Aadhar Card: A mockery?

Came across this news which left me wondering whether I should laugh or worry about pathetic situation.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Dogs-trees-and-chairs-have-Aadhaar-cards/articleshow/20359001.cms

The news highlights the examples of incidences where in place of any person's face on Aadhar Card, pictures of a tree, dog or an empty chair had been put. Even under extremely flexible situation, I could understand a picture of an empty chair in place of person's face. By mistake a photo is clicked even before person sits in place and so an empty chair appearing.And then without giving any second thought, the same picture is put up on the card. But how can you put a picture of a dog or a tree in place of person's face. Where and how did you clicked that photo?

One thing I realized is the people who are working on processing these Aadhar cards are not really trained properly to carry out these procedures and neither are their instruments in that good working conditions. It is really difficult to find a single card with a decent photograph of the person. My mother recently managed to go through the procedure and when she showed me the photograph taken and printed on the receipt, it took me few minutes to recognize the photo and match it with mother's face. When she was asked to give the prints of her fingers in biometric, the instrument was not recording the prints even after trying many different  ways. Ultimately, some body suggested to put some Vaseline on her hands and then only her prints were recorded. Sure, she got through the act, but it must have affected the instrument and so the biometric process  of other people in line.

I am still wondering why are working on this new type of card. Every body now a days have PAN cards. Why not just make it more efficient to cover up all the things that Aadhar card will do. All ready PAN cards are taking care of all the financial activities of a person. Well that's just my view. I am not expert to understand the differences and necessities of separate cards for different purposes.  But when ever I manage to find the center for Aadhar card and sneak in the line to get my Aadhar card done, I will prefer to take my own photo.

How is your experience by the way?

Grenoble, France

IPL6 Teams - Winner and Runner

IPL final took place yesterday and Mumbai Indians won their first ever IPL title. With all the new updates coming about the involvement of  CSK chief being involved in the spot fixing racket, almost every body around for some reason were speculating MI to win this years title. And their win pretty much confirmed the speculations. Somehow IPL 6 ended on little lesser interesting note. Even the way yesterday's match progressed did not helped to think about it other way round. I was little disappointed with yesterday's match. Only thing that I found intact and more on its regular coarse was the way Dhoni stayed on the crease till the end trying to work out a difficult possibility of winning.

One thing on the other hand is sure. MI and CSK were the two deserving teams to fight for the Championship. Both the teams performed better than all others and stood as top two teams in the list. They played good cricket over the whole series. While CSK as always looked more consistent, MI after few initial losses regained their composure as Rohit Sharma wore the Captain's cap.

Runners in IPL 6- Chennai Super Kings

A lot is happening with CSK brand. Their Chief himself has been dragged in to spot fixing controversy and so has created negative impression about the team. If we talk only about Cricket team, I think CSK is one team that stands different from all others in the same way as Australia used to be few years back compared to other teams. CSK has always been consistent. It has managed to win IPL most number of times and also played maximum number of finals out of 6 played till date.  One good thing about the team is people can connect with the team, because it hasn't really changed in these years. Dhoni has always been the face of the team. A very mature, calm and positive attitude towards the game, are the qualities he brings on ground with him. He handles situations very well and never let pressure rule his mind. Under him, CSK really has flourished. He equally supported the young as well as old players in the team. On one side, Murali Vijay made his name while playing for CSK, an old player like Mike Hussey also got so many opportunities that he is an orange cap bearer. Other players like Raina, Bravo, Jadeja have been exceptionally consistent in their performance.  Though Badrinath could not keep up with his earlier performance this year, Dhoni showed faith in him. Ashwin made it large only because he got chance to perform in CSK and now a new bowler Mohit Sharma is on his way to knock the doors of India Cricket team. I think, even if CSK couldn't win this years title, every body would consider them champions. In spite of what's happening around, I consider this team in high standards under the able leadership of Dhoni. 

Winners in IPL 6 - Mumbai Indians

This team has always intrigued me. A team with all big guns but took 6 years to touch the trophy.

I really appreciate the way Ambani's have handled this team. I never heard him putting any kind of pressure on the team and criticizing them for their performance as we saw happening with RCB or DC or KKR. The team was doing every thing right over the years but somewhere it never clicked enough to make it till the end. No doubt, the team was centered around Sachin. More than half of MI's popularity comes because of Sachin. After initially representing MI, he decided to pass it over to others and concentrate solely on his game. It worked for him but MI never had any able Captain to lead, After trying other players Pollock, Harbhajan Singh and Ricky Ponting for Captains Cap, finally they seem to have settled down with Rohit Sharma. Rohit has really pulled it well and managed to make MI look a consistent team. Since his nomination as the Captain, the team has won most of the matches with almost a perfect record on their home pitch. I believe, the team is now secured at least with the Captain's position. Becoming Captain has some how helped Rohit also. His performance has improved many a folds. Indeed Captaincy pressure works well for some players. The team has a very strong batting line up going down till 9th position. The only problem is except for few like Dinesh Karthik, not every body tries to be consistent. On their day, they would win the game for the team, but one can  not be sure when that day rises.

I believe MI had one of the best bowling line up. With Mithcel Johnson and Malinga in the team, I believe, it could be the best pace attack to face. And with the inclusion of Pragyan Ojha, the spin attack got even better that earlier depended solely on Harbhajan Singh. MI even tried giving opportunity to upcoming bowlers and Batsman which is one good thing I have noticed with MI.  Players like Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayadu, Abhishek Nayar, Saurabh Tiwari were first introduced  by MI. Even now, new names like Aditya Tare, Rishi Dhawan, Dhaval Kulkarni are getting known because of MI. In addition to creating opportunities for young players, team has also tried to support activities of social cause that makes MI stands out from other teams. 

Over all, IPL 6 ended on a note which sounds mixed with positve as well as negative impressions. On one side, spot fixing issue has really blackened the face of the Cricket, but on the other side there are so many positive outcomes of this league which would help Indian Cricket in the long run. Somewhere, I got a feeling that mixture of glamour and Cricket hasn't gelled very well. Cricket is Gentleman's game and by adding glamour to it, has actually tried to spoil this gentleman image of the game. If the extent to which the glamour should be added with Cricket can be controlled, probably there will be lesser controversies coming in way of Cricket. Well that's just my speculation.

Mastricht, Netherlands

IPL6 Teams - Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals lost its way yesterday in the race of IPL. They lost their qualifying match for Finals to Mumbai Indians.

Rajasthan Royals is one team which always is considered underdogs. But it is the same team which slowly and quietly went up to the stage and lifted the cup in the very beginning season of IPL. Since then it has tried to perform on different levels. 

Though Shilpa Shetty is the face of the team, she hasn't been that upfront as Preety Zinta is for Kings XI Punjab. Earlier, Shane Warne was the Captain of the team who brought them glory by winning the cup. Now, the team is in the able hands of Rahul Dravid. 

Dravid has done a commendable job not only as a Captain but also as an opener for the team. He has totally changed his batting style and showed all that he can be equally aggressive as others but at the same time he did it by playing technical shots he is known for. He not only lead the team till qualifiers, but also gave opportunities to youngsters and others who other wise won't get chance to play at higher level.

I remember him giving an opportunity to a 41 year old guy Praveen Tambe  as a lead spinner. Surely, if Praveen was playing his first ever big match at 41, this was the biggest break he could ever get.  In contrast, RR introduced Sanju Samson to the world at the age of 18. Rahul not only allowed him to play but also gave full support to be a back bone of the middle order. No wonder, Sanju used the opportunity to become the youngest player to score a half century in IPL.

What I liked about the team is it is bringing up players who can play well at IPL levels but who also are technically sound in their game. Either you consider Sanju Samson or Ajinkya Rahane, they look good while playing technical shots, but they also maintain the required run rate in control.

And when these players get a support from big hitters like Shane Watson, Faulkner and Stuart Binny, their batting line starts look impenetrable. Brad Hodge and Kevon Cooper give the team that extra edge allowing the team to be among top fours.

The team on the other hand was very weak with the bowling attack. Except for Watson, there was no other big name to begin with. But addition of Faulkner brought some substance to the attack. The three black spots on the team Shreesanth, Chandila and Chavan all made a part of bowling attack. Their exit left the team with less options to plan their attack. And this is where team failed yesterday when they required some specialist spinners to control Mumbai Indians. As a result, team is out of the competition.

I believe the team has great potential to be a perfect team and it sets an example how a gentleman's game is supposed to played.

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin

IPL6 - Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers Hyderabad is the latest team which got knocked of the competition for IPL cup. In yesterday's eliminator match, Rajasthan Royals some how managed keep their challenge going by defeating Sunrisers in a low scoring match.

Sunrisers Hyderabad is a new name in the competition. But the team is old. Its just the earlier Deccan Chargers team with a new owner from Sun group.

Deccan Charger was the second team to win IPL cup in season 2. Gilchrist brought the team together after a poor show in season I. Since then team has pretty much performed badly to an extent that the management decided not to retain any player and go for complete make over. In recent days, its either Sangakkara or Cameron White who represent the team. This season as Sunrisers, the team actually turned out to be a good and quiet team who slowly kept performing with out making anyhateadlines and sneaked into top four teams. 

Sangakkara played in few initial matches but later on it was White who represented the team. I really wonder what makes Sanga feel  he should not be among playing 11. He is a good player, with a potential to play according to the requirement of the situation. In contrast I don't really feel White is a Captain material. He plays once  in a while great inning but other wise I feel he fails to impress his team mates.

The team has found a good opening pair in the form of Dhawan and Parthiv. They really tried their best to give a good start to the team. Other than these, the team had Thesera Perrera who made himself useful every now and then. Rest of the batting squad was disappointing.

The team on the other hand had a very strong Bowling squad. In the Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma, the team got a very good opening bowling pair. They really managed to put an incredible pressure on the opponent batsmen. The team had a strong spin attack with Amit Mishra as their trump card. Its just a bad luck that Sunrisers could not go beyond position four in the season. But the way the team pulled up and managed to reach top four in their first ever attempt is a big success. I believe if they decide to go ahead with pretty much same team squad, they will surely make it big in coming seasons.