Arshid Malik
A few weeks ago, while I was running an errand for my company, I was obliged to visit a central government office for some paperwork. Of course this was not my debut appearance in a government department and in fact most of my work consists of visiting such offices. My past experience in making such forays has earned me a flickering dislike for such visits and sincerely my stomach goes sick as soon as I enter a government office building and I always leave with a bad aftertaste in my mouth. Anyways, it was no different this time. I had to deal with a clerk, a typical babu, with a sagging waistline and a protruding lower lip perhaps concealing a truckload of tobacco.
While I was explaining my part to him, he was busy wringing out his earwax with a pen, and groaning all the while as the tip of the pen ventured deeper into his inner ear. By the time I was done explaining the purpose of my visit and my business with the babu, he opened his eyes wide as if he had just slipped out of a time warp. I knew that I had to start over all again and patiently doled out my agenda while this creature of interest pestered the peon with pointless enquires. I had had it. I turned around and slipped out of the hall exhibiting a consortium of slothful gentlemen and women. I ran down the staircase, almost stumbled halfway and landed on the portico.
I jumped over the fence in Rajnikant style fished out a cigarette out of my hair and fired it up. A few blows and I was even with nature. I walked right back in, climbed the stairwell and approached the babu again with an air of urgency around me. The trick which was not at all intentional worked out just fine. The babu attended to my task and handed me the fillet of papers I needed. I clutched at the papers as if I was on an empty stomach for the past one week and was about to gobble down the whole lot, but the babu would not let go. Now what? Yes, that’s right, it was chai pani time.
It is high time for e-governance, I whispered inside my head. Yes folks, babugiri and chai pani may not hold much water now as the whole system is going hi tech now. Under the e-governance model, the government is planning to chop off the whole interface between government babus and common people. The national e-governance intends to render all vital services citizen centric, service orientated and transparent besides making them accessible over the internet. What we are looking at is the Income Tax, Passport/VISA, Company Affairs, Central Excise, Pensions, Land Records, Road Transport, Property Registration, Agriculture, Municipalities, Gram Panchayats, Police, Employment Exchange and even Courts running online.
The citizen can now sit back and navigate right ahead without having to beseech and beg before the babus. Though only a few of the various services have been integrated online in some states, but the battle is on.
Now the babus can take their time at chewing tobacco and gouging ear wax under the sun while we make the hay ourselves.
