Good intentions are usually not enough reason for popularity,
and they are no protection against notoriety. Beni Prasad Verma is one person
whom time will continue to judge for many decades to follow. Whatever be the
verdict, his impact on the telecom scenario of India can still be felt. As the
communications minister, Beni Prasad Verma is reputed to have turned down a Rs
600 crore telecom soft loan from the Asian Development Bank, which was supposed
to wire the backward rural areas of eastern UP. When scouting for a WLL
technology, Verma had the opportunity either to go for the homegrown solutions
being promoted by Dr Jhunjhunwala, or to go for the options available elsewhere.
Verma had good reasons for not considering Jhunjhunwala's solutions, but if he
had pushed it through, the face of India's telecom scenario would have been
different. In either way, his impact on Indian telecom has been great. They jury
is still out on what that impact was.
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