At a time when the top representatives of the communications ministry sound ambiguous on whether spectrum trading/sharing would be allowed in the country or not, the regulator is looking out for consultants on the issue.

This is not the first time that the telecom regulator has indicated the need for telecom trading. When in August Trai announced its recommendations on MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators), spectrum trading was indicated. Recently, the minister of state for communications Jyotiraditya Scindia had said that the government may allow telecom companies to share spectrum shortly. However, Union communications minister A Raja pointed out that no such decision had been taken.

Trai wants a consultant for assessing the desirability and timing of allowing spectrum trading in India, modes of spectrum trading suitable in Indian situation, licensing issues etc. The consultant must have experience of having done consultancy on spectrum trading for telecom services in at least two countries.

India Post has launched this pioneering venture in association with World Gold Council and Reliance Money. World Gold Council will help market the Swiss Medallions supplied by Reliance Money, making it available to Indian consumers through Post offices in a convenient and cost effective manner. The gold coins will be packed in a sealed cover with the certification from Valcambi, Switzerland. It has the benefits like internationally recognized certification, low risk of duplication, quality packaging, product standardization, numbering and assayer certificate.

Thiru A. Raja observed that the Post office, known for its trust and reliability, will serve as an ideal location for the people to buy quality gold coins. He said, India Post will continue to maximize the network, by making the post office a one stop shop for communication, distribution and retail solutions. Mr. Raja said, the time has come for India Post to boldly venture into new services that will make the Post office as the hub for various businesses.

Gold is the latest addition to a range of retail activity that India Post has already taken up. India Post has been selling various products under Retail Post category and there is sustained growth in the revenue from these activities. Post Office sells UPSC applications and university applications, it retails Darjeeling Tea in West Bengal, it markets Aloe Vera products in Gujarat and it takes orders for distribution of Prasadams of various temples in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Apart from enhancing the revenue of the Department, this will enable India Post to usher in a new image of India Post as a modern and relevant organization to the public in all areas of life.

The Minister of State for Communications & IT, Mr. Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, who was the guest of honour at the launch ceremony, declared that this pilot project on the sale of gold coins would be a beginning of many more such retail services that India Post will undertake. He said, the venture reinforces India Post's dedicated service to the ordinary Indian.

About the prices expected for the global auction, Mr Raja said that he was not sure if the auction would fetch the expected price due to the global economic crisis. It was earlier reported that the finance ministry hoped to earn at least Rs 40,000 crore by selling spectrum for 3G mobile services. The department of telecom also announced recently that UK-based NM Rothschild to conduct the global auction. BSNL and MTNL have already been allotted spectrum for the 3G roll out.

The government has a plan to set up one lakh such centres in six lakh villages through a public-private-partnership (PPP) and would invest Rs 5,742 crore on the project over a period of four years, a statement from Ministry of Communication and Information Technology said.

The CSCs are scheduled to be operational by July next year for which agencies have already been selected in most of the cases. These CSCs would help rural people getting information in the areas of education, agriculture, healthcare and other services using information technology, the statement added.

Out of the total Rs 5,742 crore projected investment, the government would contribute Rs 856 crore and Rs 793 crore will be invested by the state governments. The balance resources would be mobilised from the private sector, it added.

"Our technical team (task force), in coordination with RIM, is working to sort out the issue of data security. We are positive to solve all security-related concerns," Minister of State for IT and Communication Jyotiraditya Scindia told PTI.    

Security agencies have confirmed that the system is susceptible to misuse by anti-national forces and had asked for government intervention.    

"Ministry of Home Affairs is looking after the security aspect of Blackberry to ensure that the service doesn't harm anyone," Scindia said.    

Indian Mujahideen terrorists used WiFi network to send emails claiming responsibilty for the serial blasts that rocked the nation during past months.    

Considering its misuse, law enforcement agencies have even raised demands to restrict Blackberry services.    

However, the ministry ruled out all such speculation and said that it did not plan to ban Blackberry.    

"We are here to provide free flow of service and we are doing that. Our ministry is there to make sure that customers don't face any problem. The service (Blackberry) is operational and we hope that it continues to run," the minister said.    

The security agencies have asked the Department of Telecom to ensure that traffic originating and terminating in India does not travel outside the country.

Though essentially a Prince turned a statesman, the weave of his career was woven from the warp of many worlds. Scindia Ji was amazingly versatile, with exceptional managerial skills, a man of integrity and infinite capacity for hard work. Scindia Ji, though, you are no more with us, you will continue inspiring us. Cricketers, sports persons and many other will always miss you.!

His first stint as a blogger lasted all of three months.

Prasad blogged on a range of issues--the Gujjar community's agitation in Rajasthan, inflation, the Indo-US nuclear deal--but found that irrespective of his subject matter, the debate he sought to start would inevitably end up in complaints about the Indian Railways or the government.

"Dear Laluji, sadar pranam (salutations)!" read a comment on his post on the Gujjar agitation. "My husband Baba Sidhaye, (an) ex-western railway employee, is the first and only deaf and dumb by birth international cricketer in the world from India among 110 crore of Indian population. I would like to know: What your railway ministry has done to recognize his exemplary services to the nation and Indian Railways? I think that he is eligible for all the awards of government of India..." On 25 July, Prasad wryly remarked, "I would like to thank all those who have posted their comments on my blog. It has come to my notice that most of the comments are related to the functioning of railways, where people have pointed out various deficiencies in the services. We are studying all the suggestions and will try to implement them." He has not written since, though he may return to blogging later.

Prasad's blog is a case in point about why Indian politicians and political parties are reluctant to tap the growing number of Indian Internet users to further their agenda. As of September 2007, India had 49 million Internet users, according to a study by the eTechnology Group of IMRB International, a South Asian market research firm.

Access to a politician lies at the root of this reluctance, says Sanjay Sharma, managing director of QuBitTechnologies Pvt. Ltd, which has been running the official website of Indian Olympic Association president and Congress politician Suresh Kalmadi (www.skalmadi.org), the unofficial website of minister of state for information technology and communications Jyotiraditya Scindia (www.jyotiraditya.com) and an unofficial Congress party website, www.congress4india.com.

"The problem comes up when there is a flood of small and big requests. When you open up access to a politician, this happens and it is difficult to manage. Politicians have a group of handlers who restrict access and act as filters," Sharma says. "But when access is opened up, the equations get topsy-turvy and there is a fundamental conflict. The politician just wants to say things and find a way to filter access to him." Congress party's computer department chairman Vishvjit P. Singh, agrees. "The problem with interactivity is not only the bandwidth requirement but also that anyone can say anything they want." `Intolerant people'?

The Department of Posts, earlier this week, agreed to utilize the world's biggest postal work force (of 80,000 postmen) to collect data from over one-lakh villages every week for the Central government to tabulate Consumer Price Index for rural India.<center></center>

Every week, a postman will visit a designated shop in a village and will note down retail prices of the products being sold.

Each postman will have to e-mail the information to a Central office same day This information would .

then be tabulated and forwarded to the Ministry of Programme Implementation and Statistics.

For the work, each postman will get some additional money and he would be trained for the specialized job of data collection, said a ministry official.

The information collected from the ground level would provide the ministry a realistic Consumer Price Index (CPI) for rural India.

"Postal service is best suited for the job as they act agents of link between the government and Indian villages. Moreover, it will also lead to continuity of data collection from same source as a postman for a village is seldom changed, he commented.

Once these postmen provide consumer price data for over a year, the new CPI will replace the present system of multitude of different indices for industrial workers, rural workers, and agricultural workers based on secondary data.

To boost competition and affordability in the IPLC segment, the DoT has created a new category of licence called "Resale of IPLC Service" that will be permitted to enter into agreements for leased line with access providers, national long distance service providers and international long distance service providers for provision of IPLC to end customers.

Industries like business process outsourcing units, software exporters, call centres and banks are likely to benefit most from this step, given their heavy usage and dependence on leased line services.

According to the norms laid down by the DoT, only Indian registered companies are permitted to apply. The net worth and paid-up capital of company is required to be a minimum of Rs 2.5 crore. It should also be compliant with the current foreign direct investment (FDI) norms where the foreign equity in the paid-up capital of the company must not exceed 74 per cent.

The applicant should have an initial financial bank guarantee of Rs 1 crore. The entry fee has been set at Rs 1 crore, while the annual licence fee shall be 6 per cent of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR), or Rs 5 lakh, whichever is higher.

Taking its first step towards creating a new image, the Postal department unveiled its new logo on Tuesday, a move that is a part of a larger makeover process that is sweeping through the department. While the logo was unveiled in New Delhi on Tuesday morning by Minister of Communication and Information Technology A Raja and Jyotiraditya Scindia, it was simultaneously unveiled by chief postmasters generals in the state capitals and will be on letter-boxes and other post office insignia in the coming months.

In the past few months, the core processes have been overhauled in 50 post offices, a number which is set to rise to 450 by the end of the year. The interiors of the post offices have also undergone a change. The existing logo of India Post was designed in 1995 with the help of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. The department says that the need for a change was felt because of the rapid transformation in the Indian economy and the need to create a newer and more energetic feel for India Post.

The earlier logo was characterised by straight lines, while the new one has a more fluid feel to it. The effect of the wings on the logo has remained unchanged so as to ensure some continuity. "We worked in collaboration with Ogilvy and Mather, and a number of staff- officers and others and designed it," said M S Bali, Chief Postmaster General, Maharashtra Circle.

The construct of the logo is meant to signify India Post carrying emotion across physical distances, and the colours are post office red and orange. Red symbolises the traditional association with post office, along with passion, power and commitment, while orange communicates hope, joy and happiness.