New Delhi, February 21
Two class four students of Nagar Nigam Prathmik School, Metro Vihar in Narela, were severely beaten by the teacher of the school. One of them had a head injury while other fell unconscious.

The incident took place in the class of Pradeep Kumar, maths teacher who did not like the fact that the two boys were looking out of the classroom window.

Students Narender, 9, and Amit, 10, were called by the teacher and beaten by a cane. Narender was hurt in the head which led to bleeding while Amit fell unconscious.

When the parents of the students were informed of the incident, they approached the principal with relatives and friends.

Not satisfied with the authorities’ reasoning, a large demonstration was held on the school premises. It led to disruption of the classes.

The parents were demanding the arrest of Pradeep Kumar while the school authorities were trying to reach a compromise.

New Delhi, February 21
The reforms outlined by both National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) may be good enough for bringing out analytical and reasoning abilities in students preparing for class X and XII final exams but not by any means the panacea for destressing students and preventing suicides.

Experts are viewing the forthcoming examinations this year as more stressful than ever before owing to uncertainty of the new curriculum and “out of syllabus” analytical or higher order thinking skills, popularly called HOTS coupled with loss of appetite and sleep.

Now students need to think more and not memorize notes. One should supplement his/her food with the nutrient-rich beverages to think sharper. If exam stress makes you lose appetite switch to light meals alongside micronutrient fortified beverage.

As of now, many parents and educationists are under the impression that the revised National Curriculum Framework (NCF) would give much needed respite to students in terms of providing an alternative to the rigid education system in the country, but in reality it is not so.

“In the new NCF, students have to apply their analytical and thinking skills. Only a fraction of exam pattern is supposed to change in the forthcoming board exams,” says Ms Reva Alex Danial, Principal, St. Paul’s School, New Delhi.

According to experts, the stress (S) factor often goes unnoticed because the damage done often gets blamed on other diseases and conditions.

Apart from exerting mental pressure and psychological changes, physically, a child can experience heart pounding, headaches, sweaty palms, indigestion, sleeplessness, and tight stomach—things likely to prevent one from giving the best shot.

Researchers at Michigan State University say that exam pressure is more likely to impair the performance of good students than average ones by affecting their strong short-term or working memory that enables them to process numbers and thoughts while focusing on a problem.

While high expectations prevent some students from giving their best, some may be able to handle pressure; many others lose focus and exhaust themselves studying.

So how does one cope? Counsellors suggest early preparation/mock tests, time management/breaks and healthy lifestyle to handle students fear to ensure studies do not pile up at the end moment and cause undue havoc.

Examination phobia, popularly called ‘Exam Ka Bhoot’ syndrome, catches children fast and last-minute efforts to cram for exams are a common sight witnessed in every household with bigger dreams.

Stress and anxiety disturbs the delicate biochemical balance in the body and is known to cause deficiency in certain proteins and vitamins like A, C and K.

Bad snacks and wrong diet can affect the effectiveness of their study regardless of whether the students are good or bad. Edibles from caffeine to sugar to proteins are said to help boost concentration.

Dr Bhavna Burmi, child psychologist, Escorts Heart and Research Institute, New Delhi, insist students should ensure they get enough sleep, stay hydrated, forgo excessive amount of caffeine, take regular breaks and maintain a study routine to stay calm and achieve their best results.

The brain being a hungry organ needs fuel and nutrients particularly during exam times when students are putting additional physical and mental stress on themselves.

Hence, it becomes important to consume vitamin E for healthy blood flow, yoghuurt for good bacteria and iodine for the brain, citrus fruits to build immunity, baked beans for building proteins and fresh vegetables along with enough water to keep the brain hydrated.

Rajkumar Sharma is a notorious muscleman of the area, with murder and attempt to murder cases against him. He has been convicted in one murder case.

New Delhi, February 21
Thirteen children who were allegedly forced into begging at traffic signals were freed with the help of an NGO from the posh Moti Bagh-Chanakyapuri area here.

Shanti 10 years old from Ajmer, Rajasthan came to Motibagh traffic signal when she was 7 years old with a woman called Kali.

“Kali aunty came to my village and used to talk to my mother everyday and then one day my mother told me to pack my bags to go to the big city called New Delhi; so with 7 children from my village I came here. I was forced to beg from 8 am to 11 pm. I was forced to tear my clothes and not bath for months so that I could look miserable and could get more money from the passersby and we were given meal only once in a day so that we looked thin and malnourished”, recalled Shanti when rescued by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement) and the police today.

All 13 children rescued in this operation showed signs of physical abuse. BBA activists found that these children were not only beaten but also given a kind of tobacco called ‘gul’ so that they could survive all kinds of harshness.

These children were also given a target of collecting Rs. 300 per day. On failing to meet the target they would be beaten up.

According to the NGO, in all 20 children were identified but only 13 children could be rescued as seven children were made to run away.

The information of the 20 children working on the Moti Bagh traffic signal was given by the Khoj Foundation, a non-profit organization working for street children.

When the children told the activists of Khoj that they were forced to beg and wanted to go home, the organisation filed a complaint to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) on January 15 and the order by CWC was passed on to R.K Puram Police Station to take action on the Juvenile Justice Act 2000 amendment 2006 on January 31,but nothing was doneaboutit.

The Khoj Foundation then approached BBA. The raid was conducted under the leadership of Rakesh Senger, national secretary of BBA.

Suraj the youngest child rescued in today’s raid is seven year old and is not mentally stable. He wants to go home but is not able to recall from where he was brought to the city.

“I was made to beg on different traffic signals by Tony and he used to beat me a lot as I could not complete the target of Rs 300 per day. People from whom I ask for money are very rich as their cars are huge in size; I also want to be like them rich and strong”, says Suraj.

Gurgaon, February 21
Haryana excise and taxation minister Birender Singh today made it clear that in the excise policy for 2008-09, the provision to allow the extension of bar timings by two hours on payment of additional fee of Rs 5 lakh and for 24 hours operation an additional annual payment of Rs 10 lakh was made in order to match the facilities extended to the bars in the metropolitan Delhi.

The minister clarified that this facility would be admissible only to the hotels having grading of 4 stars and above in the state.

He said that Haryana Government had recently approved the State’s Excise Policy for the year 2008-09 having a number of salient features and efforts had been made to check the monopoly of some liquor contracters effectively.

He said that according to the new Excise Policy, it was expected that the excise revenue would touch Rs 1440 crore, which was about Rs 90 crore more than the target of current financial year of Rs 1350 crore.

The excise minister said that the licence fee of bars in four and five star hotels and above category had been revised to Rs 10 lakh besides the government had also revised the time of sale hours from 9 a.m. to 12 midnight as against 8 a.m. to 12 midnight earlier.

New Delhi, February 21
For the first time in India students of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, have constructed a humanoid.

A team of five, Samay, Arpit, Harsh and Prayag, including one professor, RK Mittal, has worked out to the idea.

Samay, 21 and Arpit, 20, were in the capital on Thursday to arrange the finances required for the venture.

“We have constructed a humanoid,” said Samay. “It is called Acyut, the one that never falls.”

The group might have taken up the project as part of their course but eventually it has become more than that.

“We saw Prahlad Vadakkepat’s robot during a show in our institute. That is where we got our push from; it was inspiring for us,” said Arpit.

Fellow students from BITS thought it was an assembled kit when they saw their humanoid. “We had to show them the video of how we assembled it to make them believe,” said Arpit.

However, the journey has not been very smooth. “It is very challenging to put all of it together,” said Samay.

“Buying the equipment from America and getting it delivered through a shipment is hard task. I had to keep the track our stuff.”

“One has to be very patient while working with the robot. You have to put in effort to make it do things that we take for granted in human beings,” said Arpit. “At times vague guesses work magic and just right combinations do not work.”

The team has shifted their mattresses to the laboratory while they work on the project 12 to 18 hours a day.

“We literally live in the CRIS (Center for Robotic and Intelligent Systems). It is a mess by the night. In the morning we clean it up before the professors start coming in,” said Samay.

The final result though is worth all the efforts. “While demonstration Acyut identified a football, walked up to it and hit the ball into the goal,” said the duo fascinated with the performance of their brainchild. “We still have to adjust it so that it can identify a goal keeper and play accordingly.”

The team is now looking at the biggest international competition of robots, “RoboGames,” which is going to take place in America in June this year.

“It is more like a get-together; luckily it has not been commercialised as yet. Participants share their experiences and learn from each other,” said Samay.

Instead of the help from the former students of BITS and sponsors, team requires Rs 2.5 lakh more to support Acyut.

“It is an expensive endeavor, even though BITS batch of 1976 is taking care of our trip to the competition, equipment are very expensive,” said Arpit.

The duo gets very excited while talking about the future of the humanoids. “They can replace human beings in the labour extensive areas like household work for example. If servants become expensive and unreliable may be one can use robots,” said Samay.

“ Robots can have a role in areas involving high risk to human life like Army,”
said Arpit.

While working with equations and robots, the team still retains their youth and care about their identity.

“I don’t think anyone would call us nerd in the institute,” the duo laughs. “We are more interested in practical work instead. We should go and confirm though.”

New Delhi, February 21
“The importance of oil in both war and peace time has to be underlined, this is the blood of the earth that has made nations and broken them,” says author and journalist, Dilip Hero.

‘Blood of the Earth’ is Hero’s most recent book and he was giving a talk on it recently in the Capital.

The author further gives food for thought informing that, “What has really caused a great change in the running of India’s economy – it is oil, this is the base-line that has led our economy to transform itself to what it has today.”

Hero comments, “The importance of oil in peace time is massive – there is a direct co-relation between living standards, military and diplomatic policy and power, the international standing of a nation and the consumption of energy.”

Hero in his book traces the emergence of oil politics back to when the Great Powers switched from coal to oil to run their navies pre-World War I.

This heralded a change in global politics comparable to the introduction of gunpowder in 1040.

Oil became the chief strategic weapon of war. Oil, the ‘blood of the earth’ proved to be the ‘blood of victory’ and has since applied to all major conflicts.

“The US reached the peak of its oil productivity back in the 1920’s and has used this to leverage their position with the rest of the world. It was after the US entry into the World War I and the influx of oil that came with it that the allies won,” says an animated Hero.

He adds, “It was after the war was over that the US companies made inroads into West Asia, Saudi Arabia, for oil.”

Hero says that significantly oil plays an important role in both war and peace, “if you have energy then living standards are up, power is up and nations exercise influence. In the coming years, the configuration of power in the world will increasingly get concentrated on nations with oil reserves.”

The author comments that it is currently important for India to adjust its diplomacy to get the best access to oil and natural gas.

He adds that as oil reserves deplete, more attention will be given to natural gas and this is an area that has to be thoroughly researched and accessed now.

The battle for hydrocarbon reserves is comparable with the European nations’ violent scramble for colonies in the 19th century.

The crucial difference this time is that the impending struggle will go beyond a handful of European powers and will include China and India.’

When the Great Powers switched from coal to oil to run their navies just before World War I, it heralded a change in global politics comparable to the introduction of gunpowder in 1040.

Oil became the chief strategic weapon of war. The victors’ conclusion that oil—the ‘blood of the earth’—proved to be the ‘blood of victory’ has since applied to all major conflicts.

With petroleum becoming an indispensable part of modern life—from fertilizers and fuel to plastics and pharmaceuticals—it has emerged as the prized commodity for which wars are waged.

New Delhi, February 21
‘Muslim women and HIV’ came in for discussion at a seminar held on February 19 at Jamia Millia Islamia University.

The title was: ‘The Role of Muslim Women Towards Prevention and Cure of HIV/AIDS.’

“Islam does not support any kind of isolation or exclusion of the HIV/ AIDS infected individuals in society; on the other hand, it promotes the feeling of care and compassion for them,” said Prof Akhtarul Wasey.

The seminar identified Muslim women as major stakeholders in the fight against HIV. It played a significant role in bringing eminent scholars and activist on a single platform towards proposing a joint plan of action for future intervention.

The issue was discussed at length with varied perspective of religion, socio-economic status, health and empowerment.

The key solution to the issue was also deliberated upon, on the basis of the teachings of the Quran, which promotes the value of love and care for sick and dignity and protection for the women.

Azra Abidi, convener and coordinator of the event said that, “the key solution to the issue could be deliberated on the basis of the teachings from the holy Quran by believing in Allah; acquiring scientific knowledge about HIV/AIDS; making use of relevant Islamic teachings and practices; forming partnerships with and making use of religious leaders and their administrative structures.”

New Delhi, February 21
The Blueline buses are major killers in the Capital. Justice Kailash Gambhir observed hearing a petition filed by the parents of a Blueline bus victim today.

Citing from the data prepared by the Delhi Police, Justice Gambhir said that Blueline buses had caused 8270 accidents in 2006, causing deaths of 2050 commuters.

The petitioners had moved the Delhi High Court to enhance compensation against the death of their 20 -year -old son in 1999 by a rampaging Blueline bus.

The petitioner mentioned the Insurance Company which was causing problems in providing the compensation.

Justice Gambhir took strong cognizance of the complaint and pulled up the
insurance company.

“They have the tendency create bottlenecks. Can the compensation make up the loss of life”, asked Justice Gambhir from the Insurance company.

The death of a human being shattered the entire family. More so, when the deceased was the only bread winner of the family.

New Delhi, February 21
The BJP has urged the Prime Minister to learn why all office bearers of the Delhi Urban Art Commission resigned.

The commission had expressed its displeasure on the construction of impractical tunnel road project, East-West corridor, Yamuna river bed and sports village and had demanded to stop these schemes.

Delhi BJP chief Dr. Harshvardhan said that architects Charles Corea, Mohammad Shahir, Jasbir Sahani, Naraini Gupta, the chairman and members of the commission, have sent in their resignation to the Central Urban Development Ministry.

This commission was constituted in 1973 with the purpose to protect and develop environmental structure of Delhi.

During the last nine years the Delhi Congress government in connivance with the central urban development ministry has been disregarding the commission and implementing the schemes in an arbitrary way.

The latest example being the construction at the riverbed without the
approval of map.

Harsh Vardhan has appealed to the Prime Minister that he should take the resignations seriously and order a high level enquiry.

New Delhi, February 21
The Capital today continued its march towards the spring season with the minimum temperature rising to 9.2 ° Celsius.

After a slight drop yesterday, the minimum temperature again rose to 9.2°
from 8.2° yesterday.

A slight mist was witnessed in the morning though the visibility levels remained near normal at 800 m.

New Delhi, February 21
Ten kilograms of heroin worth Rs 10 crore in international market was seized today afternoon from three passengers at Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Two women passengers Afgan Gul and Khanom Gul, in their late thirties, were held along with a male accomplice Sakhi Dad.

The three had arrived in Ariana Afghan flight from Kabul to New Delhi around 1 pm when a team led by V B Parbhakar, ACP, Customs Preventive, arrested them.

The two women had concealed the heroin in a specially designed waist belt under their ‘burkhas’.