How long will Pvt cab aggregators cheat on the passengers?

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December 7, 2018

Today morning, I booked an Ola Auto from my place to the office. The App showed the ride was three minutes away. I waited more than 15 minutes and did not find him at my location. While tracking, I got to know he hadn’t moved at all from his initial position. So, I gave him a call to know his whereabouts. He told me that his internet pack has finished and that’s why I am unable to track him; he is right below my building. I rushed down and saw there was no Auto. Again I called him and asked his location. He said that his phone is broken and hence, he could not navigate to my location. He gave me his location two minutes away from my gate. Since he was two minutes away, I thought that I would walk up to his location. He still was not there; I cancelled my ride and I was charged for cancelling my booking. In this entire process, I wasted my 40 minutes and got bullied by Ola and the driver both.

Let us take another scenario. If you want to go to Place A from Place B — A is a hugely populated area where the frequency of getting a ride is high and B is being the lesser one. As soon as you book a cab, they (Ola or Uber driver) wouldn’t call or come to your place; instead, they (not all) would wait for the commuter to call them. After that, they would ask for the location where you need to go and after getting to know your location, they would disconnect your call saying that they would be coming. However, they won’t come even after some time and ultimately you have no other option than cancelling the ride. Obviously you can report it to Uber or Ola but if you are going for some urgent work then those 30 minutes waiting period to reach the Customer Executive or Help Desk is a task; even if you succeed in reaching them, they will render an apology for the inconvenience and you have to get ready for another brutal experience.

These Ola drivers are not limited to cheating the clients, they cheat their company too. For example, the cab driver comes to your pick up point. As soon as you get inside the cab, he would ask you to cancel the ride and instead of that, he would ask you to give him the same amount as displayed by the Uber or Ola before booking. And now, if I am in a hurry, I would do the same because I have to reach my destination as soon as possible. This is one example but they have their various ways of cheating people. The irony is that Ola and Uber drivers are demanding guaranteed monthly income of Rs 1.5 lakhs. Engineering, medico or even highly qualified degree holders don’t get this guarantee. They are not reasonable in their demands. Apart from all these, if you look at these cabs, you will find the car interiors dirty as most drivers do not bother to clean it daily. The foul odour is another concern — they do not bother in keeping an air-freshener/fragrance to mask the foul smell. Most of the times, the car A/C does not work, either there is a fault with the A/C or the driver wants to save on fuel cost. Car insides are sometimes infested with mosquitoes as the drivers keep the windows open. Nowadays, many drivers do not use Google Maps navigation while driving; instead, they keep asking the passenger constantly for guiding them in the right direction, which is very much annoying.

The worst of all experiences is this one I had recently — nowadays, most of the drivers are not allowed to cancel customer’s requests more than once or twice, so they employ a nasty and possibly illegal tactics to cancel a customer’s request — what they do is that, as soon as they get your request, they drive for some distance till your pickup point and locate in their phone App that they have already picked you up and then drive away and disappear. Once you realise this and press Cancel, you are charged with Rs 50 cancellation charge, which you have to contact the Customer Support and contest with them to get back.

Moreover, the drivers on behalf of the partners run most of the Ola cabs. These cars are purchased on car loans for business purposes and the owners of the car hardly drive these cars. About 50 per cent of the cars operating in the city is at jeopardy of being seized by the banks and other financial institutions as most of the drivers are not being able to service their debts, which may result in loans defaults. Moreover, in the recently concluded strike by the cab drivers, their demands listed better remuneration and improved working conditions. The drivers alleged that their incomes have reduced drastically with the taxi-hailing firms continuing to acquire more cabs while restructuring the incentive schemes.

With no real regulation on the number of taxis on the roads, their numbers have swelled. When Uber and Ola started their services, they attracted drivers by offering them extraordinarily generous incentives and facilitating loans for cars. Attracted by the charm of owning their taxis and blinded by the incentives, many of the drivers did not question the sustainability of the tariffs they were made to offer nor did they question the longevity of the incentives. Over time, with enough taxis on their Apps, the companies have withdrawn most of the incentives. Some of the drivers will eventually have to stop plying their taxis, dashing their entrepreneurial dreams. Already, some have started defaulting on their loans, prompting some lenders to stop giving new loans to the drivers wanting to buy cars and join the app-based taxi revolution. With the companies they are making losses — then, they are funded by venture capital and expected to make losses. The companies have other problems as well. The companies see their drivers as contractors. The drivers want to be considered employees. This is true in India too; so much for the whole entrepreneurship thing. In the UK, a court has ruled that Uber should recognise its drivers as employees. There are cases on in other parts of the world as well. Recognising drivers as employees would dent the much-vaunted asset-light model of these companies.

However, as the markets matured, systems for holding these companies accountable have become stronger. The cab services are gaining ground, as are pressures on these services to invest in their own infrastructure and comply with local norms. As the costs of these changes addon, the balance sheets of aggregators like Uber and Ola could start looking more and more like those of traditional players, making them potentially undifferentiated and unattractive to the investors. Too big to fail: As mentioned, most aggregators run on very asset-light models. This means someone else owns the infrastructure, the people, the maintenance, the depreciation, the compliance, and the domain expertise. What happens if and when they choose to stop or withdraw from a market? The ecosystem that depends on their demand generation and subsidies could potentially collapse.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

Private Cab cancellation charges subtly loot commuters!

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Afternoon Voice

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December 7, 2018

Luring customers with the comfort of booking a cab from their home to availing it at their doorstep and giving out attractive offers, to begin with, the online cab aggregator companies such as Ola and Uber have captured the market easily. With repeated negations from the Taxi drivers and Auto Rikshawalas, the customers were looking for some alternatives, these app-based cab services offered just that. Increased demand established a monopoly of these services over the normal Taxis and Rikshaws. It was then that these apparently “No Refusal” cabs started exploiting their customers. New subtle tricks were developed to hole out money from the customer’s pocket.

In many cases and grievances put forward by the regular customers, it has been noticed that just before a cab is being booked, the company App shows a number of cabs in the customer’s proximity, luring him to book one. As the customer confirms the booking expecting his designated vehicle to arrive at his doorstep in little or no time, the app shows his booked vehicle coming from a considerable distance and the waiting time being way beyond his expectations. Thus, the customer is left with no other option but to cancel his booking – but, that is where the subtle, invisible drainage of money comes to play — upon cancelling his\her booking, a fine is to be imposed upon the customer, burning, even if negligible, a small hole in his pocket. The larger picture, however, is different. These small negotiable amounts range somewhat between Rs 20-40 per customer — once we take in consideration, the number of such cancellations throughout a day throughout the country, or say, even a metro city, is huge!

To cope up with the fast-paced lifestyle in metro cities, new innovative services are cropping up every day. New entrepreneurs with innovative ideas are jumping into the bandwagon to rake bucks. With the rat race picking up momentum every day, people are left with less and less time. Thus, online cab aggregators have deepened their roots into a society grabbling for time and utilised this massive time crunch to its optimum.

Let’s take into consideration the case of refusals. Many a time, mostly during the peak hours, customers are often refused by the drivers in terms that their booking is cancelled or is transferred to another car. If the transferring thing doesn’t sound like a big problem, think about an office goer who books a cab. It probably shows the waiting time to be around 5 minutes. Once transferred to the other vehicle, the waiting time may increase, even to the extent of 20-25 minutes at times. The most common instinct would be to cancel the booking and look for other available options; thus, again welcoming a cancellation fee. At times, the drivers call up the customers, insisting them to cancel the trip wasting the customers’ time and also their money. Citing this, Sayantan Sen Gupta, an accounting professional from Kolkata, says, “Apps charge a fee if you cancel. Why won’t they pay us compensation for our time when the drivers cancel?”

The plight doesn’t stop here. Even after accepting a booking, these apparently ‘safe’ cabs at times refuse to go up to the exact drop location, especially at midnight, when it is most needed – in the metro cities, many working women prefer to commute by these services due to the comfort and security offered. An IT professional from Bengaluru, Subhro Chatterjee, shares his experience: “The drivers refuse to go up till drop locations at night, especially after 12 am. They even ask the customers to book another cab because they don’t want to go.”

The lingering problem, however, is deeper. Many customers are unaware of these tactics exerted by these cab aggregators and others, who are aware, are either in denial or accept such exploitations citing convenience. Paroma Bhowmik, a professional from the film industry says, “According to me, private cab companies have reciprocated to public transportation in a more convenient way compared to the traditional transportation options. As far as the exploitation issues are concerned, it is seldom true. Besides, the other travelling options, namely the local cab and rickshaw services, too are not quite saints themselves. Several times, the fare metre of such services remain tampered and you might have to face the blatant refusal from the drivers themselves. So yes, even if the private cab companies hold such venal tactics, I will still give in to it for the comfort and convenience, as would many I believe.”

India is my Karam Bhoomi — Julia Bliss

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Web Team

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December 7, 2018

For us humans, socialising, attending various get-togethers, going for parties, festivals, celebrations, events, etc. play a very important role. It not only helps us connect to the right people but also help us bond with our dear ones and at the same time allow us to unwind and relax our heart, mind, and soul. I am sure you all will agree with me that this feeling of social fulfilment can only happen with superb music, uninhibited dancing, and yummy food.

Music and dance are said to be the soul of any kind of merrymaking. No celebration is complete without it, of course, live music is something most people love but today recorded music has become very popular. When I talk of recorded music it is not just about playing one track after another on a soft or blaring speaker but it is a complete art.

An art of mixing the right songs and music, along with the duration of each tune and most importantly feeling the pulse of the celebration and playing only that kind of music that makes people go back with a relaxed mind and a memorable smile on the faces. Mind you, it is no easy task to make hundreds and thousands of people have a great time at any gala event. But today let me make you meet one dazzling personality who literally has people eating out of hands at a party. She generates a blissful feeling at the topmost party events the world over — I am talking about one of the hottest Disk Jockey (DJ) of India, Julia Bliss.

Meeting Julia is an experience, not only because she is drop dead gorgeous but because she is funny, intelligent, full of life and laughter. The best part comes when this Russian beauty in her heavy accent speaks in Hindi mixed with Marathi, Punjabi and Gujarati words, and people around cannot stop the riot she creates of the DJ console too.

At a recent high voltage party where she had just shown her enigmatic art of DJing, I caught her at a silent spot and bombarded her with my questions which she calmly answered:

1] Tell us about your beautiful country, Russia and the love affair it has with music and dance?

I am proud to say that I come from the largest country in the world, which covers the one-eighth of the earth’s inhabited land area and which spans 11 time zones and is indeed a fascinating place. Russian culture is considered one of the richest and most influential around the world.

The world of dance can never ever neglect the famous Russian Ballet and the incredible Ballerinas who are cultural symbols of my country and who have ruled the world of dance for decades. We are also well known for our unbelievable classical music, having produced some of the world’s best pianists, violinists, and opera singers — not just that Russian literature is famous all over the world with writers like Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky. For all the party lovers our Russian Vodka is the best in the world. So, when all of it is mixed and brought on to one platform what you get is the best experience of life.

2] What dance and music forms have you learnt and how did it influence you?

I spent six years of my life learning ballet practising daily for 4 to 5 hours and more and then moved on to learn jazz, modern and Russian traditional dance professionally. Later, I also developed the love for street and hip-hop and trained in that too. In addition to that, I have taken training in piano and have studied ‘history of choreography’ that helped me to keep in balance theory and practice. Music was and is an important part of my life since the time I was born my parents kept listening to all kind of music genres and my house was my favourite place filled with happy tunes and positive vibes until now I live in my music world.

3] What brought you to India and tell me your love for this country?

Being an Artist was always and is my passion, but work-wise I had to try something else to realise the value of my passion. 2008 in Russia, I was working as a salesperson in the automobile industry. I do like cars but it is not what I dreamt of. Daily at the office, I would imagine a huge stage and thousands of people watching my show. I would be dancing, playing music and acting, I saw myself up there and this thought has never left me. This dream made me leave my job and I came to the land of dreams — Mumbai.

I made my Bollywood debut with Bharat Shah produced film ‘Ghost’ by Puja Bedi, the film scored ok at the box office but my song ‘Aaja Khatam Sabr Kar le’ which you choreographed Sandip, became a huge success and it got me many stage shows and performances. Later, I went on to appear in many films such as ‘Don 2’ by Farhan Akhtar, ‘Tezz’ by Priyadarshan, ‘Agent Vinod’ by Sriram Raghavan, ‘Rock in Love’ by Deepak Tijori, and even a south film ‘Maattrraan’.

At the same time, I started playing music and my stage performances got more and more into demand. I was able to follow my dreams and I felt I found myself in India; today India is my second home.

4] Why this transition from being a dancer to an actor to a DJ?

In today’s world, multitalented people get the most of recognition. I decided to use all my skills for building up my artist profile. I had to learn Hindi as I am good with languages, my dance performances were going on, my first movie got released, but in all these, I was somewhere missing my music. I wanted to become a DJ from the age of 15 and I had a great opportunity to make my dream come true. Today, I am called a top EDM DJ of India and it makes me feel complete. It took me 10 hard working years, in a stranger’s country, yes, it was and is very difficult to compete with local talents who know the vibe and culture and the language, but I believe nothing is impossible! Where there is a wish, there is a will!

5] What is the common connection that you feel between dance, films, and DJing?

Music is one form of art that unites us all, be it a Bollywood song or an EDM track at a festival. Music allows us to express ourselves, dancing on the film set or the festival grounds, music is complete and bang on answer!

6] Acting, dancing, and DJing — now what are your future plans?

My agency, Elements inc, has always been supporting me with dance events and shows and now that my artist profile is complete, I wish to balance my opportunities to perform in every way. DJ-wise, I will be performing at the biggest music festival in Asia – Sunburn 2018, main stage, on December 29 and many such mega events next year too. In the acting front, I am currently shooting with Mr Jainendra Baxi for his next film which will see me in a sensational role.

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 AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

J&K govt to conduct survey on needs of women, children during disaster

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Afternoon Voice

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December 7, 2018

Jammu Kashmir Women — Two women and a girl make their way along a street littered with rocks thrown by protestors in Srinagar as the city remains under curfew following weeks of violence in Kashmir August 19, 2016. REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton

The Jammu and Kashmir administration will conduct a survey to understand the needs of women and children during natural disasters in the state and help in creating a realistic emergency response plan, an official said Friday.

State Disaster Management Director Aamir Ali said that a capacity gap analysis will help it understand what is needed to focus on the needs and vulnerabilities of women and children during such accidents.

The risk profiling will also aid the administration build its capacity, particularly in social sectors to reduce, vulnerability of people during and after any natural disaster, he added.

Ali also said while most sections get affected during a disaster, those vulnerable feel a greater impact.

Various departments associated with disaster management will be given assistance to outline their strategy and plans to respond to identified humanitarian emergencies affecting children and women, he said.

The survey aims to identify the priority needs of children and women and help in crafting a realistic emergency response plan which fill the earlier gaps, proposed response and preparedness interventions, Ali said.

The plans will be prepared from the outcome of the surveys and followed up by the disaster management professionals, he said, adding the child-centred disaster risk reduction program will be added to the department’s regular disaster management programmes.

Airborne diseases hit most: Turning on to toxic city

By

C K Subramaniam

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December 7, 2018

Toxic Air, Delhi, Pollution, Air Quality, Air Pollution Deaths — India’s Rashtrapati Bhawan, or the Presidential Palace is partly visible due to smog as traffic plies on Rajapth, the ceremonial boulevard in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018. Toxic smog shrouds the Indian capital as air quality falls to hazardous levels with tens of thousands of people setting off massive firecrackers to celebrate the major Hindu festival of Diwali on Wednesday night. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

The level of dangerous pollutant particles in the air is touching a new high and it is very difficult to achieve a balance between rapid development and finding a way to keep its air safe and clean in a metro city like Mumbai. A balanced environment on earth is what makes the survival of species possible. Modern man has made great development in the fields of science and technology.

All the scientific advancement made by man has come at a cost of the degradation of our environment. The main cause for the degradation of the environment is pollution. Today, industries are part of a country’s economy. As a result, factories have been set up everywhere around the globe. The toxic substances released by these factories pollute the air and contaminate the water. The polluted air is responsible for a number of hazardous diseases in human and animals. Running of transport vehicles raises dust and cause noise as well. Chemical factories release harmful gas particles and fatal lead components, in small amounts may be. It is time to join hands to find out an amicable solution in disposing of toxic wastage in the best way possible.

The freshness of the air in your environment has a fundamental impact on the quality and length of your life. Air is more a necessity of life than either food or water. Imagine living in a city where a grey-brown, noxious haze or smog permeates. Imagine that its streets are filled with jam-packed traffic, a slow-moving assembly of vehicles which spew unhealthy exhaust fumes of carbon monoxide and other harmful chemicals.

The air is not pleasant to inhale and it gives you breathing trouble, makes you cough and wheeze. Your eyes water, your nose runs and you have headache. Many regular walkers would have experienced all this. Places like parks appoint sweepers to sweep around the time when morning walkers do their daily walking. Instead of getting fresh air inside the Park we get a share of dust swept out by the caretaker of the park. Similarly, when we travel in public places, the smokers spread smoke and part of the smoke is entering nostrils of the non-smokers as well. That is a pity indeed.
The suspended particulate concentration of the air has a significant impact on a person’s health. Bus drivers, two-wheeler riders, and auto rickshaw drivers are those who suffer most with chronic respiratory problems and diseases. Airborne lead from leaded petrol is a major air pollutant. In high concentrations, it is known to impair liver and kidney functions and is associated with the reduced mental development of infants and children. There are only three megacities in which suspended particulate matter concentration is, by and large within WHO-prescribed limits.

Air pollution deaths are increasing day by day and the high-level pollution is felt in Metro cities as the cities are cramped with high rise buildings and the increase in the number of vehicles on the road. To add to that number of Industries are located in outskirts throwing smoke, dirt, and chemical solution to the city on daily basis. People suffer from air pollution deaths from particulate matter and O zone. Rapid degradation is felt. People suffer from both Asthma and Bronchitis throughout the year and that makes the people suffer from breathing and sinus problem. The high-level pollution is the root cause for all the troubles and it is very difficult put forth this problem with a congenial atmosphere.

The lifeline of Mumbai, the local trains, where commuters cram themselves into the train every day and the other alternative transport services available are not used much to reduce the pollution level. There has been a 57 per cent rise in Ozone private vehicles in the past eight years and that is the major cause of the imbalance in pollution level in the Metro city. PUC check must be made stricter to reduce pollution in the main city. Quality of both Petrol and Diesel must be checked and more and more electrically operated vehicles should be put in use. A mix of dust, chemicals, pollen all add to the pollution and lead to various respiratory ailments in the city. The fuel burning by vehicles, power stations, and industries, construction activities, road dust, burning of garbage and use of wood and dung as cooking fuel all increase the pollution at its highest level. It is indeed a red alert.

Rajasthan Polls 2018: Why I won’t be surprised if Vasundhara Raje retains power!

By

Web Team

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December 7, 2018

Vasundhara Raje, Vasundhara, Rajasthan Polls, Assembly Elections, BJP, Congress, Rajasthan Elections With just a couple of days to go for the Rajasthan Assembly election 2018, things appear to be changing in Rajasthan’s politics. Only a couple of weeks before, the BJP was headed for a decisive defeat, but in the last leg, the contest appears to have become a close one with the BJP seemingly ahead in some areas.

Many political observers are also stunned to see these sudden winds of change. In fact, I’m surprised that even some Congressmen are now looking nervous. After this observation, I decided to do an analysis on the possible reasons behind the BJP gaining ground.

It’s an established fact that post-2014 the BJP has mostly outrun the opposition in the last leg after aggressive campaigns. This works in two steps. First, Narendra Modi’s aggressive rallies which normally bring additional 3-4 per cent votes. Then, the BJP and RSS cadres became hyperactive and start door to door campaigns. These cadres have very cordial relations with voters and are thoroughly able to convince them into voting for the BJP. This was seen in Gujarat and Karnataka Assembly elections.

Apart from that, there are many other reasons that are now emerging. Initially, although the people were angry with Vasundhara Raje, apparently there’s no anti-incumbency against the BJP or Narendra Modi. Even the people are saying that Vasundhara Raje has done a lot of developmental work. There’s hasn’t been a major scam or a riot. The only grievance from the public is that Raje is arrogant. However, with the party cadres reaching out to such people coupled with Narendra Modi’s popularity, the voters are expected to remain with the BJP.

Before the 2014 general election, the dominant caste groups such as Rajputs, Jats, Gujjars, and Meenas were rivals and voted for opposite parties. But Narendra Modi was able to bring all these rival castes under one umbrella of united Hindus. In 2013, the BJP’s vote share was 46.07 per cent whereas the Congress had a vote share of 33.6 per cent that is around 12 per cent difference. It will become difficult for the Congress to scale this difference particularly as Narendra Modi remains popular among all caste groups.

Also, Amit Shah has been working on non-dominating castes like Malis, Yadavs, Kumawats, Sindhis, Rebaris, Kalas, Dhakars, Dangi and others, giving them representation just like he did during the last UP Assembly election. Amit Shah knows that there could be some loss of votes due to SC/ST (PoA) Amendment Act from the united Hindu umbrella. This will compensate that loss.

The Congress’ problems started after the second list of contestants was declared. Widespread dissents started resulting in rebel candidates nominating themselves. It must be noted that even the BJP had rebel candidates. But the party’s followers generally don’t generally support rebel candidates. They either vote for the BJP or don’t vote at all. In case a BJP’s rebel candidate gets some votes it would mean that those are anti-incumbency votes which should have gone to the Congress. But whatever votes a Congress rebel gets would be a direct deduction from Congress’ vote share.

The Congress had adopted a very good strategy in Rajasthan that they will only attack Vasundhara Raje and not Narendra Modi because Modi enjoys enormous popularity. Many voters earlier openly said that they will vote for Modi in 2019 but not vote for Vasundhara Raje in 2018. But then, Congress leaders especially Rahul Gandhi and others started attacking Narendra Modi on caste, Hinduism and other issues. I think that’s a great mistake by Congress people because pro-Modi voters who wanted to vote for the Congress will definitely distance themselves now.

Then, it is an open secret that there’s factionalism inside Congress between Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot. I don’t know whether this will damage Congress’ prospects or not but history says factionalism has never served good for any party.

Considering all the above facts, although it seems very difficult, but I will not be surprised if Vasundhara Raje retains power. The Congress losing the plot in the last leg is nothing new. Only a party like Congress can lose Gujarat as JD(U) veteran leader Pavan Verma says citing the Congress’s unnecessary attack to Narendra Modi during Gujarat Assembly election. In the second phase of voting, in fact, the BJP got all the numbers to win Gujarat with a slender margin.

So, the bottom line is that winning Rajasthan is no more a cakewalk for the Congress and I would not be surprised if the BJP retains the power. However, I wish that Sachin Pilot becomes the CM of Rajasthan if the Congress manages to win.

By Biranchi Narayan Acharya

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 AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

Letters to the Editor: December 07, 2018

By

Afternoon Voice

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December 7, 2018

Triple talaq

Muslim society should look into these customs and take initiatives to modify them. As education increases, such malpractice shall evaporate. A lot of Muslims live in our area and they are quite progressive.

– Mahendra Singh

Complicated circular of Department of Revenue about TDS on GST

It refers to the circular-number 65-39-2018-DOR dated September 14,2018, by the Department of Revenue, Government of India which has created unnecessary complications for account-departments of central ministries and others concerned wherein it is directed that on any payment made towards bills with GST, there will be two rates of Tax-Deducted-At-Source TDS, one on basic payment without TDS generally at a rate of 10 per cent, and second at rate of 2-percent on amount of GST.

Such a dual rate of TDS on a single payment creates unnecessary confusion and complication for all concerned without any appreciable relief to the payee. Best is to have a single rate of TDS on total payment inclusive of GST for simplicity in accounting.

Income Tax provisions should be further simplified by abolishing separate number for those deducting tax at source. There should be only one Permanent Account Number PAN, which may also be the basis for deducting tax at source.

– Madhu Agrawal

Request to the Finance Minister

There is the news that the banks will start to recover charges for their chequebooks as well as the usage of the ATM (debit) cards from their customers, but this is a shocking news for the senior citizens. In India, there is hardly 5 to 10 per cent of the total population of senior citizens and the majority of them earn nothing. On one hand, there is the pro-people Jan Dhan Yojana and on the other hand, there is the aforesaid shocking news. Nearly 65% of the population is of the young generation. Under such circumstances, all the senior citizens above the age of 60 years should be completely exempted from all kinds of bank charges and taxes with immediate effect under the President’s ordinance. The Central Finance Minister is requested to do the needful in this matter on war-footing.

– Hansraj Bhat

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

PM Modi has been exposed, cannot mislead people by lying: Congress

By

Afternoon Voice

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December 7, 2018

Randeep Surjewala, Congress, Surjewala, PM Modi, Narendra Modi, Congress Hits Out At BJP, Ram Mandir, Feku Modi, Feku PM, Pappu, Rahul Pappu

The Congress on Friday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks that India could not prosper despite people with “big surnames” ruling the country, saying he could not mislead the people by “lying” as he had been “exposed”.

Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also listed a string of achievements over the last seven decades to highlight the progress made under Congress governments.

Addressing the ‘Jagran Forum’ organised by the Dainik Jagran media group, Modi had said, “People with big surnames came to power and went but no solution could be found to problems.” He was making an oblique reference to the Nehru-Gandhi family.

He also alleged that poverty was not alleviated as it could hit the “vote bank” of parties in the past.

Surjewala dismissed the prime minister’s remarks as “baseless” and listed several achievements of the country.

“When he had not been born, India had won a war against Pakistan,” the Congress leader said.

He cited steps such as the building of the Bhakra Nangal Dam, the abolition of the Zamidari system, abolition of untouchability, setting up of the Navratnas, the IT boom, liberalisation, to state that there had been a tremendous transformation in the country.

“When he was attending an RSS shakha, the country had changed the geography of the Asian sub-continent. When he was running an arrogant rule in Gujarat, the UPA government had lifted 14 crore people above the poverty line,” he said.

Surjewala said the Congress had not done all this, but it was the result of the hard work of 132 crore Indians in over 70 years.

“You dishonour the journey of 70 years that India has undertaken. You cannot mislead the people by lying as you have been exposed,” Surjewala claimed.

He also claimed that when the results of the assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana come out on December 11, the Congress was confident that it would mark a “new dawn for the country” and the beginning of a “new kind of politics”.

He claimed that the Congress’ campaign throughout the state polls remained positive, while the BJP’s campaign was one of “abuses and negativity”.

Surjewala claimed they had been indulging in divisive politics of caste and religion, but the extreme was reached when in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan polls they did not even spare the Gods.

“Someone says Hanuman Ji is from the Dalit community, someone says he is an Adivasi, someone says he is from Arya Samaj. From Lord Ram to Hanuman, casteist and varna based divisions were made to divert the country’s attention,” he alleged.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi took part in 82 public meetings and a dozen road shows. He held press conferences in almost all the poll-bound states, Surjewala said.

The Congress spokesperson alleged that the prime minister and his leaders used abusive language. “I will have to say that the PM’s behaviour was shameful and condemnable,” he said. The political discourse of the country was lowered by the BJP, he alleged.

Citizens can withdraw their Aadhaar number

By

Shreejit Guha

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December 6, 2018

The government is in the last stages of finalising a proposal to amend the Aadhaar Act to give all the citizens an option to withdraw their Aadhaar number, including biometrics and the data. This follows the Supreme Court judgment in September that upheld the validity of Aadhaar, however, with certain riders.

Over 37.50 crore PANs have been issued till March 12, 2018. Of these, the number of PANs issued to individuals stood at more than 36.54 crores, of which about 16.84 crore PANs have been linked with Aadhaar. In line with the court order, the proposal seeks to appoint an adjudicating officer to decide whether a person’s Aadhaar-related data need to be disclosed in the interest of national security.

Congress corporator and Opposition leader in the BMC Ravi Raja stated, “The decision to give the citizens the option to withdraw their Aadhaar number is based on the decision given by the Supreme Court. However, I think that securing the data privacy is the duty of the government and the Supreme Court’s decision must be followed.”

The court had struck down Section 33(2), which allowed the disclosure of Aadhaar information for national security reasons on the orders of an officer not below Joint Secretary. It had said an officer above Joint Secretary should consult a judicial officer and together take a call. Meanwhile, the government is finalising a proposal to amend the Act, following the Supreme Court’s order of upholding it but with conditions.

BJP leader and spokesperson Suresh Nakhua said, “It is in accordance with the order by the honourable Supreme Court and also a bill for Data Security is coming very soon. Citizens who have their PAN Card linked with the Aadhaar Card, their data are secured and with the Data Security Bill coming in, the security will strengthen.”

A Constitution Bench had struck down Section 57 of the Act that allows private entities to use the unique number for verification. The Bench also declared that seeking to link it with bank accounts and SIM cards was unconstitutional. Besides, a part of the Aadhaar Act that allows the storage of Authentication records for up to five years was also observed unconstitutional and the court allowed the records to be stored for a period of six months.

“The initial proposal was prepared by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). It submitted that once a child turns 18, he/she will be given six months to decide if he/she wants to withdraw,” a senior official said.

This proposal was sent to the Law Ministry to be vetted. “The Ministry further recommended that the option to withdraw be made available to all citizens, and not be limited to a particular group,” the official added.

However, the proposal, which will now be sent to the Cabinet, is likely to benefit only those who do not have a PAN card or do not require one and the PAN cardholders still need to link their PAN with Aadhaar as mandated by the Supreme Court in September.

Professor (Economics) by profession Shantanu Basu shared his thoughts with AV. He said, “Security of data has always been a problem. If decoded, the code in the Aadhaar Card will give out a plethora of information about the person; so people whose PAN details would remain connected to Aadhaar henceforth, remains vulnerable to the fact that the information might be leaked. They stand the risk of being cheated otherwise.”

He further added, “If the government is planning to bring the Data Security Bill, unless and until we know the content of the same, there is no reason to believe that my data will be secured just because they have used the words ‘Data Security’!”

Indian govt must accept the importance of public security

By

Vaidehi Taman

-

December 6, 2018

After too much of debate and data compromise, the government is now to amend the Aadhaar Act, following the Supreme Court order upholding it but with conditions. The Union government is in the last stages of finalising a proposal to amend the Aadhaar Act to give all citizens an option to withdraw their Aadhaar number, including biometrics and data. This follows the Supreme Court judgment in September that upheld the validity of Aadhaar, however, with certain riders. A Constitution Bench had struck down Section 57 of the Act that allows private entities to use the unique number for verification. The Bench also declared that seeking to link it with bank accounts and SIM cards was unconstitutional. The way the Modi government has tried to push the use of the Aadhaar number, or UID, into all facets of life, shows a harassment that is discomforting– Aadhaar was giving more trouble than expected.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has now taken a decision on the validity of Aadhaar and whether the State can compulsorily link Aadhaar to various programs and all financial transactions. Aadhaar project has created a vulnerability to identity fraud, even identity theft. Easy harvesting of biometrics traits and publicly available Aadhaar numbers increased the risk of impersonation, especially online and banking fraud. A centralised database was compromised. The progressed countries have already denied such cards. US Social Security Number (SSN) card has NO BIOMETRIC DETAILS, no photograph, no physical description, and no birth date. All it does is confirm that a particular number has been issued to a particular name. Instead, a driving license or state ID card is used as identification for adults. The US government DOES NOT collect the biometric details of its own citizens for the purpose of issuing Social Security Number. The US collects the fingerprints of only those citizens who are involved in any criminal activity (it has nothing to do with SSN), and the citizens of other countries who come to the US. Indian government needs to understand the importance of public security.

In the recent past, the Maharashtra government’s attempt of online registration for loan waiver implementation has sent the authorities into a tizzy as names over 100 farmers have been found linked to a single Aadhaar number. The state government had earlier stressed on online registration by the farmers with their Aadhaar, which is a unique identification. Chief Minister Fadnavis had to call an urgent meeting with the bankers to address issues like this that crop up in the way of speedy implementation of the scheme. The officials of some banks also admitted that the data they received from the online registration portal, Aaple Sarkar, varies the data as per their records. The names of some farmers are missing and some do not match with the land size or type of loan. In many cases, the principal amount and the interest are not matching. It leads to suspicion!
Actually, the Aadhaar is a good concept but UIDAI should visualise/anticipate the dangers from the hackers by seeking an opinion from the experts and to make the system full proof to avoid data theft. At the same time, with regard to the right to privacy, the Supreme Court should come up with some checks and balances to address the concerns of people i.e. if their Aadhaar is de-activated, their identity will be lost! In such cases, before doing this, the SC should instruct the government/UIDAI to issue show cause before de-activating Aadhaar and further the government should give assurance to the SC that the Right to Privacy and identity will be protected at all costs of law-abiding citizens while taking step against the people indulging in tax evasion, money laundering, holding Benami property, indulging in anti-national activities, etc.

Moreover, the government can also create a separate agency comprising IT experts and anti-hackers in consultation with UIDAI to deal with the various challenges being faced especially by creating firewalls to minimise the possibility of hacking of data and making Aadhaar linked accounts more secure so that the scammers are unable to dupe people. In India, Aadhaar is still evolving and UIDAI will come up with more ideas to make the system more secure. There are good and bad sides of having Aadhaar Card; we thought corruption can be eradicated, there would be a check on black money, people can be kept in surveillance—but no such thing happened! Corruption had doubled, black money has multiplied, and rich are becoming richer and the poor are still the sufferers. What I mean to say is that Aadhaar card has not brought any remarkable change but it was one good initiative taken by Congress and implemented by BJP.

If you look at the global powerful countries, UK scrapped it seven years ago. Australia could never implement the “Australia Card”. The USA is yet to implement the Real ID Act of 2005. We are borrowing their technology. Only Pakistan and India were implementing it until recently. Bangladesh and Nepal may join too. There are many more serious reasons to scrap this unwise project. Good that the SC had stepped in and finally we can withdraw our details from Aadhaar. The reason given by the government on why it is necessary to insist on the Aadhaar number in addition to the PAN Card was the alleged vast duplication of PAN Cards which made it easy for people to avoid paying tax. But going by the government’s own figures, the number of fake cards is just 0.4 per cent of the total number. While this may not be insubstantial, given that, a few crore PAN Cards have been issued, it does compare to the discrepancies within the UID itself.

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