Originally posted by: jagdu
This is misinformation. In which part of the world can you communicate for 1 Re. anywhere? It is cheaper to call anywhere from India than it is from that country to India. Dayanidhi Maran made it that way. People communicate in text messaging without any hassles and at a low cost. Even coconut sellers, and three wheeler drivers have cell phones that is a luxury in rich countries!
One can write a book on how good the system in India is, What a fantastic public transportation system it has! The govt. is going to spend 500 billion more on infrastructure. The poor govt. be it UPA or NDA gets little credit for all the good things they do. Only those outside the country realize how well the govt. pays India's employees. Come to California, USA. The governer has suggested that state employees be paid the minimum wage of the state, $6.55 an hour, a cut from the federal minimum $7.25! Bombay's bus system is called B.E.S.T and it is among the best systems in the world. One can say the same thing about Delhi and Chennai. In which part of the world is airfare cheaper? Private operators get paid great and their jobs are much more stable than anywhere else.
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http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=941252&TPN=13
Really, are we all misinformed?? And can you inform me why you think Dayanidhi Maran has anything to do with making call rates cheaper?? When Reliance Telecom launched there scheme where anyone can get a connection for Rs. 500/- around 2002-03, that's the time when every aira gaira nathhu khaira started owning a cell phone. Now, don't tell me that I'm misinformed and I should've known that Dayanidhi Maran owns Reliance Telecom. Do you know that SMS is cheaper here cause only in this part of the world things like missed calls and SMS are mostly used. South-East Asia which used to use SMS has moved on to MMS. People here can't afford GPRS connectvity and most service providers don't provide it with basic packs. And btw, a phone conection is not a luxury in a rich country, and I know that even though I live in India. If you are stastically inclined, you'll see that India has one of the lowest penetration of phone, computer and internet connection even among the developing nations.
I don't know where you're from but I'd like to see you praising our public transport system and the infrastructure once you have travelled on the local trains and buses for a week at peak hours. I won't blame the railways or the BEST or other surface transport corporations, cos they ply trains and buses to their max capacity. But the problem is when there should've been many more alternate public transport systems, there is none except for this two. And please if you don't live here or don't use the roads regularly, don't comment on the infrastructure. Either you are unaware of the roads here or else as your post suggests you are a big fan of our govt. And even apart from the roads, if you take the electricity supply in India, only 4 states have a power surplus and all other states have a huge power deficit. Proper Mumbai doesn't have power cuts, but if you go to Navi Mumbai or Thane district, they have 5-7 hrs of power cut everyday. And it's the same story all over India. In rural areas the power supply is only for 12 hrs every day.
Talking about health and educational infrastructure, most villages (and villages make up 73% of the country) in India doesn't have a decent hospital or school. The small health centres that are there in some relatively bigger villages, doesn't have the necessary infrascture or funding to provide anything more than basic first-aid. Now, you'll say that atleast there is free treatment available, but if the hospital is some 50 km away from your place and if it's not properly equipped and maintained, what's the use.
Talkng about air fares, are you aware that till about 3 yrs ago, only 2% Indians had ever travelled on plane. If you calculate generously, that figure might be 5% now. Airfares used to be quite high till about 2001 or so. Then the entry of several no frills airlines starting with Air Deccans, brought it down. Now a days it's again going up owing to the rising fuel costs. But anyways, lowering of Airfares had nothing to do with the govt., it was more a ecnomical and market phenomena. On the contrary you can say that the govt. here delayed the lowering of airfares by not allowing private airlines to operate. But even after all that reduction in costs only 5% of the population can afford it. Yes things are cheap here, but they're cheap for the foreigners and the SEC A or at the most SEC B people, not the normal people who make up the bulk of the population.
You're saying our govt. will spend another 500 bn on infrastructure. First let's see over how much time period (kyunki bina time period ke cost ka kuchh matlab nahi banta) and secondly, let's see if they meet the deadlines. But anyways, if they spend it it's good. For that matter, everyone appreciated the effort of NDA and Vajpayee to construct the Golden Quadrilateral but that doesn't mean just cos they're constructing something we've to overlook the bad roads that we've to use everyday.
I won't comment on what has happened in California as I don't know. But then people of Congo, Burundi, Nepal, Bangladesh, etc. also earns less than us, so does that mean I've to applaud our govt, ke wah wah hum log kisise toh zyada kama rahe hai. The fact still remains that India is ranked as one of the lowest countries in terms of per capita income, and it's largely due to our govt.
Edited by souro - 17 years ago
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