Indian government to SMS food alerts to poor, forgets poor lack cellphones
by Sean Cooper 
posted Jan 19th 2008 at 7:41AM
A regional government in India has decided to send out alerts via SMS to families in need when their 35kg monthly rice ration is ready to pickup. The system is set to cover as many as 3.4 million families -- or 60 percent of the region's population -- though the gents running the show were unsure how many families in need actuality had cell phones to receive the notice or the means to sign up. We really have to wonder why nobody stopped to consider that the poor in need of food to survive might not have cell phones to get these messages in the first place. Perhaps a cheapo prepaid could be part of this high tech recipe in the future?
Filed under: Messaging
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Pdexter @ Jan 19th 2008 10:41AM
Well kinda yes, but poor peoplo do have mobile phones too. 85% of mobile phones subscribers comes from emerging markets and if you think that Nokia's 1100 has sold over 200 million phones(dunno how many are sold to this day). 1100 costs 24$ in India.
Thought i agree would think there's better solution.
michiel @ Jan 19th 2008 12:21PM
I agree with the comment made by Pdexter: poor people tend to have cellphones too. Moreover, they tend to value possession of a cellphone even more than the more well to do, since it's a symbol of status, self-worth, and modernity. I've been in Nigeria and Indonesia last year, and was surprised to find so many people in the poorer as well as rural areas with a handphone. One more consideration that may counter our (western) view of the handphone as very a personal technology: even though many people in poorer countries/areas do not individually possess a handphone, people in rural areas tend to share one cellphone with a whole family, or even a whole village. A message spreads fast in these communities.
Pismodude2010 @ Jan 19th 2008 1:12PM
Right on guys, almost everyone I know has a mobile phone, and they are nowhere near wealthy.
Adam @ Jan 19th 2008 5:21PM
Ever been to India? Everyone has a phone there, its nuts...even the poor
Pdexter @ Jan 19th 2008 6:17PM
Indeed. It's no coincident that big 4 mobile phone manufacturers are pushing hard in India. Cant member how many new phones there where bought in a day, but it for sure was crazy.
DarkLightConnection @ Jan 19th 2008 6:45PM
Have you ever been to other parts of the world?
Mexico is about the same - people that can't afford good food, but they are no lack of phone.. heck, some of them have better phones than me
This is in the line between crazy and idiotic... that's why I am an anti-cellphone... Just think of what "the people at the top" will be able to do when absolutely everyone in this world (exept me) haves a cellphone :-S
Rjay @ Jan 21st 2008 10:59AM
Right now somewhere in India an emerging business owner is saying "Kamali honey im telling you, we should open a liquor store over there. In America, even the homeless have shopping carts!"
PSM @ Jan 20th 2008 12:10AM
I remember reading (must have been here) about a rural area in some developing country where they don't have electricity, but they have cell phones, and the people have to travel some ridiculous number of miles every day just to get to a place where they can charge their phones. Seems a little bit cart-before-the-horse if you ask me, but obviously it works for them.
strdust @ Jan 20th 2008 3:12AM
Actually in developing country, most of the poor do own a cell phone. This is simply because it would cost too much to run a landline to the village, but cell phone signal can reach remote village easily. Of course some villages need to build their own tower to catch the signal, there was an article in the WSJ about a year ago regarding a guy who build a tree tower and rent it to his neighbor to climb on to catch cell phone signal. Cell phone in developing world / villages serve more than just an emergency mean of contact, it's the only way for family to keep in touch with love one who move to the city to find work. They also have cell phone finance program in some countries.
Cryptofusebox @ Jan 21st 2008 11:24AM
I was in India at the tail-end of last year. You will be surprised how wide the cell phone penetration is. Beggars have cell phones. They call each other when they spot prospects. It's a bit ridiculous. People pulling hand cars loaded with a ton of garbage will whip out a start chatting. It is so affordable there because street vendors sell SIM cards dirt cheap. While the coverage may not be great, it's not that bad either.