Karnik is Dataquest IT Man of the Year 2005

Kiran Karnik, President of Nasscom, the apex body for the

software industry, has been named the 'Dataquest IT Man of the Year 2005' in

a glittering function held in New Delhi.

While the Lifetime Award 2005 has been conferred on Hemant

Sonawala for his contributions to the growth of the domestic IT industry in

India.

Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom receiving the award fromS Ramadorai, CEO, TCS.

The Pathbreaker Award for 2005 went to R Chandrashekhar,

Joint Secretary (e-governance) in the Government of India's Department of IT

(Ministry of Communications & IT), for his key role in laying the

foundations of e-Governance in India.

The panel of Dataquest Awards comprised of S Ramadorai, CEO

of TCS and Chairman of the Panel; Dr DB Phatak of IIT Bombay; Deepak Ghaisas,

CEO and CFO of i-Flex Solutions; PK Vohra, Head of IT, ICICI Bank; Lalit Sawhney,

Head of IT, Reliance Infocomm; K Jaishankar, CEO, Ingram Micro India; Neelam

Dhawan, MD, Microsoft India and Pradeep Gupta, CMD, CyberMedia.

"Kiran Karnik has led from the front while fighting the

outsourcing backlash and helping give the software industry a fresh lease of

life," said the special DQ Awards panel that announced the awards. "Karnik

has lent his support to the software services industry in its most trying times

and relentlessly championed India's cause in the outsourcing backlash debate

with his hallmark sincerity, candor and conviction," the panel added.

Announcing the unanimous choice of Hemant Sonawala for the

Lifetime Achievement Award, the panel noted, "Hemant Sonawala is one of the

founders of India's domestic IT industry. He has been a forerunner in

introducing high technology products in India through strategic alliances and

has essayed the role of a pioneer and an entrepreneur in the industry."

R Chandrashekhar was given the DQ Pathbreaker Award 2005.

"R Chandrashekhar has initiated a model of public-private partnership,

which is now being replicated to drive the country's e-governance agenda and

has lead landmark initiatives while operating within the procedural confines of

the government set-up," said the panel.

Published by CyberMedia, Dataquest is India's oldest and

most respected IT industry publication. Every year the Dataquest Awards are

given to felicitate the persons who made important contributions to the IT

industry. This was the 12th year for the Dataquest Awards. The awardees are

chosen by a panel of special judges-primarily IT industry chieftains and CIOs

from user enterprises-from a shortlist prepared by and deliberated over at the

panel meeting.

A few criteria are followed in the process:

• 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, the nominee cannot be considered for the award for the next three
  
  years

DQW News Bureau, New Delhi