. The Simputer can have a wide
range of Applications some of which are – Microbanking, data collection,
internet access, agricultural information, the school laboratory,
the Kiosk simputer, smart card & simputer, general purpose
Citizen’s ID card, driving license, land records, income tax records,
passport, bank passbook and digital cash.
The Simputer as a concept/tool has
the potential to put computing power in the hands of the masses
in the true sense of the word. The Simputer is one innovation
that can break barriers that prevents the common man from using
computing devices which are not only high priced but also exotic.
Shri Dewang Mehta was born on 10th
August, 1960 and was one of the strongest proponents of the India
Inc.brand equity in IT. Shri Dewang Mehta was the first Executive
Director and then President of NASSCOM spanning over a decade.
His ambition and vision was to make India a global IT destination
of the 21st century.
