A name from the past reappears

I was in for a surprise when I leafed through the latest issue of Fortune magazine. In fact, a double surprise. In an article on technologies for the real world was the incredible Lifestraw. Of course, that was no surprise.

Also, on the list was the equally incredible the Tata project (http://www.tataliteracy.org) to combat illiteracy. The write up mentioned that the man behind the project was the 82 year old Fakhir Chand Kohli. Now, that was a name that I have not seen mentioned for a while. For the new generation of desis who have been brought up Infosys, NRN, World is Flat etc... FC Kohli may not mean anything. In fact, I would not be surprised if folks in the Indian software companies don't know him. But, FC Kholi is the man who started it all. Widely acknowledged as the father of the Indian software industry, he started this revolution about 25+ years before the world became "flat". I am glad to see he is still blazing new trails.

Attention in the literacy area is long overdue. According to the website we have over 350 million illiterate people (about 30% of the population). And, the government and politicians has consistently promoted secondary education at the expense of primary education. I guess it helps them to keep a large section of the population illiterate and easily convinced by their gimmicks and giveaways.