Aam Aadmi empowered by policies of Congress: Raj Babbar !!

            Congress leader and filmstar Raj Babbar could contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election from Fatehpur Sikri, the seat he lost in the previous elections to BSP candidate Seema Upadhyay.

             Indicating that he is leaving his fate in the hands of the people and the party high command, Raj Babbar said that he will contest any seat where the party asks him to. 

              Both Firozabad and Agra are his hometowns, having been born in Tundla (Firozabad) and studied in Agra.

              Terming the Congress policies as people-friendly, Babbar criticized the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and said that the UPA has empowered the common man and the AAP is encashing that empowerment. 

           He said that the AAP's rise is a sign of changing political thought of the people in the country and the UPA will act in accordance to the changed scenario and the party workers will connect with the common people at the grass root level.

           Babbar has won twice from Agra, defeating BJP candidates Bhagwan Shanker Rawat and Murarilal Fatehpuriya, while he lost the third election from nearby Fatehpur Sikri seat to BSP candidate Seema Upadhyay. 

           He won the by-election from Firozabad and is currently the sitting MP from the seat, although his desire to return to Agra is not hidden to anyone. 

           Agra being a reserved seat, Babbar will have to remain content by contesting from the Fatehpur Sikri seat.

Airtel offers free pre-paid mobile access to Facebook in nine Indian languages.

Bharti Airtel will offer free access to social networking site Facebook in nine regional Indian languages to its prepaid customers across the country for a limited period, the company said on Friday.

"...it will offer free Facebook access in 9 regional Indian languages to its prepaid customers across India," Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

                                    The company said its customers who are Facebook users on the mobile (browser or app) will be able to access Facebook in Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

                                    According to Airtel, existing mobile internet customers on Airtel can immediately start connecting with their friends by visiting the Facebook mobile site m.facebook.com. Customers accessing the mobile internet for the first time need to register at m.facebook.com to avail of this special offer.

"A limited period offer, Airtel will allow customers to access Facebook free of cost with a cap of 30MB per month to add joy to the festivities," the statement added.

             The company said the interface is compatible with feature, Java, Android, iPhone & Windows devices alike.

BSNL to install mobile towers in naxal-hit areas by end of 2014

State-run telecom operator BSNL says it plans to install mobile towers in naxal-affected areas by the end of this year, for which the company has selected a vendor and identified 450 locations.

"BSNL has opened the tender and selected the vendor. The market price for the project has been obtained, which is communicated to the Department of Telecom (DoT). Further decision is to be taken after the approval of the Telecom Commission," an official of state-owned BSNL told PTI.

The official said the timeline could be achieved if the Telecom Commission gives its approval in January.

"As soon as the approval is there, we are prepared to carry out work in one year's time," he added.

The official said BSNL has already installed 363 towers and identified another 450 sites for setting up towers.

( Also see : BSNL to open bids for solar-powered 2G mobile towers in Naxal areas: Report )

BSNL was mandated to set up the towers, the cost of which will be borne by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), which is administered by DoT.

The USOF was created under the National Telecom Policy of 1999 to help provide telecom services at affordable prices to people in rural areas where no phone facilities are available.

BSNL floated a tender in August for the supply, installation, testing, operation and maintenance of 2GGSM network towers at 1,315 sites for five years in left-wing extremist areas of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal.

The Cabinet cleared the three-year old proposal to set up mobile towers at a cost of about Rs. 3,046 crores in naxal-affected states in June, following an attack that killed 27 people, including senior Congress leaders, in Chhattisgarh in May.