WONDER WARE
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
By Uday Mahurkar
India Today
February 18, 2010
As an 18-year-old he ran away from his house in Dhoraji, Gujarat, to
Mumbai and found work at a colour print studio. He stayed there for
10 years, mopping floors apart from work and studies. A fast learner,
he soon established his own colour print studio in Ahmedabad,
eventually turning it into a top class software development company.
Today, Ramesh Sojitra, 44, has come up with a mapping software
described as "revolutionary" by none other than former Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman R. Madhavan Nair. The software
is not only a big help to the Indian armed forces but is also making
the task of governance, by mapping India, easier and cheaper.
[Caption] Sojitra (standing on the left) with Soni
The ban imposed by the developed world on India following the Pokhran
blasts left the country stranded when it came to analysing data
recovered from satellites. India didn't have the software for
analysing data from its own satellites, and the developed countries
refused to supply it. It was then that ISRO decided to invite tenders
from Indian software companies and it was Sojitra's Scanpoint
Geomatics Ltd (SGL) that won the tender.
Today, the Integrated GIS and Image Processing Software (IGIS)--
India's first-ever integrated GIS and image processing software--is
being used by many government departments, including revenue,
forests, power (the software can precisely detect the points where
power is being stolen from transmission lines) and urban development.
As Nair remarked: "IGIS is unique as it can help analyse and process
data from Indian as well as foreign satellites and aircraft. It can
revolutionise application of space and GIS data for national
purposes. It also ends India's dependence on foreign countries." The
SGL team, including its Technology Director Chirag Soni, worked for
seven years in partnership with ISRO before coming up with their
software solution. Sojitra, the son of a middle-level farmer, says:
"We took it up as a mission for the nation and that is why we
succeeded." IGIS is superior to foreign software and cheaper.
Imported ones cost around Rs 25 lakh, have a separate GIS and image
processing system while IGIS is a combination of both and costs about
Rs 12 lakh. One more home-grown feather in the Indian IT cap.
More at:
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/84688/Wonder+ware.html
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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