Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) exempted various service providers

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today exempted various service providers, including the dealers of telecom operators, e-ticketing agencies and social networking sites, from the new limit of one

Following concerns raised by telecom lobby COAI on limiting the SMS entitlement to 100 per day, TRAI today exempted various service providers, including the dealers of telecom operators, e-ticketing agencies and social networking sites, from the new limit of one hundred SMSes per day per SIM

New Delhi: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today exempted various service providers, including the dealers of telecom operators, e-ticketing agencies and social networking sites, from the new limit of one hundred SMSes per day per SIM, which was imposed to block pesky calls and messages, reports PTI.
On 5th September, after much delay, TRAI had come out with recommendations to stop pesky calls and text messages from 27th September, ordering that no access provider (operators) shall permit thetransmission of more than 100 SMSes per day per SIM.
“… Hereby directs all access providers to exclude the following persons from the limit of one hundred SMS per day per SIM-dealers of the telecom service providers and DTH operators for sending request for electronic recharge on mobile numbers,” TRAI said in a statement.
The directive from the regulator had come in the wake of concerns raised by telecom lobby COAI on limiting the SMS entitlement per SIM to 100 per day.
It will also exempt e-ticketing agencies for responding to e-ticketing request made by its customers, SMSes from social networking sites Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, LinkedIn and GooglePlus to their members in connection to activities relating to their accounts, based on verifiable options; and agencies providing directory services, such as Justdial, Zatse, Callezee, Getit and Askme, TRAI added.
Earlier, COAI had asked TRAI to reconsider its recommendation to limit the number of SMSes per SIM to 100 per day, saying that such a regulation may pose a potential challenge to the ‘fundamental rights’ of an ordinary user.
There are several instances where SMSes are an important mode of communication. There could be a situation where a customer has exhausted the limit and suddenly some emergency occurs, COAI had said.
Further, this limit will not also be applicable on ‘blackout days’ (festive occasions), when the customer is free to send as many messages he wants.
In the case of post-paid telephone numbers, the access provider shall not permit more than 3,000 SMSes per SIM per month, the TRAI recommendations had said.
However, TRAI said, “The access provider shall, before excluding the persons, obtain an undertaking from such person that he shall not use the said facility in any manner for sending commercial communications.”
Subscribers have the option of choosing to be under the ‘Fully Blocked’ category, which is akin to the ‘Do Not Call Registry’. If a user selects the ‘Partially Blocked’ category, he/she will receive SMSes in categories chosen.

For registering under the fully blocked list, a customer has to SMS `START 0' to 1909.

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No more pesky calls and SMSs

New Delhi: Millions of mobile subscribers across the country are likely to get relief from pesky commercial calls and messages with the regulations preventing such communications coming into effect Tuesday, the 27th
To avail the service, the customers will have to get themselves registered with the National Customer Preference Registry, earlier known as “National Do Not Call Registry”. The regulations include fines ranging from Rs.25,000 to Rs.250,000 for the defaulting companies.
According to reports, while the number of pesky calls has come down lately, the messages still remained a menace. On an average, as many as 47,454 complaints per month are being registered in this regard.
Communications Minister Kapil Sibal will Tuesday announce the implementation of the regulations — The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulation — thus laying down strict penalties for violators.
Although over 130 million mobile subscribers had registered with the National Do Not Call registry till Aug 25, consumers are still pestered with unwanted commercial calls and messages.
The telecom watchdog had announced a set of new measures last year to curb such unsolicited commercial communications which were to be implemented from Jan 1, but it kept repeatedly postponing the implementation sate.
The department of telecom (DoT) has provided ’140′ number series to be allocated to telemarketers for a fixed line network. Access providers have to make relevant provisions in their network before allocation of resources to telemarketers using ’140′ numbering series from fixed line network.
Unlike the previous regulation that asked customers to register their numbers in “Do Not Call” list, the new regulations allows customers to choose from different categories like “Fully blocked” or “Partially blocked”.
TRAI has disconnected over 72,000 telephone connections of registered telemarketers and over 118,000 of unregistered telemarketing companies for breaching guidelines related to commercial calls and messages up to May 2011.Source: IANS

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Contracts Favouring Manufacturers To Go

Govt To Amend Consumer Law To End Unfair Terms

Soon, your telecom operator, bank or real estate developer may not be able to get away with one-sided contracts.
The government is set to revamp the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 to provide for acting against unfair terms in contracts which are skewed in favour of service providers or manufacturers.
Government officials said discussions are on to bring in transparent rules on unfair contracts. Under the present laws, the contracts are unilateral and there is no protection against unfair contracts. The planned changes are likely to be introduced in Parliament soon. “Work is under way on the issue and we hope to bring the changes for debate soon,” a senior government official told TOI.

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A COMPLAINT LETTER [ TO THE RAILWAYS ] IN 1909 !!!

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Okhil Babu’s letter to the Railway department:
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I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with lotaah in one hand and dhoti in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking
to man and female women on platform. I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station. This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I am making big report to papers. Okhil Chandra Sen wrote this letter to the Sahibganj divisional railway office in 1909. It is on display at the Railway Museum in New Delhi. It was also reproduced under the caption Travellers Tales in the Far Eastern Economic Review.
Any guesses why this letter is of historic value?

It led to the introduction of TOILETS in trains in India…..!!!!

You want anything done?
write to ‘Consumer VOICE’!

Never think any idea is stupid and discard it.
Speak up. Wake up.

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Breakthrough Could Make Dental Drills Obsolete

Imagine never having to face your dentist’s drill again. No more needles… no more “floppy lips” or embarrassing drooling afterwards… and no more pain.
Doctors at Britain’s University of Leeds may have just made the drill obsolete. Their breakthrough actually helps teeth reverse decay and repair themselves. And their discovery may not only save you from pain… it could save you thousands of dollars in dental bills, too.

Here’s the story…
Within 20 minutes of eating, bacteria in your mouth begin to combine with food particles and your saliva. Together, they form plaque deposits on your teeth.
The bacteria also convert sugars and starches in your food to acid. This acid eats tiny holes – called micro-pores – in your teeth. Over time, the acid enlarges the pores more and more – until you have a “cavity.”
You usually don’t notice a cavity growing, because there are no nerve endings in your tooth enamel. But as the cavity grows larger, it can eat down to where there are nerve endings – or even fracture your tooth.
When this happens, you need a filling… a crown… a root canal… or maybe even an extraction. And any one of these procedures can be painful.
The researchers at the University of Leeds discovered how to “train” teeth to rebuild healthy enamel while cavities are still at the micro-pore stage. The secret is a tiny molecule called a peptide.
Peptides are sort of like mini-proteins. Their structure is very similar to a protein, but usually much simpler.
The doctors at Leeds discovered a special peptide – called P11-4 – can assemble itself into fibers. They’ve created a fluid that triggers this action and can be “painted” onto a tooth’s surface.
When their “magic fluid” comes into contact with your saliva, it forms a gel. A gel loaded with these special peptide fibers that build a sort of scaffolding in the micro-pores.
And here’s where it gets really interesting. Calcium – the major building block of tooth enamel – is attracted to P11-4. Calcium begins to build up on the scaffolding in the micro-pores and the tooth literally rebuilds itself.
Now here’s the great part… This isn’t just a theory. The research team at Leeds has already tested P11-4 on humans. When they painted it on teeth showing early signs of decay, the “scaffolding” formed inside micro-pores and the people’s teeth literally reversed the effects of decay.
No needle… no drill… no pain. Even better, by avoiding a filling, you could be avoiding even more discomfort later on.
For one thing, plaque tends to build up along the edges of fillings. So this process may not only help repair existing damage… it may help prevent future damage, too.
Plus, teeth with fillings are weaker than healthy teeth. It’s not uncommon for cracks to form in filled teeth after several years. At that point, a crown or root canal may be necessary. That can mean a lot of discomfort. And an unwelcome expense. A crown can easily set you back $1,000 or more.
A Swiss company has already licensed the P11-4 process and plans to run larger trials. So, before long, you could be seeing a lot less of your dentist’s drill.

Stay Healthy,

Dr Kenneth Woliner, M.D.
Best Life Herbals
1 “Filling Without Drilling,” University of Leeds. Aug 22, 2011.

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2.5 lakh students will be given water bottles!

These students are from 100 primary schools, run by MCD in Delhi,

which have no drinking water!

This is slated to cost the MCD, approximately 1.5 crores.

This truly harks back to the alleged quote by an insensitive member of the French royalty, which supposedly triggered the French Revolution: When a queen was told that her subjects were rising in protest because they had no bread to eat. Her solution : 'Oh if they don't have bread, give them cakes'! So if they don't have water, give them water bottles!

In any case why we are interested in the story is because our organization VOICE, carried out a comparative test story about these very water bottles that kids carry to schools, and published it in the May 2011 issue of 'Consumer VOICE'. We have several interesting findings to report.

 

Interested parties kindly contact : editor.online@consumer-voice.org for a full story.

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Mass Migration to metro cities

The population boom over the years in India has seen its share of distress. The birth control policy scheme has also not been able to halt the rapid growth of population. Being under-developed nation, metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkatta, Chennai has witnessed a mass migration, as small cities are unable to offer a sky-rocketing growth. 

Under these circumstances, do you think the government shouldn't restrict the developmental plans, employment generation and infrastructure plans to metro cities alone ? 

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Is hunger strike unconstitutional ?

The hunger strike has always been the hallmark of protests since the times immemorial. However, Anna Hazare's hunger strike is giving night mares to the Central government, many intellectuals believe that hunger strike is not a peaceful demonstration rather it is a way to blackmail the government along with the public support.

Do you think hunger strike is unconstitutional ?

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Anna detained; what next?

Anna Hazare courted arrest after being detained by Delhi Police at his residence in Mayur Vihar ahead of his indefinite fast.Hazare had declared that he would go on fast Aug 16 for a strong Lokpal bill.

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Junk Food

With children switching on to fast/junk foods at large scale and suffering from various health problems, do you think school authorities in school should ban the junk food in their school canteen?

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