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A Page Full of Suggestions for the Common Good Links to Contents: Eliminating a major problem with our Telephone Directories 1.Eliminating A Major Problem
With our Telephone Directories 1.What is the Problem? Telephone Directories in
India suffer from an age-old problem of multiple listing of identical names.For
instance, the 1999 issue of Chennai Directory has listed 187 persons under‘S Krishnan’To
locate the S Krishnan one is looking for, one must have the address of the
person .Even this may not be enough, as sometimes there may be more than one
person of the same name in a block of multi-storeyed flats or in the same
street.This leads to avoidable hardship to subscribers.In Cities like Mumbayi
where surnames like Shah or Patil are common, the problem is even worse. I first noticed the difficulty when a relative from USA wanted to contact Sri K V Narayanaswamy , the well-known musician,from my residence.At that time there were four K V Narayanaswamys in the Directory and only on the third attempt the right person could be contacted. My wife (Seetha Narayanan),
a noted Carnatic musician, had her name listed as an additional entry against my
phone number to facilitate her professional work.It was fine for two years till
another lady with identical name, who was in the goods transport business, came
to live in the next street.Persons
calling either party, who only remembered the locality in which the required
person resided and not the exact address,
often ended up calling the wrong Seetha! My wife also missed quite a few
concert engagements. My name is not a very common
one.Nevertheless, about 30 years back, when I was in the Western Railway,another
‘J N Iyer’, a prominent business executive and well-known in Kannadiga social
organizations, was also listed in the Bombay Telephone Directory.I faced the
comic situation of receiving invitations to Raj Bhavan functions!.I had to have
an understanding with the other J N Iyer for redirecting mail wrongly
received With the multiple listing of
identical names, the on-line directory at the website of Chennai Telephones is
too costly to use.and virtually useless. 2.The Position in Other
Countries In Western countries the
problem is similar, with surnames like Smith,Carpenter etc very common.In USA,
they have the system of George Bush Sr, George Bush Jr, even George Bush III
etc.As regards Telephone Directories,the problem is mostly taken care of by
including the spouse’s name also and in some cities, by inclusion of even the
names of children free of cost 3.What is the solution for
this Country? The problem can be mostly
solved by adopting any of the following measures: a)Inclusion of the spouse’s name as in USA.It is very unlikely that two persons will have spouses with identical names. b)Inclusion of a
person’s profession, suitably abbreviated, after each entry eg ‘Lwyr’ for
‘Lawyer’,’Jrnlst’ for ‘Journalist’ etc.The Telephone Dept can issue a standard
list of abbreviations and ask the subscribers to choose the abbreviation they
want to be included.Persons in the medical profession can be identified by
abbreviations like ‘Dr ENT’ ‘Dr Cardiology’etc.The large number of retired
persons listed in the Directory can be identified by inclusion of
‘ex-rly','ex-Tatas’ etc c)If suggestions are
invited from the Public other simple solutions may come up. A study of the
Directory shows that the additional information can be accommodated in most
cases without addition of extra lines.If the present confusion can be got rid
of, most subscribers may not mind paying the charges for an additional line in
the listing 4.What has been done by me? In
1992 I had first raised the problem and suggested possible solutions in a letter published by The Indian
Express.’This was followed by a letter to GM, Chennai Telephones, which drew a
negative response.In June 1994 I wrote a letter with the suggestions to Sri N
Vittal, who was then Secretary(Telecom).He promptly acknowledged the letter(by
return post!) and promised action.Soon after he was moved out of DoT and
reminders sent to the DoT
subsequently did not receive any response.The last letter No 1-94-PHB
dated 29/11/94 had assured me that the suggestion will be considered when
framing the rules for printing of directories. Last November, I had submitted a brief memorandum to TRAI at the
Open House in Chennai listing this and other problems affecting quality of
service/.Though I received an acknowledgement(No 110-2/98-TRAI(Tech) dated
29/1/99) from TRAI’s office, nothing seems to have been done so far. This is thus a fit case for Consumer Organizations to
take up and pursue with vigour. Bandhs and hartals have become a major curse in our public life, threatening to weaken our economy and causing enromous inconvenience to law-abiding citizens.Work-stoppages were originally conceived during the freedom movement to register protest against the alien government and hinder its functioning.After independence these should have been eschewed to concentrate on productivity.On the other hand bandhs and hartals have almost become everyday affairs and a weapon in the hands of unscrupulous politicians to further their sectarian and selfish agenda.It is a matter of shame that on several occasions these are organised and blessed by state and central governments. No one willingly downs shutters.They are downed out of fear for violence from the organizers. The ordinary law-abiding citizens are put to great hardship.The daily wage-earners like vendors,small-scale artisans etc suffer.The national economy too suffers incalculable damage. The organizers willingly shut their eyes to the futility of the bandhs to further the cause for which such bandhs are ostensibly launched.How can the brigand who kidnapped the matinee idol of Karnataka suffer if the state observes a bandh? If Pakistan-backed terrorists massacre innocent people, how can they and their backers suffer if a Bharat bandh is organised?On the other hand they will be benefited by the weakening of our economy due to loss of production. The Kerala High court has declared bandhs as unconstitutional.This,I recollect, has been upheld by the Supreme court too.The Election Commission has rightly served notice for de-recognition on a political party which organised a bandh in Kerala.(Incidentally I had in the past sympathies for this party). What is the solution?Public opinion should demand exemplary punishment for organisers of the unconstitutional bandhs.The best course will be to have legislation to debar individuals and parties organising or instigating bandhs from contesting elections for five years and individuals should be also debarred from holding any position of authority in a recognised party. If a national referendum is held, I am sure, there will be overwhelming support for such legislation. About myself & This site The Bright Face of India The Bright Face of India-II For A Clean Face Of India Preventable Train Accidents Consumer Problems Suggestions!Suggestions! A Citizen's Anguish Bharat Mail World Media Carnatic Music Site My Other Site
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