New Delhi, Feb 17: Telecom operators body COAI said it does not see “ease of doing business” in the sector as rules framed by the Centre are not getting implemented at local level for network rollout.
“Law of the land should work as indicated, but ease of business is not there when we get down to local levels,” COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews told reporters while discussing issues around call drops.
He said the municipal bodies and panchayats are not following the rules framed by the Centre and obstruct rolling out of telecom network.
During the BRICS summit 2016 held in Goa, the telecom minister, secretary and other top officials from Centre went to the state to get mobile towers installed to handle traffic load but still telecom companies failed to get adequate permission from local bodies, Mathews said.
“In Bangalore, we are asked to pay price equivalent to the market for digging an area for laying optical fibre cable. The amount of money demanded is so huge that it leaves no business case for us,” Mathews said.
He said some states have aligned their policy for rolling out telecom networks with that of the Centre, but there is problem in other states.
As per a presentation by the COAI, Odisha, Haryana and Rajasthan have notified policy as per the rules notified by the Department of Telecom and expect Uttar Pradesh and Assam to soon notify them.
“Telecom operators have been investing huge amount to prevent call drops. In last 12 months, telecom companies have invested Rs 34,677 crore to instal 3,46,778 base stations. Just two operators, Airtel and Jio have committed to invest Rs 74,000 crore in one year to address the problem. We are making best effort to check call drops,” Mathews said.
He said telecom networks are not the only factor responsible for call drops and the regulations do not consider other factors.
As per the COAI, call drops may occur because of interference of signals, congestion on cell sites, weather conditions, faulty handsets and call transfer from one tower to the another. It said that most of the factors on customer side have not been considered under Trai regulations.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has made provisions to impose penalty of up to Rs 10 lakh on service providers if they fail to meet the benchmark for three consecutive quarters.
Mathews said that problem of call drop is more in data based networks like voice over LTE (VoLTE) than the technology used for 2G and 3G.
He said the average spectrum holding, required for transmitting mobile signals, is very low in India and operators can buy additional spectrum only if it is reasonably priced.
New Delhi , Feb.15 : Representatives of firms manufacturing electric vehicles have welcomed the positive feedback and responses that they have received for their offerings at this year’s Auto Expo-2018.
Sohinder Gill, CEO, Hero Electric, said, “For our A2B range i.e electric bicycles, we have received a very good feedback and the response from both, domestic and international markets like Iran, Columbia, to name a few.”
“They have shown interest in our products. There are people who came from Taiwan, Korea who wanted to have technology tie-ups on the high speed bikes. Also, for our existing range, i.e, domestic range of scooters, we have received requests for export from our neighboring countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh for introducing these products in their respective markets,” he added.
Gagan Agarwal, Director of Shigan, said, “We launched a premium segment of three wheeler and four wheeler LCV cargo and three wheeler passenger electric vehicles during the Auto Expo 2018. Our products in the small and medium cargo category garnered a huge interest among international delegates, Government organisations and businessmen. We are happy to receive such a large number of business queries for our range of solutions in electric mobility.”
Ayush Lohia, CEO, Lohia Auto, said, “We have received queries from dealers from domestic as well as from international markets. In terms of new business deals it takes minimum 3 months to convert these queries. Overall, it has been a fruitful Auto Expo for us.”
This year’s Auto Expo featured 25 branded electric vehicles among the nearly 500 that were placed for display between February 9 and February 14. There were 119 exhibitors at the six-day event that ended Wednesday. Auto Expo sources said that over 6.05 lakh people visited the mega event.
According to a Times of India report, the expo featured 53 original vehicle manufacturers showcased over 100 products, including 22 fresh launches, 81 product unveilings and 18 concept showcase.
It further said that there were 14 new brands, including Kia Motors India, India Kawasaki Motors and Cleveland CycleWerks, besides eleven start-ups.
Legendary sports and Bollywood personalities like Shah Rukh Khan, John Abraham, Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Taapsee Pannu, Gul Panag, Rahul Khanna, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin, Gautam Gambhir, R P Singh and others launched vehicles at the event.
Auto Expo 2018 was jointly organised by the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
Washington, Feb 14: Pakistan is developing new types of nuclear weapons, including short-range tactical ones, that bring more risks to the region, America’s intelligence chief warned on Wednesday.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats’ remarks came days after a group of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists struck the Sunjuwan Military Camp in Jammu on Saturday, killing seven people including six soldiers.
Pakistan is developing new types of nuclear weapons, including short-range tactical weapons, Coats told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing on worldwide threats organised by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Pakistan continues to produce nuclear weapons and develop new types of nuclear weapons, including short-range tactical weapons, sea-based cruise missiles, air-launched cruise missiles, and longer-range ballistic missiles, he warned.
These new types of nuclear weapons will introduce new risks for escalation of dynamics and security in the region, Coats said, reflecting on the risks involved in developing such types of nuclear weapons.
Coats said North Korea will be among the most volatile and confrontational weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats to the US over the next year.
North Korea s history of exporting ballistic missile technology to several countries, including Iran and Syria, and its assistance during Syria s construction of a nuclear reactor — destroyed in 2007 — illustrates its willingness to proliferate dangerous technologies.
In 2017 North Korea, for the second straight year, conducted a large number of ballistic missile tests, including its first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) tests.
Pyongyang is committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States.
It also conducted its sixth and highest yield nuclear test to date.
We assess that North Korea has a longstanding Biological Weapons (BW) capability and biotechnology infrastructure that could support a BW programme. We also assess that North Korea has a Chemical Weapons (CW) programme and probably could employ these agents by modifying conventional munitions or with unconventional, targeted methods, he said.
Coats said state efforts to modernise, develop, or acquire WMD, their delivery systems, or their underlying technologies constitute a major threat to the security of the United States, its deployed troops, and its allies.
Both state and non-state actors have already demonstrated the use of chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria.
Biological and chemical materials and technologies — almost always dual-use — move easily in the globalised economy, as do personnel with the scientific expertise to design and use them for legitimate and illegitimate purposes.
Information about the latest discoveries in the life sciences also diffuses rapidly around the globe, widening the accessibility of knowledge and tools for beneficial purposes and for potentially nefarious applications.
Chandigarh, Feb 14: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday said that over 325 citizen-centric services and schemes would be launched on the SARAL portal on the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar.
The schemes and services of 31 departments will be launched on April 14 and with this, Haryana will have an online-integrated platform with all the Government to Citizen (G2C) services available, the chief minister said.
Khattar made the announcement during a meeting to review the functioning of the portal here.
Currently, 113 different services are being delivered on the SARAL platform, he said.
The chief minister also reviewed the performance of 10 departments based on their SARAL score. The score depends on compliance with delivery of services under the Right to Services (RTS) Act.
“SARAL ensures delivery of services within the RTS’ time-line and the status of the application can be tracked online as well as through SMS.
“Using SARAL, the leadership at the state level and district level has a visibility of the delivery of services and citizen satisfaction through the rating mechanism. The departments are ranked based on SARAL score,” an official release said.
Terming the 21st Century as an era of information technology, Khattar said the aim of the state government was to fast track the system by removing the bottlenecks in a systematic manner.
He said that it has been decided that schemes for the welfare of marginal section would also be made available through SARAL portal.
To ensure that the benefit of these schemes reach the last person, e-Disha centres at district headquarters, subdivisions and tehsils would be renamed as “Antyodaya SARAL Kendra” to deliver schemes in addition to the services.
New Delhi, Feb 14: The Defence Ministry today cleared a proposal to buy 7.40 lakh assault rifles at a cost of Rs 12,280 crore for the three services, officials said.
The decision was taken at a meeting of Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) presided over by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The defence ministry will also procure light machine guns worth Rs 1,819 crore, they said.
In other decisions, a proposal for purchase of 5,719 sniper rifles for the army at a cost of Rs 982 crore was also approved.
New York [United States], Feb 13 : American President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone on a series of topics including North Korea’s nuclear threats, the White House confirmed.
President Trump reiterated the importance of taking more steps to ensure that North Korea is denuclearized.
Among the other issues discussed were a potential peace deal between the Palestinians and the Israelis, according to Fox News.
“President Putin noted that he would meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas later today, and President Trump said that now is the time to work toward an enduring peace agreement,” Fox News quoted the White House as saying.
Following President Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last year, Abbas had encouraged Putin to assist in peace talks claiming that the U.S. could “no longer play a leading role”.
President Putin also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month.
Discussions of relations between the Israelis and Palestinians came amid heightened tensions after Israel shot down an Iranian drone earlier this week.
Moreover, the conversation between the two global leaders came a day after a plane crash in Moscow killed all 71 people on board.
President Trump offered his sympathies following the crash of a Russian airline’s plane over the weekend.
Trump reassured Putin that the U.S. was standing by to assist Russian officials in their probe of the deadly event.
New Delhi, Feb 13: Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions Dr Jitendra Singh said on Monday that women government employees who have commissioned surrogacy will now be entitled to maternity leave.
He also said divorced daughter will be eligible for family pension if divorce case has been filed before the death of pensioner/family pensioner, even though the judgment has been passed after the death of the pensioner/family pensioner.
Briefing media at a press conference organised by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, here,he also announced that Constant Attendant Allowance on disability pension has been increased from Rs 4,500 per month to Rs 6,750 per month.