On the road

Sir — A famous Bengali film on truckers had the song, “Ei pathei jibon, ei pathei maran amader, sab kichhu pather bukei”. This is what came to mind on reading the article, “Slogan, wagon. Art, cart” (Feb 17). The motifs and messages on trucks are meant to keep the drivers happy. They spend days on end in their vehicles, away from home. Truck drivers ensure that we get our daily requirements on time. Yet, they are cursed for being the main culprits behind road accidents. But most of them are disciplined drivers as they have to keep the goods they are carrying safe. People should be more sympathetic to truckers.

Alok Ganguly,

Kalyani

Sir — The new tariff regime outlined by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for viewers of cable and DTH television came into effect recently. Even though TRAI had made it amply clear that subscribers are not to be harassed or inconvenienced by this change, the truth on the ground is very different. Viewers who have cable TV subscriptions are facing troubles. Many of them have had to miss out on their favourite TV shows because the cable operators have been haggling over prices. In many cases, even though the cable operators have uploaded the choices of viewers onto the requisite portal, none of these channels has appeared on the TV screens.

There are many people, like senior citizens, whose only means of entertainment are TV programmes. They are the worst sufferers. All necessary steps should be taken so that the transition process becomes smooth and no subscriber has to face problems in viewing his or her favourite TV shows.

Sourish Misra,

Calcutta

Sir — The decision of TRAI to let consumers to pay only for the channels that they want to watch was supposed to benefit viewers. However, the plan has gone terribly wrong owing to improper implementation. First, the price of watching television has gone up for most people. Second, the authorities implementing the new tariff scheme do not seem to have any control over cable operators who are taking their own sweet time to upload the customers’ preferences online. As a result of this, people have been forced to miss episodes of their favourite shows and even forgo the news.

What was the point of upsetting a system that had been running smoothly so far? The whole exercise seems to be geared towards taking the consumers for a ride and lining the pockets of businessmen.

Kalyan Ghosh,

Calcutta

Sir — The change in tariff of cable and DTH connections has hit senior citizens the hardest. The loneliness of old age is made bearable by television programmes. The younger generation armed with laptops and smartphones can easily turn to the internet for entertainment. But what about the older generation? The pace of modern life has ensured that family members often have little to no time to spend with the elderly. As such, the TV and the characters on daily soaps become their only companions.

Additionally, senior citizens are also the ones who come up with the short end of the stick when they attempt to complain about their trials. It is easy to brush off those whose economic worth is limited. Worse, the new tariff will also be too costly for those who depend on meagre pensions to run the household. This has showed, once again, that India is no country for the aged.

Somnath Ganguly,

Calcutta

Sir — The new — and increased — tariff that has been implemented by TRAI might just be the death knell for television. Most of what is shown on TV is available online these days. Big media companies like Star and Zee have their own online streaming platforms where all the shows aired on their channels are available. What is even better, these can be viewed as per the consumer’s wish and is not related to specific time slots. Given the cheap and ready availability of high-speed internet, more and more people would switch to watching their favourite shows online. Even news and sports are available online and can be live streamed no matter where a person is. TV does not afford such a luxury. Further, a large number of people already prefer to watch content available on platforms like Netflix, which is undoubtedly going to profit from the latest development.

The TV in Indian homes has been known to bring families together. Who can forget the Sunday morning when all members of the family gathered before it to watch B.R. Chopra’s Mahabharat? Fights over the remote and over who gets to watch the TV have been a memorable part of growing up. But the latest chaos over increased tariff and concerns regarding channels not being aired will ensure that people retreat into the solitary world of mobile phones. What might be the beginning of the end for the TV might also spell doom for the Indian family.

Krishna Roy,

Calcutta

Sir — The new tariff order of TRAI has done for television what the demonetisation did for the Indian economy. The disruption is unwanted. But it will take a while for the dust to settle and for people to return to their daily routines.

Ranjana Sikdar,

Calcutta