10 tech triumphs

The technology of the times was reflected in India Today as the best brains of the nation turned their knowledge into real applications. The Rs 45,000-car was a tad more expensive than planned, but went on to rule the roads. India got a grip on nuclear power, for both energy and diplomacy.
Hi-tech gadgets reached the masses as the communications revolution kicked off.Aspace programme took India to where it had never been before with an impactor carrying the tricolour landing on the moon. In medicine,new frontiers were breached with every passing year. India Today was there every time,as science showed the way to a better future as Indian hospitals attracted global patients, as ordinary citizens connected with each other and the world, and as the Internet reached handheld devices and back pockets.
1. SMALL IS BIG
Maruti to Tata Nano
In 1983, the Maruti 800 revolutionised the way India travelled. Two years later, it was the largestselling car in India, recalled India Today in 2003.
Almost 25 years later, when Tata drove the Nano on to the stage, it was clear that Indian innovation had shifted to a higher orbit, noted India Today in January 2008.
Clearly, good things continue to come in small packages.
2. THE RIGHT CALL
Telecommunications
The modernisation of telephone systems got underway in 1986 when Mahanagar Telephone Nigam was established to operate systems in Bombay and Delhi.
There's good news for subscribers: the waiting list of 3.7 lakh in the two cities could disappear by 1990, noted India Today in 1986.
The current situation is best described by this 2006 report: Telecommunication has gone from a total of five million telephone lines in 1991 to five million telephones every month.
3. BLAST FROM THE PAST
Nuclear Energy
India's first atomic explosion, at Pokharan,Rajasthan,on May 18, 1974, may be the last. It raised so much political dust that it has taken three years and a change of government in Delhi to bring it down to earth .
This was the mood of the nation in 1974, captured by India Today. In May 1998, India conducted five nuclear tests at the Pokhran test range demonstrating its tremendous capability in nuclear technology and science.


Spelling more development, 10 years later, the Nuclear Suppliers Group lifted a ban which denied India from accessing the global nuclear market for 34 years.
4. TECHING THE CAKE
Biotechnology
Biotechnology can be used to increase productivity with cash crops and a whole range of vegetables. Experts believe this tissue culturebased business has enormous potential. That was India Today's take on biotechnology in September 1991. It got better, as an August 2006 report counted that 2,378 biotechnology patent applications were filed in India between 1995 and 2003 .
5. WORLD CALLING
IT sector
India churns out two million English-speaking graduates each year, employable at wages 80 per cent less than their Western counterparts. No wonder, said India Today in 2002, that it is the new global IT capital with over 336 call centres springing up in the past five years, providing jobs to over 1.5 million people.
6. DOCTOR ON DUTY
Medical Transcription
Would you have thought that a satellite and some enterprising Indians could change the meaning of a visit to the doctor? This is what medical transcription enabled. Doctors in the US just pick up the phone and everything they say is picked up by companies here, who transcribe the data, explained India Today in August 1997, when the technology was launched.This made studying medical reports and prescribing medication much easier.
7. CAUSE TO PAWS
DNA fingerprinting
In 1989, science presented mankind with another gift.
It enabled parents to know if their child was truly theirs and also became a foolproof way of solving murders. Nature's photocopying machine, DNA, kept its secrets well for centuries. Scientists are now beginning to crack its blueprint, said an India Today report in March 1996 about DNA fingerprinting. The Naina Sahni murder in 1995 set the ball rolling for the technology.
Now, apart from forensics, it is involved in the ambitious study of genetic diversity among Indian tribals along with the Anthropological Survey of India. Similarly, the DNA typing of animals is underway in order to conserve endangered species, said a report in August 2008.
8. NET MEET
Video-conferencing
Video-conferencing became popular in 2000. In 200, India Today quoted Saurabh Gupta, state informatics officer, Bihar: There are many good teachers but students of other universities can't gain from their knowledge. So, we use this facility.
9. WEB OF WONDERS
WiMax Wireless
It allows cellphone users to download data at 2.5-3 MBPS while the current data download capacity is only 134-256 KBPS, noted India Today in 2005 when this technology was about to enter the Indian markets.
Also known as the last-mile connection, the broadband technology extended the benefits of connectivity to rural areas and long distances.
10. SIZE MATTERS
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology was 2001's top scientific achievement, said India Today in its January 2002 issue. A nanometre a billionth of a metre was the smallest, yet the biggest breakthrough the year could have gotten. The tiny miracles were no longer a matter of science fantasy.