Let us make best use of IPL Scam through IT
Asoke K. Laha
President & MD, Interra IT
I heard somebody telling about scams breaking out every other day. According to him, three- fourth of a newspaper or a good share of the channel timings are devoted to reporting about scams and matters related or incidental to them. However strange it may sound, he believed that most of the scams are either on account of or caused by the information technology. I felt he had gone gaga. But when I listened to his reasoning, I thought he is not far wide of the mark.
First, let us hear out his reasoning. Faster and swifter communication brought about by the IT revolution has enabled the people to be in touch with each other in a fraction of a second. While that is a boon to the mankind, it was misused by a few rotten apples to serve their vested interests. The intercepts of the Delhi and Mumbai police in connection with the cricket scam, more popularly known as IPL scam, bore testimony to this. Look at the police exposes: conference calls between players, bookies, their henchmen and alleged underworld would have been difficult without technology, including conversations through iPhones.
The other explanation is more convincing. He argues that CoalGate or RailGate would have remained in the labyrinth of secrecy and hidden deeply inside the precincts of guarded secrets, if telephone interceptions were not carried out. Close to this is the rampant use of Right to Information (RTI), which has put many things in the public domain and made things more transparent. Then, if one believes that India has, of late, become scam centric, one is in the fool’s paradise.
This leads me to another question that whether scams are signals for revamping the systems? One has to be a bit philosophical. Scams open the floodgate for innovation and improvement. Look at the public resentment against the IPL or coal scam. People’s resentments were vociferous, singular and viral. Governance systems attempted to respond and tried to do something to realize later that such aberrations happen with the passage of the time. There can be a counter view. Hacking any system is a passion of a select few. Before the advent of IT, there were systems that were embellished by human mind. But at some point of time, such systems were compromised and penetrated and were made redundant. That led to innovations, inventions and the like. Should it mean that scams are not anti-dots but are signals for change and innovation?
Somebody has asked me as to why scams are happening in a digital world. Could these conversations be intercepted and the guilty brought to the book? I remember having written in this column, a few issues back, how a bunch of people apprehend working in their computer and using net, since they were obsessed with their creative works being hacked and plagiarized. That was a figment of my imagination, particularly when I mentioned in the column that people are recreating cabinets of the yesteryears, where they can mechanically store data, which is free from hacking. Do you think such things will come back? I feel that those who do the dirty works, will do that to hide their spoils from others. But that they have been doing it even now.
Betting on who will win or lose, to me, does not seem to be a major offence, though it is one. Betting is allowed in horse races, which is legal in some states. Casinos are allowed in some states. Betting, in its generic sense, is allowed in many countries. It is like our capital market. Speculation is allowed. Based on their intuition and analysis, people can buy stocks and make money. But insider trading is illegal. In other words, it is fixing.
The pertinent point is should betting be made legal? There are many opinions in the public domain. An overwhelming number of people, that includes experts, policy-makers, business associations, is of the view that it should be made legal and be brought under the purview of tax. That could serve two purposes. One, by making betting legal, like the lottery system operating in India or betting in the horse race or speculation in the capital market, many hidden evils in the society can be completely eliminated. The second is the revenue generation. The government can mop up more revenue that can be put to judicial use such as creating infrastructure, meeting the expenses towards health, education, etc. But there should be a Laxman Rekha. Many people, who would be lured by betting, could be from the poorer strata of the society. If they gamble away their wealth, that will lead to a severe social problem. But there cannot be a separate rule for the poor and the rich. The Government should carefully evolve rules and regulations so that betting should not degenerate into a grave social evil.
I have given considerable thought as to how to conclude this column. I do not want the valued readers to go away with the impression that I am for legalizing betting. At the same time, I am against the people who take advantage of the system invoking loopholes. They have to be brought under the rules and should be made to pay, if they engage in any speculative activities.
See What’s Next in Tech With the Fast Forward Newsletter
Tweets From @varindiamag
Nothing to see here - yet
When they Tweet, their Tweets will show up here.