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Net neutrality: Facebook shuts Free Basics programme in India

[email protected] (Agencies)
February 11, 2016

New Delhi, Feb 11: In a boost to net neutrality, Facebook has decided to shut down its controversial 'Free Basics' programme in India, following telecom regulator Trai's move to bar operators from charging different rates for Internet access based on content.free

Facebook had met with severe criticism for its programme, which aimed at providing basic Internet access to people in partnership with telecom operators.

Critics saw this as violation of the principle of net neutrality that states that entire Internet should be available to everyone on equal terms as Free Basics allowed access to selected websites.

"Free Basics is no longer available to people in India," a Facebook spokesperson said in an emailed response. The service was available in India with Reliance Communications. In December, RCom put the service on hold following a Telecom Regulator Authority of India's directive to that effect.

Ruling in favour of net neutrality, Trai has barred all telecom operators from offering discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content, impying that operators will have to charge the same price for data used, irrespective of website or app accessed by the consumer.

This puts an end to Facebook's Free Basics and Airtel's zero rating plans in India. Yesterday, Facebook board member Marc Andreessen had set off another controversy by terming Trai's decision as an 'anti-colonialist' idea and said the country would have been better off if it had remained under British rule.

Facebook founder and head Mark Zuckerberg distanced himself from the comments saying the remarks were "deeply upsetting" and did not represent the company's thinking.

"India has been personally important to me and Facebook. Early on in my thinking about our mission, I traveled to India and was inspired by the humanity, spirit and values of the people," he wrote in a post on the social networking site.

"It solidified my understanding that when all people have the power to share their experiences, the entire world will make progress," he added. Andreessen deleted the tweet and apologised through a series of tweets yesterday.

"Last night on Twitter, I made an ill-informed and ill-advised comment about Indian politics and economics. To be clear, I am 100 per cent opposed to colonialism, and 100 per cent in favor of independence and freedom, in any country, including India," he said later in a series of tweets.

Zuckerberg has come out in defence of the programme time and again, saying it did not block or throttle other services and is not in conflict with net neutrality. Launched in 2014, Facebook is running the Internet.org programme across over 17 countries providing basic Internet access to over one billion people.

Following allegations of violation of net neutrality, Facebook rebranded the programme as 'Free Basics'. It had said the rebranding will help Facebook distinguish the free basic Internet offering from the large number of activities the US-based company is pursuing to help get new users online across the globe. Recently, it ran a big media campaign in support of the programme.

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VOX POPULI
 - 
Saturday, 13 Feb 2016

KUDO'S & HATS OFF TO TRAI. ATLAST ATLEAST YOU COULD SMELL & UNDERSTAND THE HIDDEN AGENDA OF THESE ZIONIST MASTERMINDS.FACE BOOK & FREE BASICS = FB (READ BETWEEN THE LINES) BOTH ARE SAME AND AGENDA IS CLEARLY HIDDEN. FB GUY IS USING OUR INDIAN CROOKED CORPORATES AS HIS AGENTS TO SPREAD HIS HIDDEN AGENDA AND FOOL THE MASSES OF INDIA IN THE NAME OF NET NEUTRALITY. AS TRUE INDIANS LET US STAND UNITED & HAVE THE COURAGE OF QUESTIONING THE SO CALLED SHAMELESS & USELESS CREATURE \ZUCKERBERG' & HIS AGENT., SO CALLED 'MARC ANDREESSEN'., HOW DARE THEY HAVE THE RIGHT & COURAGE TO INSULT GOVT OF INDIA., ITS TRAI POLICIES & FOOL THE MASSES OF INDIA. MY DEAR FELLOW INDIANS WHATEVER THE POLITICAL DIFFERENCES MAY BE, END OF THE DAY WE ARE ALL ONE PEACE LOVING & PRESTIGIOUS CITIZENS OF INDIA. UNITED WE STAND ., BUT DIVIDED WE FALL. LONG LIVE INDIA & INDIANS. JAI HO."

S.M. Nawaz Kuk…
 - 
Thursday, 11 Feb 2016

Good Dicision taken by TRAI

IBRAHIM.HUSSAIN
 - 
Thursday, 11 Feb 2016

Modi spread red carpet to Zackerberg, hugged tightly. Zackerberg was knocked down by TRAI for his hidden bad intensions and thoughts.

TRAI done good job roping noses of telecom operators of India taught good lesson to them.

Thanks to TRAI

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News Network
May 3,2020

Sirsi, May 3: A group of 19 students from the district were on Saturday safety brought back to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) at Malagi in Mundgod taluk by special buses from Madhya Pradesh.

The students were admitted to the JNV, Junapani, Bhopal district, for class 9 this academic year. They were kept at a hostel since March 22.

They could not leave for the state as train services were suspended before they were ready for the travel. Hence, they were kept at the local hostel.

Based on requests by parents, Labour Minister Shivaram Hebbar, directed the chief secretary to get in touch with the Madhya Pradesh government to bring back the students.

Hebbar, who visited the JNV, said that the students would be sent to their homes in two days after medical tests.

According to the JNV authorities, the decision was taken to bring back the students as their parents were worried. The students were safe at the JNV, Junapani and all facilities were provided to them at the hostel.

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News Network
June 16,2020

University of Oxford researchers have claimed that a cheap and widely available drug called dexamethasone can help save the lives of patients who are seriously ill with coronavirus.

Scientists working on the Recovery Trial found the drug could help patients on ventilators and oxygen, but had no effect on those who did not need help breathing.

“Based on these results, one death would be prevented by treatment of around eight ventilated patients or around 25 patients requiring oxygen alone,” researchers said in a statement.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, tweeted: “This global first exemplifies the power of science.”

“I’m absolutely delighted that today we can announce the first successful clinical trial for a treatment for Covid-19,” Mr Hancock said.

Recovery Trial experts said a randomised group of 2,104 patients was given 6mg of dexamethasone per day for 10 days, while another group of 4,321 were given normal treatment.

Dexamethasone reduced deaths by one-fifth in patients on oxygen feeds and by one-third in those who needed a ventilator to breathe, preliminary results showed.

Mr Hancock added: “This is a huge step forward and it’s because we’ve backed the science.”

Martin Landray, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, and one of the trial’s chief investigators, said in a statement: “These preliminary results from the Recovery Trial are very clear – dexamethasone reduces the risk of death among patients with severe respiratory complications.

“Covid-19 is a global disease – it is fantastic that the first treatment demonstrated to reduce mortality is one that is instantly available and affordable worldwide.”

Comments

kushal kumar
 - 
Thursday, 18 Jun 2020

Trials  of  drug  dexamethasone   in  Covid-19  cases   have  brought  success  in  saving  lives  ,  claim  Oxford  University  scientists  on  16 June  2020. 

              According  to  news  reports  on  16 June  , 2020  ,   Oxford  University  Scientists  have  conducted  trials  on  anti-inflammatory  steroid  Dexamethasone   in  Covid-19  cases.  Results  released  by  the   Oxford  University    on  16  June  2020  say  that  the   low-cost  and  easily  available  drug  saves  the  people  seriously  infected  by   Coronavirus  ,  cuts  the  death  risk  by  a  third  for  those  on  ventilators  and  by  a  fifth  for  those  on  oxygen.  The  commentary   on  the  drug   reads  like  this  :-

“  This  is  a  tremendous  news  today  from  the  recovery  trial  showing  that  dexamethasone   is  the  first  drug  to  reduce  mortality  from  Covid-19.  It  is  particularly  exciting  as  this  is  an  inexpensive  widely  available  medicine.  This  is  a  ground  breaking  development  in  our  fight  against  the  disease  and  the  speed  at  which  researchers  have  progressed  finding  an  effective  treatment  ,  is  truly  remarkable.  It  shows  importance  of  doing  high  quality  clinical  trials  and  basing  decisions  as  the  results  of  those  trials”. 

               Covid-19  has  taken  into  its  grip   the  entire  world  during  first  half  of  the  year  2020  ,  infecting   lacs  and  killing  also  lacs  of   its  patients.  In  the  absence  of  an  effective  drug  or  vaccine  ,  people  had  no  choice  other  than   to   look   up   to  the  heavens  or   scientists  to  come  with  some  cure.  And  the  drug  described  here  is  the  first  one  to  respond  to  the  prayer   of  the  global  community  ,  it  seems.     As  regards  a  vaccine  ,   only  few  are  claiming  that  it  can  come  by  the  end  of  the  present  year  2020.  Rather   ,  some  are  of  the  view  that  it  may  take  a  larger  part  of  the  year  2021  and   could   even  go    to  mid-2022.   Whatever  that  scenario  about  prospect  of  arrival  of  vaccine  to  treat  Covid-19  may  be   ,  the  news  that  was  broken   on  16  June  2020   by   the  Oxford  University   scientists   in  relation  to   drug  dexamethasone   would  have  sent  a  wave  of   strength  and  hope   among   people  world-wide.  And  this  Vedic  astrology  writer  was  spirited  for  another  reason  as   well   -  a  prediction  of   when  some  relief   by  way  of  drug  to  fight  Covid-19   may  appear  ,   having  come  accurate  in   the   claim  announced  by  Oxford  University   on  16 June  2020.  This  writer  had  ,   based   on  interpretation  and  application   of  Vedic  astrology  ,   contributed  in  early  April  ,  2020   an  opinion  piece     - “  Some  searchlight  on  way  out  of  Covid-19  presently  tormenting  mankind” -   to  a  number  of   newspapers.  It  was  also  contributed  on  11  April  ,  2020   using  the  ‘ comments’   column  of  article  -‘ Heard  Charles  took   Ayurveda  treatment-based  Ayush  drugs  for   Covid-19’  -   at   theprint.in/india/looking-at-evidence-based-ayush-medicines-to-treat-covid-19-minister-shripad-naik/393407/.   The  text  in  the  opinion  piece  related  to  the  claim  of  success  announced  by  Oxford  University  scientists  on  16 June  ,  2020  ,  reads  like  this  :- 

“  So  reading  in  between  the  lines  ,  it  can  be  said  that  some  effective  drug   or  remedy  can  arrive  by   mid   or  towards   the  last  week  of  June  2020   to   provide  some  relief  during  July  to  September  2020 ,  to  some  good  extent”.

The  point  this  writer  wants  to  share  with  readers  world-wide  is  that   yes  ,  a  drug   envisaged  in  the  aforesaid  prediction  has  appeared  on  the  horizon  in  the  claim  announcement  of  Oxord  University  scientists  on  16  June ,  2020. 

Bio  :-

 

Kushal  kumar  ,

202-GH28  ,  Mansarovar   Apartments  ,

Sector  20  ,  Panchkula-134116  ,  Haryana,

India.

Note  :-  This  writer’s    significant  predictive  work  covering   2020   about   the  U.S.  and  Italy

 

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News Network
April 16,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 16: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Dr Ashwath Narayan today said that if former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, being a law-abiding citizen, does not follow guidelines then action will be taken against him.

The Deputy CM made this comment when he was asked about Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil's marriage, which has been fixed on April 17 at a farmhouse near Bidadi in Ramnagar.

Narayan said: "Any violation of the guidelines will not be tolerated. We will ask the concerned authority to film the entire event and document it."

He said that so far Kumaraswamy has made public statements that guidelines will be followed.

"HD Kumaraswamy is a people's representative. He has been in public life for a long time. He should abide by the guidelines," Narayan said.

"Since he has been in a responsible position for a long time and he was the Chief Minister, guidelines must be followed in his son's marriage as per the rules amid COVID-19 scare.

After the marriage, there must not be any excuses. He cannot say that people came without an invitation," the Deputy Chief Minister added.

Kumaraswamy clarified that only his family members will attend the marriage and that there will be around 60 to 70 people.

"All guidelines will be followed as per the central government directives," he said.

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