‘Staying’ TRAI tariff is wrong

  THE Telephone Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was set up by Parliament in order to ensure impartial and consumer-friendly operation by telecom service vendors, and to introduce transparency in pricing.

It has a statutory obligation to declare tariff, just as the Reserve Bank of India declares bank interest rates. Both cannot be challenged either in a court of law or changed by Government or Parliament as the Act stands at present. The Government has, therefore, erred in “staying” operation of TRAI tariff.

It was evolved after a process of consultation with all interested groups, over a period of nearly 1½ years. Most of the recommendations are in the long-term interest of users and the country, and also vendors.

In reducing STD rates, the rural population, particularly illiterate people in cities, have been enabled to communicate with their near and dear ones back at home. The rural producers have access and greater market information from various centres and thus get better prices for their products. With increase in number of STD booths in rural areas, there is a stimulus to village economy. It is conveniently forgotten by many that the bulk of DoT network capital costs have been financed from indirect taxes extracted from poor people in rural areas over the decades.

Unfortunately, DoT does not seem to have a commercial sense; it has thus failed to realise that a lower rate with large volumes will rake in huge income from STD.

Reduction of ISD rates is in line with global trends, and will give a fillip to inevitable globalisation. With migration and travel by Indians, this drop in international rates is a welcome feature.

The unfortunate increase in costs of phone rentals for ordinary subscribers, which is subject to review, is the price phone subscribers have to pay for the sins of DoT over the years. With a huge staff of 4½ lakhs, which has been denied opportunities to upgrade its skills, and inefficiency arising from monopoly operations, the cost structure of DoT phones has gone wonky. Today, the poor subscriber will have to pay for this inefficiency. A good number of subscribers having more than one phone will have to surrender the extra line, making them available to others. Excepting increase in costs for ordinary subscribers by and large TRAI recommendations are in the right direction, and if they are tampered with, the telecom revolution so essential for national economic growth will be pushed back.

M. R. PAI
Mumbai

A bold budget

I do not agree with the views expressed by Dr Naresh Raj in The Tribune of March 24 that the Finance Minister presented a bold budget as he broke the old legacy of presenting the budget at 5 p.m. and he had raised great expectations of Indian nation by not reducing the direct taxes.

It would have been really agricultural bold budget if the Finance Minster had taxed the big landlords, had reduced the subsidies paid every year and had given certain concessions to common man/salaried class instead of levying surcharge on income tax.

If expenditure side is seen, the businessmen, big landlords, politicians etc., are the persons who spend much more than these salaried class. Mr Naresh Raj’s hope that the Finance Minister will be able to present a balanced budget in 2-3 years. I wish that this should be the Finance Minister’s last budget because he has not been able to give anything to the common man during his budget and in the previous budget. He should learn something from the ex-Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram had presented a nice budget for all classes of people.

PREM LATA
Patiala

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No public transport

Amritsar is a widely spread out city, but there is no such thing as public transport in the holy city. The less said the better about the civic amenities in Amritsar, but the city does deserve a public transport system at least in the name of development (Mr Badal please note).

Whenever I return from my trip to Bombay or, Delhi, it gives me a depression when I have to confront illiterate and sometimes difficult rickshaw-pullers and strike a bargain with them. The other way to commute is to hire costly and unorganised three-wheelers. Both the modes happen to be very primitive and can only be seen in cities like Amritsar where the authorities are not very effective and also because of lack of funds and absence of political will. We can’t blame the system either or say that Punjab is an agrarian economy, for the simple reason that in the private sector the latest technology is available ranging from luxury cars, to electronic goods, and cellular telephones the list is endless. The problem arises when the government agencies are asked to carry out projects especially when they are state governments and the cities are not metropolitan cities, but the likes of Amritsar.

Twenty years ago Amritsar proudly boasted of a local bus service run by the Municipal Corporation. But today for those who do not own cars and scooters, especially the members of the fairer sex, it is sheer agony to commute from one part of the city to another, being totally dependent on the unorganised sector.

Bombay runs a very efficient BEST bus service, along with its famous local trains. Same is true about Delhi and Chandigarh but things are slightly different there. But the city of Amritsar is lagging far behind and God knows when will the authorities take appropriate steps, if not to start a local train service, then at least a good bus service which covers all major destinations in the city and runs at frequent intervals.

RAJESH KHOSLA
Amritsar