Dear Comrades,
"Khat ko taar samajhana aur....." Alas, this oft-repeated Bollywood-scripted message for film heroes will be just one more ancient prop soon, for on July 15 the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India's state-owned telecom company, will inscribe an epitaph on the tombstone of the 160-year-old saga of telegram service in India.
The decision was not an abrupt one, as the BSNL had been deliberating the fate of this commercially unviable service for about two years, as the over $23 million-a-year losses piling up with the advent of phone networks, SMS, e-mails and Smartphones have rendered the service redundant.
While eulogies have already been written in praise of the Taar, which emotively linked the nation for nearly two centuries, have heart, for it is only the inland telegram service that has been put to rest, and not the international service.
In past years, customers would often dread receiving a telegram, as it might convey a sudden or important development, being a message which could not wait for the ordinary delaying modes of communication; and generally, accidents, sickness, and death in the family would be the usual premonitions, as the traditional postman having pedalled miles on his bicycle would knock at the door, even during the dead of night, to deliver a shrouded message.
One would open the telegram with trembling hands and a sinking heart, though the reality has been that sixty-five per cent of the telegram traffic in the country originated from government offices and addressed mundane service matters such as appointments, transfers, leave granting, or even termination of employment.
Though experiments around the world for the evolving electric telegraph had begun in the middle of the eighteenth century, it was pioneered in India by William O'Shaughnessy, who arrived in 1833 as an assistant surgeon with the East India Company. With a career in medicine, while in India O'Shaughnessy interestingly invented an electric motor and a silver chloride battery, and in 1839 set up a demonstrative telegraph system near Calcutta.
Unaware that Samuel F.B. Morse had already built and demonstrated his famous Morse Code telegraph system in the USA on January 6, 1938, O'Shaughnessy used a different code and even a two-and-a-half mile stretch of Hooghly River as a circuit. It was only in 1847 when Lord Dalhousie took over as Governor-General of India that he saw potential for the telegraph system and authorised O'Shaughnessy to build an experimental 27-mile line near Calcutta, and then, inspired by its success, a full trans-India telegraph in 1851, which was completed in 1854. By 1856 the British had completed a 4,000-mile Indian telegraph system connecting Calcutta, Agra, Peshawar, Bombay and Madras.
With the stupendous growth of mobile phone users in India — the last count at the end of March 2013 was touching 868 million — perhaps the next in line at the altar would be the humble postcard. Perceived as a service for the poor, the government pays heavy subsidies for the postcard. Postage for the postcard in 1879 was 3 paise. Yet it was just 15 paise in 1994, and remains at 50 paise, which is less than the printing cost, leave aside the substantial cost of country-wide delivery. Postage on newspapers was 4 annas in 1854 and only 15 paise in 1994, even though the inflationary worth in the 140 year span should have been not lesser in matching folds. But then India Post is a synonym for wonders.
There were 700 post offices in 1854-55. As of March 31, 2011, the Indian Postal Service had 154,866 post offices. During 1854-55, India Post handled 21.89 million letters. And before its popularity fell victim to the mushrooming courier service and e-mails, the figure rose to a proud 10.66 billion in 1991-92.
Long live India Post!
The decision was not an abrupt one, as the BSNL had been deliberating the fate of this commercially unviable service for about two years, as the over $23 million-a-year losses piling up with the advent of phone networks, SMS, e-mails and Smartphones have rendered the service redundant.
While eulogies have already been written in praise of the Taar, which emotively linked the nation for nearly two centuries, have heart, for it is only the inland telegram service that has been put to rest, and not the international service.
In past years, customers would often dread receiving a telegram, as it might convey a sudden or important development, being a message which could not wait for the ordinary delaying modes of communication; and generally, accidents, sickness, and death in the family would be the usual premonitions, as the traditional postman having pedalled miles on his bicycle would knock at the door, even during the dead of night, to deliver a shrouded message.
One would open the telegram with trembling hands and a sinking heart, though the reality has been that sixty-five per cent of the telegram traffic in the country originated from government offices and addressed mundane service matters such as appointments, transfers, leave granting, or even termination of employment.
Though experiments around the world for the evolving electric telegraph had begun in the middle of the eighteenth century, it was pioneered in India by William O'Shaughnessy, who arrived in 1833 as an assistant surgeon with the East India Company. With a career in medicine, while in India O'Shaughnessy interestingly invented an electric motor and a silver chloride battery, and in 1839 set up a demonstrative telegraph system near Calcutta.
Unaware that Samuel F.B. Morse had already built and demonstrated his famous Morse Code telegraph system in the USA on January 6, 1938, O'Shaughnessy used a different code and even a two-and-a-half mile stretch of Hooghly River as a circuit. It was only in 1847 when Lord Dalhousie took over as Governor-General of India that he saw potential for the telegraph system and authorised O'Shaughnessy to build an experimental 27-mile line near Calcutta, and then, inspired by its success, a full trans-India telegraph in 1851, which was completed in 1854. By 1856 the British had completed a 4,000-mile Indian telegraph system connecting Calcutta, Agra, Peshawar, Bombay and Madras.
With the stupendous growth of mobile phone users in India — the last count at the end of March 2013 was touching 868 million — perhaps the next in line at the altar would be the humble postcard. Perceived as a service for the poor, the government pays heavy subsidies for the postcard. Postage for the postcard in 1879 was 3 paise. Yet it was just 15 paise in 1994, and remains at 50 paise, which is less than the printing cost, leave aside the substantial cost of country-wide delivery. Postage on newspapers was 4 annas in 1854 and only 15 paise in 1994, even though the inflationary worth in the 140 year span should have been not lesser in matching folds. But then India Post is a synonym for wonders.
There were 700 post offices in 1854-55. As of March 31, 2011, the Indian Postal Service had 154,866 post offices. During 1854-55, India Post handled 21.89 million letters. And before its popularity fell victim to the mushrooming courier service and e-mails, the figure rose to a proud 10.66 billion in 1991-92.
Long live India Post!
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