Digital India — A user experience
2022 brought in an experience worth sharing.
In the midst of new-year revelry & travel plans, I lost my card holder which had the following original documents (11 of them in total):
- PAN Card
- Aadhar Card
- Voter ID
- Amex Credit Card
- Citibank Credit cards (2)
- Tata Card (1)
- Driving License
- Debit cards for three banks (3)
Quite a setback. Searched everywhere — car, office, home, bags, trousers — but no luck with it.
Imagine risking all your credentials in the wrong hands or subject to misuse. Had to block it first and seek the process of reissue of all my credentials.
Now the ordeal started of contacting each service provider with a distinct possibility of not having all card details handy. Ordeal, I said. However, read on further.
First the easier part. It took 20 minutes to block my credit cards thanks to online access. Next I was fearing a longer time & red-tapism for the government credentials to be blocked / reissued.
I went online & in a span of 10 minutes flat, I was able to give my mobile number / email address and had all the documents requested for reissue. A small payment of ₹50 each for PAN card reprint & Voter ID reprint and I was secured with original documents being reprinted and despatched to me.
Contrary to what we believe — that dealing with the government could be an ordeal or trouble — my experience was pleasant and very friendly. The reason I share this experience here is because we must acknowledge the good things around us and express our gratitude. A few takeaways for me are below:
- Zero red-tapism — direct access to address all queries online.
- Ample security protocols: mobile, OTP, email log-in, DOB — all to ensure there is a safety net.
- No wait in a queue at a call centre — flat 10 minutes for all three documents.
- No personal interface (sometimes that could be tricky for the older generation).
I believe this is a true experience of #digitalindia bracing up to the digital challenges. Kudos to the team who put these things together.
Is that all to this story? Wait. After doing all this and having a good night’s sleep, I woke up to hear it from our maid handing over the card holder to me — saying it was left in my jacket which had gone for a dry clean.
So much for my reckless behaviour of not being careful of my original credentials, and so much for the great support from the system to have made things so friendly and accessible.