Giridih, Sept. 10: Smart idea. Smart gadget. Not-so-smart users. That, precisely, is the sad story of a state that hitched a ride on the cyber shuttle without bothering to find out if anybody could take the wheel.
Overwhelmed by a nationwide movement to embrace information technology for better governance in 2000-01, a tech-savvy Inder Singh Namdhari, then Speaker of an infant Jharkhand, gifted all 81 members of his House the handy device called laptop. Strangely convinced that the legislators were lapping up the goodness of technology, Namdhari even replaced the old with new ones during the second Assembly in 2005.
Four years down the line, the state’s ambitious initiative has become a joke in itself with few MLAs knowing how to operate their portable notebooks. While some of the lesser beings make miserable attempts to veil their ignorance, most brazenly admit their inability to use the laptops. “Bandar ke haath mein nariyal de diya tha. Humlog kaise uska istemal karte, panch-chah mahine mein kharab ho gaya (It was like giving coconut to a monkey. We did not know how to use the machines and they were out of order in 5-6 months),” said four-time JMM MLA from Gandey Salkhan Soren. Industrialist-turned-politician and Giridih MLA Munna Lal was equally candid. “My laptop developed snag in 11 months.”
Dhanwar legislator Ravindra Rai settled for a politically correct answer instead of humble confession. “I am using it in janhit (for the good of my people),” he said, but vehemently refused to be photographed at work with his laptop. Controversial JMM MLA Jagannath Mahto followed in his colleague’s footsteps. “I am obviously using it for the purpose it has been given,” he said.
A source, not willing to be named, pointed out that the laptops rarely gave their owners company because they were either in a state of no-use or in the possession of some smarter young relative. The few MLAs who still personally savour the sop can either watch movies or play games preset by a bunch of bright aides.
JMM MLA from Jugsalai and former land and land revenue minister Dulal Bhuiyan was a tad honest. “The laptop was used by my personal assistants as I was unaware of its functions,” he said, adding that he had returned the machine within two years of receiving it.
Jamshedpur MP Arjun Munda, former HRD minister Bandhu Tirkey, state Congress president Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu and Hazaribagh’s Saurabh Narayan Singh are a handful politicians at ease with technology. While Munda has his blog, Singh and the others have email accounts that they use liberally as and when required to push demands.
Bagoder MLA Vinod Singh raised a valid point. He said while the state distributed laptops, it never considered training its users. So, till the state seriously considers educating its legislators in technology, the laptops bought for a couple of crores will continue to languish in some dark corner of a cupboard or in the hands of some over-ambitious youngster.
Training or no training, there is no dearth of positive thinkers though. “Laptop hifazat se ghar mein rakha hai. Sikh lenge to istemal karenge (The laptop is safe at home. I will start using it as soon as I learn how to),” JMM’s Potka legislator Amulya Sardar said.
