A wave of crimes against children has panicked the growing middle-class parents’ community across India. As per the National Crime Bureau Report, crimes against school-going children in the age group of 0-18 years have risen from 14,975 in 2005 to 24,201 in 2009, with 8,945 cases of kidnappings and abductions, and 5,694 sex crimes. The situation in the southern state of Karnataka is no better, with 308 cases of crimes against children reported in 2009. In particular, parents of school children in the once garden city of Bangalore (pop. 7 million) are highly alarmed by the rising number of school-bus accidents, kidnappings of children from bus stops and reports of ill-qualified and often inebriated bus drivers ferrying children to and from school at high speeds.
Responding to this rising paranoia about the commuting safety of school-going children, Bangalore-based entrepreneur Bobbie Kalra, promoter and chief executive officer of Magnasoft India Pvt. Ltd (estb. 2000) — an IT company which offers geospatial and mapping services (headcount: 400) — has launched Northstar, a hi-tech school bus tracking and monitoring service.
According to Kalra, Northstar integrates a central server with a global positioning software-driven device with features such as an expected time of arrival (ETA) algorithm, a radio frequency identification card and a speed accelerometer, which is installed in school buses. “These features enable subscriber parents to track the location, speed and estimated time of arrival of buses at pre-designated stops. Parents receive SMS alerts to a maxi-mum of four times a day — from the time their child boards a bus to the expected time of arrival. Moreover, in cases of emergency such as a road accident, the system sends out information about hospitals, police stations and fire stations near the accident site. Additionally, extra cautious subscriber parents can login at northstar.magnasoft.in to track real time movement of their child’s bus,” says Kalra, an engineering graduate of Bangalore Institute of Technology. Over 20 schools including The Deen’s Academy, Little Flower Public and Presidency schools have installed Northstar in their buses.
Kalra is aware that Northstar is not the only student-tracker device on the market, with Keeptrak (offered by Mumbai-based Keeptrak Research Labs) among several others, rendering similar service. However, according to him, Northstar comes with several unique features. “Our software is the only product that offers ETA for which we have registered a patent. Another key service is driver history data. We are constantly working on improving the system because safety of children is an issue that cannot be compromised,” says Kalra.
Right on!
Swati Roy (Bangalore)