‘Tech tools quest began with Mahabharata; India deserves own IP’

Pitching for developing indigenous technology, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha on Tuesday invoked Mahabharata saying the quest for communication tools began when blind king Dhritrashtra sought to know war proceedings from afar through Sanjay, who was known to have divine vision. 

“If we go back to ancient period then at the time of Mahabharata when war was going, the king expressed desire to see the war and listen to the communication through Sanjay. 

I think human quest for technology starts since that time which science and technology has taken to this stage,” Sinha said while delivering keynote address at C-DOT foundation day. 

India is going through important transformational phase where it is vying for the right place in global technology space and has to address growing expectations of the people, he said, adding that it cannot achieve these objectives on the basis of imported technologies.

“We cannot ensure right place in world on the basis of imported technology and for this is it is very important that we develop technology indigenously so that people at large in the country are benefited. History will not forgive us if we don’t develop technology as per expectation of people,” he said. 

The minister said that C-DoT, government’s telecom research and development arm, has done 56 technology transfers, and it is expected that they make a century soon.

Sinha said the issues that India is facing in the field of technology are also being faced by the developing world where the country can play leadership role. 

“When we work in the space of technology then not only for our country but also for larger geography of the world where there is demand of low cost modern technology. 

I understand that based on our history, culture and civilisation we will be able to lead and contribute to the world in the field of science and technology,” Sinha said.

Expressing concerns over rising royalty payments mainly to foreign equipment makers, Telecom secretary JS Deepak said about $15 goes out of India for every mobile telephony service line added by an operator.

The royalty payment for mobile services providers runs into crores of rupees as each operator has million of service lines to support voice services. 

A single mobile service line ideally supports a single call at a given point of time. “We need to invest in research and development for intellectual property rights as these are going to be lifeline of the Indian electronics and telecom industry,” Deepak said. 

 Around Rs 94,000 crore worth of mobile phones are expected to be assembled in India this year, a jump of 74 per cent over last fiscal, government said on Tuesday.

“In terms of value, it (mobile phone manufacturing) has increased by 185 per cent. In 2014-15, mobile phones worth Rs 19,000 crore were made in India. 

In 2015-16, it increased to Rs 54,000 crore,” IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at an event here. The number is likely to touch Rs 94,000 crore in 2016-17, he added. 

In volume terms, only six crore units of mobile phones were manufactured in 2014-15 in the country, which reached 11 crore units in 2015-16, rising 83 per cent. 

Prasad said the government has set up dedicated Electronic Manufacturing Clusters (EMC) in different parts of India for enhancing electronic manufacturing. 

“We offered better tax regime and incentives under MSIPS for electronics manufacturing in India,” he said. He added, FDI in electronic manufacturing touched an all-time high of Rs 1.23 lakh crore.