Communication

TELECOMMUNICATION
In Goa, at the initial stages, the Telegraph and Telephone Department formed part of the Public Works Department but in 1916, these services were merged with that of the Postal Department. In those early days of the telegraph the railway stations or sent to places which were then under British Rule in India. And, during the pre-Liberation days, Goa had only 548 telephone which, by 1971-72, increases to 2,968; in addition to telephone sets, and as in the case of many part of India, several telephone exchanges had installed with substantial increases in public call offices for the benefit of those who did not have their own telephones but needed to use a telephone, on occasions.

With the delinking of the Department of Telegraphs from the original Posts and Telegraphs Department in the early 1980s a Separated Department of Telecommunications had been formed; as a consequence, Goa’s telecom needs came under the wing of new Department. And, with sophisticated technology using satellites, microwave, computers, various optical fibers etc.- telecom facilities available not only to Goa but the rest of the countries increased tremendously: system of communication hardly thought of at the turn of the 20th century came into operation in Goa by the time that the last decade of the century arrived and these system and hardware (such as telexes, facsimiles, national and international subscriber trunk dialing, electronics mail transfer etc.) increased the speed in communications between Goa, the rest of India and so several countries across the world.

NEWSPAPERS, RADIO AND TV
A number of literary, scientific and cultural publications are published in Goa. This trend started centuries ago when the Portuguese flag ruled over Goa. One of the earliest Government publications was a weekly official paper called 'Gazeta de Goa' which was first published in 1821. A little over a decade later in 1835, another official weekly newspaper 'Chronica Constitutional de Goa's saw the light of day. Other official publications by the Portuguese during the 1800s included: O Vigilante published in 1838, O Observador published in 1838, O Correio da Nova-Goa published in 1844, A Vaz dos Povos da Indis published in 1845, O Deietxsor da Ordem e Verade, published in 1852.

In addition to the official publications by the Postuguese during the 1800s, several private newspapers and periodicals were published — and like the official ones, the private ones were also in Portuguese, perhaps indicating or suggesting the presence of a Portuguese knowing inteligentsia and, in any case, a dominance of the Portuguese rulers of Goa.

Among the Indian language newspapers the Konkani newspaper ‘Udentichem Salik’ appears to be the first one of its kind to be published in Goa in 1889 while the Marathi ‘De-shasudtermetstu’ appears to be the oldest Marathai language newspaper that was published in Goa and this was in the year 1872. During the early part of the 20th century several other Marathi newspapers were brought out and these included newspapers such as: Hitachintaka published in 1900, Prabhat published in 1913, Shrikhand published in 1921, Yugantar published in 1933, Kala published in 1935.

Among the publications that came out during the later years of the 20th century, mention could be made of the following: ‘Bharat Mitra’, a Marathi Publication, ‘Clinicon’, an English Language Publication, ‘Go To-day’, an English Publication, ‘Nave Parva’, a Marathi, English and Konkani Publication by the Government of Goa, ‘Renovacao’, a Portuguese Language Publication, ’'Vanguarda’, a Publication in English and Konkani. Goa's ‘Central Library’ is one that was built by the Portuguese in 1832 and along with over 100 other libraries in Goa, reading and reference facilities were provided to several readers who visited these libraries and, according to one estimate, over 5,86,000 readers visited these libraries during 1973-74.

RADIO AND TV
When the Portuguese ruled Goa, they had their own broadcasting service ‘Emissora de Goa’ which, within three weeks of Goa’s Liberation, became the Panaji Station of All India Radio. The Panaji Station of A.I.R. broadcasts local news and other programmes cultural, educational, sports and those aimed for the farmer together with music (both Indian and Western) for the listening pleasure of Goa’s growing population of radio listeners. National News and Special Broadcasts are Relayed from the Delhi Station of A.I.R.

During the 1980s, when satellite communications really came into commercial use in India and India had her own satellite in space, television and relays of telecasts from Delhi became popular. As with the radio, this powerful media was used not only for entertainment but also for education, interviews, discussions on topics of day-to-day importance, sports, development of youth, disseminating information to farmers (especially, weather bulletins and forecasts, not to mention warnings about possible inclement and/or rough weather: the latter being of particular importance for the fishermen).

Programmes on radio and television are in Marathi, Konkani, English and Hindi. And, with the national television system being linked with international satellites, viewers in India including Goa are in a position to witness 'live' telecasts of important international events not only on the political scene but also the sports fields, etc.

Post and Telegraph
Goa had its postal services commencing in 1978: prior to that year, all postal services to and from Portugal were through friendly travelers who acted as courier or through closed bags sent by merchant ships. Later, through an agreement with the then British Government of India in 1833, postal connections were introduced between Goa, Belgaum and Malvan. Postal stamps printed in Portugal were first used in Goa during 1871 but from 1877 onwards, the Portuguese had postal stamps printed in Goa itself. However, with Goa’s integration with the rest of independent India, this territory followed the country: this, in turn, implied that Goa’s posts and telegraphs services were absorbed into the all India one and became a centrally administered one under the /Department of Posts and Telegraphs; similarly, during the 1980s, when Telegeaphs wings of the P and T Dept was delinked from the Department of tele-communications, a similar separation took place in Goa since, by the time, Goa had fully integrated with the overall administrative pattern followed by the rest of India: in fact, what had been happening prior to Liberation had already become part of history and remained in the memory of those persons who still recalled (in the 1980s and thereafter), Portugal ruled Goa.

Goa is reasonably well-covered by post offices throughout the State since all the talukas have several post offices. Like the other post office in India, Goa’s post offices offer several services besides delivery of letter, postcards and these include Postal Saving Bank, money order, registered mail on an international basis. And, in the 1980s, following system used ages ago - but modernized to suit “today’s requirements” a courier service officially called ‘Speedpost’ came into operation not only for domestic but also international quick, guaranteed delivery of documents etc. with the advent of advance system in telecommunications technology and use of computer satellites and microwaves, postal services in India which, obviously, included Goa used these new facilities of the 1990s to improve services to the postal customer e.g. through faster delivery of mail, money order etc.

In the context of postal modernization, it is interesting to note the sheer volume of work that is involved in the postal services in Goa even during the years 1968-69 and 1971-72, thus:

While comparable figures are not readily available to gauge the extent in volume of postal traffic in Goa during the pre-Liberation days, data is available in respect of post offices and letter boxes: the pre-Liberation number of post offices and letter boxes increased from 81 to 219 in pre-Liberation period to 142 and 555 respectively by 1971-72 showing increase of 75% and 152% respectively in each case.