As in the last ten years, this year too a distinguished panel se lected the winners of DQ Awards. The chairman and managing director of the Bharti Group, Sunil Bharti Mittal, presided over the panel. Panel members included Nasscom president Kiran Karnik, Hero Honda’s CIO S R Balasubramanian, Delhi Government principal secretary for IT S Regunathan, Rediff CEO Ajit Balakrishnan, SSI chairman and CEO Kalpathi S Suresh, CyberMedia managing director Pradeep Gupta and CyberMedia Publications’ editor-in-chief Shyam Malhotra.

The first round of deliberations on nominations for the DQ Awards was done through e-mail. This was followed by a panel meeting that was held at the India Habitat Center (IHC) in New Delhi. At the IHC, the final list was discussed, using supporting data provided by the DQ research team. After the first elimination round, discussions were held, and three of the total 12 names were shortlisted as contenders for the IT Man of the Year Award. The next round of discussion dwelt on the achievements of each contender—their track record in the last 12 months, contributions to the company stakeholders and to society. This round saw two left in the fray. After much discussion and deliberation, the panel unanimously named Deepak Puri as IT Man of the Year 2003.

Selection Parameters for Nominations The nominee should have been associated with the IT industry for a reasonable period of time The nominee should have been the head of an organization or the leader of an organization The nominee should have contributed directly or indirectly to the general growth and development of the Indian IT industry The nominee should have ensured beneficial growth of his or her organization The nominee should be regarded for the highest standards of ethics and responsible conduct If the nominee has already been awarded IT Man of the Year, he/she cannot be considered for the award for the next three years

For the Lifetime Achievement Award, the panel unanimously zeroed in on Dr Vijay Bhatkar. And the panel was in perfect sync while awarding the ‘Pathbreaker Award’ to Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala—for his efforts in ushering a communication revolution in rural India by using low-cost and India-specific technologies.

Dq ‘IT Man of the Year’ Gallery 1993 N Vittal 1994 Ashok Soota 1995 Shiv Nadar 1996 Narayana N R Murth 1997 Dewang Mehta 1998 R S Pawar 1999 Azim H Premji 2000 B Ramalinga Raju 2001 Pramod Mahajan 2002 Sunil Mittal Bharti

Lifetime Contribution 1995 F C Kolhi 1996 N Seshagiri 1997 Prof V Rajaraman 1998 Prof H N Mahabala 1999 Major Gen A Balasubrahmaian 2000 DR S Ramani 2001 Dewang Mehta 2002 Sam Pitroda

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