Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday asserted that members of the INDIA bloc will sit together and decide the Prime Ministerial face if voted to power in the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

“After being elected, all of us will sit together and decide the Prime Ministerial face,” Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma.

The INDIA bloc is an alliance of 28 political parties formed to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

However, the mega alliance is yet to brainstorm on its Prime Ministerial face.

Speaking on the Chhattisgarh assembly polls, the Congress president said, “We will cross 75 (seats), not less than that. We will provide free education to children from primary to post-graduation, will give cylinders to women… The elected MLAs will decide who will hold the Chief Ministerial post”.

Earlier today, Mallikarjun Kharge also held a public gathering in the Sukma district where he threw brickbats at the BJP stating that the latter “fooled” people in the name of caste and religion.

“They fooled people in the name of religion and caste. They trick people by saying that they made a woman belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC) President. They should know that the Congress party gave the first woman Prime Minister to the country. The Congress empowered the backward classes”, Mr Kharge said.

Praising the previous Congress governments, he said, “The BJP keeps asking what Congress has done for the country. There were no schools, no banks and no jobs. It all was done by the Congress. Modi Sahab (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) asks what we have done in the past 70 years. We have built the country. We constructed schools, public sectors, banks, industries, etc. Did Modiji construct schools in Chhattisgarh?”

Chhattisgarh is scheduled to hold polls in two phases on November 7 and 17. The counting of votes will take place on December 3 in all five poll-bound states.

Earlier in the 2018 assembly polls, the Congress came to power with a landslide victory, winning 68 seats out of 90.

Alliance Francaise, an institution supported by the French government to promote French language and culture, will open two new branches in Udaipur and Bhubaneshwar, France’s Minister of State for Development and International Partnership Chrysoula Zacharopoulou announced on Thursday.

“France aims to make French language and culture easily accessible everywhere in India, that’s why we are opening two other branches of Alliance Francaise in India, one in Udaipur and one in Bhubaneswar,” she said during a visit to the institute in Delhi.

According to the French embassy here, France boasts a network of 15 alliance françaises and seven branches in India, providing French language classes to more than 28,000 students.

The minister interacted with the students at the institute and shared her experience of learning French language.

“I was on same page as every non-French people when I started learning the language, I am a Greek by blood, French was never my mother tongue but here I am…French is a language for everybody,” she said.

During the interaction, Shilpi, one of the recruited volunteers from India, said, “I stared learning French in 2022 and within very less span of time I managed to learn French, my learning enhanced when I had the opportunity to stay in France for eight months. France’s environment taught me a lot and it has opened ample opportunities for me.” Lina, a French volunteer who has been living in India for a few months, said, “I am enjoying and learning the ways of India’s rich culture, I can speak basic Hindi words now.” 

Going for a movie or an interview and want to safely keep your handbag or cameras for a few hours at some place, well, Delhi Metro commuters can do that now by renting digital lockers at 50 of its stations through a new mobile app launched on Wednesday.

Delhi Metro is the first mass rapid transit system in the country to introduce such unique facilities for commuters, officials said.

The app — ‘Momentum 2.0’ — also allows commuters to do online purchasing from listed e-commerce companies through ‘virtual stores’ located at 20 metro stations, send a courier via a smart box (digi-locker) and buy QR code-based tickets.

The cutting-edge mobile application which seeks to enhance the experience of metro riders beyond travelling has taken a year and a half in the making, and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) plans to expand the ‘virtual stores’ and ‘digi-lockers’ facilities to majority of its stations by June 2024.

Delhi Metro’s network spans 393 kilometres with 288 stations, including the Noida-Greater Noida corridor and the Rapid Metro in Gurugram.

The app was formally launched by DMRC’s Managing Director, Vikas Kumar at the Shivaji Stadium metro station.

PTI in February 2022 had reported on this visionary project when it was in its infancy stage and the DMRC had hired a top consulting firm to work on the plan.

Using ‘Momentum 2.0’, which can be downloaded on both Android and iOS phones, a commuter can rent a ‘smart box’ (digi-locker) at any of the 50 stations on Lines 1-7 and the Airport Line, on the go.

These stations include, Rajiv Chowk, Millennium City Centre Gurugram, Dwarka Sector 10, Supreme Court, Pul Bangash, Netaji Subhash Place, Shaheed Sthal (New Bus Adda), Dilshad Garden, Noida City Centre, Anand Vihar, Tughlakabad, Sarita Vihar, Moolchand and IP Extension.

“Using this app, a person can rent a locker at any of these stations, from a minimum of one hour and up to six hours. The penal amount will be charged if the time limit exceeds beyond the period for which the digi-locker has been rented,” Anurag Bajpai, founder of AutoPe Payment Solution, told PTI.

The new app, a joint initiative of Delhi Metro and AutoPe Payment Solutions Pvt. Ltd., seeks to provide seamless access to metro rides while making the commute time count.

“Think of these digi-lockers akin to the ‘cloakroom’ facility provided at stations of the Indian Railways, but the metro facility is driven by an app powered by a cutting-edge digital platform, which enhances the experience of riders while allowing them an option to do more than travel all while on the go,” a senior official of the DMRC told news agency PTI.

These ‘smart boxes’ have been installed in a grid format and each station has a set of 83-90 digital lockers, with a console at the centre.

“For renting a digi-locker, a user will have to go to the interface of the app, which shows the option of ‘rent-a-locker’, and once it is pressed, it asks the user to select a metro station, date, time, and duration of renting in the number of hours, and locker size – small (Rs 20 per hour), medium (Rs 30 per hour) or large (Rs 40 per hour), and the available time slots,” Bajpai said.

After payment, a PIN number will be generated which will be displayed on the app interface, and which is valid for both drop and pick-up of a package.

For dropping a package, a user will have to choose the ‘drop package’ tab from the home page of the console, and then after entering the authorised PIN, the digi-locker will open automatically, without any manual intervention, Bajpai said.

There is no physical lock or key in this system, it is all a digital platform-driven system, he said.

For making an online purchase from a ‘virtual store’, a user needs to just scan a QR code displayed on a wall of the set up at a metro station, and then it will ask for the station at which the delivery is to be made.

“After scanning the code, the item on sale will be displayed, and then payment can be done and the destination station needs to be mentioned where the item will be delivered. It will be kept in a digi-locker from which it can be picked up by the buyer later,” another senior official of AutoPe Payment Solutions said.

For using the courier service, a user can choose the service from the app, and mention the address where a courier needs to be sent and then choose the station where it is being deposited, Bajpai said.

The courier will then be picked by the partner courier agency, so a user won’t have to go to a post office or a courier agency, and the package will be delivered at its destination, he said, adding, “The future plan is to have a hyperlocal courier delivery, wherein a courier can be picked up by the recipient from a metro station only on the dame day when it is delivered”.

The app also offers the option to buy QR code-based tickets for all metro lines, including the Airport Line, eliminating the need of multiple apps in turn enhancing user experience, the DMRC said.

In addition, a Delhi Metro smart card’s recharging as well as transaction details of the card can also be seen in the app. There is also an option for commuters to give standing instructions in the app for ‘auto top-up’ in case the balance falls below a minimum defined value, it said.

The users will also be able to pay utility bills such as electricity bills, gas bills, mobile bills, DTH bills, FASTag payments, etc easily, the DMRC added.

At a metro station, the app also provides station-related information, along with details of the location of facilities, gates, lifts, escalators, platforms and first and last train timings. As the time of arrival is based on the destination, a bike or cab can be made ready to receive a passenger at the exact time in the designated area, officials said.

Food outlets or ATMs can also be located with the app. Also, it offers information on shops, outlets, kiosks, and ATMs available at metro stations, they said.