Railway minister Suresh Prabhu might just be typing a tweet to PM Narendra Modi. saying, “Aaj khush toh bade honge tum!” and why not? When was the last time social media was buzzing and throwing up a politician’s name for ‘good’ reasons?
Given the ‘prompt response’ to tweets from Indian railway passengers expressing their woes, the digitally savvy Railway Minister’s office has come under the spotlight.
While we applaud and encourage such tech savvy ministries, there is another important aspect that we should not overlook. What percentage of Indian railway users are on Twitter? Unlike Facebook, Twitter has a niche number of takers. So is there a bias towards Twitter? And what about the archaic forms of communication that more than 70 percent of Indians still rely on?
Remember the Good Old Complaint Portal?
Although grievances from Indians come in extreme forms, there are quite a number of them who still go and fill up the ‘Feedback form’ or the ‘Grievance column’, or send an e-mail to the complaint id. But, the question is, how promptly are those responded to? Or are those mails and letters even read?
Time for Some Stats
This clearly shows how many passengers, travelling by Indian Railways, can possibly have access to Twitter, if they want to reach out to the Ministry of Railways.
Indian Railways’ Tweet Trophies
The Big Question
We all have filled in feedback forms at the end of long train journeys, and I’m sure many of us have also complained about several woes. Whether those matters were addressed or not, is not known to us. So, on what basis is the priority of complaints judged?
Majority of Twitter users might have travelled by the Indian Railways sometime or the other, but not all Indian Railway passengers are necessarily on Twitter.
So, what could be their way to reach out to the Ministry of Railways, or the person concerned on time?
Since the Ministry of Railways is already doing a good job, maybe its time they also focus on concentrating on the non tech savvy population of this country.
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