“Miles To Go Before I Sleep”

A teacher illuminates the path to success through the light of knowledge, yet some teachers extend that light to society through their contributions and research. Known as the architect of the modern M3 electronic voting machine (EVM) and the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) that transformed India’s democratic process, Prof. (Dr) Rajat Moona’s journey began in the modest town of Bareilly. Here is his story, as recounted to and written by EFY’s Yashasvini Razdan.

This tale traces its roots back to 1934 in the small town of Wardha, then home to the prominent Jamnalal Bajaj. Ram Gopal Moona, a sub-editor at Nava Bharat, worked closely with Editor-in-chief Ramgopal Maheshwari, a Gandhian freedom fighter, journalist, and advocate of Hindi. A man of learning with a deep love for books, Ram Gopal Moona eventually moved to Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, with his wife and children to establish a printing press and stationery business.

The Moona household prided itself over education and learning. All of Ram Gopal Moona’s children were highly educated, some handled the family business while others became doctors. It was in this household that our protagonist Rajat Moona was born and raised.

The first guru

As the eldest of the third generation of the Moona family, young Rajat was cherished by everyone, especially his grandfather Ram Gopal, his grandmother, and his father. “As the eldest sibling in a joint family, I naturally took on the responsibility of caring for my younger brothers—three siblings and three cousins. I would teach them mathematics, play with them, and look after them. The age gap between us stretched up to 10-12 years,” he recalls.

With his father often busy at the printing press and his mother tending to the household, his grandfather became a significant influence on Rajat’s intellectual and personal development. “He spent a lot of time writing or reading, and I was often by his side, absorbing his love for knowledge. We got up at 4 am every morning and then he would spend the next two hours teaching me languages, mathematics, science, civics, and social studies. His constant guidance and involvement in my life made my childhood very happy and intellectually enriching,” he smiles, recalling his childhood.

A natural reader, Rajat devoured all kinds of material, from comics to storybooks, extending his interests to textbooks, novels, and literature on a wide array of subjects. His family recognised and encouraged his voracious appetite for gaining knowledge. “My grandfather bought me three volumes of the Britannica Encyclopedia which were available at that time. This broadened my knowledge tremendously, far beyond what I could learn in school, on subjects which I had not even studied—biology, engineering, etc. My habit of reading truly shaped my understanding of the world by the time I was in Class 10,” he shares.

Growing up in a house with seven children, Rajat learned early the value of sharing—be it books, toys, or clothes. This sense of tolerance served him well when he later moved into a hostel at IIT Kanpur to pursue electrical engineering.

At the time, electrical engineering was considered a highly prestigious field, and gaining admission to an IIT was a monumental achievement. One might imagine that in a lively household filled with children, the urge to neglect studies and play would be strong. However, the disciplined atmosphere cultivated by his family, with its structured timetable of study and play, kept all the children focused. A healthy, unspoken competition between the siblings spurred them to constantly improve. “Things like racing to see who could pack their school bag first became a playful contest. Though we were never explicitly told to hurry, there was always a drive to be first. This fostered a productive environment for concentration and made my childhood very enjoyable,” he reflects.

The linguistic battle

As smooth as Rajat’s childhood was, his college life came with its own challenges. Upon stepping into the gates of IIT Kanpur, he witnessed a significant change in the environment. The teachers, tutors, and office staff—all communicated fluently in English, which was the primary mode of interaction.

For someone who had studied in a Hindi-medium school in Uttar Pradesh, conversing with his educators was difficult. “We spoke pure and polished Hindi. For instance, I would refer to school as vidyalaya. On entering IIT, everything changed. While we had studied English in school, it wasn’t the primary mode of communication. At one point, during my first year, things got so tough that a few of us, including me, contemplated leaving the institution. We figured that this wasn’t our cup of tea, and it would be better to leave,” shares Rajat.

There are no points for guessing that a plot twist was on the way, because had Rajat left the institution then, his story would not have been told. A certain friend, Pawan Kumar, came to the rescue. Pawan had secured rank three in the engineering entrance exam nationwide and was one of the sharpest in the batch. Despite a relative grading system, where an individual’s grades were influenced by the performance of others, Pawan was a humble boy who stepped in to help his batchmates. “He would calmly reassure us and encourage us to keep going. Those words of encouragement and conversations were pivotal for me, and I pushed myself to work hard and overcome the language barrier. Whatever I am today, I owe to that turning point,” Rajat recollects.

Today, Prof. Pawan Kumar is a faculty member in the Department of Mathematics at IIT Kharagpur.

Motivated by his friend, Rajat realised that language was merely a tool for communication. Surrounded by students from across the country, Rajat’s harmonious upbringing helped him form close friendships with peers, including some from non-Hindi-speaking states who were proficient in English but struggled with Hindi. Together, they all overcame language barriers and became lifelong friends.

Tryst with destiny

Pursuing higher studies abroad after graduation was never on Rajat’s agenda. While his peers took the GRE and TOEFL exams, Rajat felt no desire to leave India. “The education I received here instilled a sense of duty to contribute to my country,” Rajat says. In 1983, as a backup, he took the second edition of the GATE exam, in case he didn’t secure a job, and was accepted into the MTech programme at IISc in Bengaluru. However, fate steered him towards the industry, and in 1985, he secured a job at Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL).

At the time, HCL was just beginning to manufacture PCs, albeit with limited capacity. Rajat’s work primarily involved routine tasks, which did not stimulate his intellectual curiosity. “Despite being in R&D, we were often asked to help on the assembly floor with PC manufacturing. I approached my boss for more challenging work, but even those tasks weren’t enough to fully engage me,” he recalls.

However, fate had more in store for Rajat. A letter from IISc, addressed to his family home in Bareilly, arrived with an interview call for the MSc Engineering programme. Recognising the significance, Rajat’s younger brother immediately left for Delhi to deliver the letter to him. “He even booked a train reservation for me and brought the ticket with the call letter. Since the ticket was already booked, I decided to attend the interview,” Rajat shares. His manager at HCL encouraged him to go, reassuring him that he could always return.

The birth of a teacher

At IISc, Rajat was selected for two programmes—Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Choosing the latter, Rajat converted his MSc Engineering programme into a doctorate (PhD) programme after a year. He worked with the most renowned professors of that time, including Prof. V. Rajaraman, on his thesis on building a supercomputer—a parallel machine.

Prof. Rajaraman is known for his extensive work in programming and computer architecture, advisory roles in government programmes, and has published many books, including one on the history of computing in India.

“Many of the major figures in Indian computing are either his students or associated with him. He was a key figure behind the introduction of the MCA (Master of Computer Applications) programme, which expanded India’s computing workforce. His books on computing and programming made education accessible and affordable in India. I consider myself fortunate to have done my PhD under his guidance,” narrates Rajat, all along his eyes dazzling with awe for his guru.

Working under Prof. Rajaraman left an indelible imprint on Rajat who had developed an innate desire to contribute to his country and follow in the footsteps of his teacher. He completed his PhD in 1989 but continued working as a Scientific Officer on a project that involved porting the AT&T SVR 3.2 Unix OS on the machine he had developed, with constructions to do parallel computation. The supercomputer proved very useful once fully functional. “I spent another year at IISc, guiding several students working on their master’s theses using my machine. It gave me great satisfaction to know that some of them graduated from IISc after working on their projects with my help,” he says with a content smile resting on his face.

Soon after he received an offer from IIT Kanpur and continued his academic career at IIT Kanpur.

After submitting his thesis, Rajat married Rajni, a graduate from IIT Delhi in Mathematics. “One of the reasons I chose to work in Bengaluru for a year was so that both of us could live together and experience the city. After I joined IIT Kanpur, my wife has played a very supportive role in all my work and endeavours, always walking alongside me. When jobs were limited, she taught in schools in Kanpur,” Rajat shares.

Currently she works in IIT Bombay in administration in the Department of Electrical Engineering. The couple has a son who followed in his father’s footsteps, graduating from IIT Kanpur. With a dual degree (BTech and MTech), he chose the road not taken by his father and is currently working to build industrial advancements for Meta (formerly Facebook) in London.

A teacher, a researcher, a maker

Since 1991, Rajat has been a professor, teaching, conducting research, and guiding students. In 1994, he served as a visiting researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Lab for Computer Science (CSG Group), collaborating with Prof. Arvind’s Research Group under a DST fellowship. Around this time, he was approached by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), part of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (then known as the Ministry of Information Technology).

“They were facing an issue related to smart cards for driving licences and asked if I could assist. I examined the problem, which involved creating a smart card-based solution for driving licences. The idea was to make these licences more permanent and reliable,” he explains.

The driving licences and vehicle registration certificates issued on smart cards today stem from the work done in Prof. Rajat Moona’s lab. “We developed the standards and worked closely with NIC,” he states proudly, recognising that his vision of contributing to his country had materialised. After the project’s success, Prof. Moona became involved in several other initiatives.

For Prof. Moona, work is worship. “Whatever work you choose to do, do it with complete devotion, without worrying about the rewards or recognition it could bring. Work for your own satisfaction. Initially while I was working at HCL, I was not satisfied, and it would have been unfair to continue. The greatest reward is your own satisfaction and learning,” he adds.

In 2009, Prof. Moona was invited to join the Technical Experts Committee for electronic voting machines (EVMs). “Initially, the committee had five members, but after the unfortunate passing of the chairman and the health complications of another member, the core team was reduced to three. We became very active in the development of the M3 version of the EVM. I took full responsibility for the software, while two other faculty members focused on instrumentation and electronics, together designing the console, working closely with engineers from BEL and ECIL to bring the M3 machines to life,” he elucidates.

In June 2011, Prof. Moona moved to Pune with his wife and son to join CDAC as the Director General, supervising and defining the research directions for CDAC and working with various research groups with over 3000 employees. This is where he worked on building the technical design—software and RF—for electronic toll collection. “This technology was developed in our laboratory!” he states proudly.

While in Pune, he continued to support the research for electoral voting machines. Today, Prof. Moona is an active member of the technical committee of the Election Commission of India for EVMs and has played a huge role in revolutionising the electoral process for the largest democracy in the world. His contributions did not stop at M3 EVMs and VVPAT but have expanded to designing the national voter service portal and national electoral search for the voters. He received the National Award of the Election Commission of India for the best electoral practices, in 2016.

With all the accolades and responsibilities, Prof. Moona continues to preach humility in front of all—peers, superiors, and subordinates. “My teachers—my grandfather, my friend Prof. Pawan Kumar, and Prof. V Rajaraman—all were geniuses in their respective fields, but what I truly admire about them is their humility. In academia you come across all kinds of people, yet these three not only excelled as educators, but they also embodied important humanistic values. These values had a significant impact on me as well,” he declares.

He went on to work on many interesting projects while at CDAC. “We worked on developing a national electoral search for Indian voters, which could search one using phonetic search methods out of about 850 million voter records within a blink of an eye. I could also implement postal e-ballot for a class of Indian voters,” he exclaims, bubbling with childlike wonder, still in awe of the fact that he got to be a part of these projects and contribute to his country. “M3 EVMs and VVPATs are security beauties. I had a fulfilling experience designing them!” he continues.

His association with IISc took a new turn when CDAC came up with an opportunity to contribute to the National Supercomputing Mission. From a scientific officer working to build a supercomputer for his doctoral thesis to becoming an active contributor and developer of National Supercomputing Mission along with IISc, all through his journey Prof. Moona was guided by his will to share knowledge and bring it to everyone.

“I fully conceptualised and implemented a CDAC product called PARAM Shavak. The idea was to commoditise supercomputing and bring it to the reach of researchers. It is a low-cost but powerful supercomputing solution that can fit in a small lab and can empower small research groups with large computing,” he explains.

Prof. Moona’s life was nurtured by academicians and learned humans who went above and beyond to help and share their knowledge with whoever came to them. Imbibing these qualities, Prof. Moona is known for being a strict and fair professor in class. Outside the classroom, he is known for being a support system for all his students. He believes, “Helping people is not about doing favours or finding them jobs. It’s about empowering them so they can move forward on their own.”

Trudging ahead

While the world knows him as an academician and brainiac, Prof. Moona is an avid trekker and cyclist. Though limited by age and time now, these activities used to be a big part of his life. “I used to cycle as far as 10 to 15 kilometres every morning. Even as a kid I liked to do physical exercise and be an outdoor person. Whether in school or at IIT, I would regularly go for long walks, sometimes 4-5 kilometres a day,” he shares. When he is not working, Prof. Moona engages in bird watching, photography, badminton, and gardening.

Quoting Robert Frost, Prof. Moona says, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.” Forever persevering and pushing forward, Prof. Moona believes that his journey on the path of knowledge will never end. “There’s always more to do; dedication and diligence are the only things you can truly control,” he says.

With India entering a new era of technological innovation, Prof. Rajat Moona’s contributions to the country have been instrumental in redefining the usage of technology for efficient and fair governance. Today, as the director of IIT Gandhinagar, Gujarat, Prof. Moona is sitting at the epicentre of electronics innovation, guiding the path for young minds who are set to take India’s electronics story to the next level.

Personifying sincerity and devotion to his work, without worrying about the outcome, Prof. Moona calls learning his best reward. “The only thing I dwell on from the past is my learnings, and I carry no worry about the future. What matters is the present and what I do with it. I live in the present, without concern for what the future holds,” he says, as he moves on to continue living a humble and hardworking life.