India: Politics and Technology · Global Voices
Kamla Bhatt

Blogging about IT and technology is common topic for many Indian bloggers. The technology sector is the engine that is pulling the great Indian train forward in fits and starts and it seems that there be a change in the engine crew. President  Kalam's tenure as the President is coming to an end and there is the usual buzz about who will be the next president of India. Dr. Kalam is not interested in a second term according to various media reports. There appears to be some sort of an agreement that another technologist/scientist is needed to pull this great Indian train forward among a certain section of the Indian population. Who is this candidate? Mr. Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, India's most successful IT and services company.
Prof. TT Ram Mohan writes in The Big Picture that Mr. Narayana Murthy's chances might be low going by the results of a latest poll. He writes:
“The urban middle class wants a non-politician like Narayana Murthy to be Prez. The politicians think otherwise. So the chances of Murthy or any other non-politician getting the job are low.”
Mr. Murthy and the success of his company has inspired many young Indians to dream and think big about technology. Sixteen year old Yuvi is a blogger, who is clearly inspired by the technology revolution in India. When he is not at school he is busy coding, mucking around with his digital camera and blogging about it. Here is a link to his post about Photocommuting and he hints that he is working on a project that is under wraps, or in stealth mode as they often like to label it in Silicon Valley.
Forget blogging, what abut Skype?  Kumar's post on Skype is a great reminder of how quickly  new technologies are being adopted by people around the world. In his post How Skype Captured India, he writes:
“That is when it hit me: how Skype has entered the life of so many Indians.
So here we are again, using a product because it's free, useful (actually, vital, to some), and untouched by politicians. But not really sure of who the providers are, and privacy issues. So I did some research on these issues.”
And, what Kumar discover? This age old adage that you have heard repeated many times, right place at the right time.”Skype had better timing. And marketing. And has captured India.”
Thumbnail picture courtesy Esthr.