Ease of doing business

Please refer to my earlier post in this blog: http://obvioustruths.blogspot.in/2016/10/filing-complaint-with-police.html

I spent four hours and made two visits to a BSNL office and one visit to a police station; these were spread over two different days. This was all for getting a lost cell phone SIM replaced. Earlier, I had made a call to the BSNL call center to get the lost SIM barred. After my visit to the BSNL office, I 

• ·       filled in one form,
• ·       submitted a copy of my driver’s license,
• ·       registered with a police website as a user,
• ·       filled in a lost item complaint and
• ·       printed out a digitally signed copy of my complaint.

At the end, BSNL told me to pay Rs 20 for a new SIM and gave it to me. Obviously, some checking was necessary to make sure that I was not getting a new SIM for someone else’s phone number, but can the process be simplified? Banking and other financial services have made tremendous strides in making things easier for users. Can’t other sectors of the economy learn from them. I guess that it is not the job of a public-sector telecom company to worry about the customer’s time. Private sector telecom companies handle similar transactions a lot better – for instance one of them has equipped its outlets with photocopy machines to avoid telling the customer to run around for a getting a photocopy of his/her driving license.

So, we come to the question of whose business it is to worry about the citizen’s time and efficiency in getting things done. Who should worry about Rs 2000 worth of time being spent to get a Rs 20 worth of SIM?

India does not create even a million jobs a year,

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/job-creation-is-unfinished-business/article9246290.ece

,while the population goes up by 15 million per year or more. http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/india-population/ 

Why? Part of the reason may be that the average Indian’s efficiency at work seems to be nobody’s business.

Ranking of economies - Doing Business - World Bank Group

Gives India the rank of 130 out of 189 countries in ease of doing business. The factors considered in calculating this rank is the ease of: Starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, paying taxes, Trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency.

The website goes further to rank seventeen cities of India on the ease of doing business as follows:

Hyderabad                       2

Ahmedabad                     5

New Delhi                       6

Mumbai                         10

Bengaluru                      13

Chennai                         15

Kolkata                          17

What can we do about this mess? I believe a lot can be done. If you are completing your education and live in a badly managed city/state, plan to move out! It is difficult to build a first-rate career in a third-rate environment.

If you are going to stay, use your vote in the next election to elect politicians likely to improve the working environment in your city/state. 
P. S. The queue in the photograph above has nothing to do with telecom or cell phones. It does, however, illustrate the fact that Indians are usually made to waste time in getting things done.