The Pre-paid fiasco

On reading a headline “Pre-paid service in Kashmir to be stopped” I did not understand what exactly the Government of India wants to do. If they think this will curb terrorist activities, I have no definite reply.

For what does the Government expect to achieve from this, it is not exactly clear. On top of this, the Honourable Home minister has also said that a similar policy might be introduced in the insurgency-hit North-Eastern states. By a logical extension, this might be extended to the Naxal-affected central Indian states, and eventually, to cities like Delhi and Mumbai, which have been periodically rocked by terrorist attacks.

Now, it must be obvious to our authorities that misuse of pre-paid SIMs and lax verification procedures are by no means confined to Kashmir or the North-East or the Naxal-affected hinterland. Indeed, the trouble is prevalent in our very metropolitan areas. For this very reason, our Government plans to cut connections to cellular phones without valid IMEI numbers.

Pre-paid SIMs are far more preferred over post-paid ones, because they enable the user to keep track of how much they have spent and how much they need to conserve and economise. They can be easily used by people on the move. Moreover, pre-paid connections can be discontinued at will. This is the key feature that anti-national groups misuse.

Also, it must be noted that over the years, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have become slowly alienated from the Indian mainstream due to various errors of omission by our polity. At a critical juncture like today, when we have the best chance of getting the people of India’s northernmost state back to India’s soul, we can seldom risk a chance of repeating history. If the government has real and valid reasons against pre-paid connections, I have an advice for them: Ban it throughout India.

For, then only our authorities will see the dent in India’s superpower image. Foreigners, whom we love to sucker up to so much, will say, “Here is an aspiring country which denies technology in part of its country.”

I do not deny that the Government’s decision can be right. But historical milestones are seldom decided by right and wrong intentions. One faulty move made on our part and we may have to regret it for the rest of our existence. We must carefully weigh the consequences of our actions.

Let us hope that we are guided more by our heads and less by our instincts.