Video chat facility unveiled in Himachal prisons

Shimla: In an effort to connect prisoners with their family and friends online, a video chat facility has been introduced in all the six prisons in Himachal Pradesh, a police officer said on Saturday.

"Our website (www.hpprisons.nic.in) will enable video chat with any prisoner in all the six prisons in the state," Additional Director General of Police (Prisons) SR Mardi told a news agency.


He said the facility was launched by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in the state capital Shimla on Friday.

He said the video-conference facility, first of its kind in the country, would help family and friends save time and money on travelling to prisons to meet the inmates.

"Even foreigners can avail this facility," he added.

The government has already amended the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), enabling the courts to utilise the video-conference facility between the jails and the courts.

Mardi said this would also help save time and money of the prison department in escorting the prisoners from jails to courts.

"Around 2,000 policemen are daily involved in escort duty," he added.

The state has already taken many initiatives to reform the prisons. It has declared one barrack each in six jails as "open air jail" in Kanda, Nahan, Solan, Mandi, Dharamsala and Chamba towns.

These jails allow prisoners to go out after serving a stipulated term and earn their livelihood.

IANS

World's first trip to Moon's south pole planned for 2016

WASHINGTON: The world's first mission to the south pole of the moon to install a permanent telescope on the lunar surface, to aid professional and amateur researchers, has been announced.

The private enterprise mission, announced by the International Lunar Observatory Association and Moon Express, will be both scientific and commercial, and plans to deliver the International Lunar Observatory (ILO) aboard a Moon Express robotic lander.

Moon Express will also utilise the mission to explore the moon's south pole for mineral resources and water. Lunar probes have provided compelling evidence of mineral and volatile deposits in the Moon's southern polar region where energy and resources may be abundant, Phys.org reported.

The ILO, with its 2-meter dish antenna, will be the world's first instrument to conduct international astrophysical observations and communications from the lunar surface, providing scientific research, commercial broadcasting and enabling Galaxy 21st Century education and "citizen science" on the Moon.

The announcement was made during a NASA Lunar Science Institute conference at Nasa Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.

"The ILO will demonstrate the value of the Moon for scientific study of the galaxy, moon, earth, sun and stars," said Steve Durst, founder and director of the ILOA and Space Age Publishing Company.

"We are a global consortium of scientists, educators, entrepreneurs and visionaries who seek to establish a scientific presence on the Moon followed by human exploration and eventual settlement."

Space Age Publishing Company, ILOA's commercial affiliate, intends to broadcast its Space Calendar weekly and Lunar Enterprise Daily via the ILO. ILOA expects that the south pole mission could take place as early as 2016 and contribute to humanity's growth as a multi-world species.

Moon Express will send a series of robotic missions to the Moon in support of science, commerce and exploration starting in 2015.

"We are very excited to our announce that our second Moon mission will be to the lunar South Pole to deliver the International Lunar Observatory and to prospect for resources," said Moon Express CEO Dr Robert Richards.

"The mission will provide a historic landing in an unexplored region of the moon that may harbour some of the greatest resource deposits in the solar system," said Richards.

The ILO and its precursor will have an internet-based access and control system and will be the first private space telescope to operate from the lunar surface.

Noida Authority to shift 300 mobile towers

NOIDA: The Noida Authority has decided to relocate over 300 mobile towers away from densely populated areas in the city, in a bid to reduce the alleged health risks of exposure to radiation from these towers.

This was decided by top authority officials at a meeting on Wednesday. The move may hit mobile connectivity as more than half of the total 572 towers in Noida are slated to be moved. Officials said the decision was in line with an Allahabad high court order in January last year, in which installation of new towers was prohibited in residential areas . The court had also asked for an assessment to determine the harm caused by mobile towers on human health.

"Towers located in densely populated areas would be moved to safer sites," said P K Agarwal, Noida ACEO. The Authority has also turned its attention towards cell towers on hospitals, schools and nursing homes.

Following the court's order last year, the Greater Noida Authority had relocated many towers to green belts. Officials said in Noida, too, such sites would be identified. The towers would be shifted in a phased manner once the Authority prepares a survey report to finalize a process which would cause minimal interruptions in mobile services.

The authority is also likely to compete formulating a 'mobile-tower policy' for the city within the next 10 days with guidelines regarding permissions to be taken from the Authority for setting up towers.

World`s first `human liver` created from stem cells

London: Scientists in Japan have used stem cells to grow tiny functioning livers in the laboratory.

The team at the Yokohama City University is hoping that liver failure could be reversed by transplanting thousands of liver buds.

They were trying to reproduce the earliest stages of liver development, which is similar to that in an embryo and for that they mixed 3 types of cells - two types of stem cells and material taken from the umbilical cord.

However, to their surprise the cells started to organise themselves and started curling to form a liver bud.

And when these buds were transplanted into mice, they hooked themselves up with the blood supply and began functioning as little livers, the BBC reported.

The transplants raided the lifespan of mice with liver failure.

However, turning this process into a treatment is still a distant thought, as the buds are 4-5mm long, however, researchers say that they will need to develop buds which are much minuscule and could be injected into the blood.

Though the buds will not grow into a whole new liver, but will embed themselves in the one which is failing and help restore it.

The findings have been published in Nature.

ANI

Robotic alarm clock that runs off

A new robotic alarm clock has been developed that forces heavy sleepers to go after the clock to silent it, media reports revealed.

The robotic clock jumps off your bedside table and runs across the floor on two wheels, forcing its owner to shed the bed to make it stop emitting a high pitched alarm call.

When the alarm activates, the wheels propel the clock forwards and it survives drops from surfaces of up to 3ft tall.

Invented by a graduate student who struggled to get up in time for her lectures, “Clocky” the robot clock, will not stop moving across the room until it is caught and the alarm switched off. 

Modern machines to help speed up civic body's tree plantation drive

AURANGABAD: The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) is all set to purchase two modern machines to speed up the ongoing drive of planting 1.5 lakh saplings in the city. Vijay Patil, the AMC's garden superintendent, said on Monday the post hole digger machines would help the civic body plant more saplings in the season. "We have already placed the order for the machines, which will be in our possession in next two-three days," he said.

The civic body initiated the drive in the city from June 5 on the occasion of World Environmental Day and planted saplings in open spaces and road dividers.

Patil said the machines have a capacity to dig 400-500 holes every day for planting saplings. "It is a machine that can be mounted on tractors and operated by one person. Holes of various sizes can be dug up with ease, which will accelerate the process. At present, we are digging up holes manually that takes a lot of time. A single worker can dig only 15-20 holes in a day, which makes the target of planting 1.5 lakh saplings in the season quite impossible. With the help of these machines, we can now plant more than 1,000 saplings every day," he said.

"The AMC has planted around 17,000-18,000 saplings so far and we have nearly 120 days to achieve the set target," he said.

He said the civic body has planted 10,000 saplings on its own while various schools, colleges, NGOs and individuals helped in planting 7,000-8,000 saplings.

"The civic body would now tap the large area in Chikhalthana and plant about 25,000 saplings. We are also encouraging NGOs and entrepreneurs to participate in the drive," Patil said, adding, "Students of municipal schools are taking active part in the drive. Besides, we are also providing saplings to all the AMC-run hospitals, libraries and offices asking the concerned officers to plant saplings on their premises."

Manisha Choudhary, environmentalist and member of Deepshikha Foundation, said the AMC should not only focus on planting saplings but should also take efforts to make sure that they survive.

Narayana Murthy seeks airport near electronic city

Bangalore: Infosys Executive Chairman N R Narayana Murthy has pitched for a small airport near Electronics City, the biggest hub of Bangalore's IT industry that houses the main Infosys campus, as he called for improving the infrastructure facilities in Karnataka.

"We are not asking for anything extraordinary. We are asking for reasonably good roads, electricity, water, clean air and some English schools. We need reasonable connectivity to the airport. Ideally, we would like a small airport near Electronics City," Murthy said at a Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce event on Friday night.

While putting forward industries wish list to the state government he also said the software sector has made big contribution towards the economy of the state.

"Ours is an industry that contributes about 25 per cent of the state's GDP (Gross Domestic Product),has created half a million jobs with an average monthly salary of Rs 50,000 and 1.5 million jobs in the secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy. It earns net foreign exchange of Rs 55,000 crore a year and has a capital output ratio of 1:5," he said.

PTI

Engineering students design 8 mobile games

HUBLI: You thought students only played mobile games? Here are computer science students of BVB College of Engineering & Technology who have designed eight mobile games which can be run on four operating systems.

The games designed by these VI semester students are Back Flip, Crazy Archer, Parking 2D, Bulldozer, Lasers, Gold Diggers, Doddal Blink and Spooky Hoofs. These games can be played on various operating systems like Android, Windows phone and IOS.

Abhishek, one of the student designers, said that college has given them an opportunity to design the games and C Logic, a private company, provided specifications to design them. ''We did it and it has given me a real time experience. It was exciting to learn how to develop the games for various operating systems,'' he said.

Gopal Joshi, professor of computer science department, said that earlier they had initiated the move of designing games by students which can be accessed on the Android operating system, but this year students designed games which can be played on different operating systems.

The college authorities first put the games on trial by inviting some school students to play them. The designer team noted the difficulties the school students faced and reworked on the games. Now, the college will release them in the market.

Each game has two versions. The team was given three days training by the company. Students had designed 29 games in 2011 and 30 games in 2012. This year, again students have designed the games in two versions.

Goa govt launches scheme to strengthen infra in schools

Panaji: Schools in Goa would now be able to upgrade or set up infrastructure, including for IT services, and even acquire land for the purpose, courtesy a dedicated scheme announced by the state government on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told reporters that the scheme has been approved by the state Cabinet with the financial implication being pegged at Rs 50 crore annually.

"While primary schools will be given Rs 50 lakh each, high schools Rs one crore each and higher secondary schools Rs two crores for the purpose," Parrikar

said.

The chief minister said that 50 per cent of the total allocation would be made in the form of grants and rest as interest-free loan, which can be repaid over next 15 years.

Though nearly 276 schools are eligible for this scheme, only 30 schools would get the benefit for the current academic year, Parrikar said.


"The funds provided for the infrastructure creation can also be used to acquire land and also to install IT services like wi-fi and CCTV," he said.

State-run Education Development Corporation has been named as a nodal agency to implement the scheme, a revised version of the earlier scheme wherein schools were asked to mortgage their properties to avail the benefit.

PTI

Nano car drives into Guinness World Records

BANGALORE: Tata Motors' small car Nano entered the Guinness World Records for driving on a longest journey covering the entire country, the company said on Monday.

"The expedition was accomplished in 10 days (March 21-30) covering 10,218 km in a Tata Nano from Kanyakumari in southern Tamil Nadu to circumnavigate the country and return to Bangalore," Tata Motors president Ranjit Yadav said at an event held here.

The car entered the Guinness World Records, breaking the previous record of 8,046 km.

The car was driven by city-based motoring enthusiast Srikarunya Subrahmanyam and his team.

"Tata Nano has put India on the world motoring map by demonstrating its robustness, reliability and frugal engineering. We will encourage motor expeditions to enable customers experience the brand's value," Yadav said.

India's first Formula One motor racing driver Narain Karthikeyan felicitated Subrahmanyam and the team for the record achievement on the occasion.

Karthikeyan also released a book 'Atop the World' authored by Thomas Chacko, a 63-year-old Kochi-based motoring enthusiast who accomplished a 78-day long national expedition driving in a Nano across the country in July 2012.

"I have seen a new breed of traveller emerge, one who has a streak of adventure and passion for motoring. I have known people who have driven long distances for the fun of it despite the option of taking a flight or a train being always there. This is the spirit that encourages enthusiasts like Srikarunya and Thomas to overcome challenges of driving long distances," Karthikeyan said.

Nasa to partner Isro in India's Mars mission

MUMBAI: The US would support India in its much-awaited Rs 450-crore Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) slated for lift off from Sriharikota in October-November 2013.

"Nasa is providing the deep space navigation and tracking support to this mission during the non-visible period of the Indian Deep Space Network," said a US state department announcement.

The decision to cooperate was taken at the fourth meeting of the US-India joint working group on civil space co-operation held in Washington on March 21. But the details of the meeting were made public on Monday through the US-India joint fact sheet. Its release coincided with the Indo-US Strategic dialogue, and the talks between Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan and Nasa administrator Charles Bolden in New Delhi.

Nasa will provide support from its facilities at Goldstone in the US, Madrid in Spain and Canberra in Australia.

The teaming up for the Mars mission assumes significance in the context of Bolden calling for strengthened co-operation in this programme, when he addressed Isro staffers nationwide on Tuesday afternoon from the Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre.

The American state department document also stated that both countries have "agreed to co-operate in potential future missions to the moon and Mars".

Isro officials have not ruled out a second mission to Mars, which they said will have more scientific content. TOI has also learnt that Nasa was keen on participating with Isro in the analysis of data from the Methane Sensor For Mars, which is one of the five instruments on board the present Indian Mars orbiter.

But Isro has not given any firm response so far.

2 Smartphone apps developed at Kochi's Startup Village among 10 best

Kochi: Two smartphone applications developed by firms at Kochi's Startup Village have been named among the 10 best apps designed for the security of women, by IT industry body NASSCOM.

Sentinel developed by MindHelix Technosol Pvt Ltd and iFollow from Aucupa Innovative Solutions were among winners of NASSCOM’s first all-India App Fame Contest to search for mobile tools to aid personal safety of women and to help deal with emergencies, a press release said.

Sentinel is a GPS-based application developed by MindHelix for Android devices and iPhone. It can make SOS calls and send text alerts and emails with location information to pre-saved emergency numbers and IDs at the touch of a button.

The application works even in situations where the user is unable to trigger the alert manually or the phone is destroyed or there is no internet access. It can be downloaded for free from Google Play and the App store.

Aucupa's iFollow is an Android app that automatically dials voice calls to emergency contacts pre-configured on the device.It is activated if the phone is shaken continuously for five seconds, and on standby works silently in the background to reduce power consumption and CPU usage. iFollow is also a free application that can be downloaded from Google Play.

MindHelix and Aucupa are both fledgling companies incubating at Startup Village. The latest award follows a series of honours and recognition for products and services developed by young innovators at India’s first telecom technology incubator.

NASSCOM’s App Fame Contest received entries from around the country. The awards were presented at a function in Delhi on June 19. 

Maharashtra to get 15,000 micro-ATMs from Centre for rural inclusion

Mumbai: In order to facilitate financial inclusion of people from remote areas in the state, Maharashtra will get around 15,000 micro-ATMs from Centre.

Moreover, as many as 20,000 Business Correspondents (BCs) will be appointed for the purpose of taking banking to the doorstep of the people in remote areas by allowing them to do transactions at Point of Sale or PoS (the micro ATM).

The four Aadhaar-enabled basic types of banking transactions can be done through micro-ATMs are balance enquiry, cash withdrawal, cash deposit and Aadhaar to Aadhaar funds transfer.


At present, there are about 500 BCs and their number will be enhanced considerably so that Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) funds can be disbursed to the labour force immediately.

This assurance of micro ATMs was given by Nandan Nilankeni, Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan here recently.

According to Information Technology Secretary Rajesh Agrawal 6.35 crore Aadhar card enrolments have been done in Maharashtra.

"On a daily basis, we are doing 1.5 to 1.8 lakh enrolments which is the highest in the country. At 70-75 per cent, one crore enrolments have been done in Mumbai," he informed.

He said that 50 per cent of Aadhar card machines in the state will be shifted from schools to housing societies to facilitate the penetration.

"50 per cent of the total 4000-5000 Aadhar card machines in the state will be shifted from schools to housing societies. There are about 500 machines in Pune and Thane," Agrawal said, adding that the state will cross 85 per cent enrolment by March 2014.

PTI

Maha govt plans biometric system to facilitate pensioners

Mumbai: In a bid to provide relief to pensioners from submitting yearly life certificates to avail pension, Maharashtra government plans to set up biometric reader machines for online finger print authentication.

Officials in the Department of Information and Technology (IT) said the plan is to set up biometric reader machines in all villages. The machines are proposed to be in PDS shops, citizen service centres and government offices providing e-services.

"The initiative will be useful to state government employees who settle in their native place after retirement. Every year, they have to produce life certificates from tehsildar offices to be submitted to respective banks.

"Instead, the pensioners with Aadhar cards can do their finger print authentication, which will be directly matched with the UID card number stored in the data hub in Ba

ngalore and the banks will get direct intimation about it," the officials said.

They said the state government is awaiting clearance of its proposal by the Centre.

Aadhar card numbers would be made mandatory for sale and purchase of property so that benami transactions can be curbed, officials said.

PTI

Kerala gets 72 percent surplus rainfall

Thiruvananthapuram: Ushering in brighter prospects for the power sector, Kerala has received over 72 per cent surplus rainfall since the onset of Southwest monsoon on June 1, after passing through a rain-deficient year that witnessed severe energy crisis and grim drought conditions.

According to India Meteorological Department, till June 19 the state as a whole received 665 mm rainfall against the normal 386 mm for the period.

While all parts of the state received good rains without long pauses, it is all the more significant that Idukki district, where reservoirs of major hydro electric projects are located, got 93 per cent excess rainfall, state power board sources said.

Among the 14 districts, Kannur in north Kerala received the highest amount of rainfall with a surplus of 114 percent.

Last year, the rainfall received by the state was deficient by 24 per cent during the southwest monsoon and 35 per cent during the northeast monsoon periods.

The shortfall pushed the state into one of its worst power crisis, forcing the Government to clamp 90 minutes load-shedding, half of which was during peak hours in the evening, curbs in consumption by non-domestic consumers. rainfall, replenishing reservoirs in that area.

With the prospects brightening, Kerala State Electricity Board last week lifted the one-hour day-time load-shedding and the 30-minute peak-hour cut.

According to KSEB, generation from hydro-electric projects accounts for bulk of the power available in its grid, with supply from thermal plants and small and small and micro projects and non-conventional sources yielding just a minor portion of the demand required.

PTI

2 supercomputers from Pune in world's fastest 100

PUNE: Two of the four supercomputers in the country that feature in the top 100 in the list of 500 fastest supercomputers in the world, are from Pune. While the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) supercomputer stands 36th in the list, ParamYuva II, developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced computing (C-DAC) has bagged the 69th position.

The IITM supercomputer is yet to be installed while the Param Yuva II became operational from February 8 this year.

The list of top 500 supercomputers in the world was announced on Tuesday during the launch of the opening session of the International Supercomputing Conference in Leipzig, Germany.

Rajat Moona, director general, C-DAC said, "This is a major step for the country (for two of its supercomputers) to figure in the top 100 fastest supercomputers in the world. Over the years, India was losing its position in the supercomputer area in the world. In 2008, India had 10 machines in the top 500, but after that there was a bit of a downfall. In contrast, in 2004, China was nowhere on the scene but in the latest list, its supercomputer has taken the top ranking."

Moona said that India has taken a major step in the latest rankings and has more potential to move up as there is a huge demand for supercomputing in the country. He said that the union government is also looking at making an investment of Rs 5,000 crore in this area over the next five years.

Moona said, "There is a so much of high-end work being done in the area of weather forecasting, fluid dynamics, air borne bodies, ship movement, disaster management, design of earthquake prone structures that need massive supercomputing infrastructure. As a result of this need, the supercomputing infrastructure is also improving and has led to an improvement in world rankings for the country."

The Param Yuva II has a capacity of 524 teraflops and within three weeks of launching it was already running with a load of 70% of its capacity. Precise weather forecasting, faster tapping of natural resources in the sea and designing of customised drugs for individuals are some of the applications possible using Param Yuva II. It also promises to be energy efficient with 35% reduction in energy consumption as compared to other supercomputers.

The IITM supercomputer will start functioning in the next two to three months, Suryachandra Rao, chief programme scientist, department of high performance computing, IITM said. Rao said, "The supercomputer, once installed, will boost research in weather and climate forecasting as well as air pollution." Rao said that the process of installing the supercomputer was in progress and within one week of installation, it will be running. All the institutes under the union ministry of earth sciences will be using the IITM supercomputer facility.

Pride of place

Four supercomputers from India make it to fastest 100, of which two are from Pune

Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) supercomputer stands 36th

Param Yuva II of Centre for Development of Advanced computing (C-DAC), gets 69th position

In 2008, India had 10 machines in the top 500, but had lost its position over the years

China, which was nowhere until 2004, got the top ranking this year

Contract signed with DMRC for mono rail in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Mono Rail Corporation Limited and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation on Wednesday signed the contract for the proposed monorail projects in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.

Both projects would be completed in a time bound manner, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who is also the Chairman of KMRC, said.

DMRC Chief Consultant E Sreedharan, Speaker G Karthikeyan, State PWD Minister V K Ibrahim Kunju were among those present on the occasion.

The agreement will make DMRC

responsible for the design, preparation of the bid document, short-listing and selection of contractors, supervision, and quality certification for the 22.2-km monorail in Thiruvananthapuram and the 14.2-km project in Kozhikode, estimated to cost Rs 5581 crore.

A single agreement will be signed with DMRC for the projects as the general consultant and the executing agency are the same.

DMRC will be the general consultant of the project.

Instructions to take the initial steps have already been given. Tender procedures will be the preliminary process and offices of the monorail corporation will start functioning in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode soon, official sources said.

PTI

A mobile phone for Kerala CM, finally

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy will soon be flaunting what all others have had all this while - the ubiquitous mobile phone.

All these years Chandy could only be reached through the mobile phones of his personal assistant or his security staff since he did not have his own mobile phone.

Chandy on Tuesday told reporters here that he would make certain changes in his style of working.

"Yes, I am considering a few changes and one is that, I might have my own mobile soon. On the other changes, once I make a decision, I will let you all know," said Chandy.

The sudden decision to own a cell phone cane after his personal assistant Teny Jopan and his gunman Salim Raj lost their jobs following a media expose.

The media published the call details of Saritha S Nair, a con-woman who is now in custody after cheating numerous people to the tune of crores of rupees.

The published call details shows that the two of his staff members, who have been booted out, have been regularly in close contact with Saritha.

Nair and her former live-in partner Radhakrishnan had formed a company "Team Solar", which was engaged in erecting solar panels at offices and homes. They managed to collect crores of rupees on the promise of providing the equipment to tap green sources of energy.

Following numerous complaints of cheating, Nair was arrested on June 3 and Radhakrishnan was arrested from Coimbatore on Monday.

"All of you know that my office is open to all and anyone can just walk in and meet me. For some time my colleagues, my party top leaders and others have been requesting me that I should bring some restriction on meeting people," said Chandy.

"But, I feel I should be with the people and apart from owning my own mobile, a few changes are going to be made...," said Chandy.

Chandy's staff said that if he finally owns a mobile phone, it will still be difficult to get him on that.

"If he has his own mobile, then the next complaint would be that it is always engaged," said one of his staff members.

IANS 

Soon, a car that makes stopping at traffic lights history

Wellington: A car maker from Germany is developing a technology that calculates the amount of time before an upcoming set of traffic lights turn red, and tell driver the ideal speed needed to navigate roads and intersections.

Audi in Germany has joined forces with Berlin authorities in a trial that taps into the city's central traffic management system, Stuff.co.nz reported.

Audi Germany technology and innovation spokesman, Tim Frozek , said that their car is linked wirelessly to the central computer of the city of Berlin, and every second they get a ping from the computer telling them about the status of the traffic lig

hts.

He said that they transfer that info into graphics on the driver information display giving them two options, on one hand they have the possibility to let them know how long the red phase of the traffic light will last, and in the other they tell them about the speed they should use to reach next green light.

Audi has received strong interest in the technology from the US and other countries abroad, meanwhile, BMW is also trialling a similar program for its new vehicles.

ANI 

Vodafone slashes data prices by 80% in three circles

New Delhi: In a significant move, Vodafone India on Tuesday said it has reduced data charges by up to 80 percent in three circles and the new cheaper rates will be rolled out nationally in a phased manner.

The telecom operator has reduced the price from 10 paisa per 10 KB to 2 paisa per 10KB for Karnataka, UP West and Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh circles.

"The rate cut from 10p/10KB to 2p/10KB will make Internet access affordable for customers who use mobile Internet in a limited way," Vodafone said in a statement.

The company said this rate would be applicable for all pre-paid and post-paid customers using 2G network on a 'Pay as you Go' basis in these circles.

"These rates are currently applicable in Karnataka, UP West and Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh circles and will be rolled out nationally in a phased manner," Vodafone said.

As part of its strategy to "democratise" data, Vodafone is educating current and potential users about how Internet can add significant value to them.

The company is also building content partnerships, simplifying pricing, educating retailers and offering choice to customer basis their interests and consumption patterns.

"We, at Vodafone, want to accelerate mobile Internet adoption ...This 80 percent reduction in data charges for customers using 2G network is an important step in this direction," Vodafone India Chief Commercial Officer Vivek Mathur said. 

PTI