Memoirs of Dr Vijay Kumar (E) 1961 UOR

Life outside the campus: The life at the then UOR was well protected, having not to worry about boarding and lodging. After going out in the practical world, one had to take care of these infrastructures. Not having been groomed on Dos and Donts, one tends to make mistakes and end up in a chaotic conditions leading to even falling ill. I would strongly advise the outgoing students to be given a briefing on these as they step out of the campus life. I joined the Department of Lighthouses and Lightships at Delhi, my parents being at Delhi at that time. In the meantime, I had been selected for the post of Assistant Engineer in U.P.State Electricity Board. Soon I started feeling the need to join a higher post and I joined UPSEB at Kanpur in their Rihand Design Directorate. In a short while, I realized that the pay scale of UP State were lower than in Central Govt. I had also been selected for doing ME in EMD at UOR, but was in double mind. My argument was that in any case I was to take up a job even after ME, and ME did not seem to offer additional advantage. Having failed to get any other offer for a job, I zeroed-in on appearing in Engineering Services Examination conducted by UPSC. After submitting my resignation at UPSEB, I was shuttling between UOR (for ME), Kanpur/Lucknow (to get my resignation accepted) and Delhi to prepare for the UPSC exam. Finally, things worked out in my favour and I joined Indian Telecom Service (then known as Telegraph Engineering Service) in the year 1963 having lost one year in the futile but educative struggle. My suggestion to younger students is Do not pitch on one choice in the beginning and keep your choices wide open. One does not know which way the wind will blow taking you to your destination. Listen to the advice by others but do not get hooked on to any single one. I may add here that after my selection by UPSC, many of my batch mates of Electrical /Telecom Branch , decided to appear in UPSC Exam . and got selected in the next year thus losing one years seniority. The Telegraph Engineering Service belonged to the Department of Telecommunications (earlier Telegraphs). We were supposed to undergo six months theoretical training at the Training Centre at Jabalpur which was headed by an Ex-tho officer Sh Devendra K. Sangal. He was highly respected and he rose to become Secretary to the Govt. Of India. Though he never said so, in retrospect, I think he had a soft corner for ex-thos. One of my colleagues at Jabalpur Sh Ravindra Nath Goyal was also an ex-tho having passed in 1962. He also rose to become Secretary to Govt. During my entire career of thirty seven and a half years in the Govt., I see in retrospect that I had the best time in my posting at the then Telecommunications Research Centre of the DOT Headquarter. I was reluctant in joining that as I always thought that Research belonged to Post Graduates in Engineering. But I had no option but to join. I was assigned to the group developing Electronic Telephone Exchange. I would say that my earlier perception of Research proved completely

wrong as we were doing a developmental work designing the countrys first electronic exchange. It was a grand success and the Group Leader was awarded Padma Shri. Things started happening fast after this success, and massive inputs were inducted in the Project. My second interesting period was when I was on deputation to the then Department of Electronics (now Department of IT). Telephone Services had started lagging severely in meeting the growing demand. In the absence of adequate supply, load on the existing system had become unbearable and solutions were being searched to get out of the situation. Department of Electronics had become the nodal agency for any licenses, imports and policy making in all electronic matters. This encompassed Telephone Equipment also. Fresh (out of the box) thinking on the subject enabled privatization of manufacture of EPABXs and Telephone instruments. That was a landmark in the history of Telecom in India in what was considered to be the sole preserve of Govt. and its undertakings to manufacture, was allowed to be manufactured in private sector. Third interesting period was my posting as General Manager, Rajasthan Telecom Circle (co-terminus with Rajasthan State). Not having worked in this type of field posting (as it is commonly called), other officers were expecting me to fail, being envious of my earlier achievements in so-called earlier protected postings. But I had the advantage of being able to look at the situation entirely from a different perspective, being dubbed as a Research Man with no field experience. Field problems are entirely and have to deal with multifarious responsibilities like dealing with public, unions, development of network, giving new telephone connections, Billing, revenue collection, Installation of equipment etc. It is said in Govt. Departments that before you reach the post, your reputation reaches there first. Fortunately, my image was clean and I got maximum possible co-operation from officers and staff. Having worked on Electronic exchanges earlier, it was easy to get the equipment installed which had been lying unutilized for years. Fourth interesting period came when I was posted as Chief General Manager in Rajasthan Telecom Circle 5 years later. I had 16 General Managers with me spread out all over Rajasthan with 2 GMs in Head Quarter. I found that a large no. of cases were being referred to my office as in the past. The cases were getting stuck in my office. I reasoned that when General Managers are there all over, there was o reason for them to refer them to my office. It cut down the delays and my office was also trimmed down to bare minimum. There had been a tendency in the past for officers to gravitate to Jaipur, even by getting the posts diverted from outside to Jaipur. All such posts were reverted back to their original stations. The task of the Chief is to think and plan rather than get involved in day to day matters. He should lay down guide lines and leave matters to subordinates. I noticed that out of 1600 telephone exchanges in Rajasthan at that time, only 400 were having STD facility. Once such matters get into sharp focus, improvements can happen. With clear instructions, GMs started giving thrust in this area. One should not do too much

monitoring. This results in complacency. In the absence of too close monitoring, the subordinates are on alert themselves. After I became Advisor (HRD), the task was to transfer the services of 25,000 Central Govt. employees to MTNL which was a PSU to serve Delhi and Bombay, converted earlier from Central Govt. Department of Telecom. Though organizationally, a PSU had been created, the officers and staff had so far continued to be Central Govt. employees. The Unions were strong and resisted all earlier attempts. It fell on me to use my good image to discuss the matter in detail with them on all issues and the rulings so far on such subject. Soon they realized that by resisting such move, they were themselves losing lot of money. A letter was drafted after a number of discussion with the Leaders of all Unions, and after their concurrence, and approval from the competent authority, the letter was finally issued. Every one seemed to feel surprised that such a complicated and vague issue had been sorted out so smoothly. When I see this exercise in retrospect, I feel that it was due to the following reasons: 1. An image that this man will not hurt our interests, 2. Seriously getting down to the micro-details in consultation with them. Without these two elements, no exercise with just a lip service will deliver results. When I became Advisor (Production), the system of procurement of Telecom .Equipment had already been in place on healthy lines. However, year after year, the Department had to face the wrath of Public Accounts Committee for not achieving the declared targets of giving telephone connections. The standard reason given used to be non-supply of equipment in time by the various vendors. ITI, the PSU under our own Ministry also used to be at fault for late deliveries. Extensions after extensions used to be given to them as also to other vendors. In fact the Deptt was borrowing money for the targeted growth, and the money was going unutilized. Here was a case where ITI being our own PSU had to be

supported as Department itself was responsible for its performance. Thus there was a clash of interests. I believed that when it came to the delivery of equipment, no mercy need be shown. But if they needed any other help, it should not be denied. Mixing up two issues in the same breath was the cause of confusion. I am reminded of my interview at IIT Delhi for admission to the part-time Ph.D programme. One of the Professors in the interview board shrugging his shoulders said, What can research do in Telephone Department. You have lady operators and all that I could sense what he was hinting at. I said you mean there is a scandal in the Department. He said, Yes. Somehow it occurred to me and I said, The scandal being of any magnitude does have some soft spot, which if pricked will make the whole paraphernalia collapse in no time. The Head of the Interviewed board liked the answer and I was selected. The purpose of describing these is to apprise the younger generation of some interesting episodes which may help them in their career some time. May God bless the younger generation to create a stronger India.