Skype is going to be banned very soon. This I conclude because it is suspected by the Mumbai police that Skype was used to plot the murder of Sheena Bora. The powers-that-be in our country come up with simple methods of keeping us sheep away from trouble. Our shepherds know better. They are school masters to us school children.
When a young woman was raped in Delhi in December by a cab driver, the mobile app and platform Uber used to book the cab was banned. Uber is a game-changer. It is causing a disruption last seen in Indian road transport with the introduction of the Maruti Suzuki 800 way back in the 80s. It is changing the lives of users and drivers alike. A few drivers I spoke to work with Uber and Ola and will, probably, work with other new aggregators as and when they come up. Each of them claimed a major jump in their income and a sense of satisfaction in their new-found business model. They felt empowered that they could use a smartphone for what it was designed. It made them feel modern, smart and part of a fast changing world.
Uber is an idea whose time is ripe. It can be, as has been argued, that Uber does not have robust enough practices to verify the antecedents of drivers it uses. How do our road transport departments verify the antecedents or the mental make-up of people they issue commercial licenses to? It is nobody's secret that driving licenses cannot be obtained without paying a bribe. All it takes to get a "good character" certificate from the police is probably another bribe.
So what does one do? How does one prevent women from being endangered? You ban the platform in totality, apparently. How do you manage something you do not understand? You regulate it and tie it down in bureaucratic red tape and then watch the "bribe" economy ramp up.
Uber runs extremely well in other Indian cities - I recently used Uber seamlessly in Hyderabad. My family in Bangalore uses Ola all the time - as do thousands of others. Why is it that these services can work in some cities and not in others?
Banning about 800 porn sites was another half-baked, half-thought measure. It is practically and probably economically not viable to stop people accessing pornography on the Internet. Yes, there are the undesirables but a ban only helps in driving everything underground. Like prohibition in India and elsewhere, pornography will be freely available, as is alcohol, to anyone who wants it.
Banning technology is a losing game. It simply does not work and puts genuine users - who are in a majority by a large margin - at a distinct disadvantage. The oft used term "march of technology" is not a metaphor. It is a reality. It is unstoppable and has a momentum of its own. It is a result of pioneers who have the guts to challenge the status quo and the will to improve the present for the future.
If you don't want to join in, get out of the way.
(K Yegneshwara Iyer is an IT professional, a fitness trainer, an IT trainer and possessed by continued simplification.)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
When a young woman was raped in Delhi in December by a cab driver, the mobile app and platform Uber used to book the cab was banned. Uber is a game-changer. It is causing a disruption last seen in Indian road transport with the introduction of the Maruti Suzuki 800 way back in the 80s. It is changing the lives of users and drivers alike. A few drivers I spoke to work with Uber and Ola and will, probably, work with other new aggregators as and when they come up. Each of them claimed a major jump in their income and a sense of satisfaction in their new-found business model. They felt empowered that they could use a smartphone for what it was designed. It made them feel modern, smart and part of a fast changing world.
Uber is an idea whose time is ripe. It can be, as has been argued, that Uber does not have robust enough practices to verify the antecedents of drivers it uses. How do our road transport departments verify the antecedents or the mental make-up of people they issue commercial licenses to? It is nobody's secret that driving licenses cannot be obtained without paying a bribe. All it takes to get a "good character" certificate from the police is probably another bribe.
So what does one do? How does one prevent women from being endangered? You ban the platform in totality, apparently. How do you manage something you do not understand? You regulate it and tie it down in bureaucratic red tape and then watch the "bribe" economy ramp up.
Uber runs extremely well in other Indian cities - I recently used Uber seamlessly in Hyderabad. My family in Bangalore uses Ola all the time - as do thousands of others. Why is it that these services can work in some cities and not in others?
Banning about 800 porn sites was another half-baked, half-thought measure. It is practically and probably economically not viable to stop people accessing pornography on the Internet. Yes, there are the undesirables but a ban only helps in driving everything underground. Like prohibition in India and elsewhere, pornography will be freely available, as is alcohol, to anyone who wants it.
Banning technology is a losing game. It simply does not work and puts genuine users - who are in a majority by a large margin - at a distinct disadvantage. The oft used term "march of technology" is not a metaphor. It is a reality. It is unstoppable and has a momentum of its own. It is a result of pioneers who have the guts to challenge the status quo and the will to improve the present for the future.
If you don't want to join in, get out of the way.
(K Yegneshwara Iyer is an IT professional, a fitness trainer, an IT trainer and possessed by continued simplification.)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
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