For the past 10 days, received numerous text messages……
“Hi ! Can u donate just Rs.3 to the martyrs family of Mumbai blast victims by sending a text as SALAAM to 56388.Its an NDTV initiative. Plz fwd to others also”
Initially I took the assistance of a couple of friends, who did the needful & reverted with the following response………
” Hi I got this reply do u know someone in ndtv? I have received the following reply
Thanks for joining us in saluting our heroes. Keep SMSing: NDTV will forward its share of the proceeds from this campaign to the martyrs family”. Tehmasp Printer
After a couple of days, I tried it again & received the following reply……
“Thanks for saluting our heroes. NDTV will forward its entire share of its revenue from each SMS in this campaign, to the martyrs families. (This amounts to approximately 50-60 paise per SMS received from Vodafone, Airtel, Idea and Tata subscribers, 12-30 paise per SMS received from Reliance, BSNL subscribers)”
The questions that one is left with here:
1) How many sms were received?
2) What was the basis of sharing 50-60 paise/12-30 paise, when the subscriber is being charged Rs. 3/-.
3) Why is there a price band?
4) To donate 50 paise, why do you get charged Rs. 3/-?
To get to the bottom of this, I tried it again today and the reply…..
“Thank you for your overwhelming response to the NDTV SALAAM campaign. This campaign is now closed. NDTV is forwarding its entire share of its revenue from each SMS in this campaign, to the martyrs families”.
Again the same questions - How much? Whom? When? There is a severe lack of transparency.
But as long as people follow blindly, all tragedies would get commercialized, with only NDTV & the cellphone companies making money!!!
Two sides to this story.
One, lets go on the principle that this is not a scam. NDTV genuinely wants to do its two bits. But charity in whatever form needs a destination. The money has to go to someone via an approved route. Is it really going? If so well and good do tell us to whom and how? As a contributor its your right to know.
Two, if its a scam then it needs exposing . The easiest place is by giving it to other media houses and having them pursue it. I am sure they would be better equipped than u and me to do this.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:14 am2 Key points :
1. Typically, such drives are done in conjunction with all parties - call phone company, the short code owner (NDTV in this case) and govt. While on the face of it it may seem NDTV has conned, reality is they get a part of the Rs 3 charged per sms. 15% is govt taxes and the operator keeps the rest.
2. like it has been raised - how many messages, how much money? there’s got to be clarity on this aspect.
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:02 pmhave not received any message …. so dont know
January 6th, 2009 at 2:13 amYes the short code 56388 is leased by NDTV. One should ask them how many SMS’s they received thus, what the loot was how it was split. Also, the operators made money because people forwarded this message to zillions of their friends. This smells of a pyramid scheme!
January 6th, 2009 at 2:14 amNot received any such message…but the “scheme” sounds irresponsible…
January 6th, 2009 at 2:15 amI received several of this message forwarded by friends but did not save them on the phone.
January 6th, 2009 at 2:16 amyes did recieve it but did not action on it. sounds terrible !!!
January 6th, 2009 at 2:17 amIs the RTI only applicable to the Government?
I don’t have connections in NDTV - but I am sure someone here on this network has. Can we get more first hand information on this one?
If you don’t know, then find someone who knows someone, who in turn knows someone at NDTV.
I think if people can send 100’s of SMS messages to make an Indian idol or a chhamiya in nach baliye the winner - then even if some money is taken by NDTV and the phone companies as long as a fraction goes for a cause should not be questioned?
January 6th, 2009 at 2:18 amHmm , I am not sure if it was really NDTV , or not , but this is bad news !!
June 26th, 2009 at 2:26 amNever received such a message, but as long as there is clarity in an event like this, i would not have replied. I really do not trust these people too much.
January 26th, 2010 at 3:46 am