Say ‘hello’ to Your New Sovereignty

Does voting in your government equate itself to independence? Are liberty and freedom yours because you are free to roam this land?

When India attained independence in 1947, All India Radio helped spread the news through its six stations, reaching out to 2.5% of the country’s population.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, an early champion of state-owned infrastructure, believed that India — plagued by illiteracy — needed radio so that everyone could be included in the onerous task of nation building.

Today, we have 232 stations that reach out in 146 languages and dialects to 99.14% of the country. The government instructs the people over state-owned airwaves, but who is listening?

The country has a short wave and a medium wave radio network, but the age of genuine freedom is rejecting one-way communication. Luckily, India in its 64th year of Independence has found a new sovereignty in mobile networks.

CPI (M) chief Jyoti Basu made the first mobile call on July 31, 1995, to Union communications minister Sukh Ram. In just 15 years since, the mobile phone has conjured a dramatic social fabric, almost out of nowhere. Today we are about to reach an unprecedented landmark: more people in the country will own mobile phones (617.53 million) than those that don’t. A pervasive two-way people’s network, where a single SMS to act, unite, fight, recognise and reward can be sent for as little as one naya paisa, is transforming India.  

Does anyone even remember what a naya paisa looks like? Can anything change the country, one paisa at a time?

Last Wednesday, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) used an SMS campaign to encourage people to participate in Meter Jam, a show of public wrath against an errant autorickshaw community, calling for a boycott of autos. In a smooth and smart move, the BMTC gave out information on buses that could be used as an alternative.  

A young Bangalore techie, Srikanth Seshadri, has created a mobile application that helps convert old rickshaw fares to new ones (you can download the application free from http://sriki77.blogspot.com/). Seshadri’s effort is to ensure rickshaws do not overcharge.  

When Bangalore city civic expert V Ravichandar was asked about a method to address overcharging by autorickshaw drivers, his first response was to use SMS as a way of registering FIRs against nasty drivers who cause inconvenience. In fact Ravichandar went to the extent of suggesting that repeated SMS complaints against a driver could be used as grounds to suspend the driver’s license.  

All this within a week — around an auto fare hike? Clearly, mobile phones and towers have created a powerful and autonomous social network capable of navigating the city through a crisis, taking action and even being used as a legally viable tool if necessary. All this is happening without government intervention or participation. In fact it is happening by marginalising local administrations.

Another Bangalore company, a recent start up, has begun to assist people in finding friends. You can SMS DateorHate and the company staff promises to review your request and helps find a suitable pal!  

Cell phones are being used to take positive action by creating temporary interest groups like the ones who would — if they could — lynch autorickshaw drivers. But they are also helping others combat loneliness by finding them completely new friends.

That’s a broad spectrum of social issues to straddle and address.  

In a very real sense, our culture is being redefined as the network gives birth to micro-cultures. It is impacting social relationships and professional values. It is able to drive consumer demands. And it is able to repurpose technology for a staggering range of functions.

But Bangalore is more than home to public innovations around a technological artifact; it is more than a public laboratory to test the effectiveness of mobile societies.

At Bangalore-based Symphony Services, as an example, there is cutting edge research being done in the use of mobile technology. Mohan Hebbar, VP, Embedded and Telecom Business Unit, of Symphony speaks of the development of distributed computing between smart phones using a ‘trust’ network and its ability to use idle computing power; he speaks of the development of Body Area Networks (as a Bangalore techie you’ve heard of LANs and WANs; now, coming soon, to a body near you are BANs) that will speak to your mobile phone in a bid to provide unimaginable health care benefits.  

It’s odd how the mobile phone, in just a decade and a half, is converging technology, culture, society, commerce, entertainment and communication to sculpt out a new interpretation of independence. It’s the network of trust. It enables people to exchange real information. Crystalise opinion. Take action. And bring a flavour to personal independence that is at once exciting and fulfilling.