Prasad says BSNL is a strategic asset, vows to resolve telecom PSU’s woes
The USFDA has red flagged Torrent Pharmaceuticals for significant violations of current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) regulations at its Indrad facility in Gujarat. The USFDA had inspected the facility from April 8 to 16, 2019. It asked the firm to provide a detailed summary of its validation program for ensuring a state of control throughout the product lifecycle, along with associated procedures. In a bid to regulate promotional communication of insurance schemes, IRDAI issued a master circular to ensure that the communications isn’t misleading.
According to the circular, the insurer should use material and design to present the information legibly and in an accessible manner. Sales material and advertisements should be comprehensible in the light of the complexity of the product being sold.
The names of the product and benefits as proposed in the File and Use application should be adhered to. The mandatory disclosures shall also be in the same language as that of the whole advertisement.
All life insurance advertisements must prominently state the availability of underlying element of ‘Life Insurance Coverage’ to clearly identify the product as an insurance product. Where any insurance advertisement highlights the benefit of Guarantees, a clear disclosure of the underlying conditions under which the guarantee operates must be made, wherever applicable. In all such cases, all the conditions, under which the guarantee operates need a prominent mention. If the underlying conditions are very elaborate, the text/ wording on Guarantee must be accompanied by the phrase “Conditions Apply” in a font that is at least 50 per cent of the font used to highlight the guarantee. In respect of ULIPs, the actual asset mix of various underlying funds visa-vis the asset composition of approved asset pattern shall be placed on the web portal of respective life insurance companies at least on a half yearly basis. New Delhi, Oct. 17: Existence of BSNL is in strategic interest of the nation and the government is looking to resolve issues plaguing it, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday.
The law and telecom minister acknowledged that there are problems in the telecom sector, which are being looked upon by the government.
“BSNL is in strategic interest of the nation. Whenever there is flood, cyclones, BSNL is the first one to offer services for free. 75 per cent of their revenues goes into salary of employees while others manage it in 5-10 per cent. There are legacy issues which we are looking in to,” Prasad said at India Economic Conclave.
The debt-ridden PSU has not been able to pay salaries of employees for September.
There have been reports that the Finance Ministry wants public sector telecom firm BSNL and MTNL to be shut down.
A group of ministers headed by Home Minister Amit Shah has approved a revival plan proposed by the DoT.
The group of ministers had earlier approved a revival package for the loss-making public sector telecom firms in mid-July. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad were part of the GoM that approved the plan. However, Finance Ministry officials later raised over 80 objections to the proposal prepared by the Telecom Ministry.
Prasad said that the government is also working to resolve problem in the telecom sector, but it also expects service provider to be responsible by upgrading their network and ensuring that customers are satisfied with the services.
The minister did not give any timeline for the launch of 5G services in India, while the government has officially set target to roll out the next generation services by 2020.
Prasad, however, said he would like India become a hub of 5G intellectual property rights and need to work carefully keeping in mind the development of global ecosystem.
“We have given spectrum for demonstration purposes. I would like India to become good hub of 5G IP but we have to work carefully as to what kind of ecosystem develops in the world as far as 5G is concerned. Will it come in one year or two year, it will create opportunity, it will create problem also,” he said.
He said that there are issues around 5G technology like who will be responsible if a driverless cars causes an accident.
“There are many issues of 5G. Our Prime Minister is very clear that both artificial intelligence and 5G must be used for healthcare, education, in agriculture and we are very keenly pushing it,” Prasad said.