Modi says he used digital camera, e-mail in 1987-88

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview to Hindi news channel News Nation, has claimed to have used a digital camera as well as email during 1987-88.

While responding to a question about his fondness for gadgets, Modi said that he had been fascinated by technology long before he became the chief minister of Gujarat. He said that he had started using the ‘Stylus pen’ way back in the 1990s.

READ: Digital camera. e-mail: Twitter fact checks PM Modi

Modi continued by saying that, “Perhaps… I don't know if there were others… I first used a digital camera around 1987-88. Back then, very few people had e-mail”.

He claimed that he had taken a picture of LK Advani when he has at a rally in Viramgam Tehsil. He says that he had sent the photograph to Delhi. He adds that a colour photograph had been published the next day in Delhi. He further adds that Advani was very ‘surprised’ looking at the colour photograph.

Questions have been raised regarding the legitimacy of the Prime Minister’s claim. He has even been heavily ridiculed on Twitter. Congress social media head Divya Spandana was quick to respond to the viral clip featuring Modi.

First email service

The first email system was used by the American defence department Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANet) in early 1973.

However, the first major commercial ISP (Internet Service Providers) came into existence between the 1990s and 1995. In this period, AOL, Prodigy, and CompuServe emerged top ISPs, which would give users an email address automatically. Later popular webmail services such as Hotmail hit the scene in 1996-97.

In India, Educational Research Network (ERNET) was the first use to the Internet in 1986. But it took almost a decade for the commercial service to reach the public. State-owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) officially commenced the internet on August 14, 1995.

Digital camera

Though the concept of digital camera emerged in 1975, the first commercial portable model dubbed DS-X by Fuji got sold first in Japan in December 1989. The images of the camera could be stored in a memory card.

Very few are aware that Apple is one of the pioneers in digital camera evolution. In 1994, Cupertino-based company launched Quicktake 100, wherein it could take digital images in colour and also be downloaded to a computer via USB port.