Author Archives: VAN NAMBOODIRI

ITS absorption – Delhi High Court judgement

18 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by in BSNL - Better Service to the Nation

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Delhi High Court has given judgement on 17-04-2012 in the petitions filed by certain ITS officers. The main points in the judgement are reproduced below:

i) The deemed date of absorption of the petitioners fixed as 1.10.2000, is held to be illegal, being contrary to Rule 37-A (4) of CCS (Pension) Rules;

ii) The deemed date of permanent absorption of such of the petitioners who seek permanent absorption in BSNL/MTNL shall be 8.12.2005;

iii) The petitioners before this Court are given an option, to be exercised within two weeks from the date of this order, to revert to the Government or to seek permanent absorption in BSNL/MTNL as the case may be;

iv) Those Government servants who have already accepted permanent absorption w.e.f. 1.10.2000 will not be entitled to exercise a fresh option in terms of this order;

v) BSNL/MTNL shall relieve such of the petitioners, who opt to revert to Government service within 2 weeks of receipt of options from them;

vi) Such of the petitioners who opt to revert to the Government shall be appropriately redeployed by the Government in Government service through surplus cell of the Government. We have no doubt in our mind that the Government would not like to keep such of the petitioners who opt to revert to the Government idle and, subject to availability of the positions with it, give them such work as is deemed appropriate to be performed by them.

Where BSNL stands and what is our task?

18 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by in BSNL - Better Service to the Nation

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I have posted a few days back in this blog the TRAI statistics for February 2012 on the subscribers base and market share of each telecom company. According to that, BSNL has 226. 51 lakh landline connections, 977.51 lakh mobile connections and a total of  1204. 02 connections with market share of  70.07 %, 10.73% and 12.76% respectively.  BSNL is first in landline connections, 5th in mobiles and fourth in total connections.

DOT and MTNL were the only establishments  providing telephone connections till 1995. As per the neo-liberal policy pursued since 1991 by the Central Government, private companies were granted licences to provide mobile connections in 1995. But at the same time DOT and MTNL were discriminated and were denied permission to provide mobile services, though they could have easily done it. This was the starting of the many discriminations against DOT/MTNL and later BSNL. During the last 17 years since the private companies were allowed to provide telephone services, one after another, policy decisions were taken in support of the private companies, concessions and relaxations were granted and the public sector companies, BSNL and MTNL were denied of equal field. There was no difference between UPA and NDA governments in this matter. Though the slogan ‘Business is not the business of the government’ was coined by the NDA government, the UPA government implemented the same more aggressively. This was the starting point of the mega corruptions one after another in telecom sector, including the 2G scam. The beneficiaries were the private companies, including MNCs. The hands of BSNL/MTNL were tied denying procurement of equipment, bringing new technology, taking away all the cash on one pretext or other and what not. This is the major reason why BSNL has come down to the present position. The top management headed by the ITS also have a great share in the present debacle.

BSNL Employees Union has from the first pointed out the need for continued efforts to improve the services and also fought with the government/management for getting procurement of equipments etc. for the company. Though very slowly, there has been improvement in the services after the JAC started ‘Customer Delight Year’ programme, but more is to be done to save the BSNL.

BSNL Employees Union has ensured a better wage revision, promotion  policy and similar benefit to the workers. But unless the BSNL improves, all these gains may go to the drain. It is the duty of the workers at to ensure that the services are improved and the management and government is compelled to change the anti-PSU and anti-BSNL decisions. It is a serious and protracted struggle. We have to win and save and improve BSNL. Each and every worker should be part of this great struggle. The people of the country has got a right for better service from BSNL .Let us jointly shoulder this great responsibility and march ahead.

 

Now, radiation norms for towers

18 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by in Telecom

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The DOT has directed all the mobile companies to ensure that the radiation emitted from the towers is as per the new guidelines framed. As per the new guidelines the radiation level should be reduced by 1/10th of the present level. This is based on the report of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). As per this, the radiation level should adhere to Specific Absorption Rates (SAR)  of a cell phone to 2 watts per kilogram averaged over 10 grams tissue.

Already there has been agitation by local people against constructing towers in their area due to fear of radiation. Some of the private companies have been violating all norms so that the tower can have a wider range. At least, now there will be some restraint in this matter.

Vodafone issue notice to Goverment on retrospective tax proposal

18 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by in Telecom

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Usually it is the government which gives notice to the companies for remittance of tax. It also peoposes and pass acts on tax and other issues. Accordingly, the Government has moved an amendment to the Finance Bill which will allow it to tax the foreign companies on their assets in India with retrospective effect.As per this amendment Vodafone will have to pay retrospective tax from 2007 till now, which will come to around Rs. 11,297 crore.

But now, the Vodafone company has issued notice to the government that unless this amendment is not dropped, it will go for arbitration under the International Bilateral Investment Treaty against the Government of India.

India government should not be cowered by this threat. It should move as decided earlier. It should not be MNCs which decide the policy of the government. But unfortunately, the track-record of the government of India shows its continued submission to pressure of foreign governments and MNCs.

At last after 5 years, APO for 15 million GSM lines issued

17 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by in BSNL News

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It is understood that at last the BSNL will get some mobile lines. Now the BSNL management has issued Advance Purchase Order (APO) for 15 million GSM lines after the tender was finalised. After cancellation of the 45 million tender in 2007, 93 million tender in 2010 and 5.5 million later, the equipment crunch in BSNL became acute and the market share went down like anything. The continued pressure of the JAC  had resulted in purchase of telephone instruments, cables, drop wire etc. but both the GSM lines and Broadband modem were still not available. Now the issue of APO for 15 million mobile lines is certainly going to make a change. Let us hope the field level management will issue purchase orders immediately and utilise the opportunity to increase the connections and improve the services. Workers will fully co-operate.

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

Posted by in Telecom

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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

Posted by in Telecom

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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.