This is one of the recent technology related development that caught me by surprise – Where you can send SMS to complain to police in Bangladesh.
There is no wonder that mobile based value added services in Bangladesh
are pioneering, innovative and much ahead of the game in the region.
However this one went a bit too far. In a place where its challenging to
get help from the police in time even through normal means, expecting
that men in shining armour will show up just by sending an SMS is a bit
far fetched. Moreover, I really don’t understand why would someone send
an SMS to file a General Diary with police when the same could be done
more conveniently by just dialling up number.
Foreign
development agencies sometimes have a mandate to show impact to their
donors. When it comes to technology, may be its too lucrative for them
to show a science fiction like project for the local region which might
wow the donor and media. It would have helped if UNDP could have looked
at the existing systems of policing and thought of how to improve that
first. For example, how about a 999 like nation wide number for
emergency services such as fire, medical emergency and police related
issues? I accept however that there are a few strange socio-cultural
snags in Bangladesh which makes it difficult to even get a cab from the
streets to make it to go where you want to. And to get help from police
in time, without any involvement of bribes and bureaucracies is still a
rather utopia. SMS and technology in general may be can’t change basic
mindset or the impression towards police, something UNDP need to keep in
mind. So lets come down to earth from science fiction like projects
such as this and see how we can make basic technology work to provide
public services to the common people.
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