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Tag: Manoj Sinha

  • Around 100,000 gram panchayats to be connected through Optic Fibre by March: Sinha

    Around 100,000 gram panchayats to be connected through Optic Fibre by March: Sinha

    NEW DELHI: Around 100,000 Gram Panchayats (GPs) will be connected through Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) to set up a network infrastructure to serve the rural masses by March next year, Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said today.

    He called for holistic planning rather than piecemeal approach to achieve the vision of Digital India.

    Inaugurating a seminar organized by National Institute of Communication Finance on “ICT emerging technologies & USOF for Digital India” here, the Minister said there was need for innovation in this sector as India cannot afford to emulate the Developed economies due to limited resources.

    He said if India will lag in catching up with emerging technologies in the coming 15 to 20 years, the very existence of the country will be at stake. He exhorted officials and other stakeholders to “Walk the Talk” for achieving the Prime Minister’s vision of Transforming India through Digital Revolution. He said it is a bounden duty to digitally empower the huge chunk of population particularly in rural areas who are still deprived of the IT revolution and said the Government alone cannot do this.

    He said there is need for finding appropriate technologies for the deprived sections of society, whether it is by way network infrastructure or digital highway.

    Telecom Secretary J S Deepak said the Finance Ministry is very conservative in allocation of funds under USOF (Universal Service Obligation Fund). He said despite Rs 70,000 crore being available under USOF, allocation of work is less than 40 per cent.

    However, he admitted that the execution of digital infrastructure projects particularly in rural areas needs to be speeded up. Deepak also announced that Rs 10,000 Crore will be spent in 2016-17, which is the highest in the history of USOF.

    Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman R S Sharma said Public-Private Partnership is definitely the best mode for transforming India into Digitally Empowered Society and Knowledge Economy.

    He said when mobile telephony made its foray into India, there were twenty million fixed telephone lines and the number remains the same even today even though the mobile subscribers have crossed the 1000 million mark.

    He cautioned that the era of voice has been replaced by data and if India will lag behind in building the Digital Highway in a time bound manner, there will be problems of traffic Jam.

    The two-day long seminar will deliberate on the topics like changing role of USOF, regulatory issues and its future perspective, challenges of consolidation in digital Indian initiatives, Bharat Net and road ahead, broadband proliferation by telecom service providers, unlicensed spectrum for Wi-Fi etc.

  • Communications Minister launches Twitter service for complaints

    Communications Minister launches Twitter service for complaints

    NEW DELHI: Trying to digitally enable the common man, Ministry of Communications (MoC) today launched a “Twitter Sewa” or a Twitter-based service for addressing complaints and grievances of the common man and other stakeholders in the telecoms and postal sectors.

    The Twitter handle for this service will be Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha’s personal handle, @manojsinhabjp.

    Launching the service, Sinha said that this is in tune with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “minimum government, maximum governance” as various ministries are connecting with Indian citizens through live communications platform to provide a transparent, responsive and accountable administration.

    The Minister said that the Telecoms Ministry and Department of Post will compile a list of complaints based on the Twitter Sewa to categorize them into immediate, mid-term and long-term complaints for redressal.

    Sinha said that the challenge is gigantic as India has the biggest postal network in the world and the number of mobile-phone subscribers had already crossed one billion in January this year. “Therefore, we are aware that complaints are going to pour in from across the country and in great numbers. But I would like to assure you that my Ministry will rise to this challenge,” he added.

    A graduate of an Indian Institute of Technology, the Minister cautioned there are chances that this Twitter service may be “misused by rogue elements” but expressed the hope that Twitter authorities will take care of such transgressions.

    Communications Secretary J.S.Deepak, Secretary Posts B.V.Sudhakar and other senior government officials were present on the occasion.

  • Communications Minister launches Twitter service for complaints

    Communications Minister launches Twitter service for complaints

    NEW DELHI: Trying to digitally enable the common man, Ministry of Communications (MoC) today launched a “Twitter Sewa” or a Twitter-based service for addressing complaints and grievances of the common man and other stakeholders in the telecoms and postal sectors.

    The Twitter handle for this service will be Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha’s personal handle, @manojsinhabjp.

    Launching the service, Sinha said that this is in tune with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “minimum government, maximum governance” as various ministries are connecting with Indian citizens through live communications platform to provide a transparent, responsive and accountable administration.

    The Minister said that the Telecoms Ministry and Department of Post will compile a list of complaints based on the Twitter Sewa to categorize them into immediate, mid-term and long-term complaints for redressal.

    Sinha said that the challenge is gigantic as India has the biggest postal network in the world and the number of mobile-phone subscribers had already crossed one billion in January this year. “Therefore, we are aware that complaints are going to pour in from across the country and in great numbers. But I would like to assure you that my Ministry will rise to this challenge,” he added.

    A graduate of an Indian Institute of Technology, the Minister cautioned there are chances that this Twitter service may be “misused by rogue elements” but expressed the hope that Twitter authorities will take care of such transgressions.

    Communications Secretary J.S.Deepak, Secretary Posts B.V.Sudhakar and other senior government officials were present on the occasion.

  • Venkaiah Naidu gets additional charge of MIB; Manoj Sinha bags Communications portfolio

    Venkaiah Naidu gets additional charge of MIB; Manoj Sinha bags Communications portfolio

    NEW DELHI: M. Venkaiah Naidu is the new boss for India’s media and entertainment sector at Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) as the senior minister replacing Arun Jaitley who continues to be country’s finance minister.

    Similarly, there’s a new Communications boss at the Capital’s Sanchar Bhawan that houses one part of the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (MoCIT). Manoj Sinha will hold independent charge of Communications portfolio in the bifurcated MoCIT.

    Earlier MoCIT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad retains control over IT & Electronics departments in MoCIT, while being given additional charge of Ministry of Law.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi affected a reshuffle of his Cabinet on July 5, 2016, bringing in new people as senior and junior ministers and re-jigging portfolios of some existing ministers. With the induction of the newcomers, the council of ministers has been expanded to 78 members.

    Both Naidu and Sharma, at the helm of crucial ministries, have additional responsibilities too.

    While Naidu also holds charge at Ministry of Urban Development Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Sharma too is a junior minister at Ministry of Railways.

    Naidu will be accompanied at MIB by Olympics medallist-turned-politician Rajyavardhan Singh RathoreRajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who continues as the junior minister.

    It remains to be seen how quickly the new ministers grasp complex issues such as digitisation, broadcast licences, content regulations, Net Neutrality, spectrum auctioning, while keeping pace with newer technologies being embraced by India’s media & entertainment and communications sectors.

    Political observers of India’s complicated polity were divided in their opinion on whether the Cabinet reshuffle reflected talents been rewarded or people given ministerial berths with an eye on some up and coming State-level elections that are crucial for the nationalist BJP, which leads the government in New Delhi.

  • Venkaiah Naidu gets additional charge of MIB; Manoj Sinha bags Communications portfolio

    Venkaiah Naidu gets additional charge of MIB; Manoj Sinha bags Communications portfolio

    NEW DELHI: M. Venkaiah Naidu is the new boss for India’s media and entertainment sector at Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) as the senior minister replacing Arun Jaitley who continues to be country’s finance minister.

    Similarly, there’s a new Communications boss at the Capital’s Sanchar Bhawan that houses one part of the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (MoCIT). Manoj Sinha will hold independent charge of Communications portfolio in the bifurcated MoCIT.

    Earlier MoCIT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad retains control over IT & Electronics departments in MoCIT, while being given additional charge of Ministry of Law.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi affected a reshuffle of his Cabinet on July 5, 2016, bringing in new people as senior and junior ministers and re-jigging portfolios of some existing ministers. With the induction of the newcomers, the council of ministers has been expanded to 78 members.

    Both Naidu and Sharma, at the helm of crucial ministries, have additional responsibilities too.

    While Naidu also holds charge at Ministry of Urban Development Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Sharma too is a junior minister at Ministry of Railways.

    Naidu will be accompanied at MIB by Olympics medallist-turned-politician Rajyavardhan Singh RathoreRajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who continues as the junior minister.

    It remains to be seen how quickly the new ministers grasp complex issues such as digitisation, broadcast licences, content regulations, Net Neutrality, spectrum auctioning, while keeping pace with newer technologies being embraced by India’s media & entertainment and communications sectors.

    Political observers of India’s complicated polity were divided in their opinion on whether the Cabinet reshuffle reflected talents been rewarded or people given ministerial berths with an eye on some up and coming State-level elections that are crucial for the nationalist BJP, which leads the government in New Delhi.

  • Mobile Apps to help passengers for railways, taxi services

    Mobile Apps to help passengers for railways, taxi services

    NEW DELHI: Despite fears that the growth of Internet is not as fast as it should be, social media and apps appear to be pervading all spheres of live.

     

    Taking a cue from the heavy dependence of social media and mobile on people’s lives, the Railway Ministry has launched a portal on Complaint Management in English and Hindi to address needs of the consumers. However, the mobile application is available only in English on Android platform.

     

    The public complaints and suggestions are being monitored on a real time basis. Necessary instructions have been issued to concerned officials to finalize the complaints at the earliest. However, no time frame has been set to redress the complaints.

     

    Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha told the Parliament that bona fide passengers could also send their suggestions through this newly launched portal.

     

    The details of the Railway Mobile App have been given wide publicity through Indian Railways’ sharing details on its social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

     

    Meanwhile, the Road Transport & Highways Ministry has finalised a draft advisory for the State Governments in consultation with stakeholders with regard to taxi-hailing services using mobile apps.

     

    The taxi hailing services or the on-demand transport aggregating services in question are covered under Section 93 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

     

    The State Governments have the power to regulate such service providers under Section 93, Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways Hon Radhakrishnan told Parliament today.