Today is world Postal Day!

Instant communication has given rise to more atrocities than peace. In the good olden days, it will take a week to get some urgent messages from other places. Mostly people relied on postal systems. The post offices were located in far off places. With enormous funding and the government’s intention to build a robust communication system, connecting remote villages has yielded results. Still there were no instant communication systems. The telegraphic messages too had to be delivered to remote villages either by foot or bicycle. Even when the messages reached the telegraph offices, finding man to deliver the messages seems laborious since telegraph messengers were short in the offices. Each office had one or two messengers who will be out delivering some telegrams to other places. Hence, even death messages could be delivered only after a day delay. Hence people sent their own couriers to inform the death of near and dear! Then came the telephone communication and each post office had a public call system of telephone available with the post master. Hence one has to contact the post office to telephone some body. The other person needs to be informed that a call is waiting at the post office. Someone has to be sent with this message. This too was a laborious one.

With the advent of mobile communication and the internet, these problems were solved to a great extent. But the other person should have a mobile phone! In urban environment, almost 90% of the people do possess a mobile phone albeit a cheap one meant for voice call and messages. Thus, with the advance of telecom mobile network, now anybody can call anybody across the world, if the receiver has a mobile set. Thus, the initial problems were solved. But new problems have cropped up. The telecom people cannot ensure 100% verification of the address of applicant for a sim card. They have to rely upon the documentary evidence only. With the technological breakthrough, even currencies are printed by people conversant with the technology but who are not authorized! Likewise with the communication tools and technology, more people who commit fraud against the public and constitution increased enormously. Now we have systematic cyber criminals who spy on public space, banks and organizations, steal the data and commit many frauds. Prior to that, they started printing bogus credit cards of leading Banks of the world by fraudulently copying the data contained in the credit cards. Mostly business establishments could commit such frauds. While sweeping, they retain the data in the memory of computers there and pass it on the fraudsters for a price. Now we read in the media, many such innovative crimes committed by the perverted technology savvy crooks.

We feel that instant communication is a boon of the technology. But only a very minute percentage of people are really using it for beneficial activities. More than 80% of the people use it to cheat people, cheat the innocents and cheat the commercial and banking network and become millionaires in few months’ time. Tracking them is a laborious process. Hence the cyber police should be more efficient to trace the activities of such criminals. Sometimes, we feel that we should have remained as backward in communications since more harm accrues than benefits.

Now, it is the turn of the government to channelize the benefits of communication tools for the common public located in remote villages. Though there is much development in urban side, still there are many villages lacking connection of net. Today, world postal day is being celebrated all over the world. In India, there are five lakhs employees in Postal Department. There are more than one lakh post offices connecting almost all parts of the country except in some distant hills inaccessible.

The strides in communication technology must reach all the villages and nobody should feel isolated in the world of communications. For that, not alone the government agencies but also the multinational companies should contribute their might. Cyber laws must be strengthened and stricter punishments should be meted out to the fraudsters. Global co-operation is a must since the net belongs to the entire world community! Researchers must concentrate on areas of connecting the poorest of the poor to the net by offering free services where the net is beyond the reach of common man!