New Tatkal rules aimed at curbing bots and bulk bookings, Pg9

Key Highlights:

• Indian Railways has introduced Aadhaar-based OTP authentication for all online Tatkal bookings.
• Agents are barred from booking Tatkal tickets for the first 30 minutes of the booking window.
• OTP will be sent to user mobile numbers during agent and counter bookings.
• The objective is to counter bots and unauthorised agents, ensuring fair access for genuine users.

Detailed Insights:

• 62% of AC and 66.5% of non-AC Tatkal tickets are booked within the first 10 minutes.
• Up to 50% of login attempts in the first five minutes are made by bots.
• Bots autofill details, bypass captchas, and outcompete genuine users.
• Online bookings have increased from 2 lakh in 2002–03 to 45.3 crore in 2023–24. These now form 83% of all ticket bookings.
• Mobile devices account for over 50% of online bookings (up from 1% in 2014–15).
• Railways detects 83 lakh logins daily, many during Tatkal hours.
• From 2019 to 2022, over 17,000 unauthorised agents were arrested.
• More than 2.5 crore user IDs have been deactivated for suspicious activity.
• Over 140 bot software tools have been identified by Indian Railways.
• Tatkal, Flexi fare, and Premium Tatkal together contribute over 5% of Railway revenue.

Mains Mock Question:

Q. Discuss the impact of technology on public service delivery using the case of Tatkal ticket booking in Indian Railways. What measures can ensure both accessibility and fairness in digital platforms?