India Then, India Now - A Twenty Year Perspective: TV and Communication

[mcgillianaire]

India has the world's most number of domestic TV news channels (over 200), which shouldn't come as much of a surprise given that the quarterly report (for Jan-Mar) from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has revealed, that there are now 503 channels broadcasting in the country. This includes 147 pay channels distributed by 24 broadcasters. 18 new channels alone were added during the first three months of the year. Now contrast this picture with that of exactly twenty years ago. There was only one state-owned broadcaster for the entire country, the Indian equivalent of the Beeb, and therein ended the similarity. Doordarshan or DD for short (and lit. Faraway Vision) still exists and has vastly improved, but it has been largely overshadowed by its private rivals. Yet with only 21.3 million dwellings connected to DTH services, DD continues to perform an important public service to the 100+ million dwellings with access to TV.

India is also home to the world's second-most mobile phone users with latest figures (pdf) from TRAI revealing 636 million subscriptions (upto June). That still leaves out half the country, but consider that in June alone nearly 18 million new subscriptions were added. That's 600,000 a day! Twenty years ago mobile phones were unheard of in India. That's understandable. But you may find it hard to believe that there were only 5 million landline connections, with a further 20 million on waiting lists! As former UN stalwart, Shashi Tharoor MP put it:

"The government's indifferent attitude to the need to improve India's communications infrastructure was epitomized by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's communications minister, C.M. Stephen. In response to questions in Parliament decrying the rampant telephone breakdowns in the country he declared that telephones were a luxury, not a right, and that any Indian who was not satisfied with his telephone service could return his phone — since there was an eight-year waiting list of people..." (Excerpt from Jan 2007)

Unfortunately, Mr Stephen is no longer with us to witness the wireless revolution that has engulfed the nation. The growth has been staggering. Consider that even 10 years ago there were less than 10 million mobile subscribers, 160 million in September 2006 when Tharoor wrote his article, and 300 million exactly two years ago. Since then it has more than doubled and by some projections India will break the billion barrier by 2013. Tharoor describes how India's monthly growth of seven million in Sep 2006 had just overtaken China's for the first time. That was less than four years ago. It seems to be only a matter of time before India adds the equivalent of an Australia every month.

Both these changes happened because of the post-1991 economic liberalisation policies, that was itself a response to India's balance of payments crisis. The Finance Minister responsible for implementing the changes was a certain Manmohan Singh, who is of course now our Prime Minister. He is an unlikely politician and some like yours truly would argue that he is only in power because of Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the Congress Party that they belong to. But I will admit that unlike other unlikely candidates propped up elsewhere in India, Mr Singh has been anything but a puppet. Moreover, his reputation precedes him. As a bureaucrat he has achieved just about everything an Indian economist can aspire to: an Oxford education, Governor of the central bank, Deputy Chairperson of the Planning Commission, Economic Advisor to the PM, Finance Minister and now the PM itself. Not bad for someone who has never been popularly elected to public office! :)

Comments

[drunkendeadcat.livejournal.com]

it's great how things change

[elodie21.livejournal.com]

Manmohan Singh was always an excellent economist, we are just left wondering at times what happened since he began holding an elected post, maybe a balancing act, trying to appease everyone?

Growth has been amazing but as far as mobiles are concerned, its completely uncontrolled. Stating a few instances: I met a girl who wanted an Indicom number and when in an auto in Bangalore (where auto drivers have to paste their license on the back of their seat) she copied down his home details, applied using it and got her sim. Then I know persons working in marketing in companies like Vodafone, Uninor etc. And I know that these persons have discovered a loop hole and exploit it to show more subscribers than there are actually. Thousands of 'new subscribers' are shown and SIMs are assigned but these subscribers do not exist. And then, not to forget, the ease with this mobile phone technology is being exploited not just by terrorists but as happened to me-some guy got my number from a friend (which I found out later) but kept calling me non-stop and every time with a new number.

Everything carries a cost I guess...

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

A politician always has to play a balancing act and that is especially true in India. Manmohan Singh is a better politician than I previously gave him credit for. I think it is unfair to compare his achievements as an economist with that of his premiership. Economists are not accountable to the electorate, although in Manmohan Singh's case he only seems accountable to Sonia Gandhi. I think he has done a stellar job in keeping the government intact and making reasonably progress on the economic reform front. I would credit him personally for keeping the previous administration afloat by striking a deal with Mulayam and pass the nuclear deal with America. In a country where the majority of politicians are in it for personal/family/caste gain, we are lucky to have people like the Manmohan Singh's who are willing to do whatever they can to keep the peace.

As for the wireless revolution, you're quite right. Anything that grows quite so fast will spiral out of control andthis is certainly true of mobile phones. The recent mobile phone scams are a point in case. I'm not surprised the 'new subscriber' numbers are being exploited! I think this situation will continue for at least another couple years, but it will begin to plateau after that. It's a surprise the infrastructure is keeping any sort of pace with this growth.

[elodie21.livejournal.com]

Yes thats true, an economist and a premiership are quite different in terms of accountability. An economist will always have more freedom and a much more limited role. I am unable to dislike Sonia as such, I think the hype, in India, just related to her foreign origins is way too much and irrelevant.

Personally I wish politicians like Mulayam and Mayawati simply did not exist.

You have heard about the fiasco in Delhi regarding the Commonwealth Games? That was complete mismanagement at every possible level and definitely the government is to blame. It left me stunned. So much money was pumped into the country for preparations, where'd it go?

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

>I think the hype, in India, just related to her foreign origins is way too much and irrelevant.
Agreed. Though I must admit that I was part of the anti-Sonia brigade in 2004. But that changed soon after and now I have great admiration for her. As long as she's pulling the strings, people like Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram will remain in big positions and keep the ambitious senior corrupt and narrow-minded Congress figures at bay.

>I wish politicians like Mulayam and Mayawati simply did not exist.
Heh, don't we all.

>You have heard about the fiasco in Delhi regarding the Commonwealth Games?
Been following it closely on the Indian news channels, particularly Arnab Goswami's programmes on Times Now. It was a huge mistake to host the Games in the first place. I agreed with Mani Shankar Aiyar when he was Sports Minister and opposed the Games. The money would've been better spent on grassroots infrastructure. But it was a bit extreme when he recently went on record to say he hoped the Games would turn out be a fiasco. However much one may disagree with it, now that we have it we must hope it turns out as best as it can, amid the circumstances.

Hopefully everything that's happened in the last few weeks will dampen the enthusiasm in some quarters for making a bid for the 2024 Olympics.

To make matters worse these Games will not turn out a profit, the way Olympics have since LA1984.

Some say at least Delhi got the infrastructural facelift that was overdue. Sure, but what a price has been paid for it. I read an article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/aug/04/commonwealth-games-delhi-preparations) which in part described the social impact of the Games. Made a depressing situation worse.

[elodie21.livejournal.com]

I wrote out a whole nice reply and it got deleted :( Here goes again, shorter version!

Yes, India wasn't really ready to host the games but Aiyar shouldn't now make comments like this but instead try and save the situation now that we are in it. And India should have been motivated by SA, they hosted FIFA really well, loved their opening and closing ceremonies.

Facelift, maybe yes, but last I saw on tv that the housing facilities etc are not even ready yet and even if they get it done on time, I wonder on the quality....

Olympics profitable, to an extent yes. I read articles in Hindu, post Olympics in Beijing, that the grand infrastructure built was lying useless, construction industry received a set back with sudden fall in demand which affected the economy, pollution levels rose again-that was one good thing if they could have maintained it but then I guess it was impractical on long term (the measures they had used I mean).