A Big Step Forward for the Computer Society of India (CSI)

 

Photo Credit: DTR - Own work, Public Domain, Through Wikimedia Commons

Thanks to a decision of the Honorable High Court of Bombay, a major verification of the membership list of CSI is underway. CSI’s membership is being updated by verifying email addresses and phone numbers by sending one-time passwords. If you do not have the right communication details, you can request CSI HQ to update them by sending them an email.

This has put a tremendous load on the CSI HQ, but progress doesn’t come easy.

The mammoth task has had its glitches, but improvements made in the last few days has resulted in a lot of us getting verification completed in one try.

I request all CSI members to try to get the verification completed by the deadline, which is 20-Jun-2023. The next step is to vote without fail after the ballot reaches us. This is a rare opportunity to save this national institution and a great professional network.

We must have a higher percentage of members voting this year as compared to the historical record. It is the low voting percentage that caused problems to CSI in the past.

Srinivasan Ramani

Problems with Voice Response Systems

I had to call the call center of a credit card company today. They wanted me to enter a 16 digit credit card number. OK. The press 1 for this and press 1 for that. Then enter 1 to submit the otp that has been sent to your registed phone number! I got lost! 

What is all this palaver for? Can't their system recognize my phone number using Caller ID? 

Let my nation awake and hire IT people who know what they are doing!

Srinivasan Ramani 

 

Problems with Automated Transactions

Darkness Under the Lamp

Photo Credit: Siddharth Varanasi - Flickr: DSC_0455
CC BY 2.0, File:Diya, an oil lamp.jpg, Created: 26 October 2011

There is darkness under the lamp! The Computer Society of India is going through the process of verifying its list of members and the process has been proving to be difficult. I am not an outsider. I am a life member of CSI and am proud to be one. That does not mean that I should not discuss technical problems.

The trouble begins with your ID number. It reads something like 100045XX. When you type it into the verification system, it is likely to say something like “enter a valid number”. After trying three or four times you go around asking people and find that the ID is actually something like I00045XX, beginning with I not 1.

Then you have to verify your email address and mobile number. This seems to be about as challenging as climbing Makalu! After many complaints, the professionals concerned increased the time limit for the OTP to expire. That has not completely solved the problem. Members are continuing to warn each other that we have only days to go before we complete the process; otherwise, no vote for you!

I think it is poetic justice for computer professionals to face this type of problem. Every day, millions of users of automated systems suffer because of bad design and implementation.  

Another example of this: today I looked up to see what I had to pay for a credit card. There had been no email or message on this from the company concerned for two months. I then used the app on the cell phone. It showed me the current statement, but not the last statement, which should give me the amount due. Once upon a time when they used to send a printed bill every month, it made some sense to save money by not sending it when the amount due was Nil. It makes no sense now to deny me an email saying I owe nothing this month.

Of course, I could see from the app the amount due by going to the payment page, but that page has no date and hence has no evidentiary value. If I make a small mistake and fail to pay a month’s dues on time, I could be charged a hefty interest and penalty, but if they run a lousy system, there is no one to pull them up.

I don’t see how India is going to become a superpower when its plumbing leaks, its electricity is stolen, and its automated systems waste your time. 

Srinivasan Ramani

Productivity and the Effective Use of the Internet

 

Recently, I wanted a credit card company to stop sending me hard copies of my monthly statement, and instead send me email statements. I located an email address for their customer care and sent my request. There was an automatic acknowledgment followed later by an email saying I could request the change through digital channels and giving me a link and a call center number. I clicked on the link which gave miscellaneous information but did not say how to stop the paper statements. So, I called the call center and went through an elaborate process at the end of which the operator said that my request has been noted and they would act on it soon. Then the operator asked me to speak to his supervisor to give my feedback rating his performance. The supervisor had a chat with me and said that an email request would soon come to me on which I could give my feedback. I must have spent over an hour on this wild-goose-chase. 

The whole thing reminded me of a newspaper report a decade ago which said that a certain airline had 18 employees standing by at various places on the side all along the route, as a passenger walked his way from the security check to his seat. This airline, after bleeding the country of several billion dollars year after year, was finally sold for peanuts.

When are we going to realize that this country’s productivity is the most important index to watch and to improve? Otherwise, we may become a five-billion-dollar economy rather than a five-trillion-dollar economy!

Srinivasan Ramani

MINOO MEHERWANJI DOSABHAI (MM DOSABHAI), 1930-2023

Photo: Courtesy of Minooji's Family

Minoo Dosabhai headed the Software Promotion Centre (SPC) and Hardware Division during the formative years of NCST. He also worked as the chief engineer, managing all engineering responsibilities of NCST including campus development and maintenance. Because of his work, we had a very well-designed campus in Juhu when we started out there in 1986.

Consultants who had supported users of NCST computers were from the Software Promotion Centre. They helped thousands of students and hundreds of advanced course participants do their work on computers.

I gratefully remember the work done by Minooji’s Division in setting up and maintaining the computer systems and software used by the ERNET. NCST’s Networks Division played a key role in this nation-wide project. ERNET, with the support of SPC, had set up an email link between NCST and IIT Bombay, in 1986. The project connected India to the Internet in 1988; this was a full seven years before VSNL entered the field in 1995. The cooperation between staff of the ERNET project and the SPC is one of my happiest memories of that era!

Minooji had helped me learn using the CDC-3600 in 1964-5 at TIFR. I was then working at TIFR as an intern, doing my M Tech project. The Institute was expecting a big computer at that time, the CD-3600. Dr PVS Rao and Minooji were creating the massive infrastructure required by the machine. I was happy to lend a helping hand occasionally.

Minooji was a soft-spoken gentleman, always cheerful, and helpful. They don’t make them like him anymore!

Minooji passed away on 19th January 2023. He leaves behind his wife and two daughters. 

Srinivasan Ramani

Promoting the use of UPI to make donations safer

 As we all know very well, thousands of temples, churches, mosques, gurudwaras and other places of worship in India play a vital role in people’s lives. The quality of cleanliness in these places and their immediate environment matters a lot to our self-esteem and to national pride. Some places are exceptionally good and some need attention.

These institutions collect thousands of crores per year through their hundis and collection boxes. A part of these donations helps maintain these places of worship. Ensuring that the donations are transparent, legal, safe, and efficient is a valuable goal. Eliminating fraud, misuse, and corruption is equally essential. We must promote the use of the Universal Payment Interface (UPI) to provide for a safe way to donate.

UPI need not be the only route for donations, but it should carry a significant part of the load. The recent safeguarding of bank URIs on the Internet by introducing the domain name “.bank” is a brilliant move. Now banks can be asked to identify accounts eligible to receive charitable or religious donations by ensuring suitable labels are part of the account name - such as temple, church, masjid, gurudwara. They can also verify if the account holder has a PAN number and is authorized to receive donations from abroad or not.

Places of worship can then publicise the UPI IDs for receiving donations and publish QR codes for the purpose through various channels.

This will facilitate legal donations from all corners of the nation to all places of worship, big or small. It will also increase legal donations from NRIs and OCIs.

This need not involve any big effort by the Govt. Suitable guidance to the National Payments Corporation which implements URI, and to banks will achieve a lot. However, publicising the effort and making the nation aware of the issues involved are important.

There are many low hanging fruits we can easily pluck to improve India’s image in the world. This is one of them.

Srinivasan Ramani 

Two people's lunch for a few cents less than one US$

 

Uttara Karnataka Speciality Food Store, Photo by: Srinivasan Ramani

Yesterday I reported how you can get lunch for three at a bit less than 2 US$. Today, we went to another place in Jayanagar, Bengaluru. Two of us had lunch for Rs 80, which is a few cents less than one US$! 

Pretty good lunch it was. My wife chose Puliyogare for herself. I chose Bisi Bela Huli:  a cooked and well spiced combination of rice and lentils. At the Uttara Karnatka Speciality Food Store, it had some carrots and potato chunks as well. Protein and Vitamin A! 

We ate out of good paper plates, standing on the sidewalk  in the shade opposite the store, next to the Ramar Temple. Most people eat without any cutlery, as Indian food is usually eaten with one's hand. I asked for a spoon and was given a well designed plastic spoon.  

We got a parcel of Onion Pakoda and Chili Bajji to take home for a snack. Rs 30! The main problem we noticed was that there was not enough parking space on the street!  A few poor guys in million rupee SUVs had to walk some distance to eat lunch!

Governments at every level in India must work to foster this culture of low cost food services. The two places I have visited in these two days were pretty hygenic. However, it  would take a lot of effort for the city government to ensure that all eateries in the city get safe, piped water. We also need to ensure that taxation does not burden these eateries that cater to a very basic need. We need to make these places a matter of pride and an item of the city's identity. We should not forget that the small eateries of Bengaluru probably provide a hundred thousand jobs! 

Srinivasan Ramani