The idea is to establish a robust and forward-looking legal framework that addresses the financial stress of power distribution companies, which are facing losses of over 6.9 trillion, while curbing high industrial tariffs that, according to the government, have affected competitiveness, constrained economic growth, and slowed the transition to clean energy.
'What has changed is that the new regulations are backed by a clear enforcement framework. They have real consequences and, for the first time, make compliance unavoidable.'
High spectrum costs limit operators to invest in next-gen network infrastructure.
How the UN's flagship climate summit lost its direction and what's at stake.
'Government officials use Gmail and ordinary phones without basic security consciousness.' 'Interoperability, especially in joint exercises with countries like the US, worries me.' 'It often means we open our systems to them, but they don't reciprocate.' 'They could have kill switches in their systems and might even be able to affect ours.'
The Supreme Court of India has referred the matter of the Right to Education (RTE) Act's applicability to minority schools to a larger bench for adjudication, expressing concerns about potential misuse and fragmentation of the education system.
For the first time, the government is likely to dip into the Oil Industry Development Fund (OIDF) to finance part of its fertiliser subsidy programme for 2025-26, according to official sources. The finance ministry has accounted for Rs 23,000 crore in the FY26 Budget as net additional resources to be drawn from dedicated reserve funds, including the OIDF, the Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Fund, and the Universal Service Obligation Fund.
The Supreme Court of India has directed changes in digital know your customer (KYC) guidelines for persons with disability and acid attack survivors, citing the right to digital access as an intrinsic component of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution. The court found that existing KYC procedures, which require visual tasks such as head movements and facial positioning, pose significant challenges for these groups, preventing them from accessing essential services like bank accounts and welfare schemes. The court emphasized the importance of bridging the digital divide and ensuring universal accessibility to digital services for all citizens.
Amidst growing panic over Trump's ban on Harvard's international student enrolment, overseas education consultants have this advice for Indian students.
The government will conduct a spectrum auction this year, which will facilitate the roll-out of 5G services by private telecom operators during the financial year 2022-23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. "Spectrum auctions will be conducted in 2022 to facilitate the roll-out of 5G mobile services within 2022-23 by private telecom providers," Sitharaman said. She said the telecommunications sector in general and 5G, in particular, can enable growth and offer job opportunities.
At the end of Dec, the government had Rs 47,273 crore in the USO fund, with annual accruals of about Rs 6,000 crore.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared utilisation of the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for provision of mobile connectivity in 7,287 uncovered villages across five states at an estimated cost of Rs 6,466 crore. Briefing media on the Cabinet decisions, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said these uncovered villages of 44 aspirational districts across five states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Odisha will get 4G-based mobile services.
Ranjani Srinivasan, a citizen and national of India, entered the United States on a F-1 student visa as a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Friday. It added that Srinivasan was "involved in activities supporting" Hamas, a terrorist organisation.
Of the total proposed allocation, over Rs 1 lakh crore is meant for BSNL and MTNL-related expenses, including Rs 82,916 crore infusion in BSNL for technology upgradation and restructuring at BSNL.
Telecom services providers have urged the Ministry of Finance to suspend the universal service obligation (USOF) till the existing corpus is exhausted. In their Budget recommendations, they have also pressed for an exemption from the service tax on "assignment of right to use natural resources" and the slashing of Customs duty on telecom equipment to zero. The Cellular Operators Association of India (Coai), which represents private sector telecom operators Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea, called for abolishment of USOF levy.
Internet major Google has appointed former joint secretary at Niti Aayog Archana Gulati as head of public policy in India. A Google spokesperson confirmed the appointment. Messages sent to Gulati elicited no immediate reply. Gulati was looking after digital communications policy matters at the government think tank and took voluntary retirement in April last year.
On the 134th birth anniversary of the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, Utkarsh Mishra revisits three incidents from Dr B R Ambedkar's life that lay bare the deeply entrenched nature of caste prejudice.
On March 13, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary had tabled the second batch of supplementary demands for grants in the House amounting to a total of Rs 2,70,508.89 crore.
Being the only universal service provider in uneconomic areas, the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has sought exemption from contributing to the dedicated fund saying it should be reimbursed directly on the basis of cost incurred.
The government said on Wednesday that the Telegraph Act would be amended to incorporate cellular service providers to get a share from the Universal Service Obligation Fund to connect all villages, highways and rail network.\n\n
The Department of Telecommunications has received 21 bids from telecom operators and infrastructure service providers for the Rs 2,395 crore (Rs 23.95 billion) rural telephony project.
The whole process will take 2-3 months, which includes advertising, examination of the tender and signing of the agreement.
When Kasturi Rajamurty won a gold medal in powerlifting at the WPPL World Cup in Russia, she sure had come a long way. From a life of penury to constantly being short of funds to fuel her passion, she had finally triumphed, and how.
The waiver, decided recently by the Telecom Commission, a wing of the DoT, is worth around Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) per year. The commission also decided to reduce the levy towards the Universal Service Obligation Fund from the present 5 per cent to 3 per cent of the adjusted gross revenue.
India needs $70bn of private investment in infrastructure and will not get it without a level playing field.
India may have achieved a teledensity of over 65 per cent, but as many as 62,443 villages are still to get a taste of telecom revolution that started since 1995-96, says the Economic Survey 2010-11.
The government may be staring at a modest slippage in fiscal deficit for 2022-23 (FY23), with the Ministry of Finance seeking parliamentary approval for additional spending through a second and final tranche of supplementary demands for grants. On Monday, as the Budget session of Parliament resumed, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sought Parliament approval for additional gross spending of Rs 2.7 trillion in FY23 (which ends on March 31). While net cash outgo is pegged at Rs 1.48 trillion, the rest will be matched by savings or enhanced receipts, the finance ministry said.
To be headed by Ajay Bhattacharya of Universal Service Obligation Fund of Telecom Ministry, the five-member panel has recently been asked to submit a set of guidelines to suggest ways to promote renewable energy options in the sector within the next three months.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the amendment of the Telegraph Act giving statutory status to the Universal Service Obligation Fund.
Scheme likely to come into force by June or July this year; both PSUs have been losing revenues and market share.
Currently, USO fund administrator invites bid from interested telcos for setting up infrastructure in rural areas and the process is time consuming.
What stood out in his 15-year journey as a member of the political executive at the Centre was his glowing record as India's most successful and effective finance minister. Both as prime minister and finance minister, he understood the importance of gradualism, except when the economy or the polity was in a crisis.
It would be a challenge to India's policy makers how to deal with Trump so that mutual economic growth remains sustained and mutual understanding on global issues are not hampered, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
In a move that may hit private courier operators hard, the government on Thursday proposed to stop them from carrying letters weighing below 300 grams.
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