Technology Missions

Imbued with the desire to reform the socio-economic situation in India, six technology missions were set up under Rajiv Gandhi’s direction. The idea was to use science and technology to tackle under development. The scientific approach was to be applied for solving problems. The target- oriented projects intended that India should enter the millennium as a modern nation.

The drinking water mission aimed at using satellites and the disciplines of geology, civil engineering and biochemistry in locating, extracting and purifying water so that all people in the country could have safe drinking water. There were missions directed towards improving milk yield and health of cows; expanding the production of edible oil so that imports could be curbed; improving health of people, especially through immunisation of children against polio; and increasing literacy, by spreading the television network to rural areas and using it as a medium. These were all good ideas and evolved into other programmes over time.

The best known of the missions was that of telecommunications. Realising the importance of communications to reach remote corners of the vast country, Rajiv Gandhi wanted improvement of service, dependability and accessibility of telecom across India. Indigenous development, local talent, and privatisation were part of the mission. Sam Pitroda, a young US-trained Indian telecom expert, became Rajiv Gandhi’s adviser on this as well as the other technology missions; he was made the chairman of the Telecom Commission. The Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, popularly known as MTNL was set up.