NEW DELHI: Detection of fake driving licences and tracking stolen vehicles will now become easier with the road transport ministry giving finishing touches to its ‘transport project’ under which a national registry of all driving licences and vehicles registered in the country will be established.

This registry will be accessible to all states and road transport offices (RTOs) across the country for quick verification, in the next six months.

With this, holding forged or multiple driving licences of different states, which had earlier helped drivers booked for violating traffic norms — sometimes, even involved in fatal accidents — to evade prosecution and resume work in another state a thing of the past. Sources in the ministry said that the process of establishing the online national register and migration of the states’ database to the central pool would be completed in the next six months. An official document claims that already 100% computerization of the data and connectivity has been achieved in 23 states. Out of the 990 RTOs, 919 have already been completely computerised.

“Though the facilities are already there in place in case of individual states, but the question is whether these are accessible to others. Once the national registry becomes operational, it will put an end to several deficiencies in the system,” said a ministry official.

He added that with the information available online, the RTOs can verify the facts about persons applying for driving licences. “It has been observed that that many people having commercial driving licences have more than one driving licence. So, when they are caught for offences or are booked they simply shift their base and start driving vehicles with the other licences they already have, in another state. The national registry will put an end to this. This will also help an employer hire new drivers after verifying their credentials,” said S P Singh, a senior fellow with the Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT).

The entire IT-based system will also leave no scope for officials to commit any error. Sources said that once the head count is there, getting a driving licence will be difficult.

Under this system, the information captured at the RTO level will entirely go to state consolidation registry (SCR). Selected data from the SCR will be replicated to the state register, which will work as a repository at the state level providing information to the transport department, RTOs, automobile dealers and police department.

Finally, the data from state register will flow to the national register. The national register will provide information to the department of road transport and highways, RTOs, inter-state check posts and the police for quick verification of documents and information.

Many working people often shift their houses. For them, it is difficult to produce an address proof issued by Government with latest address.

Our India Post (Post Office) has come up with a solution. Now you can get an address proof along with your photo from India post. Since the ID proof is issued by India Post which is a Central Government organization, it is similar to other ID cards like Driving License, Voters ID etc. It can be used for opening bank accounts, for getting telephone and gas connections etc.

The total cost for getting this ID card is Rs.250/ (Rs.10 for application and Rs.240/- processing fee). For more details enquire at your nearest post office.

Do inform everybody. This is very useful.

Please find attached form in pdf format : Address Proof Card – Application Form

A security expert has identified flaws in the design of some automated teller machines that make them vulnerable to hackers, who could make the ubiquitous cash dispensers spit out their cash holdings.

Barnaby Jack, head of research at Seattle-based, security firm IOActive Labs, will demonstrate methods for “jackpotting” ATMs at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas that starts on July 28.

“ATMs are not as secure as we would like them to be,” Jeff Moss, founder of the Black Hat conference and a member of President Obama’s Homeland Security Advisory Council said. “Barnaby has a number of different attacks that make all the money come out.”

Jack declined to discuss his techniques before the conference. The world’s biggest ATM manufacturers include Diebold Inc and NCR Corp. Officials with those companies could not be reached for comment.

Banks may cringe when he speaks, fearing would-be crooks will adopt his methods. But Moss said that going public will raise awareness of the problem among ATM operators and prompt them to tighten security.

One potential route of attack is via communications ports that are sometimes accessible from outside an ATM, Moss said.

“You want everybody to know there are possible ways to jackpot these machines, so they will go and get their machines updated,” he said.

Joe Grand, a hardware security expert, said he was not surprised to learn of Jack’s research.

“People are starting to realize that hardware products do have security vulnerabilities. Parking meters, ATMs, everything that has electronics in it can be broken,” Grand said.

“A lot of times a hardware product is just a computer in a different shell.”

The next time you visit your bank branch for a teller transaction, don’t be surprised if you are charged for the same. From pass book updation to depositing cash in your current account or doing more than five transactions during a month, banks now charge for such transactions.

Such charges become more evident if one person banks at a non-home branch (the home branch is where the customer has opened his or her account) of the same bank. For instance, SBI charges Rs 10 for updating passbook if one goes to a non-home branch. “We would like customers to maintain close relationship with their parent branch. Lot of our branches across the country have non-home transactions and this is more evident in those areas where there is a huge migrant workforce. We want to correct this anomaly, ” say senior SBI officials.

Some banks also charge current account customers who deposit cash whether in home or non-home branches of the bank. Bankers say this is necessary because current account is a business account and such deposits entail a holding cost for the bank as cash involves counting and storage. “We charge a nominal sum for those current holders who deposit in excess of Rs one lakh in the non-home branch because KYC (know your customer) issues come into play,” says TM Bhasin, CMD, Indian Bank.

From July 1, HDFC Bank will allow SB account holders only five transactions within the branch in a month. The sixth and subsequent ones would be charged Rs 100 per transaction. Besides, the bank has also set a limit of only 100 transactions at the branch level in a year. “Salary account holders occupy our time. If they still wish to transact without levies let them switch over to holding a current account,” an HDFC Bank employee said.

With such charges coming into play, the purpose of anytime, anywhere banking and banking for all surely stands defeated.

Traditionally filing of Income Tax Return is seen as a complicated and tiresome task, and therefore, most people keep putting it off till the last possible moment.

But in the recent years, thanks to the initiatives taken by the government in simplifying the rules and the filing process, the task has become less daunting. With increasing prosperity and higher income levels, larger numbers of people have become eligible for filing Income Tax Returns.

Click here to visit the Indian Goverment website for a guide to filing Income Tax returns.

To register with the National Portal of India, click here.

For a better India

Did you know that there is a system in our constitution, as per the 1969 Act, in section ” 49-O” that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey the presiding election officer that he/she doesn’t want to vote anyone! Yes such a feature is available, but obviously past + present leaders have never disclosed it.

This is called “49-O“.

Why should You go and say “I VOTE NOBODY“. Because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received”49-O” votes more than 123, then that polling will be canceled and will have to be re-polled. Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people had already expressed their decision on them.

This would bring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way of our whole political system. It is seemingly surprising why the election commission has not revealed such a feature to the public.

Please spread this news to as many as You know.

Seems to be a wonderful weapon against corrupt parties in India. Showing your power and expressing your desire not to vote for anybody, is even more powerful than voting. So don’t miss your chance. So either vote, or vote not to vote (vote 49-O).

Use your voting right for a better INDIA.

Share this with as many as you can.