How to Open Online Term Deposit Account in SBI

If you are having an account in State bank of India (SBI) and also having basic Computer knowledge and Internet browsing skills then here is the procedure on how to open Term Deposit account online.

SBI is providing Online banking facility to all its customers free of cost. There are many advantages of having online banking account. The most important one is you don’t have to visit your branch and stand in the long queues waiting for your turn. So having online account will save a lot of time. There are many more features like transferring amount form one account to another, online ticket booking, online shopping etc. Just visit your branch to get registered for online banking services.

One nice feature provided by SBI is giving the freedom to the user to open online Term Deposit account free of cost. Online term deposit is known as e-TDR/e-STDR. The difference between e-TDR and e-STDR is, In e-STDR the interest will be paid on maturity and also the minumum tenure is 180 days and the maximum tenure is 10 years. In e-TDR the interest will be paid at regular intervals based on customer choice. The minimum tenure for e-TDR is 7 days and max tenure is 10 years. For both e-TDR and e-STDR the minumum amount for deposit is Rs.1000/-

Now here is the procedure for opening online e-TDR/e-STDR account.

    Login with your user name and password. Go to Requests tab.
    Before directly opening online e-TDR/e-STDR, just enquire about the maturity value by clicking on Enquiry tab for knowing the exact interest for a particular amount with out opening e-TDR/e-STDR account.
    You are in Requests tab, and click on open e-TDR/e-STDR online.
    Follow the wizard. After opening the account download the pdf which serves as your online receipt.

That’s it.

After the maturity the interest will be credited back to the funding account. You can cancel your e-TDR/e-STDR account and the amount will be get credited back to your SBI account.

If you want to know SBI Fixed Deposit interest rates then visit SBI Interest Rates on FD.

Imagine if you don’t have online account you have to visit your nearest branch two times. First time to open your account and second time on the maturity date to collect your money. Having online account will save a lot of time. Hope you will use this feature.

source : nareshbharat

New Website for Railway Online Ticket Booking

Railway Department is proposed to start a brand new website for online ticket booking. The new website is likely to be in operation with in a moth. Operational / maintenance responsibilities of the proposed new site have been taken up by SBI. Presently, IRCTC (www.irctc.co.in) is the sole seller of online tickets for Indian Railways. The proposed new portal will charge only half of the service charge that is being charged by IRCTC for online booking. Following are the service charges for the online booking through new website:

1. Reservation Charge for Sleeper Class Seat: Rs. 5
2. Reservation Charge fo AC Class Seat: Rs. 10

Railway department is also planning to integrate all its 35 websites to the new portal. IRCTC has earned Rs. 722 crores income for the last financial year. The Railway Department is gradually taking over the management of online services from IRCTC.

source :  helloap

SMS Services of Indian Railways- PNR Status, Seat Availability, Train Schedule

Before going into the details of various SMS services offered by Indian Railways, you must know about the latest M-Ticket facility for booking reservation tickets through SMS from your mobile phone. This could be a innovative decision and most comfortable service from Indian Railways as there is no need of print outs and ID proofs! There are plenty of other SMS services you can avail from Indian Railways. You need to go to the nearest Railway Counter for every thing. You can get most of the essential services and information to your mobile phone by just sending a SMS. You can get all these from http://www.indianrail.gov.in/railway_SMS.html . Following is the list of Mobile Operators for various regions. This is initial classification and can be altered later on. Customers who are already using www.irctc.co.in can use their existing user id and password to log in to the site and transact through your mobile phones. First time users can use the registration facility offered by the mobile operator or you can visit www.irctc.co.in and avail normal registration form from the site.

The Customer also need to choose ‘mobile booking’ option in the profile / registration page to avail all types of Mobile Booking facilities including SMS railway ticket booking. The user needs to submit details like mobile number, mobile operator, and preferred Bank for payment option. The Bank will be charging Rs 10 for this service for each booking. If you are using ICICI Bank, you will need to be registered to the ‘Mobile Shopping Service’ provided by ICICI Bank and should enter the ‘mShop Name’ through SMS. You can also get more details from IRCTC web page on SMS Ticket Booking.

Other SMS Services of Indian Railways: Indian Railway is already implementing SMS services for transactions such as checking your Railway ticket status (PNR Status) using SMS messages. You can also just send an SMS from your cell phone to 57886 to get any information on Railways. Important Railway inquiries like Train Alert, Train Status, Seat Availability, PNR Status, Train Information, Train Time Table, Train Schedule, Train Fare etc that are offered on the website www.indianrail.gov.in are available through your mobile phone through SMS facility also. Following are some important SMS services of Indian Railways:

1) Train Help Command: Sms HELP TRN to 54959
2) PNR Status: Sms PNR <10-digit PNR No.> to 54959
3) Ticket Availability: Sms TRNAV to 54959
4) Trains Between Two Stations : Sms TRNBT to 54959
5) Train Schedule (send the first few characters of the train name): Sms TRNSH to 54959
6) Train Schedule (by Train No.): Sms TRNSH to 54959
7) Access via WAP (Mobile Browser): Sms TRNLINK to 54959

For more information on the mobile service providers and the key words to be used on the mobile, please visit http://www.indianrail.gov.in/sms_Service.html

source :  helloap

M Ticket- Book Railway E-Ticket Through SMS- Indian Rail SMS Reservation Procedure

Railway passengers can book / reserve their e-tickets from their cell phones instead of normal internet booking and taking print-outs. Named as ‘m-ticket’, the mobile phone supported ticket booking system, this facilitates Indian Railway passengers to book train ticket through mobile phones. They just need to carry the display ticket sent to their cell phones through an SMS. Passengers just need to show the SMS and need not carry any print out. You need to download the download the mobile ticketing application from Indian Railway new web portal www.indianrailways.gov.in OR www.indianrail.gov.in and should install it on the cell phone. The customers who are already utilizing the facility of booking e-tickets on mobile phones can avail this facility also by downloading the mobile ticketing application on to their cell phones from the Indian Railway Portal, using the URL sent in the SMS.

After completion of m-ticket booking and related payment formalities, an SMS containing the m-ticket details will be sent to the user / passenger. This message is referred to as Mobile Reservation Message (MRM). The cost of MRM from Indian Railways web portal shall be borne by Indian Railways. This facility of booking e-tickets through SMS from Indian Railways Web Portal will be available from 12.30 AM to 11.30 PM daily. Apart from the latest m-ticket facility, Indian Railways is also offering number of other SMS services like PNR status, Trains Schedule, Time Table, Train Running Status etc for the convenience of passengers.

So, Indian Railway introduced the most simplest way for train ticket reservation, m-ticket. You can just reserve your Indian Railway journey ticket using SMS messages from your mobile phone. The Railway Department has taken this decision considering the wide spread use of mobile / cell phones in India. Now you can book your Railway Reservation Ticket through sending an SMS from your cell phone. All the SMS Services of Indian Railways are supported by leading mobile operators / network providers such as Airtel, BSNL, Vodafone, Idea, Reliance, Aircel, Tata Indicom etc. Indian Railways is going to use modern technology such as GPRS, CDMA and speech recognition on various mobile operators.

Procedure to book m-tickets through SMS: Following is the step by step procedure for M-Ticket Booking through SMS:

1. You need to be registered with the website www.indianrailways.gov.in OR www.irctc.co.in OR www.indianrail.gov.in and should have opted for mobile reservation services.
2. You should create minimum one Passenger List in your profile registered with IRCTC. This list will be used for the booking process through SMS.
3. The customer / passenger should have Mobile Banking services of ICICI Bank or any other banks recommended by the Railway Dept.
4. The customer should have a mobile connection with any one of the recognized / identified operators listed above
5. The complete process of ‘Book Ticket’ can be finished through two SMS messages, using IRCTC’s short code – 7245.

Before proceeding with all these, you need to download m-ticket application from the website or offered by your mobile service provider and you should follow the installation procedure.



source :  helloap

SBI FreedoM Mobile Banking Application, Registration Procedure and SMS Banking

State Bank of India has introduced Mobile Banking and SMS banking facility for the convenience of its customers to transact from any place. All that you need is a mobile phone with / without GPRS and you must be in a place where mobile network is available. Even you are away from home and your bank, balance inquiries and funds transfers can be made and you can also pay your bills anytime. State Bank FreedoM is also offering various other services through its Mobile Banking offers:
SBI is offering Mobile Banking Service over Application / Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). This is available on java enabled mobile phones (with or without GPRS). Customers have to download the SBI FreedoM application on to the mobile handset from SBI website link at http://mobile.prepaidsbi.com/sbidownloader/downloadapp.jsp. Following are the services available through SBI FreedoM Mobile Banking:
1. Funds transfer (within the bank and outside the bank branches)
2. Request for Cheque book
3. Bill Payment (Utility bills, credit cards, Insurance premium), Donations, Subscriptions etc.
4. Enquiry services (Balance Enquiry / Mini statement)
5. Mobile Top up (Recharge)
6. Interbank Mobile Payment Services (IMPS)
7. Demat Enquiry Service
8. M Commerce (Top up of Tatasky, BigTV, SunDirect, DishTV connections and receive recharge pins for DigitalTV / Videocon d2h, SBI life insurance premiums
Eligibility to avail Mobile Banking: All the Current/ Savings Bank Account holders in P segment are eligible to use mobile banking services. Transaction limit per each customer per day is Rs.50,000/- with a calendar month limit of Rs.2,50,000/- . Users of all the telecom service providers can avail this facility. The Service from SBI is free of charge. But the user / customer has to borne SMS / GPRS cost.
SBI is also offering various Mobile Banking Services through SMS. The SMS Banking is available on all the phones with any network provider. You can avail this facility on a handset with java / non java platform with / without GPRS connection. Customers need not download any application to avail SMS services. Customers have to borne ordinary SMS charges as applicable. You can do following transactions through SMS Banking services:
1. DTH Top up / recharge
2. Balance Enquiry / Mini Statement
3. IMPS- Mobile to Mobile Transfer
4. Mobile Top up
5. Change MPIN
Step by step registration process for Mobile Banking and SMS codes to be used for various services are available at http://www.statebankofindia.com/user.htm?action=viewsection&lang=0&id=0,1,21,691 .

source : helloap

Insurance for Ayyappa devotees by Oriental Company

Here is a good news for Ayyappa devotees traveling all the way to Sabarimala from nook and corner of the stateof Andhra Pradesh. The Oriental Insurance Company Limited has announced insurance coverage for Ayyappa devotees. The scheme will cover their journey to Sabarimala by all means such as rail, bus, van, car or others forms of transport against personal risks. The scheme has been launched by the Insurance Company on the request of Chaitanya Ayyappa Bhaktha Samajam.
The insurance cover applies only from the date of commencement of the journey to Sabarimala and will be in force till the pilgrims return to the place of origin of journey or 30 days, which ever is earlier. The scheme is very much useful for those visiting during the rush months of December and January every year. Pilgrims can avail the insurance coverage by paying a premium of Rs 15 per devotee. This should be paid in the way of demand draft or cash by a single person or collectively by a group.
The Oriental Insurance Company has announced that Rs. 1 lakh will be given as insurance in the event of death of pilgrim. In the event of amputation of two legs or hands or loss of vision (both eyes) due accident in the journey, the insurance company will pay Rs 1 lakh. For more information on this scheme contact at phone numbers: 24041676 or 98499 86676.

source : helloap

Passport Seva Kendras – Online Application Procedure

Here is a big respite for passport aspirants. You may not see the unending ques at the Secunderabad Pass Port Office thanks to the new Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) started by the Govt of Andhra Pradesh in various locations of Hyderbaad (Andhra Pradesh). The new Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) has already started functioning at Begumpet and has received by public as a big relief to passport seekers. There is no crowding, no queues and everything seems to be a hassle free transaction. It may be a real surprise for the people who used to see the situation at Secunderabad passport office. This is a good initiative after sanctioning more new passport issue centers in Andhra Pradesh in Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Vizag.
On the first day on Monday (28th November 2011), about 400 persons turned at the Passport Seva Kendra. This number of includes many fresh applicants along with those trying to make corrections and changes in existing passports. The Government is gearing up to start two other PSKs at Ameerpet and Tolichowki in a few days. The concerned staff is being trained before opening the PSK. There are some complaints on the difficulties in login to the website for online application. Applicants have to login to new website passportindia.gov.in instead of old website at passport.gov.in .

Procedure to be followed top get passports:
1) Log on to the new website www.passportindia.gov.in
2) Should create a user ID and password
3) Download e-form (application) and dill it
4) must note the 10 digit ARN Number
5) Then you should click on the ‘appointment’ link
6) Choose the date, time and book the appointment
7) You must arrive at Passport Seva Kendra 30 minutes prior to the appointment
8) You should bring all the original documents and xerox copies of certificates.
9) If you have any problems in applying online, please contact Toll free no: 1800 258 1800.

source : helloap

SMS services of Indian Railways:

1) Train Help Command: Sms HELP TRN to 54959
2) PNR Status: Sms PNR <10-digit PNR No.> to 54959
3) Ticket Availability: Sms TRNAV to 54959
4) Trains Between Two Stations : Sms TRNBT to 54959
5) Train Schedule (send the first few characters of the train name): Sms TRNSH to 54959
6) Train Schedule (by Train No.): Sms TRNSH to 54959
7) Access via WAP (Mobile Browser): Sms TRNLINK to 54959

Indian Railways to roll out new e-ticketing service

Indian Railways is all set to roll out its own e-ticketing service, which will have no room for travel agents and will be reserved for individual users.

"Unlike the e-ticketing service of IRCTC, the new service by Indian Railway will have no role of travel agents and commercial organisations. Only individual users will be allowed to book on the portal," said a Railway official.

Travel agents in the IRCTC service have been accused of blocking tickets to sell them at a premium.

Public resentment has also led the railways to bar travel agents from booking tatkal tickets during peak hours on the IRCTC portal.

Under the new railway e-ticketing service, individual customers would need to register themselves for the first time for availing the services. The registration will be free of charge.

A maximum of eight transaction per user ID per month will be allowed in the beginning, the official said, adding, the service charges levied will be Rs five per ticket for sleeper class and Rs 10 per ticket for all other classes.

IRCTS charges Rs 10 per ticket for sleeper class and Rs 20 per ticket for all other classes.

The new service will be available on its web portal www.indianrailways.gov.in.

Its launch will be announced after necessary clearance for payment gateway transaction, the official said.

The service will be available from 12.30 am to 11.30 pm.

"The project was sanctioned with a view to consolidate all the services and information on a single window interface for public," the official said.

He said the service will provide passengers another avenue to book tickets, while easing the pressure from the IRCTC website considerably.

On offer is also a service for booking tickets on the mobile platform.

Customers desirous of utilising the facility and having Internet facilities will have to download mobile ticketing application on mobile phones from Indian Railway's website, the official said.

Tracking facility for freight trains running and parcel status by customers would be among a host of other features that the portal is expected to introduce shortly.

Source : TimesofIndia

8 easy tips to avoid cellphone radiation

If you are worried about recent revelations about cell phone radiation by the WHO, do not despair. There are a number of ways in which you can safeguard yourself to to a large extent.

According to well-known American non-government organization Environmental Working Group, or EWS, cellphone users can follow these tips to reduce the risk of exposure to cancerous electro-magnetic rays that cellphones may be emitting.

1. Buy a low-radiation phone

Always try to look up buyers' guide or Internet, or seek experts' advise to know about the radiation levels of your phone, or the model you intend to buy.

Most phones' model numbers are printed under the battery. Consider replacing your phone with one that emits the lowest radiation possible and still meets your communication needs.

2. 4 money-saving smartphone apps

Headsets - whether Bluetooth or wired - emit much less radiation than phones. Choose either wired or wireless according to convenience and your needs.

However, it is not advisable to continuously wear the headsets above the ears as most Bluetooth headsets emit continuous, low-level radiation. So take it off your ear when you're not on a call. Using your phone in speaker mode also minimises radiation to the head.

3. Poor signal? Stay away from phone

Fewer signal bars on your phone means that it emits much higher radiation to get the signal to the tower. Make and take calls when your phone has a strong signal, instead of incessantly using it and cursing your mobile operator.

Remember, it is your brain that will be getting fried due to poor signal!

4. Skip the radiation shield

Radiation shields such as antenna caps or keypad covers reduce the connection quality and force the phone to transmit at a much higher power with higher radiation. So while they may be protecting your phone, it is at the cost of your own health.

5. Limit children's phone use

Young children's brains absorb twice as much cell phone radiation as those of adults. Along with health agencies in at least 6 countries, EWG has recommended parents to set up limits for children's cell phone use, such as for emergency situations only.

They may be encouraged to either make short, sweet conversations, or use the good, old landline phones.

6.Listen more, talk less

Cellphones emit maximum radiation when you talk or text, but not when you're receiving messages or listening. Hence, the age-old saying of listening more and talking less can come in handy here in reducing your exposure level.

7. Hold phone away from body

Hold the phone away from your torso when you're talking (with headset or speaker), not against your ear, in a pocket, or on your belt where soft body tissues continuously absorb radiation.

Even while sleeping, avoid keeping it under the pillow or next to you. It should ideally be kept a few feet away even if you want to keep it handy just in case the President or the Prime Minister decide to call upon you in the dead of night.

8. Choose texting over talking

Phones use less power (and hence less radiation) to send out text than voice communication. And unlike when you speak with the phone placed next to your ear, texting keeps radiation away from your head

Source : Times of India

Send Your Views, Feedback on Black Money to bm-feedback at nic.in

Hi Friends, raise ur voice against 'BLACK MONEY' send a mail to bm-feedback@nic.in

The issue of black money has been rocking India for a while. The issue first came up during 2009 Lok Sabha elections when the BJP has promised to disclose all the Swiss Accounts and bring all the block money saved in Swiss Bank back to India and also announced that it will be declared as national wealth. After the completion of elections, Baba Ramdev has taken up the issue of black money and went on Satyagraha for 8 days during June 2011. Though no immediate decision has been expected from the Govt. of India, it has come up with an idea to collect the feed back of citizens through internet. Now anybody can send a mail to Govt. of India expressing their concerns and opinions on black money. The email id is bm-feedback@nic.in . Public can send their ideas and views on tackling various issues arising out of the menace of black money.

The email bm-feedback@nic.in was created on the server of the National Informatics Centre. General public can immediately send their opinions. They can suggest any measures like imposing huge penalties and punishments and making penal provisions to deal with the issue of black money. In response to the growing concern over the scale and impact of black money from people of various walks of life, the Government of India has also formed a committee headed by Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Prakash Chandra. The committee will work on devising new strategies to deal with the issue. The Prakash Chandra committee is expected to submit its recommendations to the Center in the coming six months.

The email account bm-feedback@nic.in will be continuously monitored by the officials of Finance Ministry, Govt. of India. The ministry would place the aggregated messages / mails before Prakash Chandra committee.

source : helloap.com

Postal Stamp with Your own Photo - Personalized Stamp using My Stamp

India's First Postal Stamp

India Post is going to introduce a new concept called My Stamp where the stamp will be available with our own photo. Through this move more and more people will use postal stamps as they can paste stamps which had their own stamps. 

Currently Courier companies had captured the market and the postal department is in loss. Peoples do not use postal services and India post introduced this concept in order to bring back the people to India Post.

Anyone can get their photo printed on the stamp.

1. Take a photo on which you wish to create your customized stamp and bring it to the Post Office.
2. Choose your template and the theme. (you can choose your desired theme from a range of available themes)
3. Get your Stamp with your photo.

This service will start from Feb 19th 2011

Read More >>

TED : Ideas Worth Spreading

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer -- TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and Open TV Project, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.






The videos are available with subtitles in many different languages


Checkout some of the videos from that site :

Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

Harsha Bhogle: The rise of cricket, the rise of India 

Sunitha Krishnan fights sex slavery :

Ravin Agrawal: 10 young Indian artists to watch

Nandan Nilekani's ideas for India's future :

Kiran Bedi: A police chief with a difference

Ideas worth spreading

Do let me know if u liked it, will be posting some more videos in comming weeks

Helpline set up to lodge complaints against corporal punishments in Schools

Its a common practice going in all private & residential schools of twin cities. These schools are only bothered about means to take money from the parents.The department of school education has set up two helplines for students and parents to lodge complaints against schools which resort to corporal punishment, charge excessive fees or issue TCs forcibly. They can call 9346284556 or 9346284557 from 9 am to 5 pm on all working days.

India Post issues Address proof card

Hi Friends this is very useful information for working professionals, students as many any 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 

(i) opening bank accounts

(ii) Driving licence 

(iii) Voter ID

(iv) For getting telephone and gas connections etc.

(v) and one more thing 2 take SIM cards :)

The total cost for getting this ID card is Rs.250/ (Rs.10 for application
and Rs.240/- processing fee), and you need 2 stamp size photographs to attach to this application and this photograph will be on your ID card, and u need to apply from the concerned post office of your area.

You can download the application form from here

Do inform everybody. This is very useful.
For more details enquire in the nearest post office .

I have applied 1 month back it takes minimum 45 days to get, after you have applied a person from post office visits to your address to do enquiry about you like from how many days you are staying here etc

I got this information from a mail forwarded by one of my friend, will post the scanned images of my ID card once i receive it