Dr. N Seshagiri, Founder, NIC- A Doyen of Indian IT Departs

Dr. N. Seshagiri, Founder, NIC died Sunday, May 26 after a brief illness. He was 73. He was the Dataquest Lifetime Achievement Awardee in 1996. 

He was perhaps the pioneering architect of government IT in India.
Narasimaiah Seshagiri - the visionary with a non-corporate background - is lost to the world. His pioneering effort has left behind a lasting footprint on India's IT scene, for he can clearly be credited with the creation of the country's first-ever government policy on computers. He was the resilient activist who evangelized and implemented the national computer policy and the nation's first VSAT (NICNET), in the face of hard opposition from the government and public.

After a stint in Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Seshagiri joined as director of Information, Planning and Analysis Group of the Electronics Commission in 1971, where he helped found the NIC in 1975 and was its DG till 2000.

While simultaneously holding positions in DoE, the Planning Commission and Ministry of IT since its formation, he single handedly drafted the first liberalized Computer Hardware Policy in 1984, and the first liberalized Software Development, Export and Training Policy in 1986. Under his guidance, computer centers were set up in every department of the government. For 21 years he was the head of NIC and Special Secretary , Planning Commission.

Simple and candid in nature, Seshagiri strongly believed that India could be the best in technology. He was awarded the Dataquest Lifetime Contribution award in 1996, then rated his efforts of setting up the edifice of information sharing - National Informatics Center - as one of his greatest and most satisfying ones.

NR Narayana Murthy, the other visionary and Dataquest IT Man of the Year for the same year had this to say - "He is a man with no axe to grind, doesn't take any sides, and takes your argument coolly if logic is on your side".

Dr Seshagiri had then recounted his unconventional experience of dealing with the rulebook and red-tapism to Dataquest, "I told the PM (Rajiv Gandhi) that we would go ahead with the project even if it meant breaking every rule on the book". On getting the green signal, the project was finished in record time and at the end of it, he discovered that his ceaseless and daring efforts had broken almost 300 regulations.

Seshagiri's passionate dedication in terms of spreading awareness of IT amongst the masses was clearly rooted in his ambition "to get computerization in the country and at all levels without the hindrance of outrageous policies". The impact that his pioneering efforts had in terms of inclusivity of both public and private sectors in the shaping of IT culture in India can only be emulated, not forgotten. The GIS work, medical records system, jurisprudence, and NICNET are all echoes of this visionary.