Banning Uber not enough: India needs laws that keep up with technology

Better late than never. It is a knee-jerk reaction, but fact is Uber had it coming when the service got axed in Delhi yesterday and hopefully soon across India. You can’t make skyscraper-tall claims on safety and then when caught with your pants down make excuses, mutter a half-hearted apology and try to pass all the blame on to the Indian system, when you are equally at fault. But while Uber complies with Indian laws and stops making claims about safety that it can’t keep — if it is indeed impossible in India to ensure driver verification — there are similar services run by Indian companies too and which are perhaps making wrong claims on safety too. And which are surely driving on the very fine line between legal and illegal. Let’s be honest. If an Ola Cabs driver (the company has a similar aggregator model) was in the dock today, Ola Cabs would have faced heat but may not have been scorched as Uber. Of course, for that Uber has its arrogance, poor communication skills and the seeming lack of ethics of its leaders to thank. Let’s be even more honest. The outrage over this crime isn’t going to prevent another criminal cab driver in India‎ from raping a woman. Or a non-criminal cab driver. You can turn back the dial on the definition of a juvenile and change laws to give them ‘more teeth,’ make them ‘stronger,’ you could even impose barbaric punishments like castration of a rapist, making the lunatic fringe in every religion who froth at the mouth hoping for such punishments proud, but that still won’t stop crime against women in India. Societal change takes a long time and crimes against women are prevalent even in the most educated and progressive nations. But you can take steps to minimise such crime. For Uber there is perhaps need for some honest self-reflection, but for India putting in place systems that ensure existing laws are followed, that the law keeps up with technology changes, and leveraging of technology that already exists or is speeded up from the usual lethargic Indian implementation process, is critical if we have to minimise such crime. Laws that keep pace with technology [caption id=“attachment_1840795” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The Uber app. AFP.[/caption] There are three types of permits for the cab industry in India – the tourist taxi permit which comes in a single state or all-India variant, a radio taxi permit for a city and a non-AC taxi permit. The older, true radio taxi players like Meru Cabs, Mega Cabs, Easy Cabs and TabCab have dedicated fleets and radio taxi permits with a meter authorised by the Department of Weights and Measurements of the government and which can be tested at RTOs. They also have GPS embedded which cannot be switched off by the driver – Meru definitely has it. Since the drivers are dedicated the company has greater control. However, technology companies like Uber, Ola Cabs, Taxi For Sure and Meru Genie whose advertising never clearly reveal that they are different from radio taxis but are quick to point to the fine print about them being mere technology aggregators when crime occurs (as Uber has done) have a tourist taxi permit and a driver could work for Uber in the day and another aggregator at night. And rather than a meter they have a smartphone that doubles up as a meter and makes them seem like radio taxis, but in reality they are not. The government does not authorise such metering. Surely it’s time for the government to ensure that such aggregator services are licensed properly and also don’t make claims about safety if they can’t follow them. Embedded GPS that is not based on a basic smartphone app can also be mandated. The Indian consumer, hampered as she is by lack of proper public transport provided by the government, at least deserves to know what she is getting into. And the government can make that happen if proper regulations are in place. Criminal and vehicle databases A cop in the United States for instance can stop a car and before he heads over to the car he can know about the recent legal issues with the car, if any, details of ownership, etc. It’s not like India is in the Stone Ages without criminal and vehicle databases, but access and integration is an issue**.** In Mumbai, India’s financial capital, I can hand over my driving license if pulled over and all the cop can do then is book me for that particular offence he has flagged me for. He has no clue about my past offences – and this despite smart card-based driving licenses being in use for years. In Delhi, Airtel has set up a system where handheld devices give traffic cops access to vehicle databases from Delhi and neighbouring districts and a cop knows you’ve been a bad boy and that it’s time to throw the book at you. In Bangalore, the traffic police have used BlackBerry smartphones for years. Today, with most cops also carrying smartphones, why can’t their own smartphones be used to access such databases through an app? There’s nothing radical or innovative about it–and an Android app is perfect since the vast majority use Android. And don’t use the security excuse–if companies can give employees access to their mission-critical systems through employee-owned phones, there’s no reason why this is not possible. The security tech is available. And data costs can be subsidised. Ditto for criminal databases – surely policemen could have access to them through mobile apps before they give out character certificates based on limited knowledge. Aadhaar could also be used here, though it would require some changes in law. The biometric details captured during Aadhaar enrolment could be verified though a basic biometric device like a fingerprint scanner at each police station. Then there’s little chance of character certificates ending up as egg on the faces of Indian law enforcement. Get a Regulator Everybody hates mobile phone companies, but you got to admit that TRAI’s mandates on customer service and a clear process for complaints, which includes appeals, has made things easier. With cabs delivering a public service, shouldn’t some experts regulate the industry and ensure that in case of complaints cab companies are penalised, especially because some failures can result in lives being lost or destroyed. And ensuring a level-playing field. Cash-rich Uber reportedly has been blowing money in order to gain customer share; giving deep discounts to customers and making up the rest to the driver to ensure that they stay happy. Surely any competition regulator would see red and should see red, because that is an unethical business practice that can destroy competition in an unethical manner, and take away jobs, etc. The fact is that in the absence of proper regulations, action is left to the cab company that is trying to keep drivers in its fold and fend off cash-rich competitors like Uber who don’t have any qualms about burning cash to gain marketshare. Take one example – a little over a year ago my visibly pregnant wife landed in Mumbai airport at midnight thanks to a badly delayed flight. I was out of town and so she took a Meru cab. She got the cab number and paid the Rs 50 in parking charges that Meru and other licensed radio taxi operators collect at Mumbai. But the cab never came, because a technology glitch ensured the cab went to someone else. She couldn’t enter the terminal building again to go to the Meru counter because security personnel don’t allow re-entry. Finally a kind security man took pity and forced a Meru employee to come to the terminal gate. Guess what that Meru employee did – he threw the Rs 50 at her and said he had no more cabs! She was forced to take an autorickshaw home. I complained and Meru said they would take action and ‘sensitise’ the employee, but if the man couldn’t realise a visibly pregnant woman needed help at midnight and when she had already been allotted a cab, he perhaps needed severe disciplining rather than a gentle talk. I’m fairly sure Meru did nothing. Then there’s the matter of licenses too. The reason why aggregators like Uber can misuse the law and have a viable business model is because not enough licenses are released to regular radio taxi companies. Let the market dictate demand and supply. As long as cartelisation and anti-competitive, unethical behaviour is taken care of and customers have a clear process to complain and appeal, why should the government keep licenses close to its chest in the matter of regular cabs and radio taxis but ignore the Ubers and Olas doing the same thing for all practical purposes? Till laws are changed to regulate aggregators, isn’t it better to have a proper radio taxi service as opposed to an asset-light company that seems to suggest it is a cab service till something goes wrong and where even the cops have no clue where the company is even located? Number plate standardisation & CCTVs Did you know that the Maharashtra government has been promising CCTV coverage for 6 years in India’s financial capital without little except bulky files to show for it? Surely, some urgency in such matters would be nice, and hopefully these CCTVs will have the capability to read vehicular number plates too, a capability that CCTVs in any half-decent city in the world would have. But, are number plates in India standardised? No sir, despite a Supreme Court order, many states like Maharashtra are still just setting deadlines and then merrily ignoring them. This Times of India report says high-security standardised plates were supposed to be mandatory for new cars more than a year ago in Mumbai, but as usual the deadline passed. Leave alone high-security plates which requires some infrastructure in place and for which clearly the government doesn’t have time for, but could we ensure that existing laws on number plates which mandate they should be in English and in a particular font size are followed? We don’t, and that adds to risks on roads. If you want to get an idea about the illegal creativity on display just on Mumbai’s roads—leave alone parts of India where the cops don’t even bother about the presence of a license plate–check out the ‘ Report Mumbai Traffic Violations’ group on Facebook  . A traffic cop would have to be blind to allow vehicles with some of these plates on any road, but sadly, they do. Incidentally, the group is not merely that of bystanders and the founder Sandeep Ohri regularly goes to much trouble to take prints of all photos and hands them over to traffic cops in the hope that offenders will be prosecuted. RTO reforms If a tourist wants to experience corruption in India all he needs to do is visit a Road Transport Office. Getting a license is mere child’s play and a driving test consists of testing little more than the ability to start a vehicle. The key to getting this mess sorted is technology. With the number of applicants supposed to take tests, it’s impossible for inspectors in Indian cities to thoroughly check driving skills of each applicant. That’s where computer-based theory tests and simulator-based practical tests come in. The thing with computer-based tests is that they are hard to cheat on–so Indians applying for driving licenses will have to learn that a road with a sign where an arrow heading that way is crossed isn’t meant for aircraft and signifying no taking flight from there, but is a one-way road with no entry.  In Maharashtra, smart card-based Registration Certificates for vehicles (that can contain complete history of the vehicle, including offences and violations the vehicle has been involved in), have been around for years. But because the government has better things to look into than renewing a supplier’s contract, RTOs in the state will soon go back to paper-based Registration Certificates for vehicles.