Indira Gandhi was in power. Science was presenting new wonders in the country and the world. Ambitious Indira Gandhi wanted that India should not be left behind in this race in any way. Indira, who had visited industrial plants in America and Russia, had understood the importance of semiconductors, which were small but had magical capabilities, in 1976-77 itself. She decided that India should not be left behind in this industry.
Taiwan, America and China, which are now the leaders of the semiconductor industry, were also the leaders of the semiconductor industry at that time. America did not want to give any expertise it had to other countries under any circumstances. American Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan had also brought laws to stop the export of sensitive technology.
Let us tell you that countries like America had entered this industry soon after the end of the Second World War. Semiconductor manufacturing had started in America in 1956. China made its first silicon single crystal in 1958. Japan was also in this race and did not want to give the technology of this industry to anyone.
Then no one wanted to share the knowledge of semiconductors
Under the leadership of America, these countries brought a law to stop the transfer of technology to the third world or industrially less developed countries, the name of this law was Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls i.e. COCOM.
Well, India’s science world and Indira Gandhi were facing many such problems and were also dealing with them. After getting the green signal from the government, India’s Department of Electronics moved forward in this direction. This ministry decided that India should develop its capability in the designing and fabrication of semiconductors. Immediately the cabinet gave permission to establish a government-owned company. At that time Indira’s scientific advisor and secretary of the Electronics Ministry was Ashok Parthasarathy. Parthasarathy was a capable technocrat. Indira gave the responsibility of setting up this semiconductor industry in India under his leadership.
Indira Gandhi took the initiative 40 years ago
Now understand that the industry which India is trying to establish in India now, Indira had dreamed of that industry almost 40 years ago. The Government of India named this plant Semiconductor Complex Limited. Here, only semiconductors or chips were to be manufactured under 100% ownership of the Government of India.
Also read: The story of a woman whose sacrifice built China’s multi-billion dollar semiconductor industry
In 1976, an expert panel identified two possible locations for this industry – Mohali and Madras. Experts from the Department of Electronics found Madras to be the right place for this plant. But then, as is the case in India, politics entered the picture. Giani Zail Singh was the Chief Minister of Punjab at that time. Giani Zail Singh wanted Punjab to take pride in this plant. He believed that this would provide employment to local people. He insisted on setting up this plant in Mohali only.
Politics happened here too
Indira appointed Ashok Parthasarathy to deal with this situation. Parthasarathy explained to Giani Zail Singh that this would hardly provide jobs to people locally because this industry requires highly skilled and technically skilled workers. But Giani Zail Singh did not agree and finally in 1978 a decision was taken to set up Semiconductor Complex Limited in Mohali, Punjab. It is worth noting that at that time Mohali was an emerging industrial city of India.
The government then allocated an amount of Rs 15 crore for this industry. This plant was inaugurated in 1983. Senior journalist Shekhar Gupta says that graduate students in mathematics, physics and electronics were selected from IIT and Indian Institute of Science for this project. Basic production started from this plant in 1984.
Semiconductor Complex Limited’s goal was to design and manufacture high-tech circuits and electronics. The government’s vision was that this company could become the foundation of a native Indian electronics industry.
Quoting industry experts, Shekhar Gupta says that the semiconductor industry needs four things to run. These things are financial capital, human resources, infrastructure and fourthly manufacturing technology. Since Indira Gandhi had put all her efforts into this dream, India got the first three things, but the fourth and most important thing that India was not getting was manufacturing technology.
India presented itself to many countries for this technology, but was disappointed in most of the places. Firstly, there was American pressure, secondly, no country wanted to share this new wonder with India, thirdly, since this industry was just flourishing in the world, its players were also selective. Hence, India did not have many options.
ICs production started with 5000 nanometers
Despite this, India continued its efforts on the basis of its talent and in the first phase, India succeeded in making ICs (Integrated Circuits) of 5 micron level i.e. 5000 nanometers. Here 5000 nanometers means the size of ICs. In the second phase, this plant achieved more success and reduced the size of the circuit even further and succeeded in making circuits of 0.8 micron level i.e. 800 nanometers.
Keep in mind that the trend in the semiconductor industry is to reduce the size of transistors as much as possible. According to experts, the advantage of this is that the performance of the chip increases, energy consumption decreases and the prices also remain reasonable. This is called Moore’s law.
Let us tell you that these are very large integrated circuits as per today’s standards. The chip recently made by the industry’s giant IBM is only 2 nanometers in size. Experts say that India’s progress was not less as per 1985-86 and India was then only one generation behind the cutting edge technology of this industry. And it was expected that India would cover this gap in the coming ten years.
A mysterious fire and the entire semiconductor plant burned down
India’s hopes in the semiconductor industry were just beginning to bloom. The year was 1989 and the date was 7 February. Something mysterious happened on this day. A fire broke out from nowhere at the Semiconductor Complex Limited in Mohali, which destroyed everything. The flames of this fire were terrifyingly destructive. The semiconductor plant was completely burnt down in this fire. Production had started here only five years ago and everything was destroyed in a very disappointing manner. All the machines were burnt to ashes. According to an estimate, this fire caused a loss of Rs 75 crore at that time. In today’s terms, this amount is in billions.
When a fire breaks out in a semiconductor unit, toxic gases and flames are emitted from here. According to experts, in such a situation, dangerous gases like hydrogen chloride, hydrogen bromide and sulfur dioxide are emitted from here.
This was very disappointing news for India’s semiconductor dream. Indira was no more then, but this incident was a big blow to her dream of India’s scientific progress.
Conspiracy angle and IB’s entry
The cause of this fire has always been a matter of doubt. Punjab’s newspaper The Tribune has said in a report that a team of India’s intelligence agency Intelligence Bureau (IB) reached the plant to find out the cause of the fire but nothing concrete could come out of its investigation.
According to experts, there is a possibility of fire in a semiconductor plant because processing work is done there at high temperature. Gases like silane, hydrogen and methane are used in the semiconductor industry. Here, even a small mistake can invite a fire incident.
Although the investigating agencies did not find any concrete reason for the conspiracy behind this fire, but the year 1989 was a very sensitive time in terms of India’s internal security. Indira was assassinated in 1984, and terrorism was at its peak in Punjab in 1989. This was the year when terrorism was raising its head in Jammu and Kashmir. This was the time when western countries did not want to share any kind of technology with India. After the first nuclear test in 1984, India also had to face sanctions on the international platform.
There was a smell of conspiracy in the fire of Semiconductor Complex Limited because activities related to India’s defense were also going on here. Many equipment related to India’s missile program were being made here. It is believed that work was also being done here for India’s space program. Of course, its detailed information did not come out. But seeing the sensitivity of this place, many speculations were being made about the fire in the bureaucracy and the media.
The then Punjab Youth Congress President MS Bitta had demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter.
Later, the Semiconductor Complex Limited Employees Union gave a memorandum to the government, ruling out the possibility of internal tampering in this case. However, this union said that the fire could not be controlled due to mismanagement and lack of efforts on the part of the Central Industrial Security Force guarding the complex. The panel formed to investigate this fire said that the fire may have been caused by a short circuit. It should be noted that the panel only expressed suspicion of a short circuit and did not give any concrete reason for the fire in such an important institution.
The plant was able to start after 8 years…but
The damage caused by this fire was so extensive that it took 8 years to recover from it and then the plant could be made operational in 1997. But by then the semiconductor industry had taken a leap. The technology on which India was working had become outdated. The technology of the industry, the inclination of the world market and talent had completely changed.
After the incident, the then Minister of State for Science and Technology K R Narayanan had said that the plant would be restarted. But due to India’s red tape, bureaucratic hurdles and many other reasons, this could not happen. In the year 2000, the government wanted to sell some of its parts to the private sector but the terms could not be agreed upon and the matter was put on hold.
Eventually in the year 2006, this company was reorganized and it was made a research and development center. It was brought under the Ministry of Space and this center was made a ‘Semiconductor Laboratory’.
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