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HC talks tough on healthcare
Now, kids could be penning their own textbooks
Awards given away on Teachers’ Day
St Stephen’s College principal admits row is over admission issue
Alarm over law and order situation in Faridabad
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Court officials transferred in wake of CBI surprise search
15-year-old boy rescued from UP forest
Delhi power crisis worsens
National paediatrics unit fails to take off
Jamia hostel issue: Students sit on relay fast
Workers of three Gurgaon companies warn of stir
Row over President’s medal for principal
‘Dengue has grown into an epidemic’
Schoolboy kills self in Noida
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HC talks tough on healthcare
New Delhi, September 5 A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice B. A. Khan and Mr Justice Madan B. Lokur asked the respondent officials to file their replies on this issue of public importance within a week. Failure to do this would translate into their having to personally appear in the court on September 22, the next date of hearing. The court was hearing an appeal filed by the Delhi Medical Association (DMA) against a Single-Bench order directing the Delhi Health Secretary to issue a press release in three English dailies and an equal number of Hindi newspapers here inviting grievances from the general public about the problems faced by them in government hospitals and private nursing homes. Converting the appeal into a PIL, the Bench said there was no dearth of reports about the problems being faced by patients. When petitioners’ counsel Vipin Sanghi submitted that private nursing homes had unnecessarily been dragged into it, the Bench retorted: “Are there not reports that you are making money out of dead bodies and selling kidneys?” Reminding the association that it was its foremost duty to check such things, the Bench asked why the DMA should have any grievance if an attempt was being made to improve the system. While hearing a petition by two young children whose mother died in July last year, allegedly due to negligence on the part of doctors at Gauri Nursing Home, Malkaganj Road, in north Delhi, Mr Justice R. C. Chopra had also issued notices to the Health Secretaries of the Centre and the Delhi Government. The Bench, however, made it clear the Single Bench would continue to hear the petition sans public interest. “The patients/citizens appear to be caught between the devil and the deep sea. If they go to a government hospital, there is indifference, neglect and inadequacy of infrastructure and in case they rush to private hospitals, there is exploitation and fleecing over which, there appears to be no control. “It is high time that the authorities concerned wake up to this alarming situation and take steps so that the patients suffering from life-threatening and serious ailments are saved and are not left helpless in government hospitals as well as private nursing homes,” Mr Justice Chopra had said. The Division Bench refused to stay the Single-Bench order that complaints received against government hospitals and private nursing homes be segregated and remedial measures be taken to protect the citizens’ life and health after getting the government’s response. “It has to be kept in mind that the patients facing serious health problems cannot be left to their fate. The State has to intervene,” Mr Justice Chopra observed. Mr Justice Chopra had refused to accept the report of a board of doctors (constituted on the request of the police) which said that prima facie there was no negligence on the part of Gauri Nursing Home in the death of the petitioner’s mother. The court directed the papers be sent to the AIIMS Medical Superintendent who would constitute another board of doctors and submit a report within six weeks about the circumstances under which the deceased, Seema, was operated upon and handled by the doctors at Gauri Nursing Home.
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Now, kids could be penning their own textbooks
New Delhi, September 5 Pointing out that the inability to read and write even after three or more years of schooling is one of the main reasons for children dropping out of school, the draft, which is being presented before the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) here on September 6, has put forth that children who are first generation learners should be “given the opportunity to construct their own texts and contribute self-selected texts to the classroom”. To encourage reading and writing among schoolchildren, the draft calls for classrooms to provide “print-rich environment” with emphasis on the display of charts, work-organising notices that promote iconic recognition of the written symbols in addition to teaching letter-sounds correspondence. Acknowledging that school syllabi are burdened with information and memorising tasks, the draft points out that the pleasure of reading for its own sake gets eliminated. Confining reading and writing within the narrow boundaries of curriculum robs children of their natural tendency to ask questions and thereby deprives them of capabilities of observation, perception and the urge to experiment, says Prof Yashpal, Chairperson of the National Steering Committee, that has readied the draft. Urging for a school system that is child inspired, Prof Yashpal says, “Children should be encouraged to observe and ask questions that are outside of the textbooks”. It is for this reason that the draft has laid emphasis on the use of additional reading materials like poems and stories apart from resorting to imaginative input that is read by “a competent reader with appropriate gestures and dramatisation”. Encouraging children to write and narrate their own experiences, placing writing in the same domain as artistic expression and ceasing to consider writing as an office skill are some other suggestions offered in the draft. To enhance the reading habit, it is proposed to deviate from the perception that reading fiction is a waste of time and instead one should cultivate school and community libraries. With the focus on imagination and creativity, the draft attempts to revitalise reading and writing holistically and deviate from a linear and additive way that often makes no sense to children.
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Awards given away on Teachers’ Day
New Delhi, September 5 A hundred municipal teachers were awarded Municipal Awards for their outstanding and meritorious services. Of these, 20 are headmasters, 72 general and five nursery teachers, and one physical, one music and art teacher. Besides, 14 teachers were given State Award and two National Award. For selection of teachers, various criteria are considered. These include teaching skills, achievements of the students like scholarship, results, competitions, achievements of the teachers, community participation and personality of the teachers. Out of the 100 award recipients, 77 are female. Municipal teachers award winners were honoured with a cash prize of Rs 5000, a commendation certificate and a memento. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Ram Babu Sharma said that the ACP scheme for teachers had been implemented in the MCD. It would put an additional burden of Rs 44 lakh on the Municipal Exchequer. He assured that he would strive hard for implementation of Gita Sagar Committee recommendations in the meeting of the Delhi Legislative Assembly. He also assured that posts of deputy Head Masters would be created in the MCD schools. Meanwhile, teachers from ten universities sought expunging of the remarks in the Supreme Court judgement against A R Geelani – an accused in the Parliament attack case who was subsequently discharged by the court – to express solidarity with on Teachers’ day saying that them to a “civil death sentence”. They also appealed to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) that certain remarks passed in the Apex Court judgement “are not fair and inconsistent with the principles of natural justice”. The teachers have also launched a signature campaign demanding that Mr Geelani will get full justice only by punishing “the guilty policemen who framed him and that stricture be passed against the POTA court which sentenced him to death without evidence.” In copies of first phase of signatures already submitted to the NHRC, the teachers also demanded that compensation and damages be given to Mr Geelani and his family members. And, the investigation into the case of attempt to murder Mr Geelani be transferred to CBI, the teachers demanded. Mr Geelani was shot at and injured on February 8, by some unknown assailants when he was going to his lawyers’ house here. At a press conference here, Madhu Prasad from Zakir Hussain College, Delhi where Mr Geelani is Abrabic
language teacher, said remarks against the latter had put his life in danger from the communal elements. Arun Kumar and Kamal Mitra Chenoy, teachers’ representatives from JNU, said all three courts which heard the Parliament attack case have made observations about the Special Cell and violation of basic legal safeguards and human rights by the police. But none of them passed stricture against the policemen who had rather been bestowed with gallantry awards by the government.
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St Stephen’s College principal admits row is over admission issue
New Delhi, September 5 The university is abuzz with speculation over whether Dr Wilson’s resignation will be accepted by the College Supreme Council. Dr Wilson, who has offered to step down as the Principal, say sources in the college, has done so in protest against “sustained pressure from the college Chairman, Bishop Karam Masih, to give unauthorised admissions to students”. Dr Wilson on his part told ‘The Tribune’: “On August 18, 2005, following a series of events flowing out of my attempt to maintain the integrity of our admissions process, I wrote to the College Supreme Council through its Chairman to allow me to relinquish my position as Principal of St Stephen’s College. The matter is now before the College Supreme Council and therefore it is not appropriate for me to comment on the same.” The attention has now shifted to the Supreme Council, which is likely to meet here later this week. “The Supreme Council will take the final decision, but one thing is clear that Dr Wilson has resigned because he is being forced to compromise on his moral values,” said a source. Irked by “interference from the clergy”, students and the staff want Dr Wilson to take back the resignation. “We want the Supreme Council to acknowledge what is happening in the college, which has been put forth earlier as well”. When asked whether Dr Wilson has been asked to reconsider his decision to step down, sources said: “He can be persuaded, but the precondition is that he along with the college community should be assured that such things (interference from the Bishop) will not be repeated and tolerated. Dr Wilson’s moral and ethical space should not be violated.” Commenting on the issue, DMC member Arnold said: “Being a minority community institution, there are various avenues to solve the problem than making things public by going to the press.”
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Alarm over law and order situation in Faridabad
Faridabad, September 5 At least two cases of rape and one case of alleged sale of a woman have been reported in the district in the past few days. The police have also recovered the body of a youth from the town. In all these cases, the police are clueless. According to report, a young married woman was ‘raped’ by her neighbour in a slum colony near sector- 4 on Friday. The accused, identified as Juber, entered the house of the woman around midnight and raped her. According to reports, the accused ran away when the victim raised an alarm. In another case, a 13-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her neighbour in PremNagar Jhuggi area near Old Faridabad town here. According to the complaint lodged with the police, the victim had gone to watch a television programme in her neighborhood on Friday night when the incident took place. Finding the girl alone, the accused, identified as Maan Singh, raped her while she was sleeping. The police has filed a case in this regard after the medical examination of the victim. However, no arrest has been made so far. In another incident, a resident of Adarsh Nagar locality of Ballabhgarh town here has lodged a complaint with the police alleging that his sister had been ‘sold’ by her husband. The complainant, identified as Krishan Behari, in his complaint to the senior police officials has stated that his sister, Rani, was “sold” after money demanded by her husband could not be met. He has sought an immediate probe into the matter. In another case, the police has recovered a body from a house in Subhash Nagar locality here. The deceased has been identified as Laxman. A woman of Machhghar village alleged that her in-laws attempted to kill her. Her husband is among those booked by the police in this connection.
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Court officials transferred in wake of CBI surprise search
New Delhi, September 5 All the staffers posted in the courts of Special Magistrates A K Sharma, S P Jain and S R Nautiyal have received transfer orders, Kamini Lau, Administrative-in-charge of Karkardooma courts told reporters. A judicial report of the search operation is stated to be submitted with the District Judge S N Dhingra, she said. The agency, on the complaint of Dhingra regarding large scale alleged irregularities in the courts handling challan matters, had carried out search of the three court rooms in the presence of Lau, Additional Sessions Judge S C Malik, ACMM Vinod Kumar and M M Ruby Alka Gupta last Friday. “It was found that outsiders had the access of all the judicial records as if they were regular employees and the whole machinery had become money spinning mills,” court sources said. CBI sources had said after questioning, one of the touts admitted the nexus with court officials. They said it was detected that instead of challan money going to the exchequer, it was allegedly pocketed by the court officials and other people involved in the illegal act. Elaborating the modus-operandi, agency sources said it was disclosed that in the cases where the challan was of Rs 2000, the court officials use to show Rs 50 as compounding amount and the rest was pocketed by them.
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15-year-old boy rescued from UP forest
New Delhi, September 5 The police also claimed to have seized a countrymade weapon along with four live cartridges from the accused person who has been
identified as Kalaktar Singh, alias DM (48), resident of Farukhabad. The police received a complaint from the victim’s brother that his brother was missing from August 19 and extensive searches for the victim resulted in vain. The complainant again told the police on August 23 that their neighbour received a ransom call and the kidnappers demanded Rs 5 lakh. During investigation, the police found the ransom calls were emanating from a PCO booth in Farukhabad. Immediately, a police team was despatched to trace
the victim. The police also identified the suspect as Rajesh, alias Bhura, and conducted raids in Nawab Ganj, Mohamdabad, Sikanderpur Vaish and Kampil to trace him. The complainant again told the police on September 3 about another ransom call from the kidnappers and informed the police that they would again call on September 4 for further instructions. Acting on this tip-off, the police team nabbed Kalaktar Singh from a forest in Farukhabad and rescued the victim. During interrogation, Singh, a notorious criminal of Farukhabad, told the police that he along with his accomplices had kidnapped the victim for money. The police have now launched a hunt to trace his associates Rajesh, Ram Partap and Anita.
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Delhi power crisis worsens
New Delhi, September 5 A spokesman for government-owned Transmission company (Transco), however, said the shortfall was only to the tune of 500 MW and “there is nothing uncommon about it”. “There is a shortfall of about 1000 MW as six units of Nathpa Jhakri hydel plant and outages at NTPC’s Singrauli plant, Rihand, Auraiya (UP), Indraprastha and Badarpur power stations in Delhi, have tripped,” a BSES spokesperson said. He said the Discom has already talked to Transco and it could take 24-48 hours to normalise. “The supply to the Northern grid has fallen and supply to Delhi has been adversely impacted due to this,” he said, adding additional supply of 340 MW from Himachal Pradesh and 180 MW from Andhra Pradesh has been arranged. The BSES spokesman said the problem of poor frequency would be solved by late night and supply to essential services like airports and hospitals have not been affected. “The load shedding is being done on a rotational basis in other areas and not for more than an hour,” he added. The BSES area is facing a shortage of 700 MW while the areas where Tatas controlled NDPL provides power is short of 300 MW.
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National paediatrics unit fails to take off
New Delhi, September 5 The proposed institute was to be set up at Kalawati Saran Hospital, which is one of the biggest hospitals for the treatment of child diseases
in India. At a seminar organised on child diseases in the Capital in 2000, paediatricians from all over the country had proposed to set up such a centre. They had also proposed the name of Kalawati Saran Hospital as it had all basic facilities for shaping up of the project. The proposal was sent to the Health Ministry for approval. The ministry approved the project promptly. According to the ministry’s notification, the project was to be started in 2002 and it was to be completed in early 2005 at any cost. According to sources, when the construction work was to start some dispute arose between the Health Ministry and the local civic agency, the NDMC. The Health Ministry had also approved some funds at that time and some costly equipment had also been purchased for the project from a Japan-based firm. These instruments have been gathering dust since then. Senior officials of the NDMC, however, refused to comment on the issue, saying only that certain bylaws were being flouted in the proposed construction and the civic agency could not overlook these. A well-known paediatrician and former president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), East Delhi branch, Dr P. D. Garg, said the project had become a victim of a tug of war between the two agencies. “With the completion of this project, this hospital would have become the biggest child hospital in Asia. At that time, it was even proposed to start a paediatric cardiac unit like the
superspeciality facilities in the institute,” he said. Health Ministry officials maintained that the project was very much alive and things were being sorted out.
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Jamia hostel issue: Students sit on relay fast
New Delhi, September 5 Students have been up in arms against the unsuitability of the new hostel as compared to the SRK hostel. Shams Pervez, a student said, “We have been sitting here in the hot sun since morning and the reason being given by the university authorities for shifting us out of SRK does not make any sense. If noise pollution is the main factor behind moving us out, then they should move the university library that is located near there as well.” He added that, “till our demands are met, we will sit here”. Another student Faizan added, “The Jamia Teachers Association promised that the SRK issue would be placed before the Academic Council. However, within days they started construction at SRK and then shifted offices there. We feel that we have been let down.” Meanwhile, Vice-Chancellor, Mushirul Hassan has decided to build a new hostel that will accommodate some 250 students in addition to the newly constructed Khellat hostel. Further, the estimated cost for this new project will be Rs 2.5 crore and another Rs 45 lakh has been allocated to build a new dining hall for hostellers. Moreover, the existing hostel facilities at Khellat are undergoing upgradation: these include area development at Khellat, an underground water tank and tile work for the toilets, among others. Rakshanda Jaleel, the university PRO adds, “There is a major misinformation campaign being run by the students. We do not see the SRK hostel as an issue. We are looking at the larger picture which will benefit both the students and Jamia.” However, the impasse persists between the university and the students.
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Workers of three Gurgaon companies warn of stir
Gurgaon, September 5 The workers were from Ramsons Auto Ltd, Aanchal Engineering Ltd and Amira Food Ltd. The participants included those contractual workers of Ramsons Auto Ltd whose services have been dispensed with by the management. However, the workers alleged that they had been working in the firm regularly for about 10 years. The management says that they were contractual workers. Besides, the workers demanded withdrawal of cases ‘fabricated’ against six of the workers of Amira Food Ltd. The workers of Aanchal Engineering Ltd have been staging dharna outside the company’s premises. They warned that if the demands of the workers of three firms are not met, they will be compelled to take the matter to the Trade Union Council and intensify their agitation. Along with the workers’ unions, representatives of three firms, and AITUC leaders also took part in the meeting.
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Row over President’s medal for principal
Meerut, September 5 Mr Ompal Singh has been selected for the President’s Medal this year, but there is considerable controversy over his eligibility for it. His supporters argued that every year the result of SD Sadar Inter College was 100 per cent and most of the student got first class in both high school and in intermediate i.e. classes 10 and 12. But facts tell a completely different story, for most of the students in classes IX and XI in this school fail to clear their examinations. Certain sources said the school did not even have adequate teaching staff. Some sources also say that Mr Ompal Singh also charged a very high admission fee — around Rs 2,000 — although only Rs 43 is authorised in the Government Inter College in Meerut. The teaching fraternity of this town are apparantly quite irked by his selection for the President’s Medal.
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‘Dengue has grown into an epidemic’
New Delhi, September 5 “Instead of controlling dengue, the Delhi government and the MCD are just hiding the dengue figures,” Mr Mukhi said in a statement after visiting a hospital treating patients suffering from the disease. In a separate statement attacking the Delhi government over the water crisis in the Capital, Mr Mukhi called for a constitutional amendment to include access to drinking water as a “fundamental right”.
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Schoolboy kills self in Noida
Noida, September 5
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