Money and the luxury of choices

When you look at what has driven people for thousands of years and examine your own life today, you realise that if you take away the Starbucks, cell phones and some of the other stuff, the basics that matter most are strikingly similar

“Yet he was not content. At first he could not say why. He and Akun....could look back upon great achievements: he had led his family on their epic journey from the tundra: he had found warm lands. They hunted well and raised fine families. Both of them were now treated with honour and respect—surely he had done all that it was possible to do. But with each passing season, the feeling of unease and disquiet grew.”Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd. This is a book based on Salisbury in prehistoric times.

“The dynasty? What will become of my line? Will it endure?” The king’s voice reached me, and then was lost in a cacophony of other sounds that filled my head—the sound of battle trumpets, the shouts of men in mortal conflict, and the ring of bronze on bronze. I saw the sky above me, and the air was dark with flights of arrows arching overhead.” River God by Wilbur Smith. This book is a story about ancient Egypt, based on some real events.

“In AD 731, the prosperous Pallava kingdom in southern India faced an existential crisis. The Pallava king , Parameswara Varman II, had died suddenly without a direct heir. He had been on the throne for barely three years and it is likely he had been killed in a raid by the Chalukya crown prince, Vikramaditya. There was grave danger that the neighbouring kingdoms would support rival claimants to the throne and then gobble up territory in the ensuing civil war.”Ocean of Churn, by Sanjeev Sanyal. A book that documents the history of India, as shaped by the Indian Ocean.

“The rift within the Samajwadi Party may have widened after party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday (25 October) declined to name his son, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, as the face of the ruling party campaign for the assembly polls.” Mint story on the Yadav versus Yadav family fight over power, 26 October 2016.

From prehistoric times to today, the stories are the same.

But each new generation imagines itself to be unique in its pursuit of what it imagines is happiness. But nothing much changes over time.

We’re still driven by money, power, love, lust and territory. I’m a recent fan of historical fiction and history. Not the boring old textbook history, but the modern re-imagining of history.

Edward Rutherfurd writes historical fiction and writes about cities from prehistoric times to current times—telling stories of different epochs through fictionalised subaltern characters, with famous historical characters and events as the backdrop.

Wilbur Smith, in his Egypt series, fictionalises events from ancient Egypt. In River God he writes about a period that dates back to about 1780 BC.

Sanjeev Sanyal is writing Indian history from an Indian perspective, moving away from a largely western view of Indian history.

And of course, the Yadav clan fight is a story that has played out thousands of times across history all over the world.

I find it useful to read these books, not just for the reading pleasure but also for the perspective they give to my own life.

When you look at what has driven people for thousands of years and examine your own life today, you realise that if you take away the Starbucks, cell phones and some of the other stuff, the basics that matter most are strikingly similar.

Reading these stories shatters illusions of uniqueness: the things that drive us today are no different from those that motivated people thousands of years ago.

Just the form and substance has changed, the underlying is the same.

They also give me a sense of continuity. We have survived much worse periods of human history and lived on to see better days. It makes for greater responsibility. In story after story you read about that one person because of whom the course of history changed.

It need not have been a decorated hero, but may have been the stable hand on a highway, who was just doing his job and had a fresh horse ready when the King’s messenger rushed in at midnight, en route to getting reinforcements to fight off the enemy attack.

The attack was foiled and history took a different course.

Diwali is just over—those reading this are lucky enough to have the luxury that education and freedom from poverty can give.

The festival season is still on. It’s a good time to go back to the basics and rework the purpose of life and your place within it.

That’s the luxury of money that the newly emerged Indian mass affluent has, which the previous generations did not.

Monika Halan works in the area of consumer protection in finance. She is consulting editor Mint, consultant NIPFP, member of the Financial Redress Agency Task Force and on the board of FPSB India.

The challenges of trekking

The latest among the fads that have captured public attention seems to be wanderlust. The idea of being in the mountains, away from civilization, has been romanticised to an extent where going to the mountains has become akin to a modern form of a pilgrimage. Yet, as the unfortunate recent death of a trekker from Chennai in Sikkim shows, there is a cost to adventure that is often downplayed or ignored, resulting in tragic accidents.

At present, there is no specific law in India that governs trekking. While trek operators may register with the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), such registration is not mandatory. It is perhaps the unregulated nature of the enterprise that leads to operators and trekkers failing to accord the respect due to nature and this often paves the way for accidents and tragedies. Treks are often conducted in groups of more than 15, which reduces the operating costs of the organisers and increases margins but the real cost of this is borne by the trekkers. The bigger a group the less are the chances of an individual getting the requisite attention when necessary. On many expeditions, the interest of the majority in finishing the trek outweighs an individual’s personal problems, which may not be given the requisite attention. This is especially problematic at higher altitudes where the consequences of apathy can even be fatal.

Unlike some other adventure sports where training is expensive and out of the reach of many people, India has some world-class mountaineering institutes which provide basic and advanced mountaineering courses at affordable and subsidised rates. Yet, when operators fail to exercise due diligence and have leaders on treks without adequate training, it is the inexperienced trekkers who suffer. How such carelessness can be allowed to go on is beyond comprehension.

While being in the midst of nature can be a rewarding experience for an individual, it is imperative that one is responsible when one forays into the wild. And when an individual entrusts his or her life with an agency, it is important that the service is professional and that the operators behave responsibly. The law can play a key role in this endeavour. For any guided trek, the leader/guide has to have the minimum amount of training as a mountaineer. Such leaders need to be trained to be equipped for any exigencies that may arise at high altitude. It is the responsibility of the operator to ensure that the group has certain basic medicines that are needed at high altitudes, always ready. Before embarking on the trek, every person needs to be certified to be fit to go on the adventure.

For batches that comprise more than 10 people, a doctor should be mandatorily a part of the group to ensure that any individual does not suffer. The list of essential items, available on the IMF website, needs to be made the mandatory minimum and should be strictly adhered to.

These ideas are not novel. Any responsible individual who is aware of them will conform with them diligently. But the authority of law would ensure that individuals do not suffer because of the inadequate understanding of operators.

The tale of a cow: why sacredness doesn’t always seem to protect and sustain

 master doesn’t allow them to feed their own calves, but weans them away within hours of their birth, and they’re often never seen again

The small animals scattered, tails tucked in, ears stiff, feet on the double, fear flitting in their eyes. The birds took off instantly, cooing, cawing, trilling and hooting. The trees woke up from their slumber, disturbed by the dithery of the animals, and the cacophony of birds aflutter. And then, all of a sudden, a blanket of silence enveloped the forest, which was witnessing an unthinkable event. Punyakoti the cow walked purposefully towards its predator, Arbhuta, the tiger.

“Everyone said I was a fool to let you go,” said the incredulous Arbhuta, with relief and disbelief.

“Thank you for letting me visit my children,” replied Punyakoti. “I returned as promised, although I haven’t been able to find guardians for them.”

“Why? Isn’t the village full of cows that hold you in high esteem?”

“That’s the problem. I always had enough to feed my children. I was the first choice at temple festivals, and grihapravesams. I lived my life in relative comfort. I never acknowledged it, but I always occupied a special place within our community; my lineage mattered.”

“But aren’t all cows equal?”

“I thought so too, until they said: ‘We would love to take care of your calves, but what would we feed them? Our master doesn’t allow us to feed our own calves, he weans them away within hours of their birth. Sometimes we don’t even see them after they are taken away. We wake up to their moaning, and keep calling out to them through the night. We cry our hearts out, till our faces are stained by streams of dried tears’.”

“Why wouldn’t he allow the little calves their share of milk?”

“His greed is unbounded. My friends produce more milk than normal. They feel heavy, drugged, and drowsy; they are perennially made pregnant and lactate continuously; they are scared, confused, and helpless. To be forced into motherhood so you can satisfy others’ thirst for milk is a curse, not a blessing. Their lives are so wretched they offered to swap places with me.”

“That’s incredible. Aren’t they afraid of death?”

“They are dead from the inside. They died a little when their calves were snatched. They died some more when their bodies were manipulated. And they continued to die a little every time they heard how their bull-calves and the older cows were slaughtered.”

“Isn’t that illegal?”

“In our country there is a way to bypass every rule. Law can be softened by violence. Violence finds justification in religion. Religion finds refuge in politics. The engine of politics runs on money. Even the scriptures specify how to wash away sins with money. Within this nexus, man has found ways to play god; running on his farm a vicious cycle of life and death, in which he feeds, breeds, milks animals, and turns them into food and leather.”

“But aren’t those cows sacred?”

“What is sacred for some is profane for others. Sacredness doesn’t protect. It merely defines the boundary that separates people who exploit, from those who aren’t allowed to exploit. From the days of Kamadhenu we have been considered sacred, and milked. In the ancient times, the gods and the holy men fought over us. Now their descendents have made us a symbol, a political flashpoint.”

“So why did you return when you had a chance to send one of your friends?”

“They think I am learned, and are willing to make sacrifices for me. I have always been secretly proud of the fact that my knowledge is from the scriptures. I enjoyed the sense of entitlement it gave me.

“For me death was a visitor, for whom I should be prepared when he arrives at the appointed time. For them death is a constant companion. I dreamt of living beyond death. Their dream is to survive alongside death. I lived my life in search of salvation. They live theirs in search of emancipation. I made a mistake by straying into your territory. They never made a mistake in their lives. I got a second chance, thanks to you. Man gives them no second chances.

“To tell you the truth, despite being close to the gods, and the holy men who serve them, I never raised my voice in defence of the weak and downtrodden, even within my own community. About my regard for the unconsecrated animals, the less said the better. Somewhere along the line, I became so preoccupied with myself and my family, and our well-being, that I lost the empathy for the less fortunate. I never tried to understand their words, let alone feel their pain. Yet they were willing to help me. They deserve more. I merely studied the scriptures, they are beyond scriptures.”

For meaningful education

Acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gavande finds a remedy to tackle immensely complex problems with the humblest of techniques: the checklist, says the synopsis of The Checklist Manifesto, 2010.

In his journey to discover the value of checklists, Dr. Gavande makes the point that everywhere he looked, the evidence seemed to point to the same conclusion — there seemed to be no field or profession where checklists might not help.

We all know the sorry state of education in India. We know the cause — a system that is based on the student cramming information without demanding understanding and a subjective system of evaluation of the student comprising in the main of examinations principally testing memory recall.

Is there a practical alternative to this unsatisfactory system?

There is. And at its core is the humble checklist advocated by Dr. Gavande.

But first, what is a checklist?

Very simply, a checklist is a list of items required, things to be done or points to be considered, used as a reminder. This is clear. Is the consequential implication equally clear? Perhaps not.

A checklist is purely objective, no subjectivity is involved. That means, if the checklist is framed as a set of questions, the answer to every question can only be a binary “Yes” or “No” and nothing in between; no shades of grey.

Such objectivity is the very antithesis of the education system today — both in the way teaching happens and in the evaluation of the student.

How, then, can an alternative system based upon the checklist work?

In order to answer this question, it is necessary to first examine the implications of learning. Learning, after all, is the fundamental objective of education.

The late nineteenth and early twentieth century saw many savants in India — Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Vivekananda, Ramana Maharshi, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Sri Aurobindo and others who did not come into the glare of the media. While all of them addressed the liberation of man from sorrow, J. Krishnamurti brought unique insights into education that were revolutionary, especially to the western education system of which we all are products.

Krishnamurti pointed out that acquisition and accumulation of information was not the primary objective of education. Rather, it is necessary to explore what is implied in the movement of learning because learning is a far more important component of education. Learning includes discovery, insight, understanding as well as accumulation of information.

Discovery, insight and understanding can only happen in the context of the act of experience. And every discovery, insight and understanding must result in accumulation of information as well as its association to other information in ways that are unique to the individual.

No two individuals will arrive at the same conclusions and associations. The same individual too, going through the same experience multiple times, will arrive at different conclusions and associations every time because even if the experience is the same, he, the experiencer, is dynamic and never the same.

That is the beauty and magic of learning!

The role of a teacher, then, is not to lecture or impart information. Rather, it is the teacher’s responsibility to organise experiences for the student, one after the other, and allow discovery, insight, understanding and the consequent conclusion and its association to happen in every experience. For this, the experience has to be broken down into steps that the student observes objectively. This means designing questions that have only binary answers — “Yes” or “No”.

Obviously, such an approach must be individual student-centred, even when the student is part of a class or group. Learning is always self-learning and individual. Competition, stress, anxiety and all the negative emotions that are part of the process of education today are eliminated naturally and without effort.

When there is a goal or a syllabus to be mastered, these experiences need to be adequate, appropriate and properly sequenced so that the student is guided in the desired direction. If the steps and direction are correct, reaching the goal must follow. Therefore, the student’s attention has only to be on the immediate experience and never on the goal itself.

The student has only to answer “Yes” or “No” at every step. The student cannot move to the next step unless the current step is completed.

Is this not the function of the humble checklist?

gopalan@thevalleyschool.info

(The author, who qualified as a chartered accountant, has been teaching in different schools of Krishnamurti Foundation India since 1983)

A blast from the past,and a little mischief in the air

 A fresh discovery, a change in the routine, a new realisation. Good till it lasts

She woke up in the morning as usual and jumped out, promptly looking at the clock. She then turned around, only to find the adjacent bed empty. Oh yes, husband had left on a two-day trip to his home town the previous night. A faint smile crossed her face as she thought, “Oh, I don’t have to run to the kitchen to make coffee.” She slumped back without a care but was too excited to sleep anymore! She could not remember when it was the last time she was all alone and free from having to attend to others’ needs in the household. Husband had retired from service and the daughters had left home to pursue their dreams.

It felt a little funny and uneasy not having to do anything unless she wanted to. She tried to come to grips with this feeling, which she had not come across for decades, with no one around demanding her attention and assistance.

She made coffee for herself slowly and went to the balcony with the newspaper, which usually would be the husband’s preserve (while she worked in the kitchen). She mechanically looked at the clock and smiled again thinking, “To hell with the clock today.” She decided to go for a morning walk and found that the neighbours were giving her surprised looks.

Back at home, she made herself a simple breakfast and found enough food in the refrigerator for lunch. After finishing the routine household tidying-up she sat again at the balcony, putting on some music and a book in hand.

But every now and then she thought she heard her husband call — before realising that he was away. It was a mind so attuned to the daily rigmarole and seemingly unable to take in the ‘freedom’ never before experienced.

She did not really know what to do with the rest of the day and had to tell herself, “I can choose to live today the way I want.”

On impulse she called an old friend from college and planned to attend a matinee show with her. Her friend could not understand why she was giggling like a schoolgirl who had bunked class for a film show. Was there a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, last seen decades ago?

After the movie they decided to dine at what was their favourite place during their college days. The place was full of youngsters, bristling with energy. “Oh yes, I was once like them,” she thought.

After coming home late, as she prepared to go to bed she suddenly felt that the day had been a ‘blast from the past’ and she thought she had rediscovered her real self after a long time. She was shocked to realise how over the years she had let herself become rather robotic.

She mentally made a note that she would reserve a day every month to be on her own, doing what she wanted to do (as opposed to what she had to do) and being herself.

×

The telephone rang. It was her husband calling to tell her he would have to stay one more day to complete his work. When she put down the phone she caught herself smiling yet again!

In center SC - show down, it is people awaiting justice who suffer the most

The Supreme Court’s allegation that the government was stalling appointments of high court judges is an indication that the face-off between the two is getting more complicated by the day.

Chief Justice of India TS Thakur has expressed his frustration over the inordinate delay in judicial appointments. At a function where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the national capital earlier this year, he was almost in tears while talking about the problem.

Read | Why don’t you shut down courts? SC slams govt over delay in appointing judges

His anger is understandable. Many courtrooms in high courts are locked because there are no judges. Most high courts are functioning at less than 60% of their strength even as the collegium’s recommendations for appointments have been pending for months. More than 450 posts of judges out of the sanctioned strength of 1,079 are vacant while close to 3.9 million cases are pending in 24 high courts. The apex court — which has a sanctioned strength of 31 — has five vacancies. The situation is likely to get worse next month as two SC judges are slated to retire.

The government has its own arguments. Had it intended to stall, it would not have appointed 86 new judges to the high courts, four to the Supreme Court, 14 chief justices to the high courts and accepted the collegium’s recommendations for the transfer of four chief justices and 33 judges from the high courts since December.

Still seriously hungry and poor

Economic growth alone is not enough to achieve key Sustainable Development Goals. It must translate into jobs for the poor and marginalised

India is the fastest growing large economy in the world today. Despite this, one in every five Indians is poor. Multilateral agencies as well as governments are playing an active role in understanding problems relating to poverty and hunger and finding solutions to them. But these challenges are pervasive and weeding them out will require clear evidence-based data-driven solutions.

Goal 1 and 2 of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) envision eradicating poverty and ending hunger by 2030. A brief look at the statistics tells us the extent of the problem. An astounding 767 million people in the world are poor while the those who do not have enough to eat are estimated to be close to 800 million.

Poverty is a multidimensional concept, which involves reduction in choices to pursue freedom. So is hunger. Two recent reports try to clear the haze on measurement and yield some pertinent insights on poverty and hunger. These are the the Global Hunger Index (GHI) of the International Food Policy Research Institute and the Pathways to Reducing Poverty and Sharing Prosperity in India (PRPSPI) of the World Bank.

Improvement but not enough 

The GHI tries to capture the hunger level across countries. The index is constructed using four component indicators: percentage of undernourished in the population, percentage of wasting in children under five years old, percentage of stunting in children under five years, and under-five mortality rates. The index has been calculated since 2006 and the oldest back calculations on the index go back to 1992. The overall methodology is similar to development of other composite indices like the Human Development Index. The overall scale of the index is from zero to 100 where 100 represents ‘absolute hunger’ and zero represents ‘zero hunger’. Countries and regions are also classified in terms of the level of hunger. Those falling in the <= 9.9 category are classified as having a ‘low’ level of hunger, those in the 10.0-19.9 category are ‘moderate’, those in the 20-34.9 bracket are ‘serious’, those between 35 and 49.9 are classified as ‘alarming’, and those <50 are ‘extremely alarming’.

There are some pertinent points in this year’s global hunger report. First, developing countries have a major stake in reducing hunger levels. Overall hunger has come down by 29 per cent since 2000 in these countries. Second, there are distinct regions, the ones with the highest GHI scores, which can help in fulfilling the SDGs. On the 2016 index, Africa south of the Sahara and South Asia have the highest GHI scores (30.1 and 29.0, respectively). Thus they are placed in the ‘alarming’ category on the GHI. Third, India is placed at a dismal 97th rank among the 118 countries considered for the index. The country has improved its score from 46.4 in 1992 to 28.5 at present, which is considerable, but its overall level continues to be ‘serious’ on the index.

Decline in poverty

Related to hunger is poverty, which has been one of the most critical issues in international economic development. PRPSPI, the World Bank Group report, looks at India’s development experience. Four main points emerge.

First, the report notes that poverty in India has declined considerably from 1994 to 2013. Over the commensurate time frame, those below India’s official poverty line have reduced from 45 per cent to 22 per cent. This means that 133 million people have been lifted out of poverty. Despite this the report notes that India’s growth has not been very inclusive. It is because roughly two-thirds of the countries’ inclusive growth performance is better than India’s in the 2005-2012 period.

Second, some population groups in India are substantially worse off than other groups. These include the Scheduled Tribes (STs), 43 per cent of whom were below the poverty line in 2012, and the Scheduled Castes, 29 per cent of whom were below the poverty line. Poverty also seems entrenched among the STs, with the pace of poverty reduction slower than that witnessed in other groups between 2005 and 2012.

Third, poverty seems to be present in certain geographical locations. The top States for poverty in absolute terms in India are Uttar Pradesh (60 million poor), Bihar (36 million) and Madhya Pradesh (24 million). The top seven States account for roughly 62 per cent of India’s poor. Also important is the rural-urban divide in poverty. Almost one in five Indians is poor and out of every five poor people, four live in rural areas. Also, the poverty rate is just 7 per cent in big cities with a population of more than 1 million.

Growth and redistribution

Finally poverty has a bearing on choices and the well-being of individuals in a society. The poor also own fewer assets and spend more on food, fuel, and light. This reduces the percentage they have for spending on critical things like education and health, and it makes them prone to a vicious poverty trap. Another important insight is that for poverty levels to go down, the States will have to grow faster. The States which have lagged behind on growth rates are also the ones where there are low GSDP (gross state domestic product) per capita and in turn higher levels of poverty. Thus both growth and redistribution are necessary for poverty alleviation.

×

Over the next decade and a half, the goal of citizens and policymakers in India should be improvement in Goals 1 and 2 of SDGs. Growth alone will not be enough but must get translated into jobs for the poor and marginalised for it to become truly inclusive. This will not be easy considering the pressure that automation and newer technologies are putting on jobs and employment. Newer skills will hold the key for translating growth into jobs over the coming decade.

Amit Kapoor is Chair, Institute for Competitiveness and Editor of Thinkers. Sankalp Sharma is senior researcher at the Institute for Competitiveness, India. The views expressed are personal.

The rise and rise of xi jinping

With the new title of ‘core leader’, President Xi Jinping has further cemented his authority within the Communist Party of China and the government. Already the party chief, the head of state, the commander-in-chief of the military and the one in charge of the group overseeing the change in the economy, he is now on a par with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. This concentration of power in Mr. Xi’s hands stands in sharp contrast with the ‘collective responsibility’ dictum the party propagated during the Hu Jintao regime. Mr. Hu was not called a core leader. From the beginning, Mr. Xi had signalled he would be a leader different from his immediate predecessor. He gradually emerged as the most influential leader at least since Deng, and demonstrated his authority by launching a massive clean-up in the name of fighting corruption, that felled top leaders of the party and the military. Corruption is a major problem in today’s China. The high economic growth that followed the reforms initiated by Deng spawned massive, institutionalised corruption, stoking public anger against the establishment. Mr. Xi built his war on “corrupt officials” against the backdrop of such a mood of anger, and his efforts have been generally well-received despite criticism that he is using the campaign to amass powers to himself. The party plenum, by appointing Mr. Xi as the core leader, has sent a clear message to the public that it stands by him and his policies.

The timing of the appointment is significant. The plenum kicks off year-long preparations for the party congress next year, which could shake up the leadership. Five of the seven current members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the inner sanctum of power in China, and a third of the Politburo’s 18 members are due to retire next year. Being the core leader, Mr. Xi will be in a stronger position to influence the outcome of the congress. As in the case of his predecessors, Mr. Xi would certainly prefer to have the Standing Committee filled with his allies. But this doesn’t mean that Mr. Xi is guaranteed a second term free of challenges and of unchecked power. If the Hu Jintao era, despite some allegations of corruption, is regarded as one of prosperous and peaceful rise for China, Mr. Xi’s term has been marked by slowing economic growth and geopolitical tensions. Even if Mr. Xi gathers unprecedented powers in the party and the state, his tenure will be judged by how he addresses fundamental problems that China faces, including systemic inequities and foreign policy challenges, while managing the economic rebalance process.

Get serious about fighting TB

Pushed to a corner owing to lack of political will on the part of countries with a high burden of tuberculosis, the World Health Organisation has called for the first United Nations General Assembly session on the disease. The fight against TB cannot be won as long as the high-burden countries, particularly India which has the highest TB burden in the world, do not galvanise their government machinery effectively. While the number of deaths caused by TB and the incidence rate had been consistently dropping from the historical highs globally, there has been a recent uptick that is much larger than previously estimated. The primary reason is the sharp increase in the incidence estimate from India — from 2.2 million cases in 2014 to 2.8 million in 2015. Ironically, the revised disease burden estimate for India is an “interim” one; the actual burden, which could be much higher, will be known only when the national TB prevalence survey that is scheduled to begin next year is completed. The number of estimated deaths caused by TB more than doubled from 220,000 in 2014 to 483,000 in 2015. As in the case of incidence, the revised estimate for deaths could also be an underestimation.

The increase in incidence owes to a 34 per cent rise in case notifications by health-care providers in the private sector between 2013 and 2015. Yet, in 2015 notifications by doctors in the private sector comprised only 16 per cent of the total. Though notification was made mandatory in 2012, only 1.7 million incident TB cases in the public and private sectors were notified in 2015. Thus the fate of 1.1 million patients is simply not known: they have fallen off the radar. For an effective fight against TB, the control programme needs to be aware of every single patient diagnosed, and offer treatment to all. If there are only about 50 per cent of the patients approaching the private sector who successfully complete treatment, a recent study has shown that in 2013 only about 65 per cent of the 1.9 million who approached the public sector completed the treatment regime. The crisis has been aggravated with the disease becoming more expensive and difficult to treat and the number of people with drug-resistant forms increasing. The national TB control programme is behind schedule with respect to critical programmes including the expansion of the GeneXpert pilot programme, scaling up of drug sensitivity testing, and the introduction of a child-friendly paediatric TB drug. Only sustained action on several fronts can help bring TB under check. The global war will not be successful till India wins the battle within its own boundaries first.

About phone

Mobile phone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Cell Phone" redirects here. For the film, see Cell Phone (film).

"Handphone" redirects here. For the film, see Handphone (film).

Evolution of mobile phones, to an earlysmartphone

A mobile phone is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency carrier while the user is moving within a telephone service area. The radio frequency link establishes a connection to the switching systems of a mobile phone operator, which provides access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Most modern mobile telephone services use a cellular networkarchitecture, and therefore mobile telephones are often also called cellular telephones or cell phones. In addition to telephony, 2000s-era mobile phones support a variety of other services, such as text messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications (infrared, Bluetooth), business applications, gaming, and digital photography. Mobile phones which offer these and more general computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones.

The first handheld mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell^[1][2] and Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing c. 4.4 lbs (2 kg).^[3] In 1983, the DynaTAC 8000x was the first commercially available handheld mobile phone. From 1983 to 2014, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew to over seven billion, penetrating 100% of the global population and reaching even the bottom of the economic pyramid.^[4] In first quarter of 2016, the top smartphone manufacturers were Samsung, Apple and Huawei (and "[s]martphone sales represented 78 percent of total mobile phone sales").^[5]

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1History
• 2Features
  • 2.1Sound quality
  • 2.2Text messaging
  • 2.3SIM card
  • 2.4Multi-card hybrid phones
  • 2.5Kosher phones
• 3Mobile phone operators
• 4Manufacturers
• 5Use
  • 5.1General
  • 5.2Smartphones
  • 5.3For distributing content
  • 5.4While driving
  • 5.5Mobile banking and payments
  • 5.6Tracking and privacy
  • 5.7Thefts
  • 5.8Educational and social impact
• 6Health effects
• 7Future evolution
• 8Environmental impact
• 9Conflict minerals
• 10See also
• 11References
• 12Further reading
• 13External links

History

Main article: History of mobile phones

Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first publicized handheld mobile phone call on a prototype DynaTAC model on April 4, 1973. This is a reenactment in 2007.

A handheld mobile radio telephone service was envisioned in the early stages of radio engineering. In 1917, Finnish inventor Eric Tigerstedt filed a patent for a "pocket-size folding telephone with a very thin carbon microphone". Early predecessors of cellular phones included analog radio communications from ships and trains. The race to create truly portable telephone devices began after World War II, with developments taking place in many countries. The advances in mobile telephony have been traced in successive "generations", starting with the early "0G" (zeroth generation) services, such as Bell System's Mobile Telephone Service and its successor, the Improved Mobile Telephone Service. These "0G" systems were not cellular, supported few simultaneous calls, and were very expensive.

The Motorola DynaTAC8000X. First commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone, 1984.

The first handheld mobile cell phone was demonstrated by Motorola in 1973. The first commercial automated cellular network was launched in Japan by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone in 1979. This was followed in 1981 by the simultaneous launch of the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.^[6] Several other countries then followed in the early to mid-1980s. These first-generation (1G) systems could support far more simultaneous calls, but still used analog technology.

In 1991, the second-generation (2G) digital cellular technology was launched in Finland by Radiolinja on the GSM standard. This sparked competition in the sector as the new operators challenged the incumbent 1G network operators.

Ten years later, in 2001, the third generation (3G) was launched in Japan by NTT DoCoMo on theWCDMA standard.^[7] This was followed by 3.5G, 3G+ or turbo 3G enhancements based on the high-speed packet access (HSPA) family, allowing UMTS networks to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity.

By 2009, it had become clear that, at some point, 3G networks would be overwhelmed by the growth of bandwidth-intensive applications, such as streaming media.^[8] Consequently, the industry began looking to data-optimized fourth-generation technologies, with the promise of speed improvements up to ten-fold over existing 3G technologies. The first two commercially available technologies billed as 4G were theWiMAX standard, offered in North America by Sprint, and the LTE standard, first offered in Scandinavia by TeliaSonera.

Features

Main article: Mobile phone features

See also: Smartphone

All mobile phones have a variety of features in common, but manufacturers seek product differentiation by adding functions to attract consumers. This competition has led to great innovation in mobile phone development over the past 20 years.

The common components found on all phones are:

• A battery, providing the power source for the phone functions.
• An input mechanism to allow the user to interact with the phone. The most common input mechanism is a keypad, but touch screens are also found in most smartphones.
• A screen which echoes the user's typing, displays text messages, contacts and more.
• Basic mobile phone services to allow users to make calls and send text messages.
• All GSM phones use a SIM card to allow an account to be swapped among devices. Some CDMA devices also have a similar card called a R-UIM.
• Individual GSM, WCDMA, iDEN and some satellite phone devices are uniquely identified by an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number.

Low-end mobile phones are often referred to as feature phones, and offer basic telephony. Handsets with more advanced computing ability through the use of native software applications became known as smartphones.

Several phone series have been introduced to address specific market segments, such as the RIM BlackBerry focusing on enterprise/corporate customer email needs, the Sony-Ericsson 'Walkman' series of music/phones and 'Cyber-shot' series of camera/phones, the Nokia Nseries of multimedia phones, the Palm Pre, the HTC Dream and the Apple iPhone.

Sound quality

In sound quality, smartphones and feature phones vary little. Some audio-quality enhancing features, such as Voice over LTE and HD Voice, have appeared and are often available on newer smartphones. Sound quality can remain a problem with both, as this depends not so much on the phone itself, as on the quality of the network and, in long distance calls, the bottlenecks/choke points met along the way.^[9][10] As such, for long-distance calls even features such as Voice over LTE and HD Voice may not improve things. In some cases smartphones can improve audio quality even on long-distance calls, by using a VoIP phone service, with someone else's WiFi/internet connection.^[11]Some cellphones have small speakers so that the user can use a speakerphone feature and talk to a person on the phone without holding it to their ear. The small speakers can also be used to listen to digital audio files of music or speech or watch videos with an audio component, without holding the phone close to the ear.

Text messaging

Main article: SMS

A text message (SMS).

The most commonly used data application on mobile phones is Short Message Service (SMS) text messaging. The first SMS message was sent from a computer to a mobile phone in 1992 in the UK, while the first person-to-person SMS from phone to phone was sent in Finland in 1993. The first mobile news service, delivered via SMS, was launched in Finland in 2000,^{[citation needed]} and subsequently many organizations provided "on-demand" and "instant" news services by SMS. Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) was introduced in 2001.^{[citation needed]}

SIM card

Main articles: Subscriber Identity Module and Removable User Identity Module

Typical mobile phone SIM card.

GSM feature phones require a small microchip called a Subscriber Identity Module or SIM card, in order to function. The SIM card is approximately the size of a small postage stamp and is usually placed underneath the battery in the rear of the unit. The SIM securely stores the service-subscriber key (IMSI) and the K_i used to identify and authenticate the user of the mobile phone. The SIM card allows users to change phones by simply removing the SIM card from one mobile phone and inserting it into another mobile phone or broadband telephony device, provided that this is not prevented by a SIM lock.

The first SIM card was made in 1991 by Munich smart card maker Giesecke & Devrient for the Finnish wireless network operatorRadiolinja.^{[citation needed]}

Multi-card hybrid phones

A hybrid mobile phone can hold up to four SIM cards. SIM and R-UIM cards may be mixed together to allow both GSM and CDMA networks to be accessed.

From 2010 onwards, such phones became popular in India and Indonesia and other emerging markets,^[12] and this was attributed to the desire to obtain the lowest on-net calling rate. In Q3 2011, Nokia shipped 18 million of its low-cost dual SIM phone range in an attempt to make up for lost ground in the higher-end smartphone market.^[13]

Kosher phones

There are Jewish orthodox religious restrictions which, by some interpretations, standard mobile telephones overstep. To deal with this problem, some rabbinical organizations have recommended that phones with text-messaging capability not be used by children.^[14] Phones with restricted features are known as kosher phones and have rabbinical approval for use in Israel and elsewhere by observant Orthodox Jews. Although these phones are intended to prevent immodesty, some vendors report good sales to adults who prefer the simplicity of the devices. Some phones are approved for use by essential workers (such as health, security and public service workers) on the sabbath, even though the use of any electrical device is generally prohibited during this time.^[15]

Mobile phone operators

Growth in mobile phone subscribers per country from 1980 to 2009.

Main article: Mobile phone operator

The world's largest individual mobile operator by number of subscribers is China Mobile, which has over 500 million mobile phone subscribers.^[16] Over 50 mobile operators have over ten million subscribers each, and over 150 mobile operators had at least one million subscribers by the end of 2009.^[17] In 2014, there were more than seven billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide, a number that is expected to keep growing.

Manufacturers

See also: List of best-selling mobile phones and List of mobile phone makers by country

Quantity Market Shares according to Gartner (New Sales)
BRAND			Percent
Samsung 2012			22.0%
Samsung 2013			24.6%
Nokia 2012			19.1%
Nokia 2013			13.9%
Apple 2012			7.5%
Apple 2013			8.3%
LG Electronics 2012			3.3%
LG Electronics 2013			3.8%
ZTE 2012			3.9%
ZTE 2013			3.3%
Others 2012			34.9%
Others 2013			34.0%
Note: "Others 2012" consists of Sony Ericsson, Motorola, HTCand Huawei.(2009-2010)

Prior to 2010, Nokia was the market leader. However, since then competition has emerged in the Asia Pacific region, from brands such as Micromax, Nexian and i-Mobile, which have chipped away at Nokia's market share. Android-powered smartphones have also gained momentum across the region at the expense of Nokia. In India, Nokia's market share dropped significantly to around 31% from 56% in the same period. Its share was displaced by Chinese and Indian vendors of low-end mobile phones.^[18]

In Q1 2012, according to Strategy Analytics, Samsung surpassed Nokia, selling 93.5 million units as against Nokia's 82.7 million units. In 2012 Standard & Poor's downgraded Nokia to "junk" status, at BB+/B, with negative outlook due to high loss and an expected further decline owing to insufficient growth in Lumia smartphone sales to offset a rapid decline in revenue from Symbian-based smartphones that was forecast for subsequent quarters.^[19]

In Q3 2014, the top ten manufacturers were Samsung (20.6%), Nokia (9.5%), Apple Inc. (8.4%), LG (4.2%), Huawei (3.6%), TCL Communication (3.5), Xiaomi (3.5%), Lenovo (3.3%), ZTE (3.0%) and Micromax (2.2%).^[20]

Market share of top-five worldwide mobile phone vendors, Q2 2015
Rank	Manufacturer	Strategy Analytics report[21]
1	Samsung	20.5%
2	Apple Inc.	10.9%
3	Huawei	7.0%
4	Microsoft	6.4%
5	Xiaomi	4.6%
	Others	50.6%

• Note: Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors

Other manufacturers outside the top five include TCL Communication, Lenovo, Sony Mobile Communications, Motorola and LG Electronics. Smaller current and past players include Audiovox (now UTStarcom), BenQ-Siemens, BlackBerry, Casio, CECT, Coolpad, Fujitsu, HTC, Just5, Intex, Karbonn Mobiles, Kyocera, Lumigon, LYF, Micromax Mobile,Mitsubishi Electric, Modu, NEC, Neonode, OnePlus, Openmoko, Panasonic, Palm, Pantech Wireless Inc., Philips, Sagem, Sanyo, Sharp, Sierra Wireless, SK Teletech, Trium andToshiba.

Use

General

Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated.

Mobile phones are used for a variety of purposes, such as keeping in touch with family members, for conducting business, and in order to have access to a telephone in the event of an emergency. Some people carry more than one mobile phone for different purposes, such as for business and personal use. Multiple SIM cards may be used to take advantage of the benefits of different calling plans. For example, a particular plan might provide for cheaper local calls, long-distance calls, international calls, or roaming.

The mobile phone has been used in a variety of diverse contexts in society. For example:

• A study by Motorola found that one in ten mobile phone subscribers have a second phone that is often kept secret from other family members. These phones may be used to engage in such activities as extramarital affairs or clandestine business dealings.^[22]
• Some organizations assist victims of domestic violence by providing mobile phones for use in emergencies. These are often refurbished phones.^[23]
• The advent of widespread text-messaging has resulted in the cell phone novel, the first literary genre to emerge from the cellular age, via text messaging to a website that collects the novels as a whole.^[24]
• Mobile telephony also facilitates activism and public journalism being explored by Reuters and Yahoo!^[25] and small independent news companies such as Jasmine News in Sri Lanka.^{[citation needed]}
• The United Nations reported that mobile phones have spread faster than any other form of technology and can improve the livelihood of the poorest people in developing countries, by providing access to information in places where landlines or the Internet are not available, especially in the least developed countries. Use of mobile phones also spawns a wealth of micro-enterprises, by providing such work as selling airtime on the streets and repairing or refurbishing handsets.^[26]
• In Mali and other African countries, people used to travel from village to village to let friends and relatives know about weddings, births and other events. This can now be avoided in areas with mobile phone coverage, which are usually more extensive than areas with just land line penetration.
• The TV industry has recently started using mobile phones to drive live TV viewing through mobile apps, advertising, social TV, and mobile TV.^[27] It is estimated that 86% of Americans use their mobile phone while watching TV.
• In some parts of the world, mobile phone sharing is common. It is prevalent in urban India, as families and groups of friends often share one or more mobile phones among their members. There are obvious economic benefits, but often familial customs and traditional gender roles play a part.^[28] It is common for a village to have access to only one mobile phone, perhaps owned by a teacher or missionary, which is available to all members of the village for necessary calls.^[29]

Smartphones

Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.^[30]

Smartphone as camera

Smartphones have a number of distinguishing features. The International Telecommunication Union measures those with Internet connection, which it calls Active Mobile-Broadband subscriptions (which includes tablets, etc.). In the developed world, smartphones have now overtaken the usage of earlier mobile systems. However, in the developing world, they account for only 20% of mobile telephony.

For distributing content

In 1998, one of the first examples of distributing and selling media content through the mobile phone was the sale of ringtones by Radiolinja in Finland. Soon afterwards, other media content appeared, such as news, video games, jokes, horoscopes, TV content and advertising. Most early content for mobile phones tended to be copies of legacy media, such as banner advertisements or TV news highlight video clips. Recently, unique content for mobile phones has been emerging, from ringtones and ringback tones to mobisodes, video content that has been produced exclusively for mobile phones.

In 2006, the total value of mobile-phone-paid media content exceeded Internet-paid media content and was worth US$31 billion.^[31] The value of music on mobile phones was worth US$9.3 billion in 2007, and gaming was worth over US$5 billion in 2007.^[32]

While driving

Main articles: Mobile phones and driving safety and Texting while driving

A New York driver using two hand held mobile phones at once.

Mobile phone use while driving, including talking on the phone, texting, or operating other phone features, is common but controversial. It is widely considered dangerous due to distracted driving. Being distracted while operating a motor vehicle has been shown to increase the risk of accidents. In September 2010, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that 995 people were killed by drivers distracted by cell phones. In March 2011 a US insurance company, State Farm Insurance, announced the results of a study which showed 19% of drivers surveyed accessed the Internet on a smart phone while driving.^[33] Many jurisdictions prohibit the use of mobile phones while driving. In Egypt, Israel, Japan, Portugal and Singapore, both handheld and hands-free use of a mobile phone (which uses a speakerphone) is banned. In other countries including the UK and France and in many U.S. states, only handheld phone use is banned, while hands-free use is permitted.

A 2011 study reported that over 90% of college students surveyed text (initiate, reply or read) while driving.^[34] The scientific literature on the dangers of driving while sending a text message from a mobile phone, or texting while driving, is limited. A simulation study at the University of Utah found a sixfold increase in distraction-related accidents when texting.^[35]

Due to the increasing complexity of mobile phones, they are often more like mobile computers in their available uses. This has introduced additional difficulties for law enforcement officials when attempting to distinguish one usage from another in drivers using their devices. This is more apparent in countries which ban both handheld and hands-free usage, rather than those which ban handheld use only, as officials cannot easily tell which function of the mobile phone is being used simply by looking at the driver. This can lead to drivers being stopped for using their device illegally for a phone call when, in fact, they were using the device legally, for example, when using the phone's incorporated controls for car stereo, GPSor satnav.

A sign along Bellaire Boulevard inSouthside Place, Texas (Greater Houston) states that using mobile phones while driving is prohibited from 7:30 am to 9:30 am and from 2:00 pm to 4:15 pm

A 2010 study reviewed the incidence of mobile phone use while cycling and its effects on behaviour and safety.^[36] In 2013 a national survey in the US reported the number of drivers who reported using their cellphones to access the Internet while driving had risen to nearly one of four.^[37] A study conducted by the University of Illinois examined approaches for reducing inappropriate and problematic use of mobile phones, such as using mobile phones while driving.^[38]

Accidents involving a driver being distracted by talking on a mobile phone have begun to be prosecuted as negligence similar to speeding. In the United Kingdom, from 27 February 2007, motorists who are caught using a hand-held mobile phone while driving will have three penalty points added to their license in addition to the fine of £60.^[39] This increase was introduced to try to stem the increase in drivers ignoring the law.^[40] Japan prohibits all mobile phone use while driving, including use of hands-free devices. New Zealand has banned hand held cellphone use since 1 November 2009. Many states in the United States have banned texting on cell phones while driving. Illinois became the 17th American state to enforce this law.^[41] As of July 2010, 30 states had banned texting while driving, with Kentucky becoming the most recent addition on July 15.^[42]

Public Health Law Research maintains a list of distracted driving laws in the United States. This database of laws provides a comprehensive view of the provisions of laws that restrict the use of mobile communication devices while driving for all 50 states and the District of Columbia between 1992, when first law was passed, through December 1, 2010. The dataset contains information on 22 dichotomous, continuous or categorical variables including, for example, activities regulated (e.g., texting versus talking, hands-free versus handheld), targeted populations, and exemptions.^[43]

Mobile banking and payments

Mobile payment system.

Main articles: Mobile banking and Mobile payment

See also: Branchless banking and Contactless payment

In many countries, mobile phones are used to provide mobile banking services, which may include the ability to transfer cash payments by secure SMS text message. Kenya's M-PESA mobile banking service, for example, allows customers of the mobile phone operatorSafaricom to hold cash balances which are recorded on their SIM cards. Cash can be deposited or withdrawn from M-PESA accounts at Safaricom retail outlets located throughout the country, and can be transferred electronically from person to person and used to pay bills to companies.

Branchless banking has also been successful in South Africa and the Philippines. A pilot project in Bali was launched in 2011 by theInternational Finance Corporation and an Indonesian bank, Bank Mandiri.^[44]

Another application of mobile banking technology is Zidisha, a US-based nonprofit micro-lending platform that allows residents of developing countries to raise small business loans from Web users worldwide. Zidisha uses mobile banking for loan disbursements and repayments, transferring funds from lenders in the United States to borrowers in rural Africa who have mobile phones and can use the Internet.^[45]

Mobile payments were first trialled in Finland in 1998 when two Coca-Cola vending machines in Espoo were enabled to work with SMS payments. Eventually, the idea spread and in 1999, the Philippines launched the country's first commercial mobile payments systems with mobile operators Globe and Smart.

Some mobile phones can make mobile payments via direct mobile billing schemes, or through contactless payments, if the phone and the point of sale support near field communication (NFC).^[46] Enabling contactless payments through NFC-equipped mobile phones requires the co-operation of manufacturers, network operators and retail merchants.^[47][48][49]

Tracking and privacy

See also: Cellphone surveillance and Mobile phone tracking

Mobile phones are commonly used to collect location data. While the phone is turned on, the geographical location of a mobile phone can be determined easily (whether it is being used or not) using a technique known as multilateration to calculate the differences in time for a signal to travel from the mobile phone to each of several cell towersnear the owner of the phone.^[50][51]

The movements of a mobile phone user can be tracked by their service provider and, if desired, by law enforcement agencies and their governments. Both the SIM card and the handset can be tracked.^[50]

China has proposed using this technology to track the commuting patterns of Beijing city residents.^[52] In the UK and US, law enforcement and intelligence services use mobile phoness to perform surveillance operations. They possess technology that enables them to activate the microphones in mobile phones remotely in order to listen to conversations which take place near the phone.^[53][54]

Hackers are able to track a phone's location, read messages, and record calls, just by knowing the phone number.^[55]

Thefts

According to the Federal Communications Commission, one out of three robberies involve the theft of a cellular phone.^{[citation needed]} Police data in San Francisco show that half of all robberies in 2012 were thefts of cellular phones.^{[citation needed]} An online petition on Change.org, called Secure our Smartphones, urged smartphone manufacturers to install kill switches in their devices to make them unusable if stolen. The petition is part of a joint effort by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, and was directed to the CEOs of the major smartphone manufacturers and telecommunication carriers.^[56]

On Monday, 10 June 2013, Apple announced that it would install a "kill switch" on its next iPhone operating system, due to debut in October 2013.^[57]

All mobile phones have a unique identifier called IMEI. Anyone can report their phone as lost or stolen with their Telecom Carrier, and the IMEI would be blacklisted with a central registry.^[58] Telecom carriers, depending upon local regulation can or must implement blocking of blacklisted phones in their network. There are however a number of ways to circumvent a blacklist. One method is to send the phone to a country where the telecom carriers are not required to implement the blacklisting and sell it there,^[59]another involves altering the phones IMEI number.^[60] Even so, blacklisted phones typically has less value on the second hand market if the phones original IMEI is blacklisted.

Educational and social impact

A study by the London School of Economics found that banning mobile phones in schools could increase pupils' academic performance, providing benefits equal to one extra week of schooling per year.^[61]

Health effects

Main article: Mobile phone radiation and health

Further information: Mobile phones on aircraft

The effect of mobile phone radiation on human health is the subject of recent interest and study, as a result of the enormous increase in mobile phone usage throughout the world. Mobile phones use electromagnetic radiation in the microwave range, which some believe may be harmful to human health. A large body of research exists, bothepidemiological and experimental, in non-human animals and in humans. The majority of this research shows no definite causative relationship between exposure to mobile phones and harmful biological effects in humans. This is often paraphrased simply as the balance of evidence showing no harm to humans from mobile phones, although a significant number of individual studies do suggest such a relationship, or are inconclusive. Other digital wireless systems, such as data communication networks, produce similar radiation.

On 31 May 2011, the World Health Organization stated that mobile phone use may possibly represent a long-term health risk,^[62][63] classifying mobile phone radiation as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" after a team of scientists reviewed studies on mobile phone safety.^[64] The mobile phone is in category 2B, which ranks it alongside coffeeand other possibly carcinogenic substances.^[65][66]

Some recent studies have found an association between mobile phone use and certain kinds of brain and salivary gland tumors. Lennart Hardell and other authors of a 2009 meta-analysis of 11 studies from peer-reviewed journals concluded that cell phone usage for at least ten years "approximately doubles the risk of being diagnosed with a brain tumor on the same ('ipsilateral') side of the head as that preferred for cell phone use".^[67]

One study of past mobile phone use cited in the report showed a "40% increased risk for gliomas (brain cancer) in the highest category of heavy users (reported average: 30 minutes per day over a 10‐year period)".^[68] This is a reversal of the study's prior position that cancer was unlikely to be caused by cellular phones or their base stations and that reviews had found no convincing evidence for other health effects.^[63][69] However, a study published 24 March 2012 in the British Medical Journal questioned these estimates, because the increase in brain cancers has not paralleled the increase in mobile phone use.^[70] Certain countries, including France, have warned against the use of mobile phones by minors in particular, due to health risk uncertainties.^[71] Mobile pollution by transmitting electromagnetic waves can be decreased up to 90% by adopting the circuit as designed in mobile phone (MS) and mobile exchange (BTS, MSC etc.).^[72]

In May 2016 preliminary findings of a long-term study by the U.S. government suggested that radio-frequency (RF) radiation, the type emitted by cellphones, can cause cancer.^[73][74]

Future evolution

Main article: 5G

5G is a technology and term used in research papers and projects to denote the next major phase in mobile telecommunication standards beyond the 4G/IMT-Advancedstandards. The term 5G is not officially used in any specification or official document yet made public by telecommunication companies or standardization bodies such as3GPP, WiMAX Forum or ITU-R. New standards beyond 4G are currently being developed by standardization bodies, but they are at this time seen as under the 4G umbrella, not for a new mobile generation. Deloitte is predicting a collapse in wireless performance to come as soon as 2016, as more devices using more and more services compete for limited bandwidth for their operation.^[75]

Environmental impact

A mobile phone repair kiosk inHong Kong.

See also: Mobile phone recycling

Studies have shown that around 40-50% of the environmental impact of mobile phones occurs during the manufacture of their printed wiring boards and integrated circuits.^[76]

The average user replaces their mobile phone every 11 to 18 months,^[77] and the discarded phones then contribute to electronic waste. Mobile phone manufacturers within Europe are subject to the WEEE directive, and Australia has introduced a mobile phone recycling scheme.^[78]

Apple Inc. has realized how their products when not recycled impact the environment and waste valuable resources. Apple's Liam was introduced to the world, an advanced robotic disassembler and sorter designed by Apple Engineers in California specifically for recycling outdated or broken iPhones. Reuses and recycles parts from traded in products.^[350]

Conflict minerals

See also: Conflict minerals

Demand for metals used in mobile phones and other electronics fuelled the Second Congo War, which claimed almost 5.5 million lives.^[79] In a 2012 news story, The Guardianreported: "In unsafe mines deep underground in eastern Congo, children are working to extract minerals essential for the electronics industry. The profits from the minerals finance the bloodiest conflict since the second world war; the war has lasted nearly 20 years and has recently flared up again. ... For the last 15 years, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been a major source of natural resources for the mobile phone industry."^[80]

The company Fairphone has attempted to develop a mobile phone that does not contain conflict minerals.

See also

• Cellular frequencies
• Customer proprietary network information
• Field telephone
• List of countries by number of mobile phones in use
• Mobile broadband
• Mobile Internet device (MID)
• Mobile phone accessories
• Mobile phone use in schools
• Mobile phone form factor
• Nomophobia
• Optical head-mounted display
• OpenBTS
• Personal Handy-phone System
• Prepaid mobile phone
• Two-way radio
  • Professional mobile radio
• Push-button telephone
• Rechargeable battery
• Smombie
• Surveillance
• Tethering
• VoIP phone

• Telecommunication portal

References

1. Jump up^ John F. Mitchell Biography
2. Jump up^ Who invented the cell phone?
3. Jump up^ Heeks, Richard (2008). "Meet Marty Cooper – the inventor of the mobile phone". BBC.41 (6): 26–33. doi:10.1109/MC.2008.192.
4. Jump up^ "Mobile penetration". 9 July 2010. Almost 40 percent of the world's population - 2.7 billion people - are online. The developing world is home to about 826 million female Internet users and 980 million male Internet users. The developed world is home to about 475 million female Internet users and 483 million male Internet users.
5. Jump up^ "Gartner Says Worldwide Smartphone Sales Grew 3.9 Percent in First Quarter of 2016". Gartner. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
6. Jump up^ "Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology". Tekniskamuseet.se. Retrieved29 July 2009.
7. Jump up^ UMTS World. "History of UMTS and 3G development". Umtsworld.com. Retrieved29 July 2009.
8. Jump up^ Fahd Ahmad Saeed. "Capacity Limit Problem in 3G Networks". Purdue School of Engineering. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
9. Jump up^ Jeff Hecht. "Why Mobile Voice Quality Still Stinks—and How to Fix It". ieee.org.
10. Jump up^ Elena Malykhina. "Why Is Cell Phone Call Quality So Terrible?". scientificamerican.com.
11. Jump up^ Alan Henry. "What's the Best Mobile VoIP App?". Lifehacker. Gawker Media.
12. Jump up^ [1] Archived 8 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
13. Jump up^ "Nokia boosted by sales of cheap handsets". 20 October 2011.
14. Jump up^ "Kosher Phones For Britain's Orthodox Jews". Public Radio International.
15. Jump up^ "Introducing: A 'Kosher Phone' Permitted on Shabbat". Arutz Sheva.
16. Jump up^ Tania Branigan (11 January 2010). "State owned China Mobile is world's biggest mobile phone operator". Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
17. Jump up^ Source: wireless intelligence
18. Jump up^ "Nokia's market share drops further in India". Archived from the original on 2 January 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
19. Jump up^ "Samsung May Have Just Become The King Of Mobile Handsets, While S&P Downgrades Nokia To Junk". Retrieved 28 April 2012.
20. Jump up^ "Gartner Says Sales of Smartphones Grew 20 Percent in Third Quarter of 2014". Gartner.
21. Jump up^ Mawston, Neil (July 30, 2015). "Huawei Becomes World's 3rd Largest Mobile Phone Vendor in Q2 2015". Boston, Massachusetts: Strategy Analytics. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
22. Jump up^ "UK | Millions keep secret mobile". BBC News. 16 October 2001. Retrieved 4 November2009.
23. Jump up^ Brooks, Richard (13 August 2007). "Donated cell phones help battered women | San Bernardino County | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California". The Press-Enterprise. Archived from the original on 25 September 2009. Retrieved 4 November 2009.
24. Jump up^ Goodyear, Dana (7 January 2009). "Letter from Japan: I ♥ Novels". The New Yorker. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
25. Jump up^ "You Witness News". News.yahoo.com. 26 January 2009. Archived from the originalon 22 May 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
26. Jump up^ Lynn, Jonathan. "Mobile phones help lift poor out of poverty: U.N. study". Reuters. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
27. Jump up^ "4 Ways Smartphones Can Save Live TV". Tvgenius.net. Archived from the originalon 14 May 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
28. Jump up^ Donner, Jonathan, and Steenson, Molly Wright. "Beyond the Personal and Private: Modes of Mobile Phone Sharing in Urban India." In The Reconstruction of Space and Time: Mobile Communication Practices, edited by Scott Campbell and Rich Ling, 231–250. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2008.
29. Jump up^ Hahn, Hans and Kibora, Ludovic. "The Domestication of the Mobile Phone: Oral Society and New ICT in Burkina Faso". Journal of Modern African Studes 46 (2008): 87–109.
30. Jump up^ "Statistics". ITU.
31. Jump up^ source Informa 2007
32. Jump up^ "Downloads_Guide". Netsize. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
33. Jump up^ "Quit Googling yourself and drive: About 20% of drivers using Web behind the wheel, study says". Los Angeles Times. March 4, 2011.
34. Jump up^ Atchley, Paul; Atwood, Stephanie; Boulton, Aaron (January 2011). "The Choice to Text and Drive in Younger Drivers: Behaviour May Shape Attitude". Accident Analysis and Prevention. 43: 134–142. doi:10.1016/j.aap.2010.08.003.
35. Jump up^ Text messaging not illegal but data clear on its peril
36. Jump up^ de Waard, D., Schepers, P., Ormel, W. and Brookhuis, K., 2010, Mobile phone use while cycling: Incidence and effects on behaviour and safety, Ergonomics, Vol 53, No. 1, January 2010, pp 30–42.
37. Jump up^ Drivers still Web surfing while driving, survey finds
38. Jump up^ "Reaching the Mobile Respondent: Determinants of High-Level Mobile Phone Use Among a High-Coverage Group" (PDF). Social Science Computer Review.
39. Jump up^ Drivers face new phone penalties
40. Jump up^ Careless talk
41. Jump up^ "Illinois to ban texting while driving - CNN.com". CNN. August 6, 2009. RetrievedMay 12, 2010.
42. Jump up^ Steitzer, Stephanie (July 14, 2010). "Texting while driving ban, other new Kentucky laws take effect today". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved July 15, 2010.^{[dead link]}
43. Jump up^ "Distracted Driving Laws". Public Health Law Research. 2011-07-15. Retrieved2014-06-27.
44. Jump up^ "Branchless banking to start in Bali". The Jakarta Post. 13 April 2012. Retrieved 4 June2012.
45. Jump up^ ""Zidisha Set to "Expand" in Peer-to-Peer Microfinance", Microfinance Focus, Feb 2010". Microfinancefocus.com. 7 February 2010. Archived from the original on 21 September 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
46. Jump up^ Feig, Nancy (25 June 2007). "Mobile Payments: Look to Korea". banktech.com. Archived from the original on 26 March 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
47. Jump up^ Poulter, Sean (27 January 2011). "End of the credit card? With one swipe of an iPhone you'll be able to pay for your shopping". London: dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 29 January2011.
48. Jump up^ Ready, Sarah (10 November 2009). "NFC mobile phone set to explode". connectedplanetonline.com. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
49. Jump up^ Tofel, Kevin C. (20 August 2010). "VISA Testing NFC Memory Cards for Wireless Payments". gigaom.com. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
50. ^ Jump up to:^a b "Tracking a suspect by mobile phone". BBC News. 3 August 2005. Retrieved14 March 2009.
51. Jump up^ Miller, Joshua (14 March 2009). "Cell Phone Tracking Can Locate Terrorists — But Only Where It's Legal". FOX News. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
52. Jump up^ Cecilia Kang (3 March 2011). "China plans to track cellphone users, sparking human rights concerns". The Washington Post.
53. Jump up^ McCullagh, Declan; Anne Broache (1 December 2006). "FBI taps cell phone mic as eavesdropping tool". CNet News. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
54. Jump up^ Odell, Mark (1 August 2005). "Use of mobile helped police keep tabs on suspect".Financial Times. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
55. Jump up^ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/18/phone-number-hacker-read-texts-listen-calls-track-you?CMP=twt_a-technology_b-gdntech
56. Jump up^ Adams, Mike "Plea Urges Anti-Theft Phone Tech" San Francisco Examiner Friday, 7 June 2013 Page 5
57. Jump up^ "Apple to add kill switches to help combat iPhone theft" by Jaxon Van Derbeken San Francisco Chronicle Tuesday, 11 June 2013 Page 1
58. Jump up^ "IMEIpro - free IMEI number check service". www.imeipro.info. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
59. Jump up^ "How stolen phone blacklists will tamp down on crime, and what to do in the mean time". 2012-11-27. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
60. Jump up^ "How To Change IMEI Number". 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
61. Jump up^ Davis, Anna (18 May 2015). "Social media 'more stressful than exams'". London Evening Standard. p. 13.
62. Jump up^ "IARC CLASSIFIES RADIOFREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS AS POSSIBLY CARCINOGENIC TO HUMANS" (PDF). World Health Organization.
63. ^ Jump up to:^a b "What are the health risks associated with mobile phones and their base stations?".Online Q&A. World Health Organization. 5 December 2005. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
64. Jump up^ "WHO: Cell phone use can increase possible cancer risk". CNN. 31 May 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
65. Jump up^ "Agents Classified by the IARC Monographs, Volumes 1–107" (PDF).monographs.iarc.fr.
66. Jump up^ Kovvali, Gopala (1 January 2011). "Cell phones are as carcinogenic as coffee". Journal of Carcinogenesis. 10 (1): 18. doi:10.4103/1477-3163.83044.
67. Jump up^ Khurana, VG; Teo C; Kundi M; Hardell L; Carlberg M (2009). "Cell phones and brain tumors: A review including the long term epidemiologic data". Surgical Neurology. 72 (3): 205–214. doi:10.1016/j.surneu.2009.01.019. PMID 19328536.
68. Jump up^ "World Health Organization: Cell Phones May Cause Cancer". Business Insider. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
69. Jump up^ "Electromagnetic fields and public health: mobile telephones and their base stations".Fact sheet N°193. World Health Organization. June 2000. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
70. Jump up^ Little MP, Rajaraman P, Curtis RE, et al. (2012). "Mobile phone use and glioma risk: comparison of epidemiological study results with incidence trends in the United States".BMJ. 344: e1147. doi:10.1136/bmj.e1147.
71. Jump up^ Brian Rohan (2 January 2008). "France warns against excessive mobile phone use". Reuters. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
72. Jump up^ Bhattacharjee, Pijush Kanti (2012). "Mobile Phone and System Are Designed In A Novel Way To Have Minimum Electromagnetic Wave Transmission In Air and Minimum Electrical Power Consumption" (PDF). International Journal of Computer Networks and Wireless Communications [IJCNWC], vol. 2, no. 5, pp. 556-559, 2012.
73. Jump up^ "“Game-Changing” Study Links Cellphone Radiation to Cancer"
74. Jump up^ "Report of Partial Findings from the National Toxicology Program Carcinogenesis Studies of Cell Phone Radiofrequency Radiation in Hsd: Sprague Dawley® SD rats (Whole Body Exposures) - Draft 5-19-2016"
75. Jump up^ "Wireless performance will collapse, prices rise: Deloitte". theregister.co.uk.
76. Jump up^ "The Secret Life Series - Environmental Impacts of Cell Phones". Inform, Inc. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
77. Jump up^ "E-waste research group, Facts and figures". Griffith University. Retrieved 3 December2011.
78. Jump up^ "Mobile Phone Waste and The Environment". Aussie Recycling Program. Retrieved3 December 2011.
79. Jump up^ "Is your mobile phone helping fund war in Congo?". The Daily Telegraph. 27 September 2011.
80. Jump up^ "Children of the Congo who risk their lives to supply our mobile phones". The Guardian. 7 December 2012.

Further reading

• Agar, Jon, Constant Touch: A Global History of the Mobile Phone, 2004 ISBN 1-84046-541-7
• Ahonen, Tomi, m-Profits: Making Money with 3G Services, 2002, ISBN 0-470-84775-1
• Ahonen, Kasper and Melkko, 3G Marketing 2004, ISBN 0-470-85100-7
• Fessenden, R. A. (1908). "Wireless Telephony". Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution: 161–196. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
• Glotz, Peter & Bertsch, Stefan, eds. Thumb Culture: The Meaning of Mobile Phones for Society, 2005
• Goggin, Gerard, Global Mobile Media (New York: Routledge, 2011), p. 176. ISBN 978-0415469180
• Jain, S. Lochlann. "Urban Errands: The Means of Mobility". Journal of Consumer Culture 2:3 (November 2002) 385–404. doi:10.1177/146954050200200305.
• Katz, James E. & Aakhus, Mark, eds. Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance, 2002
• Kavoori, Anandam & Arceneaux, Noah, eds. The Cell Phone Reader: Essays in Social Transformation, 2006
• Kennedy, Pagan. Who Made That Cellphone?, The New York Times, 15 March 2013, p. MM19
• Kopomaa, Timo. The City in Your Pocket, Gaudeamus 2000
• Levinson, Paul, Cellphone: The Story of the World's Most Mobile Medium, and How It Has Transformed Everything!, 2004 ISBN 1-4039-6041-0
• Ling, Rich, The Mobile Connection: the Cell Phone's Impact on Society, 2004 ISBN 1-55860-936-9
• Ling, Rich and Pedersen, Per, eds. Mobile Communications: Re-negotiation of the Social Sphere, 2005 ISBN 1-85233-931-4
• Home page of Rich Ling
• Nyíri, Kristóf, ed. Mobile Communication: Essays on Cognition and Community, 2003
• Nyíri, Kristóf, ed. Mobile Learning: Essays on Philosophy, Psychology and Education, 2003
• Nyíri, Kristóf, ed. Mobile Democracy: Essays on Society, Self and Politics, 2003
• Nyíri, Kristóf, ed. A Sense of Place: The Global and the Local in Mobile Communication, 2005
• Nyíri, Kristóf, ed. Mobile Understanding: The Epistemology of Ubiquitous Communication, 2006
• Plant, Dr. Sadie, on the mobile – the effects of mobile telephones on social and individual life, 2001
• Rheingold, Howard, Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution, 2002 ISBN 0-7382-0861-2
• Singh, Rohit (April 2009). Mobile phones for development and profit: a win-win scenario(PDF). Overseas Development Institute. p. 2.

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Mobile telephones.

Look up mobile phone in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

•  Media related to Mobile phones at Wikimedia Commons
• How Cell Phones Work at HowStuffWorks
• "The Long Odyssey of the Cell Phone", 15 photos with captions from Time magazine
• Cell Phone, the ring heard around the world—a video documentary by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

[show] v t e Mobile phones

[hide] v t e Cellular network standards
List of mobile phone generations
0G (radio telephones)	MTS MTA - MTB - MTC - MTD IMTS AMTS OLT Autoradiopuhelin B-Netz
1G	AMPS family AMPS (TIA/EIA/IS-3, ANSI/TIA/EIA-553) N-AMPS (TIA/EIA/IS-91) TACS ETACS Other NMT C-450 Hicap Mobitex DataTAC
2G	GSM/3GPP family GSM CSD HSCSD 3GPP2 family cdmaOne (TIA/EIA/IS-95 and ANSI-J-STD 008) AMPS family D-AMPS (IS-54 and IS-136) Other CDPD iDEN PDC PHS
2G transitional (2.5G, 2.75G)	GSM/3GPP family GPRS EDGE/EGPRS (UWC-136) 3GPP2 family CDMA2000 1X (TIA/EIA/IS-2000) CDMA2000 1X Advanced Other WiDEN
3G (IMT-2000)	3GPP family UMTS  UTRA-FDD / W-CDMA UTRA-TDD LCR / TD-SCDMA UTRA-TDD HCR / TD-CDMA 3GPP2 family CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Release 0 (TIA/IS-856)
3G transitional (3.5G, 3.75G, 3.9G)	3GPP family HSPA  HSDPA HSUPA   HSPA+ LTE (E-UTRA) 3GPP2 family CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A (TIA/EIA/IS-856-A) EV-DO Revision B (TIA/EIA/IS-856-B) EV-DO Revision C IEEE family Mobile WiMAX  IEEE 802.16e   Flash-OFDM iBurst  IEEE 802.20
4G (IMT Advanced)	3GPP family LTE Advanced (E-UTRA) LTE Advanced pro (4.5G pro) LTE Advanced(pre 5G) (4.9G) IEEE family WiMAX (IEEE 802.16m)
Proposed	5G
Related articles	Cellular networks Mobile telephony History List of standards Comparison of standards Channel access methods Spectral efficiency comparison table Cellular frequencies GSM frequency bands UMTS frequency bands Mobile broadband NGMN Alliance MIMO

[show] v t e Telephony

[show] v t e Telecommunications

Authority control	LCCN: sh98003865 GND: 4338635-0 NDL: 00933698

Categories: 

• Mobile phones
• 1973 introductions
• Embedded systems
• Mobile telecommunications
• Mobile telecommunication services
• New media
• Telephony
• Videotelephony
• Radio technology

Navigation menu

• Not logged in
• Talk
• Contributions
• Create account
• Log in

• Article
• Talk

• Read
• View source
• View history

Search

• Main page
• Contents
• Featured content
• Current events
• Random article
• Donate to Wikipedia
• Wikipedia store

Interaction

• Help
• About Wikipedia
• Community portal
• Recent changes
• Contact page

Tools

• What links here
• Related changes
• Upload file
• Special pages
• Permanent link
• Page information
• Wikidata item
• Cite this page

Print/export

• Create a book
• Download as PDF
• Printable version

In other projects

• Wikimedia Commons
• Wikivoyage

Languages

• Acèh
• Afrikaans
• አማርኛ
• Ænglisc
• العربية
• Azərbaycanca
• Bamanankan
• বাংলা
• Bân-lâm-gú
• Башҡортса
• Беларуская
• Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎
• भोजपुरी
• Български
• Boarisch
• བོད་ཡིག
• Bosanski
• Català
• Cebuano
• Čeština
• ChiShona
• Cymraeg
• Dansk
• Deitsch
• Deutsch
• Eesti
• Ελληνικά
• Español
• Esperanto
• Euskara
• فارسی
• Føroyskt
• Français
• Frysk
• Gaeilge
• Gaelg
• Gàidhlig
• Galego
• 贛語
• ગુજરાતી
• 客家語/Hak-kâ-ngî
• 한국어
• Հայերեն
• हिन्दी
• Hrvatski
• Bahasa Indonesia
• Interlingua
• IsiZulu
• Íslenska
• Italiano
• עברית
• Basa Jawa
• ಕನ್ನಡ
• Къарачай-малкъар
• ქართული
• Қазақша
• Kurdî
• Кыргызча
• Ladino
• ລາວ
• Latina
• Latviešu
• Lietuvių
• Limburgs
• Lumbaart
• Magyar
• Македонски
• Malagasy
• മലയാളം
• मराठी
• მარგალური
• مصرى
• Bahasa Melayu
• Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄
• Монгол
• မြန်မာဘာသာ
• Nāhuatl
• Nederlands
• नेपाली
• नेपाल भाषा
• 日本語
• Norsk bokmål
• Norsk nynorsk
• Occitan
• ଓଡ଼ିଆ
• Oromoo
• Oʻzbekcha/ўзбекча
• ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
• پنجابی
• پښتو
• Patois
• Polski
• Português
• Qaraqalpaqsha
• Română
• Runa Simi
• Русский
• Саха тыла
• संस्कृतम्
• Scots
• Shqip
• Sicilianu
• සිංහල
• Simple English
• Slovenčina
• Slovenščina
• Ślůnski
• Soomaaliga
• کوردیی ناوەندی
• Српски / srpski
• Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
• Basa Sunda
• Suomi
• Svenska
• Tagalog
• தமிழ்
• Татарча/tatarça
• తెలుగు
• ไทย
• Türkçe
• Українська
• اردو
• Vèneto
• Tiếng Việt
• Walon
• Winaray
• 吴语
• ייִדיש
• 粵語
• 中文

Edit links

• This page was last modified on 7 October 2016, at 01:16.
• Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.