Dial 1252 for emergencies
An interesting experiment is set to take place in Mumbai. A firm called Topsline will launch a service on the lines of the 911 service in the US. If you’ve managed to escape the cultural hegemony of the US and don’t know what 911 is, it is an emergency response service. Anywhere within the country, whatever the emergency — fire, accident, heart attack, physical assault etc. one just has to dial 911 and they come to your rescue
The difference is that while 911 in the US is a government service, 1252 in Mumbai will be a private service, and this is why it will be an interesting experiment.
You have to pay the company and become a member to avail of its services. The charge is surprisingly low. Its only 100 rupees a month for a family. Besides, this is the kind of business where charges will probably go even lower. That’s because there are huge economies of scale here — the more people join the cheaper it is to maintain the facility. Secondly, my guess is that this is a business that has high set up costs and low running costs. These two put together mean that as more people join and as the initial costs are recovered, the prices wil fall, most probably spurred by competition.
But how many people will bother to sign up? Sceptics will ask, and I have no answer till Topsline actually tries it out.
I think that this is one of those rare cases where the government has an advantage over a private company in economics and feasibility. There are real advantages that society gets from a really universal service. The thing about 911 is that if someone sees an accident he just calls the number, informs whoever is at the other end and he can go on with his business with a clear conscience and an assurance that the problem will be handled. That can’t take place with the 1252 service because I don’t think they’ll let you use your membership to call in help for a stranger who is in trouble. Secondly, if there is an emergency those precious seconds which are wasted while they verify that you are a member (even if it is only to get some kind of membership number from you) could prove crucial. Besides, with competition there association of any particular number with an emergency will be lost (“1252? My neighbour’s house is on fire.” “Is he a member? Can I have his membership number?” “Oops. Sorry, we are members with you. They are members with someone else. I’ll call them….”)
Still, private enterprise, like love, has a way of conquering a lot of difficulties. So if it does succeed, this will be a good demonstration of private companies providing services which economists think can be reliably provided only by the government. If it succeeds, we’d have out-capitalisted the capitalists.
