Monday, February 6, 2012

A tribute to Utkal Gourav Madhusudan Das - Today is his Death Anniversary

Utkal Gourav Madhusudan Das (28 April 1848-4 February 1934) was born on 28 April 1848 in a village called Satyabhamapur, 20 kilometres from Cuttack, Orissa.( now Odisha ) He was the first Graduate and Advocate of Odisha.

'Madhu Babu' as acknowledged by the common people, was a stupendous personality in politics. He worked untiringly for the political, social and economical upliftment of people of Odisha and served his mother-nation as a lawyer, social reformer and patriot. He founded Utkal Sammilani which brought a revolution in the social and industrial development of Odisha

He has always been admired as a great Legislator and Journalist. He was the first Odia to be the member of both Legislative Council and Central Legislative Assembly. He was the first Indian Minister. He was also the first Odia to sail overseas.

He founded Utkal Tannery in 1905, a factory producing shoes and other leather products. In 1897 he founded Odisha Art Ware Works. With his support, the Tarakashi work of gold and silver ornaments achieved commendable feet.

As a writer and poet, patriotism was always been the reflection of his works. He penned a number of articles and poems in both English and Odia language. Some of his important poems are “Utkal Santan”, “Jati Itihash” and “Jananira Ukti” etc. He was also a influential speaker in Odia, Bengali and English.

He sacrificed his whole life for the welfare of his country and people. He spent all his wealth for the sake of the country and declared himself as an insolvent. He died on 4 April 1934. Mahatma Gandhi described him as a great Indian patriot who wore himself out in giving shape and reality to various nation-building schemes.

The members of AIPEDEU, Odisha Circle pays floral tribute to this proud son of Odisha

Thursday, February 2, 2012

India Post to start mobile money orders

Government is starting the pilot project in Bihar and Punjab which is aimed at facilitating people working in other states

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

NEW DELHI, INDIA: India Post under the ministry of communications and IT is expected to come up with pan-India rollout of mobile money order service. The pilot program for this project is currently under way in Bihar and Punjab.

Manjula Prasher, secretary (Posts), chairman of the postal services Board and director general, India Post, on the sidelines of National Postal Policy 2012 roundtable in New Delhi informed that they chose two states-- Bihar and Punjab-- where a lot of immigrant workers remit money to their states.

“The mobile money orders will be a good initiative to facilitate people,” she added.

The government has tied up with state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) for this initiative, though the service would remain operator-neutral. The individuals, who want to opt for mobile money order, need to furnish basic information to the designated post office.

The subscribers would get an SMS containing the details of remittance that would allow customers to collect cash from local post offices. The government didn’t disclose timeline for pan-India rollout, but said it’s a part of department’s modernization roadmap.

Postal Department applies to RBI for banking licence

New Delhi, Feb. 1:

The Postal Department has applied to the Reserve Bank of India for a banking licence, the Communications Minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, said here on Wednesday.

Mr Sibal said he had written to the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, to expedite the granting of licence.

Speaking on the sidelines of the postal policy round table organised by FICCI, Mr Sibal said, “A national postal policy targeting expansion and modernisation of the postal network would be announced during this year. The Government does not intend to issue licences to courier service companies, but would make it mandatory for them to register.”

Aimed at modernising postal services, the policy is expected to make the department adopt a more financially viable revenue model. It would also provide affordable services at all points in the country as part of its Universal Service Obligation, the Minister said.

The Department is also expecting large-scale private sector participation in providing value added services and extending its product range beyond the current core functions.

“There are tremendous opportunities for the private corporate sector to use its ingenuity to create innovative products and delivery mechanisms through the Indian postal network,” Mr Sibal said.

India currently has 1.55 lakh post offices, 95 per cent of which are located in rural areas

Posted by: AIPEDEU,Odisha Circle

Sri A K Sharma takes over charge as Chief PMG, Odisha Circle

Sri A K Sharma, IPoS, PMG, Allahabad Region, UP joined today afternoon as the Chief Postmaster General, Odisha Circle.

The members of AIPEDEU,Odisha Circle extend a hearty welcome to the new Chief PMG and hope that he will prioratize the staff welfare activities during his tenure apart from concentrating on overall development of Odisha Postal Circle.

Posted by: AIPEDEU,Odisha Circle.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

ROUND TABLE MEETING ON POSTAL POLICY 01st FEBRUARY, 2012

Posted by: AIPEDEU,Odisha Circle.

Kapil Sibal Inaugurates Round Table on National Postal Policy

Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communications and Information Technology inaugurated a Round Table on National Postal Policy here today. Speaking on the occasion Shri Sibal said that in view of IT revolution India Post has to embrace the changes and to be prepared for challenges of tomorrow.

Shri Sachin Pilot Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology said that Department of Posts has to revisit and reinvent itself in the light of rapidly changing scenario. Though Department of Posts is already engaged in plethora of activities, it may explore other revenue streams.

Earlier Ms. Manjula Prashar, Secretary Department of Posts introduced the theme. Draft agenda for the Roundtable included –

Ø Vision, Mission and Policy

Ø USO of the Postal Sector.

Ø Organization and Market Research, environmental concerns and social responsibilities in the Postal Sector.

Ø Expansion and Modernization of Postal Network in India.

Ø Issues relating to Standardization of mail and National Address System.

Ø Issues relating to development of institutional framework with right and responsibility of Government regulator, operator and customer.

Ø Contours of Competition Policy in the Postal Sector.

Ø Issues of strategies relating to capacity development in the Postal Sector.

Ø Synchronization of domestic postal policies with WTO and other international norms.

Ø Roadmap for the Postal Sector.

The Round Table aimed at engaging in discussions with key stakeholders related to the Postal Sector. The conference was addressed by various stakeholders giving their inputs in order to frame a National Postal Policy which will address the interests and concerns of all. Indian postal sector requires a comprehensive policy document, representative of the interests of all the stakeholders and driving the postal sector to contribute to the social and economic development of the country.

In order to have a National Postal Policy which reflects the views of the broadest possible range of postal stakeholders, the participants at the Round Table included stakeholders from Government, Operators Representative Associations, Think Tank, Academia, Users of Postal & Communication Services, Banks, Regulators, Transporters and stakeholders in international business besides senior officers of Department of Posts.

Source : PIB Release, February 1, 2012

Posted by: AIPEDEU,Odisha Circle.

Telecom companies set to go for bold tariff hikes; your mobile bills to bloat 30% this year

NEW DELHI: Mobile phone bills of consumers will rise 20-30% this year, top executives of all leading operators said, as the country's debt-ridden telcos raise call tariffs to revive revenue growth and cut losses in the fiercely competitive sector.
The move follows the 20% increase last July, the first hike after operators slashed tariffs in 2008 as they chased new customers, but ended up eroding profits. It comes at a time telcos are staring at penalties and fines running into thousands of crores of rupees for a range of alleged violations.

Vodafone quietly raised tariffs of postpaid users in January by about 20% in Delhi and plans to extend this to other regions, with rivals set to follow suit this month. Telcos say tariffs for prepaid customers, who form 96% of users, will be raised after March.

An executive close to Bharti Airtel said a 20-30% rise in the next 12 months was the "minimum requirement for the industry to keep its head above water".

Even state-run BSNL, which did not raise rates last time, plans to increase tariffs, a top executive said.

An executive close to Reliance Communications said the industry needed higher charges to service its Rs 275,000-crore debt. "Except the top three, all operators are losing Rs 800-1,000 crore per quarter," the executive said. Uninor Managing Director Sigve Brekke told ET recently if 'incumbents increase tariffs, he would be the first to follow', adding that customers could afford higher tariffs.

India added 400 million users in the last two years, but revenues crawled 10%, and average minutes of usage per customer fell from 465 in 2007 to 350.

"Inflation has been around 9% in the last two years. The industry paid Rs 70,000 crore for 3G spectrum. These services failed to take off and costs will eventually have to be passed on," said the executive of a leading GSM operator. He said earnings from every minute of traffic had plummeted to 40-45 paise from Rs 1 in 2007.

Samaresh Parida, director, Vodafone, said government levies had raised costs. "If the government keeps on trying to extract more from us, we are left with no alternative."

Source ; The Economic Times, 1 February, 2012