Processes Archives - understand-culture

Faceless Assessment

On August 13, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a platform called Transparent Taxation, Honoring the Honest. “Faceless assessment and taxpayer charter are applicable starting today,” he said, as reported by Business Insider. He added: “The possibility of familiarity or influence will now be zero.”

Faceless appeals followed in September 2020. The Press Information Bureau stated: “There will be no physical interface between the taxpayers or their counsel/s and the Income Tax Department.”

No Room for Touts

In September 2012 Business Standard told the story of a woman who had applied for her first passport ten years earlier. “She could have escaped the drudgery had she engaged a tout, but he had asked for Rs 4,000,” the paper wrote. Touts and middlemen, it added, “would take multiple reservations on fake names and clog the system.”

Passport Seva Kendras, new passport service centers, began as a pilot in April 2010. “This has also meant that there is no room now for touts and agents,” Business Standard wrote in 2012. In a 2015 interview, the chief passport officer, Muktesh Pardeshi, said: “we cannot boast of completely eliminating malpractices from any society.”

The Flyover That Opened Early

In January 2021 the Vyttila flyover in Kochi was ready. Onmanorama reported that “all civil works, including the load test, had been completed.” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was scheduled to inaugurate it on January 9.

On January 5, unidentified people threw the flyover open to traffic. That night the police arrested Nipun Cherian, a coordinator of the citizens’ group V4 Kochi, and three others. The group denied that it had opened the flyover. The Chief Minister inaugurated it on January 9.

Yes, Sir

Ji huzoor. Yes, sir. The Rekhta dictionary translates it as “Ok Sir.” It says the phrase is spoken in reply to someone’s words, either with respect or as flattery.

Ji huzoori means saying ji huzoor. Rekhta gives its English meanings as “flattery, highly obedient, sycophancy.”

Paid to Teach a Disciple

In 2003-04 India’s Ministry of Culture introduced the Guru Shishya Parampara scheme. Guru means teacher, and shishya means disciple. The scheme aims to “preserve and promote rare and vanishing art forms” in classical, folk and tribal arts. A master teaches pupils, and the guru receives a monthly payment under norms set by the ministry.

The Musical Family

Gharana means family or lineage. In Hindustani music, a gharana is a community of performers who “share a distinctive musical style that traces to a particular instructor or region,” in the words of Britannica. Traditionally, disciples moved into the home of their teacher.

A study of how Hindustani vocal music is passed on, from Macquarie University, found that teachers instruct their students “largely without the aid of writing or notation.”

Work to Rule

On August 10, 2018, the motormen of Mumbai’s suburban trains on Central Railway protested by working to rule and refusing overtime. They did what the rules required and nothing more. Between 100 and 200 local trains were cancelled that day, the Press Trust of India reported.

In May 2026 the train managers of Central Railway used the same method to protest a safety circular. They began “strictly adhering to rulebook procedures,” the Free Press Journal reported. This led to the cancellation of three local train services.

Knowledge Transfer

In Indian IT, KT stands for knowledge transfer. HRKatha, an Indian HR news site, reported on a laid-off developer whose main task during his notice period was KT, “training other developers to take over his work.”

IT professionals in Pune complained to the Free Press Journal about notice periods of 90 days. One of them said: “The maximum time it takes for Knowledge Transfer (KT) can be 15–20 days.”

By Estimate

Andaaza. An estimate. The Rekhta dictionary gives its meanings as “estimation, rough estimate, guess,” among others.

The Bengal Story remembered one woman as a traditional cook, “all instinctive estimates or ‘andaaz’ and the sniffing of the frying masala.” A Penguin India book on family food says of another household: “No one used a recipe book or measured quantities when cooking.”

The Oxygen Langar

In April 2021, as Covid-19 patients in Ghaziabad failed to secure hospital beds, the gurdwara in Indirapuram began to give them oxygen. The initiative began on April 23. The NGO Khalsa Help International led it. Langar is the word for the community kitchen of a gurdwara.

ThePrint reported that the oxygen langar was helping at least 400 people every day. Patients received oxygen “till hospital bed is not allotted to him or her,” The Tribune reported.