Introduction:
India is vast country with a population of about one billion. Also India is a country of unity in diversity. This could sometimes cause problems but still stays as one country at the need of the hour. When India attained its independence 55 years ago, the priorities were different then to what it is today. The country has subsequently been broken up into several states on linguistic basis. This has led to a situation of several countries within a country – similar to Europe. Like Europe, each state in India has its own language, culture, food and other idiosyncrasies. Soon after independence, it was irrigation and power and construction of dams that were considered as essential for development in free India. Although these schemes might have achieved what they were meant to, certain other priorities have cropped up as the years passed by. All the five-year plans are being geared to meet the present day requirements. At one stage, it appears that there were plans to connect all the river systems in India as some flooded during monsoon and some other stayed dry where it did not rain enough. Some how, somewhere along the line these plans fell through.
These developments being on one side, India’s concerted efforts in advancing Science and Technology never lacked any pace. It is a best known secret that India is one of the leading countries in the world in the fields of research and development. It has made advances in every direction. But the uneven demographic distribution in India makes the development obvious only in some parts that are mainly the urban areas of the country. This urbanisation process might have taken place without particular planning, as it is in the case of many cities. In spite of all the developments in Science and Technology, India’s telecommunication system was still lacking till the early to middle eighties. It was a revolution, which took place during that period which saw the emergence of Public Call Offices (PCOs) like mushrooms. These PCOs not only offered local call facility, but also enabled STD and ISD calls. This enabled the ordinary public use this facility at a small cost. While owning a telephone was a luxurious unaffordable item then, telecommunication facility was available for a common man (after the revolution) only through these PCOs.
Due to the continuous research and development in India, the Country’s progress has been a matter of pride and satisfaction, even though there could have been some shortcomings in some other areas of development. If people in some parts of the Country are left without clean drinking water or food or proper shelter, it is not due to lack of resources but due to lack of proper planning and allowing the urban areas grow faster than they should. In spite of this, India is a very strong democracy and a leading example to the neighbours in the region and in fact to the entire Asian civilisation and the rest of the world. India is also blessed with a huge human resource and if these resources are utilised efficiently, India’s achievement will be unparalleled in the history of human race.
India’s topographic maps were made during the British rule by Survey of India. These maps displayed all features necessary for identification and location of sites for various purposes. Subsequently, these maps were continuously updated and released as two categories viz. unrestricted and restricted. . These maps were last updated and re-released in the mid-sixties and early-seventies. The restricted maps are not available for the private industry, which is contributing its bit towards progress and development of the Country. The modern techniques like the Remote Sensing (RS), the Geographical Information System (GIS) and the Global Positioning System (GPS) offer a great hope for the research and development aspects of the industry. But, for the preliminary survey work and location, the topographic maps are essential, even though these maps might be out of date. Hence the combination of the topographic maps and the GIS images would be the ideal tool in selecting the sites for telecommunication installation(s). The use of RS, GIS and the GPS is getting more and more popular although GIS is still a growing technology.