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His immense contribution to the ICT industry at home can be gauged by the touching
tribute paid to him by India’s Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Communications and IT,
Pramod Mahajan.While lamenting his loss,Mahajan declared that is was Dewang Mehta
who had been the “real” IT minister of India!
Besides a dream for the software industry, Mehta had a blueprint for the IT industry and
how it could be used effectively to change the lives of India’s teeming millions. He wanted
the benefits of IT to peter down to the grass root levels and his favorite slogan, “roti, kapada,
makan, bandwidth and bijli” epitomized the needs of the emerging 21st century Indian.
Had he lived to enjoy his next birthday, he might even have donned the mantle of a
politician to achieve the above mentioned goals. He was a man who believed he could
touch the life of the common person.
He believed he could change the world, and true to his word, he did.
In this book, we have attempted to bring together some of Dewang Mehta’s thoughts on
paper. NASSCOM, which has been faithfully recording these writings, has enabled us
to reproduce them as they appeared in print, often unchanged by editors and escaping
deletion by diligent copy desks.
We also have a section on some of the special tributes that were presented to Dewang
Mehta at his death. We hope these contributions will help you understood a little more
about the man and his extraordinary work.
n
vinita chawla
NEW DELHI AUGUST 2002
