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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

India's telegram service: Trip down the memory lane

Smart phones, emails and SMS seem to have pushed the humble telegram service to a quiet corner with the BSNL deciding to discontinue the 160-year-old telegraph service from July 15. Once the main source of quick and urgent communication, the service delivered many happy and sad news to people spread all over the country. 


Trip down the memory lane...

Fascinating history


Many of us have memories of going to the telegraph window in post offices, carefully counting out words, trying to condense further and perhaps even using those 45 present codes for festive occasions. 


Much of telegraphy's history in India has a fascinating history, much of which can be traced through stamps and telegraph forms. 


First official telegraph line

The first official telegraph line that connected then Calcutta and Diamond Harbour opened in October 1851. 


Cost of sending

Back then, sending a telegram over the shortest distance - up to 400 miles - cost an 'anna' for every word or one rupee for 16 words. 


Later, rates were revised and the sender would be charged for a group of words. Over the next 150 years, the cost would go up to Rs 50 for fifty words. 


Extensive usage

The use of the telegraph network by East India Company officials is believed to have been vital for the British during the first war of independence in 1857. 


Over the years, various developments took place in the telegraph network, including its expansion across the country, the introduction of overseas services and wireless telegraphy. Among the innovations was the introduction of the greetings telegram used to send wishes on special occasions. 

Perceived as a harbinger of bad news


The arrival of the ordinary telegram was perceived as a harbinger of bad news. But the service was also used to send wishes on occasion. 


By paying a little extra, the sender could ensure that these telegrams would be delivered on special illustrated forms. These were also delivered in colourful envelopes.

Old system of morse codes


Tracing the roots of Indian telegraphy also reveal interesting insights on how the system developed. 


While in popular imagination, the memories of sending telegrams invariably invoke images of a visit to the post office, the telegraph system had been in operation for more than 60 years before it was amalgamated with the postal department. 

The functioning


Until 1912, the telegraph system in the subcontinent was administered as a separate department of the Government of India by an officer designated Director General of Telegraphs. 

Telegram merged into telecom department


After the bifurcation of the post and telegraph department in 1980s, telegram was merged into the telecommunication department. 

Recalling


Ranganayakalu K, DGM (administration) of Bangalore BSNL headquarters, recounted to TOI how he witnessed the evolution from the 'katta-kat' era to the 'whats app' generation. 


"First we moved from Morse codes to internationally accepted codes called IA-2 codes, which too were discarded. From 1980s, we had in place the message storing and forwarding machines which were sort of bulky computers and then came the transformation of transmission systems. Earlier, the codes were sent through electrical wires sometimes, through three channels and sometimes 16," he recalled. 

Evolution


Then the Web Based Telegram Message System (WTMS) changed the way of sending telegrams through computers. 


"The most common codes were 18 or 16 or deep condolences when people conveyed their emotions through chits of paper. The number shrunk to 2,000-4,000 in recent years. Earlier we used to get telegrams from the weather department, SOSes from the navy and almost daily ones from the army," Nagaraju said wistfully. 

Many employees


There are around 75 telegram centres in the country with less than 1,000 employees to manage them. BSNL will absorb these employees and deploy them for managing mobile services, landline telephony and broadband services. 

Source:-The Economic Times

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