Insane waste of tax payers money to debate "reasonable" restrictions on mobile phones
Raju Narisetti -
Monday, August 18, 2008 7:03 PM
Not too many people would have noticed a Parliament of India ad on Page 13 of Hindustan Times' New Delhi edition on 18 August. It turns out that the Committee on Petitions of the Rajya Sabha has decided to consider what it dubs as a petition for "Imposition of Reasonable Restrictions on Use of Mobile Phones." Want to know what some of these "reasonable" restrictions are? How about:
1) Jammers/decoders should be installed in the premises of educational institutions so that calls on mobile phones could be restricted. Only phone calls for administrative purposes should be allowed. It should be made an offence to receive or make private/personal phone calls on the campus through a private mobile phone and the violator should be prosecuted.
2) The cellular phone companies should instal apparatus which will not allow the handsets to function on the roads or while driving. Special areas may be erected where mobile phone calls may be made or received. Using mobile phone while driving should be made a non-bailable and a non-compoundable offence.
3) A law should be enacted prohibiting use of mobile phones or carrying it to places of worship, cremation grounds and burial places.
4) Use of mobile phones or carrying it in public offices by persons should be prohibited by law. Making or receiving private or personal calls during office hours should be an offence punishable with imprisonment and fine. Receiving and making official calls may, however, be exempted from the proposed restriction.
5) There should be a ban on mobile phones fitted with cameras for the safety of women, as it violates their privacy. Owning or possessing of mobile phones fitted with camera for professional needs may be allowed subject to the person obtaining a licence from the concerned authority.
I swear on my Blackberry I am not making all this up. But I can't decide who is more insane--the petitioner of these mostly impractical and mostly unimplementable (thankfully) ideas or our Parliamentarians, led by Committee Chair M Venkaiah Naidu of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who want to waste their time and our tax money on such petitions.
If you want to tell the Committee what you think of all this, do write to J. Sundriyal, joint director of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat at sundrial@sansad.nic.in by September 15, the deadline for the Committee to receive written memos on this weighty issue. Or, better yet, make a statement by using your mobile phone to tell him what you really think of this petition by calling him at 011-23034541.