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