Rajiv Gandhi: The founding father of the Technological era in modern India 

20 Aug 2022 Rajiv Gandhi: The founding father of the Technological era in modern India 

Context : 

Today, on 20 Aug, our nation is paying humble tribute to Rajiv Gandhi, the founder of the technological revolution in India on his 78th birth anniversary 

 Introduction : 

Rajiv Gandhi, a legend Indian political leader and ex-prime minister of India led the foundation of technological development in India. He was the youngest prime minister of India and He was also awarded Bharat Ratna. During his time, the congress party had won 401 seats in the Loksabha election out of 508 which was the most significant victory with a huge margin (land slide victory) of any political party in the history of India. He served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989

Achievement of Rajiv Gandhi

• Rajiv Gandhi not only led the foundation of technological development in India but he did several drastic reforms in the political system of India. During his time, the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18 (61st constitutional amendment 1989). He also accepted the recommendations of the Balwant Raj Mehta committee and the way for the Panchayati Raj system was paved through 73rd and 74th amendments of the Indian constitution, however, it was passed during the period of Narsimha Rao . 
• Through Panchayati Raj System, Rajeev Gandhi wanted to transfer the political power to maximum people up the village level. 
• To protect the political party from further defection, the 10th  schedule was inserted in the Indian constitution (52nd constitutional amendment 1985 ). In fact, through the laws against defection, he wanted to establish purity and ethical values in the Indian political system. However, in modern days defection has become a tradition. Horse trading is now common. through the central agencies, the Government successfully compel the leaders of  the opposition political parties to defection 
• Rajiv Gandhi is hailed as the ‘Father of Information Technology and Telecom Revolution of India’. In fact, he must be said as the architect of digital India. To promote technology, he established the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) in August 1984. After the establishment of C- Dot, we see drastic progress in the telecom sector in India. This institute revolutionized the communication network in the towns and even villages of India. Many PCOs were opened to connect the people from the rest of the world 
• The establishment of the MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited) was another landmark during the period of Rajiv Gandhi. He appointed  Sam Pitroda as an advisor to him. Sam Pitroda brought revolutionary changes in every field telecommunications, water, literacy, immunization, dairy, and oil seeds with the help of technology. India had been connected to the world now 
• Rajiv knew the role of education in national development. So he brought National Policy on Education (NPE) in 1986. The object of the NPE was to modernize and expand higher education programs across the country. Many schools, colleges, and universities were opened. residential schools called Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, under the central government, were set up to bring out the best of rural talent. these schools provide free residential education to the children of the village 

Conclusion 

Rajiv was a visionary leader of India. His achievement in the field of education, political reforms, and education are landmarks in the history of India 

Yojna ias daily current affairs eng med 20th August

Rahul Sharma