Ashok Pratap (name changed), a subedar stationed at a BSF outpost in Kargil, has a 11-year-old son at home in Rajasthan who is suffering from leukemia. From Kargil, he cannot help but phone his wife twice daily to enquire about his son’s health, and how she is coping. And he runs up a hefty monthly bill of Rs1,200, as he pays for the calls at Rs5 per minute. Month after month, this burns a big hole in his modest pay packet.
While the vast majority of India’s 550 million mobile users have been enjoying the benefits of the telecom revolution, paying around 1 paise per second or less, the jawans of India’s paramilitary forces posted in the far reaches of Kashmir have been largely left out.
For quite some time, they have been writing letters to New Delhi, pleading for more ‘considerate’ rates. But the only response they received was that the home ministry could not subsidise satellite telephony further.
Now, finally, the jawans have got some relief. The minister of state for communications, Sachin Pilot, recently visited a border area, where he got to see the plight of the jawans firsthand. On his return, he raised the issue with his own senior communications minister, A Raja, and also with the Union home minister, P Chidambaram.
After much back-and-forth, the Department of Telecommunications has decided to reduce call charges from Rs5 per minute to Rs1 per minute for satellite phones. Pilot also ensured that the central paramilitary forces, which till now had only 200 satellite phones, get another 200 sets. When contacted, Pilot told DNA, “This was the least we could do to boost their morale and show our respect to the brave jawans.”
