Photos: ‘Digital India’ silences Mumbai’s clattering typewriters

The Maharashtra state government holds its final Government Certificate in Computer Typing Basic Course (GCC-TBC) assisted by the use of typewriters, as it moves towards digitising the work of typists and stenographers in a push towards e-governance and 'Digital India'.

Updated on: Aug 11, 2017 11:13 AM IST

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The unmistakable chatter of typewriters outside courthouses and government offices will soon fall silent in India's financial capital Mumbai as stenography colleges on August 11 hold their final manual exams. The roughly 3,500 institutes teaching the antiquated ways of the typewriter across Maharastra state will be phased out as India pushes ahead with a drive to digitize the economy. (Indranil Mukherjee / AFP)

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As the state pushes for a digital makeover, more than 3,500 typing institutes and 10,000 instructors across the state who run services training many among the more than seven lakh students appearing for the Government Certificate in Computer Typing Basic Course (GCC-TBC) every year now stand at a crossroad. The state government will conduct its last GCC-TBC test on August 11, 2017. (Indranil Mukherjee / AFP)

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The Maharashtra government’s message to typewriters still mashing away is loud and clear -- adapt or die as India digitises towards e-governance. Long relegated to history books in the West, typewriters are still a ubiquitous feature at legal chambers, police stations and official offices in India. (Indranil Mukherjee / AFP)

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Typists have been a ubiquitous sight at courthouses punching out affidavits, family deeds and other legal documents for as little as 25 rupees with the click-clack of the ancient machines echoing around the vaulted corridors. The typewriter has been a means to land coveted jobs as government clerks and stenographers and a ticket out of unemployment and village life for many over the decades. (Indranil Mukherjee / AFP)

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The signs of a turning tide have been on the horizon for years. According to a government resolution in 2013 ‘Typewriting machines are outdated, manufacturers have shut shop and there are no spare parts available in market. We need computer trained individuals for government offices as we adapt to e-governance.’. Typing institutes across the state have long stayed afloat held by a string of extensions. (Indranil Mukherjee / AFP)

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Mahrukh Sam Calagopi types out labels for medicine bottles at her Parsi Homoeopathic Pharmacy in Mumbai. The skills of the typist helming clunky typewriters are becoming increasingly redundant amid ‘Digital India’, a government-run initiative to modernise and harness technology to roll out e-services across the subcontinent of 1.3 billion. Falling prices for computers and phasing out of the typewriter usage leaves typists and stenographers with a grim future. (Indranil Mukherjee / AFP)

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Typewriter mechanic Anand Savarkar checks the keys of an old typewriter at his repair shop in Mumbai. While the margin bells and ribbon spools will whirr and ping during Friday’s final typing exams, it will not be long before the iconic machine will wind up in antique stores or in scrap heaps. India was similarly the last country in the world to run a major telegram operation before cutting the wire in 2013 after 163 years of service. (Indranil Mukherjee / AFP)