Do not disturb

Nobody likes to be disturbed unnecessarily. Although we Mizos are probably much more patient and polite than others, maybe because we ourselves are so social!

What brought this post about is the advertisement I saw today on 'Vanglaini', October 10-11, 2010, Vol XXV, No 235.

While the rest of India has been grappling with the issue of Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC) for the last few years, Mizoram continues to be quite oblivious to our rights. Most of the major mobile services in India are available in Mizoram- Airtel, Aircel, Reliance, Vodafone, BSNL, Tata indicom to name a few. Correct me if I'm wrong, but none of them have a helpline where you can talk directly, toll-free, to a personnel who can help you with your problems and queries.

I use Airtel prepaid services, and I hardly get telemarketing calls on my mobile. Their *121# menu is quite useful. I have registered with  'Do not disturb' registry, and although they occasionally start weird services like 'Good morning sms', 'Cricket updates' etc, I can stop these services through the '121' menu.

On the other hand, Aircel has zillions of numbers where robotic, peppy people on prozac talk to you  in Hindi and English, and they will call you up anytime of day or night. H has a whole 'vai group' of contacts, vai1 to vai22, vaichhia, vainu, etc who share a subtle ringtone so he doesn't have to pick up the calls. But they come up with new numbers all the time. Most Aircel users I know have the same problem and nobody knows how to stop these maniacal callers.

And let's not even start on BSNL.

And now comes this blatant advertisement on our daily newspaper. I am thinking of calling the numbers on the advertisement and warning them of dire consequences if I get even one unsolicited call.


You can check out the present TRAI guidelines on UCCs at http://ndncregistry.gov.in/ndncregistry/index.jsp.
Some salient points:
-Sms 'START DND' to 1909 to register.
- It takes a whooping 45 days to be registered.
-You can check your DND  status by entering your mobile number at the 'DND registration check'  on the same site. Mine is :)
-Rs 500/- is payable by the telemarketer to the service provider (not the customer, bleh) for every first UCC.
-Rs 1000/- is payable for every subsequent UCC.
-The telemarketer's phone number may be disconnected if UCC is sent even after levy of Rs 500 and Rs 1000.
-If the service provider does not comply with TRAI regulations, they may pay upto Rs 5000 for the first, and upto Rs 20,000 for subsequent non-compliance, to TRAI I suppose, not the poor customer.

So there you have it. I am hoping my registration with DND will stop the hopeful advertiser from giving away my number. But this is Mizoram, and anything can happen in Mizoram, especially in ways of flaunting laws. We do need more awareness of our rights, and we need to be more vocal, more staunch, so that vais or fellow-Mizos alike stop abusing our rights.