New Delhi, May 7
The meningitis bacterial outbreak in the Capital was aggravated with 30 more infected people admitted to various hospitals in Delhi and the number of affected cases having touched
141 today.

However, the health authorities in the MCD claimed that there were no new deaths and the bacterial outbreak was under control.

The Director of Hospital Administration, MCD, Dr J. N. Banavalikar, said, “thirty more cases were reported from various hospitals of the city today. But there was no death since yesterday and the toll remains 15.”

However, most of the new cases were only suspected and not confirmed as yet, and even those who demonstrated some of the symptoms like fever, stiff neck or rashes had been included in the health report, he claimed.

Eight of the latest cases were reported from the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, six from Hindu Rao Hospital, four from Lal Bahadur Hospital, three from Swami Dayanand Hospital, two from Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and one each from seven other hospitals including Apollo.

Asked about reports that a sixteenth person had died of the disease at a private hospital, which had not reported about it, Dr Banavaliker promised an investigation as all hospitals had been directed to report all suspected cases to the authorities.

He said several of the 141 people afflicted by the outbreak had already been discharged after treatment, but said he did not have the exact figures. Dr Banavaliker said most of the cases had been reported from the old Delhi areas but some of the new ones were from east Delhi.

All hospitals had been instructed to establish isolation wards as patients had to be kept apart for at least 72 hours. But when it was pointed out to him that many of the hospitals were yet to set up such wards, he said, “we have to take action against them if this has not been done.”

Dr Banavaliker claimed the outbreak was under control and there were adequate number of medicines and vaccines, which were being supplied in various hospitals. Vaccines were being given to health staff, who were in direct contact with patients and relatives of affected people by visiting their houses, he said.

Dr Banavaliker claimed that all hospital staff or casual visitors do not need vaccines. The disease does not spread through casual contact and needs at least six to eight hours of routine exposure to travel from one person to another.

Dr Banavaliker said the outbreak was nothing to be alarmed about as a few “sporadic cases” are reported every year.

“However, there is a spike in the number of cases every few years and we need to study why this happens,” he added.

The key to stop the outbreak was to create awareness among people about the disease and this was being done through distribution of leaflets and public address system.

Dr Banavaliker said some of the afflicted people hailed from outside Delhi, from cities including Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Sitapur and Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, a few places in Haryana and even places in Rajasthan and Bihar.

However, they had most likely become afflicted by the disease in Delhi itself, he added.

Meanwhile, another sample sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) has tested positive for the highly infectious Meningococcaemia of sero group ‘A’.

According to NICD Joint Director, Dr S. Gupta, ‘’we received 20 more Cerebro Spinal Fluid (CSF) samples during the last 24 hours from various hospitals, of which one tested positive for the A sero group, which spreads very fast.

‘’The sample was sent to us from the Kailash Hospital in Noida. This means that of the 48 samples received by us, 6 have tested positive for Meningococcal A so far,’’ Dr Gupta clarified.

The NICD has been made the nodal laboratory to monitor the testing of CFS samples sent from various government and private hospitals, which do not have adequate facilities in the light of the ongoing outbreak of the bacterial meningitis or brain fever in the Capital.

The disease has proved to be a huge killer in the past, as it infected 6133 people in 1985-86 and killed 799 in Delhi and adjoining areas, source in the NICD said.

Meerut, May 7
An Army jawan of 3 Laddakh Scouts was arrested for allegedly molesting a woman here in the Bhagat line area on Wednesday night. The soldier was booked under various sections of the IPC.

According to a report, four soldiers in uniform dragged a woman who was on her way back to her house on a rickshaw with her family members. Later, the soldiers started obscene behaviour with her and tried to sexually molest her. Three soldiers escaped while the fourth one was caught red-handed on the spot when the woman raised the alarm. After a medical examination, the accused soldier was found to be heavily drunk at that time.

The arrested soldier, T. Mangyal from 3 Laddakh Scouts, is currently posted with the Brigade Headquarter here in the Bhagat line area. According to Mr F. A. Khan, SSI, Lal Kurts police station: “When Mahendra Pratap Singh of British Cavalry Line was returning to his house with his family members, four soldiers dragged a woman from the rickshaw and made obscene advances. Subsequently, when the victim and other family members of Mahendra Pratap Singh raised the alarm, some people from the nearby area gathered and caught one soldier red-handed.” Later, the police took the accused into custody. But the other three soldiers somehow escaped from the spot.

The arrested soldier is posted with Brigade Headquarter under Brigade Major Anurag Srivastava. Col G. S. of Ram Division told The Tribune that stern action would be taken against the guilty soldiers. The Army authorities are also investigating into the matter, the Colonel said.

New Delhi, May 7
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s works of construction of drains, maintenance of sewer lines, construction of public lavatory and construction and repairing of roads are far from satisfactory, the CAG report said.

The report said that there were shortfalls in the achievement of targets with only 77.84 kilometres of outfall drains being constructed against the target of 197 kilometres during 1998-2004.

Thus, the sewage water generated in these villages continued to stagnate in open areas posing health hazards to the inhabitants.

The report said that the civic body also failed to undertake projects for development of plots allotted to Harijans or other landless persons, afforestation of vacant land and construction of lavatory blocks envisaged under the scheme for rural areas.

A total of 433 works remained incomplete despite an expenditure of Rs 11.06 crore and lapse of period ranging from 6 to 73 months from their stipulated date of completion.

Such implementation of schemes in an open-ended manner rather than against phased milestones within a consolidated shelf of works or projects stymied their impact and limited the achievement of the objectives of the scheme, the report stated.

According to the CAG report, there is clear need for the government to review the implementation of schemes and conduct systematic surveys to identify the priorities of works required to be carried out, so a to ensure attainment of the MCD objectives in a time bound manner.

The report clarified that the Delhi Government implemented two schemes aimed at providing civic facilities and infrastructure like paved pathways, drains, street lighting, parks, community centres etc in the rural and urban villages in the national Capital.

The Development Department and Department of Urban Development functions as the nodal departments for the completion of schemes.

The MCD is an executive agency to do all these jobs. The scheme to develop Scheduled Caste localities of the MCD has also not been very successful.

Targets were set in terms of sporadic number of items of various works based on requests received from local population or on recommendations made by the area councillors or MLAs.

The MCD plans the annual work programmes and budget provisions on the basis of the previous year’s expenditure and requests from the public rather than on the basis of a shelf of projects determined after a comprehensive survey against determined objectives.

The report further points out that main issue of achievement of objectives is superseded almost entirely by an overriding emphasis on individual isolated works. Lack of schematic approach was also reflected in the poor financial management of available resources, the report stated. 

New Delhi, May 7
To prevent Environment Education (EE) from becoming tedious lessons to be learnt from humungous textbooks, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked schools to refrain from following rote learning and thereby increasing the burden on children.

The Board has asked schools to make the teaching and learning process interesting and action based. In a letter, the Boards’ Director Academics, G. Balasubramanian, said, “the main focus of Environment Education is to expose students to the actual world they live in. They have to be acquainted with the environment-related issues and problems”.

Pointing out that students must be able to look at environmental problems and concerns, he said they must also learn to analyse, evaluate, draw inferences and equip themselves to resolve them.

Noting that the objectives of Environment Education need to focus on knowledge and more importantly, on generating awareness, developing attitudes, values and skills and promoting education and action among children at all levels of school education, the learning instead of remaining limited to the classroom, should extend much beyond it.

It is for this reason the Board has asked schools to forgo the use of textbooks at the elementary levels (Classes I & II) and instead make Environment Education a part of language, mathematics and the art of healthy and productive living.

The entire subject at this level needs to be “woven around the child’s immediate environment, and it must also be built upon the child’s inherent curiosity, observation and the ability to co-relate at that age”. As for evaluation, the letter says, “grading of children’s performance is preferred in assessing the qualitative aspects of the subject”.

At the primary level of the curriculum, the CBSE has directed that emphasis should be laid on students carrying out activities in their local environment and development of habits and values. While no separate textbooks are needed, the concepts could be developed from the existing books of environmental sciences.

Focus will be on the need to develop skills, proper habits and positive attitudes towards environment at this stage, and teachers may innovate and design activities suitable to their own surrounding and level of interest of children. The evaluation practices need to be both informal and formal, the CBSE has directed.

In the upper primary level, the curriculum would focus on “affective and conative” components by providing additional inputs in the form of investigation, project work and co-scholastic activities. Information and the level of sensitivity required can be procured from textual or other support materials.

The letter also notes that every child from the upper primary level onwards should be provided with the opportunity to participate in at least one nature or outdoor field-visit experience.

The Board has recommended that the assessment of learners’ achievement in

Environment Education would encompass all the three aspects of development, “cognitive, affective and conative”.

As for evaluation, both process and product evaluation techniques will be used to ascertain growth patterns, identification of strengths and weaknesses, as also in utilising systematic feedback for development of environment-friendly habits, positive attitudes and desirable values amongst learners.

Faridabad, May 7
Even as 1,300 women have been elected to the various Panchayati Raj bodies, including as Sarpanch and members of the Block Samitis and Zila Parishads, in the recently held elections in the district, the moot question is whether they will be able to carry out their duties independently. More importantly, it also raises the larger question whether the election of these women representatives will lead to a positive impact on the overall development of the women population in the district.

Will the women representatives be able to take advantage of this opportunity or they just hand over their work to their husbands, as had been done in the past?

This issue was highlighted during the oath taking ceremony of these elected representatives recently, as they were exhorted to come forward to shoulder the responsibility independently.

The Deputy Commissioner, Neerja Shekhar, herself a woman, appeared conscious of this fact during the oath taking ceremony held at the MCF auditorium and at Ballabhgarh for the Sarpanches and Panches. She asked the representatives to come forward to do the works themselves and not hand over the real charge to their husbands.

The Deputy Commissioner claimed that the reservation provided to the women in such institutions was aimed to uplifting the social and economic standards of women and was perhaps the best opportunity to make the rural women realise that they were second to none.

The Deputy Commissioner asked them not to send their husbands to the various meetings as their proxy and to get the works done from the district and subdivisional headquarters through them.

The Deputy Commissioner said that the elected women representatives will have to take up their responsibilities, and if need be should take the help or advice from their elders and experienced persons, rather than handing over their duties and responsibilities to their husbands.

A similar appeal was made by the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr Sanjay Joon, while administering the oath of office to the newly elected members of the Zila Parishad recently.

The road ahead for the women representatives seems difficult as they were either uneducated or had inadequate education.

According to reports, several women representatives were found to be ‘totally lost during the oath taking ceremony’, unable to understand what they were expected.

Many of the women representatives were veiled and were escorted by their husbands. The literacy level among the women in the district has been just 26 per cent in comparison to 82 per cent among the men.

The sex ratio was also low at 839 females per 1000 males.

New Delhi, May 7
Shoppers at military stores in the Capital will be able to pick up purchases at lower prices again as the Delhi Government today exempted CSD items from VAT in what could be a trend-setting move under the new tax regime.

Headed by the Chief Minister, Mrs Sheila Dikhsit, the Delhi Cabinet decided to restore the subsidy enjoyed by the defence personnel on items sold by the Canteen Stores Department (CSD) in the Capital.

Introduced on April 1, the new much-protested value-added tax (VAT) also took CSD items on board, ending the 55-year-old subsidy on them.

The Delhi Government’s tax exemption to CSD is expected to prompt other states under the VAT regime to follow suit.

The Cabinet also decided to rename the Department of Sales Tax as the Department of Trade and Tax, a government statement said.

It also brought down tax rates on 48 items on the list of industrial inputs to four per cent. The rate of taxation on 29 items on the capital goods’ list was also lowered to four per cent.

‘’Items like khadi garments, seeds, other than oilseeds, gur and jaggery, items covered under the PDS, except kerosene, papad and items under customs bond for re-export after manufacturing or otherwise are also exempted from VAT,’’ the statement added.

Also, the Cabinet decided to grant caste certificates to SC and ST applicants in the Capital if they were born or have studied in Delhi or have been residing in Delhi for the past five years.

The Cabinet also reviewed the meningitis situation in the Capital. ‘’It (the Cabinet) was informed that the situation was under control with doctors having been adequately briefed,’’ the statement said.

New Delhi, May 7
The verdict may have left quite a few disappointed, but the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) is convinced that the campus will not extend a welcome to corporates and agencies with “imperialist connotations”.

After the hullabaloo over the Nescafe outlet, the JNUSU has decided to say no to the funding by the acclaimed Ford Foundation.

“During the GBM of the School of Arts and Aesthetics, the students gave the mandate to the union to stop Ford Foundation from funding any activity in the SAA,” said the JNUSU president, Ms Mona Das. Interestingly, the decision of the JNUSU, the elected representative of the students’ community, has left many disgruntled.

While the JNUSU expects the other schools to follow suit, there are some who chose to disagree.

“Not everyone identifies with their ideology. Each one of us here has the right to choose and follow what we believe in. There are many who count on the funding by agencies like the Ford, especially when there are not too many grants coming in from the government itself,” complained a M.Phil student from the School of International Studies. Not wishing to be named, this student along with his batchmate added, “let those who believe in a particular ideology not accept the grant, but why force it down our throats.”

But Ms Das, who is now banking on the administration to do the needful, thinks otherwise.

“There have been enough ways through which corporates are targeting universities. The Birla-Ambani report on corporates in campuses and other such reports are being seen in context of imperialistic agencies targeting education, culture and media,” she said. The official seal on the contentious issue will, however, be given only after it is presented before the Board of Studies, the Academic Council and Executive Council.

New Delhi, May 7
Journalists’ unions today urged Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to intervene to ensure reinstatement of the 50 reporters of a newspaper dismissed in the state.

In a joint statement, National Alliance of Journalists (NAJ) and Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) sought the personal intervention of the Chief Minister so that the “illegally dismissed” journalists could resume professional activities.

An emergency meeting of NAJ and DUJ last evening urged all political parties to raise the issue in Parliament. “Telegrams and protest letters have been sent to the Chief Minister to seek his intervention,” said DUJ president S. K. Pande.

The two unions also demanded reinstatement of the 400 workers in the national Capital dismissed by a newspaper management. The joint statement issued after the emergency meeting also condemned the “shameful” attack in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, on journalists and newspaper employees, who were protesting the dismissal of the 400 workers.

“That the attack happened on May Day, which is observed as International Labour Day, is a shame,” said Mr Pande.

Journalists and newspaper employees were peacefully protesting against the dismissals, when they were lathicharged by the police in Noida, he said.

New Delhi, May 7
Small Savings form the backbone to the Delhi Government’s resource generation efforts, contributing a whopping Rs 7,873 crore to the state government’s coffers annually. The Delhi Chief Minister, Mrs Sheila Dikshit, said small savings had a tremendous contribution to the development of the city.

“Small savings in the city amounted to a whopping Rs 7,973 crore, which had risen from a mere Rs 350 crore about ten years back,’’ she said, appreciating the role being played by the Directorate of Small Savings in the direction.

The Chief Minister was speaking here at a function ‘Kalpvriksh 2003’ organised by the state government to give away prizes as encouragement for making small-savings. The prize-winners were selected through a draw-of-lots, which was taken out by the Ms Dikshit. As many as 2,796 prizes worth Rs 81 lakh were on offer.

The Delhi Finance Minister, Mr A. K. Walia, presided over the function.

New Delhi, May 7
The Delhi Government today decided to relax rules regarding the issuing of certificates to members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes seeking reservation benefits. The announcement was made after a Cabinet meeting in which the recommendations of the Charan Singh Kandera Committee on SC/ST were accepted. A major recommendation of the Committee is that any S/C and S/T member, who has a birth certificate issued in Delhi or has completed matriculation here or has lived here for at least five years, will be able to get a certificate from the national Capital.

Earlier, only those persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes whose families had settled in Delhi prior to 1951 could be issued an SC/ST certificate in the Capital.

“Delhi Cabinet today accepted all the recommendations of the Kandera Committee’s Report, which was submitted prior to the Assembly session in January,” the Delhi Development Minister, Mr Rajkumar Chauhan, told reporters after the meeting.

He said the Committee has also recommended that the list of S/Cs, which currently includes 36 castes, be expanded. “Our Chief Secretary will approach the Union Home Ministry for its approval to make additions to the list of S/Cs and accordingly, more castes will be included in the list,” the minister said.

Noida, May 7
Three robbers snatched Rs 3.60 lakh from the wife of an ex-Air Force officer at gunpoint in broad daylight after she had drawn the money from the ICICI Bank in Sector-27, Noida. The incident took place near the bus stop in Sector-19 Noida.

Mrs Asha Ghosh, wife of retired Group Captain A. K Ghosh had withdrawn the money and was going to deposit it in the Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Sector-18, Noida. As she reached Sector-19 bus stop, three motorcycle-borne criminals snatched the money after putting a revolver to her head.

Apart from Rs 3.60 lakh, the keys of a bank locker and the house and some important documents were also in the bag. When some people present on the spot raised an alarm, the robbers started fleeing.

In the confusion, the motorcycle slipped and fell down. In a hurry to escape, the robbers left behind a bag, which contained weapons, including a dagger, a country-made revolver, some live cartridges and Rs 65,000.

New Delhi, May 7
The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police arrested a person for selling pirated NCERT books. The accused has been identified as Shahid Mirza (30), a resident of Chandni Mahal area here.

The police claimed to have seized 11000 books worth more than Rs 3 lakh from his possession.

During interrogation, the accused disclosed that one of his associate, Mohammed Shafiq, got books printed and then sent them over to Shahid for binding and further sale.

Faridabad, May 7
The Lok Adalats held here settled as many as 627 pending cases. A compensation of about Rs 56.49 lakh was awarded to the victims of 36 cases of Motor Vehicle Act.

As many as 529 cases were settled in Faridabad and 89 cases in Palwal town in the district.

According to details, 156 civil cases, 93 criminal cases, three cases under the Hindu Marriage Act and 253 summary cases were settled in Faridabad today.

About 42 criminal cases, 28 civil 18 summary cases and one case under the Hindu Marriage Act was solved at Palwal. — TNS