Arvind Kejriwal Says Rahul Gandhi 'Just a Kid', in Row Over Delhi Slum Demolition

Arvind Kejriwal today called Rahul Gandhi a "kid" in a political war of words over the controversial demolition at a Delhi slum on Saturday, in which a baby died.

The Chief Minister derided Mr Gandhi for blaming Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for the demolition at Shakur Basti by the railway police, which reports to the Centre.

"Why is AAP doing dharna? They are in power in Delhi," Mr Gandhi was quoted as saying, in response to AAP lawmakers protesting at Parliament.



The Chief Minister then tweeted in Hindi: "Rahul Gandhi ji is still a kid. His party has perhaps not told him that railway comes under the central government, not Delhi government."

Another AAP leader, Ashutosh, said Mr Gandhi's comments show why the Congress was routed in the national election last year. "Now I know y Congress is reduced to 44?(sic)," he tweeted.

The demolition has provoked a political war with Rahul Gandhi making a high profile visit to the slums today and AAP taking its protests against the Centre to Parliament.

AAP alleges that no warning was given before the demolition, which has left thousands without a home in deepening winter. A six-month-old died allegedly because a heap of clothes fell on her while her family was trying to pack up and hurry out of their home.

The homes were razed allegedly to make way for a railway terminal. Mr Kejriwal visited the area in the early hours of Sunday and said: "Those who did this are not humans, they are beasts. God will not forgive them."

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said in Parliament that several warnings were given to the slum residents. "Such encroachments are the main source of garbage and are a safety hazard," he said.

When Rahul Gandhi Didn't Quite Get the Audience Reaction He Wanted

Rahul Gandhi's potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet "Swachh Bharat" and "Make in India" campaigns appeared to misfire today as he addressed students at a college in Bengaluru.

During a Q and A at the prestigious Mount Carmel College for women, Mr Gandhi spoke on a range of subjects with a common idea, that the "suit-boot" government was failing on all fronts.

Warming up to his theme of "all talk and no direction", Mr Gandhi said: "With the Modi government, I don't see a clear direction, I hear a lot of talk. Are we serious? Clean your country is a strategic national government programme? Well it's not working, is it?"


If he hoped for a loud, resounding "no", he did not get one. His surprise was visible when he heard: "It is!"

Stumped, the Congress leader pressed: "You see it working?" Again, he got a louder "Yes" than "No".

He recovered and said: "Ok I don't see Swachh Bharat working very well."

Mr Gandhi then tried another question. "You think Make in India is working?" This time, he got a mix of ayes and nays. "You think youngsters in India are getting jobs?" he asked.

He finally stopped asking. "I don't see a vision that the BJP is projecting. So for the Congress...we have to come up with a potential vision for the people of India," he said.

Targeting PM Modi, the Congress leader said: "Only one man decides everything in this government. I don't believe that only one man has the solution to India's problems."

To a question on the youth opting for the Aam Aadmi Party and BJP rather than the Congress, Mr Gandhi admitted: "In 10 years, there was some fatigue with the Congress. There were some things we did wrong...and we lost the elections. We need to give a new face and image to the Congress."

TRAI formulates steps to publish circle-wise network quality of operators on regular basis,

TRAI formulates steps to publish circle-wise network quality of operators on regular basis, action will assist consumers to take informed choice

Besides the proposal to give compensation to consumers on call drops, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is planning to publish another paper on tracking the network quality of operators regularly. Such a tracking will help the subscribers understand which operator provides the best service in an area and choose the service provider accordingly.

“Ideally customers should know quality of service provided by each base tower station (BTS), but the feasibility for that needs to be checked,” TRAI Chairman RS Sharma said. “Ideally we should have BTS wise QoS (Quality of Service), but I don’t know feasibility of that as of now.”

Currently, TRAI is assessing the status of service at state or telecom circle level of each operator and plan to publish a position paper. TRAI is considering to make it mandatory for the telecom operators to publish data on their network capabilities on a regular basis. These data will be provided to the citizens to make apt decisions on choosing a provider.

“We will collect data from operators. It will be put on a map and show you status of QoS in your area,” Sharma said. “We are doing data analytics of high granularity to bring out where problem is high and we will also come up with reason. Be it overload, lack of tower, we will come out with reason in a position paper. It will come in couple of weeks,” he added.

Call drop has become a serious concern during the last few months. Following the surge in complaints, TRAI assessed the service quality of operators in Delhi and Mumbai. The regulator found that they do not adhere to the prescribed standards on call drops. TRAI has asked the operators to disclose the steps they have taken to address the issue.

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi too intervened in the issue and urged the departments to solve the issue at the earliest.

Meanwhile, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said that the issue is not due to the overall capacity of the operators, but it is the aftermath of shutting down of mobile towers across the country. The industry body added that the mobile network capacity of each site is planned on the basis of estimated traffic in the covered areas. However, it did not reveal on its decision to disclose the operators’ capacity circle wise.

“In fact, such a practice is mandatory to honor government’s commitment to transparency and efficient governance,” sources from Government say.

PM releases digital version of Ramcharitmanas

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today released the digital version of Ramcharitmanas, as a set of digital CDs produced by All India Radio.

Praising the efforts of the artistes who had contributed to this musical production, the Prime Minister said they had performed not just sangeet sadhna, but also sanskriti sadhna and sanskaar sadhna (devotion not just to music, but also to culture and tradition). 

The Prime Minister described the Ramcharitmanas as a great epic which contained the "essence of India." He mentioned how the Indians who had travelled to various parts of the world, such as Mauritius, kept alive their link with India over successive generations, through the Ramcharitmanas.

The Prime Minister appreciated the role played by All India Radio – Akashvani – in uniting the people and spreading awareness and information in India. He said that he has been informed that All India Radio has approximately 9 lakh hours of audio recordings of various artistes from across the country. He said this was a priceless collection, which should be documented in detail for posterity.

The Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shri Arun Jaitley, and the Chairman Prasar Bharati Board Shri Suryaprakash were present on the occasion.

Rahul takes tea break in separatists' bastion

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday made a surprise visit to Maisuma locality, the hub of separatist protests in the city, near the city centre of Lal Chowk for a tea and snacks break at a local vendor.

"Just after leaving the Congress party office (at M A Road here) for airport, Rahul ji expressed a desire to visit Lal Chowk, so the cavalcade made a u-turn at Jehangir Chowk and halted at Maisuma Chowk (near Lal Chowk)," Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) President G A Mir told PTI.

At Maisuma, which is the bastion of separatist leader and JKLF chairman Yasin Malik, Rahul walked up to a local vendor at the busy market place, sending his security team into frenzy.

"Rahul had tea, pakoras (snacks) and Bakirkhani (local bread) at the vendor. He also bought potato chips and 'nadrumunj' (the famous Kashmiri snacks made from lotus stems) from the vendor and took them home," Mir said.

The JKPCC president said Rahul felt very happy after visiting Maisuma.

"He was extremely happy and excited," he said.

Earlier, the congress vice-president visited many religious places in the Valley including the revered shrines of Kheer Bhawani and Hazratbal.

"Rahul paid obeisance at the temple of Kheer Bhawani (in Ganderbal district), at Hazratbal Shrine (on the banks of the famous Dal Lake here) and at a temple in Ishber Nishat," Mir said.

He said Rahul also wanted to visit the shrine of Makhdoom sahib atop the Hariparbat hillock in downtown Srinagar.

"However, the security agencies did not allow the visit at such a short notice," Mir said.

Rahul also visited the party headquarters here, his first visit there after the last years' flood.

"He visited the party office and interacted with the party cadre," Mir said.

Rahul, who was on a three-day visit to the state, concluded his tour after his Ladakh visit was cancelled earlier.

"The Ladakh visit could not fructify as there was some change in his earlier schedule. Rahul will visit the state again in the coming months and that time he will only go to Ladakh," the Congress sources said.