Talking about Doordarshan

I would like to start to answer this question in reverse order, how my role got evolved year by year. Being in IT since the very beginning in Doordarshan, I joined Doordarshan in 1987. I was responsible for driving the IT division at Doordarshan. Our IT division has created a network across India also created lots of applications. I remember IT was not a familiar word those days and people was not accepted it either. We can say that was the initial time of the IT industry, still, during those days, we created IT solutions which are still running in Doordarshan. We use to run many projects in Doordarshan. There was a time every day one loop of transmitter got installed in India. So, we had thousands of projects up and running across the nation. We were responsible to monitor those projects there expenditures and progress reports. We also developed applications that can monitor every expenditure concerning every project like HR management, Payroll, and all such which involve resources and improve the efficiency of work. Those operations made me understand about how the operation and delicacy of every operation of how things are executed in the system. Also, I was fortunate enough that I got the opportunity to work with the top management people of Doordarshan. That groomed me a lot, where I got the chance of interacting with the top management in understanding their thought process, foresight about the IT industry. I joined Doordarshan when I was 21.  So, this wholesome experience in Doordarshan makes me a more mature person at a very young age.

Recalling about working in CBI

In the CBI, I was allotted with the responsibility of complete systems division and all the computerized CBI functioning along with the work of the cyber-crime division as well. The IT division made CBI the first organization in India which has a facility of lodging all the FIR’s completely computerized across all the 70 branches. It was also a huge project to handle, and we tried to implement a 7 layer data center, which was wholly created in NIC that is a much-secured data center. Also, we had established connectivity between CBI India and Interpol in France. While working in CBI, I visited many countries and handled many cybercrime-related projects. We installed the first cyber forensic lab in the CBI Headquarters’ located in the capital of India. We developed the network monitoring system. Forensic system into the CBI which helps us to recover all the data that is formatted with malicious intention but though it can be recovered by the technology that we have implemented in the time of 2002. So, this experience of working in CBI make me more technocrat and able to maintain the policies and planning procedures in CBI.

Firstly, when commencing any facility anyone should need to first make sure their HIS system has to be robust and be able to handle all the load of that facility. So that the application should not become the show stopper in the operations of the facility or interrupt the whole process. The IT system that is being implemented should be sturdy enough to handle all the operations of the facility and take care of the monetary aspect.

It is very particular for me that the foremost thing that I do in the morning is that I plan my whole day’s work. I structure my day through my calendar, so when I take a look at that I will be aware of my responsibilities for the whole day. This is how one’s productivity and efficiency increased. These practices make you a disciplined person and also people around you start to do the same.

Another good practice that I have applied in my life is that I always keep a notebook and a pen with me and try to note down every important thing. I jot down every activity of mine every day and that is a very forceful activity that I do myself regularly.

So, all these habits are a must in my life and I do follow them rigorously and I swear by them which helps me to be more energetic and productive for my work.

My answer for this question would be influenced by the National Authority of India, while working there and now being an outsider I saw many good initiatives being taken by the Indian government. For example, an initiative to integrate all the records of all the health facilities like hospitals, laboratories, and health centers data should be integrated into one whole IT system. So that if any hospital wants to check a patient’s case history they can certainly do that but yes with the patient’s consent.

So, in that face yes a lot many initiatives have been taken and a lot more can be expected to be implemented by the authorities. In my opinion, if all the initiatives would be directed in the right way Indian Healthcare System can become a global leader in the Health Sector. And this will create an equilibrium in the health care ecosystem and the business which will give clear visibility of the data to the government to create the national healthcare policies.

While working in CBI, my designation was as CISO which was Chief Information and Security Officer. Though working as CISO I was responsible for the overall infrastructure of the IT infrastructure and application implemented also for the forensics and cybercrime division.  As I have mentioned earlier that the technology was not that advance in 2002 and 2004 as compared to today, though we had done good work and implemented good practices that are still way ahead if we compare to that time.