Hand Sanitizers or Soap & Water?

Hand Sanitizers or Soap & Water?

Hand Sanitizers are one of those products that have been created to make money where none should exist. By 2015, the Hand Sanitizer market is expected to be almost worth 400 million USD. I have always felt that soap and water is a better and cheaper alternative to hand sanitizers for hygiene and  germ free environment. I wonder why health care professionals keep on pushing alcohol based sanitizers as a panacea for all infections and germs. This policy is flawed and needs to be junked.

My belief that no one actually needs a hand sanitizer was confirmed during my visits to two of the top hospitals in Boston. The reception of both the hospitals, like almost everywhere else in the hospitals, had prominently displayed hand sanitizers of a popular brand. The first hospital had the world ‘COMPLIMENTARY’ written above the sanitizer stations and the second one had messages that said something about ‘Clean hands and a Germ Free world’. During my short stay at both the places, I observed that more people were using the ‘Complimentary’ sanitizer and less at the second hospital. This implied that people don’t use a sanitizer for its hygiene related qualities but they do so as they feel they are getting something free.

So, what affects the behavior of people who use a sanitizer at a public place. The core issue is attitudes of people towards hand washing – either with a sanitizer or with soap and water. Behavioral Scientists will call it the Want-Should conflict. Most people feel that they should wash hands but when it comes to actually washing, they avoid doing so as they are in a hurry or think that they will use it at the next available opportunity.

Part of this problem is psychological. Most people suffer from cognitive biases that skew their judgment from risk. In the case of health care workers, research has shown that they maintain an ‘illusion of vulnerability’. Many of them are so confident of their immunity to infection that they ignore the fact that they are most vulnerable to come in contact with germs. Even memories are biased. They are able to recall instances when they didn’t wash and didn’t get sick. The actual instances when they were sick and had not washed are easily forgotten as other direct reasons are ascribed to the sickness.

Researchers at Michigan University have studied the variables affecting hand sanitizer use in public facilities. Loukas and Dixon in their experiment found that the psycho educational approach is a more effective means to promote behavior change with regard to use of hand sanitizers.  In the study they compared two sets of data, one of people using free sanitizers next to the revolving gate with posting of information relating to Swine Flu incidence in US. In the second instance, next to the sanitizer station there was a student volunteer with a manually operated sanitizer in hand, who would ask people to use the sanitizer and thank them profusely when they did. It was found that in the second instance, with a verbal cue and social praise by the student volunteer, the percentage of people using the hand sanitizers goes upto almost 52% as against less than 1 % when there is a sanitizer station with just messages pasted regarding the benefits of the use. Thus the reason for the use of a hand sanitizer is externally influenced.

In another interesting experiment, Adam Grant of the Wharton School and David Hofmann, of the Kenan-Flagler Business School, found that doctors and nurses are more motivated by messages that emphasize patients’ welfare rather than their own. Messages like “Hand hygiene prevents patients from catching diseases” were found to yield better results than the ones like “Hand hygiene prevents you from catching diseases.”

These behavioral and cognitive psychology insights are used by hand sanitizer manufacturers to drive their demand by make people paranoid about personal health care as also making issues like Swine Flu a major concern, worldwide.

Studies have also shown that that hand sanitizers are no more effective than soap and water in preventing infection and spread of cold and flu. Dr Ron Cutler of Queen Mary University of London and an expert in infection control says that, "People think they're more effective than water because you don't see advertisements for soap and water saying the percentage of germs they kill."  Thus the ease of recall and vividness of a sanitizer with regard to hygiene is forced upon through advertisements. The use of sanitizers is so much like the use of bottled water, preferable from the point of view of choice and convenience, but not necessarily essential for a country which has safe tap drinking water and where chances of infections are minimal.

So it is clear, Soap and Water is a better alternate to hand sanitizers.

Appreciating your effort in: "Narendra Kumar, IPS and what his sacrifice means for all of us"

Response received from Seema Das, PhD scholar on my blogpost on "Narendra Kumar, IPS and what his sacrifice means for all of us"

I received this comment on email on my blogpost and posting it here with due consent of Seema. I thank her for her candid views.

abhishek

Hi Mr Abhishek,

Thank you for your recent post in eBlogger, I appreciate your effort in reflecting the nexus underneath and its dangerous consequence to its own people and the society at large. I encountered it on my random search but it was worth a reading!

I tried to submit my thoughts in response to it, due to some system error I was unsuccessful. So, I am mailing you this.

I liked your write up, but I also disagree on some of your views.

Peeping into my school years, between 1997-2001 there was a tragic demise of a top Bureaucrat in the ministry of mines, in Delhi, that is equally filled with suspense. I remember reading this news from TOI. As I remember, an Orissa cadre IAS, who left for office with his assistant carrying his files/briefcase, but never reached his chamber. He jumped (but actually thrown, as we all know) from the 7th or 9th floor of his office building. It was made the shape of a suicide. But to me, even if suicide, what caused it is the determined principle to not to comply to corruption...This brave move of not surrendering to political pressure till the end is not even recognized by either the investigating agency or the class of Bureaucrats at that time. Are not there any culprits even if it is a suicide? So, there were people who are responsible for that tragic demise of a dutiful soul- The very essence is that it was and is a murder not suicide. And yes the issue was about mining lease in some western part of the state of Orissa. Now, the state is a safe heaven to mining rats (the hierarchy involving contractors, bureaucrats, ministers- I call all of them Mafias-I do not care if they are IAS bcoz they never cared to upheld and stick to their principles, like book worms they studied and passed the exam, but once there they forget the vow they had once taken to serve the people, serve the country.)

Looking in to the present, Yes now it is 21st century India....but did we change in any aspect...??? yes we try to westernize with regard to many aspects but the basic need is to value for a single worthy life (by worthy here I mean a soul that is filled with a positive dream a dream to change and care for; a honest, a daring and caring soul...) But for us a life has of no worth, we are selfish to say and think that it is their family who is going to sob and remember and we have our lot of work to do. To me one basic parameter for the evaluation of a progressive or developed country/state/society is how it cares for its citizens. Else there will be many brave Narendra Kumars who will face the same fate. It should be reflected not only among the people with power, but also with common public, every citizen. To be very specific to the recent tragedy and be very minute, there were people standing nearby (common public, the security/civic personnel assigned to the officer and even his service mates in near by police station), but everyone remained static, each depending on the other in the hierarchy to go ahead and act, each feeling helpless that how come he can act if his own security is not acting, and the security is itself hesitant to take the challenge to face the so called criminals at ground and rather cared about their pocket. I do not understand why the response time is so large even today. By no means it is the lack of communication equipment in todays society, rather it is the lack of strong will power and desire to fight and stand tall for a cause and be with the person fighting for a true cause. To me his own security personnel, his driver and the police staff in the nearby PS are equally responsible for his murder. Even more so because they are hold position, responsibility and duty but did not care to listen to its call. I lament the system that still keep them in their position and will never take action (if ever it will, it will be minimal).Strong action comes from a strong desire to change and I wonder if anyone wants to change the current system. I wonder what are we really gifting to the future generation.

In a state where the DIG and IG are downplaying the barbaric murder, what can YOU expect even if you inform these higher authorities who are already sold in the hands of politician... Yes you can go beyond but to what level..? If your colleagues/fraternity hate to stand by your cause even after your tragic and most sensitive demise....what can you expect when you are alive? What matters is whether the higher authority is honest and dutiful or a Mafia himself. So, the path is equally dangerous.... and you will fight a lonely battle with much more disgrace (the situation will be created by the same colleagues around you).

There are few options in this complex red tape system: surrender to what is going on-remain a mute spectator even if being part of the same organization, take action-get eliminated/or live disgraced, take action and your voice will be heard subject to a honest and upright officer at the upper level supporting ur cause and protecting you. The situation is not that easy. If there is such motivation to work with honesty, then I question where is the Bureaucratic fraternity? Why they did not take any step after this gruesome incident of the Brave Narendra Kumar,IPS? Can they stop signing any file or stop granting there permission to any illegal mission? At least in the mining sector, the cause that he was battling in his last moment; can they voice of any illegal work that that has been granted in the past, or the present? Why can't the IAS/ IPS fraternity stand together, stop suppressing the facts, and refrain from surrendering to the crime. Yes we all do mistakes at some point, but if we can realize and repent and transform at the earliest then it is the greatest achievement. Take with the whole machinery that is part of the system, the large mass that are/were employed in many other positions in the hierarchy. Yes it will (may) make the state machinery to stand still for some days, but then it is much better for a cause, for a transformation than the causes for which the state assemblies or The Parliament get stagnant.

And yes, it is tough to happen as many of the same fraternity are so intrinsic part of this corruption that they are literally blind to distinguish!

While preparing for IAS/IPS all might have studied Gandhian Philosophy but very few might have realized the meaning of Gandhian Philosophy of civil and yet peaceful disobedience, what transformation it can bring to the society. (* It may also go beyond the peaceful disobedience depending on the circumstance.)

Further, in a country where criminals are categorized on the basis of their status (we all know what this means), it needs shift in the basic perception. Realize the Indian history of great rulers, where law was kept same for all rather a person in the higher position breaking the law should be punished most severely. Because when the law makers are the law breakers there should not be any second thought. But, it is a pity that just the opposite happens here. Only people in the lower rung get caught or punished and the real culprits enjoy their freedom! It is a shame on the 21st Century Indian Administration!

Do not go there if you do not dare to fight, at least you will be relieved of the sins of being part of corruption by direct or indirect means. You do not have to fight with your inner principles every day of your life. Yes as we know most of us go there to serve the society but to me, you can very well serve the society even from outside. What you need is not power or authority or position but the strong will, the love and caring, the realization to understand someones plight, to serve the society. Yes about raising voice against corruption, it is too irrespective of whether you have authority or not, as mostly people with positions remain mute spectators; you can very well voice even from outside the system. Now, implementing the Rule: did they ever try to implement a rule that stops corruption, punish criminals, contribute in the progress of the Country in every aspect starting from science, education to agriculture...

Most of them thrive on the rule of self survival. As long as I am fine I do not care what happens to others. I am busy with my lot.

Except very few who try there best, for whom the Country is still running.

It is great to see that we Indians are so civilized in the 21st century India, that we can even snatch a father from his just to born baby and remain mute spectators. It was not a war fought with other country where the life is lost. It is the same people, the same country, right! Is not it a upliftment of our society, seeing how much we truly care and for whom we truly care in this Century? What if this incident (even if some of you accepting it as accident, which actually is not) can be taken as a starting point to curb the corruption on the very reason for which he lost his life, the mining and spreading the move to every other sector? At least the younger generation will not remember the present office holders as cowards!

There is a lot that can be penned down but I would like to stop it here for today.

Thank you for your patience in reading till this point. I appreciate it.

Best regards,

Das.

Public Service Delivery - Breaking the Tyranny of Ink Signatures

Public Service Delivery - Breaking the Tyranny of Ink Signatures

Public Service Delivery has always been plagued by many ills and the transaction level hardships which citizens face in accessing basic services cause a greater damage to the reputation of Government and Governance in general, more than anything else.

The core reason for many of these problems arises from the air of mystification about procedures concerning service delivery. Even today 9 of 10 people who have a valid driving license are not aware of the actual procedure of getting a license. In view of lack of information, perceptions of hassles involved in dealing with the licensing authority and general keenness to save time by adopting shortcuts, most of us prefer to take the middleman route by paying a premium of a few hundred rupees and getting a hassle free driving license. This becomes the norm rather than an exception and the result is for all of us to see in the scant respect that we have of traffic rules and the chaos that we see on our roads. The story is similar, for a ration card or a passport, and most of these service centers are characterized by long queues at delivery points which also require multiple visits. In most cases, outcome is always in suspense. No wonder, gatekeepers mushroom at every turn leading to poor quality of Service and thus Service becomes a Mercy rather than a Right.

The above situation magnifies manifold when one looks at the number of interactions a citizen has with the Government. Typically a farmer has almost 40 interactions with 8 Government Departments every year. An urban citizen has around 50 interactions with 10 departments; a medium industry will have 120 interactions with 20 departments. Similarly for large industry, students, senior citizens etc. The question that comes is that can we do anything to streamline these interactions and improve the experience that citizens have while dealing with the Government.

Actually there have been projects and interventions which have not only improved citizen service delivery but has also brought in efficiency, reliability and accountability in delivery of services. Some of these interventions include Railways, Banking, Bhoomi Land Records, MCA 21 etc. The underlying feature of all these initiatives has been use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in improving public service delivery. ICT helps to reach the unreached and reducing the cost of accessing services. It also directly results in bringing in transparency and thereby reducing corruption.

These e Governance initiatives which have leveraged ICT tools to improve service delivery have made significant advances in the last few years. Today almost all public offices up to the block level are connected on a dedicated Optical Fibre based State Wide Area Network (SWAN). With the linkages of SWAN with the Gigabit National Knowledge Network (NKN) and the proposed Bharat Broadband Network (BBN) which will connect all Panchayats with Optical Fibre, the necessary infrastructure with regard to connecting public offices is already there. The critical challenge here is ensuring uptime of the network and optimal utilization of the network for delivery of services. Further under State Data Center (SDC) project, data centers are being set up in all States. Already almost 16 States have the infrastructure in place and together with the capacity available nationally and use of technologies like Virtualization and Cloud Computing, storage is no more a challenge in electronic service delivery.

The most important component under National e Governance Plan (NeGP) has been the Common Services Centers (CSC) project. So far around 90,000 CSCs have been set up across the country. However, there are issues with regard to many of these centers primarily on account of challenges in getting connectivity, lack of power supply and inadequate number of G2C services, which directly impact the sustainability and viability of these centers. Inspite of the challenges that exist, more than 40,000 centers are reporting around 150 transactions per month and the total transaction volumes run into hundreds of crores. This infrastructure of CSCs and kiosks should be seen in light of the fact that the entire network has been primarily set up on a Public Private Partnership model and the actual expenditure by Government on these centers in the form of revenue viability gap funding has been less than 100 Crores. Worldwide, the CSC network is regarded as one of the biggest telecenter networks as the next biggest network is of less than ten thousand centers. The CSCs across the country have stood the test of time and are providing direct employment to around 100,000 youth. They have taken technology, innovation and entrepreneurship to the doorsteps of people living in the remotest rural areas of the country and there is a strong need for a policy push to support the entrepreneurs and Service Center Agencies to ensure their sustainability and viability. This network is a must for the overall e Governance strategy as they are the prime centers which will provide assisted access to people who do not have access to a computing device, connectivity or skills to access online services on their own.

The only way one can address the Governance challenges for better service delivery is to optimally leverage the e Infrastructure of SWANs, SDCs and CSCs. There is a push needed for enabling services on this network. The Mission Mode Projects (MMP), in particular, the e District MMP, seeks to achieve this. The idea has been to enable anywhere anytime delivery of online services without having to visit public offices. The strategy allowed people to apply for services from CSCs and get the services at CSCs through a web enabled application. The backend is automated to enable electronic data flow between public offices and issuance of digitally signed certificates and documents. This transformed Governance as there was no need for visiting a public office. What it also required was enabling Government Orders and Notifications which gave legal validity to digitally signed documents which anyway is applicable as per the provisions of the IT Act. Uniquely numbered and bar coded certificates – for birth, death, caste, income, records of rights etc enabled online verification of these documents also. This brought in a unique concept – as the age old conventional – ink signed and rubber stamped – certificates were no more the proof of an ultimate sarkaari document. Digitally signed and digitally verifiable documents proved to be much more simple, secure and verifiable. Shri J Satyanarayana, Secretary, DeITY, calls it Breaking the Tyranny of Ink Signatures!!

Infact the State of Andhra Pradesh, which has been a pioneer in IT and e Governance, has gone a step further in this direction. The Mee Seva project launched in November 2011 in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh is creating waves with regard to the paradigm shift it has brought about in public service delivery. What Mee Seva does is to focus on across the counter Service Delivery rather than applying for a Service and getting a Service later, even at a Common Services Center. Under the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, the State has framed Andhra Pradesh Information Technology (Electronic Service Delivery Rules) 2011, which enables authorized signatories to digitally sign the Certificates and Documents which are issued on secured stationary. Services are classified into two categories. Category A services are those that can be delivered across the counter by the Mee Seva operator, who is like the Village Level Entrepreneur of a CSC. Category B services are those which require back end operations from concerned office of the issuing authority. The Category B services are further classified into two categories based on the nature and back-end process involved for delivering the service. Category B1 services are those that can be moved to Category A from the second and subsequent request onwards. Category B2 services are those which are Transactional/Statutory in nature where Notices/Hearings/Field Inspections are required.

For a Service to be classified under Category A, the essential prerequisite is existence of an accurate and dynamic digital database which would enable the kiosk operator to deliver the service by accessing the information from a Secure State Electronic Certificate Repository (SECR) without asking for any supporting documents. Category B services are those for which no digital database is available. For these services, paper records may be available and there will be a need to scan, archive and digitally sign the record and place it in the SECR to move to the Category A. In some cases a field inspection or detailed enquiry may be required to confirm and corroborate the available information. In these services the applicant is required to submit supporting documents as per a predefined checklist. The Mee Seva architecture leverages all the components of NeGP – namely the SWAN, SDC, CSCs and the State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG). Its functionality includes having a single source of digital signature repository, payment mechanism and SECR. The strategy is to migrate all services – legacy, SSDG and e District on to the Mee Seva Platform. It provides a common interface for all Services. Within 5 months of its launch in Chittoor district, already 17 Services are available on the Platform and almost 180,000 transactions have taken place. Of the 17 Services, 5 are of Category A and 7 are of Category B. Almost one third of the transactions are of Category A. Together with B1 services, they account for almost 90% of transactions. Thus it is possible to ultimately ensure bulk of transaction in an across the counter mode. State has plans to add almost 50 more services to the Mee Seva platform and the initiative is almost ready to be launched in other districts of Andhra Pradesh. With porting of almost 50 SSDG services and the e District services, it is anticipated that almost 200 services will be available to citizens on the Mee Seva Platform. It’s an amazing achievement of Sanjay Jaju, IT Secy, AP and his team.

Once the services on such a platform are stabilized, it is possible to ultimately eliminate the requirement of any kinds of certificates to be submitted by citizens to various public authorities. After authenticating a citizen’s identity with something like a UID, it should be possible for Government databases to talk to each other and fetch information as required rather than making a courier of every citizen and making him deliver information between various public offices.

The above strategy is being incorporated in the National Rollout of e District Mission Mode Project and is expected that we will ultimately be able to improve public service delivery by Breaking the Tyranny of Ink Signatures.

Abhishek Singh

PS: Views expressed are personal

Narendra Kumar, IPS and what his sacrifice means for all of us

Narendra Kumar, IPS and what his sacrifice means for all of us!

The news of the killing of Narendra Kumar, IPS in Morena, Madhya Pradesh has shocked all of us. One cannot imagine that in the heart of India, criminals will have the audacity of running over a tractor over a senior police official. In such cases, one would normally assume that the driver of the tractor doing illegal mining, will run away and later the real benefactors will pursue with the police and administration to get the tractor released. The very act of this not happening and the brutal killing of the IPS officer points to a larger conspiracy. Mining has been a major area of corruption across the country. The stakes are high and we all know the powers that the illegal mining mafia wields in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh or Uttar Pradesh.

The reach and influence of the mafia can be gauged by just looking at the kind of people who are given the portfolio of mining across the States of the country. Normally, the most corrupt of the people, who are directly associated with the finances of the ruling party, handle this portfolio in the Council of Ministers. It is also common knowledge that even officials, both civil and police, lobby to get postings in districts rich in mining. In Uttar Pradesh, it was rumoured that postings in Sonbhadra district are actually auctioned. It points to a large scale nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and the mining mafia. This is an endemic problem and if it has to be resolved, it would require a firm resolve right from the top political leaders of a State. It is not up to a SDPO or a SDM to solve the problem. The issue at hand is no less than that of the liquor mafia or the coal mafia. We all know the influence exercised by liquor barons in Governments.

So what does this mean? Does it imply that field level officials can do nothing about such transgressions? What should a young SDM or SDPO do when faced with such challenges? We have been discussing this informally with colleagues in the IAS and I am thrilled at the resolve being shown by some of the younger officers. Infact, in the aftermath of the Morena incident, one suggestion came which called upon all field officers across the country to launch a concerted drive against all illegal mining, to seize vehicles and don’t release them for a long time. This would have a nationwide impact on the activities of the mafia and hurt them financially as the cost of hiring mining equipment is fairly high. There are colleagues who have pointed out High Court rulings which have upheld orders issued for penalizing Rs One Lakh per truck for illegal mining as also for penalties of Rs 48000 per truck for overloading. These orders were passed under Land Revenue Act and Section 133 CrPC.
Thus there seem to be sufficient legal legroom available to deal with such matters. We must use all legal avenues available to us to deal with this problem. Very often what bothers many of us is why political pressure is put to release vehicles that were seized for illegal mining or why there is a lot of interest of MLAs and Ministers in putting pressure on going easy on the mining mafia. The answers are simple. These guys are stakeholders – either direct or indirect. We must not forget that MLAs, MPs and Ministers are politicians and they are dependent on votes for their jobs. To win elections, they need a lot of people to work for them. After they win the elections, there is not much that they can do for their supporters. Even winning elections does not guarantee that his party will form the Government and even if the MLA is part of the ruling party, it is not guaranteed if he will get a ministerial berth. Even if he is lucky, it is not guaranteed that he will have a plum portfolio or a Secretary who will allow him to make money. Today, the investments required to contest elections is huge and given the low probability of recovering the investment it becomes a high stakes game for these guys. None of these guys are there for the love of the land – like Gandhi, Nehru or Bose in the pre 1947 era. Those freedom fighters quit lucrative professions for the risk of fight against the British. They had the lofty goal of Freedom to look up to. Today, I and You will not join politics nor will we let anyone close in our families to do so. Today only guys who have no other options left join politics. Or those leaders, popularly known as Youth Brigade or Baba Log, who are sons and daughters of politicians of yesterday who have a constituency to inherit.

With regard to ways to handle request of politicians, a senior politician in Uttar Pradesh told me an interesting story, a few years back. When I could not do some work for one of his supporters as the same was not possible as per rules, he told me that had the same been possible as per Rules, the person would not have gone to him. As per him, most of his supporters come to him for work that does not get done in the normal course of law and he cannot avoid making requests on behalf of his supporters. He felt it is upto officers to handle such matters. Infact in a way they do their job in following up on demands from their supporters. We must do our job in refusing to agree to requests or demands that are illegal. Unfortunately many of us agree to do things that are illegal as we want to please them in the desire of better career options or plum postings and at times for illegal considerations. No wonder, someone said some time back that when we are asked to bend, we crawl. That's where the problems start.

In order to how do we deal with such politicians, I would also recommend watching the Yes Minister Series again as it has some valuable lessons on how to deal with politicians! Also, one should know where to draw the line. We should never compromise on our principles. Normally the worst that would happen is a transfer! Incidents like the one in MP are sad and tragic. We have to be aware of the risks involved, be careful and keep our team and seniors informed when dealing with hard core criminals. Never try to take things individually. The might of the State must be used to deal with such elements. I can say that having dealt worse situations in Nagaland where even the armed forces also think before dealing directly with AK 47 wielding militants. Life is too big to sacrifice. You have lots to do. Ultimately, our jobs are important but not more than life and love of our near and dear ones. Use tact and law to deal with such situations. Bottom line is that don't ever think of doing something that can cost your life. It is not worth it. The Nation will forget you soon. How many of us remember Dr L V Reddy, IAS(85) who was killed as DC Kohima or Ved Prakash IPS (89) who was killed as SP Mokokchung or Dashrath IAS(94) who lost his life in Manipur or my batchmate and dear friend Ajay Singh who was killed as SP Lohardaga in Jharkhand. In almost all these cases, the guilty have neither been caught nor punished. The media and society will also forget you soon. Only people who grieve them every day and every year is their families. Moral of the Story - Please do take care in whatever you do.

Abhishek Singh
abhish18@hotmail.com

PS: Views expressed above are my personal.