India’s health minister announced a new initiative underway to boost the country’s rate of immunizing newborns by collecting mobile phone numbers of all pregnant mothers to monitor their babies’ vaccinations.
By phoning mothers, the central government will be able to check on whether their babies are fully immunized and identify districts where children are not getting needed vaccines, Mr. Azad said. In addition, he said, the central government will be able to check on the accuracy of data collected locally, which is often in doubt. [source]
India Panel Advises $100 Million Minimum Investment for Retail
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Carrefour SA (CA) may need to invest at least $100 million to start retail stores in India after a state panel set terms in its recommendations for opening the market in the South Asian nation.
The panel has suggested half the jobs generated by foreign investors in retail should be in the rural sector, and at least 30 percent of all products should be sourced from small and medium enterprises [source].
3TB SATA Drives From Western Digital
Western Digital today announced the addition of 2.5 TB and 3 TB versions to its family of WD AV-GP SATA hard drives, serving the audio-video (AV) market. Shipping immediately, the 2.5 TB and 3 TB capacity, 3.5-inch, WD AV-GP hard drives offer 24X7 reliability, low power consumption and unrivalled storage capacity for storage-intensive AV applications such as digital video recorders, video surveillance, single-drive media servers and external multimedia storage
Launched: Sony Ericson Xperia Mini Pro 2 @Price of Rs. 15,399
Sony seems to have realised that the key to a successful Android smartphone in India is the pricing. With a price tag that pins this device against the likes of Samsung Galaxy Ace ( no front camera) and HTC Wildfire S, Sony wants to give the customers that extra something. Not to mention that this phone ships with the latest Android OS available for phones.
RBI bid to boost secure banking
The committee, headed by former Sebi chief M Damodaran, has proposed a slew of consumer-friendly measures which include a proposal to raise the maximum amount payable to a bank account holder by the government from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, in case of bank failure. It has also proposed that a bank customer should not bear any cost for any loss in ATM or an online transaction, besides putting in place a facility for instant blocking of lost cards by just sending an SMS.
The committee has also suggested that there should be one common toll free number for customer services for all banks on the lines of telephone numbers for police, ambulance and fire brigade [source].
