- InduQin
India at the forefront of information technology for science and culture
The computer age in India began in 1958, when India’s first electronic digital computer HEC-2M was installed at the ISI in Kolkata. That computer was not only special because it was India’s, but also because India was in its infancy. It was the second country in Asia to adopt computer technology after Japan.
Although information technology was spreading to millions of homes and offices because of the arrival of personal computers, that achievement contributed inestimably to making India a country beyond the path of development.
At present India is one of the technical centres of education in Asia, with a large share of academics and students, including foreigners, interested in computer engineering and technology courses.
India has left an indelible mark at world level in terms of technology over the last two decades. Once again India has hit the world headlines. On November 17 last the Param Siddhi-Al supercomputer, manufactured in India, was ranked 63rd among the 500 most powerful computers in the world.
Bearing this in mind, the country is working hard to ensure that its information and computing capabilities meet the needs of the Indian people.
The Information Technology Facilitation Program (TIF) and the Technology Promotion Development and Utility (TPDU) are the components of the programme launched by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. The overall objectives of the programme are to generate endogenous potential for the development and use of digital information resources and to provide information for scientific and technological research and industrial development.
Given the quality of connectivity in today’s scenario, the programme aims at strengthening the base of information resources available and provide a mechanism for the optimal use of the country’s potential.
TIF will also be a collaborative research facility between industries and institutes. Nowadays the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is the socio-economic fabric of the country. All these global technologies can be implemented in every sector of the economy, to the benefit of the main beneficiaries of the scientific and industrial research workforce.