The humble telephone has become the one technological tool, which is proving to be most valuable. It is humble because of familiarity and ease of use; less humble is the sophisticated technology, which sustains it. Today, improved telecommunications are already having a huge impact on the lives of the common man. Though there is a significant change in the way people communicate, one factor that is common and ubiquitous to all is a 'telephone'.

The Changing Rural Landscape
Be it Mumbai or a remote village like Khyali, Rajasthan everyone needs and uses some mode of communication.

It's in the smaller towns and villages (B and C class cities) of India that the real impact of telecommunications is felt. Even remote villages with a population of 5,000 have a large number of phones. In the last few years, the telephone has enabled inhabitants of remote areas to reach out to a larger market. Today, a vendor can transact with the buyers through SMS and also keep a tab on market prices prevalent across the country. This has got the suppliers a wider market, better business deals, and improved margins. Common man in India is now directly accessible on real two-way telecommunication.

A popular religious destination, Salasar in district Churu, Rajasthan situated at the Jaipur-Bikaner highway has a population of about 5,000 people. It has BSNL and Hutch towers, which enable the lakhs of visitors from across the world to remain connected on their mobiles. This village also has numerous cyber cafés attached with the PCOs.

Devkinandan and Ganesh Pujari, members of the temple board, say that over the last two years their village has seen a significant increase in the number of landlines and nearly 70 percent of the households have a phone today. As the first 250 calls are free, the affordability factor is also taken care of.

Most regions of the country are today connected. Be it Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, or Kerala there is no state in the country where telecom has not reached. Cellular coverage is, today, available in villages where there are no highways or electricity. And BSNL has brought even the far off and thinly populated areas of India under telecom coverage.

Telecom and the Mandi
The villagers are selling more of their wares due to telecom availability. Earlier, they would take their goods all the way to the nearest big town mandi to sell. There was no guarantee of all the goods being sold or any way to anticipate and address higher demand for any specific goods. But now, if a buyer has a higher demand for a certain good, the villager can be contacted and informed about the need. According to the villagers, there has been a significant improvement in the volume and effeciency of the business transactions. The villagers are also better geared to host the multitude of visitors that visit here every year. According to Devkinandan of Salasar, devotees can inform about their arrival dates and specific requirements over the phones, which has increased employment and business in the village.

Earlier, a person had to travel a minimum 50 km to get to the nearest town market to get the supplies for the temple. And one was not even assured of the availability of the required goods. But thanks to telecommunications, the orders are now placed over the phone and the goods delivered to the doorstep.

Most of the temple employees are equipped today with mobile handsets as compared to a handful from the village. According to people in the age group of 40–50 years, around ten years back one did not even dream of mobile phones.

Today, they even SMS their children who have ventured into the bigger towns and cities for better employment prospects. For these masses, no electricity for a day is acceptable but 'no dial tone', is not.

Communications over the Years
The way communications have evolved over the last ten years has had a significant impact on the life of common people, both at work and home. Be it a businessmen, CEOs, white-collar executives, clerks, peons, drivers, vegetable vendors, traders, housewives, or student of any class and age group-all have experienced the impact in their day to day working and living. From the time where phone connections were a luxury to the present when they are indispensable, telecommunication has gone through an evolution and now the way forward is innovation.

More and more features are being incorporated in it to enhance user experience and offer higher quality services. We have seen the phones evolve from bulky equipments to sleek handheld devices, from wired lines to wireless.

Shubh Karan Beniwal, tehsildar Nohar, district Hanumangarh shares his experience on the way telecommunications have evolved. At age 49, he has been a tehsildar for nearly 12 years. He has around 250 villages in his jurisdiction. He has one phone line in his office, which is also used for a dial-up connection for the Internet when required. Though he does not know his e-mail address, his systems engineer corresponds on his behalf through e-mail when required.

Earlier when he had to call the town, he had to wait for nearly ten to twelve hours for the call to get through and if it was an emergency then one had to look at alternatives like sending a person to the town physically, with the message. Narrating an incident, Beniwal remembers that there was a major fire in a village and they had to call fire brigade, but as the systems were not efficient they could not send a timely message to get aid and had to suffer major losses. But today, if any similar calamity strikes, timely help can be availed.

Beniwal is also in charge of elections for these villages. As it requires lot of co-ordination and organizing of people and resources, communication plays a critical role.

Earlier there were no STD lines and trunk calls had to be booked, where the waiting time was too long. But now the tehsildar's office has its own STD connections and messages related to various activities can be sent in time. Though there are no mobile connections in the area, there are a few Aptech cyber cafés.

According to Beniwal, villagers have the spending capacity but their needs are not addressed to on a priority basis. He added that if their village was offered mobile services, around 5,000 of the 40,000 strong population would immediately subscribe to it.

Another significant change that has made communication effective for the villages is that any call made within Rajasthan is now a local call. This has had a tremendous impact on the common man traveling to nearby cities and towns as they can constantly be in touch with family, friends, and work at a nominal cost.

As a result there has been an increase in the number of calls being made across the state.

VideoConferencing: Into Nooks and Corners
Another aspect worth mentioning is that in Rajasthan the sites covering all district headquarters got connected through videoconferencing at a cost of about Rs 650 million, in August 2004.

The chief minister can now communicate directly with the districts. In the second phase, sub-districts and panchayats would also be connected.

The sites are Jhalawar, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Ajmer, Bikaner, Jaipur, Hanumangarh, Bharatpur, and Dholpur. All the divisional commissioners and district collectors, SPs, IGs and DIGs of police posted at divisional headquarters can avail the conferencing facility.

This has helped the headquarters of various districts to interact with the state government's central office and get timely approvals. Various initiatives like these have had a positive impact on the masses and the way they live.

According to V&D 100 2004, in the last fiscal, India added around 22 million lines, or about 1.8 million lines per month. A remarkable achievement considering that in FY 2002–03, the industry added around 10.25 million lines only. In FY 2003–04, the industry almost doubled its additions thanks to cellular services, which contributed around 90 percent of the additions.

Today, mobile services have brought about a revolution in the telecom industry where the common man has benefited the most. Mobiles have proved to be lifesavers in times of emergency as they provide instant, anytime, anywhere communication, and there are innumerable examples to support the fact. Telecom is not only imperative, but has become omnipresent. It has made an influential impact on the way an individual lives, interacts and works. There has been more streamlined and efficient working, thereby, saving time, energy, and money.

Wireless, from being an elitist facility, has become a common man's phone and wireline is becoming more high-end due to the increase in its bandwidth carrying capability. Today, the entire country is dependent on telecommunication and especially the rural India has experienced a significant impact on the way they live and work.

Minu Sirsalewala