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A free-of-cost second opinion helpline number for cancer patients has been launched by a group of oncologists under their "<keyword id="21089741" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="cancer-mukt-bharat-campaign" source="keywords">Cancer Mukt Bharat Campaign</keyword>". The number -- 9355520202 -- will be operational from 10 am to 5 pm from Monday to Saturday. Cancer patients can call on this number to speak to oncologists directly or even do a video call to discuss about their treatment. It can be accessed by anyone in the country and promises to be a game-changer in the fight against cancer, Dr. <keyword id="19994367" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ashish-gupta" source="keywords">Ashish Gupta</keyword>, who is heading the campaign, said. "Second opinion is recommended to almost all patients who have been diagnosed with cancer as it is a matter of life and death. It is also important if their condition does not improve despite treatment or if their diagnosis or treatment is in doubt. For cancer treatment, costs may be high and differ from hospital to hospital, so cost is another important reason to get a second opinion," <keyword id="19983550" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gupta" source="keywords">Gupta</keyword> said. The helpline will serve as a valuable resource for individuals faced with the daunting challenge of cancer, offering them the opportunity to consult experienced oncologists without the burden of financial constraints, he said. The free second opinion helpline will help in ensuring that patients receive the most accurate and up-to-date information about their condition and treatment options, Gupta said. Sharing the reason behind starting this helpline number, he said there is been a rapid increase in the number of cancer cases in <keyword id="19895063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="india" source="keywords">India</keyword> and there is a dearth of healthcare facilities and healthcare doctors. In the rapidly evolving field of cancer treatment, where new medicines and innovative therapies are continually emerging, a second opinion becomes invaluable, Gupta said. "With continuous research, we are witnessing advancements in cancer care that were unimaginable just a few years ago. These breakthroughs translate into better outcomes and improved quality of life for cancer patients. The second opinion helpline ensures that patients can tap into these advancements and receive update on the most effective treatments available," he said. SEE ALSO:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/best-smartphones-under-20000-in-india/slidelist/108790651.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/best-smartphones-under-20000-in-india/slidelist/108790651.cms" target="_blank">Best smartphones under ₹20,000 in India</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/webstories/srm-contractors-ipo-price-band-to-risk-factors-all-you-need-to-know/slidelist/108779163.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/webstories/srm-contractors-ipo-price-band-to-risk-factors-all-you-need-to-know/slidelist/108779163.cms" target="_blank">SRM Contractors IPO – Price band to risk factors, all you need to know</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/oneplus-12-review/articleshow/108723955.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/oneplus-12-review/articleshow/108723955.cms" target="_blank">OnePlus 12 review: A feature-packed device with promising battery back-up</a>

Group of oncologists launch free-of-cost second opinion helpline number for cancer patients

Around 26 per cent of <keyword id="19896991" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="cancer" source="keywords">cancer</keyword> patients in <keyword id="19895063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="India" source="keywords">India</keyword> have tumours in the head and neck, and there is an upward trend of such cases in the country, a study has found. The findings of the study, conducted on 1,869 cancer patients across the country, were released on the World <keyword id="20775483" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="head-and-neck-cancer" source="keywords">Head and Neck Cancer</keyword> Day observed on Saturday. Cancer Mukt Bharat Foundation, a Delhi-based non-profit organisation, conducted the study by collating data from calls received on its helpline number from March 1 to June 30. Dr. Ashish Gupta, a senior oncologist who is heading the Cancer Mukt Bharat Campaign in India, said that India is seeing surge in head and neck cancer cases, especially among young men, due to increased <keyword id="20681485" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tobacco-consumption" source="keywords">tobacco consumption</keyword> and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. "Around 80-90 pc of oral cancer patients have been found to use tobacco in some form, be it smoking or chewing. Most of the head and neck cancer are preventable, unlike other cancers for which the reason is unknown. It is a preventable cancer that can be prevented with lifestyle modification. "There is a need to raise awareness to quit tobacco and early check-ups for early pickup of the disease," Gupta said. In India, nearly two-thirds of cancer cases are detected late likely due to low adoption of proper screening, he said. Gupta added that the Cancer Mukt Bharat campaign aims to reduce the incidence and impact of cancer on individuals and communities through education and early detection. "If found early in stages one or two, most head and neck cancers are curable in more than 80 pc of patients. In the field of cancer treatment, we get new medicines almost every week which can treat cancer in better way leading to better outcomes and good quality of life. "A combination of surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy can be used for treating head and neck cancer. Latest cancer treatment has evolved to prioritize not just curing the disease, but also ensuring a good quality of life for survivors," he said. Under the Cancer Mukt Bharat Campaign, a free national helpline number (93-555-20202) was launched recently, which is operational from 10 am to 5 pm from Monday to Saturday. Cancer patients can call on this number to speak to leading oncologists directly or even do a video call to discuss about their treatment without paying any fees. Head and neck cancer was closely followed by gastrointestinal cancers which was 16 per cent. Fufteen per cent cancers in India re breast cancers and and blood cancers make up 9 per cent of them. These data are in line with the latest GLOBOCAN data -- a database that gives global cancer statistics -- on India. GLOBOCON data is part of International Agency for Research on Cancer's Global Cancer Observatory. India is expected to have 2.1 million new cancer cases by 2040, a big jump from the numbers in 2020, as per a recent GLOBOCAN report. SEE ALSO:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/apple-to-manufacture-iphone-16-pro-models-in-india-soon-after-launch/articleshow/112045172.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/apple-to-manufacture-iphone-16-pro-models-in-india-soon-after-launch/articleshow/112045172.cms" target="_blank">Apple to manufacture iPhone 16 Pro models in India soon after launch</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/pixel-9-series-design-and-specs-revealed-ahead-of-launch-next-month/articleshow/112039063.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/pixel-9-series-design-and-specs-revealed-ahead-of-launch-next-month/articleshow/112039063.cms" target="_blank">Pixel 9 series design and specs revealed ahead of launch next month</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/webstories/akums-drugs-ipo-opens-soon-price-band-to-risk-factors-all-you-need-to-know/slidelist/112033450.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/webstories/akums-drugs-ipo-opens-soon-price-band-to-risk-factors-all-you-need-to-know/slidelist/112033450.cms" target="_blank">Akums Drugs IPO opens soon – Price band to risk factors, all you need to know</a>

Cancers in head and neck rising, account for 26% cases in India: Study

A good school for the children, a bungalow in an elegant part of the Indian capital, a job as a freelance writer, a maid, a driver, an inverter for the power cuts, and a water purifying system. These were some of the items Indian expat Jyoti Pande Lavakare ticked off on her list as “done” as she prepared to leave the piercing blue skies of Palo Alto in California to return to New Delhi in June 2009 with her husband Ajay, a technology start-up executive. The move proved smooth. Within months, the household had settled into a new rhythm. They were returning to spend time with their elderly parents and ensure their son, Madhav, and daughter, Naina, both in their early teens, had some “connection” with India, where both Jyoti and Ajay had grown up. They hoped to make them more resilient by teaching them to cope with power cuts, water shortages, and similar hardships. What Lavakare, now in her early 50s, hadn’t bargained for was the poisonous air. The city had a “hidden” secret: its air was fouler than Beijing’s but hardly anyone knew. With every passing winter, the air quality was plummeting. Jyoti Pande Lavakare. “In 2014, I realised something was making us all sick. At my children’s school, children were falling ill constantly. My friends’ children were falling ill. I had a bad asthma attack. When we met other expats, the talk was about what was wrong with the air,” says Lavakare. She thought she was being hypersensitive. Indian friends teased her for having become too “American”. But Lavakare began reading about and researching the air quality and soon became obsessive about the pollution. When the American embassy in Delhi, which had been collecting air quality data but keeping it private, released the figures to the public in 2015, the secret was out. Lavakare was right to be obsessed: New Delhi’s pollution was off the charts, registering 222 during US President Barack Obama’s visit in January 2015. Readings from 151 to 200 are considered unhealthy, and any above that very unhealthy, meaning “health warnings of emergency conditions”. The Indian capital’s residents were living in a gas chamber. In January 2015, Bloomberg quoted David Spiegelhalter, a University of Cambridge statistician, as saying that, by visiting the capital and breathing its air for just three days, Obama might have cut six hours from his expected lifespan. New York Times correspondent Gardiner Harris (a neighbour of Lavakare’s in Sunder Nagar) wrote a quietly impassioned article on how he was leaving New Delhi after his young son suffered a horrifying asthma attack. Breathing the air was the equivalent of smoking 44 cigarettes a day, according to the independent Berkeley Earth science research group. “At first I was in denial. Had I brought my children back to India to breathe pure poison and harm their lungs? But when the data started coming out … I knew we were in a crisis,” says Lavakare. She bought face masks and air <keyword id="2029750" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="purifiers">purifiers</keyword>, but that was only dealing with her own patch. Angry at the horror of the city’s 20 million residents breathing filthy air, she co-founded Care for Air in 2015 with other professionals, as a platform to build awareness that the city was in the midst of a “public health emergency” and to lobby for clean air. With her colourful silk saris and long wavy hair, pushed back by her glasses, Lavakare is now well-known as an expert on air pollution; she is invited to join television debates. She is unimpressed with the measures the New Delhi government has just announced to “minimise” (no one is talking of eliminating) the pollution this winter that turns the capital into a kind of “air gulag”, thick with tiny particles known as PM2.5 which damage not just respiratory systems, as many seem to think – but many other human organs too. The quality of October’s air plunged to “poor” even before Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights when the bursting of firecrackers makes the “normal” pollution many times worse. On some days in late October, the state-run Central Pollution Control Board’s air quality index stood at around 300 – six times the recommended level. The index has risen as high as 999 after Diwali for two consecutive years. This year, the government began putting tougher measures in place. Under its Graded Response Action Plan, drivers are allowed to use their cars every other day, depending on whether their number plates end in an odd or even number, to limit vehicle emissions; people found burning waste are fined; bus and metro services are increased; the use of diesel generators has been banned; and water sprinklers and mechanical sweepers will be used to deal with the construction dust and debris that is responsible for the bulk of the pollution. <h2 style="margin-top: 1.14286rem; margin-bottom: 0.428571rem; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 1.71429rem; line-height: 2.21429rem; font-family: Merriweather, serif; vertical-align: baseline;">At first I was in denial. Had I brought my children back to India to breathe pure poison and harm their lungs?Jyoti Pande Lavakare</h2> By getting the doctors on Care for Air’s board to appear on television to talk about its effects, visiting schools to educate children, and galvanising the media to cover the subject, the group has succeeded in raising public awareness and making people, even the poor, demand action. You can see the difference in the booming sales of air purifiers and face masks. “When people first began wearing masks a few years ago, people used to stare. It seemed odd. Or they’d cross the street, thinking the person was contagious. Now no one thinks twice about wearing a mask,” says Mukesh Nath, a chemist in Sarai Jullena. For Lavakare, the fight for the right to breathe clean air has become fused with her personal life. She’s not worrying about her children – Naina has gone to Barnard College in New York, where she is studying sociology, and Madhav, currently on a gap year, has been accepted by Yale University in Connecticut. It’s more that, while she was campaigning and lobbying against pollution, it sneaked into her family, devastating it. Jyoti Pande Lavakare (left), her late mother Kamale Pande and father Jagdish Chandra Pande. Photo: courtesy of Lavakare family She had returned to India to spend time with her parents. But over a year ago, her mother, Kamale Pande, a classical vocalist and non-smoker, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. She had no family history of the disease and was otherwise in excellent health. Suddenly, all those abstract statistics were embodied in her own mother’s lungs. Specialists linked the disease directly to <keyword id="55910" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Air-Pollution">air pollution</keyword> and Lavakare has no doubt at all about the causal link. In her book Choked, published this year, Beth Gardiner wrote: “You see one person run over in the street and you’ll never forget it, but thousands dying from the effects of dirty air will never even faze you.” Lavakare’s mother died last year. Trying to process her grief is one reason Lavakare is working on her own book, called Breathing Here is Injurious to Your Health, to be published next year. It’s the story of her relationship with her dying city, with pollution, her mother’s suffering and on what can be done to spare Indians from pollution’s catastrophic impact. The fight for clean air is going to be prolonged. Misleading statistics have to be contested, for one. The Delhi government recently issued full-page advertisements to trumpet how air pollution had been cut by 25 per cent thanks to its efforts. <h2 style="margin-top: 1.14286rem; margin-bottom: 0.428571rem; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 1.71429rem; line-height: 2.21429rem; font-family: Merriweather, serif; vertical-align: baseline;">Sometimes, I wish we hadn’t given up our green cardJyoti Pande Lavakare, who returned to India with her family from Palo Alto, California, in 2009</h2> “Experts agree that there is no data available – at least in the public domain – that clearly validates the claim. It doesn’t mean the government is lying, but unless independent data analysts and scientists can access the data, no one can say whether this is just another piece of fake news or a manipulation of cherry-picked statistics,” says Lavakare. Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi, says the coming weeks will see pollution getting worse. “There are 14 ‘hotspots’ – areas where pollution levels exceed the average because of the burning of municipal solid waste and industrial waste. To reduce the remaining 65 per cent of pollution, these sources need to be tackled,” she says. Lavakare wants action on a “war footing”. The city needs an empowered and accountable authority whose sole goal is to reduce pollution. She is convinced that neither New Delhi nor the country – last year, 11 of the world’s 15 most polluted cities were in India – can afford incremental progress. Anger inflects her voice, mostly when she talks of how little has been done. “Take 2018 – there was not a single ‘clean air’ day in the city. Take the government’s Clean India (Swachh Bharat) campaign. “How you can have a Clean India without clean air?” Or the government’s other pet scheme, Make in India. “How can you Make in India if you can’t breathe in India?” Lavakare asks. The figures are not just dispiriting, they are apocalyptic. A report by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago in 2016 said air pollution was reducing the life expectancy of the average New Delhi resident by about 10 years. She and Ajay discuss whether they should become “pollution refugees” by leaving the city for Goa, a coastal state in India’s southeast. Friends have already sold up and fled. Many have had nasty health scares. Some have opted for crazy commutes, such as between Delhi and Toronto or Delhi and London. “Sometimes, I wish we hadn’t given up our green card,” she says.

New Delhi’s toxic air and how one expat family was affected – sick children, asthma, a death, and a campaign to awaken city to pollution threat

<keyword id="6360791" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Amethi">Amethi</keyword>, the Gandhian stronghold since 1947 has always dreamt of unparalleled growth-what with the Gandhi’s promising them the world, come every election season! It was first ruled upon by <keyword id="134281" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sanjay-Gandhi">Sanjay Gandhi</keyword>, followed by former Prime Minister <keyword id="12596" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rajiv-Gandhi">Rajiv Gandhi</keyword>, an MP from the city for 10 consecutive years. Post Rajiv’s demise, Amethi was ‘inherited’ by his widow, <keyword id="689" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sonia-Gandhi">Sonia Gandhi</keyword> and now has been passed onto the Congress heir apparent, <keyword id="5268" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rahul-Gandhi">Rahul Gandhi</keyword>. 
 
Seeing the obvious lack of growth and thereby the massive stated opportunity, during the elections in 2014, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and now Minister of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) Smriti Irani left no stone unturned to win the constituency for herself, ousting the Gandhi’s from their stronghold. Alas, that was not to be. Irani must have blamed her ‘rotten luck’ for her unexpected defeat and Rahul’s success, since a constituency, still counted as one of the country’s most deprived, surely needed a change in leadership. 
 
But then, nothing could be shoddier than the fact that even big names from the political class could not even get the town the very basic in facilities. In fact, the trump card played against it and left it as a victim. A victim of political brawls. 
 
Or if we just change a few words in what has been said so far, then maybe you will get a clearer picture of the debacle that Amethi is witnessing today and how much worse it could turn in the next few years, given the never-dying down tug-of-war. 
 It won’t be wrong to say that Amethi, right from the very beginning was a mere card which was used by the big political faces of the day. Inhabitants of Amethi thought that the political biggies would bring them the basic infrastructure they so desperately lacked. Instead, this place only made headlines for the pointless battles the political brass fought. The tide in fact turned for the worse in 1984, when ousted Gandhi bahu, Maneka fought a pitched battle against brother-in-law, Rajiv Gandhi, soon after her mother-in-law, his mother and the nation’s Prime Minister, <keyword id="6354478" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Indira-Gandhi">Indira Gandhi</keyword>’s assassination. Maneka fought tooth and nail, but lost to Rajiv by a massive margin, given the sympathy wave he was riding on soon after his mother’s untimely murder outside her own house, by one of her own bodyguards. 
 
Amethi, soon turned into a ground for political buffoonery, with over 40 independent candidates standing against the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, in the 1989 elections. But, despite the bofors’ scandal taint, Rajiv registered a sounding victory, with a margin of over two lakh votes. The astounding defeat notwithstanding, the trend continued and Independent candidates (in more than usual numbers) fought elections from Amethi. 
 During the 2014 <keyword id="6355187" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Lok-Sabha">Lok Sabha</keyword> polls, BJP, very aggressively campaigned under the leadership of <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> with the slogan ‘congress-mukt Bharat’ (Congress-free India) and former model and TV actress <keyword id="371578" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Smriti-Zubin-Irani">Smriti Zubin Irani</keyword> was nominated as the BJP candidate from Amethi. Yet another competitor was the newly formed <keyword id="6354944" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Aam-Aadmi-Party">Aam Aadmi Party</keyword>’s (<keyword id="6356115" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="AAP">AAP</keyword>) poet-turned-member <keyword id="540848" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="kumar-vishwas">Kumar Vishwas</keyword>, who wanted to give Rahul a run for his money. However, despite the several failings of the Congress party in Amethi and more so that of the Gandhi-clan, the town voted back into power Rahul Gandhi. 
 
The oldest scuffle ground for BJP and Congress, Amethi, in 2014 came under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and it experienced another tussle when their leader disappeared and reports published afterwards informed about his ‘vacation’. Rahul’s biggest opponent, BJP candidate from Amethi, Smriti Irani, without missing out on a chance reached out to the people of Amethi and distributed compensation cheques to the farmers who were dying of unseasonal rains. Not just this but Irani also played a card against Gandhi here and accused him of ‘holidaying’ when people of his constituency were in trouble. 
 With no choice left this time, Gandhi in his reply pointed the finger at the <keyword id="6360789" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Modi-Government">Modi government</keyword> for scrapping the Food Park plan that he claimed could have generated employment for hundreds in Amethi. 
 
All the fighting aside, the real concern now is if Amethi gained anything from all the mud-slinging over the decades. The answer to that is that Amethi today is known for all the wrong reasons. Far from being a developed township it could have been, given the political attention it has had over the years, it is today known as one of the country’s most impoverished regions, for the very same reasons. And if the fashion persists, it’ll only be a case of from the frying pan to the fire for the residents of Amethi. 
 
Image: indiatimes

Amethi: the victim of political brawls

India is seeing a <keyword id="138263" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="startup">startup</keyword> boom thanks to the internet proliferation. But as the deadline for <keyword id="6356988" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="TRAI">Trai</keyword>'s consultation approaches, the nationwide clamour for <keyword id="6391709" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Net-neutrality">net neutrality</keyword> is touching a crescendo with a number of internet ventures and startups telling Times of India <keyword id="6358815" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="tech">Tech</keyword> that they firmly stand in favour of an unfettered net. 
 
Almost all entrepreneurs that the TOI spoke to for this report unequivocally expressed that a free internet is their lifeline to future growth. Here are their reasons (in their own words) to vociferously demand that status quo be maintained. Read on... 
 
Metis Learning-- Bharat Gulia, founder, Metis Learning 
 
Startups are taking India by storm and companies that did not exist 10 years ago now have billion dollar valuations. In the process, they are creating thousands of jobs, strengthening India's image in the global markets and creating tremendous value for customers. However, the scenario was very different in the India of yore. 
 
Today's youngsters may not have witnessed the dreary 'License Raj' days. Contrived barriers, reinforced by obscure government policy, created monopolies. Uncompetitive, well-connected and cash-rich conglomerates and PSUs dominated. They thrived in an environment of scarcity where it took many years to buy an outdated scooter model, or even get a phone connection.The recent debate on net neutrality throws one back to those days. The choice India needs to make is simple - do we go back to the imprisoned economy of the license raj, or do we encourage fresh thinking and innovation. 
 
The lifeblood of innovation is a level-playing field where an 18-year-old can come up with a great solution that can beat the option that a huge telecom company is shoving down the throat of its users. Customers need to be free to choose what gives them greater value and entrepreneurs should not be constrained by artificial barriers to provide that solution to customers. 
 
The internet lies at the centre of the digital economy and the game-changing innovation we are seeing today. Let it be open! Let not fuddy-duddy babus and big businesses conspire to set up roadblocks that stifle entrepreneurship. Let's have an India where start-ups thrive along with big businesses and may the best man win. 
 
Whatfix --Vara Kumar, co-founder &amp; CTO, Whatfix, an online productivity tool that allows users and businesses to create interactive guides on their and third party websites 
 
I and Khadim started Quicko Labs after decades of experience of building world class products, this would have been difficult if not for net neutrality. We believe that an open system encourages innovation and if operators start charging for faster access, it would stifle the entire ecosystem. More importantly, competition is inevitable for any product and we believe that innovation and great customer service is what will drive your business ahead rather than faster access. 
 
Infinity Assurance - Puneet Gargya, co-founder and COO at Infinity Assurance Solutions, a startup that provides service administration of warranty programmes "No discrimination should be made against any user for any kind of internet usage. It is THE lifeline for people today with more and more businesses moving to the net. It is as essential as electricity and water. Trai must do whatever is required to protect it." 
 
ePaisa -- Siddharth Arora, CEO and co-founder, ePaisa ISPs and governments should treat all data on the Internet as equal. This means they shouldn't discriminate or change differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached /equipment or mode of communication. There has been a lot of commentary on these principles of Open Internet since the launch of Airtel Zero and the Trai consultation paper. ISPs think they have cracked the formula of a whole new revenue stream, but at the core of this discussion is the online business and consumer relationship. 
 
Large online players may think they have found a strategic way to find new traffic sources (today's non-internet users) and hold the customers. I believe this is a short-sighted view. Not only will these companies need to offer free access to their sites across all ISPs (increasing their costs, while they are already not making money), but their competition (also with deep pockets) will follow suit. 
 
More importantly, businesses that have focused on ways to lock customers instead of innovating and offering better services have failed. While it's a great introduction to the web for the non internet user, let's not undermine the intellect of this user. Over time, this user will want more and will move on to a service that gives him/her real value, not free access. 
 
ISPs are calling this the toll-free number equivalent of the internet. The truth is, toll-free may get you a customer, but it will not help you retain one." 
 
Binge -- Ajay Joseph, co-founder, Binge (Noroc Solutions), a billing startup that enables restaurant bill presentment and payment over the phone 
 
Net Neutrality is a very critical factor given that the core tenet of the internet is built on being a democratic platform. With the rapid increase in the penetration of the internet, it is critical that we as a country stay true to the core tenet of the internet. All the stakeholders, across the service providers, the OTT players and the governing authorities need to work in unison to continue to improve the value to the consumer and net neutrality will be at the centre of it. 
 
Konotor -- Srikrishnan Ganeshan, co-founder at Konotor, a mobile marketing and CRM product startup firm that helps businesses engage, retain and sell more to their app users 
 As an <keyword id="6359301" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Entrepreneur">entrepreneur</keyword>, I can definitely relate to why not honouring net neutrality creates an uneven playing field. In fact, when my startup was earlier building a messaging app, the fact that there were "Whatsapp only" plans was something that surprised me. Something that has the potential to stifle competition cannot be good for the customer. 
 
Citrus Pay --Satyen Kothari, MD and founder, Citrus Pay 
 
Free market competition and encouraging grass roots innovation is a critical aspect of building up a powerful entrepreneurial ecosystem. Creating obstacles in a truly open, neutral internet creates serious obstacles in enabling this ecosystem. 
 
The concept of net neutrality has been discussed deeply and upheld in many countries across the world, and India should not regress and violate this core foundational concept of the open internet. 
 
GoodWorkLabs -- Vishwas Mudagal, CEO, GoodWorkLabs 
I'm all for net neutrality. Let's not let corporate greed take over the internet. Let's nip this cancer in the bud. #?BhartiAirtel? - I know it makes perfect sense for you to ensure robust revenues from breaking net neutrality by preferring companies that have deep pockets. But it will kill all the innovation and startup boom that has just started. We need a level-playing field where a minnow can take on a shark, and it's the internet medium alone that can provide it. So let's end this right now. 
 
I also know there are various forms of net neutrality issues and violations from various companies both in India and outside, so we need to end this and we need everyone on neutral ground. 
 
Knowlarity -- Ambarish Gupta, CEO and founder, Knowlarity Communications 
 
Net neutrality is fundamental to having a robust set of internet companies in India. In its absence, we are not going to have a level-playing field and ultimately make the innovation suffer. I can understand the revenue pressure telecom operators are feeling because of many of the internet applications. 
 
However, the current position of telecom operators is neither very fruitful, nor sustainable in long term. If there is an end to net neutrality, it will reduce the innovation and increase the barrier to entry for young innovative start-ups to do new things. 
 
Internet is a corridor of doors, like the space Morpheus and Neo enter along with the Key Maker in film 'The Matrix Reloaded'. Just that, once you are at one of the doors of internet, it is endless and you don't need additional keys to open subsequent doors. This, in essence, is also the principle of net neutrality. 
 
The empowering nature of the internet is not merely because it facilitates flow of information, as the advent of radio and television did in the twentieth century. The core trait of the internet is that it has not only given access to abundant reservoir of information to consumers, but most crucially, it has given a level-playing field for the users - to not only consume, but to create, voice and dissent over the internet. 
 
By violating net neutrality in any of the forms, the core principle of the internet will be lost. And with it the aspirations of millions, who are yet to experience the internet, will be trampled. 
 
TripHobo -- Saket Newaskar, CTO and co-founder of TripHobo 
 
Internet is a market place and net neutrality ensures that ISPs don't interfere in this market place. Disturbing net neutrality can not only create a havoc in the online space but may affect offline business in a big way. 
 
Not only market place activities like branding, consumer communication and consumer experience be impacted, even essential activities like consumer service and support will be affected. Big players can give better experience while the smaller ones will struggle. Startups with deep pockets will definitely have a bigger advantage. All the existing big startups have become big because of net neutrality today. 
 
Startups of the future will be at a disadvantage. Airtel's new initiative is about helping Airtel make money. If big apps and content providers are able to subsidize data costs of their users, Airtel will make money. Users are not going to stop using essential and interesting apps even if they cost. However, this creates differential pricing for the same service i.e streaming. 
 
Thus Airtel is interfering in the marketplace. Airtel's role is streaming and not creating content. It could be dangerous in the long run. Internet startups will definitely be affected. Innovation will be scuttled as the cost of reaching one's users will increase. Competitive landscape and even playing-field is essential for new internet startups to flourish." 
 
PropTiger -- Dhruv Agarwala, CEO and co-founder, PropTiger.com 
 
"Net neutrality makes the internet a level playing field. Airtel's Zero will favour app developers and websites with larger pockets who have capacity to pay. As a result, small start-ups may suffer. People and firms with small budgets will have to think long and hard before choosing between various data 
 
packs because certain applications will be free or costly depending on the data pack. People who use free data packs will also not be able to access the websites or apps which have not paid for preferential treatment. What may happen with plans such as Airtel's Zero is that when big app developers and websites pay for it, others might find it difficult to refuse to be part of the race for very long. They might also be compelled to pay eventually. When consumers are compelled to choose between free and paid internet, it is obvious that they would reject paid internet. This might put many internet start-ups out of business. The internet will become less diverse than it is now". 
 
Toppr.com -- Zishaan Hayath, co-founder, Toppr.com 
 
Toppr stands completely in support of net neutrality and the idea that access to internet/data should be same for all without any external throttling. Net neutrality is the basis on which internet was built and it has been successful in providing a level-playing field for all without any bias. Lack of net neutrality would clearly affect the freedom of choice of consumers which could end up creating monopolies across industries". 
 
Wingify -- Paras Chopra, founder, Wingify, PriceBaba.com 
 
It is extremely important to ensure that freedom of speech is upheld. That's a basic human right. Net neutrality implicitly defeats that freedom of speech. We are all in support of net neutrality and want the regulator / government to do the right thing. Internet is an opportunity for innovation to occur without barriers of wealth, access and background. Thus. it should be truly a level playing field for everyone. - Annkur Agarwal, founder, PriceBaba.com 
 
ClearTax -- Archit Verma, founder, ClearTax Net neutrality is required for infrastructure services. I moved back from the US and Silicon Valley to India to start ClearTax. In the US, it took a lot of effort to keep the internet neutral, but now the US president and the FCC have strongly committed themselves to net neutrality.We in India are a fledgling Internet economy and growing quickly. Any mistakes here will stifle innovation. The internet is built for disruption and it gives the big and the small an equal platform to innovate and compete. Net neutrality is a first principle. It is core to the infrastructure. 
 
Thenwat -- Umashankar Das, founder, Thenwat If India believes that it can create a Google, then it should support #NetNeutrality. Otherwise, this will push us to stone ages in another 10 years. - 
 
Rockmetric -- Nimesh, founder Rockmetric 
 
Internet gives a level playing field for 'anyone' with motivation and skills to compete with the biggest players and win over customers with limited capital. Openness of the internet allows this miracle to happen! If the internet starts favouring larger players by increase entry barriers, it will only kill innovation. 
 
Liberated Keypad -- Jayanthkumar, founder, Liberated Keypad Internet Neutrality is part of a larger issue of Trai playing servant to COAI. COAI has successfully made it such that people who by mistake violate their 3G packs face huge bills on postpaid. Airtel, for example, has reduced its monthly validity pack to 28 days so that you might forget to recharge your pack, and not carry forward your balance. That, or they simply just reduced your pack value, urging you to consume more.We need to get more and more people aware that the COAI is a very powerful lobby, and has had its way for a very long time. I will not stand by a service provider so greedy with profits. I want them to serve the consumers, instead of serving themselves.We need to get rid of products like Free Facebook, Free WhatsApp, Free Flipkart, which reduce the ability of small players like myself to compete with bigger media houses, companies, startups." 
 
MeraCareerGuide.com -- Love Chopra, founder, MeraCareerGuide.com The basic foundation of internet is neutrality. Airtel Zero is a very basic attempt to kill its neutrality, you can't imagine how bad this could go if it is allowed; this will surely kill product innovation. No blocking, No throttling, No paid prioritization, No special treatment to deep pocket player. I support #NetNeutrality. 
 
www.tinqr.in -- Karan Aggarwal, co-founder, www.tinqr.in 
 
We are bootstrapped technology startup from Delhi. We have put all our lives' savings into our company because we were confident that in a free country like ours, excellence and hard work will thrive. But today, our confidence is fading. We see a threat to our freedom, a threat to our dreams. We thrive on the internet. Without net neutrality, there will be no level-playing field, no startup dreams. We sincerely request you to let this be the way it is. Don't take this away from us. We demand net neutrality for total online freedom. 
 
Chorusplay --- Hari PK, founder, Chorusplay 
 
India, as a country that's embracing technology, is growing at a massive pace. And it will take us decades to match the pace of developed countries. The only, and the most effective level-playing field for all of us - individuals and businesses, is the window to grab the new technologies, especially for startups. 
 
The compromise on net neutrality (or the idea behind it) will kill the upcoming startups and new businesses. And it will also have a (very) strong retrospective impact on the existing startups (who cannot afford to BUY their way through this problem). With the prime minister spearheading the ""Make In India"" campaign, we all dream of a nation that will be the next tech hub and a budding ground for startups. 
 
The absence of net neutrality will be a potential death row for all those dreams. Let's unite for a better country, a better dream and a much-needed revolution. And we have to do it today, right now. 
 
Yogurt Labs -- - Shardul Mohite, founder, Yogurt Labs 
Telcos controlled VAS and we all know how that whole industry ended up. They were acting like thugs demanding 70-80% of revenue as a fee from VAS companies. If they get to control how the data is being used on their network, we would see similar kind of attitude repeated again. Startups that think Airtel Zero or Internet.org are good ideas for customers are not thinking long term. When telcos start controlling who gets in front of the customer, they would demand huge amount of fees too. Net neutrality is the only way to ensure that no one gets to control (in short-term or long-term) how anybody uses internet to reach potential customers.

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