Silent phone calls

It’s an annoying thing many households have to put up with – answering the phone to find nobody on the other end of the line. They are often from a company’s call centre which uses automatic dialling in the hope of selling you something. But if there aren’t enough staff on hand to speak, the call into your home stays silent.

Industry regulator, Ofcom, says it’s a breach of their guidelines for businesses who make persistent unwanted phone calls. And now those caught breaking the law could face fines of £2m.

Kevin Brennan, Consumer Affairs Minister: ‘It is still a real problem, despite the raising of fines that have gone on in the past. Last year, Ofcom did a survey and found that half of people that they surveyed said that it was a real nuisance to them.’

David Hickson, campaigner: ‘We don’t know how much of a deterrent it will be. The point is that the action point of Ofcom should be to stop people from making silent calls, not just to penalise them.’

Despite previous attempts to tackle this, almost half of the UK still receives silent phone calls. So officials will hope the threat of a bigger fine can help stamp it out.

Gavin Ramjaun, BBC News

BBC Hunger in India

India may be one of the world’s fastest growing economies but the benefit of its growing prosperity is not reaching everyone. According to the ActionAid report, 46% of its children are malnourished and the number of people growing hungry is increasing instead of coming down.

It’s not that India doesn’t grow enough food – in fact it’s a major exporter of farm produce. The problem is that many people, especially poor communities, cannot access it for a variety of reasons, including rising food prices and poor distribution.

Government schemes, such as mandatory school meals, have not been effectively implemented across the country. And large-scale migration of people seeking work or displaced by large development schemes, such as dams or industrial projects, is adding to the problem. Invariably women and children are the most vulnerable.

But there are some positive signs. A landmark rural jobs programme launched four years ago is showing some signs of success in battling poverty. Analysts say it now needs to be persisted with and spread out to more parts of the country.

Sanjoy Majumder, BBC News, Delhi