Cell Phone Nation: How Mobile Phones Have Revolutionized Business, Politics and Ordinary Life in India (62 page)

Surat,
21

surveillance,
13
,
141
,
202

Susan, Nisha,
195

Swami, Praveen,
204
–
05

Swamy’s Treatise on Telephone Rules
,
42
,
47
,
65

Sweden,
159

Sydney,
31

Taj Mahal Hotel,
206

Tamil Nadu,
21
,
56
,
61
,
73
,
90
–
1
,
202
,
222

tapping, phone,
204
;
see also
spying, surveillance

Tata group,
51
,
55
–
6
,
202
,
223

Tata Telecommunications,
55

Tata Teleservices,
74

Tehelka
,
8
,
195
,
212

Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT),
50
,
52

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI),
41
,
43
,
47
–
8
,
50
,
52
,
59
,
196
–
7

Telecom Restructuring Committee,
43

Telecommunications, Department of,
33
,
47
–
8
,
50
–
1
,
58

teledensity,
6
,
28
,
34
,
41
,
44
,
48
,
50
,
67
; in 1984,
32
;
see also
subscribers

telegraph,
4
,
25
–
6

Telekom International
Malaysia,
55

Telenor,
58

telephone: introduction of,
26
;

not a priority in India,
32
;

number of,
27
–
8
;
see
teledensity

television,
29
–
30
,
168
,
197
,
205
,
214
,
222
,
238
n

Tendulkar, Sachin,
66

Tenhunen, Sirpa,
169

terrorism,
205
–
07

terrorists,
8
,
102
,
142
,
146
,
197
,
202

text messages,
218
–
19
; in Indian languages,
139
;
see also
SMS

thalidomide,
212

The Wire
,
205

theft: of phones,
198
–
9

Thomas, Thomas K.,
58

Tihar Jail,
61

Times of India
,
27
,
166
,
200

Tiwari, Manoj,
187
–
9

Toronto,
144

tourists,
131
–
6

towers: transmission,
xxxii
,
6
,
57
,
62
,
72
,
74
,
93
–
7
,
119
,
142
,
160
,
211
–
13
;
see also
health

Toxic Link,
214

training: sales people,
83
–
5

Travancore,
26

Trinidad,
182

Tripathy, Ratnakar,
217

turnout: voters in UP,
155

TVS Group,
95

two-step flow,
141

UFS3 software,
102

Uganda,
169

UK,
35

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI),
222

Unitech,
58

United Arab Emirates,
11

United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP),
214

United Nations,
35

UniverCell,
75
–
8

Universal Access Service Licence (UASL),
68

Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA),
207

untouchability,
30

Untouchables,
145

Uttar Pradesh (UP),
8
,
71
,
77
,
84
,
91
,
103
,
146
–
7
,
151
–
2
,
154
–
5
,
158
,
163
,
167
,
193
,
200
,
220
,
222
; elections in,
147
–
9

USA,
35
,
51
–
2
,
56
–
7
,
67
,
111
,
139
,
147
,
196
,
200

Vajpayee, Atul Bihari,
41
,
49
,
155
,
235
n

Varanasi,
see
Banaras

Varghese, Anupam,
125
–
7

Vedas, Vedic literature,
22
,
143

Veeraraghavan, Rajesh,
138

Vernacular Press Act, 1878,
24

Vice-President of USA,
57

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL),
33

Vodafone,
55
,
69
,
71
,
73
,
75
,
94
,
131
,
211
,
216
,
223

waiting list: for telephone,
41

Walton, Marion,
158

Washington Post
,
120

watch: pocket and wrist,
2
,
10
,
117
,
136
,
177

Welcome to Sajjanpur
,
29

Wellman, Barry,
134
,
162
–
3
,
204
,
215
–
16

West Africa,
5

West Asia,
35

West Bengal,
169

White, E. B.,
100

White, Richard,
57

Wikipedia,
69

Wolff,
4

women,
11
,
19
,
25
,
82
–
3
,
111
,
129
–
31
,
165
–
83
,
190
–
1
,
207
,
211
,
216
; absent among
mistriis
,
101
; bank accounts and,
130
; employment in
Nokia factory,
90
–
4
,
103
,
241
n; Nokia repair centre and,
106
–
7
; music videos and,
187
–
9

World Bank,
3
,
43
,
211

World Health Organisation,
212

World Trade Organisation,
144

writing,
20
;
see also
literacy, illiteracy

Yadav, Akhilesh,
157

Yadav, Mulayam
Singh,
see
Mulayam Singh Yadav

Yadavs,
78

YouTube,
92
,
156
,
187

Zain,
54

Robin Jeffrey is a Visiting Research Professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies and Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.

Assa Doron is an Australian Research
Council Future Fellow in the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra. He is author of
Caste, Occupation and Politics on the Ganges: Passages of Resistance.

Cell Phone Nation

The cheap mobile phone is probably the most disruptive communications device in history, and in India its potential to stir up society is breath-taking. The number of phones in India increased more than twenty times in the last ten years, and by the end of 2012 India had more than 900 million mobile phone subscribers.

The impact of the simplest version
of the device has been deep. Village councils have banned unmarried girls from owning mobile phones. Families have debated whether new brides should surrender them. Cheap mobiles have become photo albums, music machines, databases, radios and flashlights. Religious images and uplifting messages continue to flood tens of millions of phones each day. Pornographers and criminals have found a tantalizing new tool. Political organizations have exploited a resource infinitely more effective than the printing press for carrying messages to workers, followers and voters.

Cell Phone Nation
masterfully probes the mobile phone universe in India – from the contests of great capitalists and governments to control Radio Frequency spectrum to the ways ordinary people build the troublesome, addictive device into their daily lives.