What on earth is a KRA ?

I am in trouble because my KRA with CDSL consequent to having submitted some change of KYC, is apparently pending, which I have no recollection of. Therefore I am stuck with my DP who is quoting arcane SEBI rules to make my life miserable.

 

If you don't understand one word of all this, welcome to the club. I don't understand it either ! And I am supposed to know something of finance !!

 

This perfectly sums up the status of how consumer unfriendly the financial sector in India has become. Try doing anything - opening a bank account, or buying a mutual fund  or even changing your address. You will tear your hair in frustration. Such is the state of affairs.

 

This is all because Ramamritham and his political masters have , over the last five years, exclusively been framing rules for catching Kasab.  The starting assumption is that everybody is a Kasab unless they prove otherwise. Rules and procedures have become so complex that an honest simple  man has no chance of understanding, let alone complying.  No wonder that the percentage of the population which even has a bank account is miniscule - fat chance the RBI has of achieving financial inclusion. To understand why they are failing, all they have to do is go and try to open a bank account themselves.

 

I have a Passport Number, a Aaadhar Number, a PAN, a DIN, an IEC, a Cust ID, a DL No, a ST No. It appears that is not enough for Ramamritham. I now need a KRA.

 

Laws must not be framed for the law breaker. They have to be framed for the vast majority who will follow the law if given a chance. Yes, crooks must be caught, but it is even more important to make it simple for the 99% of the population who are not crooks.

 

A beautiful example of killing an entire industry is what they have done to Internet Cafes. In a country like India with a miniscule computer population, but  burgeoning educated class, you would expect a zillion internet cafes at every street corner. No chance. Have you wondered why ? This is what an idiot who wants to start an internet café has to do.

 

• Every cyber cafe owner has to register and obtain a  licence
• Every user who comes to the café has to prove his ID. 
• The cyber cafe owner has to maintain a log of every user, his ID, his photo, and sundry particulars
• The owner has also to maintain a log and submit the return of the log each month of
• History of websites accessed using computer resource at cyber cafe
• Logs of proxy server installed at cyber cafe
• Mail server logs
• Logs of network devices such as router, switches, systems etc. installed
  at cyber cafe
• Partitions of Cubicles inside the Cyber Cafe should not exceed four and half feet in height from the floor level. The screen of all computers shall face the common open space of the Cyber Cafe.
• Cyber Cafe owner must ensure that all the computers are equipped with    safety / filtering software so as to the avoid access to the websites relating to     pornography, obscenity, terrorism and other objectionable materials. Cyber Cafe shall take sufficient precautions to ensure that their computer resource are not utilized for any illegal activity.
• They will be visited and inspected every now and then to ensure that they are complying with rules (of course, those visiting are extremely honest and straightforward and there is no question of a bribe)

Now you know why there are no internet cafes to be found anywhere. I am yet to determine whether they need a KRA too !!