Dial/SMS 139 for Indian Railway Information

Finally a good news for Non-BSNL Phone Subscribers!  The Railway Information # 139, which was available so far only on BSNL network, is now extended to all types of mobile/landline/wireless local loop (WLL) service providers.  Passengers can either call or send an SMS to the number to obtain information with regard to the PNR status, availability of berths, arrival/departure of trains and train running information. As per the Railway Release notice (DNA Newspaper, Bangalore Edition, 19-Jan-2010, Page 2) , prefixing STD code is not required to call this information cell.

Service Queries?

1) Is this service Toll-Free (both calls and SMS) from all networks?

2) How reliable/real-time is this service? Does it really works from all networks.  Please leave your comments.

Indian Railway Enquiry SMS 139

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) is proud to announce the launch of their latest initiative in Customer Satisfaction, “Railways on SMS”. Now you have the power of RAIL ENQUIRY on SMS 139. You can avail the following services:

– Accomodation/Seat availability
SMS “Train [Train Number] [Date of Journey – DDMMYY] [Station From – STD Code] [Station To: STD Code] [Class] [Class Type]” to 139.
Example: Train 4257 160708 0542 011 3A G

– Fare enquiry
SMS “Fare [Train Number] [Date of Journey – DDMMYY] [Station From – STD Code] [Station To – STD Code] [Class] [Class Type]” to 139.
Example: Fare 4257 160708 0542 011 3A G

– Ticket Status / PNR enquiry
SMS “PNR [10 Digit PNR Number]” to 139.
Example: PNR 1234567890

– Current Train running position
SMS “Fare [Train Number] [Date of Journey – DDMMYY] [Station From – STD Code]” to 139.
Example: Train 2012 010509 011

The services is currently available on AirTel, Vodafone, Idea, Aircel, Loop(BPL), Tata and MTNL. This service will be launched soon on BSNL and Reliance network too. Premium Charges of Rs.3 per SMS is applicable.

Source: IRCTC website.

Heavy traffic for Tata Nano – The people’s car & the world’s cheapest car

23-Mar-2009 will be considered as one of the big milestone in the history of India and Tata Motors, as it is launcing the world’s cheapest car. The detailed specitifications of this car is available here. Booking amount for the Nano, the world’s cheapest car, can be done by just paying Rs 2,999 upfront while the rest can be secured by way of loan. The delivery of the first lot of Nano cars will begin in early July-2009. Applications for booking of the car would be available in 30,000 locations in 1,000 cities across India. State Bank of India has an exclusive tie up for providing finance for the Nano. The promise that has been made to sell the car at around Rs 1 lakh would be kept despite the fact that commodity prices had shot up, Tata said, adding that the fall in commodity prices now may provide some cushion. The first one-lakh customers will be selected by draw of lots from the bookings, he said, adding that those not allotted would have the option to retain their bookings.
Tata Motors, which is launching the ultra low-cost Nano car, plans to have a US model in the next three years. The United States has certain additional requirements that no other country needs and as result needs some redesign, Ratan Tata said at a news conference.
Nano, will be priced between Rs 1.34 lakh and Rs 1.85 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai), although the car’s claim to fame was its Rs one lakh tag. To book the Nano, customers will have to shell out Rs 95,000 for the base model BS II and III, Rs 1.2 lakh for the mid-range model and Rs 1.4 lakh for the top end all across the country.
Below is the Bangalore pricing details from Tata Motors website:

Today’s launch event shooted up the web-site hits on company’s official website (http://www.tatanano.com/) which was developed within a short timeframe of 1.5 months. The entire portal has been built on open source technologies. The hasty software development without sufficient planning on Load Testing has caused the website to go down, with following error:

The prefix “nano-” derives from the Greek root ‘nanos’, meaning dwarf. “Nano” also means “small” in Gujarati, the native language of the Tata family, founders of the Tata Group.

Links:

Tata Nano Official Website

Tata Nano on Wiki

Indian Rupee could soon get a Unique Symbol

Major currencies of the world e.g. US Dollar, Pound Sterling, Yen and the Euro have an Identification symbol. The Government of India also proposes to have a symbol for the Indian rupee to be selected through public competition. Accordingly, all Resident Indians (both Professional artists and Non-professionals) are hereby invited to participate in a Competition for design of the ‘Symbol for Indian Rupee’.

Submission of Entries:
Interested persons may send their entries, along with a bank draft of Rs.500/- (Rupees five hundred only) in favour of the Pay & Accounts Officer, Department of Economic Affairs, New Delhi, drawn on a scheduled commercial bank/nationalised bank at New Delhi as registration fee, to the Under Secretary (Currency), Department of Economic Affairs, North Block, New Delhi – 110 001 to reach him latest by 1300 hours on 15th April 2009. Entries received after the stipulated time shall not be entertained and returned unopened. The Department shall not be responsible for delay by postal service s, courier agencies etc. The entries can also be deposited personally at the Information & Facilitation Counter of the Department, near gate No. 8, North Block, New Delhi. The entries should be sent in a properly sealed envelope labelled “Entry for Symbol for the Indian Rupee”. The entry should be accompanied by a brief explanation of the Design and how it best symbolizes the Indian Rupee and also the bio-data of the applicant with a passport size photograph affixed on the top right hand corner. The guidelines for preparing entries, other conditions and selection process are available on the website of the Ministry of Finance.

SBI proposes hardware tokens for additional layer of security

State Bank of India proposes to provide hardware tokens (see image) as an additional layer of security for Internet banking. A hardware token is a tamper proof device, similar to a USB. The token is assigned to a specific Internet banking user, and generates a unique one time authentication password to complete a transaction. They are conducing a survey on their Online Banking website, to check if the customer is interested to avail this additional security feature and also bear the one time cost of hardware token (Max Rs. 1000).

"Jai Ho" – A R Rahman

The Indian movie “Slumdog Millionaire” won eight Oscars at the 81st Academy Award function in Los Angeles (22-Feb-2009). A R Rahman scripted history by becoming the first Indian to win two Oscars for the Best Original Score “Slumdog Millionaire” and its foot-tapping song `Jai Ho`. Rehman shares the best Song award with lyricist Gulzar. He has become the first Indian to win two Oscars.

Congrats to A R Rahman and the entire team of Slumdog Millionaire to make this a proud event for India. Jai Ho!

… More in tomorrows print edition of all Indian Newspapers 🙂

Hello Kaun? Pehchaan Kaun!

Being the pioneers in original comedy concepts and after the grand success of “The Great Indian Laughter Challenge”, Star One has come back with a new show “Hello Kaun Pehchaan Kaun“. This show is the hunt for India’s best mimic. The show is looking for celebrity impersonators – mimics who can walk the walk and talk the talk of a celebrity. Contestants will be judged on the basis of Likeness Quotient:

• How closely does the contestant resemble the celebrity?
• Voice Similarity – does the contestant sound like the original?
• Entertainment quotient – how entertaining is the act?

Star One is on the look out for celebrity impersonators who look, talk, walk and come across like the original celebrity or their on screen characters. (Mimics are those who can impersonate one or multiple characters but may notnecessarily look the part). The Categories of contestants are Actors, Singers and Public Figures. The best impersonator will be found through a rigorous search over 4 levels – prelims, quarter finals, semi finals and the grand finale. So sit back and be ready to face the best fakes all across the country only on Star One.

The show is hosted by none other than Pechaan Kaun (Naveen Prabhakar) and Aishwariya. The judges for this show are Chunky Panday and Suresh Menon. The contestant’s profiles are available on the website too. Put a reminder and sit back n enjoy the show on every Saturday at 9pm on Star One channel. The show also repeats on Star TV channel.

NEFT Transaction Fee from 01-Apr-2009

Have you used NEFT online? While RBI has waived the processing charges till March 31, 2009. With a view to rationalize the service charges levied by banks for offering various electronic products, a broad framework has been mandated as under: –

a) Inward transactions – Free, no charge to be levied
b) Outward transactions –
Upto Rs. 1 lakh – not exceeding Rs.5 per transaction.
Rs. 1 lakh and above – not exceeding Rs. 25 per transaction.

National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system is a nation wide funds transfer system in India, to facilitate transfer of funds from any bank branch to any other bank branch.

Source: NEFT FAQ Page on RBI Website

What an Idea!

Hi I am Abhishek Bachchan. Your current service provider “Spice Telecom” will soon become “IDEA“.

This message is being played when we call Spice Customer Care. IDEA is taking over Spice Telecom. This may be a good news to existing Spice Customers. As per customer support, there will be no changes in Plan Rates for existing customers. IDEA network will provide more stable connection for all its customers. This deal has been in news since Jun 2008.

Did you know, we have a ‘Right to not vote’?

AS PER the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1969 Act, in Section 49-O that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked, and convey to the presiding election officer that he/she doesn’t want to vote for anyone! Yes, such a feature is available, but obviously these seemingly notorious leaders have never disclosed it. It is called “49-O”.

49-O: The voter (or elector) deciding not to vote:

If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.

If you think none of the candidates at the ward / constituency are able enough to lead the community, you can always opt not to vote, but if you will use this right of yours you may start a new things in our electoral process, which will further strengthen our democracy.

It is useful in the following way:

In a ward or constituency, if a candidate wins, say by ’x’ votes, and that particular ward has received “49-O” votes more than x, then that polling will be cancelled and will have to be re-polled.

Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people have already expressed their decision on them. This would bring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way of our whole political system. It is seemingly surprising why the election commission has not revealed such a feature to the public.

Please spread the word about this and make our fellow countrymen aware of this right. No political party (or conventional media) would campaign for it. It’s yours and my duty. So, let’s go ahead from today!