It was meant to be a superfast data network connecting hundreds of educational institutes, private companies and public corporations. An expanse of bandwidth that was expected to do to stimulate knowledge-based networks the way early Internet did in the US. But, in modern, fast-moving times, it might perhaps be even more imperative to have such a network in India now.

Being based on fiber optics, it was to free data networks totally from the telephone system. It offered a great many people high technology at low cost, owing to the economies of scale. Well, that was what it was all meant to be...

The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government's multi-million dollar deal with the world-famous Carnegie Mellon University, signed on October 16, 1998. The project was even bestowed a swadeshi name -- Sankhya Vahini (Sanskrit for data carrier). But it now faces flak from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a section of the Bharatiya Janata Party itself and opposition politicians, especially from the Left. Even members of Vajpayee's cabinet are divided on the project.

"Everything is fishy about the project," said one RSS mandarin, adding that it could end up like the telecom scandal that hit the Congress government a few years ago.

Left parties allege that government accepted the project due to pressure from three men -- Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and two eminent US-based Indian scientists -- Dr V S Arunachalam and Dr Raj Reddy -- who now work at Carnegie Mellon.

George Iype met officials in Delhi and Hyderabad, spoke to RSS leaders and opposition politicians and sought the views of those behind Sankhya Vahini -- Naidu, Dr Reddy and Dr Arunachalam. And returned with some idea why the country's first-ever high-tech data stream is being damned.

Next: Something fishy...

Design: Rajesh Karkera

Something fishy... | A security threat | Case for the defense
The Dr Arunachalam interview - I | The Dr Arunachalam interview II

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