The government on Thursday said it has extended the timeline for implementation of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) to October 31, 2010.
After a temporary bar due to security concerns, the government has lifted ban on state-run telecom firm BSNL to procure equipment from Chinese vendors, Parliament was informed on Thursday.
Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communication and other GSM telephone operators owe government over Rs 451 crore (Rs 4.51 billion) in license fee and spectrum charges, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.
With the import bill of telecom equipment rising, the government on Wednesday said preferential treatment would be given to its indigenous production in the New Telecom Policy, which is under formulation.
The opinion poll has said that if the assembly polls are held now, the Congress is likely to win 142 seats in Rajasthan against the BJP's 56.
Union minister files a case against Rajasthan officials, alleges that audio recordings of tapped phone conversations has tarnished his reputation and disturbed his mental peace.
Amid a raging controversy over the 2G spectrum scam, Minister of State for Telecom Sachin Pilot said most of the allegations that are cropping up date back to the National Democratic Alliance regime.
India's minister of communications and information technology speaks to Ajit Jain in Toronto.
On Tuesday, yoga guru Ramdev Baba became the first non-Muslim cleric addressed the annual convention of Islamic seminaries under the guidance of Islamic organisation Jamait-e-Ulema Hind at the historic seminary in Deoband, about 500 km from Lucknow, which is known for its sweeping influence over majority of Sunni Muslims in the country.
Asserting that the Congress government in the state will not only complete its five years but will also win the next assembly elections, Gehlot again accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of conspiring to topple his government at any cost.
There was near unanimity among the guests at the Sibal dinner that the country is ready for a change, that the ruling party has lost popularity. However in the same breath speaker after speaker lamented that without Opposition unity Modi could as well win a third successive term, reveals Virendra Kapoor.
The government on Thursday ruled out setting up an ombudsman to redress complaints of poor mobile telephony services like call drops saying state-run BSNL/MTNL were taking effective steps to upgrade technology.
Lauding Mumbai residents for expressing their support for actor Shah Rukh Khan by snubbing the threat from Shiv Sena against his film My name is Khan, Union minister Sachin Pilot on Monday said the Thackerays have made only a laughing stock of themselves by raising such issues. "The whole of Mumbai has come out and has proved that the Shiv Sena was wrong. The people have proved that we cannot tolerate such things," said Pilot.
State-owned BSNL has become the first telecom firm to launch mobile services at the Holy Amarnath cave, as well as on the two routes of the yatra.
While Sonia Gandhi has been avoiding attending public events, Rahul Gandhi left on a short personal visit abroad only on Sunday.
The meeting was called for discussing the points which were raised by Governor Kalraj Mishra on Monday.
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Union Minister of State for Communication Sachin Pilot on Thursday said that efforts are on to increase the teledensity in the country to 40 per cent by 2014.
He hoped that some of the dissident MLAs, who are led by sacked deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, will also attend the session when it is called "very soon".
'If the government says that the Balakot airstrike was effective and terrorists were killed then they should have shown some proofs'
Minister of state for communications and IT, Sachin Pilot said the IT and ITES industry has been a large generator of employment with about 2.2 million professionals directly employed by the industry, while indirect job creation is estimated at around eight million.
"Rajasthan is the only state where no demand was raised to change the PCC president in seven years. We knew that nothing is happening here. We knew he is 'nikamma' (worthless) and 'nakara' (idle), still we did not question this in the interest of the party," Gehlot told reporters.
'Every Indian is feeling proud and celebrating this impressive win'
The fear that Mamata might snatch the mantle of Opposition leadership which the Gandhis firmly believe to be theirs by birthright seems to have persuaded Sonia and Rahul to give up their hoity-toity ways, observes Virendra Kapoor.
From a teledensity (number of phones in use for every 100 individuals) of just 1.4 per cent in 1995, India today has reached a teledensity of over 50 per cent, with big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, etc going up to 130-140 per cent, same as in Europe and North America.
While developing countries have made significant efforts towards good governance and domestic resource mobilisation, the support by the international community has lagged far behind, Member of Parliament Sachin Pilot said addressing the economic and financial committee of the United Nations General Assembly.
Among the candidates who were leading were Congress's Sachin Pilot in Ajmer, Jitendra Singh in Alwar, Seeshram Ola in Jhunjhunu, Namo Narayan Meena in Tonk-Sawaimadhopur, C P Joshi in Bhilwara and Girija Vyas in Chittorgarh
The Congress won nearly half of the 2,105 wards in the contest in the first local elections held in the state after the party came to power in Rajasthan last December.
The Congress party continues to be racked by arbitrary decision-making and the absence of accountability.
Sachin Pilot, Parliamentarian from Dausa, Rajasthan and a prominent member of the Congress' young brigade, draws inspiration from his father, late Rajesh Pilot, as well as party chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul."Of course, the star campaigners in the coming Lok Sabha elections would be Sonia Gandhi, Rahulji and our Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who has been making rapid progress after his heart surgery. Rahulji is one of the most acceptable politicians around,"he said
'Sachin Pilot once calculated that with a million Indians flooding the labour market every month, only an additional 12 million jobs annually could keep unemployment at the same level.' 'That's chickenfeed for the functionaries who cram my e-mail inbox every day with such a constant flow of job offers that trying to empty it is like trying to drink dry the horn connected to the ocean in Norse mythology,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
'It is the moment where compassion and empathy must supersede our identity, politics, or our ambitions.'
Congress boss breaks with tradition to send two chadars to the Ajmer dargah.
The focus will be on starting 3G services at the earliest. "By the end of this year, process for acutioning 3G spectrum (radio frequency) would be completed," he said after assuming office along with his junior ministerial colleagues Sachin Pilot and Gurdas Kamat.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has alleged that the BJP was conspiring to poach the MLAs in order to destabilise his government, a charge denied by the saffron party.
The forum, which constitutes 40 OBC lawmakers, including Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, Dausa MP Sachin Pilot and JD-U leader Sharad Yadav, termed the creamy layer criterion put forward by the Supreme Court as a 'conspiracy'.
"Private players are going only in those areas where there is a big market, whereas rural areas are by and large connected by BSNL. We are adding 20 million new lines this year to cover maximum foot print," minister of state for telecom Sachin Pilot said during the Question Hour.
The government on Thursday said the domestic IT sector has not recovered fully and is expected to grow by 5.5 per cent in 2009-10 against a growth rate of 16.6 per cent in the previous fiscal.
Rajasthan School Education Minister Vasudev Devnani on Tuesday claimed the revised syllabus has the first prime minister's name at 15 places in different textbooks.
The Congress central leadership's decision to send former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot to work for the party in Gujarat is a strategic one, say Congress sources.
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