The government's ban which had received much criticism though intended for the security of the people had been lifted with immediate effect on Thursday on August 30. The lift had come one day earlier than stipulated.
The Home Ministry had asked the telecom ministry to ensure that there is a restriction on the MMS and SMS after the Assam riots' after effects and mass exodus caused by rumors and panic. The ban was imposed on Aug 17 for a period of 15 days till August 31.
On August 24 the ban was revised and a limit of 20 SMS was imposed per day as opposed to 5 SMS per day.
"After reviewing the matter again on Thursday, the ministry lifted the restriction allowing citizens to use text messages and MMSes without any limit of numbers with immediate effect," said a home ministry official.
The restriction that ensure that all the mobile users could send only 5 SMS and an MMS less than 20KB only per day from a cellphone for 15 days.
The ban might not have completely restricted the spread of rumors, it was very effective in reducing the number to a bare minimum and the danger was averted along with the monitoring of the SMS.
(AW- Anil)
