MUMBAI; Popular search engine Google today announced the launch of a new tool that allows voters an easy access to relevant information about Lok Sabha candidates in each constituency.

The tool, 'Know Your Candidates', will allow people an easy access to relevant information about political candidates contesting from their constituency and their incumbent Member of Parliament, Google said in a release here.

It integrates publicly available information sourced from organisations such as Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), PRS Legislative Research and Liberty Institute India.

"In the last five months, we have made a concerted effort to provide our users a one stop destination for all their information needs for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

"With the launch of this tool, we have added all the important information of the contesting candidates with the help of groups such as ADR and PRS Legislative Research," Google India VP and Managing Director Rajan Anandan said.

The application will provide information for each sitting Lok Sabha MP and contesting candidates such as their disclosed educational background, financial details and social media presence (wherever available).

Mapped onto Google Maps interface, citizens will be able to find the information by using pin codes of their area or by zooming on their locality on the map.

The tool will be updated regularly to provide information about all candidates as they get finalised and will be made available at least a week before the voting day in each constituency, the release added.

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SRINAGAR: Shaheen and Yasir was a happy couple till she again met her “childhood sweetheart” on Facebook last year.

The Facebook chat that Yasir discovered between his wife and her ‘boyfriend’ was reason enough to accuse Shaheen of infidelity and divorce her.

With tens of thousands Kashmiris registered with social networking sites more and more couples are blaming Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp for souring their relationships if not destroying them.
“I remember the day my husband walked into the room and said guess who I just add in my friend list?” Sadiya a housewife said.

“I asked who? My husband shamelessly said … My school girl, my first love.”

“Since then things are now well between us,” Sadiya added. “My husband spends many hours on Facebook and not a few minutes with me.”

Psychiatrists and Counsellors say there has been  a significant rise in cases where  partners have admitted their addiction to social media sites affecting their relationships.

“An epidemic of online infidelity is causing the breakup of countless Kashmiri marriages, destroying their relationships and affecting mental health,” a psychiatrist said.

Lawyers say that social networking particularly on Facebook, which connects old friends and allow users to make new ones online, is being blamed for adding number of marital breakdowns.

“We have seen most of the divorce cases are of those couples who are more addicted to social networking sites” Ufaira Rashid, a lawyer said.

There are no official figures, but the number of marital breakdowns is “worrying”, the lawyer added.
Suspicious spouses have also used the websites to find evidence of flirting and even affairs which have led to divorce in Kashmir, which was otherwise an easy going society but has been blighted by decades of violence.

Earlier last month a 30-year-old teacher ended her marriage after discovering her husband had been having an affair with someone he met on Facebook.

“It can happen to the strongest of marriages” Ufaira Rashid added.
(Some names have been changed)
New Delhi; The Telecom Commission of India may discuss full mobile number portability, which will allow users relocating to any part of the India to retain their numbers. Jammu & Kashmir may be excluded from this facility following security concerns raised by the Indian Defence Ministry.

"The issue of full mobile number portability may be required to be sent back to TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) for additional information and some clarifications," a senior Department of Telecom official said.

Guidelines for full mobile number portability recommended by TRAI in September 2013 have to be finalised by the Department of Telecom after approval by the Commission.

Pertienetly, Short Messaging Service for prepaid users has been also blocked by the Indian ministry in 2010.
News Desk; Hundreds of Kashmiri and Pakistani tweeples posted on hashtag #Kashmir Genocide to highlight the Kashmir conflict, that has allegedly ignored by Pakistani Media.

Within no time the hashtag starts to trend in both the regions.

According to statistics, #Kashmir Genocide got 84% popularity with a span of 4 hours starting from 9 PM (PST) last night.

Most of the users in their tweets highlighted the atrocities that are being faced by the people of Kashmir, while some of them suggested ways to get freedom from Indian rule.

The top tweets among the trend till this report was filed are as under :-






NEW YORK; Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, has complained directly to President Obama about the continuing revelations that the United States government has secretly spied on the activities of some of his company’s 1.2 billion users.

Mr. Zuckerberg spoke with the president on Wednesday following the most recent news report on the National Security Agency’s surveillance tactics. The account, published in The Intercept from documents leaked by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden, described how government computers sometimes masqueraded as Facebook servers in order to send malicious software to infect the machines of Facebook users. The documents say the process was automated so the N.S.A. could target millions of people for the attacks.

In a public post on Thursday to users of the social network, Mr. Zuckerberg said he was “confused and frustrated by the repeated reports of the behavior of the U.S. government.” He continued:

When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we’re protecting you against criminals, not our own government.

The U.S. government should be the champion for the Internet, not a threat. They need to be much more transparent about what they’re doing, or otherwise people will believe the worst.

I’ve called President Obama to express my frustration over the damage the government is creating for all of our future. Unfortunately, it seems like it will take a very long time for true full reform.

Mr. Zuckerberg’s complaints reflect growing concerns among Silicon Valley companies that government spying is eroding the trust that users have in common Internet services. “To keep the Internet strong, we need to keep it secure,” Mr. Zuckerberg said.

The Facebook chief has criticized the federal government’s surveillance activities several times since the first Snowden documents were published last June. At a mobile industry conference in Barcelona in February, Mr. Zuckerberg said the N.S.A.’s actions were “way over the line.”

But Thursday was the first time he has mentioned discussing his concerns with the president.

In a statement on Thursday, the N.S.A. said that it does not use its technical capabilities to impersonate U.S. company websites.

“N.S.A. uses its technical capabilities only to support lawful and appropriate foreign intelligence operations, all of which must be carried out in strict accordance with its authorities,” the agency said. “Reports of indiscriminate computer exploitation operations are simply false.”

A White House spokeswoman confirmed that the president spoke with Mr. Zuckerberg on Wednesday night but declined further comment beyond the N.S.A.’s statement. (Reuters)
NEW DELHI; To tackle militant activities, the Indian Defence Ministry has asked the Department of Telecom to exclude Jammu and Kashmir from the proposed plan for full mobile number portability, which allows a customer to retain number in any part of the nation after changing operators.

Under National Telecom Policy, the government has envisaged the concept of ‘One Nation One Number’ by allowing full MNP. At present, customers are allowed to change their mobile service provider without changing their number only within a state or service area.

Under full MNP, customers will be allowed to switch service providers throughout the country without changing their mobile numbers. Full MNP is yet to be approved by the government.

The Defence Ministry, as per official sources, has told the DoT that “The ‘One Nation One Number’ provision of the Telecom Policy 2012 should not be implemented in J&K.”

The Ministry has also asked the DoT to work with the Ministry of Home Affairs and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) to intercept VoIP (making voice call using Internet) through 2G connections and selectively ban mobile Internet at locations identified as militant ‘hotspots’.

These “communication services” need to be “denied” in the affected areas for the effective conduct of counter insurgency and militant operations, official sources added.

The Ministry has also raised concern over mobile signals from towers located in Pakistan penetrating into India up to a distance of about 20 kilometres from the Line of Control.

“The matter (mobile signals from Pakistan) may be taken up with Ministry of External Affairs so that the same is resolved in accordance with policy guidelines by International Telecom Union,” official sources said.

Indian Defence Ministry had already bocked Short Messaging Service in Jammu and Kashmir since 2010 mass uprising. Beyond mobile services, Indian authorities have also banned local cable news and international Press TV in the restive region.
SRINAGAR; If you are an e -game maniac and have not got a chance to show case your hidden talent, get ready to prove yourself as an E-Gaming event under the banner of “Kashmir Cyber Games Championship” will be held starting from March 1 where the participants would have to compete with each other in computer and console based video games including Tekken -3, Tekken-5 Counter Strike and FiFa.

The members of concerned organization believe that the championship would open new doors for the gamers by participating in the championship.

The organization has not kept any age bar for the championship anyone interested in playing the games can participate.

The venue of the championship has been kept at town square mall at Gogji Bagh. Both PC and console games will be included in event,” Participation forms are available at cafe 109 town square mall and registration are open.
SRINAGAR; On Sunday, when Kashmir Valley was observing the first anniversary of Mohammad Afzal Guru’s hanging, authority of the Chief Minister (CM) Omar Abdullah was breached as mobile internet services were snapped without informing him.

The head of the state tweeted his response to this “overreaction” of the state agencies on Monday, calling for an end to the restrictions. Omar had, reportedly, tweeted: “I think the restrictions on the Internet in the valley are an overreaction. Please have them lifted. I don’t think the Internet will provoke trouble…Yes please get GPRS restored immediately & in future the decision to cut Internet services should be discussed with me.”

Despite CM’s ‘orders’, the restrictions on mobile internet were lifted only six hours after his response appeared on micro-blogging site.

The controversy over barring of the internet services is raising a bigger question about the ‘elected’ government’s authority in the state vis-à-vis law and order issues. Is the government really calling shots in the state?

Neither the CM’s office, nor the divisional administration has any idea as to who passed the orders for jamming of the internet services. CM’s political advisor Tanvir Sadiq told that the orders are passed by the divisional administration according to the demand of the situation, and that it doesn’t need to consult the CM always.

“See, it is the divisional administration that takes decisions in law and order matters according to the demand of the situation. It doesn’t require to involve the CM every time. The divisional administration may have passed directions for jamming the internet, and it is him who must answer as to why he passed the orders,” Sadiq said on Tuesday.

However, the divisional commissioner Kashmir Shailendra Kumar said that he hadn’t passed any order for jamming of the internet services. Kumar said, “If there is an order from us, please show us a copy of it.”

The Hindu newspaper, which first reported about the controversy, had quoted BSNL’s Chief General Manager RK Kaul saying that the “internet services were frozen under proper requisition from a state security agency”. Kaul did not identify the agency, though.

Chief spokesman of the ruling National Conference Mustafa Kamal calls the breach of CM’s authority an “isolated incident”.

“The CM has passed instructions that administrative officers can impose curfew as and when needed without consulting him, but jamming the internet services is a serious matter. Police has clearly breached the CM’s authority on this occasion,” he told.

The government hasn’t however called an enquiry into the matter, but Kamal is hopeful that the issue will be raised in the Assembly.

“There may be an enquiry going on into the matter as to how the directions were passed without informing the CM. The Assembly is going on, and I am sure that someone will raise the issue during the session,” he said.
NEWS DESK; Official website of the youth wing of People’s Democratic Party (www. was hacked on Friday evening by Anonymous hackers claiming themselves as the ‘Cyber Sanghbaaz Force’.

The site was defaced around 5:00 PM on  Friday evening and the hackers posted the messages like ‘not to play dirty politics with the blood of martyrs’ and ‘How can you sell your soul’.

The hackers also posted that they doesn't belong to any political party. Their motive behind the hacking was to give a call to the youth to not be the part of Indian political system.

The business community in Kashmir is all set to create a popular international market for traditional products, as a youth creates a website using the online marketing tool to promote the arts and crafts of the state

The traditional art products of Kashmir including carpets, Pashmina shawls, wood carvings and different varieties of handwork embroidery are famous all over the world, due to the unique manufacturing and finest quality.

However, due to the lack of marketing skills at an international level, these brands tend to have only a limited popularity.

A youth, Mir Shariq Mushtaq, in collaboration with the department of industries at Pampore town, has created a website to popularise the traditional products.

"It is an initiative that's about how we can promote their brands and how we can promote the brand 'Kashmir' globally, as well as how we can localise it, using the online marketing tool," he said.

Internet and online retail sites have emerged as the great leveller. India has become the third-largest Internet market, based on the total number of users, and 60 percent of these come from smaller towns.
Deputy Director in the department of industries and commerce, A H Shah, promised to subsidise the initiative.

"I have already promised him and all his colleagues that we would love to subsidise this initiative officially, because if he is able to succeed in his initiative and succeed in promoting the local brands, that Kashmir brand as he says, the expenditure to be incurred on this, we would be able to subsidise a substantial part of it," said Shah.

According to a new report by a Consulting Group, online retail in India could be a $84-billion industry by 2016 -- more than ten times its worth in 2010 -- and will account for 4.5 percent of total retail. E-commerce entrepreneurs and experts say small-town India will play a big role in the online bonanza.
Besides books, online shoppers in India buy goods such as handicrafts, jewellery, traditional cuisines such as Wazwan.

Hailing the initiative, a businesswoman, Gazala Amin, said that the new website would help to outreach millions of people and make them aware about the exquisite products of the valley.

"I think that making of websites and e-commerce is the call of the day. We have to promote because the outreach of e-commerce is tremendous. If you have a website it outreaches to millions of people within a few seconds which you cannot do, no matter how much you try by the traditional ways. So, I believe you should market traditional products non-traditionally now," she said.

Apart from offering discounted and fast service, such sites have also provided a national platform to regional merchants by selling their products online.

Tourism is considered to be the backbone of the economy of the state as 60 percent of Kashmiris are dependent on tourism.

Kashmir was once dubbed the Switzerland of the east. It was once a Mecca for climbers, skiers, honeymooners and filmmakers drawn to the state's soaring peaks, fruit orchards and timber houseboats bobbing on Dal Lake in Srinagar, the summer capital.

Planeloads of India's upwardly mobile middle classes have visited the picture postcard-perfect Kashmir Valley this summer, making it the busiest tourist season since the armed revolt began in 1989.

In wake of the decline in violence in India's Kashmir, one gets to see various development activities taking place in every sector. (ANI)
NEWS DESK: Jammu and Kashmir Police has asked Search engine giant Google to remove to remove current depictions of disputed border of the strife-torn region in five Google Maps domains, but the company did not comply.

Google revealed a sharp rise in requests from governments asking for political content to be removed from the web in its latest transparency report published last week.

From January to June 2013, the India made 163 requests to remove 174 items including those of Kashmir.

“Over the past four years, one worrying trend has remained consistent: governments continue to ask us to remove political content,” Susan Infantino, legal director, said in a blogpost.

“Judges have asked us to remove information that’s critical of them, police departments want us to take down videos or blogs that shine a light on their conduct, and local institutions like town councils don’t want people to be able to find information about their decision-making processes.”

Kashmir’s city cyber crime investigation cell asked Google to remove current depictions of disputed Jammu and Kashmir borders in five Google Maps domains other than maps.google.co.in , Hindustan Times reported.

In the US Google and its peers are fighting to be allowed to disclose how often they receive legal demands for information from the National Security Agency (NSA).

(With inputs from The Guardian)
BARAMULLA: The high definition closed circuit televisions (CCTVs) have gone defunct, three months after police installed the equipment to contain stone pelting protests in the town.

The CCTVs were installed at five vital locations, including Khanpora, Tehsil Chowk, Police Station, Khanpora Bridge, and Kantabagh near the Dak Bunglow by police in July this year.

The cameras worked properly for over a month before developing technical snags. The activities in the town were being closely monitored by the IT experts of police department at the office of Superintendent of Police (SP) before they stopped functioning.

“One of the cameras was damaged by stone pelters in Khanpora locality of the town. Four others have developed technical snag. The cameras were very helpful to police in identifying and arresting stone pelting youth,” a senior official told.

President, Traders Federation, Baramulla Qazi Ishfaq Ahmad said the cameras were helpful in streamlining the traffic besides keeping a watch on burglars who were on prowl in the town.

“We had a sense of security that our shops are under surveillance of police and that burglars will not strike. However, the cameras’ going defunct is not good news,” he added.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (headquarters) Sajad Ahmad told that the cameras have developed some technical snag and engineers will fix it soon. The cameras, he said, were installed by police to keep a close watch on the criminal activities in the town.

“The cameras will soon resume operations. The engineers will repair them soon,” he added.
KN DESK; 05, Sep 2013: Forget about the KeyLime Pie folks. The name of the next version of Android is out and its called KitKat. Yes, as in the chocolate by Nestle. Incidentally Google also turns 15 years old today. Android chief Sundar Pichai announced the name in a post on Google Plus. He also confirmed that Android has crossed over 1 billion activations. Great news. And version 4.4 will be called KitKat.

Pichai wrote,

I’m excited to share that together we’ve now passed 1 Billion Android device activations. Huge thanks to the entire Android community from the hardware manufacturers, chip makers and carriers to the developers and content creators to all of you – our Android users around the world – for making this possible. On my return from Asia, I was also thrilled to find this guy waiting to greet me on the front lawn — love the new #AndroidKitKat statue and can’t wait to release the next version of the platform that is as sweet as the candy bar that’s one of our team’s favorites:)

So there you have it. From Cupcake to Jelly Bean we now have KitKat. KitKat will be Android version 4.4 and not Android version 5. Google has also created a landing page for Kitkat which you can check out here.

So why did KeyLime Pie get the boot? More importantly did Nestle pay Google or is Google paying Nestle for using the name KitKat?

Google told the BBC there’s no money involved.  ”This is not a money-changing-hands kind of deal,” John Lagerling, director of Android global partnerships, said. Keylime Pie got the boot since the powers that be at Google realised that not too many people knew the actual taste of a Keylime pie.

Nestle has also issued a statement on this partnership with Google with Patrice Bula, Nestlé’s Head of Marketing, saying, “We’re excited to announce this partnership with Android, the world’s most popular mobile platform, which will help us to enable even more Kit Kat fans to enjoy their break. Kit Kat is one of the world’s top ten fast-moving consumer goods brands in social media in terms of fan numbers and engagement. We continue to build on its strong digital presence with interactive, creative branding campaigns.”

To mark the release of Android KitKat, more than 50 million specially branded Kit Kat bars will be available in 19 markets including India. The packs will lead consumers to the website android.com/kitkat where they will have the opportunity to win prizes including a limited number of Google Nexus 7 tablets, and credits to spend in Google Play Store. Oh and if you’re really lucky you might win an Android robot-shaped like a Kit-Kat bar. We’re guessing it will be edible.

Admittedly, Google has pulled a fast one over a lot of tech blogs and media which had seen Key Lime Pie as pretty much a confirmed name. Hopefully what Android KitKat offers will leave users and Android fans also surprised…in a good way. Let us know in the comments, if you like the sound of Android KitKat or do you think it will be a branding disaster.
LONDON; 29, Aug 2013: Facebook has pledged to publish regular reports detailing government requests for user data, as it reveals that UK authorities asked for information on 2,337 users in the first half of 2013.

Its first ‘global government requests report’ published on Tuesday includes requests from the police and child protection agencies, as well as national security bodies. It claims that 38,000 requests were made globally.

The report shows that Facebook complied with 68 per cent of the 1,975 UK government requests, the majority of which typically involve identifying contact details and locations of suspects in criminal cases, missing persons, as well as information related to terrorism under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, the Guardian understands.

Requests do not involve handing over log-in details to the police, and Facebook has not received any financial compensation for its compliance work in the UK, though it is legally entitled to payment. The company rejects requests which do not comply with local law, international standards or Facebook’s terms.

In the US, Facebook is able to indicate how many requests are criminal and how many related to national security, while in the UK requests are not broken down.

Facebook, along with Google and other web companies, is trying to push the focus of controversy over the NSA’s gathering of consumer data back onto the US government. The company, which is a publicly traded company with a market capitalisation of $100 billion (Dh367 billion), has said it intends to regularly publish a transparency report including take-down requests.

“Transparency and trust are core values at Facebook. We strive to embody them in all aspects of our services, including our approach to responding to government data requests,” Colin Stretch, Facebook general counsel, said in a blog post.

“We want to make sure that the people who use our service understand the nature and extent of the requests we receive and the strict policies and processes we have in place to handle them.”

Facebook has a dedicated European law enforcement team based at its offices in Dublin, it said the size of the team depended on the workload and it uses outside counsel.

The US accounted for more than half the global requests, which demanded information on up to 21,000 users. Indian authorities requested information on 4,144 individuals, Germany 2,068 and Italy 2,306. Requests were refused in several countries including Bangladesh, Egypt, South Africa, Russia and Qatar.

“We have stringent processes in place to handle all government data requests,” said Stretch.

“We believe this process protects the data of the people who use our service, and requires governments to meet a very high legal bar with each individual request in order to receive any information about any of our users. We scrutinise each request for legal sufficiency under our terms and the strict letter of the law, and require a detailed description of the legal and factual bases for each request.

“We fight many of these requests, pushing back when we find legal deficiencies and narrowing the scope of overly broad or vague requests. When we are required to comply with a particular request, we frequently share only basic user information, such as name.”

Did you know that the National Security Agency in the US has paid millions of dollars to internet companies to cover the cost of providing consumer data?

Courtesy: Guardian
KN DESK; 25, Aug 2013: Once again the official website of Government Medical College Srinagar came under attack by the hackers. It was the 5th time when the site was Hacked. But the authorities are sleeping and no action is being initiated against this nor any measures are being taken to strengthen the security of the site.

The Unknown Hacker using his name as Dr. Virus claiming to belong from the Hacking group 'Kashmir Anonymous' posted the message on the site as, “ This time you got hacked by Kashmiri Haxor last time some Noobs Hacked your site.”

A security researcher of Kashmir, Yasir Altaf Zargar who was listed for Apple, Adobe, Barracuda and other site hall of fame, reported several times to the officials but they paid no attention towards him. According to Yasir, “The site has no security and can be hacked easily causing loss of data repeatedly.”

He earlier approached to the GMC authorities for the maintenance of site so that the valuable data can be prevented, however authorities yet to take decision on his appeal.

MUMBAI; 17,Aug 2013:  MTNL's website for Mumbai has been attacked by a suspected Pakistani hacker operating from Australia.

While MTNL on Friday claimed that its website has been restored, some users complained that they were unable to access it.

"Hacked homepage if in cache of that customer, should be refreshed, otherwise it will continue to show old page," MTNL spokesperson in Delhi today said.

The website showed the message: "MrCreepy Was Here. Napsters CrEw. Happy Independence Day Pakistan. http://Facebook.Com/m3creepy. Greets: SEEKER, Dr.FREAK, MKHAN SWATI, And All Pakistani Hackers ".

However, the corporate website of the telecom services provider, which has over 80 lakh customers, and its portal for Delhi customers were not affected.

In a post on social networking website Facebook, the hacker 'MrCreepy' also claimed to have attacked the websites of Pune Traffic Police and janwani.Org (a voluntary group).

Another post, dated August 14, stated "Lol Just rooted MTNL Server-feeling excited".

However, the websites of Pune Traffic Police and janwani.Org were found to be working normally.

In June last year, MTNL's corporate website was disrupted by hacker group "Anonymous" to protest against "censorship" of the Internet. However, city-specific websites (for Delhi and Mumbai) were not attacked then. 
SRINAGAR; 15, Aug 2013: Internet services were restored today evening in Kashmir after remaining suspended for 5 days.

Net Services were snapped on mobile phones and dongle appliances on 10th of August, a day after communal violence broke out in Kishtwar.

Authroities termed the move as a precautionary measure to prevent spreading of rumors.

It was the 4th time in this year, when Internet services were snapped.

A blanket ban has also been imposed on SMS services in June 2010, when the "Quit India Movement" was launched by Muslim League Chairman Masrat Aalam Bhat.
KASHMIR; 15, Aug 2013: On the eve of India's Independence day, mobile phone services were snapped across Kashmir valley today.

Like in past, this year Indian authorities once again suspended the mobile phone services early morning, however reports are coming from a few places, that Bharti Airtel is working. The landline phones of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) also remained unaffected.

Internet services also remained suspended in valley since 10th of August. A ban on SMS had also been imposed in June 2010.

The Service was restored in afternoon.
SRINAGAR; 14, Aug 2013: Internet services for mobile and dongle users remained suspended for the fourth day today across Jammu and Kashmir affecting media, students and other professionals.

The internet services were snapped in the valley, a day after the communal violence broke out in Kishtwar on 9th August.

According to some unofficial reports, the services would continue to remain suspended till August 16.

President DAK Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan Wednesday castigated government for blocking internet services. “We are pushed to Ape Age and we feel we are back to medieval times,” he said.

Doctors Association Kashmir said that a doctor without internet access in modern age is like a “boat without an oar”. “Medicine is changing fast, every day, every minute and doctor has to be updated for efficient and quality patient care which is a fundamental right of every person.

It is the 4th time when the Internet services were snapped in valley, but this period is going longer than other ones.
CHANDIGARH; 13, Aug 2013: Bharti Airtel has tied up with Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to offer railway bookings through airtel Money in Upper North comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Occupied Jammu & Kashmir.

"Our integration with IRCTC for reserved ticketing is a step to empower our customers specifically beyond the urban footprint with the convenience of booking tickets without the need of holding a bank account or an Internet connection," Airtel CEO-Upper North Sarang Kanade said in a release here.

IRCTC mobile bookings through airtel Money service works across all mobile devices, does not involve any data or SMS charges. It uses a simple USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) technology that prompts users with interactive and guided menu options towards booking tickets, he said.

Through this service, customers can not only make ticket bookings but also search for stations, trains, availability, PNR enquiry, cancellation etc, he added.

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