“It is
the greatest truth of our age: Information is not knowledge.”… Caleb Carr
A
son of Lucien Carr, a former UPI editor and a key Beat generation figure, he
was born in Manhattan and lived for much of his life on the Lower East Side. He
attended New York Friends Seminary, Kenyon College and New York University,
earning a B.A. in military and diplomatic history. He writes frequently on
military and political affairs. While our country is celebrating Digital Week
these lines by Carr rings in my mind as on one side yes its sign of
changes surely for country like ours that we are getting aware of the digital
power yet somewhere have we understood the power really is the question I ask
to myself! Remember any power if not handled properly can back fire; as they
say in hind “Do Dhari Talwar” i.e. two edged sword, it may cut the person
handling it! Especially when the power is in hidden form is digital!
Here I will share few lines from our Hon Prime Minister’s
recent interview which I came across on a blog…
“Articulating global worries over cyber security, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi today said India should come up with solutions to meet the
challenge posed by this threat of “bloodless war” as he launched a digital
campaign to which top companies pledged Rs 4.5 lakh crore.
Inaugurating ‘Digital India Week’ here, he pitched for a digital
revolution in the country, saying it is necessary to deal with problems like
corruption, help provide transparent and efficient governance and bridge the
rich-poor divide.
“We have to move from E-governance to M-governance. M-governance
does not mean Modi governance. It means Mobile governance,” he said in the
presence of several ministerial colleagues and who’s who of Indian industry and
CEOs of some global companies.
The Prime Minister noted that India has huge capabilities in the
field of IT and promised to encourage manufacturing within the country of
electronic goods, which account for second largest imports after petroleum
products. He specifically mentioned start ups in this regard.
While highlighting the advantages of the IT, Modi said, at the
same time, “clouds of a bloodless war are hovering over the world. The world is
terrified by this….India has a big role to play in this.
“Can India play this big role? India has talent. Can India
provide a shield to the world by providing innovative and credible solutions?
Why should we not have such a confidence? We should accept this challenge to
ensure that the entire humanity lives in peace,” Modi said.
While talking about dangers posed to cyber security, he said,
“somebody, with education of 10th or 12th class, sitting thousands of miles
away, can clean up your bank account with a click of mouse.” This situation
needs to be addressed, he said.
Well
very futuristic approach indeed, here I remember my first visit to Dubai some
twenty years back when mobile phone were unheard & remote control
operations was only in Bond movies for us, even though we used to live in
advanced city like Pune. There I was just zapped by seeing people opening their
car doors by remote control or talking to their home from car though it was
just a cordless phone & thought I was living a Bond movie dream! But in
less than eight years I was not only opening my own car by remote I was using
my own cell phone though per minute call charges were whooping Rs 32! And soon
in next ten year now even my site watch man has a cell phone & my tile
contractor sends me snaps of tile pattern in toilet at site on whats-app &
asks me for approving it from his cell! Does this mean India has already become
digital? Well from this aspect let’s see what real estate is doing on digital
front?
Apart
from the example of my own site mason using M technology the picture isn’t much
good. As every Govt organization may it is Town Planning or NA permission or IGR
i.e. registration office or local governing bodies like PMC, they all do speak
about paperless permissions but is it so in reality? Ask any developer or even
the common man his experience with real estate related Govt processes & scene
isn’t changed a bit; expect the terminologies like e-registration or online
sanction are used a lot in conversation but rest all is same. Take example of
E-Registration of documents like flat purchase agreement, agreed now in Pune
city you can get it registrar anywhere unlike area wise registration office yet
the both the parties has to visit that registrar office which usually has no
decent basic infrastructure like sitting arrangement! Then again it’s just city
which is on central server, yet even if both the parties are from city &
the land is out of city limit they have to go that particular registration
office for e.g. land is in mulshi then one has to go to paud office! Also the
payment terms changes as per individual office policy & no single web site provides
all the information regarding different clauses or stamp duty charges! And if
some information is on web site then the officer on ground don’t follow it or
tells that it’s not updated! Yet today people have to wait for hours at
registration office & there are arguments over ready reckoner rates &
such issues! Why there can’t be all the data stored properly on IGR web
site & it’s updated regularly instead requiring human interference every
now & then?
The
Revenue Department & Town Planning aren’t lagging far behind here! All the documents
related land ownership & its measurements is still the biggest problem the
real estate has to face. The land records are never in update condition &
each piece of land becomes a separate subject of study. Two very basic
ownership documents i.e. 7/12 extract & demarcation never matches & the
land owner has to run between city survey office & collector office i.e.
talathi office to match the record. Then no single server provides information
of all land records under one collectorate leave apart entire State! So unless
someone responds to public notice, no one knows who are the people who want to
object the deal? Why we still believe in news paper notices about land deals? Why can’t State
Govt comes up with one web site on which every public notice related to each
land deal will be published & the person who wants to object it should also
respond on that same web site, instead the age old argument of the
advocate that, “My lord, my client hasn’t come across that particular public
notice in some news paper!” This single step will avoid so much of confusion in
all land deals & now when every second person is having 3G or access to
internet then this will be best solution as well time & cost saving!
Also we will have all the data of every deal, its public notices &
objections taken & even the replies given to those objections! So no one
can say I have sent my objection or reply by registrar post & things like
that! Also every NA permission given by the authorities must be uploaded on one
single portal so all concerned will know the status of any land development!
This will surely help in making people aware about illegal developments &
keep away from the same!
Then follows
the governance of the local bodies like PMC/PCMC & now the famous or
infamous PMRDA! We do have the city’s DP i.e. development plan well whatever is
in alive position as which DP is alive & which isn’t even gods can’t tell.
But whenever it will then put it on web & don’t ask any architect or
developer to come to local body for very basic things like zoning & don’t
demand it too! But situation is even if the DP is one web site then it doesn’t
matches with actual site conditions & again everything comes to square one
that’s dependency on human interface! Then the development control rules
needs to be crystal clear & on web for most cases if not every. Whatever
governing staff is there has to be used for monitoring the development &
not for sanctioning or authorizing the same but what’s happening today is most
of the staff is busy in giving sanctions & things like plinth checking or
completion or plan passing because each case is different such pathetic is our
digitalization process! When you expect the outcome as online sanction then all
the rules & regulations along with supporting things like a plan matching
to site condition has to be in place. Even after this there will be some discrepancy
but then it will be exceptional case not every case will follow the manual
track the way it’s happening today!
The
result is delay in getting every single permission related to real estate. And
then we don’t know how to plan the growth as there is no data! Can someone tell
how many flats have been sanctioned in one calendar year & of what size
& how many in the same year got completed & become ready for
occupation? This data will help us for many fronts right from property tax too
water demand of the city or even to know the future electric load demand, so
many such things which presently we have to just depend on guess work is a
fact. A simple
example is if the completion certificate is directly related to taxation
department then all the developer has to do is submit a form at the time of
applying completion certificate with names & other details of the flat holders
he has sold the same flats to & then tax department can directly take this
data from server & start generating bills from the day completion
certificate is issued. But what happens today is even to get the name of the
flat holders on the property tax the developer if he is responsible to chase
the tax guys or poor flat holders have to face that battle after getting
possession! And in all this process what about the loss of the tax during the
period lapsed, well who cares!
Even
the department like MSEDCL formerly MSEB competes all above Govt departments
for just propagating on e-governance as there is no basic load sanction
process clearly defined anywhere & if it is then no one is following the
same is a fact! Firstly they don’t have any information about city growth so I
really wonder how they plan their infrastructure development & result is
they don’t plan! As any new project comes up after sanction from local body
that plan goes to local MSEDCL office which don’t have any framed sanction process
so whatever advantages or disadvantages of human interface are there all comes
in picture! Even if the link their server with PMC or PCMC’s server & these
bodies update their record of residential as well commercial development then a
life will be lot easier for MSEDCL as well developers! Right from how many
electric meters are going to be needed too how much load demand is going to
come, all these things they will know in advance & brace themselves
accordingly! A
basic thing like change of name on electric meters after resale of the flat is
such a headache due to human interface, ask any flat holder who has gone
through that grind! But then whose job is it to make these simple processes via
M governance, is the million dollars oops rupees question!
Then
the real estate itself lacks or lacks deliberately is proper term, the transparency
of digital genre! Ask how many builders put all the legal or permissions
related information about their projects on their respective web sites? Providing
just beautiful images of projects & amenities don’t end your responsibility
towards clients! I always feel transparency
is action & not mere words! Let’s remember like we expect service & transparency
from Govt agencies same way we too are service providers to our clients! Here it’s
high time for real estate buyers to get aware about their rights & demand proper
service as well information from the developer as it’s easy to blame some
department or profession but what we do for our own rights is equally
important! Unless the builders themselves don’t start giving every single
information about sanctions of the projects to their customers online, they
don’t have any moral right to blame any Govt body for lagging on M or E-Governance,
whatever you call it!
Hon PM
we can make entire country Wi Fi with network of optical fiber cables & we
can give every citizen a 4G cell phone with the service at cheapest rate so
everyone can afford it but what about the people’s attitude who are supposed to
store all this data & maintain it to make use of the same for making common
man’s life easier & all your efforts? As you might be thinking M Governance is Mobile Governance
but for most of the bureaucracy or even people in real estate in our country M Governance
means Man Governance & which M follows Man Governance even a school going
kid can tell! Irony is, name of the Father of our beloved Country also starts
with M & is on every currency we have today; so that’s the truth you have
to understand & then take the steps to your vision!
As being
digital doesn’t mean just having 4 G service on my cell phone but being digital
means a human interface free life for my daily needs, may it be getting
sanction of a project or transfer of my flats electric meter on my name! Till
then 4G will be only for sharing jokes on whatsapp & make fun, that’s all! You
are concerned about E crimes like theft from bank accounts but I am more
concerned about waste of our energy in the process as any service like mobile
service is a power & if not used properly any power is a curse making the
society at large pay for it & for that every single citizen of this country
should understand the power of M Governance there only lays the future of
Digital India!
--
Sanjay
Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Sanjeevani Dev.
http://visonoflife.blogspot.
http://jivnachadrushtikon.
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