Nelson Mandela – the real fighter

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Nelson Mandela, a living legend against apartheid and a fighter in his entire life and the first black President of S.Africa is struggling for his life. He was in hospital for about three months after which he was brought home continuing the treatment. Though his condition is deteriorating, his courageous struggle to live is even surprising his family members.
The entire world is wishing an early recovery for the 95 year Nelson Mandela!

Record voting in Delhi – Queue continues till 08.00 PM

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When myself and wife went for voting at 11.00 AM, there was no queue and the voting was over within minutes. I was actually doubtful what will be the % of voting in Delhi.
By afternoon the entire situation changed. Voters started coming and the queue started growing.
The time for the closure of the voting was 05.00 PM. But according to the Election Commission more than one lakh voters were waiting to vote. The Election Commission naturally issued direction that till all the persons in the queue voted, the voting will continue. Till 08.30 PM, the voting was going on.
This is a good trend for Delhi. Who will benefit is not the main question; it is that the voters have become more conscious of their rights.
This time Delhi has the highest record of voting in recent times. Is per the latest reports, there is a chance of reaching above 67%. It is wonderful. Congratulations to Delhi voters.

Rs. 600 crore penalty on Idea for illegal merger

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DOT has imposed a penalty of Rs. 600 crore on telecom service provider idea for violating the licence conditions while acquiring Spice Communications, another telecom company.

Penalties are slammed for violations like this, but with their influence and money, later most of the Indian and MNC companies are able to get out of the charge and go scot free. Let us wait for what happens in the case of idea.

Telecom Commission proposes reduction in the number of villages for connectivity.

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It is reported that the Telecom Commission proposes a reduction in the number of villages to be provided with Communications services from the original target decided by the Government. The government has earlier proposed connecting 57,000 uncovered villages to the telecom services.
Now the telecom Commission wants to reduce the number of villages to 9,190 villages in the North East as the first priority. The decision seems to be based on the availability of funds as also the huge work connected with it.

1984 Bhopal Gas Disaster – No one punished so far!

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It is 29 years since the world’s worst disaster, the leakage of gas from the Union Carbide Plant, happened on the night of 2-3 December 1984, which killed thousands of workers and maimed and injured much more. Cases were filed against Warren Anderson, Chairman of the Union Carbide, a MNC, and though he came to Bhopal to inspect the site of the accident, he was allowed to leave the country silently, with the tacit understanding between the state government and the Central Government. Not even a single person has been punished or jailed so far. Even the assistance given to the victims have been only very meager.

As in every year on the anniversary of the tragedy, this year also the victims and their organisations have observed the day as “Protest Day” and organised Demonstrations in Bhopal and also Delhi.

When the accused will be punished and the victims given justice?

Come Out and Vote Today – An Advt. by Delhi Chief Electoral officer.

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For the last few days, advertisement by the Delhi Electoral Office have been coming one after another in the media, to ensure correct and maximum voting in the elections being held today, 4th December 2013. Various important information were advertised.
But the advertisement published today top them all. Under the heading “Come Out and Vote Today” it give a call the voters of Delhi – “Lets Make Delhi No.1 in Voter Turnout”. It has a graph of the voter turnout of the other four states, where elections have taken place as follows:
Chhattisgarh ( 70% ), M.P.(72%), Rajasthan (75%) and Mizoram (8!%).
The Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi is asking the people to be No.1 in the voter turn out meaning to have more than 81%. Well.

But will the voters in Delhi come to the expectations of the CEO? Of course, the high level propaganda with not only national leaders of all the parties and even many Chief ministers of other states having participated in the high orchestrated meetings and especially the entry of Aam Admi Party, which has made the Congress and BJP nervous, any thing can happen. If the turn out goes above 81%, it will be wonderful. It will also mean that the agitations and struggles in New Delhi during the last few years have good results.
I wish that the call of the CEO come true.

TRAI Reduces Penalty to Telcos for Pesky calls.

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TRAI is being more and more liberal to the telecom companies.
TRAI had earlier issued orders giving strong penalty against the pesky calls.
Now on the basis of the petitions received from the private companies, it has relaxed its orders by making the penalty on slab basis, instead of Rs.5,000 at the first instance itself.
The present order stipulates that beyond 50 complaints and up to 300, TRAI will impose Rs. 1,000 fine on every complaint. A fine of Rs. 2,000 per complaint will be levied if the total number of pesky call ranges between 301 to 700 and Rs. 5,000 on every complaint beyond 700.
Though relaxed, it is the duty of the regulator to ensure that the penalty should be imposed without any leniency, because the people/subscribers are compelled to suffer this unnecessary attack on their privacy.

KSRTC Pensioners Protest in a new way

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The Kerala State Road Transport Pensioners’ Association today, 3rd December 2013, expressed their strong protest in the delay of Pension Payment in a new way. They are sitting on dharna before the State Secretariat for the last 13 days. Today plantain leaves were placed before them as usual for serving meals, but instead of meals they were served earth. This was a novel protest against the delay of the pension.

The State government should ensure that the poor pensioners are not starved. Their pension should be paid at the earliest.

Only 9% Airports are with private at International level. But India wants more privatisation!

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Not only the Airport Authority Employees Unions, Central Trade Unions etc. are opposing the unchecked privatisation process of the government of India; the International Transport Association has also severely criticised the undue privatisation process of Airports in India.
The government has already privatised the biggest airports in India, namely New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, but also is planning to privatise other six profit making airports like Kolkata, Chennai etc. The ITA has pointed out that even at International level, only about 9% airports have been privatised even in capitalist countries, they why the hurry and aggressive privatisation in India despite strong public protest.
Is it that Indian government is more capitalistic than the capitalist countries?

Why the private telcos oppose Wi-Fi Project?

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It is reported that the private telecom companies are opposing the government’s plan to set up Wi-Fi services at the level of Gram Panchayats. The government has decided for providing Wi-Fi services in about 2.5 lakh Village Panchayats as part of universal connection with a budget of about Rs. 40,00 crore. This project will naturally be entrusted to the BSNL.
The plea raised by the private corporates against the plan is untenable. The Government should continue with the project.