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.

On the issue of foreign players being allocated 5 megahertz (MHz) spectrum in the 3G spectrum services, Scindia said the Department of Telecom was looking into the matter.

Seventeen-year-old Abhilash Anand, a Plus-II student of Scindia School, Gwalior, cleared the online test of the university and was selected for a full scholarship for a four-year masters in engineeringcourse. However, the continuity of the scholarship would be subject to his academic performance every year.

Abhilash Anand (left) with civil aviation minister Praful Patel and MP Jyotiraditya Scindia in Gwalior.

Some 20-25 students across the world receive this scholarship every year and this time the teenager from Giridih was the only student from India to qualify.

"Our principal informed me about the scholarship. After I went through the terms and conditions, I did not waste a moment and sat for the test. I managed to score 83 per cent," said an elated Anand.

Anand, who completed his Class XI and Class XII from the Scindia School secured 93 per cent and 83 per cent, respectively, in the examinations. He won the best debater award twice -- in 2006 and 2007.

In 2007, Anand had also bagged the best student award, which he received from Union minister of aviation Praful Patel and MP Jyotiraditya Scindia.

For now, "surviving in London" is the priority of this teen who aspires to be a nuclear scientist. "I wish to do research in nano-technology," he said.

Unlike the mobile front, the major initiative for WiMax is set to be from the state-owned telecom provider, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL). The company has already announced plans to install WiMAX base stations in 1,000 blocks across India by the end of this financial year and to provide high-speed internet access to 25,000 villages through CSCs.

"Villages will be equipped with infrastructure such as PCs, printers, software and staff for delivery of e-governance services pertaining to health, education and agricultural information," a BSNL official said. BSNL has also partnered with Intel to promote WiMAX-based broadband access in rural India. Under the pact, Intel will review state-owned BSNL's road map for the WiMAX rollout in the country and develop basic standards for the rollout and applications.

Private players have not shunned the WiMAX road either. Motorola is strengthening its presence in the hinterlands through extensive broadband wireless access (BWA) projects for state governments. Network major Alcatel-Lucent has set up a joint venture with C-DOT (the R&D arm of the telecom department) to focus on exclusive BWA/WiMAX solutions that are targeted towards rural connectivity. The company has completed field trials using Aircel's licensed WiMAX spectrum and the technology is ready for commercial deployment. "WiMAX has the potential to provide India with widespread broadband access that can usher in economic growth, better education and health care, and improved entertainment services," Alcatel-Lucent chief marketing officer A Sethuraman said. Alcatel Research Centre is also in the process of developing a product that would act as a receiver for WiMAX services, which is expected to cost less than $100.

Besides posting a letter you may also stop at a post office to pop up a pill. Postal department is considering using its 1.5-lakh-strong network across the country to sell over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, including painkillers, medicines for diarrhoea, essential cold and cough medicines and contraceptives. OTC drugs are medicines that can be bought without a doctor's prescription. Companies are planning to start pilot projects in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra from the next quarter, Novartis V-C and managing director Ranjit Shahani said. About halfa-dozen pharma companies are expected to be involved in the pilot project.

The move would increase the market of OTC drugs. Major players like Novartis, Dabur, Ranbaxy, Cipla, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Zandu control nearly 51% of the total over-the-counter market. The project will involve the department of pharmaceuticals and DoP. "This may be a PPP project and would be implemented by DoP and the concerned pharma companies," a government official said.

The move is aimed at ensuring accessibility of over-the-counter drugs in the rural areas. There are about 1,50,000 post offices across the country. "We have been in talks with the government to use the network to sell over-the-counter drugs. However, since different ministries are involved, implementation of the proposal is taking a bit of a time. So, we have decided to start with the pilot project in three states for the time being," said Mr Shahani.

The work will likely to begin later this year after spectrum is allocated through the proposed e-auction. DoT will use Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) to fund the ambitious project that would provide e-governance and data services in rural areas, said an official statement.

To accomplish its wireless broadband plan, DoT has already held discussions with major technology providers, telecom service providers (TSPs) and Internet service providers (ISPs) to formalise the modalities of tender procedures, specification and benchmark settings.

The scheme envisages that the TSPs may utilise the existing passive and core infrastructure available with them. Consultants for the purpose have already been appointed. Requirements of the Department of Information Technology (DIT) and other user ministries like the Human Resource Development, Health, Panchayati Raj and Home Affairs are being firmed up so that block-wise villages can be prioritised and requisite infrastructure be kept ready.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is providing broadband services to 1,000 out of over 6,000 blocks. About 50,000 of the proposed 1-lakh common service centres would be covered by the BSNL broadband service. The DoT is likely to cover the remaining blocks and all the CSCs. Besides, the department is also likely to support wireline broadband by USOF wherever feasible.

"There is no plan to privatise BSNL, but thinking is going on coming out with an IPO with a cap of 10 per cent only," Scindia told reporters here yesterday.

The money generated through an IPO would be used to strengthen the BSNL network in far-flung areas, he said.

He said that there is a gulf between privatisation and IPO and added that to capture investment and market share, IPO is necessary.