Mobile VAS

Dial A (Android) for Activist Anna Hazare to know his Activities

August 27, 2011

Telecom is being used widely among all strata of industry, while the mobile phone has become a tool in the hands of the common man, for use in just about everything. Social networking via mobile has become the most popular form of expressing mass sentiments, with popular social networking giants like Twitter and Facebook, being touted as the -voice of the people’, and a forum to spread awareness, unite people and force leaders to take action.

Thus, after the Blackberry Messenger or BBM as it is commonly referred to, became a tool to spread social activism and mass discontent in the recent London riots, India has since the last week been witnessing yet another tide of political waves, egged on by none other than an Android app.

In the ongoing clash between social activist Anna Hazare and the Congress government over non-enforcement of the Jan Lokpal Bill an Android app called Anna Hazare AntiCorruption India” has been launched.

A free mobile app for the Android platform, it offers latest updates and historical information about Anna Hazare and his efforts. The app also aims to review corruption around India, voicing popular opinion on the same. The app can work on low-internet usage, and regular updates about the progress of the Anti Corruption civil society Bill and Anna Hazare are also provided.

Mobile operators, known to cash in on festivals, as well as the latest trends in the market are fueling the Anna fire – which has been burning since the past two weeks, with no signs of dying down, by asking their subscribers to ‘Vote for Anna’ to a special number, at a steep cost of Rs 3 per SMS – which is almost three times the cost of a regular SMS. However, there is also a numbers on which one can give missed calls, in favour of Anna Hazare. Social networking site Facebook, is also abuzz with campaigns of -Vote for Anna Hazare’ and his fan page has over 40,000 followers from all over the world.

Besides this, -Anna fever’ has also prompted a surge in profits to mobile operators, with common people and corporate sending bulk SMSes, or making numerous voice calls to join the Anna Hazare protests across the country. 3G is also being used for live streaming of the protests by people in India and abroad, who are tuning in, so as to catch every bit of the action.

In India, mobile phones have also been used by terrorists in the past to trigger the multiple blasts that have rocked the country in recent times, pushing the government to go harder on mobile operators to provide encryption software, call and SMS records of subscribers and lately, permission to monitor subscriber feeds on popular social networking websites, like Twitter, Facebook, Orkut and LinkedIn.

By Beryl M

[email protected]