This can be transformed into a business opportunity. Bangalore has a number hosted by a private company: it is called just-dial-yellow-pages. You dial that number and an operator will give you any listed number. If you ask for a computer shop number, the operator will ask you : are you looking for a computer, and will also give you numbers of ten other computer sellers. The computer sellers pay for such a listing.
Getting access to any shop or service has become tremendously easy here in Bangalore now. Perhaps Bangalore has not just beaten the rest of India, but even some Western countries. regards, Samir ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frederick Noronha (FN)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 1:12 PM Subject: [Goanet]Information poverty... in Goa > Goa lacks a decent and uptodate telephone directory of its own! This is > even more acutely felt in a time when Goa's phone network is seeing some > vast expansion. 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'. > > Time that we all campaigned to make officials realise how such a deep > level of 'information poverty' affects basic efficiency in the state. > > If I want to follow-up on computer repairs, if I need to talk to a > friend who's into the music scene... there's just no place to check. > Ringing 197 (enquiry) is an option; but there must be an easier and less > wasteful way of sourcing information. I'd like to be more organised > myself, but multi-taking with seemingly a 101 tasks that all needed to > be completed yesterday has its own limitations! > > By contrast, when I was passing through Mangalore recently > en route to Thiruvananthapuram (the state-capital of Kerala), > it was nice to see the way their society is making the fullest > use of information. > > Apart from having a whole lot of printing presses churning out useful > information, the region also had a tiny pocketbook sized 'Mangalore City > White Pages'. Costing just Rs 10, the 'book' ofers links to a whole > range of information -- from airlines and air timings to water supply. > > One never ceases to be amazed how effectively South India makes use of > all the information it has. This is perhaps one reason why the South is > faring fairly well -- and has probable raced ahead of the advantages > that Goa had in the past -- in a number of fields, ranging from > education, to IT, to transparency in public life, involvement of > citizens in civic affairs and village administration, and more. > > Information poverty cripples. It's time Goa realised that. FN > >
