Many of the good projects of our State Government attract critical response from the public over the poor implementation process. This goes on from the days of the Congress to the current Government.
The latest I have seen is the printing and distribution of Smart Cards to replace the age old ration card. From the time of announcement of the scheme, everything looked attractive, inciting much anticipation from us. The self-imposed time schedule was ridiculed by the Government endlessly. We were fortunate to check the status of our application online. So the delay did not matter at all, as we were getting our rations anyway.
The official website is well laid out. But the site works better with the agencies handling the job than in our home. In my case for weeks I was informed that my card was yet to be printed. Suddenly one day the ration shopkeeper reminded me that I was yet to fill up my Aadhaar and mobile numbers. I did the same. After some more weeks I was shown by him that I had not filled up full details of my spouse. I got confused as I was convinced that I had provided all that I knew about my spouse. The only option advised to me was to re-enter the details. I obliged readily online. Suddenly one morning I got a call from a lady official - not the shopkeeper - asking me to upload my photo immediately so that they could complete my file, as if I was only delaying things.
Upload of photo was real challenge for a person like me, who started with one finger typing on the keyboard and mostly restricting my compu-time to Freecell, Candycrush and the like. After many attempts of uploads, I found that my photo gallery was full of my face in many shades and tones! It was disgusting even for my own self, not to speak of my spouse who spends more screen time than me. The website specified that the photo I uploaded should not exceed 10 KB. None of my poses on the gallery were below 60 KB. So I approached my dependable photo studio guy who is also doing the agency work for this project. It was sheer magic. He took a fresh click of my face on his mobile with all the doors and windows of the studio wide open on a sunny day. For a few minutes I was the amusing object for passers-by. And my photo got uploaded in a second.
Now I have been informed that my card is ready. Shopkeeper says the message is auto generated once the print is over and that it would take two weeks for the card to reach my ration shop. I have fresh prayers now for an error free smart card for my family ration. In the past weeks I have come across some unusual errors in the cards others got. Names are wrong nut address is correct and vice versa. In some cases name and address are right but greeted by a wrong photo. One case was bizarre - name of a lady with the right address but the photo of the two year old girl child in the family. There are also confusions about the list of family members.
I smile in disgust. But that is life in India. And we like it that way.
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