Mobile number portability from January 1

From January 2010, mobile users can change their telecom service provider while retaining their phone numbers as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on 23/09/09 Wednesday issued regulations for implementation of mobile number portability (MNP) stating January 1, 2010, as the deadline to begin MNP in metros and category A circles. The service would be available in the rest of the country from March, 2010.

The regulator, however was silent on the most important aspect of 'porting charge' which is the amount that a mobile user shall have to pay for porting the number. The regulations come a year after the government had announced MNP implementation. The communications and IT minister, A Raja had last August said that MNP would be implemented last year however the process kept getting delayed.

According to a statement issued by the regulator, MNP facility shall be available only within a given licensed service area.

A subscriber holding a mobile number is eligible to make a porting request only after 90 days of the date of activation of his mobile connection. If a number is already ported once, the number can again be ported only after 90 days from the date of the previous porting.

The subscriber who wishes to port his mobile number should approach the recipient operator (the operator to whom the subscriber wants to port his number). The subscriber may be required to pay porting charges, if any, to the recipient operator. Also, the subscriber must clear all the bills issued prior to the date of porting. The subscriber shall give an undertaking that he has already paid all billed dues to the donor operator as on the date of the request for porting.

Also, he shall pay dues to the donor operator pertaining to the mobile number till its eventual porting, and that he understands and agrees that in event of non-payment of any such dues to the donor operator, the ported mobile number shall be liable to be disconnected by the recipient operator.

A subscriber may withdraw his porting request within 24 hours of its submission to the recipient operator. However, the porting charges shall not be refundable. Access providers are required to implement the all call query method.

The originating operator shall be responsible to route the call to correct terminating network.

Half man-Half tree - Courtesy DISCOVERY CHANNEL

An Indonesian fisherman who feared that he would be killed by tree-like growths covering his body has been given hope of recovery by an American doctor - and Vitamin A.

Dede, now 35, baffled medical experts when warty "roots" began growing out of his arms and feet after he cut his knee in a teenage accident.

The welts spread across his body unchecked and soon he was left unable to carry out everyday household tasks.

Sacked from his job and deserted by his wife, Dede has been raising his two children - now in their late teens - in poverty, resigned to the fact that local doctors had no cure for his condition.

To make ends meet he even joined a local "freak show", parading in front of a paying audience alongside victims of other peculiar diseases.

Although supported by his extended family, he was often a target of abuse and ridicule in his rural fishing village.

But now an American dermatology expert who flew out to Dede's home village south of the capital Jakarta claims to have identified his condition, and proposed a treatment that could transform his life.

After testing samples of the lesions and Dede's blood, Dr Anthony Gaspari of the University of Maryland concluded that his affliction is caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a fairly common infection that usually causes small warts to develop on sufferers.

Dede's problem is that he has a rare genetic fault that impedes his immune system, meaning his body is unable to contain the warts.

The virus was therefore able to "hijack the cellular machinery of his skin cells", ordering them to produce massive amounts of the substance that caused the tree-like growths known as "cutaneous horns" on his hands and feet.

Dede's counts of a key type of white blood cell are so low that Dr Gaspari initially suspected he may have the Aids virus.

But tests showed he did not, and it became clear that Dede's immune condition was something far rarer and more mysterious.

Warts aside, he had enjoyed remarkable good health throughout his life - which would not be expected of someone with a suppressed immune system - and neither his parents nor his siblings have shown signs of developing lesions.

"The likelihood of having his deficiency is less than one in a million," Dr Gaspari told the Telegraph.

Dr Gaspari, who became involved in the case through a Discovery Channel documentary, believes that Dede's condition can be largely cleared up by a daily doses of a synthetic form of Vitamin A, which has been shown to arrest the growth of warts in severe cases of HPV.

"He won't have a perfectly normal body but the warts should reduce in size to the point where he could use his hands," Dr Gaspari said.

"Over the course of three to six months the warts should be come smaller and fewer in number. He will be living a more normal life."

The most resilient warts could then be frozen off and the growths on his hands and feet surgically removed.

Dr Gaspari hopes to get the necessary drugs free of charge from pharmaceutical firms. They would then be administered by Indonesian doctors under his supervision.

Still intrigued by the origins of Dede's peculiar immune condition, the doctor would like to fly him to the United States for further examination, but fears the financial and bureaucratic barriers would prove too difficult to overcome.

"I would like to bring him to the US to run tests on where his immune condition has come from, but I would need funding and to get him a visa as well as someone to cover the costs of the tests," he said.

"I've never seen anything like this in my entire career."

"Half Man Half Tree",  will be shown on the Discovery Channel at 9pm on Nov 15.

Pankh (2009) Movie Information

Movie Name : Pankh

Year of Release : 2009
Banner : White Feather Films
Producer : Sanjay Gupta, Sanjay Dutt
Associate Producer : Rohit Roy, Manasi Joshi Roy
Executive Producer : Magic Works

Director : Sudipto Chattopadhyaya
Cast : Bipasha Basu, Maradona Robello, Daya Shankar Pandey, Ronit Roy, Mahesh Manjrekar, Lillete Dubey
Music Director : Raju Singh
Cinematographer : Somak Mukherjee
Story Writer : Sudipto Chattopadhyaya
Screenplay Writer : Sudipto Chattopadhyaya
Editor : Sanjeev Dutta
Line Producer : Parth Arora

Synopsis :
Baby Kusum is a child star, a cute little girl. In reality, Baby Kusum is a boy, masquerading as a girl. He was christened Jerry, and then named Master Jai for the movies. He and his mother Mary share a turbulent relationship. Once the boy reaches adolescence, he becomes a drug-abuser who has never been to school and spends all his time at home. As a youth, Jerry meets his dream woman, Nandini, causing another inner turmoil. Nandini is the fantasy woman who Maradona conjures up in his head-a phantom who taunts him and fights with him, an alter ego who questions his every move. Jerry is made to face the camera again as a young man, which leads to the final catastrophe.

Pankh (2009): MP3 Songs Free Download