India's Y2K Chief Says No Cause For Worry

Updated 12:28 PM ET August 10, 1999By Narayanan Madhavan

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is unlikely to face major worries related to the Year 2000 bug in computers as key government units and state-run firms are already compliant or racing toward safety, a top monitoring official said Tuesday.

S. Ramakrishnan, senior director in the Department of Electronics and national Y2K coordinator, told Reuters in an interview that power, surface transport and civil aviation were the key sectors the government was keenly monitoring progress.

"There is nothing to worry at all," he said.

The Y2K problem, or the Millennium Bug, can occur in computers that denote years only by their last two digits.

Written at a time when computer memories were expensive, this programming deficiency, unless rectified, can cause valuable data loss when the next year dawns.

Ramakrishnan said 90 percent of the compliance was expected to be over by September in the power sector, with a minor spillover to October. However, state electricity boards (SEBs) needed some watching, he said.

"In the SEBs, reviews are going on. Results will be known after the review. It will take about a fortnight. Some are progressing very well. Some are adequately progressing. On some there is no information," he said.

"But with the focus happening just now, I think SEBs also will get on top (of the problem)," Ramakrishnan added.

There were also some gaps in fixing the Y2K problem at the embedded microchip level, Ramakrishnan said.

"Everybody is tackling the embedded systems. One can't say we have got over the problem. In one month, we will have a better picture," he said.

"Prima-facie, the cause for alarm is coming down," he said.

A key official told Reuters Monday that more than 50 power plants, with a generation capacity of 15,000 megawatts, facing potential danger from the millennium bug were working to turn compliant by October 31.

Ramakrishnan said the civil aviation sector, including cargo handling and other aspects considered part of the aviation infrastructure, was already compliant. "They are saying they have fixed it. We have not done the audit yet," he said.

The state-run railway system was also close to compliance, he said. Asked about safety-sensitive signaling systems, he said only about 10 among 7,000 points needed compliance of which seven were already compliant.

"It is a minor issue, not so much dependent on computers," he said.

The petroleum sector was also expected to finish its compliance work soon, he said. "On the whole the petroleum sector is progressing well. They will keep the deadline of September 1999," he said.

The country's nuclear power plants, considered a potential hazard in the event of Y2K problem, were already insulated, Ramakrishnan said.

"By the end of August they will be compliant. They are following IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) guidelines anyway. Safety is guaranteed," he said.

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Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), August 10, 1999

Answers

Yesiree Bob,

"NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is unlikely to face major worries related to the Year 2000 bug in computers as key government units and state-run firms are already compliant or racing toward safety, a top monitoring official said Tuesday"

Could this be the same folks that control the trains? Racing toward safety indeed, with a bang I might add.

-- For (your@info.com), August 10, 1999.

Yep, there was a train wreck in India recently. Therefore their computers will mishandle dates generally. Excellent logic. Does this train wreck also mean the sun will rise in the morning?

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), August 10, 1999.

... key government units and state-run firms are already compliant or racing toward safety.

Don'tha just love that kind of verbiage?

So, what is it? One system compliant and 4,893,929 "racing"? :-)

-- Lane Core Jr. (elcore@sgi.net), August 10, 1999.

Toast. No, burnt toast.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), August 11, 1999.