Adhaar card woes

I have had my Adhaar card for a few years now; much before the government started incentivising it. However, then the card did not have a phone number information with it. Now, when I want to use it, it seems the new portal needs phone authentication. I guess whoever implemented that feature never thought of backward compatibility. Now, even though I have an adhaar card, I can't use it.

I guess I am part of collateral damage in government's march for progress. I talked to adhaar customer care and they told me to go to the Adhaar office at Banjara hills, Hyderabad and meet the manager of the institution, who should be able to update my phone number. When I went there, the manager was a difficult person to find as the place was jam-packed. He told me that he can't do it in the afternoon and asked me to come during the morning some other day.

All this while I wasn't aware that there is an adhaar office at Madhapur. The customer care associate (read moron) had asked me for my PIN code and she could not find which office is nearer to me. So, this time I went to the nearer office. The manager of the first office had told me that the office will be open on weekends too. However, when I went to the second office, it was closed on weekends.

I guess this is the bottom line of "digital India". You still need to make multiple trips to government agencies to get the simplest of things done.

Declining BSNL

BSNL is India's public sector telecom company. A few years ago, it was doing good business because the mobile network of BSNL was the most widespread. Also, its internet services were decent and consistent than local competitors. However, of late BSNL services have degraded. Earlier BSNL did not have online payment system. It was fine with most of its customers although online payment would have been easier. Recently they introduced online payment and their online bill check system fails as shown below.

There was no necessity to hurry for an online payment site and make a mess as above.

Another issue with BSNL is misinformation/outdated information.

Here, they enumerate toll-free phone numbers for users of all mobile carriers to report problems. However, in reality, you need to dial in from a BSNL mobile only.

BSNL would just need to maintain its service to stay in the market. However, I guess that is too difficult, especially when employees don't want to come to office in time and want to leave before time. The thinking of such employees is very short-sighted and clearly shows how disinterested the management is. It is as if they are steering themselves into doom.

Sad state of medical profession

Today when a friend told me about an ad at olx.in about medical seats being sold (for those unaware of the concept, it means paying and getting into medical colleges irrespective of one's qualifications and intellectual merit), I was appalled. I knew that such things do happen. However, these deals were always secretly done. Openly selling seats in colleges is equivalent to committing theft in broad daylight and proudly announcing that it is the thief's right to do so. I believe it is blasphemy against humanity. It is a pity that people consider religious blasphemy very seriously but blasphemy against humanity is so simply ignored.

There is a propagation of crime going on here. These colleges bribe their way out of accreditation process or make a temporary show of fulfilling the requirements of the accreditation. Very rarely some are caught. Obviously the quality of education in such institutes is not up to the mark. The grave question then is whether we can trust diagnoses done by doctors passing our from such institutes that offer seats for sale. This actually is a more serious concern than global warming because incorrect diagnoses will cause undeserved deaths; but sadly no politician talks of it in his/her agenda.