FROM OUR ARCHIVES: An Officer and a Gentleman

In 1962, the defense ministry decided to set up a computer center. The man
chosen to implement this arduous venture was a young major from the Army Signal
Corp. An expert on guided missiles and communications engineering, he hadn’t
even seen the whiz machines before. Yet, with true military precision, he did
what he was told. And then, in the same unobtrusive manner, he did a lot of
other things, like setting up the CSI, working on the Electronics Commission,
initiating and registering the Computer Maintenance Corp., and so on. Guided
missiles got relegated to the second place. The battle was of a different sort,
but the objectives were similar-to defend the country against the onslaught of
foreign computer technology and preserve her independence in the field.

Major Balasubrahmanian is now Major-General Balasubrahmanian. Unassumingly
modest, he remains an ordinary man who’s done some extraordinary work.

‘As a child, I always wanted to be in uniform, and then I joined the
army." However, he wasn’t the archetypal soldier, having previously
graduated in telecommunications from the Madras University. After being
commissioned, he did a post-graduate diploma course in Radio Engineering from
Chelmsford, UK., and later specialized in advanced electronics and guided
missiles at the Institute of armament Technology. Pune, The DRDO recruited him
immediately to develop a training simulator for anti-tank missiles.

Then came 1962. An IBM 1620 was placed under the charge of the untrained
programmer-cum-systems manager-cum-maintenance engineer Balasubrahmanian. He was
scheduled to go to IBM Australia for training in computer maintenance, but the
Indo-Chinese was stalled the plan. The project was a success, and sub-sequently
he was appointed technical secretary of the Advisory Group on Computers in
defense.

Yet, ‘Intelectronic’ technology was so alien to India, that it was bound
to evoke protest, particularly from those who saw themselves being replaced by
the all-knowing chip. As an active step in educating people in the field of
computers, 19 computer professionals formed the All-India computer User’s
group, the nucleus of the Computer Society of India. On March 6, 1965 Major
Balasubrahmanian personally registered the Society at Hyderabad. "It was
our endeavor to make sure that the usage of computers has a social
relevance," says he. So, the major was fast converted into a computercrat.
"I never thought I’d land up here, but once I got into computers, I just
didn’t want to go back to routine soldiering" he explains. Apparently,
the newly formed Electronics Commission agreed with him, for in 1972, they
appointed him officer on special duty (computers).

The next eight years were spent making things happen. ECIL was to contend
with IBM, CMC had to invade the foreign monopoly over maintenance. "There
is still so much to be done," he urges. "As Harold Husky, the first
computer man we met in India advocated, we must understand technology. After
that, the growth possibilities are endless. In software, for instance, we are
equipped to get ahead of the rest. The strategy is to intensify research and
development work and build up self-reliance. I’m so restless…"

This piece was first carried in Dataquest’s 25th issue in 1985