As the Kachir Gaaw case shows, functional, not just fashionable, delivery mechanisms need to be in place
We live in the electronics era. Perhaps, the first major penetration of this medium in office work happened when the electronic typewriter replaced the manual one. It revolutionised office functioning. The standards changed, the work measurement changed and work life was never quite the same. The character of employment in the offices evolved and one was either pushed up or pushed out.
The Indian corporate work situation began experiencing this change from the early 1980s and in the last three decades and a half since then, the movement has considerably widened and depend. There is a greater and increasing push to put everything online.
The speed is such that few are pausing to consider if, beyond the road maps, the delivery vehicles are operational. The delivery vehicles not only need to be fashioned but they need to be functional. The urge to keep up with this fashion is so intense that everything and anything must be moved onto the electronic media. In such an environment, it is natural that even admit cards will be issued online.
Newspaper reports have it, that in a particular State the entrance examination for a diploma course in polytechnics had admit cards issued by the Board of Professional of Entrance Examination. An admit card was also issued to a ‘candidate’ named Kachir Gaaw (brown cow). She was supposed to be the daughter of Gura Dand (red bull). Her roll number was 257394, the venue for the examination was a degree college. The examination had been scheduled for May 10, 2015. All of this was electronically processed.
When this information was uploaded on social media, the story got even more curious. The authorities clarified that, as part of the system, the roll number slip is only issued after due verification. This covers due payment also. Clearly, somebody had some explaining to do. The obvious answer was a prank or a system failure. A normal citizen can only feel bewildered and say “Jai Ho”.
However, fashions have a knack of feeding upon themselves. The Government, especially the Income Tax department is determined to go online. The thinking is: Anything which the UPA regime could do, the NDA regime can do much better.
Now, all service tax must be deposited online. Never mind the fact that many professional chartered accounting firms do not know how to file in this manner. Many accountants earned their degrees five, 10, 20, or more years ago, when all this was not in fashion. Never mind if there are no current channels for skill upgradation.
The banking system is moving even more speedily onto the electronic medium. As firewalling limitations become obvious through frauds, greater recourse is being taken to in-person presence. An illustration will help: You make a request online, you receive the response on the mobile phone. With that temporary ID you go personally to an ATM to get a password of your choice. So simple!
lakhs of Indians are assumed to have easy access to computers, carry personal mobile phones and be able to locate an ATM which works, if they want to be clear with the tax authorities. It seems to be nobody’s concern that (as in the case of Kachir Gaaw, where image recognition software could not differentiate between a human face and an animal face), in tax cases too, many don’t understand the system.
Who does one talk toIJ What does one sayIJ Forget admit cards, forget even income and service taxes, nowadays, one is supposed to buy even spectacles online. Companies always ready to optimise sales are offering discounts for online purchases and more than a thousand spectacles are reportedly sold online everyday.
It is nobody’s worry that incorrect measurements, mismatched lenses, mismatched pairs of multifocal lenses can be dangerous. There is, of course, little understanding that the inter- pupillary distance (that is the distance between the two pupils of the eyes) should be accurate, before purchase.
How does one ignore the lay of the landIJ One only wishes that, as a consequence of putting lives online, the Prime Minister’s Office and the many offices of the Chief Ministers also set up online grievance handling mechanisms for the complaints that are bound to emerge.