Let them play computer games

 How can the prince reach the crow-master, who, after having been slashed to pieces after a deft bout of swordsmanship, has flapped out of death in the form a dozen misshapen crows and reassembled himself on a castle battlement to which there is no obvious means of traverse? As the teenager’s mind races and he strategises a route that involves multiple launching pads for superhuman leaps, his mother comes up from behind and orders him to shut down the computer. He has entertained himself enough for the day, with TV, football with his friends, and at least 100 pages of Eragon, re-read for the nth time. Time he got back to his maths. After all, he has do well in his 12th Board exams, do better in assorted entrance exams and prepare himself for a successful life. The son protests that he has already studied enough for the day. This is a routine piece of family drama acted out in most middle-class homes of urban India with much sincere passion on the part of all members of the cast involved. In most cases, it continues as intermittent farce till the exams finally get over. Rarely, it ends as tragedy of the kind that was witnessed in Delhi recently, where a girl, who eventually got 94per cent marks in her Board exam committed suicide because she didn’t want to study science while her parents wanted her to study nothing else. At the root of this collective perverse behaviour is an education system that is badly out of sync with the real world. The average middle-class Indian parent tends to take pride in the vaunted IITs, and in the toughness of the entrance exams for IITs and IIMs. He looks at the success of Indian IT firms and the fabulous salaries of IIM grads, his chest swells up with patriotism, stars float over his eyes and he turns on his son and, these days, daughter to push the teenager down the path of austere abstinence that alone leads to scholastic success. This is perverse in multiple ways. For one, neither these institutions of learning nor India’s educational system as a whole can claim to be world-class. A recent ranking of the world’s finest universities found that only two from India figured in the top 500, with the higher ranking one kicking in somewhere between 300 and 400. The ranking was done on the basis of fairly objective parameters such as the number of Nobel prizes won by faculty or alumni, citation of articles written by faculty members, etc. India is yet to break out of the ancient Brahmanical scholastic tradition that held that all knowledge has already been discovered and that the seeker’s job was merely to learn what had been laid out in the relevant texts. The system militated against innovation. Only sheer individual brilliance could squeeze out the odd original idea from those wrung out by this system of rote learning. Educational systems around the world have evolved, to encourage innovation and creativity. Students learn to question, not to passively acquiesce in the wisdom handed down by generations. Such system-induced originality lies at the root of not just the higher rankings of the West’s educational institutions but also of their economic success. Mind-numbing conformity is only one problem. Capacity, or its lack, is another. Only around 9per cent of Indians make it to college. There is no reason whatsoever to keep the number of IIT and IIM seats as limited as they are. We need a huge expansion in the intake of students across the board in the tertiary sector of education.

Duniya goal hai!

 That sports has taken over the collective consciousness is apparent in the fact that names no longer mean what they used to. Time was when Rubens was associated with the 17th century Flemish artist who painted voluptuous nudes. Today, thanks to the fortnightly telecast of Formula One motor racing, Rubens is the first name of Brazilian driver Barichello who played second fiddle on the Ferrari team until they decided they wanted someone younger. Time was when we used to hum “Michael rowed the boat ashore — Hallelujah!” Today, Michael is the first name of the driver Rubens used to play second fiddle to and who is now going all out to regain the Formula One racing championship to an extent where he was accused of deliberately stopping his car at a bend on the Monaco circuit so as to make it difficult for the reigning champ Fernando Alonso to better his qualifying time and take pole position. And so Schumacher could well be nicknamed ‘Scheming Schumi’ by the Brit tabloids who could even throw in anecdotes of how other F1 drivers are scared of walking under a balcony lest Michael drop a hammer on their unprotected heads! Time was when Rooney was the surname of a Hollywood child artiste who later had a troubled existence because he never quite grew up. Today, with the World Cup on, Rooney can only refer to England’s striker Wayne whose temper is as explosive as the sudden solo spurts he makes into the opposition’s quarter, culminating in an unstoppage goal. And yet, like the child artiste Mickey, Wayne conveys the same impression of a troubled youth lost somewhere on the frontier between childhood dreams that everything is possible and the wisdom of maturity that life has its limitations. Rooney is the 21st century Peter Pan, trapped for ever in the role which fans in England and the world demand he play. The youth will play his heart out even while the media plays up any incident revealing his lack of maturity! Time was when Firpo’s was the name of a Calcutta restaurant whose breads and pastries used to tempt generations of greedy schoolboys in that phase of their lives when time stopped still and even raindrops would pause. Today, Park Street restaurants and night clubs like Moulin Rouge feature in period-piece movies like Pradeep Sarkar’s ‘Parineeta’, set in the early 1960s when there was only the Howrah Bridge across the Hooghly and Satyajit Ray had just got into his stride by following up ‘Pather Panchali’ with ‘Charulata’ and when Usha Iyer had not yet started singing at Trincas. Today, there are two bridges across the Hooghly and all we can do to remember the good old days is lean back and listen to the ‘Parineeta’ night-club singer croon, “Nayi nahi yeh baatein/Yeh baatein hai purani/Kaisi paheli hai yeh/Kaisi paheli zindagaani//Pee le issi mein nasha/Jisne piya woh gham mein bhi hasa/Pal mein hasaye aur pal mein rulaye, yeh kahani//Aankhon mein ghar sapna naya/Aansu tera ik moti hai bana/Duuri sajjan se jaise duri/Yeh shaam ho suhaani.” Time was when children would spend early mornings humming the spiritual Suprabhatham. On the morning of Wednesday, June 7, what I thought was a school-going kid humming the Suprabhatham turned out to be his commentary on the last ball of the first Test between India and the West Indies at Antugua: “Sreesanth runs in to bowl, Colleymore edges and he’s out! Out! Dravid takes a magnificent catch at first slip! And India have won!” Everything is possible in this world of make-believe. On that Jamaican evening of May 20, Yuvraj would have spotted that the fourth ball of the last over of the second one-dayer was a slower one, waited on it and lifted it over mid-on’s head for a match-winning brace! Which reminds me of the Lewis Carroll verse, “He thought he saw an elephant/upon the mantelpiece/He looked again and saw it was/a letter from his wife./At last, he said, I realise/the irony of life!” As a 12-year-old in the summer of 1998, Wayne Rooney would have imagined himself as a Beckham who, instead of being disqualified in the second-round World Cup match against Argentina, went on to score the winner and take England through. In the summer of 2002, Rooney would have imagined himself scoring a hat trick in the quarter-finals against the ultimate champs Brazil. The 20-year-old Rooney can now fulfil those dreams!

The illusion of spectrum scarcity

 Come what come may, penned the Bard, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. Actually, time brings all things to pass! Everything is a matter of chronology, really. Consider, for instance, the radio frequency spectrum for mobile telephony. In particular, the issue of extra bandwidth for the next — the third—generation (3G) mobile services. With the passage of time and technological change, the notion of routinely licensing chunks of spectrum for service providers is now being vigorously questioned, the world over. Very unlike in the analogue era, today’s digital technologies do allow for new approaches to freeing up and managing spectrum. As much as 99% of even highly saturated bands may be vacant in any specific moment in time and space, innovative software can dynamically shift signals to make full use of the fleeting openings in the wireless “ether”(“white spaces”). The point is, new technologies do allow for much flexibility in spectrum usage. The hitherto wholly under-utilised dimension of the spectrum can come into full play with new protocols that allow for regular use of the “white spaces” on frequencies. So, although the electromagnetic spectrum is finite and limited, it can be virtually non-depleting for practical purposes. The implication that spectrum may not be scarce in the traditional sense has profound significance for public policy design. It may well call for a paradigm shift. Against the backdrop of “dynamic spectrum allocation” with its possibilities for enhanced wireless connectivity, a spectrum policy of allocating extra bands of static (read ‘fixed’) spectrum to network operators is entirely questionable. Static spectrum allocation can be very inefficient indeed. Now, bandwidth demand would vary along the time dimension (from hour to hour), and the space dimension (from region to region). So it would inevitably be the case that the region with the largest spectrum peak demand would determine the spectrum demand for the whole mobile network. This would be the case for each service provider. The end result would be that a substantial part of the spectrum would be summarily wasted, in any given time and space. Instead, we need to leverage recent advances in spectrum management practice to make way for flexible and open access to a precious resource, the airwaves, in an increasingly wireless world. The fact remains that the instrument most used to assign spectrum resources to telecom operators has been auctions. The idea has been around since circa 1959. The logic was that the telco estimating the highest value for the spectrum would likely bid the most.

War over spectrum allocation

 upset with the way the department of telecommunications has allocated spectrum for mobile operators. In a missive to the Telecom Commission chairman, and then to the prime minister, he has ripped through the department’s move to link spectrum allocation with technology and subscriber base. Gauging the seriousness of Tata’s allegations, and the fact that it has the potential to derail their ambitions, the GSM operators too have gone into an overdrive, with their association and the individual operators all sending rejoinders to whoever cares to listen. A spectrum war has begun. As the subscriber base has grown, the operators have been unable to meet the service quality, so they claim, due to the inadequate spectrum. However, since most of the spectrum in this country is held by defence forces, it is impossible for the government to make it available to operators at one go, as is done internationally. So the government allots additional spectrum “based on a subscriber linked criteria, keeping in mind the optimal use of this resource and taking into account all relevant aspects such as technology specific requirements, traffic guidelines, number of base stations, etc.” This has resulted in 2:1 allotment criteria for GSM and CDMA operators, which means for an equal number of subscribers, CDMA operators are allotted half the spectrum given to GSM. It is easy to punch holes in DoT’s reasoning. It is no secret that operators have been exaggerating their subscriber base to bolster not only their claim to greater bandwidth, but also to make a marketing pitch and impress existing and prospective investors. Then there are allegations in case of one GSM and one CDMA operator that their phenomenal subscriber growth was fuelled by fictitious numbers used to show incoming international calls as being locally generated to avoid paying the huge ADC. With all this, and the absence of any independent agency to verify subscriber-base claims, it seems absurd that subscriber number was made one of the important criteria for additional spectrum allocation. Tata’s grouse seems justified.

Set the interconnect issue right

 Communications minister’s ‘India One’ scheme has everyone excited. While the minister himself cannot stop gloating over the Re 1 per minute call from anywhere to anywhere in India, several others see it as no more than a political stunt. Whether the common man will really benefit from this move, it’s too early to say. But if experts and analysts alone are heard, most feel it’s a move, which, if not ill conceived, is at least not fully thought through. While BSNL may hem and haw about the loss of revenue and others may point to the fine print saying it does not really help anyone except the big users, and that too only if you are on the same network and that the hiked rental offsets any advantage that the common man may really have had, there are more pertinent issues which seem to have been disregarded. For one, as this paper pointed out in a column a while ago, the primacy of India’s telecom watchdog to set tariffs has been undermined yet again. From all available information, the Trai was not consulted on the issue, unless the minister considers informing the watchdog as consulting. In any case, shouldn’t something like this be left for competition instead of pushing it through with an official diktat? Secondly, and most importantly, if there actually is a spurt in telephone usage, as the minister so proudly has been claiming it would, it would create havoc with interconnectivity. It is no secret that the main cause of deteriorating call completion rate in the country is the abysmally inadequate interconnectivity capacity available. Why then has India One been pushed through without even pretence of tackling this issue? There is not much difference between what Maran has done and what the tourism ministry had done with the Incredible India campaign. The snazzy campaign raised hype about the nation’s tourism potential to a new high even as the situation on the ground remains shameful. While it may have helped attract more people to India, it has also put off a great many who came here expecting the sky, only to be delivered an unpleasant experience. The only reason it has not yet backfired is because the country has so much to offer that visitors are willing to overlook the shortcomings! But this cannot go on. The situation concerning interconnectivity is worse. Forget rural areas, even between the metros, the situation is alarming.

Rural telecom, the cable way

 Gurgaon’s glitzy MG Road, also known as India’s ‘Mall Road’ and home to scores of eateries and bars, was witness to a strange protest the other day. Panchayats of villages adjoining the stretch gathered and demanded that bars in these steel and glass structures be shut down as they were corrupting their youth. It is easy to brand this as an act of backward ‘Haryanvis’, but the fact is for all the hype over the scorching pace set by our economy, we seem blissfully ignorant of a very disturbing trend: the rapidly growing divide between India’s haves and have-nots. The tell-tale signs are there for all to see. Traditionally, a large rural family owned land on which they cultivated to earn a living. Along came a builder and bought the family’s entire holding for a price which seemed stupendous for the family. The family rejoiced and splurged on goods and conveniences they always longed for, for years, while their youth invested in cars and other gadgetry which they considered hip. Before long, they blew up their fortune, but since there is no fallback option now, there is anger and frustration, specially among the youth, who fall easy prey to undesirable activities. While figures to convey this extremely disconcerting trend may not be readily available, a look at the rural versus urban tele-density figures provide the best indicator of this trend.

How about inter-connect exchanges?

 In the late ’80s, when Sam Pitroda controlled the reins of Indian telecom, there was constant talk of a new telecom policy. But once V P Singh came to power in early ’90s, Sam fell out of favour and the nation blundered along without a cogent policy. A few years down the line, the irrepressible N Vittal assumed charge of the Telecom Commission, becoming the first IAS officer to assume that role, and kept assuring all that the policy’d be out any day now, till one day, out of sheer exasperation, he told me, “I think I will just say that the new policy is coming on this day, this month, and not add the year to it”. We have come a long way since then. From a tele-density of under 1, it is now nudging 10, and mobiles have outstripped landlines in number. And sure enough, since the exciting Vittal quote, we are now readying the third policy document, whose draft has been around for a while. Like all documents, this one too is being analysed threadbare by interested parties and lobbying is on in right earnest. Let us attempt here, therefore, to look at issues which it addresses cursorily, but which are important nevertheless. The telecom watchdog has recently come out with a study paper on ‘Next Generation Telecom Networks”. The paper begins with an interesting observation: British Telecom is working on a scheme that would route calls from and to mobiles within a building to a fixed network. It is common knowledge that over 60% of mobile calls originate and terminate within a building and if, for the ‘last mile’, the call could travel on fixed line, it would relieve a lot of scarce spectrum. The mobile operators have been clamouring for additional spectrum to fuel the growth in tele-density as it moves towards the targeted 22% by 2025 and 30% by 2030. Additional spectrum is a must for the networks to carry increased traffic. However, it is already difficult and finding more and more spectrum can only get tougher. The way out is to have a dedicated band for in-building use, as has been done in Switzerland, Sweden and the UK. More importantly, it is critical that this spectrum is not allotted to existing operators under any circumstances to prevent it being cornered by a few.