From village life to telecom maven, Sam Pitroda talks tech at IOC Australia’s Republic Day event
On 26 January in the leafy suburb of Doncaster East, Melbourne, the Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) Australia organised it first formal “meet and greet” event—the occasion being Indian Republic Day as well as Australia Day.
Sam Pitroda, often referred as father of the Indian telecom revolution, and who has served as adviser to various Indian prime ministers, was the keynote speaker.
The event was beautifully compered by Jeyashree Nishtala (NAB/Richmond Tigers), along with Shyam Avatapalli and Vishnu Mohandas.
The Indian National anthem was melodiously sung by singing sensation Chondryma Chakrobortti (IEC Finalist—Young Executive 2017); while the Australian Anthem was sung by Robert Sebastian from IOC.
Former Ministerial Adviser Nitin Gupta; Cranbourne Socialite Aravind Putta; Ravi Bhatia (former CEO—iPrimus); AFL ambassadors—Roshni Sharma, Sonika Sha, and Rachna Ahuja Miglani; Neelam Chaurasia (ANZ/AIBC); Priyanka Singh (Bikram Yoga); Viv Prasad (ACHRH); and various other prominent stakeholders in the India–Australia relationship attended the networking function.
The event was also attended by representatives from the local Pakistani, Afghani, Nepali, Bhutanese, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi, Fiji Indian, Mauritian and South African communities.
Mr Pitroda talked about the journey of telecom industry in India, the initial challenges and his own life experiences of growing up in a small village, moving to USA, and later coming back to India to help put together the telecom infrastructure in India for masses.
He also did a “Q and A” where most of the questions came from IT professionals. He shared his visions on the future of IT, and how the world would look in few years with the way current advances are being made in the technology.
IOC member Manoj Sheoron briefly spoke about the vision and plans of IOC Australia in near future, while the vote of thanks was delivered by Dr Bhatia.
The IOC is now looking forward to hosting Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Another insightful event to watch out for.
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