Nandan speaks babu lingo
By Techgirl

Late June, 2009 the Government of India announced that it had appointed Infosys co-founder and current co-chairman, Nandan Nilekani, as Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of Indian with a Cabinet rank

Many feel that such a Unique Identification Project would help to streamline public and private processes and make out lives easier.  There is much merit in such an argument.  Whether it can be implemented is a different proposition.  The PAN Card (permanent account number) has been around since 2005 and is a pre-requisite for tax returns as well as major bank transactions.  But till today, less than 75 million Indians have a PAN card.  The Unique Identification Project will face the same challenges of the PAN project.

Is Nandan the right man for the job? Most agree the Nandan has the requisite management, technical and political skills to do the job.  Like many Infosys managers, he has a reputation of being scrupulously honest.

Did any beggar, labourer, waiter, fisherman, housewife or any blue collar worker feel that they had an ‘acknowledged existence’ once they were given a PAN Card.  Did they feel more ‘connected’ to the Indian state?

Would a poor Indian have an ‘acknowledged existence’ if the Nandan Nilekani project gave them a unique number? Nandan seems to think so.  In his recent book, Nandan wrote

“
Creating a national register of citizens, assigning them a unique ID and linking them across a set of national databases, like the PAN and passport, can have far-reaching effects in delivering public services better and targeting services more accurately. Unique identification for each citizen also ensures a basic right — the right to ‘an acknowledged existence’ in the country, without which much of a nation’s poor can be nameless and ignored, and governments can draw a veil over large-scale poverty and destitution.
“

When Nandan was first offered the Government job, I did wonder for a minute how such an eminent manager from the private sector would deal with the pedantic politicians and paper pushing babus.  But reading the paragraph above, I feel he is well versed in the bureaucratic jargon needed for the public service.

(Techgoss had run the following article on June 27, 2009)

Why Nandan left Infosys
By Techgirl

While most media are reporting it as the brilliant billionaire and co-founder of Infosys, Nandan Nilekani, leaving the company to serve the Government and public of India, there is more to it then meets the eye.

An IIT graduate, Nandan gave up a secure job to join Narayana Murthy to start Infosys which has become one of the most respected companies in the world.

While at IIT, he met his future wife Rohini who has devoted her life to social causes. While Domain-b.com interviewed Nandan and better half Rohini, they quizzed the couple about their romance.  According to Domain.b

“
In one of those competitions he met Rohini, his future wife, who believes in similar values. Quiz him further on his romancing days, and Nilekani immediately goes into a shell.

But Rohini, a former journalist-turned-author of Stillborn, a medical thriller, is a little more forthcoming. ''Nandan and I met when he came to my college, Elphinstone, as part of the IIT quiz team. We had common friends, so our relationship grew steadily,'' she recalls.
“

It was only with the support of his young fiancée Rohini that Nandan joined Infosys.

Like all good Indian husbands, Nandan knows the importance of keeping wife happy.  Rohini told Domain-b: “Nandan does not think of himself as a family head, I hope. It is a joint responsibility between us to head this family.”

This week, the Indian Government announced that Nandan has been appointed as Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of Indian with a Cabinet rank.  Nandan will leave Infosys in July 2009.

Yesterday, Mid-Day did a puff piece on Nandan Nilekani after his recent Government appointment.  But his wife seemed a bit reserved this week. Rohini told (or did not) the Mid-Day reporter

“
His teachers remember him as bright and well-behaved, generous, concerned and cultured. And others who know him well agree though wife Rohini was a little more guarded in her response to his new posting. "I don't know anything about this and wouldn't want to comment on it," she said.
“

What does it mean when Rohini said she does not know anything about her hubby’s new job?  Was she just having a bad day?  Or does she dislike Mid-Day? Or being a software wife, she knows the Government Project may never be completed and so reserved comment. Rohini, you have to save your husband from the clutches of these politicians and babus.

Anyway, if you need to know the real reason that Nandan left Infosys read my scoop at my satire blog.  You will be shocked to know why Infosys let Nandan go.

Techgoss note:  Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog http://techgirltalk.blogspot.com