Gadkariji : did I hear you right ?

Today’s DNA carries following news report :

Only show dreams that can be fulfilled: Nitin Gadkari  

Extract :

"There is another specialty about these aspirations. People like leaders who show dreams, but if these aspirations are not fulfilled, then the people teach them a lesson ( janata uski pitai karti hai ).

Hence, only show dreams that can be fulfilled," said Gadkari, in what is being interpreted as a slant remark aimed at PM Modi.

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Dear Shri Gadkariji,

Coming from you ( - a stalwart of BJP and its one time President ) , this statement is welcome

All the more , since you were a member of the BJP’s Manifesto drafting committee in 2014 , which incorporated following promises :

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*  Elimination of  Black Money  

   

*  Special Courts to stop Hoarding / Black-Marketing

*  Set-up a Price-Stabilization Fund

*  Develop Labour-intensive Manufacturing   

*  Empowering Youth for Self-Employment   

*  Transforming Employment Exchanges to Career Centers

*  Eliminating Corruption thru E-Governance   

*  Rationalization / Simplification of Tax-Regime  

*  Insulate Intelligence Agencies from political intervention   

*  Strengthening Physical Infrastructure  

*  Expediting work on Freight and Industrial Corridors

*  Setting up Gas-Grids  

*  Optical Fiber Network up to the village level

   

*  Quadrilateral project for Bullet Trains       

*  Establishment of National  " E - Library "     

*  Implementation of National Education Policy

*  Evolving further the PPP model to PPPP model  

*  Building 100 Mega-Cities

  

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Then of course, I am sure that you are aware of what the Election Commission has said in the past , viz :

On 22 Feb 2014 , following Supreme Court directives , the Election Commission , revised , " Model Code of Conduct " , containing guidelines on what kind of poll promises , political parties can incorporate in their poll manifestos

GUIDELINES

*   Parties shall make only those promises which are possible to be fulfilled

*   It is expected that manifestos also reflect the rationale for the promises

     and broadly indicate the ways and means to meet the financial requirements for it

*   Party in power shall stop advertizing for publicity of achievements

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Also allow me to quote the Supreme Court directive :

[ https://iasscore.in/national-issues/supreme-court-judgment-on-election-freebies  ]

However, political parties should avoid making those promises which are likely to vitiate the purity of the election process or exert undue influence on the voters in exercising their franchise.

In the interest of transparency, level playing field and credibility of promises, it is expected that manifestos also reflect the rationale for the promises and broadly indicate the ways and means to meet the financial requirements for it.

Trust of voters should be sought only on those promises which are possible to be fulfilled.

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28  Jan  2019

Rsvp :  hcp@RecruitGuru.com

TRAI : Taming of the TV Tycoons ?

Just 4 days back I sent following email to Shri R S Sharmaji [ Chairman , TRAI ] :

Thank  You , Shri  R S Sharmaji  

In which I wrote :

“ Why should a subscriber get tied to just ( any ) one broadcaster ?

 Why am I held a captive hostage of one subscriber ? – with its dish and set-top box ?

 Why can’t I choose a combo of individual channels offered by several DTH broadcasters ?

 Why can I not have a “ Selection Portability “ across all DTH broadcasters ? “

Then this morning , I came across following news report in Times of India :

Portability of set-top boxes by year-end: Trai chief   

Extract :

Troubled by your cable operator or DTH company, but unable to change your service provider as you are locked into your set-top box ?

Things may soon change as broadcast regulator TRAI plans to make digital boxes inter-operable by end of this year

This will give freedom to millions of customers to change their operator at no cost in case of deficient services

“ I am working on this. It will happen “ , TRAI chairman R S Sharma told TOI .

“ Rest assured we will make inter-operable STBs happen “ , Sharma added

“ …. Instead of loading proprietary software, the boxes should have a method which would allow downloading of software post purchase “

Thank You , Shri Sharmaji,

Nearly 20 years back , Bill Gates wrote a seminal book , titled :

Business @ the Speed of Thought: Succeeding in the Digital Economy  

With this initiative , you have a GIANT STEP towards  DIGITAL  INDIA  ! – with a request sent by E Mail  !

Readers who want to send emails to Shri Sharmaji , requesting him to take those other revolutionizing steps , may want to look up :

Thank  You , Shri  R S Sharmaji  

cp@trai.gov.in

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28  Jan  2019

Rsvp  :  hcp@RecruitGuru.com

  

Thank You , Shri R S Sharmaji

Thank  You , Shri  R S Sharmaji

(  Chairman – TRAI )

For what  ?

Thank you for unravelling “ a RIDDLE wrapped in a MYSTERY, inside an ENIGMA “ 

{  with credits to Winston Churchill  }

Thank you for simplifying the lives of :

·         167  million Cable TV viewers

·           84  million DTH TV viewers

By launching a TV Channel Selector Application  Software on your web site :

https://channel.trai.gov.in/ 

What RIDDLE ?

From your web site , I found that this riddle consists of :

·         Definitions  ……………………. 2   options (  SD / HD )

·         Price / Channel ……………….4   options  ( Below Rs 5 – 10 – 20 or all )

·         Genre ……………………………. 10  options

·         Languages ………………………17  options

·         Broadcasters………………….  25  options

·         Bouquets ………………………. 322 options

                                                                                     

·         Types of Channels

#  Free to Air ( FAT )…….. 374   Channels

#  Pay …………………………..  165   Channels

As per one estimate , there are over 800 TV Channels in India

It is , therefore safe to assume that not all of these have submitted to TRAI , their pricing details

( Source : https://ultra.news/t-t/42890/full-list-broadcasters-announce-332-pay-channels-star-leads  )

How  UNRAVELLED  ?

TRAI web site must be complimented for providing a very “ User Friendly “ interface which enables a subscriber to , step by step , select following:

·         Genre

·         Price

·         Broadcaster

·         Language

·         HD / SD

·         Pay Channels ……………. ( with individual prices )

·         Free to Air Channels…. ( with individual prices )

·         Bouquets…………………… (  with bouquet prices  )

I also appreciate the following features :

·         Optimizing  your selection

     ( App pointed out that I can add one more channel  for same total price . It even “

      recommended  “ which one  ! )

·         Previewing  selection made and re-working any number of times

·         Downloading  ( as PDF ) selected channels list – with prices

What is the limitation of TRAI present site ?

As it stands now , this “ Channel Selector Application “enables one to try out various combinations of channels , to figure out how much each combination will cost you per month . It stops there

For actual selection / payment , a subscriber still needs to login to the web site of his broadcaster  ( some of whom have designed their user interface with the sole objective of confusing the subscribers ! )

For a proof of above statement , click :

https://www.tatasky.com/wps/portal/TataSky/channels/make-my-pack  

I am not alone in asking :

Why should a subscriber get tied to just ( any ) one broadcaster ?

Why am I held a captive hostage

 of one subscriber ? – with its dish and set-top box ?

Why can’t I choose a combo of individual channels offered by several DTH broadcasters ?

Why can I not have a “ Selection Portability “ across all DTH broadcasters ?

How to “ democratize “ TV viewing ?

·         Let TRAI launch………www.ChannelAggregation.gov.in

·         All TV owners to register here with Name / Address / Aadhar / PAN etc

·         For renewals , subscriber will need to enter Password / Subscriber No

·         Subscribers to be able to select any combination of those 800 Channels and make online payments on this web site, which amount TRAI will pass on to broadcasters

·         TRAI to pass-on this data to ALL concerned broadcasters with details of channels selected by each subscriber

·         There will be one universal common Set-top box / Dish antenna / Remote

·         At some later date , software may be modified to deliver “ ADVT LESS “ channels , for a higher monthly rates

·         All renewals to take place on this web site

What are the benefits of this proposal ?

·         Substitution of current complex  TWO STEP approach with a simple ONE STEP

·         Elimination of disputes between broadcasters / subscribers / MSO / TRAI

·         Better regulation by TRAI of the TV business through real-time data

·         Transparency in respect of  TRP ratings / Broadcaster – MSO subscriptions

·         Real time TV usage statistics on TRAI web site, in following categories :

#  City – Region – Genre – Language – Broadcaster – Pay – FTA – HD/SD

Knowledge of such sharply defined / accurate and real time “ Customer Preferences “ would greatly help online advertisers , who currently spend Rs 24,428 Crore on TV advts  - ( 39 % of total all-India ad spend on all media put together )

Feedback sent to TRAI through :

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCDeaN-xkQLGv3fG9y_mJQ4eSQuIOrBzkzYS6qdXai15jkyw/viewform

Dear  Shri R S Sharmaji,

You have done a tremendous job

Congratulations on simplifying the selection process and for bringing in unprecedented transparency in, what was so far, an EVIL SECRET on part of the TV Broadcasting Industry

With this initiative, you have set an example to all other REGULATORS of businesses

One suggestion :

Push through an INTEGRATION of your platform with the E Com web sites of all those TV Broadcasters , whereby both become a MIRROR IMAGE of the selections ( database ), and payments made / account status ,  made by each and every TV Subscriber . Today , these remain a mystery to TRAI

Thanking you once again for this shining example of E-Governance  !

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This Email sent to :

Shri  R  S  Sharma , Chairman ………….cp@trai.gov.in

Shri S K Gupta , ………………………………… secretary@trai.gov.in

Debkumar Chakrabarti…………………………pradvbcs@trai.gov.in

Sunil Bajpai………………………………………… sunil.bajpai@trai.gov.in

U.K. Srivastava……………………………………pradvnsl@trai.gov.in

Shailendra Kumar Mishra……………………skmishra@trai.gov.in

Sanjeev Banzal…………………………………… advisorit@trai.gov.in

Rajiv Ranjan Tiwari………………………………advlegal@trai.gov.in

Arvind Kumar……………………………………… arvindtrai@gmail.com

Asit Kadayan………………………………………. advqos@trai.gov.in

Sanjeev Kumar Sharma……………………advadmn@trai.gov.in

Sunil Kr. Singhal…………………………………sksinghal@trai.gov.in

Syed Tausif Abbas………………………………advmn@trai.gov.in

Kaushal Kishore………………………………… advfea1@trai.gov.in

Anil Kumar………………………………………… advbcs_2@trai.gov.in

Shreenivas S. Galgali……………………..   adv.bengaluru@trai.gov.in

Bhavana Sharma……………………………… adv.jaipur@trai.gov.in

Souvick Kumar Das…………………………… adv.kolkata@trai.gov.in

Munisekhar Avileli……………………………… advisortraihyd@gmail.com

Arvind Sinha…………………………………….  arvindsinha59@gmail.com

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25  Jan  2019

Rsvp :  hcp@RecruitGuru.com