Who Cares for Communications!

alt="Ibrahim Ahmad" align="right" border="2" hspace="4" vspace="4"

It will be very naïve to believe that the caretaker

BJP-led government did not foresee trouble if it announced changes in the telecom tariff

system. The Congress-Left led opposition and the EC could not be mute spectators to the

government initiative.

Not only Jagmohan, but the whole world knew that the

shifting from fixed licence fee to revenue sharing would lead to a short term loss of Rs

1,500 crore to the exchequer. And that such changes in policy decisions midway would lead

to legal complications. The operators who had paid the licence fee installments were

utterly confused and felt cheated.

Were these reasons not important enough to call for a

parliamentary debate? When Jagmohan was shunted out many eyebrows were raised and

questions asked. Unfortunately no answers were given. Instead, having taken the

communications portfolio under his belt, the Prime Minister announced the new package.

These decisions once again led to fingers being pointed at the PMO. The Government should

have shown courage and large heartedness to accept the demand for a debate.

The Government should not have sat on this problem for such

a long time—if this is what it had to finally do. As soon as indications had started

coming in about the stalemate between the operators and the communications minister, he

should either have been shifted out or be convinced to accept and implement the revenue

sharing formula. Had it been done on time the present situation would never have arisen.

This shows what priority BJP actually gives to telecom. In no way is this

Government’s priority for communications infrastructure development any different

from that of its predecessors.

Or did the Government really not anticipate the problems

that the new announcements would bring? If not, then one needs to seriously consider its

capability. Without going into the details of the developments and the motives behind

them, it can be said that this was a blunder for which the industry, and more importantly

the common man, is paying dearly. Mobile phones would have been much more affordable and

the operators would have been doing good business.

The question has come back to us. Are we sending the right

people to decide the country’s priorities and make policies? Clearly we are not. But,

we as the privileged class of society only want to see good things happening without

making efforts. According to statistics, the voting rate is the lowest among the white and

blue collar. Now that the general elections is round the corner, let’s elect

candidates who can appreciate the significance of communications infrastructure and work

in a team to build the nation.