With Date-rape drugs available freely on leading ecommerce portal and un-licensed Cabbie of a prominent Cab service brand raping a Woman- Is India ready yet for the Big Tech Jump??

Technology is what makes a newer India. With more & more work-from-home women & mommies like me and many others, who are reveling in the glory of advanced technology that allows us to manage home and work with a single click, technology sure seems like a boon!

Cut-back to the recent incidents involving technology and its flaws in Indian governance, where a Woman who books a cab from a promising Cab service app, is raped by an un-licensed Cabbie in the cab at mid-night while returning from an after work party Or where date-rape drugs are sold freely in mere 500 bucks on a leading e-commerce portal of India. These unnerving incidents make me wonder on my earlier statement, is technology really a Boon or a Pit-fall in Disguise?

For those of you who are un-aware of the recent incidents, recently a woman filed a rape case against a cabbie in Delhi who allegedly raped her while she was returning from an after work party. She had booked a cab through UBER app for Cab service and while she was half asleep, the Cabbie jumped into back seat and did the horrendous crime before even the woman could get back to her senses to shout for help. He allegedly even threatened to kill her. Upon investigations it turned out that not only the driver was not licensed but he was also a serial molester who had faked his character certificate. Apparently the Uber is not a registered taxi service, not new for a company who calls itself a “transportation provider”, what is shocking however is that they did not carry out any back-ground check of any of the drivers along with the cabs hired by them apart from the documentation they submit. Adding to their list of negligence, another woman tweeted that she had registered a complaint against the cabbie on November 26th to UBER via email and had received a reply, mentioning that they will look into the matter ASAP. Hello…but doesn’t asap mean As Soon As Possible?? Well, the guy just raped a victim before the management of the transport provider firm could take any action.

A huge hue and cry prevailed after the incident dividing the literary vocalist’s of India (especially the twiterrati) into those who blamed Uber and those who favored Uber and blamed the government rather. While the heated debate will go on, my point in place is; with a population of India, are we ready for start-ups with 3-4 people hiring up a plethora of un-registered, un-identified men on board and claiming of secure transportation? To top it all we already have difficulties in our governance on issues of stringent judicial system and curbing corruption. I’d like to quote a friend Cyrus Dastur here, word by word:

“And the govt bans all Radio taxis in Delhi because of the Uber rape case… Good. But by that logic, will they also ban the whole govt. because most of our MPs and MLAs are either rapists, murderers or criminals? Will they confiscate passports of all politicians because so many of our politicians take off on free junkets to US and Europe all the time? Will they ban the Parliament because most of the times our MPs are either fighting, yawning or watching porn on their mobiles? *Ouch, am i expecting too much from our govt. or did I question too much in the world’s largest “democracy”(??!)”

Cut- two: Ok, as if this incident was not enough to raise my goose-bumps, yesterday I accidentally bumped with a disturbing tweet talking about how date-rape drug was openly available on Flipkart.

I was totally flummoxed by it and decided to cross-check. Upon searching in Google, it turned out that it was true! There in the cached pages of Google I did find the product named Spanish Fliege (Women Sex Stimulant) Pleasure Enhancement drug.

Unnervingly enough, it boasted of being transparent liquid without smell that could be spiked in drinks without being aware of, which boasts of causing increased vaginal secretion & thirst of making love amongst other things. This particular item was openly available for 680 rupees. I was totally horrified.

With the active spread of word by people like me on twitter, flipkart took to action immediately and removed the product as well as the seller from its list and also apologized to those who pointed out.

My point remains, how did it get there in the first place?? Which means that they do not have a proper seller verification system in place? Which means tomorrow anyone may keep anything up on sale on the e-commerce portal and anyone is eligible to buy it. Imagine if that drug would have come into hands of a confused teenager?

This brings me back to my earlier question, are we Indian’s really ready for the technology jump? Is India well-equipped to manoeuvre such delicate issues? With a proper government in place and stringent norms in practice, my answer would be a yes. But Is it not, that having a non-corrupt governance a dream for India, which is yet to be achieved? In such a situation we Women hold an immensely important role in deciding the future of our coming generations, deciding how much is too much and imparting ethical values in our next generation boys and girls is the only sane solution right now that comes to my flummoxed incapacitated mind! Do you have any more ideas? Do not hesitate to post them in comments below or write me up at Hami Surani, fashionmate.in.

Hoping for a safer Techno-savvy India!