Jail Chalo site Bharo
By Bala Shah

Regular readers of Techgoss are well aware that a large number of our articles are crowd sourced.  People send in tips, photos, story ideas and even articles. Many of our contributors have full times jobs in IT - ITES, and so prefer using a pseudonym.  A Techie Tipster who prefers we only publish his first name Pramod wrote in

“     
Before I start, I want to make it very clear that I am a great supporter of the Anna Lokpal Bill and his anti corruption movement.  He is the closest thing our generation has to Gandhiji.

One of the many prongs in Anna’s tech savvy online media team’s multi pronged online campaign is their Jail Chalo website.  More than 150,000 people have signed up. 

There are huge chain emails being circulated in IT / BPO companies to logon to the Jail Bharo website and sign on even if only 5 percent will actually go and court arrest.  The thought also counts.

As of the afternoon of Dec 27 (today), in the tech hub of Andhra Pradesh 6768 had signed on, Delhi and NCR (tech hubs Gurgaon and NOIDA) has 22601 registrations, Maharashtra (tech hub and Anna’s home state) had record 33,000 registrations, Silicon Valley Karnataka had 15,000 registrations of people offering to get arrested.

As you can see, wherever there is a tech hub, people are online and mobilized for this great cause.  But most are only offering moral support by signing on when the Chain Letter reaches them at work or home.  Only when the Jail Bharo starts will be see how many of these huge sign ons from Tech hubs go to jail

The Jail Chalo Facebook page has some instructions which have me scratching my head.  One of the instructions is ‘Don’t try to face media’.  I thought media was good for Anna’s great movement.  Another instruction is ‘If media interviews you – Talk only of Jan Lokpal Bill and not India Against Corruption (the organization behind the movement)’.   And in case a Techie or BPO worker gets the wrong idea there are clear instructions ‘Don’t alight on the way to Jail’.
“

Pramod, thanks for a great Tip.  Rs. 1000 has been couriered to Pramod for this interesting insight.

Know of any such incidents in the IT / BPO sector?  Email us with the details. Your anonymity is guaranteed is you so desire.

(Tipsters, Big thank you for all your news Tips.  Do you have a story to tell? If you need to speak to us in confidence or write for us, email us at techgoss[at]hotmail. Or use the Anonymous Tip form at the top of our website. Anonymity guaranteed. We pay Rs. 1000 for 100 – 200 word snippets. Unfortunately, we cannot use any tips which are not backed up by enough facts)