Since 2012, nearly 7.7 million more women are using modern contraception, helping more than 38% women who want to delay or prevent pregnancy, latest data released by Family Planning 2020 has said.

India projects to spend 3 billion US Dollars on family planning by 2020 – exceeding its initial goal of 2 billion US Dollars. Between 2014 and 2015, more than 50 million couples received free family planning services across India and 183 million unintended pregnancies and 56 million unsafe abortions were averted, data released ahead of the FP 2020 Summit on July 11 has revealed.

In 2012, India committed to including family planning as a central element of its efforts to achieve universal health coverage and provide free family planning services and contraceptives to 200 million couples and 234 million adolescents. It has also committed to increase spending on family planning to  2 billion US Dollars for 2012-2020 and improve domestic manufacturing capacity for family planning commodities while expanding the contraceptive choices at the community level – especially IUDs – by training 200,000 health workers and improving family planning education and counseling for women after child births.

India has made concerted effort to expand its indigenous manufacturing capacity as a result of which all current contraceptives used in the country are manufactured indigenously. To ensure that contraceptives are available when and where women need them, a number of States have rolled out digital logistics system to manage their family planning supply chains, and the Centre is facilitating the expansion of this system across the country.

Oral and injectable contraceptive options and new IUDs have been introduced in India and condom packaging has been updated to improve uptake, but more importantly as part of its reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health (RMNCH+A) strategy, India has launched a new community-based programme focused on adolescent health that aims to reduce teenage pregnancies.

NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court today asked the Centre as to why no enabling law as mandated under the Constitution has been made for the appointment of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners in the poll panel. 

A bench comprising Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud said that Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the appointments of the CEC and the ECs be made as per the enabling law, but the law has not been enacted so far. 

The court, however, acknowledged that till now good persons have been appointed in the poll panel. The bench was hearing a Public Interest Litigation seeking various reliefs including that there should be a fair and transparent procedure for appointment of CEC and ECs.

India and Israel today signed seven agreements across sectors including two MoUs are in the field of water management and three MoUs on space co-operation, one on Science and Technology and one on Agriculture. Later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint press meet. 

PM Modi said India and Israel have agreed to do much more together to protect strategic interests of both the countries. He said, our goal is to build a relationship that reflects our shared priorities and draws on enduring bonds between our peoples. Mr. Modi said he and Mr. Natanyahu discussed the situation in West Asia and the wider region. The Prime Minister also expressed India’s hope that peace, dialogue and restraint will prevail. 

Speaking during the joint Press Meet Israeli Prime Minister said this is a deeply moving moment as the two countries are making history. He said we are being challenged by forces of terror and we have agreed to cooperate in this area. Mr. Netanyahu also said ours is a partnership to seek good, defend good and achieve good.

Day two of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic visit to Israel will kick off with a meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin today. The leader of opposition of Israel, Issac Herzog will also call upon the Prime Minister. Mr Modi will also address the Indian community in Tel Aviv later in the day.

Last night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted a dinner in honour of Mr Modi at his residence. In a press statement along with Mr Netanyahu, Mr Modi said common objective of economic prosperity, strong technology and innovation provide the space for shared action between India and Israel. 

The Prime Minister said he wants to frame a relationship that transforms the landscape of economic engagements between the two countries. 

Mr Modi said the two countries must resolutely oppose the evils of terrorism, radicalism and violence that plague our times. He said, those who believe in humanity and civilised values must come together and defend it at all costs. 

Mr Netanyahu also asserted that the two countries must stand together to fight the menace of terrorism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that technology and innovation were important development priority of India which provides the scope to expand academic, scientific and business links with Israel. 

He said that both the countries want to place a strong security partnership to safeguard peace, stability and prosperity. Mr Modi said that he will work with Netanyahu to build a clear action agenda to realise these objectives. 

Speaking about the people to people linkages between the two countries Mr Modi said his visit to Israel celebrates the ancient bond between the communities across both the nations. 

PM Modi added that Indian Jews are a living and vibrant connect to this shared history. He said, India is proud of Jewish sons and daughters of India.

SHILLONG: Sitting in the glass-and-concrete State Convention Centre in the capital of hilly state, Meghalaya, participants of a media workshop on climate change were feeling sweaty. The convention centre is not air-conditioned nor does it have ceiling fans. For the comfort of guests, some pedestal fans were plugged in. 
Why are we sweating in Shillong? Asked state information technology minister Dr M Ampareen Lyngdoh. The question may sound strange for those who have read in tourist brochures and text books about the wettest places on the planet being in Meghalaya and about its round-the-year cool weather. 
The answer to this question came in the form of a new study done by researchers from the Water and Climate Lab at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Gandhinagar. The study has shown that air temperature in the state is rising at the rate of 0.031 degree per year. The trend is consistent from 1981 to 2014, barring the years 1991 and 1992. This translates into 1 degree centigrade rise between 1981 and 2014, which is quite significant. Future projections indicate similar rise over next two decades. The state has also been witnessing highly fluctuating frequencies of hot days, hot nights, cold days and cold nights. “The number of hot days and nights show an increasing trend while that of cold days and cold nights show a declining trend. These are indications of a consistently warming region,” pointed out lead author Dr Vimal Mishra while presenting results of the study commissioned by the state government. “The higher number of hot night frequencies is a matter of concern for the state.” 
Based on historic and observed data as well as computer models, the study has projected changes over short-term (2013-2040), mid-term (2041-2070) and long-term (2071-2100) for the state. It is a high-resolution study in the sense that projections have been made for grids of 5 X5 km size, so as to help in vulnerability assessment for each grid and adaptation planning at local level.
Future projections show an increasing temperature rise under different scenarios. Under these projections, the rise in maximum temperature in Meghalaya in the long term ranges from 2.65 degree to 3.8 degree, while the rise in minimum temperature will be between 2 degree and 3.5 degree in the long term. The increase in temperature may result in higher number of extreme hot days and nights. Under the extreme scenario projection, the number of hot days could be as high as 100 a year. Similarly, there may be a decrease in extreme cold days and nights.
“The state has already seen a rise of temperature of 1 to 1.5 degree in the past three decades, and the projections point to a similar rise by 2040. If temperature in Meghalaya will rise by about 3 degree rise in a span of half a century, we don’t know what Meghalaya will be like in future  – West Bengal or Assam?,” wondered Dr Mishra.
There will be changes in the rainfall patterns too in future. The central plateau region is projected to experience an increase in rainfall at a higher rate than the rest of the state. The occurrence of extreme rainfall events will also show an upward trend under various projected scenarios. “The West Khasi hills which already receive very high precipitation are projected to face even higher rise in precipitation,” Dr Mishra added.
The changing climate in Meghalaya, he said, would have widespread implications for forests, water resources, biodiversity, agriculture, livestock and human health. For instance, due to significant rise in temperature, forest fires may go up while extreme rainfall events will increase risk of landslides in high altitude areas causing siltration of water bodies downstream. The rise in temperature will also threaten endemic plant species many of which are already on the verge of extinction. Rainfed agriculture in the state will be adversely hit with crop yields and production declining. Higher temperature will also induce premature breaking of insects and pests. 
“Meghalaya has some of the most vulnerable districts to current climate risks and long term climate change in the region,” pointed out Prof. N.H. Ravindranath of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. “Sectors like agriculture, forests, fisheries, horticulture are already subjected high climate risks currently and will be highly vulnerable to climate change risks in future. We need to prepare both incremental as well as transformational adaptation plans to make based on vulnerability assessments.”The workshop was jointly organized by the Department of Science and Technology, Indian Himalayas Climate Adaptation Programme (IHCAP) and Centre for Media Studies. (India Science Wire)

Goods and Services Network (GSTN) has unveiled a simple excel based template that will facilitate the taxpayers in preparing and filing their monthly returns with maximum ease and minimal cost. 

The excel template is a part of GST Council’s approach to make tax compliance highly easy and convenient for taxpayers and also reduce the time of compliance to improve ease of doing business. This excel workbook template can be freely downloaded from the GST Common portal (www.gst.gov.in), and can be used by taxpayers to collate all invoice related data on a regular basis. 

The Excel format can be used by businesses to start maintaining their data. The taxpayer can prepare the details of his outward supply on weekly or any other suitable regular interval which can then be uploaded on GST portal on or before the 10th of subsequent month. The GSTR1 excel template workbook can be used to prepare the data for GSTR 1 return without connecting to internet in offline mode. This also benefits taxpayers in remote areas where Internet connectivity might not be good. 

The template comprises of eight worksheets. Summary of key values in each worksheet has been provided at the top to help taxpayers easily reconcile the data entered in the worksheets with that recorded in his accounting system/books to accurately prepare the return. Based on data entered in the Excel sheet, offline tool will prepare a file which will have to be uploaded by the taxpayer on GST Portal to create GSTR-1. Only while uploading the file on the GST portal, Internet connectivity will be required. 

NEW DELHI : The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched Nation wide a month long Special Drive for maximization of registration of eligible electors with focus on left out eligible young citizens in age group of 18-19 and removal of names of registered dead electors, if any, from electoral rolls. 

During the Special enrolment Drive, which will be completed by 31^st July 2017, special attention would be given on following two activities by election officials in all States –

i.     Receiving Form 6 for enrolment of new electors,

ii.    Removal of names of registered dead electors, if found any.

For Submission of Form 6, following modes will be available:-

Submission of Form 6 at EROs Office (Electoral Registration Officer)

Sending of Form 6 by Post

Online Submission of Form 6 at National Voters’ Service Portal (www.nvsp.in)

In addition to the above, BLO shall visit door to door of the households to collect Form 6 from the applicants, particularly 18-19 age group (extendable to 21 years of age) from 1^st July 2017 and 31^st July 2017 (except the Special Campaign Dates).

Common Service Centres (CSCs) will provide services of making online filling and hard copy Form digitization on payment basis.

Special Campaigns will be organized on two dates in the month of July 2017, which will be duly publicised through media by the Chief Electoral Officer of the State. On these dates, Camps will be held in each polling station where Booth Level Officer will sit with adequate number of Forms 6, to receive Forms from the applicants. On the day of camp, entire final electoral roll, 2017 along with its supplements, if any, shall be pasted on the wall of the polling stations. The roll shall also be read out publicly by the BLO on that date. The left out eligible citizens may fill Forms 6 and give the same to the BLO at the polling station itself, or submit through any other available means during the Special Drive. Special camps will also by conducted in all Government and Private Educational Institutions (Colleges and Schools)/ Vocational Training Institutes on at least any two different days between 1^st July, 2017 and 31^st July, 2017. While the focus is on new re-enrolment through Form 6, receipt of other forms viz. Form 6A, 7, 8 and 8A may continue as usual. 

During the Special Drive, removal of names of dead electors will also be taken up. To identify Electoral Roll entry of registered dead electors, if any, data on registered deaths shall be collected by the District Election Officer (DEO) from the Registrar of Births and Deaths in his jurisdiction and such registered death entries identified, shall be removed after following the procedure. 

BLOs will make door to door visits to complete field verification. Disposal of Forms 6 and Forms 7 (death cases), received during Special Drive will be done within prescribed time of one month. However, Forms 7 (other than death cases), Form 8 and 8A received during the period will be done on conclusion of Special Drive.

This is another book on the shadow cast by partition of India and Pakistan. It is  authored by Ikramullah Chaudhury who prefers being known by his first name. The two novellas are considered as Penguin modern classics. He was born in 1939 in Jandiala, a small village in the Nawan Shahr district of Jalandhar in India. He did his schooling in Amritsar. At the time of partition he was barely ten when his family moved to Multan where he did his BA in 1953 and two years later took a Law degree from the University Law College in Lahore. 

Ikramullah has been writing fiction since 1962 even though he retired from Insurance business in 1995. “Ikramullah Regret” is the English translation  of the novellas written in Urdu. What is baffling is his conspicuous absence from contemporary Urdu critical discourse in his own country. Yet he is considered a major writer in Pakistan today with a substantial body of writing. Ikramullah though not unsociable is an exceptionally private person who seems to be rarely affected by the desire to conform to, or even to marginally satisfy, what the world might expect of him. He writes for himself. He does not care for the opinion of the reader or critic, observes one of the translators Muhammad Umar Menon who is Professor Emeritus of Urdu literature and Islamic studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The popular weekly Friday Times published from Lahore describes Ikramullah’s writings as “a restlessness to express the possibilities of fictional dimensions lies at the root of his versatility.” The first part is “Regret” followed by “Out of Sight.” The first part recreates a childhood amid the trauma of partition. In 1957 two lifelong friends Ehsaan and Saeed reminisce about idyllic symmer days spent bunking school, swimming in the canal and relishing the thrills of first love. 

“Out of Sight” recounts the story of Ismail who narrowly escaped the carnage of 1947 in his youth and despairs the sudden resurgence of sectarian violence in Pakistan. If one has gone around Lahore “Regret” captures the environment and atmosphere realistically. Saeed and Ehsan are inseparable friends in school. Then suddenly Saeed discoverd that his father had decided to pull him out of a Muslim school and enrol him in a Government school at the end of the holidays so that he might be rescued from Ehsan’s company. Saeed was given to wandering by nature and it did not take him long to seek out his own kind at the new school. Some of them were Hindu and Sikh boys. The company of new friends introduced Saeed to new types of vagrancy. They started smoking now and then. In time the incurable addiction of movies got the better of him. Saeed was in a big hurry to grow up because this would make the girls take notice of him. 

Smoking was taken up to parade as grown up. However, Saeed still went to see Ehsan every ten or fifteen days but now the former soon tired of the latter’s company. It seemed Saeed and Ehsan shared nothing in common any more. Ehsan was forced to quit school and take up a job as a salesman with some Muslim shoe seller. He was once again enrolled in the ninth grade in a Muslim school. He spent much of his free time in the neighbourhood reading room. After the slaughter of the Khaksars, no new Muslim movement had emerged. The demand for Pakistan hadn’t picked up momentum yet. At most it was a battle cry whose political value amounted to no more than a vague threat. And in a district with a hundred per cent Muslim population, Ehsan, clad in his pynama-kurta made of coarse homespun cotton, laid out before the masses in great detail with compelling argument that the Congress position of freedom for India opposed the establishment of Pakistan. 

But Quaid-e-Azam Mohmmad Ali Jinnah does not talk about Muslims. Unable to stomach this praise of Jinnah a tonga driver who had perhaps spent some time in the company of Ahrars and Khaksars started telling story after story about how the top leadership of then Muslim League was hopelessly westernised and cherished the English.  Ehsan described in detail the views of the Muslim ulema and the popularity the Congress enjoyed among the Muslims of the North West Frontier Province. The Hindus had embraced India’s freedom as their sole, distinct, clear and definite political objective. Muslims on the other hand didn’t have the foggiest idea what they wanted or who to turn to for leadership. To them every political solution seemed like the proverbial “out of the frying pan into the fire”. Friendship was a meaningless thing. 

The real thing was class. A crow doesn’t become a peacock by sticking a few peacock feathers in its tail. With the end of WWII an electric current passed through India’s political climate. The people felt in their bones that something was going to happen. But what? Even the most astute political leaders were unable to say just what might emerge from the shadows of the future. During the time that the Muslim League became a household word among Muslims and the cry for Pakistan was raised, Ehsan’s father like most Muslims became a staunch suporter of Pakistan. Muslims were agitated that they had nourished the foundations of the Congress with their blood and soon saw through Mahatma Gandhi’s and Nehru’s bigotry and the Hindus relentless and eternal prejudice against Muslims. Indian Muslims have been forced to demand a separate homeland for their own survival. In the two years preceding partition when the idea of Pakistan had become a watchword in just about every household and when every child was yelling out Pakistan Zindabad in a frenzy, critics like Maulvi Karam Din were struck dumb and clammed up fearing for their lives. it was inevitable that the continual incitement to hatred should erupt in the worst kind of riots. Once started the riots continued sporadically until after independence Day on 15 August. The collective resistance of the Muslims had pretty much ended and the entire Muslim population had moved to two neighbourhoods. 

In the second “Out of Sight” the person whose efforts brought about Pakistan into being was a Shia in Mohammad Ali Jinnah but no one objected. People unanimously accepted him as the Quaid-e-Azam. Now the maulvis are calling the Shias infidels and getting them killed. The Ahmadis have already been declared non-Muslims and now it is the turn of the Shias. The Ahmadis continue to get a raw deal in Pakistan. The government is doing nothing to guarantee their safety. Both the law and the Constitution have declared Ahmadis non-Muslims. Consequently the Ahmadis are having to face the daily misery of  “you (Muslims) and us (Ahmadis).”  

Pakistan was created for all those believing in Islam but sectarianism has sprouted in that country. Innocent people are being mercilessly put to death every other day. Sectarian discord began in 1948 in Pakistan when Chaudhary Zafarullah Khan refused to offer Jinnah sahib’s funeral prayer and stood apart from a crowd of a hundred thousand and just watched them perform it. It was futile to argue now who is Muslim and who is not . The Quaid-e-Azam had settled the issue in his address of 11 August 1947 that all citizens of Pakistan would be equal regardless of their differences. Not just the Ahmadis, the Shias, Sikhs, Christians, Parsees, Hindus — everyone except the Sunni majority feels insecure in Pakistani. This state of affairs creates doubts about the survival of Pakistan but the government is doing nothing about it. 

Rural India remains deprived from the benefits of mobile/broadband connectivity. Universal Service Obligation Fund or USOF formed more than a decade ago was tasked to bring rural/remote under mobile/Internet connectivity. But delaying projects, getting them stuck in the quagmire of approvals/evaluations has become a hallmark of USOF.

Currently, USOF is sitting on at least three key telecom infrastructure projects which Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to showcase as his government’s success when he goes to the electorate in 2019…

NEW DELHI : Let us begin with a glimpse of how Department of Telecom (DoT) and its organizations are wasting public money and hurting India’s growth and progress, particularly the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)formed over 13 years ago to boost connectivity to rural and remote corners of the country.

Recently, under the Phase-I of ambitious BharatNet project of connecting 2.5-lakh gram panchayats with optical fibre cable (OFC) network it was decided to connect some panchayats with broadband. But government officials were left shocked when they were unable to locate the optical fibre which was laid sometime back.

This is when the USOF-funded BharatNet project is being directly monitored by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and is being implemented by the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).

Fearing severe backlash from the PMO, USOF Administrator Sanjay Singh shot off a letter to BSNL CMD Anupam Srivastava, expressing concern over the lapses and seeking his intervention in ensuring end-to-end connectivity to all panchayats.

“The progress of end to end connectivity has not been up to the mark, even at locations where end to end connectivity is certified by the implementing CPSUs is being found to be not available,” the letter said.

DoT sources say USOF will now have to provide additional Rs.2000 crore to re-lay around 50,000 km of OFC which is either untraceable or is of poor quality.

The BharatNet project has been a classic case of how funds meant for providing better connectivity in rural, remote areas are being misused. Earlier known as National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN), which was rechristened as BharatNet by the Narendra Modi government, the project has seen many delays and missed several deadlines. As a result, project cost has escalated from initial Rs.20,000 crore to Rs.70,000 crore, a 70% hike. And this figure will only go up keeping in mind the shoddy progress of the project.

From DoT to USOF to BSNL to Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL Â— the special purpose vehicle formed to lay OFCs across India), all agencies have played their part in ensuring that 2.5-lakh gram panchayats does not get better, reliable Internet.

Ironically, from DoT to USOF to BBNL, same telecom officers are holding posts in these organizations. So, these officers create project, allocates funds, evaluates project, sans any accountability.

BharatNet, was cleared by the Union Cabinet in 2011 to connect 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats through OFC by providing 100 Mbps bandwidth for each panchayat with financial support of USOF. The plan was modified under the current government in 2016 to have broadband connectivity to 1 lakh panchayats in first phase by March 2017, which is far from being achieved.

Of the 1,00,076 panchayats under Phase 1, broadband connectivity has been provided in only 22,333 panchayats so far, a success rate of poor 25%. Government sources say, forget December 2018 deadline, PMO should feel lucky if the project is completed even by the end of 2019.

Another important infrastructure project which the PMO wants to get completed without further delay is the mobile connectivity to eight Northeastern states which have remained deprived of poor mobile connectivity due to apathy of private operators who took licenses to serve these states but never put up telecom infrastructure there.

The project was conceived in 2014 and divided into two parts – phase I to be implemented by BSNL and phase II by private operator.

Tender process of phase I, to provide mobile connectivity to 4,118 villages through 2,817 telecom towers, was completed almost four months back but DoT is yet to clear it. Telecom Commission meeting to clear this project has already been postponed once due to unknown reasons.

But government sources say the real reason behind the delay was that the DoT and USOF are in a fix over phase II where the only bidder – Bharti Airtel – has quoted cost 56% higher as compared to phase I.

While phase I was finalised at Rs.2,386 crores against the estimated cost of Rs.1,975 crore (a hike of 20%), for phase-II, comprising 4,177 sites in eight states, the total cost has jumped to Rs.4,396 crore against the estimated cost of Rs.2,817 crore (a hike of 56%). Negotiations are on to convince Bharti Airtel to bring down the prices, hence the delay.

As a result, the project has already lost more than a year since the formal tender process began. MPs from the Northeast are livid over the undue delays and have raised the matter in Parliament, written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha.

MOBILE CONNECTIVITY IN NAXAL-AFFECTED STATES

The only successful implementation of a major project which the USOF can claim is the phase I of providing mobile connectivity in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected states. Though the project was completed in record time by two Indian companies once work order was issued by BSNL, the tender process itself took more than two years to get completed due to lackadaisical attitude of DoT, USOF and BSNL.

Under phase I, 2,199 mobile towers were installed with an expenditure of over Rs.3,500 crore in 10 LWE-affected states. The successful implementation of the project led to boost in security preparedness of forces deployed in rural and remote areas. It also led to bringing rural, tribal people into mainstream and quick implementation of government welfare schemes.

Buoyed by the response, the PMO, the Home Ministry and concerned state governments started pushing for phase II comprising 2,726 towers since last year.

But USOF devised yet another way to delay the project in the name of evaluating the installed mobile network in phase I and completing ignoring success reports by union and state government agencies including security forces.

USOF went a step forward when it sidelined its government agencies like the Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring (TERM) cells, the Centre of Development and Telematics, the Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd and the Telecom Centres of Excellence, and instead choose IIT-Mumbai for the project and sanctioned a whopping Rs.61 lakhs for the study.

For over six months now the fate of phase II is hanging in balance even as LWE-affected state governments have been writing to PMO, MHA and DoT to immediately begin work. Agencies that have implemented phase I have conveyed to DoT and USOF to not only give upgraded technology in phase II but also improve phase I without any extra costs, but the DoT and USOF have kept mum.

USOF, THY NAME IS ‘PROJECT KILLER’

USOF’s mission is “enabling rural Indians to achieve their fullest potential and participate productively in the development of the nation by virtue of being effectively connected through a reliable and ubiquitous telecommunications network, access to which is within their reach and within their means.”

But the question which needs to be asked here is – What USOF has achieved in last 14 years?

Telecom revolution began at the turn of the 21st century. But as years passed government realized that rural-urban divide in terms of mobile/broadband connectivity was widening as private operators were more focused on revenue-generating urban areas and ignoring rural areas. So, government decided to levy a charge on operators to collect fund to boost rural telecom penetration. So to achieve this, it created USOF in 2004.

In last 14 years not much has been achieved in rural connectivity as mobile and broadband penetration has remained below par. While urban teledensity has crossed 150, rural teledensity remains at 50. Similarly, while urban Internet subscribers per 100 population stands at 58, rural Internet subscribers per 100 population is just 12.

USOF has so far collected over Rs.85,000 crore, but has spent only Rs.37,000 crore. It is sitting on a kitty of over Rs.48,000 crore, while people living in remote and rural areas are crying for better connectivity.

Administrators after administrators have come and gone, but USOF has failed to live up to expectations of the people. Ironically, USOF has done nothing to cover uncovered villages for past five years except for revising the list of these villages and asking Chief Secretaries of these states to send names of villages. It even ignored recommendations National Census which has clearly mentioned entire list of unconnected villages in its survey. This despite the PMO pushing for improving connectivity to these villages to give push to its various ambitious plans like Digital India.

Every quarter DoT and USOF prepare a nice presentation and forwards it to PMO and various Ministries painting rosy pictures of its plans but doing nothing on the ground. This has been continuing since 2012. And the credit for this shoddy progress goes to current USOF Administrator Sanjay Singh and USOF’s Joint Administrator (Technical) I.S. Shastry who have been delaying these projects. Significantly, both of them recently got promoted for their ‘services’ to the DoT!

Currently, both of these senior most USOF officials — Administrator Sanjay Singh and Joint Administrator (Technical) I.S. Shastry Â— are sitting pretty on at least two major telecom projects – LWE phase II and Northeast telecom project — despite the fact that weeks after week and month after month PMO and Home Ministry have been reminding them of this undue delay and asking them to expedite these projects.

Various telecom industry associations and former bureaucrats have been repeatedly complaining to the PMO and Telecom Minister about their role in delaying (read killing) important projects and also hurting interests of BSNL by favouring private operators, but nothing has changed.

NEW DELHI : Senior advocate K K Venugopal will succeed Mukul Rohatgi as the Attorney General of India. His name has been cleared for appointment following the decision of Mr Rohatgi to step down as the top law officer.

The Law Ministry had recently referred the file relating to the appointment of Venugopal as the Attorney General to the Prime Minister’s Office. 

After the decision is finalised, the President will sign the Warrant of Appointment. 

A noted constitutional expert, Venugopal is the recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan. He would become a law officer for the second time after being an Additional Solicitor General during the Morarji Desai government during the seventies.