Fred and Goanetters all,
'Information Poverty in Goa ' is an understatement, and I know that you know
it. By western standards , and compared to advanced countries, the Info
level belongs to the begining of the last century. And this to prevail in
this age of Instant Communications, the Internet and the Global Village!
In all of Australia, all over the western world, there is the 'White Pages'
and the 'Yellow Pages' published fresh every year. New Entries missed at
the time of either publication can be accessed by telephone enquiry; and on
/thru the internet. The White Pages volumes contain all the relevent info re
names, address and phone number; as also other important info re: postal
codes for the whole country; the telephone codes for the who;le country; and
the telephone codes for the World; also the Time zones for the various
countries with respect to GMT. Also included are Govt and other public
import numbers and emergency contact numbers, various query numbers as well,
in specially marked /coloured pages. In fact a host of information.
Then there is also the facility where an individual or group may want to
have a 'silent number'; meaning that the person's name, address and phone
number are secret from the white pages as well as the internet; and also
can't be obtained over enquiry phone number. Only the individual person can
divulge these to whom they want to!
The Yellow Pages contain info about Businesses, and commercial entities;
these are to be paid for by the businesses or the advertisers. They give
names/ addresses and phone and URL or e-mail addresses, as the client would
want it. These also give info on postal and telephone codes!
Private phone number related entry on White Pages is free for every phone
subscriber, but only in standard print format; And more importantly the
White Pages and the Yellow Pages are delivered FREE at the place of EVERY
phone subscriber, every year, without fail; Also in case of miss out; any
subscriber can obtain his/ her copy of these, by applying locally.
Then there is the famous Road Directories for Town, City and Country; which
have to be paid for; which give enough info of all the roads, big and smal,l
in the area; as also info of projected roads and highways under
construction. These are shown map wise and to scale. Every car/ vehicle
owner carries one of these for his/her area, in the vehicle for easy
reference. I keep one copy at home too; and plan my journey for the shortest
and easiest route.
The latest is Satellite navigation maps; for a few hundred dollars one can
fit a modern car with a satellite navigator and electronic road map and one
gets info as to direction etc, with regard to destination. The costs of this
is high of course since the technology is new. This system has already
caught up with the rich and frequent travellers; but not yet
required/affordable by common people.
Now, why can't this happen in Goa and or India everywhere; If the
authorities cannot afford to provide these volumes free; then these should
at least be made available for the cost of printing. Why not? After all this
is done, and only then can India claim to be a developing Country; leave
alone developed Country like the Presoident of India would want us to
believe!
Hope the 'Take Off' time comes soon; It's a long time coming? Can we see the
Horizon?
Nasci Caldeira
Melbourne
Down Under
From: "Frederick Noronha (FN)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet]Information poverty... in Goa
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 13:12:15 +0530
Goa lacks a decent and uptodate telephone directory of its own!
To get the maximum efficiency out of the telephone
network, we really need to know who else is there on it. Otherwise, we
won't get out the benefits of the 'networked economy'.
Information poverty cripples. It's time Goa realised that. FN
