Monthly Archives: April 2012

National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2012 by May

17 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by in Telecom

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The government on Tuesday said the National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2012 will be in place by May. “It (NTP) will be done in May. We have already said that,” IT and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters on the sidelines of World IT Forum 2012. The Economic Survey had estimated NTP to be in place by June. The government through new telecom policy has made attempt to set roadmap for functioning and development of telecom sector starting 2012. According to government sources, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is about to start inter-ministerial consultation on NTP 2012 after which the policy will be moved to the Cabinet for approval. Under NTP 2012, it has been proposed to de-link spectrum from licences, reduce number of different licences, give industry liberal mergers and acquisition norms and remove roaming charges burden from consumers. They will also be allowed to retain same number across country. On Monday, sector regulator TRAI issued recommendations for Unified Licences that will be de-linked from spectrum and issued to all new companies entering sector under NTP 2012. These guidelines are vital for telecom companies whose licences have been cancelled by Supreme Court in February. Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar has said that DoT will try and speed up the new licensing regime in less than three months. Once approved, telecom companies can apply for telecom licences without owning spectrum and can perform businesses that can be carried out without using paid spectrum. TRAI has recommended one time non-refundable entry fee for Unified Licence shall be Rs 15 crore for National level, Rs 1 crore for each Service area level Unified Licences, except for Jammu and Kashmir and North East Service areas where entry fee will be Rs 50 lakh each. For each District level Unified Licence, the regulator has requested non-refundable entry fee of Rs 10 lakh. TRAI said it should be entrusted with the function of issuing unified licences. At present, DoT issues all types of telecom licences.

Protest against violation of basic democratic rights in W.Bengal

17 Tuesday Apr 2012

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Intellectuals, Academicians, historians etc  jointly issued the following statement:
We are dismayed by the spiralling descent into irrationality of the administration in West Bengal state, in under a year since Mamata Banerjee took office as chief minister.
We believe the increasing illogic of the administration is inspired from the very top, by the impetuous and ill-considered statements and actions of the chief minister on every matter that falls within her gaze: crimes against women, the poor oversight of medical facilities, or the alarming  deterioration in the quality of civic services.
Early hopes and beliefs some may have harboured, that the descent would be halted once the new ruling order consolidated itself, have been belied.
The West Bengal state government order issued late in March, prescribing in minute detail the newspapers that public libraries could subscribe to, was an unwarranted intrusion into the right of the people to seek information from any source of their choosing. In what is clearly a retaliatory move against newspapers that have been critical of certain official decisions since the Mamata Banerjee government took office, the circular left out the two most widely circulated Bengali language dailies and all English newspapers. Curiously, three dailies whose owner-editors were recently elected to the Rajya Sabha on Trinamool Congress tickets, find mention in the list.
It soon became evident that this effort to rig the decks in favour of friendly newspapers was part of a wider intolerance of dissent. By any account, the arrest of Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra – after he had been roughed up by political cadre of the ruling party – for circulating over the internet a subtle joke about Mamata Banerjee’s leadership style, must rank among the gravest violations of the free speech right by an elected government in recent times.
We are also shocked at the continuing incarceration of Partho Sarothi Ray, an internationally renowned molecular biologist and professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, after he took part in a peaceful demonstration against the eviction of slum dwellers in the eastern part of the city. Though he was arrested in the course of the April 8 protests, he is being charged with involvement in an incident of April 4, when he was not even present.
We support the mounting  protest against such acts of brazen violation of basic democratic rights and call upon people all over the country to register their  protest.
The signatories are: Prof. J.V.Naik, Prof. Rajiv Gupta, Prof. Amar Farooqui , Prof. Kesavan Veluthat , Prof Mridula Mukherjee , Prof. Aditya Mukherjee , Prof. Irfan Habib, Prof. Prabhat Patnaik , Prof. Arjun Dev,  Prof. Indira Dev,  Prof. D. N. Jha, Prof. C. P. Chandrasekhar , Prof. Shireen Moosvi , Prof. Iqdar Alam Khan, Prof. Ramesh Rawat , Prof. Wasi Hyder , Prof. Saira I. Habib , Prof. Atluri Murli , Dr. Archana Prasad , Prof. Shakti Kak , Prof. Javeed Alam , Sashi Kumar , Madhu Prasad , Fr Cedric Prakash , Rekha Awasthi     Nasir Tyabji, Astad Deboo , Saeed Mirza , M. K. Raina , Madan Gopal Singh , Ram Rahman , Sohail Hashmi , Virendra Saini , Teesta Setalvad , Dr. P. K. Shukla , Prof. Anil Bhatti , Prof. J. M. Parakh , Dr. Sanjeev Kumar, Dr. Lata Singh, Prof. Utsa Patnaik , Prof. Jayati Ghosh, Asad Zaidi , Manmohan , Rajesh Joshi , Chanchal Chauhan , Moloyshree Hashmi  ,Sudhanva Deshpande , Indira Chandrasekhar, Saroj Ganpath , Zoya Hasan , Teesta Setalwad , B. N. Uniyal , Ruchira Gupta , Santosh Kumar Rai , Shaleen Jain Indira Mukherjee , Anil Nauria , Anil Sadgopal , Badri Raina , Aniket Alam Sukumar Murlidharan , Ritu K Singh , Jagdish Lal Dawar , Daanish Raj , Shabnam Hashmi , Rajendra Sharma , Samvartha Salil , Rahul Verma , N. K. Sharma, K. Ashok Rao, M.M.P. Singh , Vishnu Nagar and Maya Krishna Rao.

Air India Unions on struggle path

17 Tuesday Apr 2012

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The unions in Air India – Indian Airlines are on war path.  The decision of the central government to form two subsidiary companies – AI Airport Services Limited and AI Engineering Services Limited – and divert 19,000 employees to them are strongly opposed by the  eight employees unions in Air India. They have also sought a meeting with the Prime minister on this issue. It is complained by the unions that even after taking charge three months back, the Minister has not met them even once.  If the issues are not settled the unions have threatened strike action.

ARPU increased for Mobile services

17 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by in Telecom

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The Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) has started increasing in the last few months for the telecom operators.  For the last two years or so, the ARPU has been reducing due to the stiff competition and connected reduction of charges. It has increased 2.93 % since September last.  This will result in increase of revenue to the telecom operators.

TRAI recommends for Unified Licence for services

17 Tuesday Apr 2012

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The TRAI has now recommended that all the communication services may be given a unified licence the entry for which it recommended as Rs. 15 crore. The licence fee for spectrum will be different. The spectrum /air-waves will be allotted through auctions.

At present an entry fee of Rs. 1658 crore  includes 4.4 MHz of start-up spectrum  or 2.5 MHz of CDMA  air waves for all the 22 circles.  As per the new recommendations, there will be no bundling with spectrum/airwaves.

TRAI has also recommended that the penalty for violation of licence conditions etc. be reduced from the present Rs. 20 crore to Rs. 10 crore.

K.Vallinayagam resigns – Jayaprakash the new GS, FNTO

16 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by in BSNL News

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It is reported in the website of FNTO that Shri K.Vallinayagam, General Secretary, FNTO has resigned from the General Secretary post on health grounds and Shri Jayaprakash has been elevated to the post in the CWC meeting held at Hyderabad. I contacted Shri Vallinayagam, who confirmed that he has resigned due to ill-health.

We had a very co-ordinated functioning all these years, especially when he was part of the United Forum. Even otherwise we had a long connection in the union, when we both opposed the Gupta line in the 1960s etc.

Shri Jayaprakash is the new GS, who was Asst. GS earlier. I hope that he will also be part of the joint struggles for the betterment of the workers as well as BSNL

Meeting with CITU leaders on Casual/Contract labour issues.

16 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by in BSNLCCWF - Casual and Contract workers

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Today I went to CITU office and met the leaders of the CITU, Comrades A.K.Padmanabhan, All India President, Tapan Sen, General Secretary and Swadesh Dev Roy, Secretary and discussed about the issues of the casual and contract workers in BSNL. The BSNL management is denying the rightful regularisation of the casual labour, due wages to the contract labour, not implementing the social security measures like EPF, ESI etc.  Contract workers are being retrenched when the demands are raised and the  workers go on struggle. The situation in the other PSUs were also discussed.

The CITU leaders assured that they will take up the issues with the government and also fully support the struggles of the casual-contract workers in BSNL.

 

AIBDPA and Telepensioner

16 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by in AIBDPA - BSNL DOT Pensioners

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BSNL/DOT Pensioners are joining All India BSNL-DOT Pensioners Association (AIBDPA) every month in large numbers. The sincere and excellent work being done by the Association have been much appreciated by the BSNL workers and pensioners. Most of the retiring BSNL workers are happy to become the AIBDPA members since they know from their  own experience that BSNLEU and AIBDPA are the organisations safeguarding their interests.

Please join AIBDPA to protect and enhance the interests of the Pensioners!

No marriage or talk with CPI(M) members/supporters – Trinamool

16 Monday Apr 2012

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There is no limit for the Trinamool Party as far as its anger against the CPI(M). Any action can be taken against the CPI(M) in its blind anger. Now it has issued diktact to its members not to speak with CPI(M) members/supporters and not even to have marriage allinaces with CPI(M) families! See the Kolkata based report:
” The Trinamool Congress has asked its members not to marry any CPM leader or anyone even distantly related to them.
Conveying the ruling party’s message at a programme in Habra in North 24-Parganas, food supplies minister Jyotipriya Mullick said: “Don’t mingle with the CPM. Don’t even talk to them if you meet them at a local chai (tea) shop. We have vowed to boycott the CPM socially. Our workers must make sure that nobody in their family enters into any marital relationship with any CPM leader or supporter.”
The minister advised the audience, many of whom happened to be the CPM supporters, to avoid any relative who had anything to do with the communist party. Even as chief minister Mamata Banerjee is aware that several local CPM workers have been joining her party even since the Left’s debacle in the 2011 Assembly elections, her party has been talking about the fatwa for quite sometime now.
But Mullick, who is also the Trinamool Congress’ district observer in North 24-Parganas, made the diktat public by making it the major party of his speech on Sunday evening. Among those present at the function was Trinamool M P Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.
The minister told the gathering that Trinamool Congress workers must work in the most dedicated manner ahead of the panchyat elections since the party would probably go it alone.
The panchayat elections are due next year and the Trinamool’s ally in the government, the Congress, has already declared its intentions to fight the rural polls alone. The Congress leadership in the centre has, however, remained noncommittal on the issue.
Even as the Trinamool leaders present at Habra’s programme talked about a possible separation from the Congress during the panchayat polls, they mostly concentrated on revving up solidarity against the CPM, which, according to Mullick was the “main enemy”.
“We must continue with our tirade against the CPM and make all necessary steps to isolate the party that has destroyed growth in West Bengal for the last 34 years,” the minishter added.
It is no wonder that hundreds of CPI(M) members and supporters have been murdered by the TMC goondas. It is their strategy and action plan. This has got to be stopped.

Health care – India in the bottomline among BRICS countries.

16 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by in General, Uncategorized

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India is an emerging economy. But when it comes to the health care in the country, it is far below many other countries. Taking similarly growing economies, like in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries, India is at the bottom line.This is as per the report furnished by the World Bank.

While Brazil spends 2.83% of its GDP on health care, S.Africa 2.73%, Russia 2.68% and China 1.55% India is far behind with only 0.93% of the GDP. If you take the developed countries, US spends 15% and UK 8.5% of its GDP for the health care.

The worst condition of health systems in the lakhs of villages and the juggis in the cities are well-known to the ruling classes and the governments. But nothing worthwhile is done to improve the situation. Take the case of toilets. There are no toilets for crores of poor people in the country who, including women, are compelled to use open spaces without any privacy for the same. A recent survey has stated that there are far less toilets than mobiles in the country. Death rate for children has decreased, but it is much more than in many countries. Sufficient food stuffs are not available for a majority of people in the country. Unless a time bound fast-track programme is implemented with determination, the situation is not going to improve.

But, sorry to state, it is not a matter of priority for the UPA government or most of the state governments. Without a massive campaign as in the case of against corruption, nothing is going to happen. This should be treated as a priority.