There’s a meeting? Text me.

India’s lower house doesn’t have an alarm to signal that a meeting is required. The only way for the legislators to know they are to be there is for people to either tell them when they see them or call them. This method, obviously, didn’t work very well.

How to get around this? SMS of course! With over 50 million of all the phones in India being mobile, text messaging is the fastest and easiest way to get important info to someone.

“This lets us contact them immediately,” Azad’s spokesman told Reuters on Thursday. “We are in the process of collecting the MPs’ mobile numbers. The drive is on.”

And it’s not just for the politicians. Citizens of India can also register complaints with the government-run water board instantly.

From water theft and contamination to broken pipes and tankers that fail to turn up to parched, waterless slums, customers can now register their complaints instantly, avoiding the traditional bureaucratic run-around, the board promises.

I just hope they don’t use Cingular. More bars in more places my ass.

Reuters Story

I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure–which is: Try to please everybody. -Herbert Bayard Swope

21.Apr.05 Government, Technology