As per reports in the Business Line in its first page today, BSNL Website was hacked by Pakistan Hackers at 18.00 hours on 26th October and it was rectified at 1400 hours on 27th. BSNL is reported to have claimed that no data has been lost.
The message was reported as posted in the BSNL Website as follows: ” Haxtd by KhantastiC haXor – Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. – India’s No. 1 Telecom Company …. This is now just a Warning!!”
I contacted one or two top officers in BSNL, but could not get any confirmation.
If it was hacked, then it is very serious. What is the security of the various data and other information in the web? I think the BSNL should issue a clarification in the matter to the media so that there will be no misunderstanding among the public and the workers.

The Joint Action Committee of BSNL Associations / Unions of Executives and Non-Executives are meeting on 31st October to plan out for the successful organisation of the 15th November Strike against proposed VRS, denial of bonus, withdrawal of medical allowance, LTC etc. as also demanding immediate action by the management to procure mobile equipments, modem etc. The financial commitments made to the BSNL at the time of corporatisation like payment of ADC, Licence fee reimbursement, grant from USO Fund etc. should be restored.
All efforts are made to ensure the success of the one day strike.

The 25th November Parliament March is going to be participated by thousands and thousands of workers and Pensioners. The Central / State Government, Defence, Railway, BSNL and other sections of workers and Pensioners are participating in the march. Memorandum signed by lakhs of workers demanding to drop the anti-workers will be submitted to the Prime Minister. Hectic preparations are going to make the programme a great success.
BSNLEU and AIBDPA members are also expected to participate in large numbers. It is a fight against the injustice and attack on right of the workers for pension. Participate in the programme.

All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was formed iOctober 1920. It was the first national trade union in India and was formed at the initiative of Indian National Congress leaders. Leaders of most political parties were part of the AITUC since there was only one Central Trade Union at that time. S/Shri V.V.Giri, S.A.Dange, B.T.Ranadive, Jyoti Bsu – all were part of the AITUC.
INTUC was formed by the Congress in 1947, leaving the AITUC, in a step to a trade union supporting the new Congress Government of India. In 1970, CITU was formed by the progressive sections in AITUC under the leadership of Coms.B.T.Ranadive and P. Ramamurthy as President and General Secretary protesting against the revisionist line of AITUC leadership.
Now there are about 11 central Trade Unions in the country including BMS, HMS etc.
Though there are many Central TUs, it is a positive sign that all these unions have come together to protect the interest of the workers and are agitating together. The next programme is Satyagraha/Rasto Roko agitation on 8th November. All India federations of Central/State Government employees, Public Sector, private sector are all participating in the programme. It is a welcome step.

Corruption is part of the capitalist system. The neo-liberalisation policy in India has been one of the main reasons for the mega corruption. But the corruption is not limited to India alone. It has become a serious problem world over. It has become a discussion point in the United Nations also.
As per media reports, the Joint Report submitted by the World Bank and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), governments are urged ‘to devote more resources to training investigators in fighting financial crimes, including large scale corruption , money laundering and terrorist financing’.
The committee report points out how the corruption cases and proceedings are hidden by legal structures like shell companies, trusts and others. Attempts to investigate the crimes are being frustrated by the corrupt politicians and powers that be.
In India, we have seen what is happening in the 2G scam, CWG scam etc. It corroborates the UN committee report. What the World Bank and United Nations are going to stop these corruptions?

The TRAI has taken the correct decision in reaffirming that the 3G roaming arrangement between the private telecom companies is illegal. As already stated earlier, the private companies had started providing 3G services even in those circles where that particular company was not allotted 3G spectrum. They were cheating the government and the people. Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular made a cartel and utilising the spectrum allotted to them in separate circles, were giving services in all the circles. While BSNL/MTNL were compelled to pay spectrum charges for all the circles, the private companies could select their circles. This means BSNL/MTNL had to pay for all 22 circles, while the private companies paid only for 7/8 circles only but took all benefits.
The Telecom Enforcement Resource Monitoring (TERM) cell of the DOT had already treated the roaming as violation of the spectrum allotment. Now the TRAI has also repeated the same.
Government should immediately take stringent action against the erring companies.

Despite clear orders that unwanted pesky calls / SMSs should not be sent, the telemarketers are continuing the same creating harassment to the consumers. There is no respite for the consumer from the unwanted calls /SMSs.
Now the TRAI has decided to impose 5 paise termination charges for each SMS on the telecom company from which the SMS originate. This will be paid to the telecom company to whose subscriber receives the SMS.
This is something, but it is not sufficient. More stringent penalty should be imposed so that such pesky calls are completely stopped.

The Non-Performing Assets (NPA) or the Bad Loans not remitted back in the Public Sector Banks are increasing year after year. The major portion of these NPAs is mainly due from the corporate and big business. While aggressive efforts are made to collect back the loan amount from the common people, it is not so in the case of the corporate, big business and political bigwigs. The latter manage not to repay the loans in various ways. Most of the corporate are to repay loans of hundreds of crore of rupees to these banks.
A list of the NPAs in the Public Sector Banks as on 321-03-2011 is given below (in crores)
1. State Bank of India 25,326.29 crore
2. Bank of India 4,811.55 ..
3. Punjab National Bank 4,379.39
4. Union Bank of India 3,622.82
5. Bank of Baroda 3,152.50
6. UCO Bank 3,150.36
7. Indian Overseas Bank 3,089.59
8. Canara Bank 3,089.21
9. Syndicate Bank 2,598.97
10. Central Bank of India 2,394.53
11. Oriental Bank of Commerce 1,920.54
12. Allahabad Bank 1,647.92
13. State Bank of Patiala 1,381.68
14. United Bank of India 1,355.78
15. Vijaya Bank 1,259.19
16. Bank of Maharashtra 1,173.70
17. State Bank of Hyderabad 1,150.45
18. Andhra Bank 995.64
19. State Bank of Mysore 863.74
20. Dena Bank 842.24
21. State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur 835.40
22. State Bank of Travancore 835.23
23. Corporation Bank 790.23
24. Indian Bank 740.31
25. Punjab & Sind Bank 424.28 crore
TOTAL 71,831.54 crore

After a long period of delay, the Central Govenment has approved the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) Scheme which is intended to provide Broadband connectivity to the Panchayats and semi-rural areas in the country. The project is estimated to be of about Rs. 20,000 crore.
It was proposed earlier that the scheme will be entrusted to the BSNL since it has got infrastructure and connectivity throughout the country. But now the scheme will be entrusted to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to be formed probably with BSNL,MTNL, Rail-tel,PGCIL and GAIL.
The project will be funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), which has got more than Rs. 23,000 crore with it at present. Every year all the telcos are contributing to this fund.