Getting a Learner's Licence: Expectations Vs Reality

Aditya Kharbanda
Oct 17, 2021
5 min read

Getting one's official documents registered is an easy task these days. Why? Because EVERYTHING happens Online! So, I guess getting a Learner's Licence must also be an easy process, right?........RIGHT???

Ummmmm, No.

Well, this blog is all about explaining the minutest details behind this "NO" and how you can get your learner's licence by actually KNOWING the complete process and by not repeating the mistakes that I made.

Let's start

Note: This blog is Faridabad specific (since most of my readers are from there). Nevertheless, I'm sure you'll benefit from the blog in any case whatsoever.

What you're supposed to do:

Apply for a Learner's Licence at https://parivahan.gov.in/parivahan/
Enter details, upload a photo, signature beforehand and book a slot for the LL test at your nearest centre.
Pay the required payment. In my case, it was 650 Rupees as I applied for both a car and a bike licence (speaking in a more official tone, I applied for the LMV-NT and MCWG licence)
Watch the 1hr 30mins "first aid training" videos at respective Red Cross websites for states. Haryana Red Cross website (Red Cross first aid training has separate fees, here in Haryana it's 300 rupees, it may differ in your state)
Print the application form from the website where you applied.
Print fee receipt.
Go to the test centre an hour before the allotted time.
Get the first aid training certificate from the Red Cross office.
Buy a file and carry all documents there along with two copies of your age and address proof (in my case birth certificate and Aadhar card respectively)
Get your documents verified by an official there.
Appear at the test counter, (Saral Kendra here at Sector 12, Faridabad). Get your photo clicked.
Attend a half an hour session on road symbols and signs.
Appear for the test.
Make at least 6 out of 10 correct and voila!

My Expectations of the Process:

When I was applying for the Learner's Licence on the website (mentioned above), I was so happy to see that the process is so seamless. In my opinion, all the required details of a person could be uploaded online so easily and I didn't have to fill those clumsy physical forms anymore. All I could see on the website, after having booked my test centre and appointment, were instructions stating the following things:

Reach the test centre approximately half an hour before the actual test timings.
Carry the original address proof and age proof with you to the centre.

And there you go, I was amazed by how easy it has become for applying for official documents with the help of mass digitisation. We don't need any "agents" to do the work for us anymore. We don't have to stand in long lines or wait till eternity to get an official document registered in our name! Human intervention has reduced to almost being negligible and everything seems so right!

And these "expectations" of mine are the very reason why I felt betrayed by the system and the government itself. Although the test appointment was scheduled for only an hour, it took me TWO DAYS, 8 HOURS in total, to get my Learner's Licence issued.

Below are all of the things that shattered my "Expectations"👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

REALITY

Problems with the process:

Why does the process require us to visit the offline centre at all? The Red Cross first aid training certificate can be obtained only when we get our official documents verified by some person there. Does the government not trust their website for document verification that they have to rely on the judgement of an Arvind Ji or Jitendra Ji to do so?
The user interface of the website is exactly what you expect from a government website, BAD. In an ideal situation, one should get ALL the information about the process of getting a licence on the website, stated in very clear words!! Instead, there's nothing of that sort and the website expects you to go out and do the fieldwork without any idea of what's going to happen next.
What is the net advantage of digitising the process if one still has to get out of their homes and visit the centres eventually? Dealing with the ever lazy government employees who give the least amount of attention to you is pretty intimidating.

Major concerns:

No one can be fully trusted. Opinions of people on the same process, working in the same office, differs. One says go left, and the second says go right. For example, one employee told us that the first aid training is OFFLINE ONLY and we have to go to the Red Cross Office for that. On reaching the office, turns out that the training is ONLINE ONLY.

People working there DO NOT reveal/state all the information CLEARLY. It's always in bits and pieces. And that's the most irritating part. For instance, when I had to get the file of all my official documents verified by an official there for the SECOND TIME, the printout of my application form and the fee receipt were missing. That guy sent me downstairs twice, separately, for getting a printout of both these documents, instead of telling me to get the printouts all at once. Moreover, finding that guy was also a task of its own😫. He didn't even have his name written on the door of his office! I swear to god we had to cut through the building TWICE to find that guy's office, only to do it all over again! Sometimes, all I want to know, is WHY?😪

The person in charge of document verification is out somewhere no one knows. We had to wait for that person only to take a look at my official documents and sign them. Plain ridiculousness.

Why do I have to wait for a person, no matter who he/she is, to sign the documents that are officially verified by the government itself? I haven't been able to understand why has the government unnecessarily put so many layers that one has to go through to get one's work done.

The relation is simple, more the layers, more is the number of people involved in your process and more is the corruption. All of this makes me wanna question why did the government even switch to the online ways if it still has all those layers one has to go through anyway.

And the reason why the so-called "Agent" business is flourishing is because of the complex and cumbersome nature of this process. Imagine the plight of a person who doesn't even know how to operate a touch phone. How do you expect that person to register through the website??

Exactly, you don't expect that at all. There's only one way to go from there, i.e. approach the office directly. And from there on, the cycle of corruption will start.

It's so tempting for people to fall for this "Agent" business.

People are much more willing to pay a little bit of extra cash and get their licence instead of doing the fieldwork themselves and getting it.

And I'm not blaming the people here as what they do is perfectly reasonable since it's the government that has made the process so unnecessarily cumbersome!!

No matter how much I hate to admit it, I have to say that the "agent" route is very tempting to me to get my permanent licence because the process of getting it has its own set of MAJOR FLAWS😭

And this is the reality. Daily, a countless number of people go with the "Agent" route and get their licence delivered to their homes like it's something they ordered on Swiggy. And the reality is that it's not even their fault. The government just cannot afford to have such a complicated, time consuming process for such an important document

And it's high time that the government realises these flaws and works on these loopholes in the system and their WEBSITE for god's sake!!

If you think that this blog may help some of your friends who are about to or planning to get a Learner's Licence, don't be afraid to share this blog with them and save them from the frustrating process of doing so.

Thanks!