By Parag Agarwal
Edited by Nandita Singh
India as we know is counted under the category of ‘Developing Nations,’ which shows a decent amount of growth every year. In a city like New York, there is WiFi present everywhere free of cost, but in Mumbai, BMC is planning to make it chargeable and available only in Southern Mumbai as of now. Every year, the political parties governing the nation come up with one or another scheme to ‘help the country grow’, the past being witness, and therefore here again we stand with the ShivSena trying to repeat history. In 2008, BMC had proposed a plan for WiFi hotspots in South Bombay as an act of ‘development,’ which was eventually scrapped due to the terrorist attacks of 26/11.
In July 2013, BMC tried to revive this plan, but failed. One again, ShivSena is trying to revive this plan of 5 WiFi hotspots throughout South Bombay and the towers will be installed at the civic headquarters at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Bombay Stock Exchange at Dalal Street, Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road in Colaba, Hutatma Chowk in Fort, and Mahatma Gandhi Road. No further news has been provided as of yet, but we are looking forward to it.
The installation of these WiFi towers may show some people that the ShivSena genuinely cares about the growth and development of the country, and does not only want to fill their bank lockers. This might also give people the false hope that ShivSena will make repeated efforts to take India from a ‘Developing Nation’ to a ‘Developed Nation, certainly strengthening people’s trembling belief in their ways and may just help them win the upcoming Polls. The political aspect aside, the students studying at Mumbai University will also be affected if it is allowed in colleges. WiFi being present around them is certainly a good thing, but since it will be paid, it would certainly complicate the lives of student to a great extent. Also, with various users using the same network at the same time, the server speed will largely decline from a not very fast speed of 512kbps to a mere 256kbps. Sure, installation of such towers would definitely help correct connectivity issues persisting there, and given the unfortunate current situation of women in India, it would certainly make them and their families feel safer. The presence of WiFi in the entire Southern Mumbai also greatly increases the threat of cyber crimes. Earlier, hackers used to use their PC’s or laptops at home and could easily be traced, but with the presence of WiFi everywhere, and considering the fact that almost everyone has a smartphone today, hackers can commit their crimes from amongst the most crowded areas, leave their phone and be lost in the crowd, thereby making them impossible to trace. A boon or bane, only time will tell. For, as of now, this is certainly a step towards growth of the country.
Recent reports suggested that BMC still remains quiet on the matter, although it has been well over 6 years since the conception of the idea. The question stands, will Bombay take the first step towards developing and genuinely helping the people without concealed motives?
Parag Agarwal is a 17 years old, doing the IB Diploma Program from SVKM International School. His hobbies are reading, writing. He maintains a blog, which he writes at shadowblog01.blogspot.in. He plays squash and soccer at times. He is not a party person and prefers staying at home and reading a book.