India's Technological Progress Since Independence

Firstly, we wish to take this opportunity to wish you all on the 64th Independence Day of our nation. When we freed ourselves from the shackles of colonial British rule on 15th August 1947, we were left with more of internal conflict and very little in terms of financial reserves or development. It was almost like a clean slate and having to start afresh from scratch. Today, after 63 years from that date, we are still a developing nation with the second largest population on the planet, but we have indeed made a lot of progress. Defence, Computers and IT, Space and Telecommunications are a few of the topics we will talk about to showcase the progress our country has made thus far.
Defence:

At the time of our country's Independence, the Indian armed forces consisted mostly of Emergency Commissioned Officers of World War II and were almost ill-equipped. Our country lacked the infrastructure to produce even a rifle at the time, let alone aircraft or tanks. A foundation had to be laid for the defense industry at that time, especially because there was almost immediate invasion from our neighbors. Modernization of the defense forces was a must. It was a long process which involved several border conflicts, where India learnt about the kind of defense necessary. We also went on to conduct nuclear tests, even risking international criticism and repercussions to irreversibly upgrade its nuclear deterrent capability. While India has been an avid supporter of international nuclear disarmament, the nuclear arms development was purely meant as means of self-defense to thwart any evil schemes of aggressors. Even though it is nuclear capable, India reiterates time and again its No First Strike doctrine.

Today, the Indian Army is equipped with supersonic cruise missiles such as BrahMos, Prithvi I, II and III, Nag, Shaurya, etc. capable of carrying conventional as well as nuclear warheads and capable of striking deep into enemy territory. We also have Exo-atmospheric interceptor system, commonly known as anti-missile technology, which can intercept and destroy enemy ballistic missiles before they reach the target.

In terms of aircraft, we have the LCA and the latest multi-role air superiority fighter Sukhoi Su-30MKI which is jointly developed by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Russia s Sukhoi Corporation. India's own nuclear powered Arihant class of submarines are slated to be unveiled next year, while Shivalik class stealth frigate has been commissioned for this year.

In addition to addition to the Indian Army's arsenal of several different weapons and armoured vehicles developed in India, there is also a new program to modernize the infantry, known as Futuristic Infantry Soldier As a System (F-INSAS) to be commenced in 2012 and to be completed by 2020.

Computers and IT:
While computers have been in use in government institutions and certain colleges in India since 1956, these were off limits to the general public. Supercomputers were not available to India and when a request for one was made in the 1980s to the US, it was promptly denied. So Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) took it upon itself to develop a supercomputer indigenously. In 2003, the Param Padma was launched with development cost stated at US$10 million. This had the computational capability of 1 teraflop (1 trillion processes per second) and a capacity of 5 TB, later increased to 22 TB. This instantly placed India amongst the elite club of nations with supercomputational capability. Then in 2007, the Computational Research Laboratories, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Ltd. in Pune, integrated a Hewlett-Packard Cluster Platform 3000 BL460c system with their own innovative routing technology to achieve 117.9 TFlop/s performance. This made it the fourth fastest supercomputer in the world.

Computers started reaching people's homes just a couple of decades ago. The period before that can be considered almost as a dark age in terms of computer literacy here and the enlightenment started in the early 1990s. Today, almost every other urban home has a computer and the rural areas are also not too far behind. The government has also been trying to make computers more affordable, as it was reported a few days back, it has announced the availability of an Android-based tablet PC for just US$35 or around Rs.1650 with the target to make it less than half as expensive later.

From dial-up, we have got broadband virtually everywhere, thanks to EVDO and soon to be rolled out 3G USB modems requiring no wired network infrastructure. This increase in penetration of internet connectivity in rural areas has directly and indirectly affected the lives of people in the villages. There have been initiatives such as e-Choupals by ITC allowing big business conglomerates to link directly with rural farmers via internet, thus bridging the gap and eliminating middlemen. This involves installation of computers in rural areas where farmers can easily access the latest marketing and agricultural information. Currently, there are over 6,500 e-Choupals operating, with plans to expand to 20,000 by 2012 covering 1,00,000 villages in 15 states serving 15 million farmers.
The world recognizes India as an IT giant today. Companies such as Wipro, TCS, and Infosys are globally recognized IT giants with listings on the NSE and NASDAQ. A huge number of IT professionals are produced in India and they are in huge demand all over the world.

Telecommunications:
When it comes to telecommunications, the first thing that comes to our mind is the mobile phone. In 1947, India had a very sparse network of wired telephones and an STD call which was known as Trunk call at that time, had to be specially booked at least half an hour beforehand. The infrastructure of wired telecommunications has rapidly increased so much that just after 10 years from then, there were millions of names in the waiting list for a landline telephone connection.

TRAI was established in 1997 and cellular services were first launched in the country in 1999, and India has never looked back. Today, with a host of GSM and CDMA mobile service providers, the number of mobile telephone users has outstripped the number of landline users by a huge margin. We have arguably the lowest call rates in the world and since internet has become available also through mobile phones, an increasing number of people have been using it for activities such as e-commerce in addition to just staying connected.

After viewing just a handful of terrestrially broadcast Doordarshan channels for more than three decades, satellite television became available in the early 1990s and completely revolutionized the way we watch television. Today, we have HD television channels available from several satellite television providers something that would have been hard to imagine a couple of decades back

Space Technology:
The Indian Space Program spearheaded by Dr. Vikram Sarabhai at the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad and Dr.Homi Bhabha at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in 1945 initially included the study of cosmic phenomenon such as solar radiations. Eventually, the Space Program was taken over by the Indian Space Research Organization started on 15 August 1969.

The first Indian satellite Aryabhatta was launched in 1975 followed by the Rohini series of experimental satellites. While this were the first steps into space for India, the launch of the INSAT or Indian National Satellite System series of satellites was a major milestone due to them bringing a vast improvement in telecommunication. The IRS or Indian Remote Sensing Satellite series was the next successful series of earth observation satellites which provided services useful especially for the agricultural sector and the natural resources industry. ISRO is also in the process of launching India's very own satellite navigation system, Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS), which will eliminate our dependence on foreign satellites for the same.

The latest amongst the achievements of ISRO is the successful Chandrayaan-1 lunar probe expedition in 2008, which carried out explorations of the lunar surface, sending back valuable scientific information. This put India in the elite club of a handful of nations who could manage the successful landing of a lunar probe. Hot on the heels of the first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2 is already on the anvil with an expected launch in 2013. The next major objective of ISRO is already set and that is to send a manned expedition to the moon by 2020, which they are very optimistic and upbeat on achieving.

We must also mention that there is a variety of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV), Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV), and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) designed and used by ISRO to launch satellites and probes. These have been used to launch not only Indian satellites, but have even been used to launch payloads from other countries, thus generating a lot of revenue in this highly profitable business. With our own launch facilities and launch vehicles, we are truly in a unique position which cannot be boasted of by most other nations.

These are not the only fields where India has excelled post-independence. There are other fields such as superconductivity, nanotechnology, nanomaterials, biotechnology, medicine, energy and so many more that it is impossible to cover them all in a single article. Even though we still remain hindered by red-tape bureaucracy, we are surely making strides towards becoming a developed country from a developing country. So before you think about comparing India with a developed nation such as U.S.A., you should give it a thought that U.S.A. has been independent for 234 years, while we have been so only for 63 years, which is a fourth of that period. U.S.A. did not inherit poverty and unrest like India did after its independence. Yet we have come so far that it is indeed an achievement in itself that deserves our respectful salute.