B K Syngal: The man who brought the internet to India
As Brijendra K Syngal was to recount later, they were all complaining about the pornography easily available on the net. What is this ashleelta (a Hindi word for vulgarity) that you have brought into the country? they asked.
Syngal shot off a brusque reply to his powerful critics.
"Sir, my job is to provide connectivity. It is not my responsibility what an individual uses that connectivity for. If 2% or 3% of people use it to watch pornography, I am not interested. I am interested in serving the 97% of the population who are interested in getting linkages to global knowledge."
Syngal, who died aged 82 earlier this week, was known as "the father of the internet" in India.
As the head of VSNL, a formerly state-owned monopoly for international telecom, Syngal launched the internet in five Indian cities - Delhi, Bombay, Kolkata (then Calcutta), Chennai (then Madras) and Pune - on 15 August, 1995.
Poste similare
