Changing station names will not help trains to come on time: UP minister

On Sunday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, Minister of Finance, Railways, Coal and Corporate Affairs Piyush Goyal and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the new Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction railway station, earlier known as Mughalsarai. The renaming of the iconic railway station was proposed by Adityanath in August last year and within hours of the proposed change being put into effect, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) leader and Uttar Pradesh Backward Class Welfare Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar said changing names will not lead to development or help trains come on time. This is the same minister who had accused the BJP of betrayal on several occasions and kept the party on tenterhooks over support for a candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls. Like on earlier occasions, he clarified that the SBSP has an alliance with the ruling party till 2024.

Nitish's plea 

A day after the Opposition came together to protest alleged sexual exploitation at a Muzaffarpur shelter home in Bihar, state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar urged journalists to focus on “the positives”. Kumar was addressing them after launching a scheme to provide alternative livelihoods to families that were earlier engaged in the country liquor and toddy trade. On Saturday, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav had organised a protest against the Muzaffarpur case in New Delhi in which Congress president Rahul Gandhi also participated.

Solved, but how?

Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik was reportedly far from impressed when one of the Deputy Commissioners of Police claimed to have solved a whopping 83-plus per cent of snatching cases in the district he was handling. Once the said officer was done presenting the figure in the crime review meeting, Patnaik is learnt to have asked how believable those numbers were. The DCP explained he reached the figure on the basis of the arrests made, as one arrested individual could be linked to several cases. In response, the commissioner wanted to know if these arrests had also led to recoveries of snatched items. What was important in his calculation was not the “volume” but the “value” of the arrests.