Could India have given Internet to the world?

‪@wdfindiaDelhi‬
Could India have given Internet to the World?
In the last episode, I narrated the story of Birth of Computers in All India Radio & Doordarshan, Ministry of I & B in 1982. I described the idea put forward by Shri P. S. Dhagat, the then Engineer in Chief, All India Radio which led to Dr. H. O. Srivastava and his team’s efforts in getting the computers and installing in AIR Headquarters and the zonal offices and networking using AIRNET. We developed a number of applications such as Personnel Management Information System (PMIS), Project Management System (PMS), Tape Archives Management System (TAMS), Inventory Management System (IMS), Replacement Management System (RMS) and many more. I shall describe a few of these applications that got appreciated and awarded. I am providing the link for the previous video below.
In this exciting journey, the help came from a number of officers namely, Shri S. S. Verma, then Director General, Shri S. P. Bhatikar, Engineer in Chief, Shri R. C. Sinha, Joint Secretary & Shri L. N. Suri (Director Finance) in Ministry of I &B and many more.
The computer center was headed by Dr. H. O. Srivastava with a small but very dedicated team.
A few very innovative works were undertaken which included coverage of Lok Sabha (parliament) election results, use of computers in news room, computer modeling for devising a theorem for replacement vs management system in Broadcasting organizations etc.
The most innovative use was of linking computers using satellite for data transmission. In those days, the protocols were still in development. All India Radio used INSAT 1B for distribution of news originated at Delhi to all its stations in the country. Launched on August 30, 1983, INSAT 1B was operated in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 74 degrees east.
Our Unix computers apart from the AIR headquarters, were installed in zonal offices. Our first data transmission trial was done between Delhi & Kolkata in 1985-86, using INSAT1 B as carrier. The nodes at AIR Headquarter in Delhi and East Zone in Kolkata were chosen since, the computer centers and the Broadcast studios were in the same premises and the satellite link could easily be extended to the computer center. The g-protocol of UUCP was used to transfer information in an error-free form. We were able to send file/ receive file/ upload commands and hang up. It was a great success. However, since the overseas transmission was in the domain of OCS (a Government of India department) which was not permitted and there was lack of funding support, the experiment was not done further.
The Research for data transmission in US and Europe was undertaken at the same time and the timeline for Internet transmission globally is compared in the diagram.
The research for Broadcasting in the cyberspace (Internet) was continued and published by Dr. Srivastava, in IEEE (doi.org/10.110...) in 1996. The same year (late 1996), John Woodell published “dancing Baby” on web. Further research was undertaken and several papers were published. These are mentioned below.
Srivastava H. O., Broadcasting to Netcasting, IETE Technical Review, Vol. 15, No. 6, Nov.-Dec. 1998, pp.445-447.
Srivastava H. O. and Jain R. C., On-Line Broadcast Archives for Interactive Video, IEEE Transaction on Broadcasting, Vol. 43, No. 3, pp. 288-308, Sep.1997. doi 10.1109/11.632930.
Srivastava H. O., System Architecture for On-Line Broadcast Archives, IETE Technical Review, Vol. 15, No. 6, Nov.-Dec. 1998, pp.429-433. doi 10.1080/02564602.1998.11416779.
Srivastava H. O. The Fascinating World of Interactive Video, Telematics India, pp.19-20, Nov. 1997.
Thank you.
Link to earlier video:
• Birth of Computer in A...