SBI Computerization Fiasco

There is no better example to public sector mismanagement than the story of State Bank of India' s (SBI) computerization. SBI staff have already held strikes against this 'Core Banking' solution. At that point many have criticized them over being not adaptive to technology or worried about serving customers better. But more interactions with the software and staff at the bank makes me think the decision to use this software (Bancslink) for SBI's computerization was either foolish or, more likely, driven by palm-greasing middlemen.
While Indian companies have world-class banking software like Finnacle or Flexcube, our biggest bank has decided to go with a software, the search of whose name hardly elicits a page of results in Google! Added to that the implementation has been tardy, and staff training inadequate. Probably someone is eating taxpayer money by giving SBI customers and staff a raw deal.
If this is how India' s largest bank treats its customers, and taxpayers, then where are we heading? Can the bank's management explain its decision to use this software and its implementation strategy publicly? I think there should be some such mechanism to hold public sector babus and corrupt politicians accountable.
However, the bank's current ills are not completely due to the software alone. Even if it had been some better software product, the staff would have been extremely unresponsive to adapting it. Now, bank unions (some of the strongest in the country) can give you any number of reasons for this.
But we should not forget that such computerization is nothing new. Many other countries have tread this path before India. If they, notably Europe and the USA, could do this why cannot we?
The answer lies in the pampered position our public sector employees have enjoyed for decades.
The will to learn and adapt was there in Europe and elsewhere as the employees knew if they did not master this monster called computer, they would be rendered jobless. That fear, sadly, is missing among Indian public sector employees. The result: a lot of taxpayer money is being wasted on people who care two hoots about the general public or customers.
In a country where there are millions of able and competent youngsters who can do the job better, cheaper, and more importantly, bring in a better work ethic to government offices, banks, and other such places, this attitude is criminal.
Isn't SBI and its staff answerable to the people?

Junk Parliamentary Democracy For A New India

Another Republic Day. Remembering the day we threw off the foreign yoke decisively. Like every other Indian I too feel patriotic feelings rushing through my veins. But there is a tinge of sadness that mixes with this patriotism. How can I not feel sad when I see the slimy politicians taking salutes from ordinary men and women who are defending our borders for a living, with hardly a thanks or enough pecuniary benefits? The injustice of it angers me: the demagogue who is out to make a profit by selling off the country's wealth and security is taking, yes taking, salute from the real guardians of the country.

Today's Times of India Online has a report on a Goldman Sachs study that India will overtake the United States as an economic powerhouse by 2050, to become the second largest economy after China. Media survives by playing up such stories. When there is a boom you can sell such stories. But beyond the feel-good factor, we ignore the one class of people who can derail this dream - the politicians. Everyone else, except the politicians, and Islamic and Christian fundamentalists, have a stake in seeing India become a global economic powerhouse. Now, equating our politicians with terrorists may seem taking it too far, but the truth is the politician is more insidious than the terrorist.

If India did not have a licence-raj, a quota system, a separate set of privileges for the minorities, and umpteen other injustices, imagine where this country would have been today. Yes, the system is changing but the politician is not. They are trying to work the new evolving system to their advantage. And it is in their interest to build into the new India the same flaws that characterize the current Indian society and polity. Will the India of the 2050 be different from today's India, other than for its economic power? Nay, will India ever reach that 2050 milestone if these wily politicians and their crony bureaucrats are allowed to engineer the genes of the new India with the very flaws that have held us back for around 60 years?

Yes, it is time to think of a new India - a new India with a new political system. Junk parliamentary democracy. Junk the Westministerial system. They have been foisted on us by the West to prevent us from growing and achieving greatness. And the West has its handymen here in our midst in the form of our politicians. We need a better tomorrow - for India, for Me and for You. Let us think out of the box; let us get these parasites out of our midst.

The Way To A Great India

A Great India - That which seemed an impossibility even 10 years ago is finally beginning to take shape. The silhouette is just about visible through the fog of the future. Sadly, our politicians and our media, with their divisive and self-serving agenda are trying to mold the new India in the image of the old. This blog will be my humble attempt to look at events, persons, institutions, etc., in a new perspective - to highlight their faults and to laud their virtues. I believe such a slap-on-the face discourse is highly needed if this country is to regain its glory, and not become just an extension of its current self - a sick and poverty ridden society full of social, political, and moral ills.

Our politicians and our media, it seems, are quite happy in letting this historic opportunity to pass by for their own selfish concerns. In the days to come you will see my on reading of events and persons relating to India - anything and everything will be held under a high powered microscope and mercilessly analyzed. Yes, you can expect a refreshing view of India, and a guide lamp to the glorious future, here. Read and let the world know about us.