11.07.08
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ANNUAL EXCELLENCE IN TECHNOLOGY AWARD WINNERS -5


Most Innovative Use of Technology

B-SMART, Department of Buildings (DOB)

Before B-SMART implementation, DOB stored operational information across disparate environments and systems throughout the agency, including mainframe, network servers, and desktop platforms, creating challenges in the aggregating and reporting of data. B-SMART, launched in early 2008, now ensures quick access to many metrics and criteria – including application processing data, complaints, stop-work orders, violations, and more – and improves the agency’s ability to report on them efficiently while drawing from multiple data sources.
Best Wireless Project

Sanitation Automatic Vehicle Analysis and Tracking, Department of Sanitation (DSNY) & Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications

The Sanitation Automatic Vehicle Analysis and Tracking (SAVANT) application enhances operational efficiency and augments the City’s ability to utilize resources in emergencies better. SAVANT relies on in-vehicle Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technologies to collect data about vehicle maintenance and route operations. NYCWiN-supported cellular modems transmit this data back to an intelligent, back-end system.

Ultimately, the data collected directly from the vehicles on their routes provided DSNY supervisors and managers with reports and alerts. They can improve real-time decision-making, increase DSNY responsiveness to customer service issues, enable better distribution of resources, and develop better emergency responses to weather conditions.

The launch of SAVANT also advances Mayor Bloomberg’s initiative to implement AVL/GPS technologies on City vehicles. This application is also an example of the successful utilization of NYCWiN, which supports the mobile connectivity required on all parts of DSNY routes throughout the five boroughs.

Best GIS Application

NYC*SCOUT Map, Mayor’s Office of Operations

The Street Conditions Observation Unit (SCOUT), a team of inspectors who drive each City street once per month to report conditions to 311 that negatively impact quality of life, was launched by Mayor Bloomberg in 2007. SCOUT inspectors utilize hand-held devices to transmit and enter reports into the 311 Customer Service Center. The SCOUT program aims to improve street-level conditions in City neighborhoods and further the responsiveness of the City government. However, at its inception, SCOUT condition reporting was neither available across agencies or to customers, nor could it display for the public the areas covered by SCOUT inspectors.
The NYC*SCOUT Map, drawn according to community districts, now publishes the areas and streets covered by SCOUT on the web. As the SCOUT team inspects each section throughout the month, each is color-coded to report coverage. The map also displays condition-specific occurrence, marking repeated adverse conditions with a graduated circle with a drill-down capability. By clicking on the process, users can view the list of SCOUT conditions reported and, by clicking on each state, will receive its respective complaint number.

Source: Press Release # 004
Date: Thursday, November 6, 2008
dfs.ny.gov

11.07.08
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ANNUAL EXCELLENCE IN TECHNOLOGY AWARD WINNERS -4


Best IT Collaboration Among Agencies

Citywide Performance Reporting, Mayor’s Offices of Operations & Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications
Launched on NYC.gov in February, Citywide Performance Reporting (CPR) is an online performance-tracking tool that measures service delivery by City agencies and identifies trends positively or negatively.
The application represents data collection from over 40 City agencies and organizations in an easy-to-use online “snapshot” format. It addresses performance measures under PlanIT’s eight citywide themes – Citywide Administration, Community Services, Economic Development and Business Affairs, Education, Infrastructure, Legal Affairs, Public Safety, and Social Services. The application provides early warning for areas that need attention by highlighting a decline in performance. CPR measures performance by comparing current data to the previous year’s period, thereby holding agencies accountable for year-over-year improvement. To analyze long-term trends, users can access year-to-year trend data by clicking on the “Fiscal Year-To-Date” value, covering reporting periods from July 2002 to the present.

Best In-House Developed Application

Parks Enforcement Patrol Performance Measurement & Vehicle Out of Service System, Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR)

The Parks Enforcement Patrol Performance Measurement System is a web-based application that effectively tracks and manages the functions of the Urban Park Service. This application includes features that efficiently track such department statistics as productivity, daily operations, employee profiles, and Urban Park Ranger programming notes (programs, animal conditions, and staffing).

All source data for these performance metrics have been manually collected, compiled, maintained, and analyzed in ledgers and individual logs. This new application dramatically improves DPR’s business process by reducing the time UPS staff spend preparing summaries and reports and increasing their time in the field. This application’s benefits also extend to the public as a more efficient deployment of officers means safer parks for all New Yorkers.

The Vehicle Out of Service (VOOS) system services over 2,000 vehicles across hundreds of locations, allowing DPR to manage its fleet better, create a permanent record of repair jobs, and enable more reliable avenues of communication between the repair shops and customers. Reducing the costs and time associated with managing the agency’s fleet, VOOS has also freed up to 50% of the time previously required to coordinate a paper and fax system of reporting and driving vehicles in the field. VOOS promises to reduce total agency-wide vehicle out-of-service time by two days per year, putting 11 additional cars into the fleet and resulting in over $84,000 yearly cost savings. Source: Press Release # 004 Date: Thursday, November 6, 2008 dfs.ny.gov

11.07.08
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ANNUAL EXCELLENCE IN TECHNOLOGY AWARD WINNERS -3


Demonstrated Excellence in Project Management

Director George Daus, New York City Police Department (NYPD)
Serving with the Police Department since 1992, George Daus has been responsible for overseeing and managing some of the most innovative IT implementations the NYPD has ever experienced. From inception to completion, Mr. Daus has led the development of numerous information systems and applications – including the Criminal Complaint and Arrest Processing System and the Autopound Intake System – each of which increased the effectiveness of the NYPD in protecting and defending the people of New York City. Setting the tone for application development at a time when automating paper-driven processes has become necessary, Director Daus has championed the use of technology as a way to standardize policing procedures.

Commissioner’s Award for Technology-Driven Business Transformation

Seth Diamond, Human Resources Administration (HRA)

As Executive Deputy Commissioner of HRA’s Family Independence Administration, Mr. Diamond manages approximately 8,000 staff members across 100 locations. Mr. Diamond has been the primary sponsor of several technology initiatives to increase food stamp accessibility in the City. Inventive in his conception, design, and planning for these projects, he has been exceptionally resourceful in acquiring funding and resources, successfully obtaining USDA grants and other funding streams, enabling HRA to implement creative technology innovations.

Best Application Serving an Agency’s Business Needs Electronic DD5 – Investigative Case Management System, New York City Police Department (NYPD)

Before implementing the Electronic DD5 – Investigative Case Management System, the NYPD Detective Bureau’s 3,500 detectives and supervisors relied upon typewriters and carbon paper to assign, create, update, review, and dispose of approximately 200,000 criminal investigations annually. After each research, the bureau used typewriters to draft the necessary reports and managed this caseload in paper file folders, catalogued on paper index sheets, and physically maintained within the premises of each respective unit.
With thousands of registered users now on the Electronic DD5, over 3,000 DD5s are written and entered into the case management system daily, along with 7,000 new or updated reports sent to the Real-Time Crime Center. Similarly, the bureau searches through and views over 20,000 cases daily, utilizing the Electronic DD5’s centralized search engine, which indexes DD5s in real-time and provides Google-type searching and alerts, increasing efficiency and cost savings.

Source: Press Release # 004

Date: Thursday, November 6, 2008

dfs.ny.gov

11.07.08
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ANNUAL EXCELLENCE IN TECHNOLOGY AWARD WINNERS -2


Key project teams from the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Police Department, Fire Department, Department of Transportation, and the Office of Emergency Management worked with a vendor to complete the network build-out and application pilots.

NYCWiN is included as a Foundational IT Initiative as part of PlanIT, which maps critical applications, programs, and initiatives to enhance City services and their delivery in key mission areas. PlanIT outlined the steps needed to achieve a single-city information technology enterprise, the principles of security and rationalized consolidation to ensure its integrity, and the enhancements required to optimize its performance.

These other outstanding projects were chosen as 2008 ETAP winners in the following categories:

Demonstrated Leadership in Management of Information Technology Richard Siemer, Human Resources Administration (HRA)

Richard Siemer has consistently proven his dedication to the public sector throughout his 27-year career. As Deputy Commissioner and CIO for HRA’s Management Information Systems, Mr. Siemer’s ability to lead collaborative operational teams and program staff has contributed to the successful implementation of HRA’s Model Office. A primary objective of the Model Offices is to provide a customer service area that streamlines processing times.

His responsibilities also extend to the support of voice telephone-related activities, where he has instituted new and innovative applications, like the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology. IVR has enabled customers and vendors to access information and make inquiries regarding the status of applications for services, and information lines and help desks offer them in multiple languages. Also, day-care vendors can submit attendance via telephone, facilitating their billing and payment processes. Mr. Siemer has also worked to roll out Voice-Over IP (VOIP) to all HRA locations – accruing significant cost savings to the City in telephone expenditures.

Source: Press Release # 004

Date: Thursday, November 6, 2008

dfs.ny.gov

11.07.08
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ANNUAL EXCELLENCE IN TECHNOLOGY AWARD WINNERS -1


DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSIONER COSGRAVE ANNOUNCES ANNUAL EXCELLENCE IN TECHNOLOGY AWARD WINNERS

  • New York City Wireless Network Chosen as Overall Winner
  • Award Winners Reflect Improved Efficiencies and Cost Savings through Technology Enhancement

Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) Commissioner Paul J. Cosgrave named the 2008 Excellence in Technology Awards winners in a ceremony held last night at the Brooklyn Marriott. The Excellence in Technology Award Program (ETAP) honours the very best of New York City’s IT staff and projects each year. It is presented at the annual New York City Technology Forum sponsored by Government Technology Executive Events and the Center for Digital Government. The 2008 ETAP winners include nearly 40 New York City agency staff members. Each award-winning program aligned with one of the citywide themes outlined in PlanIT, the City’s first-ever comprehensive technology strategy for coordinated, effective, and efficient citywide IT implementation.

“In 2008, the City has continued its fine work implementing comprehensive, targeted, and cost-saving technology solutions. While the impact our best IT innovations have is substantial from the prior year, it’s even more impressive when you take a wider view,” said Commissioner Cosgrave. “Throughout the Bloomberg Administration, I can attest that we have not only served the public but also transformed for the better the way we do so. I congratulate all today’s winners and encourage them to continue developing innovative technologies to the benefit of all New Yorkers.”

The Overall ETAP for 2008, chosen as the project that exemplifies the best attributes of leadership, technical implementation, innovation, and teamwork of all the nominations received for the year, was presented to the New York City Wireless Network (NYCWiN). A broadband wireless data network transforms how the City delivers its services to employees, residents, businesses, and visitors. NYCWiN enables a wealth of mobile and fixed wireless solutions configured to support the mobile workforces of both the City’s public safety and public service agencies. Providing high-speed wireless alternatives to many agencies’ paper-based business processes, the network affords the reliability and the security needed to eliminate the City’s reliance on public carrier networks and centralize the disparate wireless data networks currently supporting many City applications. Similarly, it contributes to interoperability and data transfer between agencies’ applications, reducing the redundancy of collected data, streamlining citywide data policies, and an eventual decrease in recurring maintenance and license fees. Source: Press Release # 004 Date: Thursday, November 6, 2008 dfs.ny.gov

11.06.08
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ANNUAL EXCELLENCE IN TECHNOLOGY AWARD WINNERS -6


Green IT Award

Automated Child Protective Services Worker Recruitment Process & Online Job Applications System, Administration for Children’s Services (ACS)
The Administration for Children’s Services previously relied on more than 2,000 pieces of mail per month to recruit applicants. It then required them to apply for vacancies through mail or personally deliver their resumes. To increase the ease of applying for a position, the Automated Child Protective Worker Recruitment Process – an Internet-based online recruitment and application process available through the ACS website – provides improved access to information for persons seeking employment.

Job seekers can complete an online application using the Online Job Applications System while verifying their job qualifications. It is then processed by a new applicant tracking system that handles many of the past paperwork checks required. Therefore, this new system leads to quicker responses to new applications and faster hiring decisions for those interviewing for positions.

As a result of the Automated Recruitment Process, ACS has gone “green” by eliminating its monthly mailings and reducing paper, printing, and postage costs. Likewise, the Online Job Application System has conserved 156,000 individual pieces of paper while saving money by removing the need for the time-consuming, expensive scanning of applications to date. As a direct result of these two innovations, ACS has received over 45,000 applications. Over 70% of these current applicants have entry-level qualifications for the job. Due to these electronic initiatives, the agency’s hiring processing time was reduced by 50%. The expected drop in the CPS turnover rate should save hundreds of thousands of dollars in recruitment, hiring, and training costs.

Special Recognition Award (2)
Edward J. Allocco, New York City Police Department
Jonathan Werbell, Office of the Mayor

IT Service and Support Awards

“Excellence in IT Service and Support” was awarded to 59 individual staff members and managers from 35 agencies for their work on various technology projects over the past year.
The annual New York City Technology Forum (November 6-7, 2008), now in its 11th year, is an event for and about state and local government to foster discussion and dialogue on best practices in the use of IT as a strategic tool for managers, executives, and policymakers. IT staff members from agencies across the City will be making presentations throughout the two-day event, including Electronic Records Retention, IT Governance, Enterprise Architecture, the Greening of IT, Emergency Management Tools/Technologies, and Strategies in Open Source Technologies.

Part and parcel of the NYC Tech Forum is the Excellence in Technology Awards Program, established in 2001 to salute the best technology projects implemented by City agencies over the previous year and the IT staff responsible for them. Agency heads throughout the City are invited to submit nominations, with a citywide screening panel reviewing each submission and selecting a winner in each category. A single entrant is chosen from the nominations to receive the Excellence in Technology Award. Previous Overall ETAP winners are:

  • 2007: New York City Automated Personnel System
  • 2006: DataShare/Integrated Justice Project
  • 2005: Real-Time Crime Center (NYPD)
  • 2004: CityServ – Citywide Enterprise Email Solution
  • 2003: New York City 311 Customer Service Center
  • 2002: Henry Jackson (OEM) & Lawrence Knafo (DoITT), for Outstanding Technological Leadership in response to the September 11 Attacks
  • 2001: Virtual Agency Project (Department of Finance)

Source: Press Release # 004 Date: Thursday, November 6, 2008 dfs.ny.gov

01.01.01
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CYBERSPACE: FOR THE COMMON MAN -I


CYBERSPACE: FOR THE COMMON MAN -I

The conversation between David Bowman and HAL, the legendary computer, is one of the most critical scenes in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, released in the late sixties. Those who saw the movie were spellbound by the film’s special effects and a talking computer! It was a fantasy thirty years ago when PCs were far away in the future, much less a talking computer!

But then, human ingenuity has proved that nothing is impossible. Three decades later, we have speech recognition software and computer-synthesized voice, which enables us to re-enact the HAL 9000 — David Bowman encounter in every home computer! Inventions and discoveries, accidental some of them might have been, would not have been possible but for imagination and vision on the part of humanity.

William Gibson coined the word Cyberspace in his novel Neuromancer. Neuromancer is a far-reaching artificial intelligence that controls the protagonist of the story. Neuromancer conveys an essential message that technology is powerful and can control society without producing positive benefits.

By a strange coincidence, Neuromancer was published in 1984, the setting of the Orwellian classic 1984—the novel centres around Winston Smith, a minor party functionary in one of the three warring States. Published in 1949, Orwell’s 194 deeply impacted the readers because it highlighted the dangers of totalitarianism. The dangers portrayed by Orwell may be exaggerated. However, with the evolution of technology like Clipper Chip, Capstone and Carnivore, if sufficient safeguards are not devised, the privacy of individuals is likely to be invaded by State agencies.

Fantasy and fiction are set to become a reality with the advent of the Internet and started as a US defence project in 1973 as a research program to devise interconnecting networks of various kinds to survive a nuclear attack that may destroy the monolithic central communication command in the early part of any war. It was made available in 1983 to select users.

Three technologies made the Internet possible.

  1. First was packet switching, which made the transmission of information possible through the Internet.
  2. The second was developing a set of protocols known as TCP/IP, which enabled computers to exchange information regardless of their make, origin, or operating system.
  3. The third was the development of client-server technology, which allows a computer to access and utilize services and programs in another computer.

The Internet Protocol address consists of 4 numbers between 1 and 255, separated by periods. These are unique numbers which identify each computer on the Internet. Since it is difficult for human memory to remember large digit numbers, domain names were resorted to masking the numbers, making it human-friendly to remember and key into the computer to log on.

Internet then is like bye lanes leading to lanes, which lead to streets, roads, and highways sprawling across the globe. The Internet is connected through a series of computers, each with a different role at every level. Had technology stopped with this, perhaps the Internet would have, at best, been another improved means of communication over Teletext or fax. However, the invention of hypertext markup language by Tim Berners-Lee, who worked at CERN Geneva and was popularly known as HTML, dramatically altered the scenario. His hypertext link is an electronic embedded address that points to another Internet location on the Internet. To jump to that location, all a user has to do is click on the hyperlink, and automatically, he is taken to that site by the browser. A Markup language is a computer language that describes how a page should be formatted. A web page also contains HTML Tags that describe how the text should be formatted when the browser displays it on the screen.

Initially, the web consisted only of text. Still, soon, graphics took over with browsers like Mosaic, Netscape Navigator, and Internet Explorer, adding sound, graphics, and other multimedia content to web pages. With that, Cyberspace has blossomed into a medium of its own. The implications of this were not difficult to grasp. The prospect of sending file messages across the continents with lightning speed and at a negligible cost was very appealing to most of us. It was only a question before the entertainment industry and commerce would migrate to Cyberspace. That happened sooner t, resulting in a convergence of technologies leading to a blurring of the distinctions between broadcasting, the Internet, and mobile computing.

Dream and Reality

Cyberspace is the realization of the dreams and visions of many. Creativity always comes from women. One of the inspiring personalities behind Babbage’s analytical engine, which is the precursor of the modern computer, is Lady Ada Lovelace Byron. She predicted in 1863 that machines would compose complex music, produce graphics, and be used for practical and scientific purposes. That prediction has come true. Tim Berners-Lee wanted a Common information space where people could communicate and share information freely. The World Wide Web is the realization of that dream. He conceived Cyberspace as an abstract place where a knowledge-based economy happens. He also wanted the web to become a realistic mirror of how we played, worked, and socialized. He has predicted that the web will open up new business opportunities, turn bureaucracy over to machines, and let people get on with creativity. It will help people to work together more effectively, remove misunderstandings and bring about peace and harmony on a global scale. But according to him, we can only do these things if we learn to use it wisely and think carefully about the technology and the laws we make or change around it.

Technology has constantly threatened to destroy Man if not appropriately controlled. Neuromancer describes the evils a society must suffer if it willingly allows itself to be directly controlled by technology. 2001: A Space Odyssey also conveys the same message. In 2001, HAL was, in fact, the ultimate tool; he is so advanced that in conversation, it is practically impossible to tell that he is a machine and not a human being. The similarity of man to his tools has peaked in HAL, a device similar to a man. But, like all tools, HAL proved to be as dangerous as he was helpful. The story’s moral is that if we create incredible technologies, we should not use them for evil and material gain but for improving the lives of humanity. We can do that only if we do not become slaves of technology. Technology is amoral and values neutral. It is for us to use them intelligently and wisely for the benefit of humanity. (PIB)

PIB
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Date: January 10, 2001

07.25.00
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IIT ALLAHABAD – AN APEX CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE


The Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIT) – Allahabad has been set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, as a nucleating Institute in Information Technology (IT).

The IIT promotes the development of all areas of IT and its applications to the highest level of excellence through extensively networked educational, research, and developmental programs. It will establish links with industry to bring the best professionals in IT and its application areas, computer science, and communication technology capabilities to solving any problem relevant to the country from a scientific, strategic, commercial or societal point of view.

The courses offered by the Institute are designed to match the best practices in IT provided anywhere in the world. The facilities and the learning environment in the Institute will be the best obtainable in the country. All courses are designed with the latest technology in mind. Some may be suitable for online self-study; in others, a degree of instructor-led sessions would be necessary.

The courses offered by the Institute include – The regular B.Tech Programme, Post Graduate Programme, Off-Campus Training and Education, Short Term Training(On Campus), Consultancy, IT Services, and other linkages with industry.

The IIT will create a network with the other regional institutes, including IIT Kanpur, Universities at Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, and other national and international institutes to support its research, development, and academic activities. The Institute has focused on growth, maintenance and implementation, knowledge-based product and service delivery, and business and consultancy projects in the IT area.

The IT is operational from the academic year 1999-2000 with a 4-year graduate program in IT. The contents of the program are similar to that of B.E/B—tech degree programs.

Mission

The mission of IIIT, Allahabad, is to be a unique and world-class nucleating “Apex Centre of Excellence” in information technology and Allied Sciences for enhancing India’s technological strength in IT and becoming a pace-setting institution for other similar institutes to be established. The IIIT seeks to derive its strength from a linkage with sound Indian traditions of centuries past and sets out to create knowledge-based resources in regional languages. It has the mission to train and educate, at certificate, diploma, undergraduate, and post-graduate levels, engineers of outstanding ability who can become leaders and entrepreneurs in the IT industry and profession. It will carry out advanced research and development in leading-edge areas in hardware and software, which can be helpful over a long-term basis. It will also help develop and promote national and international linkages by way of adjunct faculty, partnership in research, student exchange, credit transfer, and joint degrees. The IIT will work for the creation and development of databases and associated software and courseware for all applications to ensure the future availability of newer software technologies for English, Hindi, and Indian Languages. Research and Development

The IIIT is undertaking cutting-edge research focused on those areas that could have tangible applications in the immediate geographical and social milieu. It is striving to persuade industry leaders, such as SUN, IBM, MICROSOFT, SILICON GRAPHICS, MOTOROLA, INTEL, and others, to set up advanced state-of-the-art research laboratories within the Institute; recently, SUN has donated equipment and software to the Institute worth Rs—one crore. The Institute will take up R & D in typical areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Automatic translation from one Indian language to another or English, Bio-chips, Fiber Optic communications, Database systems for water, sanitation, health, and agriculture, Development and organization of legal knowledge; Fuzzy systems; Legal Informatics (Commercial Educational, Governmental, Administrative); Natural language processing; Nanotechnology; Neurocomputing; Neuro-Fuzzy systems; Quantum computing and Robotics, speech recognition and Visual perception. The Institute has established many laboratories, for example, General Labs (Physics & Electronics, Digital Electronics and Microprocessors, Communication and Computer Programming) and Specialized Labs (Advanced computing-parallel & distributed, multimedia technology, digital signal & image processing, artificial intelligence and robotics, nanotechnology, digital communications, CAD, Neurocomputing, and fuzzy systems); and research Labs are being established in due course. Besides, projects are evolving for Indian Railways and Surface and Water Transport Ministries to apply IT in their varied operations. To encourage young engineers, the Institute is awarding five Merit-Cum-Means Scholarships for the students of IIIT. Allahabad Bank has also instituted five scholarships to promote IT education. (PIB Features)

Source: Press Release
PIB
Date: July 25, 2000
10.13.99
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INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON FORCE MULTIPLIER TECHNOLOGIES FOR NAVAL AND LAND WARFARE – DR. A P J ABDUL KALAM



I am delighted to participate in this International Seminar on Force Multiplier technologies for Naval and Land Warfare. The topic of my Theme Talk is “Multi-dimensions of Technology & Partnership”. The presentation will be in four parts. The first part discusses high Technology in India and its core competence. The second part is on India’s aspirations of Self-reliance in the defence system and the linkages between acquisitions and indigenous development. The third part visualizes the growth of technological capabilities in India with multiple partnerships and emerging industry complexes. The fourth part deals with the emerging battlefield and force multiplication with re-engineering business strategy needs.

High Technology in India

During the last three decades, India prioritized some regions of Technology – Space, nuclear, defence, IT, and agriculture. India put remote sensing satellites on its own PSLV and built communication satellites to meet requirements. India’s GSLV for communication satellites will be available in the next year. Similarly, India has acquired the capacity to build nuclear weapons and strategic missiles.

India can produce a series of defence systems, from small arms to certain tactical missiles, armour, electronic warfare systems, sonars, and torpedoes.

Software strength

One of the critical core competencies India has is IT. Several software products have been developed and integrated with weapon systems to enhance performance. Some of the software packages have been exported. Indian software houses exported software products worth 2 billion dollars in 1998-99 and. plan to reach 4 billion dollars in 1999-2000. Today, I want to convey that India has the experience of integrating high-performance software with sensors to enhance performance, compared to some of the state-of-the-art high-cost sensors. We have successfully used such sensors in the PRITHVI missile to achieve international accuracy standards.

Industrial strength and Centers of Excellence

During the last 25 years, our industries have depended highly on technologies from organizations or license production from abroad. Today, by doing specific joint programs, they have reached a stage of design, development, and production of various systems and have acquired technology absorption capability. Several Indian industries have received the ISO 9000 certification, and their products meet international standards. DRDO alone has started many design centres in the country. Similarly, we have world-class labs that can design and build microprocessors, devices, supercomputers, launch vehicles, and missiles. We have also established high-technology facilities with silicon and gallium arsenide foundries and software parks. Our technological strengths are our internationally known academic institutions, societies, and national collaboration ventures in robotics and artificial intelligence, electro-optics, and biomedical Technology.

Self-reliance in defence systems

Self-reliance is an essential tool for India with all-around technology denial regimes. Aircraft can be sold to India, but not the aircraft design and Technology, such as flight control systems. Now, tanks are available in India, whereas critical armour, design, materials, and fire control systems technologies are unavailable. Some countries can sell EW of vintage Technology, denying super components and mil-grade subsystems. Hence, the development has taken place with indigenous Technology. Technology restricted is Technology gained. We live in a strange world. Therefore, India has decided to focus on the self-reliance mission, aiming for 70% indigenous systems by 2005. In this mission, partnerships for development and production are possible.

Technology Profile & Industrial Complex

Due to Technology growth in multiple mission-oriented R&D institutions and industrial partners, India has rapidly progressed from armour development to reentry technology and electronic warfare systems. This can be further enhanced with an intensive partnership with industries and international collaborations through joint ventures.

The Defence Industry complex will emerge with integrated establishments of Defence R&D, defence production, and Indian Industry with a consortium approach to developing core competence and critical and strategic infrastructure. The defence industry complex will need better performance, quality, cost-effectiveness, and reduced cycle time. DRDO has opened eight laboratories to transfer Technology to Industry in multiple areas to provide a competitive edge to the Industry.

Emerging battlefield scene

The future warfare environment will be technologically intensive. In the coming decade, weapon effectiveness will decide military strength in time. The candidates governing the high technology warfare will be the missile systems, UAV, EW and IT, and the precision delivery systems. The Force Multiplication is based on the platform and existing and future sensors, radars, sonars, and seekers. A suitable mix of these will provide force multiplication. For example, it is possible to have UAVs with electro-optic sensors IR, sensors and synthetic aperture radar for their primary reconnaissance role. But UAVs can also be combined with EW systems or even deliver a specific payload type.

Re-engineering and Business strategy

A developing country has a mission to become a developed country. The developed country would like to sustain its developed status. Both have a unique, identical need for production and marketing the products. Hence, they must coexist and become development partners through a win-win approach.

India, like any other country, has two major requirements. The defence systems should have affordability & cost-effectiveness coupled with performance. Of course, with the increasing global competition, we witness many business houses merging, collaborations coming in and strategic business alliances taking place. India’s strength of technology base, cost-effectiveness, and partnership with certain countries will mutually enhance business opportunities. The central theme we would like to focus on today is the technology collaborations between Indian establishments and partner countries through co-development and joint ventures.

Concluding Remarks

Science and Technology is indeed a great gift to humanity. The technological partnership is essential for the nations’ mutual economic prosperity. Scientists, technologists, and industrialists from various countries must join to combat technology denial regimes.

PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU (DEFENCE WING)
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Source: Press Release
Date: October 13, 1999

07.02.99
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INDIAN STATISTICAL INSTITUTE —A TRADITION (Prof. S.B. Rao)


Research in the theory and applications of statistics as a new scientific discipline began in India in the early twenties through the pioneering initiative and efforts of the late Professor P.C. Mahalanobis, who has rightly been described as a great visionary. He picked up a small group of young scientists for the Department of Physics, Presidency College, Calcutta, where he taught. This group formed the laboratory’s nucleus, later known as the Statistical Laboratory.

In the early thirties, realizing the necessity for a concerted effort for the advancement of theoretical and applied statistics in India, Professor Mahalanobis, together with Professor P.N. Banedee and Professor N.R. Sen, both of Calcutta University, convened a meeting on December 17, 1931, to consider various steps for setting up an association for the advancement of statistics in the country. It was unanimously resolved to set up the Indian Statistical Institute with Sir R.N. Mookeerjee as President and Professor P.C. Mahalanobis as Honorary Secretary.

The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) was registered as a non-government and non-profit distributing learned society on April 28, 1932. The total expenditure in the first year was Rs. 238.00, and the number of workers was only two or three. From such a modest beginning, the Institute grew under the able leadership of Professor Mahalanobis into an all-India organization which is now functioning under the aegis of the Department of Statistics, Ministry of Planning & Programme Implementation, Government of India with 1600 workers, including about 500 scientific personnel and an annual expenditure of about Rs. 42 crores.

The Institute has its headquarters in Calcutta, two other Centres in Delhi and Bangalore, and a branch at Giridih in Bihar. Also, it has a network of service units of Statistical Quality Control(SQC) and Operations Research (OR) Division at Baroda, Mumbai, Pune, Coimbatore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Calcutta, Delhi, and Bangalore. Evolution From the beginning, Prof. Mahalanobis and his associates worked zealously and enthusiastically to develop statistical theory and methods and promote research and practical applications in different natural and social sciences areas. Sankhya -the Indian Journal of Statistics and the official organ of the Institute, started publishing in 1933 under the editorship of Prof. P.C.

Mahalanobis is still considered a prestigious and internationally acclaimed journal in statistics. With a history of about 70 years of meaningful work as a centre of excellence, 1SI is regarded as one of the world’s leading organizations for promoting statistics as a critical technology for all scientific endeavours. The objects of the Institute include the study and dissemination of knowledge of statistics, research and development of statistical theories and methods for their use in various fields of natural and social sciences, as well as collection and analysis of information, investigations, undertaking projects and operational research for planning and improvement of efficiency of management and productions.

The enactment of the “Indian Statistical Institute Act 1959” (the bill was piloted by the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru) by Parliament recognized it as an Institute of National Importance. It empowered ISI to confer degrees and diplomas in Statistics. Thus, the Bachelor of Statistics (Hons), Master of Statistics, and post-graduate Diploma in Computer Science courses started in 1960. The Institute was also empowered to award Ph.D. and D.Sc. degrees from the same year. Later, courses leading to a Master of Technology degree were started in Computer Science and Quality, Reliability and Operations Research, which received formal recognition from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). In honour of the excellent research work done by the scientists of the Institute in several areas related to statistics, section 4 of the Indian Statistical Institute Act of 1959 was amended by Parliament in September 1995 to empower the Institute to award degrees and diplomas not only in statistics but also in mathematics, quantitative economics, computer science and other such subjects related to statistics as may be determined by the Institute from time to time. Subsequently, a Master of Science programme in Quantitative Economics was also introduced.

Contributions

The role and importance of the ISI in conducting and promoting the teaching of statistics have been appreciated by international bodies as well. In 1950, the ISI, jointly with the International Statistical Institute, set up the International Statistical Education Centre under the auspices of UNESCO and the Government of India to impart training in Theoretical and Applied Statistics to participants from countries of the Middle East, South and South-East Asia, the Far East and Commonwealth countries of Africa.

The fundamental contributions made by 1SI include, among others, Mahalanobis Distance, Sample Surveys, Multivariate Analysis, Design of Experiments, and Inference. The Institute was pivotal in establishing the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) and Central and State Statistical Bureaus and creating an international understanding for disseminating knowledge of quality, statistics, and applications. Its recent significant contributions include small-area statistics, environmental statistics, and Bayesian Analysis.

The ISI also played a pioneering role in starting the Statistical Quality Control (SQC) movement in India by organizing a visit by Professor W.A. Shewhart, the father of SQC, to India in 1948 and later by inviting other experts like Prof W.E. Deming, Dr. J.M. Juran, Prof. L.H.C. Tippet, Prof. E.R. Ott and Prof G. Taguchi for the same purpose. SQC promotional work was gradually extended to all the industrial centres in India under a comprehensive programme covering education and training, applied research, and consultancy services. Over the years, the SQC and OR Divisions have grown to the size of having ten operating units all over the country and have served in promoting, educating, training, and technical guidance in Total Quality Management Methodology and Quality Assurance Systems for the benefit of the Indian manufacturing and service industry over the decades and continuing its quality service to the industry. Since its inception, the Institute has recognized the need to develop and use accurate and fast computing equipment for the processing and analysis of data.

In 1953, a small analogue computer was designed and built in the Institute. In 1956, the Institute acquired an HEC-2M machine from the U.K., the first digital computer in India. From 1956 until the mid-sixties, the Institute was the country’s de facto national computer centre. In the early sixties, the Institute, in collaboration with Jadavpur University, undertook the design, ‘ development, and fabrication of a fully transistorized digital computer called ISIJU-1, commissioned in 1966.

The Institute has maintained its tradition of high-quality research and development in computer science. Keeping pace with the global advances in computer technology, the activities of the Institute in the field of computer science gathered tremendous momentum in the late seventies, resulting in the diversification of research in different areas. In recognition of its contributions to computer science, the Government of India, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, established one of the five national Nodal Centres for Knowledge-Based Computing Systems at the ISI in 1988. Also, a new division emphasizes research in the theory and application of computer science, pattern recognition, image processing, artificial intelligence, machine intelligence, computer vision, natural language processing, documentation analysis, and remote sensing. The ISI is nationally and internationally recognized as a centre of excellence for its contribution to theoretical statistics, mathematics, economics, computer science, and other interdisciplinary research areas in natural and social sciences and their applications in related areas. With the new millennium approaching, the ISI is ready to accept the new challenges ahead -(PIB)

Source: Press Release
PIB
PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Date: July 02, 1999