New Delhi, July 7
Condemning the statement of the Delhi BJP unit president Vijay Goel, the Delhi Government today said that the Class XII results are based on the evaluation at an all-India level and not on the basis of a survey of the political party.

"The BJP should have this minimum knowledge that the Class XII examinations are national-level exams conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which is an independent body of the Government of India," said Prof Kiran Walia, Minister of Education and Women and Child Development.

She was reacting to BJP's accusations that the Education department encouraged students of government-run schools to resort to 'cheating' and 'unfair means' to ensure a high pass percentage in Board examinations.

Prof Walia said that since the examination is conducted by an independent national-level body called CBSE, it is wrong to cast aspersions on it.

"To say that these results are achieved through unfair practices is totally false and baseless. This act is highly demeaning. It constitutes an attack on 16 lakh hard-working students and more than 50,000 teachers of government schools," she said.

"There are 990 government schools in Delhi, out of which 832 schools are senior secondary, affiliated to the CBSE. There are 108 government schools with 100 per cent results in the Class XII exams and 522 schools with more than 90 per cent results," she said.

Incidentally, no person or organization has approached the Education department for the permission to conduct the survey, added the minister.

According to a survey conducted by the BJP, the attendance records of students in the Delhi Government schools have been fudged, and the quality of education is poor. It said that the survey revealed massive irregularities in the schools.

The BJP has claimed that during the past 15 years, the Directorate of Education has completely focussed on private and public schools while neglecting education in the government schools. At least, 80 government schools have been shut down by the Delhi Government, it alleged.

New Delhi, July 7
As Delhi University officially declared the fourth cut-off list for admissions under its new four year undergraduate programme, a day after several colleges posted their cut-offs on their websites, the trend was no different with most of the courses witnessing a relatively high percentage and a marginal downward shift across the categories.

Even as many colleges such as Kalindi College, Lady Shri Ram College for Women are believed to be on the last leg of their admissions, others like Miranda House, Kamla Nehru College and Ramjas College still have seats in a handful of courses. The fourth list has given a number of students hope of making it to DU.

Also with an insignificant drop in the cut-off, most courses will be available at marks lower by around 0.5 percentage points.

Though cut-off remained high in most of the desired subjects, students vying for admission to popular courses, including commerce, need not be disheartened. There are still a few reputed colleges like Hindu College and Hansraj College that are still offering seats in such subjects.

At Hindu College, seats are available in commerce, economics, sociology, chemistry and botany while Hansraj College gives a similar hope to the candidates.

In the next three days, students qualifying the cut-off marks should complete their admission after which the fifth list would be decided.

New Delhi, July 7
They are watchdogs of society and take up the issues of violence against women with the assistance of appropriate authorities ranging from the police to non-government organizations.

Around 100 collective teams of women under the 'Awaz Uthao' campaign of the department of Women and Child Development are working all across Delhi not only to provide a helping hand to the victims of crime against women but also to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.

The campaign has inspired the activists to come forward for the cause of safety and security of women. Supported by the government, the women coordinators of 'Awaz Uthao' groups are coming out and raising their voice against exploitation and sexual harassment.

The members raise awareness through handouts, plays and identify women, men and the youth to be part of the effort. They work with schools to identify the girls' safety issues, involve local police stations as an effective link for community concerns and safety, deal with the local transport to address safety issues in respect of working women. Besides, they train both the male and female representatives to monitor the community in cases of violence.

"Our efforts have brought several culprits to book under legal provisions. In a rape case, we successfully managed to book two sons of a 'sarpanch' who were later sent to Tihar Jail," said Rajya Laxmi, head of all the coordinators of 'Awaz Uthao'.

Comprising representatives of the youth from the area, four community members selected by Gender Resource Centre (GRC) and Resident Welfare Associationss (RWAs), two educationists, one 'anganwari' worker, representatives of Delhi Police and local NGOs, these groups are functioning in colonies dominated by families from the weaker sections.

"Often we notice things but don't make a noise. Awaz Uthao seeks to provide the local community a support staff that is accessible and belongs to them so they can raise their voice and stop, prevent and report crimes against women," said Prof Kiran Walia, Minister of Women and Child Development.

These women coordinators working as support staff often have to go through several challenges and face threats as they deal with influential people. In order to make them work as reformists, the Delhi Government is organising special training programmes for them to make them aware of the legal aspects of a case.

"We need to strengthen our legal knowledge. This was our first such training and immensely useful. We learnt to handle cases of rape victims, especially where a child is involved," said Laxmi.

During the two-day training programme, they were imparted training on legal issues and provisions pertaining to women.

As the projects complete two years, 1,873 meetings of GRCs have been conducted. To sensitize women groups, the 'Awaz Uthao' programme has been extended from 25 GRCs to 50 GRCs with 40 public meetings have been organized wherein more than 15,000 people were sensitized. Around 76 safety walks were organized to make presence of collectives visible in the area and 376 girls were trained in self-defence by the groups.

The state government's helpline 181 has also been asked to take help from these women groups.

New Delhi, July 7
With the arrest of one person, the Central district police today claimed to have solved the kidnapping of an 11-year-old boy.

The police said that the boy was rescued in less than 24 hours.

The accused has been identified as Harpal Singh Sodhi (42), a resident of Bhiwadi, Rajasthan. Harpal works as a property dealer in Rajkot, Bhiwadi, and is a friend of Harpreet, father of victim's classmate, said the police.

The boy, a resident of Rajinder Nagar, was kidnapped yesterday from a shop in the nearby market where he had gone to recharge a mobile phone. "The complainant received a call for ransom from an unknown number, demanding Rs 1.5 crore," said Alok Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central District.

"The location of the accused was traced to near Bhiwadi, Rajasthan and the child was recovered from the railway of Rewari," said Kumar.

New Delhi, July 7
The South East district police claimed to have busted a gang of snatchers with the arrest of one person. They were allegedly involved in around 50 snatchings in the city, said a senior police official today.

The accused identified as Sandeep Narang, a resident of Chander Nagar, Narendra Kumar of Geeta Colony and Manish Kumar of Govind Puri. Sandeep was arrested from the area of N-Block market in GK-II, said the police.

The police said that Sandeep had allegedly snatched a bag containing jewellery from a woman in N-Block market of GK-IIs. Similarly, there were six more snatching incidents in the area of Greater Kailash-I, said the police.

On the basis of a tip-off, Sandeep was arrested from the market. During interrogation, he disclosed the name of his accomplice, Bishu.

"He confessed to have committed more than 50 snatchings in the area of Greater Kailajsh, Lajpat Nagar, Defence Colony and Anand Vihar. He also disclosed that he used to sell jewellery to Narendra Kumar and mobile phones to Manish Kumar," said Ajay Chaudhary, Additional Commissioner of Police, South-East district.

"Twenty-two mobile phones and jewellery worth Rs 2 lakh have been recovered from the accused," said Chaudhary.

New Delhi, July 7
The Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, today exhorted people to avail themselves of the time-bound delivery of services during a workshop which was attended by around 4,000 office-bearers of 910 Resident Welfare of Associations (RWAs) at Talkatora Stadium today.

The 116 services of 24 departments have been included in the hassle-free delivery system. Describing the system as a double-edged sword, Dikshit said while it will punish the lethargic and errant officials for their delay, it will provide compensation to the applicants.

The applicants were asked to demand compensation at the rate of Rs 10 per day for the delayed period which would be paid then and there out of the amount collected from the errant officials. Apart from this, the e-Service Level Agreement (e-SLA) has brought a change in work culture and the government employees have come to understand the importance of time-bound delivery of services.

She stated that out of 55 lakh applications seeking delivery of public services in 24 departments and agencies, more than 51 lakh applicants are satisfied with the timely delivery of public services.

"As far as the Revenue Department is concerned, the pendency which used to be 47 per cent in 2010 has come down to just 5 per cent in 2012. The credit goes to e-SLA mechanism," said Dikshit at the second RWAs workshop on "Time-Bound Delivery of Services".

Referring to the issues raised by the office-bearers of different RWAs, she asked RWAs to take Delhi Police into confidence and get the CCTVs installed out of 'My Delhi I Care Fund' in their colonies.

She urged RWAs to have an effective coordination with the Delhi Police on this issue.

New Delhi, July 7
It appears that the Aam Aadmi Party is not limiting its focus to the issues of the city only.

The party today came in support of around 1,400 contract workers of Bajaj Auto Chakan-Pune unit who have been agitating for the last 13 days under the banner of Vishwa Kalyan Kamgar Union, the authorised union of this plant.

Backing the demands of the contract and other non-regular workers, the party today also called upon the government to defend the legal rights of the workers. It is disappointing that the minimum and very reasonable demands of the workers are not being responded to in this unit, said the party.

The AAP members said that they extended support to the workers' basic demands, including equal wages for equal work, review of agreement between Wishw Kalyan Kamgar Sanghatana (authorised union) and management as per clauses in previous agreement, shares of company against pending dues towards the management, removal of suspension orders and police cases against workers, etc.

"We call upon the management of the company to respond immediately to workers led by a leadership that is constructive, responsible and committed to peaceful and legal means.

“We call upon the public to extend support to this crucial struggle so that the workers' families get a relief, production can be resumed and the growing tendency towards the curtailment of labour rights can be checked," said an AAP spokesperson.