Oral History Interview : Balwant Singh Rawat

Content Description

This interview is of Balwant Singh Rawat who came to Delhi at the age of eleven in 1967 and worked as a teaboy in Army Headquarters, Delhi. Five years later, he joined Computronics India, a mainframe computer centre run by Soviet and Bulgarian engineers that was responsible for generating electricity bills for the state of Uttar Pradesh. He joined CENDIT in 1977 as a technical staff in the repair and maintenance department. He soon moved into design and was part of the cable TV and colour TV production groups and later in the group that made the first high resolution monitor in the country, even before Doordarshan had acquired them. In 1994, he moved into the industry, working with TV18 and UTV as maintenance engineer. He took a decision to stay with the analogue plus digital technology combination based on an understanding that human perception is of audio visual.

Condition Description

This oral history interview is recorded in WAV format and spans a total duration of 117 minutes. The audio is clear, with consistent volume and minimal environmental interference. The speaker’s voice is distinct and intelligible throughout, with no overlapping speech or background noise. The interview has been made into summary for reference.

Accession Date

2025-10-31

Disposition

The recording has been retained fully as part of the oral history collection due to its significant documentation of community narratives and underrepresented voices. No materials have been removed or reassigned from this accession. Consent forms have been signed by the interviewees and handed over to AMP.

Acquisition Type

Gift

Provenance

This interview was conducted and compiled by Surajit Sarkar in 2025. It was created by the PAST grantee AMP in order to document oral histories of AV technical staff from the Delhi region.

Retention Rule

This preserves the less heard voices of people involved in the Audio Visual world from 1970s to 2000. Digital files are being stored in an external Hard Disk HDD at AMP and on the google cloud. The digital files will be permanently housed at Archives at NCBS, with access governed by project policy. Copies will also be shared with the donor.

Language of Description

English

Script of Description

Latin

Restrictions Apply

Yes

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for access unless mentioned in specific folders of the finding aid.

Use Restrictions

Copyright may not have been assigned to Archives at NCBS. Permission for reproduction or distribution must be obtained in writing from the Archives at NCBS (archives@ncbs.res.in). See access guidelines for more information (https://archives.ncbs.res.in/access). The Archives at NCBS makes no representation that it is the copyright owner in all of its collections. The user must obtain all necessary rights and clearances before use of material and material may only be reproduced for academic and non-commercial use.