The DQ Awards Panel 2001

KING-MAKERS ALL: Members of the IT Man of the Year awards panel for 2001 after their deliberations at Delhi’s Taj Palace Hotel on December 3: (from left) Pradeep Gupta, Arun Kumar, Rajendra S Pawar, Arun K Thiagarajan and Shyam Malhotra. Saurabh Srivastava and Satish Naralkar were also members of the panel, via teleconference from Mumbai. Selection parameters for nominations The nominee should have been associated with the IT industry for a reasonable period of time The nominee should have been the head of an organization or the leader of an organization The nominee shoul have contributed directly or indi=rectly to the general growth and development of the Indian IT industry The nominee should have ensured beneficial growth of his or her organization The nominee should be regarded for the highest standards of ethics and responsible conduct If the nominee has already been awarded IT Man of the Year, the nominee cannot be considered for the award for the next three years

As in the last eight years, winners of this year’s DQ Awards were selected
by a distinguished panel, chaired this time around by NIIT chairman and managing
director Rajendra S Pawar. The panel included Hughes Software Systems president
and managing director Arun Kumar, HP India president Arun K Thiagarajan, Xansa
executive chairman Saurabh Srivastava, NSE chief information officer Satish
Naralkar, Cyber Media publisher and managing director Pradeep Gupta and Cyber
Publications editor-in-chief Shyam Malhotra.

The first round of deliberations on nominations for the DQ Awards was done
through e-mail. Next, the panel met at Hotel Taj Palace in New Delhi. At the Taj,
the final list was discussed, using supporting data provided by the DQ research
team. After the first elimination round, followed by discussions, five of the
total nine names were shortlisted as contenders for the ‘IT Man of the Year’
award. The next round of discussions dwelt on the achievements of each contender–their
track record in the last twelve months, contributions to the company’s
stakeholders and to society. This round produced three names for the IT award.
After much discussions and deliberations, the panel unanimously named Pramod
Mahajan as the DQ ‘IT Man of the Year, 2001’. For the Lifetime Achievement
Award, the panel unanimously zeroed in on Dewang Mehta for having spearheaded
Indian IT’s global push. For this category, no other name was brought up by
any panel member.

At the time of going to press, the panel was still deliberating via e-mail on
the possibility of announcing a ‘Special Mention’ award.

Dq ‘IT Man of the Year’ Gallery 1993 N Vittal 1994 Ashok Soota 1995 Shiv Nadar 1996 Narayana N R Murth 1997 Dewang Mehta 1998 R S Pawar 1999 Azim H Premji 2000 B Ramalinga Raju

Lifetime Contribution 1995 F C Kolhi 1996 N Seshagiri 1997 Prof V Rajaraman 1998 Prof H N Mahabala 1999 Major Gen A Balasubrahmaian 2000 DR S Ramani