Communication networks

Long ago, messages were sent by drums, smoke, runners and animals (pigeons, horses). Today we use the post, telephone, satellites and the internet.

The internet is the most effective personal communication system: e-mail, e-commerce, money transfers and much more.

Mass communication:

• Radio began in 1923 with the Radio Club of Bombay; it became All India Radio in 1936, and Akashwani in 1957.
• Television began in Delhi in 1959. Doordarshan separated from All India Radio in 1976.

Satellites link the whole country:

• INSAT (from 1983): for telecommunication, broadcasting and weather forecasting.
• IRS (Indian Remote Sensing satellites, from 1988): for data on resources, such as land, water and forests; the data is processed at the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) in Hyderabad.

Signals tie the country together.