THE BUG: WHO SHOULD WORRY

BANKING
Worst case
Disruptions in interbank transactions, interest payments and cheque clearing. Computers might not recognise accounts based on birth dates.
REPAIR COST
More than Rs 50 crore spent. Perhaps Rs 50 crore more needed.
Status
Foreign banks ready. Other repairs on. But 20 per cent won't be ready.

FINANCE
Worst case
Trading will either be severely affected or stop in computerised stock exchanges. Interest and insurance payments due in 2000 might not be made in time.
REPAIR COST
Rs 10 crore.
Status
NSE and BSE behind schedule. Insurance companies are refusing to cover losses arising from Y2K.

DEFENCE
Worst case
Glitches in communications and surveillance equipment. Weapons systems in all three services could malfunction, especially Russian equipment.
REPAIR COST
Rs 100 crore at least
Status
September deadline for fixing and testing systems, but many defence users are not aware of a problem.

HEALTH
Worse case
Intensive-care monitoring systems will malfunction. Defibrillators and ventilators could break down. Computerised dosages and billings will go awry.
REPAIR COST
No reliable estimates
Status
Most large hospitals are ready or will be ready. But thousands of clinics don't even know of Y2K.

TELECOM
Worst case
Wrong billing, missed calls, snags in customer services and satellite services in the world's tenth largest telecom network with 24 million phone lines.
REPAIR COST
Less than Rs 1 crore (dot figures)
Status
Nine teams at work. Deadline: June. Work began well in time during 1997. Few glitches expected.

RAILWAYS
Worst case
Chaos in 3.5 lakh daily passenger bookings.Train scheduling and railway communication could be disrupted. Widespread delays and cancellations.
REPAIR COST
Not more than Rs 10 crore
Status
On course to meet September deadline. Reservation systems. must be ready by November 1.

AVIATION
Worst case
Airline reservations for 2000 will no longer be valid. Air traffic control systems in Mumbai and Delhi could fail to recognise aircraft.
REPAIR COST
About Rs 45 crore.
Status
Airline systems are being fixed.No problem likely. Most ATCs are not automated, won't have a problem.

HOME COMPUTERS
Worst case
Date functions in most of the 2.5 million PCs (made in 1996 or earlier) will fail. Accounts could go askew, files could be juggled, but Windows 95 won't crash.
REPAIR COST
Unknown. Depends on users.
Status
Changing the date function in PCs is not very difficult. Not too many have done this though.

AND OTHER BUGS

Irritating? Maybe.

Widespread? No.

The leap day bug
Children born on February 30, 2000 will never celebrate a birthday -- unless they live 400 years. A year to us is 365 days, but the earth really takes just under 365.25 days to whirl around the sun. The extra minutes give us a leap year with an extra day, February 29, every four years. But there are still enough seconds left over to put together another day for February every 400 years.

The last time there was a February 30, was in 1600 when Shakespeare was 46 years old. But that was a world with no computers. Through the computer age, programmers simply forgot about the February 30 phenomenon.

So some computers will simply skip the day, fouling up records, operations and calculations. More of a worry in India because the financial year ends on March 31, which will be just a month away when the bug hits.

Annoying? Sure.

Catastrophic? Unlikely.