Unnikrishnan’s brief stay in Sanchar Bhawan was marked by controversies that derailed one of the most successful technology development programmes of independent India — the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) — and ended the career of Sam Pitroda as a technology policymaker. The three-month tenure of Unnikrishnan as the Communications Minister at a critical point in technology development and dissemination derailed the whole indigenisation project. Indigenous technology development needs unstinted support from the political as well as administrative apparatus, irrespective of a change in political dispensation. Technology development is risky business and cannot be tied down by traditional yardsticks of time and cost-overruns as well as failures. Product development remains the holy grail of technology business in India, and there is a lot to learn from the history of technology development here.

Source: The Hindu March 11, 2026 07:12 UTC