Rahul Gandhi visits Karunanidhi in hospital
Chennai, July 31 : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday visited DMK President M. Karunanidhi at the Kauvery Hospital. Gandhi enquired about Karunanidhi's health from the doctors as well as his son and DMK leader M.K. Stalin.
Speaking to reporters later, Gandhi said: "I wanted to come and see Karunanidhiji and stand with him. I met him. He is fine and stable."
Gandhi said Karunanidhi, 94, had the spirit of Tamil Nadu people in him. "He (Karunanidhi) is very tough person. He is stable.
"We have a long relationship with him. Soniaji sent her best wishes and regards to Karunanidhi's family," Gandhi said, referring to former Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Karunanidhi, who was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for five times and who has never lost an assembly election in the 13 times he has contested, was admitted to the hospital on Saturday after his blood pressure dipped.
After a "transient setback" in the clinical condition of Karunanidhi, his vital signs are normalizing with active medical support, Kauvery Hospital said on Sunday.
On July 26, Kauvery Hospital said Karunanidhi was being treated for fever due to urinary tract infection with intravenous antibiotics and fluids at his home here. However, after his blood pressure dipped, he was admitted to Kauvery Hospital.
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Union government assumes full control over TV ratings, TRAI role curtailed: Report
New Delhi: The Union government has assumed full control over television audience measurement, removing the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) from oversight of the ratings system that underpins the country’s ₹36,000 crore television advertising market, according to a report published on Wednesday.
The report in Mint said the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) now has exclusive authority over the framework governing how television ratings are measured and regulated. TRAI had been entrusted with oversight of TV ratings in 2012 during the UPA government’s tenure. TRAI is no longer mentioned in the relevant policy document, effectively vesting sole authority in the MIB.
The report said TRAI will continue to regulate other aspects of broadcasting, including channel pricing, advertising caps, interconnection and distribution norms, service quality and compliance standards. Its role in determining how ratings agencies track viewing behaviour has been withdrawn.
Television Rating Points (TRPs), which reflect viewership patterns, guide advertisers in deciding where to allocate spending across channels and time slots.
A government source quoted in the report said the ministry could modify TRAI’s decisions even when the regulator oversaw broadcasting.
A former CEO of Prasar Bharati told the newspaper that the MIB has historically regulated rating agencies through licensing and guidelines, and by holding them accountable under existing norms.
During its tenure overseeing ratings, TRAI had taken decisions affecting the broadcast sector, which included capping advertising time at 12 minutes per hour following complaints about excessive commercial breaks and it now remains unclear how these matters will be addressed under the revised arrangement.
Satya N. Gupta, former principal advisor at TRAI, was quoted as saying that merging regulatory functions with policy oversight and removing an independent regulator from the process was a retrograde step.
TRAI’s involvement in broadcasting had earlier attracted criticism as well. In 2012, its consultation paper on quantitative limits on television advertising was viewed by some as overlapping with the Advertising Standards Council of India’s code. Subsequent recommendations covering television audience measurement, ownership of news channels and issues such as paid news had also raised concerns among sections of the industry.
Television ratings have faced scrutiny in recent years, including during the controversy involving the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), where officials of the ratings body were prosecuted over allegations of manipulation of viewership data.
