Let ATC outnumber ATM

Business Standard ( 07 Sept 2016 ) , carries a news report titled :

" Supreme Court asks states, UTs to upload FIRs on websites within 24 hours "

Details read as follows :

" The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed all States and Union Territories to upload the FIRs on their websites within 24 hours of registration at police stations.

A bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and C Nagappan, however, extended the time up to 72 hours for uploading of the FIRs for those states which are located in difficult terrains where internet connectivity is poor.

The bench also made it clear that the accused cannot take benefit before the courts of law of the fact that FIRs lodged against them have not been uploaded on the website.

Initially, it was suggested during the hearing that the states be allowed to upload FIRs on websites within 48 hours. However, the court later fixed the time limit at 24 hours.

The PIL referred to a decision passed by the Delhi High Court in which the city police was directed to upload the FIRs on its website within 24 hours of being registered.

The apex court agreed to the directions of the HC with certain modifications. "

Hardly a flattering picture of India going Digital  !

Anyone who has ever visited a Police Station to lodge a FIR , knows that a police clerk will pull out some paper ( may be by now , it is a Register ) and start writing with a pen , as being dictated by a police officer on duty , who dictates as he listens to the complainant

What is important to remember at this stage is :

Those words are not exactly what the complainant utters !  What gets " written " , is what gets paraphrased by the police officer  !

Often , totally distorting the meaning / essence of the complaint  !

And finally , the complainant is literally " coerced " into signing that FIR ( don't ask to read it before signing ! )

This does not happen only with illiterate villagers but even with educated city-folks !

Why could not the Supreme Court direct that :

#   Police Station Computers must be internet connected

#   Computer must be permanently logged into the official web site of the State Police Department

#   Like an ATM enclosure at all bank branches , that computer must be directly accessible to the complainant from

     an outside separate entrance , obviating need to talk to a  police officer ( call it ATC = Any Time Complaint ? )

     Other than the web site of the State Police department , no other web site can be accessed from this special

     purpose machine ( ATC ) , which will be equipped with Bio-Metric Reading device

     For enabling universal / immediate / easy access , NDA government should also install these ATC , at

     *    145,000 post offices of India Post

     *    220,000 offices of Gram Panchayats

#   From an ATC, complainant can enter his complaint on his own, into the Police department web site , by

     entering

     *  Full personal details , and

     *  Aadhar ID

     The Biometric Reading Device , built into the computer will compare the complainant's bio-metric data with the

     bio-metric data already available in the Aadhar ID database

     If the two sets of data do not match , complaint will not get accepted / registered

     This ( matching of bio-metric data ) , will also prevent " Proxy " complaints

     It will also enable the Police department to catch a person lodging a " False / Malicious / Harassing " complaint 

   

#   It should be possible to enter the complaint , using a language of choice of the complainant

#   Using built-in Speech Recognition software ( such as SIRI / CORTANA / GOOGLE-SPEAK / DRAGON NATURALLY

     SPEAKING , etc ) , complaint can even " record " his complaint , if he cannot type

#   As soon as complainant finishes and SUBMITS the complaint , Complaint Number will flash on the screen ,

     using which , the complainant can track the progress of his complaint over time , by logging into the web site

    

Now it is entirely possible that some State Governments want to make it even " Easier to Do Business " with their Police Department , by introducing my suggested Mobile App ,

 "  I  SIN > < U SIN  " (  I  Seek  It  Now  > < U  Solve  It  Now )

{  http://www.hemenparekh.in/2013/08/i-sin-sin-that-could-be-name-of-android.html#.V9Dxxvl94ok  }

Such a miniaturized / hand-held / complainant-owned ATC , would be a much BETTER  /  FASTER  /  CHEAPER

method , needing no investment on part of the government !

And those FIRs will get uploaded on Police web site in 24 MINUTES  !

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09  Sept  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs    

Irrefutable Law of Economics

Indian Express ( 08 Sept 2016 ) carries following news report :

" Railways to introduce surge pricing for Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto trains "

"  The Ministry of Railway on Wednesday said that it will introduce flexi fare pricing in its Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains from September 9.

The fares will increase by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold.

“The base fares will increase by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold subject to a prescribed ceiling limit. There will be no change in the existing fare for 1AC and EC class of travel,” a railway ministry release said.

While 10 per cent of the seats will be sold in the normal fare in the beginning, it will go on increasing by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold with the ceiling limit at maximum 50 per cent depending upon the demand "

Now even as some State Governments ( and possibly central Transport Ministry ) , are seriously considering forcing Uber / Ola taxi-share operators to give up their practice of Surge Pricing , Shri Suresh Prabhu ( Railway Minister ) must find lakhs of crores of rupees to modernize our ancient and dilapidated train services

Over the decades , one after another Railway Minister ensured that the railway passengers did not have to pay for the actual / real cost of running these trains

They took the easy way out by keeping Rail Fares much below the cost , by incurring losses , subsidized by tax payer money !

But Shri Prabhu says :

"  This cannot go on for ever !  People must pay the true cost of this service !

   Aren't people paying varying prices for Petrol / Diesel for some years now ?  At one time , these too were highly

 

  subsidized and if govt tried to raise these ( mostly thru annual budget ) , there used to be riots on the streets !

  Now these get adjusted every fortnight and no one even notices !

  Economic law of Demand and Supply must dictate the prices , from time to time "

No doubt , Shri Prabhu  !

But under this very Law , when existing operators start making tons of profit, dozens of competitors enter that field and increase the " Supply " to catch up with the huge " Demand "

In turn , that increased competition forces the incumbents to drop their prices to match the new operators and the Consumers gain

Precisely , what is happening for the past few weeks in the Mobile Telephony Services , with arrival of Reliance Jio !

But the question is :

Will NDA government permit private sector companies to lay down rail tracks and compete with Indian Railways ?

If so , that would be GREAT , because Indian Train passengers will have " Options " to choose from !

You must not say , " Heads I win , Tails You Lose " !

Incidentally , in order to increase " Supply " , here is what the Central Transport Ministry and the State

 Governments should do by :

#    Encouraging Kali-Pili taxi owners to form their own Mobile App based " Share Taxi " scheme to take on Uber /

      Ola , playing by their " rules " , by installing Digi-Met / Fare-Calc , as recommended in my blog,

     "  Tablets in Taxies " { http://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2016/05/tablets-in-taxies.html  }

#   Enabling many more private sector Start Ups to launch, " Share-Bike " / " Share-Rickshaw " operations

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08  Sept  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

ONE POLL ; ONE TIME ?

In a TV interview , 2 days back , Shri Narendra Modi  said :

" Frequent elections affect the functioning of bureaucracy and there should be simultaneous elections to  Panchayat  bodies, Assemblies and Parliament to save time and money .

 Country ‘unfortunately’ witnesses elections regularly, because of which everything is linked to polls.

Every decision is weighed in the balance of elections. It is time to de-link decisions taken from the elections. The early we do so, the better it is. When the elections come, there will be manifestos. It is the need of the hour to separate politics from work "

President , Shri Pranab Mukherjee , also supports this idea

In another TV debate on this subject, ex-CEC , Shri Naveen Chawala , welcomed such a move but expressed concern about adequate availability of EVM machines and para-military forces to protect some  930,000  polling booths on the same day

An editorial in Hindustan Times ( 07 Sept 2016 ) writes :

" The three reasons why some politicians want ( simultaneous ) elections is this : Frequent elections bring policy-making to a standstill ; the Cost ; and increases in vices such as communal-ism, caste-ism, corruption and crony capitalism "

I earnestly request the Policy Makers ( Ministers / MPs / MLAs / Secretaries / Party Presidents etc ) to debate my following suggestion ( sent to them earlier thru e-mails and being sent again , today  ) :

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Thursday, 31 March 2016

One day Polling is Possible

DNA ( 31 March 2016 ) reports :

"  Prime Minister Narendra Modi has mooted a proposal to hold simultaneous elections to Panchayats , State Assemblies and Parliament across the country

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel , Public Grievances , Law and Justice had in December , recommended holding simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections to reduce expenditure and frequent disruption of normal life  "

Not only it is possible to do this ( in ONE DAY ) but it has the potential to bring about Electoral Reforms of far reaching beneficial impact

Following is the suggestion that I sent to Shri Narendra Modiji on 06 Nov 2014 :

VotesApp

( from my blog dated  18 Dec 2012 )

*  An Android app which can be downloaded from Google Play / Android Zoom / GetJar and the official web site of Election Commission of India

*  It will be pre-loaded on 220 million Aakash tablets  which Govt of India plans to distribute to students

*  It will also be pre-loaded on those Smart phones ( to be called, “ Dharati “ ? ), which Govt of India plans to distribute free to 400 million “ poor “ Indians , before 2014 National elections

*  All tablet / smart phone manufacturers will be encouraged to pre-load VotesApp

*  Using this app , a voter can register at Election Commission web site, where he will enter the same data which he has submitted for his Aadhar card, including Aadhar card number (  Unique Identification No  )

*  All of these details will be verified by Aadhar database

*  Obviously , those who have not obtained their Aadhar card , will not be able to use VotesApp . They will need to visit nearest polling booth

*  Upon correct verification , Aadhar Database will permanently link the person’s Aadhar number with the mobile number from which  registration is done, and issue a Password

*  An under aged person will not be allowed to register

*  A person will be able to vote only from that mobile number

*  After login on first screen, user will be asked to select one option from,

    *   Panchayat  Election

    *   Municipal  Election

    *   State Assembly  Election

    *   Lok-Sabha  Election

*  Upon selection, user will be presented with the list of candidates contesting , from which , he can select only one by ticking a check-box. 

  

    There will be also a choice , labeled “ None “ ( NOTA )

*  A long press on a candidate’s name will display details of his declared assets as also his criminal record

*  After ticking / selecting a candidate, voter will click on  “ VOTE “ button, whereupon his vote gets registered and VotesApp gets de-activated

*  Once a voter registers on Election Commission web site , he cannot go to a polling booth and vote physically

*  In less than one year , Govt of India will recover the cost of 220 million Aakash tablets and 400 million” Dharati “ smart phones , through this customized / personalized / shrinking of EVMs ( Electronic Voting Machines ) to a hand-held device.

    And imagine the millions of man-hours saved !

*  And the beauty is , no one can capture this booth , or conduct exit polls !

   What will “ experts “ discuss on TV channels ?

*  What next ? Election Commission “licensing “ this App to other countries ?

HOW  WILL  IT  HELP  ?

*  No need for 930,000  Polling Booths / EVMs / Ink / Papers etc

    Every voter's own mobile becomes a miniature EVM  !

    Any registered Voter can vote from anywhere in the World  !

*  Nor any need to deploy  1,100,000  people to conduct the polls

*  No need for millions of Police / Military personnel

*  No need for months of advance preparations, across entire country

*  Voting can be completed in just ONE day - instead of over 6 weeks -
    and results can be declared next day  !

*  Voting could be 95 % or more  !

*  No worry for booth-capture

*  No  bogus voting ( Bio-metric ID from built-in camera )

*  No duplicate voting ( Self-destruct after single usage )

*  No worry for any terrorist attacks

*  Enormous saving of time for Voters

*  No need to declare a public holiday - costing thousands of crores
     worth of production

*  Central Government will save, at least , Rs 2,000 Crores .

*     For the Central Government , a potential  to earn Rs 20,000 crores , by

       enabling 15 million Indian businesses to advertise to 814 million voters

       thru this mobile VotesApp , sharply targeting by Gender / Age / Marital

       Status / City / Street / Education / Income Tax paid / Employed or

       Jobless ..etc

       

*   No need for Central Government to stop taking even routine decisions 

    ( due to Model Code of Conduct )

If a tiny country like Estonia ( population 1.6 million ) can elect its Members of Parliament thru a VotesApp type mobile App , why can't we  ?

Already 900+ million Indians have mobiles - all of which , will soon become Smart Phones

As far as designing / developing of  VotesApp  is concerned , it is NOT a Rocket Science

Any IT / E-Comm Start Up , should be able to develop  VotesApp  in 3 months

Can you think of a better way for " E-delivery of Service " ?

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07  Sept  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs