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Should complaining be easier?

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Draft for review The primary goal of most organizations is to add value by providing a service. However, few things are more frustrating for a user than experiencing a service failure—only to find that complaining about it leads to even greater disappointment. Unfortunately, this is a common scenario. As a user, your ideal experience is to avoid problems altogether, and most of the time, you might. But if an issue arises, your hope is for a quick, straightforward resolution. In reality, the process of formally raising or escalating a grievance is often needlessly complex. “Ninety percent of complaints should be handled in face-to-face meetings.” - Regional Director for Environment and Social Responsibility of a multinational corporation In many systems, the user interface focuses primarily on delivering the service, while grievance management is an afterthought. Resolutions are typically limited to financial compensation or refunds, which may not apply in every situation. For instanc...
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Using credentials as money

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Wikipedia defines money as “any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value, and sometimes, a standard of deferred payment.” When availing services, one often requires proof of age, address, caste, gender, economic status, or financial capability rather than rupees. These proofs function like money in these contexts. In the digital world, mechanisms like UPI facilitate the exchange of money, and similar mechanisms could serve to store and exchange credentials. Digilocker has already emerged as a store of credentials and defines methods to exchange them. However, there is much to be desired in the ease of digital credential sharing. In the past month, for purposes such as opening an account, buying financial products, staying at hotels, or my daughter...
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Utilizing UPI ID as an Universal ID and a consent manager

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When you enter a bus in Bangalore, you’ll notice two QR codes: one for paying for the ticket via UPI and another for validating a bus pass. Both essentially identify the bus. A fellow passenger showed me that the UPI ID or VPA is always in the format bus number@cnrb , such as ka01f9092@cnrb for a metro feeder I recently boarded. The bus pass validation also needs to identify the bus, so the UPI ID could serve both purposes. This concept can be expanded further. What if the VPA is linked to a shop front on ONDC, allowing passengers to buy tickets directly? This could simplify the ticketing process, eliminating the need to wait for the conductor to navigate through the crowd. Buses wouldn’t need to wait at key points just for ticketing, enabling self-service ticket booking for most passengers. The National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) aims to provide a single card for multiple mobility systems. However, a typical daily commute often involves mixed modes of transport—metro, bus, and maybe...
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How can EPFO be faster, higher and stronger

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In their Economic Times article, " Make EPFO faster, higher, stronger ," Sanjeev Sanyal and Shrishti Chauhan compellingly argue that despite the EPFO's growing importance, it's plagued by high claim rejection rates and operational inefficiencies. As someone who recently navigated the portal, I wholeheartedly agree. The interface is cumbersome, requiring excessive CAPTCHAs, and prone to errors. Even simple tasks like password changes take days to reflect across different sections. While the EPFO offers services on its website , the UMANG app provides a surprisingly smoother experience. This highlights the potential of digitisation to improve service delivery. The authors identify key areas for digital improvement, such as consolidating duplicate accounts, leveraging UAN, and enhancing digital accessibility. They also pinpoint data discrepancies, rule non-compliance, and fragmented regional databases as primary causes of high claim rejection rates. Increased resources,...
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PM Surya Ghar - a great scheme that can be even better

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A great scheme that learns from the past efforts PM Surya Ghar : Muft Bijli Yojna (PMSY) is a flagship government scheme launched by the prime minister on 15 February 2024.  PMSY aims to add rooftop solar to 1 crore households and is supported by over 75,000 crores in budget allocation. It is the government’s third attempt at significantly encouraging rooftop solar deployment.  This attempt takes many lessons from all previous efforts towards distributed solar energy generation and utilisation. There is a single national portal ( https://www.pmsuryaghar.gov.in/ ) that allows the entire application to deployment.  The portal integrates with portals of the many DISCOMs.  All aspects from registration, application, approvals, finding vendors, inspection of completion, subsidy, loans and grievance management is integrated into this single portal. It sets a simplified and standardised process of application and approval. The deployments are performed by installers...
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Reimagining Public Service Delivery in the Phygital World

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  Abstract This document envisions a transformative approach to public service delivery by integrating digital technologies into a unified, inclusive platform. Current e-Governance initiatives, while impactful, are fragmented and often inaccessible to a significant portion of the population. By leveraging technologies used in successful eCommerce and digital health platforms, we propose an open digital network that consolidates public services, ensuring seamless access, efficient grievance handling, and robust data security. This network would integrate digital repositories, payment systems, and service agents, while addressing the digital divide through physical service centers and inclusive interfaces. The proposed system promises enhanced service quality, cost efficiency, and government transparency, ultimately providing a more equitable public service experience for all citizens. Introduction In today's digital age, e-Governance has revolutionized how governments manage data an...
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