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Tag: Ram Sewak Sharma

  • DocuBay announces ‘12 Digit Masterstroke’: An untold insight into India’s Aadhaar revolution

    DocuBay announces ‘12 Digit Masterstroke’: An untold insight into India’s Aadhaar revolution

    Mumbai: DocuBay, the global streaming service from IN10 Media Network, has announced the release of its latest original, ‘12 Digit Masterstroke – The Untold Story of Aadhaar’ that unravels a behind-the-scenes story of the creation of the world’s largest social identity program, culminating into what is today known as “Aadhaar Card”, crafting a unique identity for over 1.4 billion Indians.

    Motivated to highlight topics of national and global importance, DocuBay depicts the untold story of an unlikely team of public and private sector professionals who came together at UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) to design & implement India’s ground-breaking Aadhaar card system. The documentary explores logistical, technological, financial & bureaucratic challenges faced by the team, spearheaded by tech wizard Nandan Nilekani, aiming to achieve something that no one had attempted before in India. Team Aadhaar worked under two governments led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and current Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    “While there is a lot of awareness about the remarkable initiatives that have benefited over a billion beneficiaries of various government schemes, through the Aadhaar project, not many people are aware of the gigantic efforts which were required from a team of technocrats led by Nandan Nilekani that executed the project to fruition,” said DocuBay COO Girish Dwibhashyam. “We are thrilled and grateful to have captured this historic story into our DocuBay Orignal film.”

    The documentary, narrated by entrepreneur Ankur Warikoo, features UIDAI former CEO Ram Sewak Sharma, an IAS officer, who articulates technology in a ‘Dabang’ way. Ganga Kapavarapu, a tech buff who brought a financial focus to the program. Srikanth Nadhamuni, the ‘tech guru’, introduced a powerful technological armoury for the creation of Aadhar. Shankar Maruwada, ‘Sir Panch’, played a key role in marketing Aadhaar with a small team of four. Pramod Verma the ‘Chief Royal Architect’ of Aadhar sketched the building blocks for the program. Lastly, Ashok Pal Singh modernised the Indian postal system through digitalisation and their stories of overcoming challenges.

    “How do you encapsulate a five-year rollercoaster journey into 50 minutes,” said Wide Angle Films founder and CEO Sujata Kulshreshtha, on the challenges faced during research that underwent to produce the film. She added, “We had to overcome the challenges like lack of archival material from the period of execution and to get access to the key members of the team. Our team did in-depth research, even before we formulated the narrative as the documentary brings this incredible ‘made-in-India’ story to viewers.”

    Today in India, with the introduction of UIDAI’s Aadhaar system, transformation has been enabled across 600,000 plus villages and 400 plus cities in India as the unique biometric secure number has become the bedrock for multiple government schemes. From enabling financial inclusion to powering direct benefit transfer schemes, Aadhaar has reshaped lives, earning international recognition as a model for digital identity systems.

    ‘12 Digit Masterstroke’, produced by Wide Angle Films, is now exclusively available on DocuBay, inviting audiences worldwide to witness the extraordinary story behind India’s Aadhaar revolution.

  • TRAI, telco chiefs to meet in December over OTT regulation

    TRAI, telco chiefs to meet in December over OTT regulation

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is scheduled to meet top executives of telcos in the month of December. The meeting is being lined up in order to discuss plans for 2019. The regulator may also issue a consultation paper next week on whether over-the-top (OTT) apps such as Skype, WhatsApp and Google Duo should be regulated.

    Speaking to Economic Times, TRAI chairman Ram Sewak Sharma said, “We are going to call chief executives of telecom service providers in the month of December to actually finalise the agenda and roadmap for the next year.”

    The regulator will also separately meet the Indian broadcasting industry stakeholders and multiple system operators, informed Sharma.

    As these apps are already being regulated under the Information Technology Act, telcos have demanded that OTT communication apps should be brought under a regulatory regime similar to theirs since they provide comparable services without the liabilities associated with being a licence holder.

    TRAI chairman confirmed that they were coming out with a consultation paper next week as the final document was almost ready.

  • TRAI, European regulator BERC sign net neutrality MoU

    TRAI, European regulator BERC sign net neutrality MoU

    MUMBAI : Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) on Thursday signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” (MoU) on net nuetrality. The MoU, signed by TRAI chairman Ram Sewak Sharma and BEREC chair Johannes Gungl, also adopted a “Joint Statement for an Open Internet”, pledging to work together to ensure that the internet remains an open and non-discriminatory platform.

    “Net neutrality is a vital principle and an open internet crucial for people around the globe. We are very happy to have TRAI as a partner to ensure a univocal protection of net neutrality principles for internet access services,” said Gungl.

    Last year, TRAI, post a consultation process,  issued recommendations to protect net neutrality. However, those recommendations haven’t yet been enacted by the telecom department.

    The joint statement not only highlighted the regulators’ common understanding of net neutrality rules but also their intention to protect them. TRAI and BEREC have also decided to work together in implementing these rules.

    The  MoU has been designed to faciliatate effective electronic communications regulation. Its aim is to build a mutual relationship between the two parties to identify and tackle current and future regulatory issues. This effort is also aimed at nurturing a sound working partnership between the experts from both regulators.

    “We consider that the intemet will continue to be an enabler of growth and innovation for countries like India who can use technology to leapfrog to the next stage of development. Therefore, it is important that the intemet is kept as an open and non-discriminatory platform. Our MoU with BEREC gives us an opportunity to not only work closely together in areas like net neutrality, but also to collaborate in other areas where the EU has adopted a very effective regulatory framework like consumer protection, broadband development and promotion of Next Generation Access roll-out ” said Sharma.

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  • RS Sharma new TRAI chairman; challenges aplenty

    RS Sharma new TRAI chairman; challenges aplenty

    MUMBAI: The position had been lying vacant for almost three months. And his was one of the names mentioned as amongst the front runners to become the next Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman. (See: TRAI Chairmanship: An onerous responsibility fraught with delicate diplomacy & balancing acts)

     

    So when the announcement came that IT secretary Ram Sewak Sharma would be stepping into the shoes of Rahul Khullar whose term ended in May, it didn’t come as much of a surprise.

    The appointment committee of the Cabinet approved his name yesterday. Sharma is an IAS 1978 batch from the Jharkhand cadre. He was heavily involved in the implementation of the Aadhar project apart from designing the road map for the government’s digital India programme. He was director-general and mission director of the Unique Identification Authority of India.

    Sharma holds quite a few scholarly degrees from academia’s best. He has a Masters degree in Mathematics from IIT Kanpur, and a Masters in Computer Science from the University of California.

    Other names, which were being considered for the post, according to Business Standard, included Power Secretary PK Sinha, Information and Broadcasting Secretary Bimal Julka, Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher, former telecom secretary M F Farooqui, and former Reserve Bank of India deputy governor Subir Gokarn.

    Sharma will have a key role to play on the net neutrality issue and also find solutions for the poor call quality that mobile companies are offering today. This apart, he has challenges facing him on cable TV digitisation, which has been in near limbo for a while now, especially when it comes to phase III and phase IV. The I&B ministry has been unable to push the pace on its own.