c m y b

c m y b

THE TRIBUNECHANDIGARH | SATURDAY | 3 OCTOBER 2015 11OPED

ACROSS1 Keep entirely away (5,5)

8 17th century English diarist (5)

9 Bad government (7)

10 Of long ago (7)

11 Reach a state

eventually (3,2)

12 Course of action

adopted (6)

14 Riddle (6)

17 Paid out (5)

19 Navigational

aid (7)

21 Ignorant (7)

22 Trembling poplar (5)

23 To reprimand (4,2,4)

DOWN2 Representative (7)

3 Happen afterwards (5)

4 Regain consciousness (4,2)

5 Oriental (7)

6 Approximately

correct (5)

7 Have under observation (4,4,2)

8 Pretend to be

asleep (4,6)

13 Reduction (7)

15 Killer whale (7)

16 Treat as

welcome (6)

18 Insist on (5)

20 Signified (5)

YESTERDAY’SSOLUTION

Across1 Shrewd, 4Catnap, 9 Infidel,10 Error, 11Credo, 12Actuate, 13 Rockthe boat, 18Bravura, 20Level, 22 Adopt,23 Envelop, 24Nature, 25Vagary.

Down1 Switch, 2 Rifle,3 Wedlock, 5Adept, 6 Nirvana,7 Parley, 8 Clear-headed, 14 Of asort, 15 Bolivia,16 Obtain, 17Sloppy, 19 Utter,21 Villa.

lahore, sunday,october 3, 1915

The Next Viceroy of India.THE London correspondent of a Bombay contemporary writes:"Though as previously intimated Lord Beauchamp has been well inthe running for the Vice-royalty, he can no longer be said to be the firstfavourite. Whatever might have been the case if a selection had beenmade before the Coalition Government was formed, the Prime Min-ister has not now an unfettered choice. With the Unionist Secretary forIndia and two Unionist Ex-Viceroys in his Cabinet, he has to takeaccount of the feeling on "the other side," to use a phrase renderedobsolete for the time being, and it is understood that in some influen-tial quarters the attitude in respect to Lord Beauchamp is that whichon a famous occasion Punch attributed to Queen Victoria, when theprospect of Lord John Russel being asked to form a Government, wasdiscussed:-"I am afraid you are not quite man enough for the job,John." Consequently the name of Mr. Lewis Harcourt again comes up.

What British Rule has Done.IN a recent issue of the Times an account was published showingwhat British rule had done during the last 60 years to the Britishcitizens in United Kingdom. In 1851 the population was 27.4 mil-lions and last year it was 46.1 millions. The death-rate decreasedfrom 21.5 per thousand to 14.14 since 1871 and the death-rate from33.8 to 23.9. There were 364 paupers per 10,000 population in 1861which fell to 201 last year. The quantity of wheat and wheat flourrose from 107 millions cwts. to 150 m cwts. from 1881 to 1912. Willsimilar results be anticipated in other parts of the Empire, espe-cially in India? Are Indians consuming more food now than theydid thirty years ago and are they more healthy and prosperous?

calendarOCTOBER 3, 2015, SATURDAY■ Shri Vikrami Samvat 2072■ Shaka Samvat 1937 (Aashwin

Shaka 11)■ Aashwin Parvishte 17■ Hijari 1436■ Krishan Paksh Tithi 6, up to 3.19 pm■ Vya yoga up to 8.25 pm■ Rohini nakshatra up to 7.27 am■ Moon enters Gemini sign

at 7.14 pm ■ Sixth sharadh.

Yesterday’s solution

quick crossword su do ku forecaston this day... 100 years ago

Sunny Partly Cloudy Cloudy Rainy Foggy

CITY MAX MINChandigarh 34 19New Delhi 35 21PUNJAB

Amritsar 34 19Bathinda 34 21Jalandhar 33 20Ludhiana 33 18Patiala 34 20HARYANA

Ambala 34 21Bhiwani 34 21Hisar 36 18Karnal 33 18Sirsa 36 19HIMACHAL PRADESH

Dharamsala 27 15Manali 23 06Nahan 30 18Shimla 25 15Solan 29 13JAMMU & KASHMIRJammu 33 17Leh 21 03Srinagar 26 09UTTARAKHANDDehradun 32 19Mussoorie 21 12Nainital 20 15

SUNSET: SATURDAY 18:06 HRSSUNRISE: SUNDAY 06:18 HRS

TEMPERATURE IN OC

99 88 55 44 77 33 11 66 22

66 11 77 88 22 99 55 44 33

33 22 44 11 66 55 88 77 99

22 55 66 99 88 11 44 33 77

11 77 88 22 33 44 66 99 55

44 99 33 77 55 66 22 88 11

55 66 99 33 44 22 77 11 88

88 44 11 55 99 77 33 22 66

77 33 22 66 11 88 99 55 44

1 3 9 4

9 7 1 36 5 1 4 7

1 83 5 2 9 1

7 8 4 5

5 6 7 9

B. S. Prakash

IT is possible to look at Modi’srecently concluded visit to the US asconsisting of four distinct facets:multilateral meetings and debates

in the U.N.; bilaterals including themeeting with Obama; the focus on tech-nology and the visit to the Silicon Val-ley; and the interaction with the Indiandiaspora. The impact and the gains ofall the four are debatable, but there is lit-tle doubt that the most novel, exciting,and also the most substantial part wasthe ‘connect’ with the Silicon Valley.

I served as the Indian Consul Generalin San Francisco not too long ago andhappen to know this area well. The mostsatisfying and stimulating part of my jobwas to get to know and work with SiliconValley entrepreneurs and professionals.With this perspective, I believe thatModi’s visit to the area and his multipleengagements were timely, intense andproductive. Why do I say so? Several fac-tors contributed in shaping the outcome.

The first is Modi’s own interest andbelief in the power of technology. It is bynow obvious that he is an early adapter toIT, keeps track of advances and has tak-en to using it too through e-monitoring ofgovernment programmes or messagingthrough Twitter. More important, hebelieves in tapping technology foranswering some of India’s challenges,ranging from clean energy to fast com-munication to last-mile connectivity. Hisreputation preceded him and added tothe ready receptivity at high-level andhigh-visibility meetings. These no doubtserved his political purposes, as well, butwere a result of curiosity on both sides.

Second, Silicon Valley is much morethan a habitat of business and commer-cial success. Above all, it is a laboratory oran incubator for new technologies that

change our lives. Tesla, the corporationheaded by Elon Musk is a good example.Today, its core businesses are: solar pow-er generation on a city scale, next gener-ation batteries to provide electricity with-out a grid, space exploration, artificialintelligence and electric cars of unparal-leled sophistication. To take anotherexample, how Google has fundamental-ly changed the way we access knowledgeand has transformed lives is a familiarstory. There are breakthroughs in otherareas, as well, bio-technology, nano-tech-nology, material engineering, apart fromthe well-known ICT.

Third, this habitat already has an estab-lished Indian presence and an Indian con-nect. With hundreds of Indian originCEOs, a quarter of all start-ups havingbeen founded by Indians, and now celebri-

ties like Sundar Pichai of Google, SatyaNadella of Microsoft, and Vinod Khosla,previously of Sun Systems, India enjoys aprivileged position in the Valley. For threedecades, Indians have played a role andtheir success stories have had a cumula-tive effect. In the last decade, many havereturned to India, some to start their owncompanies, and others to man the Indiancentres of companies like Intel, Google orHP. Thus, the bridge between our SiliconValley clones like Bangalore or Hyderabadand the original has already been built.

Silicon Valley corporates find India anattractive but challenging destinationthough this will be equally true for allexports or investments from abroad. Thedemography, the reasonable growth tra-jectory in a climate where growth hasreached a plateau in most countries and

the aspirations of a huge middle makesIndia attractive for any foreign company.But as explained earlier, some of the Sil-icon Valley behemoths—Apple, Tesla,Intel - are focussed on the future, on theproducts and processes for tomorrow. Forthem, India presents a challenge and anopportunity ‘to scale up’, a sacred con-cept in the digital world, where thegrowth numbers have to be in hundredsof millions. Also, they view some of thelimitations in India as technological chal-lenges to be overcome, such as low speedinternet, inadequate broad band, unreli-able power, multiplicity of languages andso on. The specifics offered during thevisit such as WiFi in railway stations,‘search’ in diverse languages, internetin all schools, and experimentation in e-education, offer the kind of challenges in

bringing advanced tech in a hitherto low-tech environment.

Finally, how much of the promise andthe potential is likely to be realised? Thisis the question that we now ask aftereach visit by the Prime Minister, and wenormally end up by lamenting the slowpace of implementation. Will it be thesame, this time?

Some of the hurdles are formidable,though familiar. Inadequacy of infra-structure is a perpetual problem. Thestate of the brick and mortar highwayscannot be ignored and are in fact a requi-site for growth in information superways.Despite much talk, reliable power, cleanwater and smart cities continue to eludeus. Other issues relate to the bureaucrat-ic and regulatory framework, interfacewith multiple agencies and lack of largenumbers of well trained manpower.

Notwithstanding, it can be argued thatthe enhanced connection with the westcoast is likely to bring benefits. Past expe-rience already suggests that in the ICTrevolution (Information and Communica-tion Technology), it is possible for India toleapfrog stages and move to the global lev-el, as we witnessed with widespread use ofPCs and now, mobile telephony. The visitmentioned several specific applications inthe digital world relating to education,health, governance and connecting peo-ple that are implementable on the ground.It should also be recognised that apartfrom the quantitative figures for invest-ments or job creation, the qualitativeaspects of ideas and innovation may rein-force the connection between the westcoast and Indian entrepreneurs. It is inthis area, that Modi’s visit may turn out tobe a force-multiplier.

The writer, a former Ambassador, was India’s Consul General in San Francisco during 2004- 08

The bridgebetweenSilicon Valleyand Indiansalready exists.The country’smanyinfrastructure-relatedshortcomingssuch as lownet speed willnot bother topUS ITcompaniesmuch as theyare focused on futureapplications

Digital India isalreadystumblingdespite Modi’sbrave words.While theunrealistic targetimposed ongovernmentcompanies willaffect its spread,frequent calldrops will renderit non-functionalas well

Vijay Thakur

THE malady of call drops is nowbeginning to hurt marketing ande-governance companies, accord-

ing to a recent study that also found acorrelation between call drops and thelevel of loyalty and satisfaction of thecustomers. The researchers recom-mended the government through itscommunication bodies should set aneagle eye on the activities of the net-work providers and also work out ameans of monitoring the rates and serv-ice quality of the operators.

Furthermore, base stations should bedeployed in rural and suburban areas toreduce the frequency of call drops. It isnot a new challenge to the world of Tel-cos. They have faced it in other coun-tries but found solutions to the prob-lems because of strong regulatory rules.But in India, seem unenthusiastic inaddressing this new hazard.

The situation has become so bad thatin the past one year, the Indian calldrop rate has quadrupled over the per-mitted global limit of two per cent. Itbecame worse during the first threemonths of this year, increasing to 12.5per cent on 2G networks which meantmore than one out of 10 calls could notbe completed.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority ofIndia (TRAI) has found a two-fold jumpin call drops on 2G networks and 65 percent on 3G in a one-year period. Aircel

was one of the worst performers withthe rate as high as 18% in the NorthEast. In comparison, BSNL had overthree per cent call drops in five circlesand Vodafone and MTS in one circleeach. The TRAI is also examining acommonly held suspicion whether Tel-cos deliberately drop calls on some tar-iff plans to make more money. Themain causes for the deteriorating qual-ity of services, according to an internalreport of the Department of Telecom-munications, were lack of network opti-misation, inadequate investment innetworks and the inability to deal withan explosion of data. It also found thatoperators weren't investing sufficientlyin 2G voice networks in the 1800 MHzband and were instead focusing onoffering high-speed 4G data services inthis band.

The policy makers have now wokenupto the gravity of the call drop problemand realised that its persistence mayobstruct Government programs andpolicies. Digital India is today one of themost prestigious program and all thenine pillars of this program are directlyrelated to high speed internet facility.This means that the success of DigitalIndia will be fully dependent on broad-band connectivity. At present BSNL andother government agencies do not havea good broadband infrastructure toachieve this target. The progress is veryslow as only eight per cent of the targethas been achieved so far. E-governance

programs cannot be realised until thefibre optic backbone is functional. Thiswill make them paper oriented withnothing concrete to show on theground. How can the government sec-tor achieve the 2.3 lakh villages targetwithin next three years is a big questionmark. Telcos and the government havebeen on a collision course ever since theNarendra Modi government made calldrops a priority and even suggestedpenalties for Telcos.

The reasons for call drops are well -established: (i) Negligence of Opera-tions and Management Team, (ii)Sharing of one tower by many opera-tors, (iii) Cut throat competition, (iv)Slips in inadequate radio resources,(v) Antenna tilting, (vi) Phone goesout of range, (vii) Electric andmechanic tilts occur, (viii) signal inter-ference, (ix) Signal strength goesbelow the minimum acceptablethreshold for making a call, (x) Inter-ference due to bad environmental con-ditions, and, (xi) Improper handoff.

In India it had been found that opera-tors are not spending enough on opti-mising their networks (poor servicequality). They have invested only 13 percent of their revenue into infrastructureand there is marked reluctance to intro-duce innovative technology, eliminateequipment failure etc.

The conclusion of a huge range ofavailable studies is that call drops is nota huge problem. It is due to negligence

in operations and management supportand the unenthusiastic approachtowards introduction of innovativetechnology. The investment in theinfrastructure (other than radio spec-trum) in wireless access service seg-ment rose by just 4.6 percent while theminutes of usage during this periodgrew by 6.8 percent.

Call Drops clearly demonstrate thatdesirable amount of investment is notcoming towards telecom infrastructure.Telcos must take a look into thestrengthening, reconfiguration andoptimisation of new innovative net-works and have to reinvest in theirinfrastructure. This is the only way tocome-out from call drops.

DOT may provide 1.5 lakh sites atPost offices for towers and has allowedtrading in spectrum to please Telcos.But if the network infrastructure is notequipped with new technology, theproblem of call drops problem willremain unsolved. If call drops contin-ue, there is no guarantee for the suc-cess of the Digital India program. It isclearly visible now that the “DigitalIndia” program may face a big blow inthe coming days if the Calls Dropsissue remains unresolved. The answerto ending the irritation of call drops lieswith the Government’s regulatory andadministrative mechanisms.

The writer is a PhD scholar inTelecom and IT with IIT, Delhi

West Coast detour: The quest for payback

Call drops blow a credibility hole in Digital India

Modi was an early adapter to IT but the challenge is to Indianise its applications. PHOTO: REUTERS

With India’s call drop rates climbingsharply, the government must begincracking the whip. THINKSTOCK

For three decades, Indianshave played a role in SiliconValley and their success storieshave had a cumulative effect.

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