Technology is an enabler. It changes lives and enables a person to undertake feats which seem impossible. Who would have believed that:
1) Poor Fishermen in Kerala have increased their earnings by as high as 35% by checking the latest prices on a cell phone.
2) This poor illiterate daily wage earner can find a second job by just pressing a few buttons.
3) You no longer have to go through traffic jams because u can telecommute.
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We have seen similar trends in Banking, Insurance, Postal, Airlines etc… the rich man’s luxury has become a common man’s necessity. The day government allows private operators to operate, there is a revolution. However, when the government operates, it screws the public by providing sub-standard service, it screws the tax payer by pissing away our hard earned money. The best thing the government should do is allow private operators, impose Social Obligation Norms (serving the poor and underdeveloped regions) and charge huge licenses fee, Income tax and use that money for social development.
All around the globe people have started throwing off their copper wire and switched to fiber optics. It allows the operators to sell a wide variety of services like Gigabit broadband, video telephones, IPTv etc etc. But no, Government won’t allow these services in India because the official reason is: “Indian Masses are not prepared for VoIP and digital telephone technology”
Who are you to decide what is good for me?
But then logic and government do not go hand in hand. Thanks to Government, we still rely on Morse Code and have a Telegraph network. Telephone is very important for a nation…. It connects and unites the nation, but why would the government care. If the masses got VoIP access, who would use its outdated BSNL services?
If a private company uses unfair to control the market and kill the competition MRTP (monopolies and restricted trade practices) Act is invoked. I wonder if a similar thing exists for government?
Ankur Aggarwal
sree
Sandip Chaudhuri
vbr
shobhendrasrivastava
