Letter to Sekhar Gupta, IE 14 March,10

Hi Sekhar

Today’s Idea Exchange with Sam Pitroda simultaneously made me excited and scared. Excited -because that person is so positive in his approach, even about the heart attacks and cancers he had he tells us like he just bumped on the road a little. It seems he will change the face of India.

But call me a cynic, I am totally scared because the whole idea of his and Nandan Nilekeni’s to tag every Indian looks like we will be in a situation like George Orwell’s ‘1984’! Simply because how can we trust the people who are going to use those information?

I have heard a story about the liquor shops of Andhra Pradesh. Sometime ago when adult education was started by the government, there was an essay about the evil effects of intoxication in one of the books circulated among the adult students. That generated a movement of the long tormented women (by their husbands’ liquor love) and with support of PWG they torched down several liquor shops and manufacturing units. But it created a furor among the ruler class and ultimately the book was banned! So how will we know people with access to the data are benevolent to the society?

Similarly, Sam Pitroda’s idea of speeding up legal process is utopian. We all know the lawyers and judges in India are paid to delay the legal decisions. A corruption-free and honest legal system can speed up the process in the speed of light. But Sam Pitroda can’t do that, right? The irony is all the jails of this huge democracy have accommodated the poor only because the poor don’t have the means to fight their cases. And Sanjay Dutts, Salman Khans and Rahul Mahajans are roaming free! What I can infer from Mr. Pitroda’s utopia is that Sanjay Dutt kind of people will get their freedom much earlier in future!!!

The inventor of the Atom Bomb regretted his invention in a later stage. But unfortunately Sam Pitroda has no time. Don’t know if he will regret exposing millions of under educated and badly educated children to the information super network. Who is going to regulate the exposure? Don’t you think Mr Pitroda should also have a team of positive thinkers like him who will try to address the dangers attached to this technical revolution and create a modus operandi of check and balance?

One last question about our legal system: When is the court going to decide the fate of Ram Janmbhumi? Will the decision speed up after Mr. Pitroda has done the speed up thing?