Friday, August 21, 2009

RBI in the 21st Century

One would expect the website of 'Reserve Bank of India' to be in top shape right?

I thought so and
tried to send an email via their website about a FOREX question.

A minute later the mail bounced with this message:

--------------------------------------------------------------------

UNDELIVERABLE MAIL

Your message to the following recipients cannot be delivered:

:
mail2.rbi.org.in [210.212.219.77]:
>>> RCPT TO:
<<<>: Relay access denied

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Shameful !!

We live in the 21st century and RBI is India's Central Bank.

Well..Well...Some things about India will never change.

12 comments:

Prasanna said...

Why you are always crib about india? Have you did anything great in life to crib like this?

Unknown said...

if u need a fancy web site... can u do it for them... or can u sponsor...

here ppl are dying out of starvation and drought and u need a fancy website...

SHAMEFUL is U!

Its worrying that ppl like u, just mock and comment on indian situation but GOOD FOR NOTHING!!!!

IF U WANT A CHANGE... BE THE CHANGE!!!!

Narayanan Venkitu said...

Prasanna - I do that because people like you are still in your 'cribs'
--
Sadhana - May I ask why you read the blogs and browse the net
rather than go help the starving people? and people without water?

I didn't ask for a fancy website. I wanted it to work right.

Archikins said...

A nuetral observation:

Many issues you bring forth are valid. At the same time, I can see why some commenters are enraged when a non resident Indian laments the situation in India.

I have also heard people say that brain-drain from India due to the many Indians going abroad towards brighter prospects is one of the reasons for India not developing as fast as it could have if it had all that talent serving the country.


A neutral question:
What can overturn the situation in India and remedy the issues we are all too familiar with?

What is it that each and every Indian - living in India or abroad - can do to remedy the situation?

And on a related note:
A facebook fanpage called "India" is making waves - they are doing a pretty good job bringing Indians together and rekindling the spirit of patriotism. Wether that will make a tangible difference is yet to be seen.

Ganesh Venkittu said...

to interpret a email message that bounced from the RBI website as "reserve bank is all nonsense" is to say it succinctly "not right"...

yesterday, dish network website had several java script/cgi gateway errors when I tried to filter on movies/sports/news and various channel lineups...can I interpret that as "dish network is all nonsense"...?

on that token, I also see this talk of "its because indians like you going and living abroad that india does not improve" argument to be just geting prosaic and baseless by the minute.....

india is a land of 1.2 billion....out of which lets assume or say .2 billion live outside india.....

so, basically people are saying that 1/6th of people choosing to live abroad causes the whole "chaos" to the remaining (5/6th) in india....that is just rubbish....

that was what a politician argued with me in my recent visit (he happened to be the sitting MLA from tarapuram/kodumudi constituency) and that was precisely what I told him.....

We have been searching for perfection from 1947.....we wont get it.....its impossible to get it....the disparity in living standards...the disparity in income levels...the disparity in every walk of life.....

lets face it....is life any better today than it was in say 1984 (25 years back)?.....

it does not matter even if I decide to help the government...will they contract me? they probably have a long RFP/RFI by which they selected the vendor, who developed the rubbish site to begin with....

the only thing I as a citizen of india, regardless of my citizenship status or where I live can do to help India is --- pay taxes, vote, and atleast personally not be corrupt....and if possible run a business, or a voluntary organization and thereby either employ or help people....

thats pretty much it....would that change reserve bank web site? would that change anything....I leave that to the general populace who become "patriotic" and vent their anger and put all kinds of comments whenever and wherever issues are highlighted to decide that....

Personally, I want to bring a change to the constitution of india by which no chief minister or prime minister gets elected beyond two terms....how do I go about it?

Personally, I want to change the way the cabinet ministers are appointed by which I want both the houses to confirm their nomination....how do I go about it....for example -- an idiot who runs from Nilgiris constituency where probably only 25% of people at a maximum have Internet connection is the IT and broadcasting minister? not a guy from the so called IT corridors or hubs or gateways....what is his qualification? and on what basis did he get it? was there any confirmation on his appointment.....I want to change that by which each state would vote for the nominated cabinet members.....how do
I go about it....?

I want to be the CHANGE....can someone please tell me where I can begin?

Archikins said...

Ganesh - Very well expressed thoughts.

Change has to begin with each individual - and as you pointed out - by each individual being honest, voting, trying to do whatever service is within his/her capacity.

Nothing new - "Be the Change you want to see in the world", said Gandhi

That said, I have seen people talk about the corruption in the country, but dont hesitate to hand out a bribe when it comes to sorting out an individual issue. "Thats the way things work here" is the excuse.

Truth and change has to be a conviction, not just an option.

What is reassuring is a number of youth are voicing their concerns about the country's issues, the political flaws and such.

However, there seems to be a lack of a leader who can channel this energy towards tangible change. A selfless leader who can lay out a vision for the country, a set of steps that can get us there and aggregate the energy of patriots towards that goal.

Is that what the country needs - a real leader?

Orijinal anony said...

There is nothing wrong in the blogger's complaint. He wasnt cribbing about hospitals or satellites. It's a simple matter of a website in a country that produces 5 lakh computer science graduates a year.

Request is not for Dhanalakshmi bank but RBI.

If most of the govt sectors could have greater presence online it will generate jobs for few more IT graduates.

why start I vs NRI war for this?

ada-paavi!!!! said...

I don see the need for you to ask the RBI about Forex. By allowing you to ask the question is pertinent of the RBI's openess.

Id suggest you try contacting the Federal Reserve about forex issues and ull be asked to contact your banker.

Central Banks are bankers to the banks, not individuals. Their clients and interaction is limited to banks, investment banks and other financial institutions not individuals.

Considering this by even allowing you to ask the question is a huge positive step for the RBI.

Sir, Ive been reading your posts for a long time, with respect to india I feel you always view the glass as half empty. World Over all glasses are half full or half empty, especially with regards to government organisations. It would be better to view the glass as half full rather than half empty and criticise the system.

The RBI's website is a treasure house of information on the Indian economy. It is in brilliant shape, Just this one useless flaw does not mean its in bad shape

Narayanan Venkitu said...

Hi Vatsan,

Nice to see a comment for you. Thank you.

My question - Why should RBI have a email option that doesn't work? Forget my Forex question.

If an esteemed organization like RBI has an option enabled in their website, It's our right to ask that it works ( as Indian citizens , isn't it ?)

It's like having a counter in RBI branch and telling people, sorry, this is 'DUMMY'.

Raaj said...

Narayanan, if one day the brake in your car does work well, tell the manufacturer 'if it does not work, why have it?'. And campaign in your blog that the manufacturer is shameful and should remove brakes in all the cars !!

Comon, are you sure the email option never worked for anybody !! I can imagine this could be frustrating, but this does not deserve the kind of cribbing you made. I would think of letting RBI know through other means of this problem so they could rectify this at the earliest. Lets be pragmatic, appreciate what we have and collectively strive to improve things around us.

Finally, I give it to you. Its your blog and you can write what you want.

Raaj

Balaji S Rajan said...

Ramesh,

One of my friend sent me links of few government sites of India, feeling very proud of the current web links. He sent a complaint for which he has not yet received any reply so far.

Personally I sent a e-mail to one Indian Government related site for some clarification few months before. I am yet to receive any acknowledgement.

We have heard stories that letters sent to Government offices will not evoke any responses in those days. India being a IT super power should try to keep them all to very high standard. It is a pity that some of them are not given importance.

Ganesh comments are thought provoking.

Jo said...

Hi, I do understand your frustration and share most of what you feel. But I am not sure about the pessimistic statement that you put towards the end of the post that some things in India will never change. Perhaps it is true. Some things about not just India, perhaps about each country may not change. Some good or bad elements in every single society in the world may not change. But if that pessimism is based on the RBI website incident, am not sure if it's alright. :-)

I do not agree with some of the others too (who implied that it doesn't matter if the emailing function doesn't work in the RBI site). A website like Reserve Bank's cannot afford any downtime or such issues. The message that such errors sent out to it's own citizens and the people world over is not any good. A country that is exporting software to other countries cannot afford to make such mistakes.

Most of our national sites are pathetic in usability and design. Most of them created by NIC are pure crap! One look at it, and you would never want to visit them again. It's age old design and forget about usability. Fortunately, our national portal (http://india.gov.in) has had a recent face lift though some of the sections are yet to be working properly.

That said, many of the services in India have enabled online payment facility and it is very helpful for people like me. Now I use internet to pay my ISP, Mobile, Landphone, credit card, Insurance policy and to transfer money through banks. I don't need to queue up in the telephone office anymore. This is definitely a change compared to the old times. I am sure, going forward other utility bills also can be paid online.

To conclude, I would say there is nothing wrong in criticizing/cribbing/complaining, if it is aimed at making our coutry a better place. At the mean time, do not lose hope and say "nothing will change". Rome wasn't built in a day. :-)