The era of telegrams or the good old 'taar system' was given a quite burial last week. While it death was slow due to electronic media tools innovating at a rapid pace, its high utility value till the fag-end of the 20th century and also heritage has etched long lasting memories in the minds of millions across India whose lives once depended on this mode of communication.For more than 160 years, it instantly delivered good as well as bad news at your door step. It instantly conveyed across seas the joyous news of birth in the family to death.
Unfortunately, the prevalent economic liberation era and virtual space dominating one’s life in the last decade saw the telegram service fighting for survival in the highly competitive atmosphere created by the rapidly changing communication system in India. Technology metamorphosis in rural India made the telegram service redundant since the last decade.
Telegraph services in India dates back to the 1850’s when the first telegraphic communication was between Calcutta and Diamond Harbor. But once the telegraph lines were laid in India and around the world, it shot up to the stars within no time. The advent of digital communication and computers during 1960’s in India had posed a threat to the sustenance and survival of telegraph. Fax and emails began to blanket telegrams and this only favored the growth of the digital media.
By the late 20th century Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the Indian telecommunications took over the telegraph system from the Indian postal service. But the fact was that BSNL couldn’t stand in front of the increasing demand of SMS and emails. This had taken a toll on their revenues. In the 1990s, Indian telecommunications company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) took over the country’s telegraph system from the Indian postal service. But the increasing dominance of email and SMS continued to take its toll on the newly privatized telegraph.
Two years ago, faced with declining revenues, BSNL instituted the first telegram price hike in some 60 years. From three or four rupees (U.S. $0.05 to $0.07) for 50 words, the price of telegram shot up to 27 rupees (U.S. $0.47) for 50 words. Last March, in a last-ditch effort to cut costs, the company ceased international telegraph service. Despite these efforts to make the telegraph business financially viable, BSNL still posted losses of some 17 million rupees (U.S. $290,000) during the last two years.
