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December 10, 1998

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Brain masala: US anti-nukes are frying brains. Now IIT's been refused renewal of a software license.Brain masala: US anti-nukes are frying brains. Now IIT's been refused renewal of a software license. The US Department of Commerce has struck at the computer centre of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, by refusing to renew a permit to import a particular type of American software even though the centre is not covered by US sanctions.

Email this story to a friend. The curbs cover only the departments of physics, aerospace engineering and space technology in IIT.

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Head of the computer centre Dipan Ghosh has been quoted as saying that the institute was informed about the American decision last week by NIIT Limited, Pune.

NIIT is marketing the American software, 'Ansys', which is essentially being used for carrying out analysis of different structures.

NIIT Zonal Manager R Sampath confirmed the US decision. The 'Ansys' software is mainly used by Bombay IIT's mechanical and civil engineering departments.

"We are shocked by the US decision,'' an IIT professor said.

Ghosh said IIT ordered the software in July 1996 for about Rs 450,000 under a perpetual licence. He said there was no difficulty in renewing the licence last year. The permit was to expire on October 31 this year. On October 20, Ghosh said, NIIT faxed a US Commerce Department document that wanted him to given an undertaking that the software would not be utilised either for developing nuclear weapons or simulating nuclear explosions.

The fax also wanted him to declare that the software would not be exported either to Pakistan or China. "I gave all these undertakings, faxed it back to NIIT which in turn sent it to the US Department of Commerce,'' he said.

After waiting for a month and a half, Ghosh was telephonically informed by NIIT that the US Department of Commerce had decided not to renew the permit for the software.

"We felt unhappy about their decision because this software has no military applications at all,'' Ghosh said.

However, he is optimistic that IIT would be able to tide over the problem by working on an indigenous software.

Ghosh said IIT also plans to examine the legal aspect of the refusal because it has paid about Rs 450,000 for a perpetual licence.

According to an IIT professor, the software is popular with students. "It helped to trigger a thought process in their minds and was part of an informal learning exercise,'' he said.

After the Pokhran tests, the US government had refused visas to a large number of IIT students. The US consular officers in Bombay also refused visa to a professor who had been invited for an important conference.

- Compiled from the Indian media

Earlier:

  • Chopping off chips
    Seven scientists are expelled from semiconductor labs in the US. How will this impact India's IT-centric future?

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