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Centre pulls up edtech firms for mis-selling courses to parents, IEC responds

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After the Centre took serious note of mis-selling of courses to parents by edtech firms including BYJU’s and its group companies, self-regulatory organisation India Edtech Consortium (IEC) on Saturday said it is committed to protecting consumer interest and has resolved 100 per cent complaints received till June.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs pulled up edtech firms during a meeting with them and IEC, according to sources, and aggressive misselling of courses to parents was the key concern.

The IEC, which comes under the aegis of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and has created a two-tier grievance redressal mechanism, said that it has resolved all complaints received until June 2022 complaints received in July were going through active screening for faster resolutions.

“The edtech sector is extremely dynamic in nature and therefore, to address the rising challenges, what IEC is proactively doing will certainly propel a stronger ecosystem in the coming times,” said retd SC judge and chairperson of Independent Grievance Redressal Board (IGRB), Dr B.S. Chauhan.

The IEC also said that each member company has appointed a dedicated grievance officer internally to address and assess the problem and offer remedial action accordingly.

The IEC-member companies are also registering at the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) for streamlining the resolution process, it added.

“Edtech as a strong community has been far more responsible and prompt than our traditional counterpart in managing consumer complaints and grievances,” said Mayank Kumar, UpGrad Co-founder and MD and Chair at IEC.

The recent reports have said that as per the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) data, 33 per cent of complaints are filed against the education sector.

However, the official statement by ASCI also states that 6 per cent of the total complaints received are against the edtech companies while the remaining 94 per cent are filed against the traditional education system, according to the IEC.

Earlier this month, the Centre warned edtech companies against unfair trade practices.

In a meeting with the IEC, Consumer Affairs Secretary, Rohit Kumar Singh, said that if self-regulation does not curb unfair trade practices, then stringent guidelines would be formulated for ensuring transparency.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the IAMAI, along with IEC member companies including upGrad, BYJU’S, Unacademy, Vedantu, Great Learning, WhiteHat Jr, and Sunstone.

The IEC comprises edtech startups and represents 95 per cent of the Indian learner community.

During the meeting, issues pertaining to unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements for the Indian edtech sector figured prominently.

National News

Important news for Jio Airtel, Vi and BSNL users, rules changing from November 1

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Important news for Jio Airtel, Vi and BSNL users, rules changing from November 1

Technology Desk, New Delhi: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is continuously working to curb spam and fake calls. A few days ago, new telecom rules were implemented, which were brought by the government body with the aim of curbing fake and spam calls. New rules are being implemented again from November 1. After which there will be more strictness on such calls.

TRAI has asked all telecom companies to implement message traceability. However, telecom companies have objected to this and said that doing so will affect their work.

New rules will be implemented

New telecom rules are being implemented from November 1. According to which it will be mandatory for all telecom companies to implement message traceability. By doing this, it will be easy to trace fake and spam callers. TRAI clearly said that the traceability of transactional and service messages sent by banks, e-commerce platforms and other financial institutions should be implemented compulsorily. So that the spam calls coming to the customers can be curbed.

What is message traceability?

Message traceability is a method with the help of which it is easy to trace fake and fake callers and they are blocked even before the call comes. After this, the call will become more secure than before and they can be monitored better. There are many other things that will be corrected after the message traceability rules are implemented.

Jio-Airtel and Vi’s tension increased
TRAI has made it clear that new telecom rules are coming into effect from November 1, but all the major telecom companies have expressed concern over this. They said that the implementation of message traceability will make their work difficult and many things will be affected by it.

According to a report, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has sought some time from TRAI to implement the new rules. Telecom companies said, “Instead of implementing these rules in a hurry, we want them to be implemented step by step.” Behind doing this, telecom companies say that many telemarketers and many major institutions are not ready to follow the new rule.

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Tech

Huawei launches world’s first smartphone with triple foldable display, here’s how much it costs

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Companies have been teasing its tri-fold smartphone design for a while now. However, Huawei has managed to beat everyone to the race by launching the world’s first foldable smartphone with triple foldable display. Dubbed Mate XT, the smartphone features a 10.2-inch display that can fold three times to fit in a regular phone-like form factor.

How much the phone costs

Huawei has launched the phone in China at 19999 yuan or $2800 which roughly translates to Rs 2,35,000. The phone comes in two other configurations – 16GB + 512GB and 16GB + 1TB that are priced at 21999 yuan and 23999 yuan respectively.

The phone has launched only in China and will start shipping starting September 20.

Huawei Mate XT: Features

The Huawei Mate XT features a 10.3-inch foldable OLED display, providing a large screen area when fully unfolded. It is powered by a 5600mAh battery with support for 66-watt fast charging.

The smartphone comes with a triple-camera setup, including a 50-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide lens, and a 12-megapixel periscope lens, offering 5.5x optical zoom.

The triple-foldable design allows the device to fold into a Z-shape using two hinges, creating three distinct display areas. Users can partially unfold the screen.

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National News

Passport Seva Portal To Be Shut From Today: Technical Maintenance Work From August 29-September 2, All Appointments Rescheduled

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Individuals gearing up to travel and perhaps even relocate will have to wait for some days, as the Passport Seva Portal, India’s official website processing passport-related exercises, will be down from August 29 to September 2.

According to the website, the portal, “Passport Seva portal will be down for technical maintenance from 29th August 2024, Thursday 20:00 hrs IST to 2nd September, Monday 06:00 hrs IST.”

The pop notification on the government website said, “System will not be available during this period for citizens and for all MEA/RPO/BOI/ISP/DoP/Police Authorities. The already booked appointments for 30th August 2024 will be suitably rescheduled and informed to applicants.”

This therefore would mean that all the existing appointments will in all probability be rescheduled.

The Passport Seva Portal X account posted the notifications on August 25. It also reposted posts from Regional Passport Offices.

According to the External Affairs Ministry, “The External Affairs Ministry said this is a routine procedure. “For rescheduling of appointments, we always have contingency plans. The maintenance activity for a public centric service (like Passport Seva Kendras) is always planned in advance so that no inconvenience is meted out to public. So rescheduling an appointment will not be a challenge,” a source from the ministry has said.”

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