by Riddhi Mukherjee and Nikhil Pahwa Facebook and Reliance Communications have partnered to offer free data access to a bunch of websites to Reliance customers through Internet.org. Initially these services, which will also include free access to Facebook, will be available to Reliance customers in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Kerala telecom circles. The services are expected to be extended to the rest of the country in a phased manner, though no specific timeline has been revealed yet. Yesterday we had reported that such a move might be in the offing after we received the following message while trying to access Internet.org over Wi-Fi in India: You must be on the Reliance Network to use Internet.org. If you'd like to access these websites for free, use a SIM card from Reliance. The list of services (with categories & name of corresponding websites and Our Take): - Careers & Jobs: TimesJobs, Babajob Our take: Why not Naukri.com, which is by far the most popular and most used jobs portal in the country? - Education & Knowledge: Wikipedia, wikiHow, Dictionary.com, Translator, Reuters Market Lite, Jagran Josh Our take: Why not the HRD Ministry's Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platform SWAYAM? Or online course sites like Coursera or Udemy? Or even About.com. - Health & Social Welfare: Facts for Life (UNICEF), BabyCenter & MAMA, Girl Effect (Nike Foundation), iLearn (UN Women), Malaria No More, Socialblood, and AP Speaks Our take: Why not HelpingDoc, Qikwell, MDhil, Lybrate? - News: BBC News, Times of India, India Today, NDTV,…
