Manipur News

H. C. Kunwar
Deputy Director (Media & Communication), PIB, New Delhi.
The user-friendly SMS based ticketing system which has already been effective since 28th June 2013, is being introduced by the Indian Railways in order to further improve the customer convenience and empower the common man who does not have access to internet and cannot afford to buy smart phones.
Since the mobile penetration in India has increased rapidly, this new system will be helpful in enabling booking of tickets by masses themselves. Ticket booking through non-internet based mobile, introduced as a pilot project by Indian Railways Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a Public Sector Undertaking of the Ministry of Railways, will also help Railways in overcoming the menace of touting whereby unsuspecting people are fleeced by such elements.
This will particularly be useful for labourers and workers staying away from their home and who have to book tickets for travel to their native place.
Inconvenience in booking reserved railway tickets has been a cause of concern for all.
In order to facilitate easy access, Indian Railways have been making efforts by expanding the passenger reservation system counters network.
The online booking through IRCTC has now grown up to about 45% of total reserved tickets. This has eased the rush at counters to a great extent. While internet access in India is only about 10%, mobiles are now in easy reach and more than 80% people in our country use mobile phones.
The key features of ticket booking on mobile are as follow:-
Railway e-ticket now on mobile
• IRCTC introduces for the first time a non-internet based ticketing system that will empower masses even in remote areas to use the omnipresent mobile device to make reservations.
• Millions of rail travellers can now use their mobile phones to book tickets in a simple, convenient and secured manner.
• It uses simple SMS or menu-based USSD technology which works on all mobile phones and involves no internet and costs very little.
• The services can be availed by IRCTC registered users only.
Advantages of booking IRCTC tickets via mobile
• No need to stand in long queues or log onto the internet.
• Simple, reliable and secured.
• Accessible to any mobile user.
• Very little charges for accessing the service.
• Works on all handsets.
• Simple user guided menu – book tickets, search for stations, trains, availability.
Book your ticket through USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) based booking for Airtel subscribers*
Registration
• Register for Airtel money by dialing *400#.
• Load cash on this or recharge from any Airtel money outlet.
Booking Flow
• Dial *400# and select book tickets option.
• Select Reservation.
• Enter your IRCTC User ID.
• Enter the details of ticket (station, train no. date of journey, class etc.).
• Enter mPIN for authorizing payment.
• Booking confirmation SMS is sent by IRCTC and same can be used during journey along with valid ID proof.
• Fare & IRCTC service charges are debited from your Airtel money account.
• Charges: No PG Charges.
• Agent / IRCTC Service Charges: As applicable Helpline No.: 121 Helpline Email : 121@airtelmoney.in
Book your ticket through SMS
1. SMS based booking through 139*
Registration
• Register your mobile number with IRCTC as well as with your bank.
• Bank provides MMID (Mobile Money Identifier) & OTP (one time password) for authorization of payment. (More than 25 banks are providing this facility. For details, visit website: http://www.npci.org.in/bankmember.aspx.)

Book Railway Tickets
Booking Flow
• Send SMS, in the following syntax, to 139 BOOK <TrainNo><FromStn.Code><ToStn.Code> <TravelDate (DDMM)><Class><Passenger-Name><Age><M/F>
• You will receive Transaction ID alongwith other details.
• Make payment through sending an SMS, in the following syntax, to 139 PAY <Transaction ID as received><IMPS><Your MMID as received from the bank><OTP, your one time password received for this transaction><IRCTCUserID> and your ticket is booked.
• Service is available to all mobile subscribers.
• SMSes @ Rs 3/- per SMS (2 SMSes are required for each booking).
• PG charges Rs 5/- for ticket amount <Rs 5000/ and Rs 10/- for ticket amount > Rs 5000/- (as applicable by bank).
• Agent / IRCTC Service Charges: As applicable
Helpline No.: 139
Helpline Email : smsticket139@bharatbpo.in
2. SMS based booking through 5676714*
Registration
• Register your mobile number with IRCTC as well as with m-wallet (http://www.zipcash.in/user/nlogin.aspx)
• Send SMS, to 5676717, in the following syntax START <irctc user Id> for user authentication (first time only)
Booking Flow
• Send an SMS to 5676714 to book a ticket in the following syntax: BOOK<From stn.code>,<to stn.code>, <DDMMYY>, <Trainno>,<Class>, <passenger name>,<age>,<M/F>
• You will receive the Transaction number.
• Send the 2nd SMS, for payment, in the following syntax.
1. “PAY <transaction no>, MPAY, <m-PIN>” for authorizing payment through MPAY
or
2. “PAY <mobileno>,<mmid>,<amount>, <transaction Id>,<OTP>” for authorizing payment through IMPS.
• After payment is made booking confirmation is sent to your mobile.
• Charges: No PG Charges. Agent / IRCTC Service Charges: As applicable. SMSes @ Rs 3/- per SMS (2 SMSes are required for each booking).
Helpline No. : 8882001001
Helpline Email : support@saarthii.com
3. SMS based booking through BSNL*
User should have the following:
1. BSNL SIM card installed.
2. Java enabled mobile phone.
3. Andhra Bank Prepaid card.
This is a menu driven application where user has to enter the details asked for in simple step-by-step process to get the ticket.
Registration
• Install the application.
• Select the Register option to get the mPIN.
Booking
• Click the icon BSNL Prepaid Card
• Select Ticketing > Train (IRCTC)
• Fill up the journey details such as From stn, To Stn, Train No, DOJ, Class, Quota, passenger details.
• Enter the mPIN to get the ticket information.
• Charges: No PG Charges. Agent / IRCTC Service Charges: As applicable. SMSes without charges.
Helpline No. : +91-8801298038
Helpline Email : bsnl.support@pyrogroup.com
*This service will not be available between 0800-1200 hrs. However, the ticket can still be booked using mobile through IRCTC main site www.irctc.co.in
(PIB Feature).

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/book-railway-tickets-on-mobile-without-internet/

Manish Desai
Bhavana Gokhale
PIB Mumbai
Two years ago, Beed in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region made news nationwide on account of heinous crime of female foeticide, leading to a serious crackdown on several medical practitioners. According to 2011 census, Beed recorded a Child Sex Ratio of 796 girls per 1000 boys, much worse than the Child Sex Ratio of 894 for Maharashtra and the all India figure of 914.
Child Sex Ratio is defined as the number of females per 1000 males in the 0 – 6 age group. This ratio, on its own may not be able to present a correct picture of sex ratio as there are instances of under reporting of girls. Therefore, the Sex Ratio at Birth, defined as the number of girls born for every 1000 boys, is considered a more accurate and a refined indicator.
While unplanned pregnancy is generally the reason behind abortions, female foeticide is a far more heinous crime than the age old practice of killing the unwanted child after it was born. Selective elimination of the girl child in the womb itself is done after the determination of child’s gender through the medical means. This is usually done under family pressure from the husband or in-laws or even women’s parents. Sadly a majority of female foeticide cases involve an enthusiastic participation of women – both old and young.
Like many societies around the world, India too is patriarchal in nature. Right from the ancient scriptures, one finds instances were men are glowingly praised as the key to continue family lineage. This results in a fanatic obsession for a male progeny.
A Wake Up Call
Alarm bells began to ring when the rampant practice of pre natal sex selection came to light with the connivance of several reputed medical practitioners in Beed. The Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prevention of Sex Determination) Act, enacted by Parliament of India in 1994, bans use of sex selection techniques before or after conception and prevents the misuse of prenatal diagnostic technique for sex selective abortion. However, due to laxity in enforcement, the there was no let up in discrimination against the girl child.
The state government woke up to the challenge and announced a slew of measures to stop female foeticide and catch its perpetrators. Teams were formed to crack down on illegal ultrasound centres indulging in sex determination tests. Food & Drug Administration kept a watch on the sale of drugs and medicines required for medical termination of pregnancy. Action was taken against 12 chemists in Beed district who failed to provide satisfactory replies to the show cause notices served upon them.
Awareness is the Key
To supplement the enforcement programme, a massive awareness drive was initiated to drive home the importance of girl child. Besides the public service advertisements broadcast over television and radio, Amir Khan’s TV show ‘Satyamev Jayate’ also helped raise the level of awareness about female foeticide.
Voluntary Organizations (NGOs) came forward to supplement government’s efforts in this girl child mission. In Beed, organizations like ‘Tee Foundation’ and ‘Marathwada Lok Vikas Manch’ came forward to adopt talukas, in a bid to improve child sex ratio. These Voluntary Organizations adopted Shirur-Kasar taluka for a comprehensive survey and provision of necessary support services. “It was a grim scenario when we began our survey in 2011; Beed had a low sex ratio of 733 and it was even worse in Shirur- Kasar taluka, where child sex ratio was only 669” says Dr. Bharati Lavekar of the Tee foundation .
The Voluntary Organizations conducted house to house surveys and listed out the reasons for adverse sex ratio. “After studying the mind-set and the behavioural pattern of villagers, we became convinced that the situation can not be improved merely by enacting laws or conducting television sting operations. We needed to get to the root of the problem and change people’s mindset” adds Dr.Lavekar.
While the government supervised strict enforcement of the PCPNDT Act, holistic health services were made available to pregnant women through regular health check up, vitamin administration and nutrition supplement under the National Rural Health Mission, NRHM. Special training programmes were held for ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) volunteers and Anganwadi Sevikas for skill upgradation. Voluntary Organizations played a key role in inter-personal communication, by reaching out to women during their free time.
To motivate people to raise girl child a fixed deposit scheme under the Balika Suraksha Yojana was introduced. Under this scheme Rs 5000 would be deposited in the name of every girl child born after August 15, 2011 to be held as Fixed Deposit with State Bank of Hyderabad for a term of 18 years. The lump sum money would be payable to the girl on becoming a major, subject to attaining certain minimum educational qualifications.
Surprise Results
Sincere efforts of government, voluntary organizations and citizen activists began to show results. A report prepared by the State Health System Resource Centre based on District Health Information System – an online portal for calculating sex ration at birth, had a surprise for everyone associated with the project. Beed district recorded an impressive 159 points jump in sex ratio during 2012 as compared to 2011. According to the NRHM Mission Director for Maharashtra, Vikas Kharge, “awareness drives, stringent enforcement of law, initiation of technology like mother and child tracking system, routine inspection and crackdown on ultra-sound / sonography centres have all resulted in improving the state’s sex ratio at birth. Along with Beed, Parabhani and Aurangabad have also shown improvement.”
At 906 girls per 1000 boys, Beeds sex ratio at birth is now on par, or rather a shade better than the state average. However, activists say there is still a long way to go to catch up with the ideal sex ratio of 951.
(PIB Features.)

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/awareness-help-beed-improve-child-sex-ratio/