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How A Consultancy Firm's Unique Behavioural Science Approach Helped Reducing Track Crossing Deaths In Mumbai Since December 22, Wadala Railway Station – where there would otherwise be at least one track death or injury a day – hasn't witnessed a single casualty. While there haven't been any drastic changes in infrastructure, the Railways have put one thing in place: a mind game. Following Mumbai Mirror's 'Keeping track' campaign and various failed initiatives by the Railways, a Mumbai–based consultancy called Final Mile swung into action. The company, which provides behavioural science solutions, began analysing the places where trespassing deaths are a regular phenomenon. Behavioural architects Satish Krishnamurthy and Jayal Shroff, who work for Final Mile, spent more than 100 man hours on various CR stations. "We spoke to commuters, motormen and local residents. We didn't ask them any obvious questions like why people cross tracks. We preferred observing their habits and the situations that lead them to it. Most of the accidents took place during peak hours, 8 am to 11 am and 4 pm to 9 pm. That meant most victims were in a hurry to catch a train. Around 85 per cent of the victims were male, who tend to be overconfident about their behaviour," explained Krishnamurthy. Through their research, they came up with some easy-to-implement solutions they hoped to try as an experiment, and when they approached Central Railway, they were given a go ahead. "As long as we were able to save lives, we were open to all kinds of experiments. The firm spoke about changing the ways in which commuters act and for us it was another effort to save lives, so we provided them with all the support they needed," said CR chief public relations officer Shriniwas Mudgerikar. The two chose to initiate their experiment at Wadala Station, which had shown a 25 per cent increase – the highest – in the number of trespassing accidents in the last one year. "We found out that on an average, 25 people crossed the tracks at this station every minute, which increased to 45 during peak hours. There were long walkers who walked along the tracks and cross walkers who tended to quickly jump across to reach the other side. Surprisingly most of the accidents had taken place in broad daylight," added Krishnamurthy. In October last year, the team began implementing its plans – putting up a series of photographs of a man as he is crushed by a train; putting up whistle boards 150 metres away from accident–prone spots, from where all motormen must blow a horn; and painting bright yellow stripes on the tracks so trespassers can gauge the speed of approaching trains. These installations were in place by the end of December, and so far, the results have been phenomenal. "The project is at an experimental stage as of now. We will try it out for some more time, and if the success continues, we will implement it at other stations, too," concluded Mudgerikar. CHANGE 1: Countering the flight response A three-panel photograph of a man being run over by a train has been put up at the end of the platform, where people are usually tempted to cross tracks. Behavioural architect Jayal Shroff said, "The idea was to elicit an appropriate emotional memory, where a fear to face the situation would deter people from crossing the tracks." Shroff and her team came up with the idea after they observed that commuters had become blind towards the warning signs put up at railway stations. "The phenomenon works at an unconscious level, where people imagine themselves in such situations and would be alert about the danger. The idea is not to stop them from crossing, but making them alert if they do," she added Change 2: Cocktail party effect The theory says the brain isn't wired to do two activities simultaneously. "A person will be able to register one train approaching, but might not register the one on the adjacent track. A sudden honk confuses them instead of alerting them. Thus, we installed whistle boards just ahead of Wadala Station – 150 metres away from the usual accident spots – and motormen have been advised to give two short, rapid honks," said Satish Krishnamurthy Change 3: A combination of Leibowitz Hypothesis and Looming Effect The theory says large objects appear to move slower than small objects and people can't judge their speed. "Commuters fail to realise the speed of trains. To solve this, we painted a sequence of railway sleepers in bright yellow at regular intervals. And when the train approaches, our eyes catch them disappearing under it, which helps the brain get a better idea of distances and how fast a train is moving," said Shroff And How This Unique Idea Actually Resulted in Drops in Death Rates on Tracks Our interventions along with the Central Railway efforts have managed to bring down death rates by as much as 70% in some sections. The success of this approach hinges on two important factors. Big behavioural problems don't need fancy solutions with large budgets and huge resources, but a fundamentally different approach that is designed on the unconscious. That is your big idea. And secondly, the biggest success of this approach hinges on the fact that it is possible to change behaviour of people without them even being aware of the fact that we are changing their behaviour.

NPCI opens floodgates for mobile payments in India source :: http://www.moneylife.in/article/76/11456.html

To check a particular RSN number’s activation date and its mobile number. Send the following SMS to 53738: ODR RSNNUMBER (This trick would really work when your mobile phone is lost and you want to check its status) To check date of activation of a particular mobile number: Send the following SMS to 53738: ODM MOBILENUMBER To check the status of an RSN number. Send the following SMS to 53738: GETSTAT RSNNUMBER (This code reveals the status of your handset. Whether it’s reported lost or so on..) To check your application status: Send the following SMS to 53738: STAT RSNNUMBER (This is really useful when you purchase a new handset and you wanna check the status of its application )

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You should also ask them for compensation for all this harrasment.