Technology – India’s quiet anti-corruption crusader
Technology, not protest marches, might be the biggest eradicator of corruption in India where under-the-table bribes thrive in the world of face-to-face transactions. Many facets of India’s government still operate in Dickensian offices where floor-to-ceiling stacks of paper files can provide good cover and easy excuses for “delays” that only a sweetener of a few hundred rupees can cut through.
Anger over this reached fever-pitch when thousands of protesters across the country recently took to the streets for days demanding tougher anti-corruption legislation.
But a less vociferous, potentially as potent march is also underway – the computerisation of India’s vast government network, which when completed at all levels of administration could strip away much of the power that individuals have to elicit bribes or take cuts from others.
Social commentator Madhu Kishwar recently wrote of a classic example in the Indian Express: Municipal officials all over India systematically fleece citizens by sending highly inflated house tax bills. I recall that several years ago, one of my neighbours, let us call him Mr X, received a house tax bill of Rs 1.65 lakh for a small, two-bedroom flat in South Delhi. In sheer panic, he approached a local political worker who claimed “good connections” with municipal officials. This man then went and brokered a deal with the concerned babus. Mr X was asked to pay Rs 25,000 in order to get the 1.65-lakh demand reduced to Rs 7,000 per year. He accepted the deal gladly because it appeared to him as if he was receiving a big favour, even though the falsely inflated bill was actually just a device to frighten him into paying a bribe.
With the introduction of online property tax portals in some municipalities several years ago, where fees are clearly stated and can be paid directly, this kind of manipulation has been eradicated in one stroke. But there are still areas where this service is not available.
A successful entrepreneur from Mumbai told me how several years ago he had gone to the tax office to file his return. He was ushered into a small private cubicle where a smiling soft-spoken official questioned why he was paying so much in taxes, insinuating that the businessman could claim less on paper as long as he gave a little something in return.
“Now I pay my taxes directly online, avoiding such cosy conversations, thank you very much,” he said.
XXX domain poses headache for Indian regulators
By Neha Arha
India is proposing to block .xxx-registered websites after a global agency governing the web approved the suffix for pornography websites last week, risking confrontation between a fast-liberalising youth and strong traditionalist values.
The government’s move followed a decade-long dialogue within the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that resulted in the approval for .xxx suffix for pornography websites. Sales of .xxx domains should begin soon in Q2 2011.
Taking a cue from .com, .org, .nic and others, the creation of .xxx would identify adult content and services and could be used by governments for mass censorship of adult content.
Despite continuous efforts by some staunch conservative groups, porn remains easily accessible in India. The move to ban savitabhabhi.com, a popular toon porn site, fell flat when it later resurfaced through a foreign server.
In addition to labelling it immoral under the Indian Penal Code, distribution of adult content is illegal. Distributing such content in the electronic form calls for imprisonment for a maximum term of five years or/and fine which may extend to 100,000 rupees ($2,237).
No Headache Really.
The contentious XXX extension will have no affect on adult Dotcom websites; adult Dotcoms will remain unchanged. Furthermore, with so much adverse publicity – including threats by Governments to block XXX country by country – many will look to avoid the XXX webspace completely. For those compelled to reserve domains defensively, it’s likely that anonymity will be required as names get set as Unresolvable and/or Unknown. The outcome? Perhaps a mass of “For Sale” signs by speculators looking to offload their XXX investments.
All ICANN has done here is to openly advance fragmentation of the Web and encourage people to find new ways of making the most of their surfing experience. The result is that Internet users are now bypassing ICANN to create their own unique, memorable and personalised range of brand new Dashcom Domains and TLDs, totally free.
Sites such as Dashworlds.com now provide brand new Dashcom (not Dotcom) domain names. Dashcoms are addresses in format “business-com”, “paris-fashion”, “social-network” (and of course any XXX your heart might desire). Totally outside the realm and control of ICANN, Internet users can create any domain or TLD in any language, instantly and at no cost.
With users and members in over 90 countries worldwide, resolution is via an APP; although new ISP Links are available to make this unnecessary (ISP Links that are also available to ICANN).
Having just one Internet floating in infinite cyberspace is like saying you can go anywhere in the USA as long as you only use route 66. So now, just as in the USA (and everywhere else in the world) the Internet has more than one option.
Women in technology – “unmarketable product in marriage market?”
I moderated a panel discussion for an in-house ‘Women in Technology’ event in Bangalore this month.
The three women on the panel were an impressive lot — a former defence scientist, a renowned mathematician currently on the Prime Minister’s panel and a former-CEO-turned-entrepreneur.
But there was one common thread that bound them together — their fight against society, among other odds, to gain their glories.
“When I told my family that I wanted to join IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Kharagpur 40 years ago, my relatives said I will be ‘an unmarketable product in the marriage market,’” said Jharna Majumdar, a professor at a technology institute in Bangalore and the retired Head of Aerial Image Exploitation Division (AIED) at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
She has done extensive research on (Sorry, but I just have to mention this acronym too) PPDIESAGRP or Parallel Processing and Development of Image Exploitation System on Aerial and Ground Based Reconnaissance Platforms. Phew! No offence meant but that may have some potential to scare off prospective grooms.
More than half of India’s billion population is below the age of 25, technologically savvy and gender unbiased. Or are they? As a journalism student some years ago, I was never the only girl in a class full of boys.
In fact, there are more girl students in Indian journalism schools than boys. So, what is it about technology and women that men find so intimidating?
Given that one third of the audience was male, I think that both men and women are looking for answers. Why do we have fewer women in technology. With all due respect to the speakers, I believe that to be successful in any career, technology or otherwise having a supportive family and or spouse is important. You may still succeed, its just that it gets harder to do so.
Welcome to the new in.reuters.com
Reuters is a news power house – our 2,800 journalists in 190 different bureaus around the world are dedicated to being the indispensable news source. News has been in our blood for more than a century and a half, but we’ve always been restlessly innovating and always looking to the future.
For in.reuters.com, the future is now.
This is our redesign, over a year in the making. That’s over a year of extensive discussions with people like you, our elite audience of business professionals, about what would make the site better and faster and easier to use for you as you drive business activity around the world.
We want this to be the world’s best website covering business and finance news, analysis, and opinion. Full stop.
We want you to be able to come for a quick glance at the top headlines, or a longer deep dive into a topic that’s important to you. We want you to scan the output of the 2,800 men and women or hone in on a favourite writer or photographer.
This site is for you; we want it to be your ticket to a wealth of news, information, and analysis presented in a cutting-edge format, including text, video, pictures, graphics, user interaction, and personalisation features (try the new toolbar at the bottom of every page).
Remember, too, that this is the front door of Thomson Reuters. In addition to the news you see here, Thomson Reuters is also the world’s leader in providing news, information, services, and technology to healthcare, legal, business, and financial professionals. What that means is that our journalism is professional grade, giving our users the inside edge needed to make important decisions.
Trick or Tweet? Can politicians have an online life?
I recently came across this article on the Washington Post.
Being a part of a generation that gradually, if with cautious unease, learnt to adjust to the Internet, I could not help but compare India’s policymakers with those of developed nations based on their level of acceptance of changing media.
Frankly, it is difficult to imagine our lawmakers in the same position as described in the article.
For years, when social networking meant visiting friends and family at Christmas and New Year, and Facebook was still a concept, representatives of our democracy would depend on traditional ways to reach out to their electorate.
Rallies would block traffic, fields would fill with squatting populace hanging on to their leaders’ words and newspapers would print carefully penned statements.
Then came the Internet boom and more and more politicians realized the utility of the 24×7 online audience and the tools at their hand to maximize their reach.
Ministries now have regularly updated websites and a team of media specialists put out updates on important issues in easily downloadable format.
I think what makes the senior(read older generation) of leaders of political parties uncomfortable with Twitter and Facebook is the loss of control that comes with a direct access to the public, where their views are not sanitised and where the medium cannot be manipulated to meet their ends, at least not yet. Once they figure out how to do that, like the politicians on Capitol Hill seem to be doing on the Washington Post article you linked to, social networking media will be embraced more heartily.
Bangalore: Teething troubles on path to globalisation
It has been a rather uneasy transition for Bangalore from “pensioner’s paradise” or “garden city” to the information technology capital of India.
Longtime residents often complain of immigrants from other parts of the country ruining their paradise. Such complaints have been common in Mumbai, which has witnessed waves of immigration since the 1950s, but Bangalore old-timers tend to blame the city’s problems on the “IT fellows”.
It’s fair to say the city’s infrastructure hasn’t kept pace with the growing population. Traffic jams, as everywhere in the world, are incredibly annoying and travelling in Bangalore makes one wonder what exactly inspired Thomas Friedman to sing praises of this city in “The World is Flat”.
The much-maligned metro rail project is blamed for turning the city into an ugly mess. Gone are many of the broad tree-lined avenues and pretty neighbourhoods that gave the city a small town feel.
But isn’t the very existence of a metro system going to help people avoid the traffic in the future? Residents of Bangkok used to complain about the construction work on the sky rail and the elevated roads. Now, the toll roads and the sky rail are the pride and joy of Thailand’s capital.
In its zeal to become a global city, Bangalore should look eastwards. Kuala Lumpur, for example, has changed beyond recognition in the last ten years. This was a city which had a major problem with cockroaches before its makeover.
Nobody has benefited more from the arrival of immigrants than the locals. Local landlords are getting fatter and richer charging super-high rents.Local auto rickshaw drivers make a killing on those who don’t speak Kannada and local officials get lakhs from kickbacks.Local youth get more money working for IT companies than they ever would have for locally run businesses.The real problem is that locals don’t want to see others making money and living well. I see a bit of MNS in the locals that have posted comments here.Wake Up! India is ONE country.
Playing spoilsport with Formula One?
Despite the Force India team taking second place at the podium at the Belgian Grand Prix there is no rethinking in the sports ministry on its view that Formula One is not enough of a sport.
Sports minister M.S. Gill congratulated Vijay Mallya on his team’s win but labelled Formula One as ‘expensive entertainment’.
The sports ministry has refused approval to the promoters of Formula 1 in India, JPSK Sports, to pay 1.7 billion rupees to the Formula One Administration for the proposed Indian Grand Prix of 2011.
The ministry has reasoned that the Formula One race “does not satisfy conditions which focus on human endeavour for excelling in competition with others, keeping in view the whole sports movement from Olympic downwards.”
It wrote to the promoters that Formula One is not purely sports, it is entertainment and the venture by JPSK Sports was a commercial initiative.
The sports ministry’s argument stands on two legs. Formula One is expensive entertainment and the outcome is determined by technology hence it is not ‘pure sports’.
Is sport supposed to be boring — that’s a question which can be posed at least rhetorically?
I’ll make 2 distinct points here:1. It is the hollow mindset of people like Mr. Gill that had killed sports in India. The promotion of all sports and allocation of higher funds is long long overdue – in whichever field it may be.Education, Sports and Individual (personal) Taxation are the 3 fields that have received step-motherly treatment by the ruling Congress party in the past 45+ years it ruled. It’s high time our politicians came down from their pedestal of OLD SCHOOL THOUGHT and changed with time. F1 is here to stay – whether Mr Gill LIKES IT OR NOT !!!!At least the tourism dept will be benefited from the revenues F1 will generate if it is started in India.Mr Gill, Isn’t Sky-Diving a sport ? If it is, it’s definatley not played in our backyard – and again, it is NOT CHEAP – by any yardstick. So, why the double standard ?Wake up to the reality – Mr Gill.2. Another change that India needs is to show the door to people holding political posts after the age of 58. If the constitution has to be ammended – so be it !!!Young minds are needed to change the anarchic COLONIAL laws of bygone eras at the earliest.This change will improve the quality of the political system in India as more and more young people enter the political space. Lets TRY to make it more professional and transparent, responsible and accountable ….. even if it means to fix a retirement age for all politicians.”Lead India” and other such institutions can take a bold step in this direction and ensure that such a constitutional ammendment is made at the earliest.This is the time to “BE THE CHANGE” …..All political parties should nominate young candidates and that will usher in the change …..
The Unique Identity number — putting all eggs in one basket?
There was a television ad some time back where a village leader played by Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan cutely decrees that feuding villagers would be known by their mobile numbers rather than names denoting caste or community.
It’s an idea that no longer seems far-fetched.
This week, the finance minister allocated 1200 million rupees to the Unique Identification Authority of India, headed by former Infosys chief Nandan Nilekani.
The project provides a unique identity number, something like the U.S. social security number, to India’s billion-plus citizens.
It involves setting up a database with the identification details of citizens.
“It also uses an advanced technology like biometrics on a scale which has not been used anywhere in the world,” said Nilekani.
The biometric details will make identification foolproof.
Voting via SMS in the election: reality or fantasy?
A politician asks people to vote via SMS whether they want malls in villages. ‘No way’ — comes their response.
“What an idea, Sirji,” says a beaming Abhishek Bachchan, appearing as the politician’s tech-savvy secretary in the popular TV campaign for mobile operator Idea Cellular.
‘What an idea’ indeed if people across India can vote for candidates via SMS in the April/May general election.
India is the fastest growing telecom market in the world — why can’t one vote via SMS?
If I can transfer money or check my bank balance using my mobile phone, is voting-via-SMS impossible?
“Any mechanism used for electoral voting should ensure equal access for all,” says analyst Pratap Bhanu Mehta.
“Voting is the one moment when we are all equal in democracy,” he adds.
Well its not a good idea. Coz in the country like INDIA a single person may hold 2 – 3 mobile number with him. If there is voting via SMS the counting no. of VOTES may get increase. And it may cause double counting system. And the EC cannot grant the permission for such voting. Coz the mobile no not show any VOTER ID no. or any identity of the person.
Well the EC has to think about the another idea for voting which is easy for people and the people may easily vote the candidate without standing in a Que.
The iPhone 3G dilemma: To buy or not to buy?
Well, if you use your mobile phone just to make calls, send text messages or click photographs — the iPhone 3G is not for you.But in case you are a tech freak who loves tinkering with gadgets, this Apple smartphone might be your dream come true.
Downloadable GPS, games, AIM, Facebook on the go and of course 24-hour access to the iTunes store are just some of its pluses, but at 30,000 rupees (give or take a few hundred) for the 8GB model, the iPhone certainly doesn’t come cheap.
Slight problem though. Added applications are great on a phone that provides basic features like message and business card forwarding and video recording.
Unfortunately, these very basic features are not available on Steve Jobs’ latest offering as default.
Chayan Hazra, 30, is one iPhone owner who says he is willing to switch brands if something better comes up.
“If Nokia comes up with a phone that allows you to download applications and has a touch screen I will switch to it in a heartbeat because I know it will have all the basic features that I have become accustomed to in addition to these cool new apps,” he said.
Hazra fits right into mobile service provider Airtel’s category of “Achievers – young working, corporate professionals,” a target segment for the iPhone.
Truly, digitization in various government departments can take us half-way to eradicating the corruption. Most of the corruption at grass-root level of society is due to human-intervention in various services, be it passport issuance, or driving-license or others. Technology, by reducing human-intervention in such cases, can surely help in keeping a check on corruption at basic levels. Moreover, in case of corruption at other levels, technology (like the Right to Information Act)offers great help in keeping a check on corruption. Even with Lokpal and other similar bills, technological intervention is necessary for proper implementation.