Gurgaon, September 19
The Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh, a conglomeration of various unions and associations of employees of the Haryana government, today held demonstrations in the city and pledged to make the proposed all-India strike a success on September 29.

The demonstrators also submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Sigh Hooda, vide the office of the Commissioner, Gurgaon Division.

The rally was taken out from local Kamla Nehru Park, the assembly point of the employees of various state government departments stationed in south Haryana, comprising the districts of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Rewari and Mahendragarh.

The agitation today was only for the employees of the four districts.

Addressing the employees, the president of the Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh, Mr Dhara Singh cautioned the
state government to desist from the anti-employee policies.

The Sangh will oppose any move by the government to retrench employees of any department, board or corporation, he added.

The state-level leaders of employees of various departments alleged that the Congress, which had bounced back to power in the state on the promise to fulfill the demands of the employees, was backing out of its commitment.

The UPA government at the Centre was also pursuing anti-employee policies, they added.

The President of All India State Government Employees Coordination Committee, Mr M.L.Sehgal alleged that the call for an all-India strike has been given in protest against the alleged anti-employee policies
of the Union government as well as the skewed
economic policies of the Centre.

The UPA government at the Centre wants to get a devious Bill passed in Parliament which would do away with the existing pension scheme for the government employees.

The call for the national strike has been given by a national coordination committee of about 56 employees’ organisations in the country.

The president of the State Haryana Roadways Karamchari Union, Mr Baldev Singh, who is also the senior vice-president of the Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh, charged that the State Transport Minister has snapped up the negotiations between the employees’ union on the demands of the employees.

He also condemned the Transport Ministry in Haryana for trying to privatise several profitable routes of the Haryana Roadways.

New Delhi, September 19
The Delhi High Court today asked MCD to spell out by September 30 its policy on commercial use of farmhouses, banquet halls and parks in the Capital.
The direction came from a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice B A Khan and Justice M B Lokur which is seized of an MCD plea seeking modification of its July 6 order to stop illegal and commercial use of farmhouses, banquet halls and parks here in violation of Delhi Master Plan.

MCD has sought permission to continue social functions in farmhouses, banquet halls and parks till December 2006.

The civic body has urged that it should be allowed to hold marriages and other functions in farm houses, banquet halls and farm houses till DDA allotted alternative sites to it for such things. It has also sought a direction to DDA to grant it land for the purpose.

The court also allowed the plea of ‘Green Garden Association’, a body representing farmhouse owners, to be impleaded as a party in the case. The Association is also seeking modification of the July 6 order to allow commercial use of farmhouses.

The court asked Manjit Singh Ahluwalia, counsel for petitioner Bhrashtachar Virodhi Sangathan on whose PIL the July 6 order was passed, to file his objections to the modification plea of MCD and Green Garden Association.

Ahluwalia said MCD’s earlier policy on use of farmhouses, parks and banquet halls expired in March, 2005 and thereafter no new policy had been formulated.

A Division Bench of the court had on July 6 directed that “the Corporation (MCD) shall not allow anyone to use a property contrary to the Master Plan, on payment of charges or otherwise”. The court had wondered under what provision of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, the MCD was collecting charges for the use of such property contrary to the Master Plan.

It had also asked MCD Commissioner Rakesh Mehta to appoint Special Officers to ensure compliance of its order.

“If there is any breach of the direction, the Officer concerned shall be held responsible,” the court had said.

According to petitioner’s counsel Manjit Singh Ahluwalia, the MCD had issued a notification in January, 2000 allowing farmhouses to be used for private purposes such as wedding and other functions.

The said notification was amended in January 2003 and personal functions of families owning farm houses were allowed with prior permission from MCD. However, the policy had already expired, he added.

Ahluwalia had pointed out that the farmhouse owners did not hold any licence for running banquet halls and the MCD could not have given them permission for the same as the activity fell under the non-conforming user category. 

New Delhi, September 19
Does Delhi face the threat of becoming a desert in the near future? Leading geologists feel that this could very well be the case. “In fact, if deterioration continues at the present rate, then this will happen in a decade,” says Dr D. K. Chadha, President of Global Hydrogeological Solutions and former chairman of the CGWB Authority.

The issue at hand is the pollution of ground water due to contamination by toxic elements released by industrial excess into the Yamuna flood plain and water channels across Delhi. The disposal of industrial effluents into the Yamuna flood plain and water channels around Delhi, seepage through sewage dumps, agricultural waste, percolation of liquid wastes and general bad hygiene habits and poor sanitation provisions has led to the contamination of the underground acquifer system.

According to Prof Amarjeet Kaur, Director of the Centre for Disaster Management Studies at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, “there is widespread pollution of Delhi’s underground water system due to excessive seepage of toxic chemicals like arsenic, mercury and fluorides. This is not surprising when 17 industrial nalas empty into the Yamuna flood plain alone.”

The pollutants that have affected the acquifer system due to this uncontrolled seepage are nitrates, potassium, phosphates and heavy metals like cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, nickel, lead and zinc.

Dr Chadha feels that this chemical contamination will lead to the proliferation of many lethal diseases like cancer in the near future. According to data given in the collaborative study, undertaken by the Central Ground Water Board and the Central Pollution Control Board, ‘Status of Ground Water Quality and Pollution Aspects in NCT-Delhi,’ the contamination by nitrates is high in Kanjhawala, Najafgarh blocks and Mehrauli; by potassium in Delhi city, Shahdara, Najafgarh and Kanjhawala blocks; by copper in Delhi city and Mehrauli and by zinc in Kanjhawala block.

The spread of chemical pollution and consumption by humans is likely to cause a number of diseases if this process is not checked. It is well-known that cadmium contamination causes anaemia, high blood pressure, liver trouble and hepatic and renal disorders. Nickel causes pneumonia, lung and nose cancer, headache nausea and vomiting. Lead may cause gastric problems, kidney diseases and nervous disorders. Zinc is toxic to plants.

Geologists feel that the underground system has to be protected from pollution and increasing salinity and if action is not taken to push back the saline-fresh interface by adopting large-scale re-charge mechanisms, the calamity is obvious and the acquifer system could dry out within a decade leaving brackish quality acquifers.

Dr Chadha suggests that if this situation has to be averted then immediate regulation of groundwater is required and groundwater re-charge has to be taken up in a big way. Special canals should be dug up to accomplish the re-charge of the upper acquifers, he added. 

New Delhi, September 19
The gene that protects almost all European populations from diabetes is not equally kind to Indians, according to a study conducted by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation. Professor V. Mohan, President of the Madras University approved Research Foundation, says that the PRO 12 ALA Polymorphism of the PPAR gamma gene that is supposed to reduce insulin resistance in the body, does not protect Indians from diabetes.

This finding is a cause for worry for India that is the diabetes capital of the world. According to a World Health Organsiation (WHO) report, India has over 35 million diabetics.

The projections are all the more alarming. By the year 2030, the number of diabetics is expected to increase to 80 million instead of the previous projection of 57 million. In urban India, the prevalence of diabetes is between 12 to 16 per cent and in rural India, 6 to 7 per cent.

Professor Mohan, who has submitted the findings for publication to a diabetes journal in the United States, told mediapersons here that the individuals who carry Polymorphism have been shown to have less of insulin resistance. “It is well-known that Indians are more insulin resistant as evidenced by several studies carried out by us and Dr Anoop Mishra of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.”

Giving details of the sample size, Professor Mohan said, “We had a group of 1000 in India and two groups in Dallas. The group in India comprised diabetics and non-diabetics. In Dallas, we had two groups-the first comprising diabetic and non diabetic Indians and the second a controlled group comprising diabetics and non diabetics in the white population. In the white population studied in Dallas, we found that that the frequency of presence of Polymorphism was higher among the non-diabetics. We also found that the frequency of its presence was less among the diabetics in the white population. There was no difference in the frequency of this Polymorphism between the diabetics and the non-diabetics in India and the Indians studied in Dallas.”

Professor Mohan is now able to link his early 80s research findings at the Hammersmith Hospital in the UK, which showed that adult Indians had higher insulin level and increased insulin resistance compared to the white population. “The lack of protection of the PPAR gamma gene now gives me an answer to my research findings.”

Professor Mohan and his colleagues have also evolved a simple scoring system called the Indian Diabetes Risk Score (IDRS) to identify over 70 per cent of undiagnosed diabetics in the community. They say IDRS it ensures rational use of government budget. “If we were to screen a population of one lakh adults in a city, IDRS can save about 50 per cent of the cost of the screening test.”

Any Indian, who wishes to know his diabetes risk score, can take a simple two-minute diabetes risk test on www.mvdsc.org.

New Delhi, September 19
Class X and XII results of Delhi government schools have improved by more than 26 and 11 per cent respectively, state Education Minister A S Lovely today said.

Due to concerted steps, to better the condition of the state-run education system, taken over a period of one-and-half years, the overall result of class X had gone up from 48.03 to 74.31 per cent while class XII results moved up from 76 to 87 per cent, he said.

On the one hand Class X and XII results were the best ever for the Capital, on the other, results of girls – 80 per cent for class X and 93 per cent for XII – was one the best in the country.

To further improve the system and ease the burden of exams on young minds, weekly unit tests would be introduced under the scheme for continuos evaluation while scraping the quarterly exams, he added.

Unit tests in one subject at a time would be conducted every Monday, marks of which would be added with those of the final exam to total for the annual results, the minister said. The new system would be implemented in a phased manner and in class V to VIII by next month, Mr Lovely said.

The education department had taken a series of stern measures to upgrade the standards, including transferring about 40 principals who could not ‘show appreciable results’ and appointing special observers for institutions with poor results, he added.

The education directorate had organised coaching camps, monitored by senior officials, which were attended by 30,000 students in about 150 schools.

“We were also able to bring down the drop out rate, including among girl students, from 12 to 7 per cent.”

Special attention was paid to English and Maths as results in these subjects were found to be rather poor.

Also finding that morning and co-educational schools were producing better results, the department had started to lay more stress on them rather than evening schools and boys only and girls only schools, Mr Lovely said.

Effort would also be made to admit handicapped students in ‘mainstream’ schools rather than have special schools for them.

School buildings and toilets were being made disabled-friendly.

The minister said streamlining the admission system had resulted in 70,000 extra admissions, out which 35,000 were girls.

The state government had made a provision of Rs 13 crore for providing books and school dresses to 4 lakh girl students in addition to the two 2 existing beneficiaries.

Mr Lovely informed that about 16,000 students belonging to weaker sections had been helped through the freeship scheme.

More than 4,000 teachers had been appointed in the last one-and-half years which bring down the teacher-student ratio to 1:40, he said adding that efforts were being made to bring it down further to 1:30.

New Delhi, September 19
Sometimes answering a question out of turn is enough provocation for a teacher to punish a student, at other times it could be forgetting to polish one’s shoes.

Drawing attention to these “lapses” that are perceived to be “breach of discipline” and hence reasons for punishing students, the National Curriculum Framework 2005, adopted by the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), has suggested participatory management of the students in maintaining discipline.

Noting that it is important for teachers to understand the long-term implications of punishment, the NCF urges them to reflect on the rationale that underlie rules and conventions that govern schools.

Encouraging the students to choose their elected representatives and also play an active role in maintaining discipline, it suggest reduction in punishment at the hands of authority. The impact of punishment, that is aimed at humiliating a students in front of the peers for failing to abide by rules as flimsy as adhering to the norms laid for maintaining the length of socks, the NCF points out, should be a consideration before spelling out any disciplinary action.

The document calls for allowing students more space and opportunity. “Rules regarding maintaining silence in classroom and answering one at a time can go against the values of equality and equal opportunity and may even discourage processes that are integral to children’s learning and development of a sense of a community,” the NCF notes.

Making a case for restraint in terms of punishment and placing the onus of maintaining discipline with the students themselves, the NCF points out: “discipline should enable freedom, choice and autonomy of the teacher and the child. It is necessary to involve children themselves in evolving rules, so that they understand the rationale for a rule and feel a sense of responsibility in ensuring that they are followed”.

Tapping on the resources of children to resolve issues, the NCF proposes that students could be encouraged to resolve conflicts among themselves and even between teachers and students. Allowing them a chance to set codes of self-governance, students should have to adhere to a minimum set of rules that can be reasonable followed.

The practice of penalising a student for being late for an examination owing to a traffic jam or the practice of rebuking a “noisy class” have also been frowned upon in the document.

New Delhi, September 19
The Delhi High Court today enhanced by Rs 3,60,400 the compensation awarded to the family of a driver killed in an accident here in January 2001. Allowing the petition filed by deceased Suraj Bhan’s wife Kamlawati and other dependents, Justice Pradeep Nandrajog directed that the enhanced compensation be paid to the family of the deceased along with an interest of nine per cent per annum from the date of claim petition till actual payment.

Holding the driver of the offending truck guilty of causing death of Suraj Bhan by driving the vehicle rashly and negligently, the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal had awarded a compensation of Rs 4,53,600. The family was paid Rs 6,400 towards funeral expenses of the deceased.

The Tribunal held that the minimum salary of the 30-year- old deceased in the year 2001 could reasonably be expected to be Rs 3,000 a month and it could be assumed that he would be earning Rs 5,000 a month at the time of his retirement.

Accordingly, his gross monthly salary was taken at Rs 4,000. After deducting one third of the salary towards his personal expenses, the Tribunal reached the figure of Rs 4,53,600 as final compensation amount.

However, the family moved the court seeking enhancement of the compensation on the ground that Suraj Bhan’s salary at the time of his retirement (had he not died) was assumed to be mere Rs 4,000.

The Court enhanced the compensation from Rs 4,53,600 to Rs 8,64,000 by revising the “monthly loss of dependency to the family” from Rs 4,000 to 4,500 and awarding an additional sum of Rs 50,000 towards loss of consortium to the wife, and loss love to the daughters and sons as also the parents. It also awarded a sum of Rs 10,000 towards cost of litigation.

New Delhi, September 19
A city court today framed charges against Delhi Bar Association (DBA) President Rajiv Khosla in an 11-year-old case wherein he allegedly assaulted a lady lawyer who is now an Additional Sessions Judge.

“On the basis of material on record, I find sufficient material on record to make out a prima-facie case against the accused,” Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Manoj Jain said charging Khosla under section 323 (causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC.

The charges were framed after the accused pleaded ‘not guilty’ and preferred trial.

Khosla is accused of manhandling Sujatha Kohli, who was then practising as an advocate following an altercation over her alleged refusal to take part in DBA activities. Kohli is now an Additional Sessions Judge at the Tis Hazari courts.

As per Kohli’s complaint, Khosla, who was then the DBA Secretary, used to force her to take part in processions, demonstrations and seminars which she always refused.

On July 29, 1994 he allegedly threatened to withdraw all her facilities and also removed tables and chairs in her chamber in Tis Hazari premises following which she filed a civil suit for injunction.

Kohli alleges that when she came to the court complex to attend the hearing in the case a week later, the accused along with 40 to 50 others beat her, pulled her hair and threatened to shut her inside a room.

She then registered a complaint in the Subzi Mandi police station. Kohli says the police first refused to lodge an FIR but relented following an order by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate.

New Delhi, September 19
The Italian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Mr Pietro Lunardi, today traveled on the Delhi Metro between Central Secretariat and Rajiv Chowk.

He was accompanied by the Italian Ambassador to India, Mr Antonio Armellini, the DMRC Managing Director, Mr E. Sreedharan, the Director (RSE), Mr Satish Kumar.

Admiring the DMRC for making one of the most advanced metro systems in the world, Mr Lunardi also appreciated it for the efficiency with which it runs.

Mr Sreedharan explained project schedules and future expansion plans of the Metro in Delhi. In the phase-II, the Delhi Metro will cover 53 km and link areas such as Jahangirpuri, New Ashok Nagar, IIT, Anand Vihar, Mundka, Dilshad Garden etc.

Italian Companies have had a long association with the DMRC. M/s Artigo, M/s AROS, M/s Electro Meccanica have supplied floor covers for trains, dry and auxiliary transformers besides other items.

Gurgaon, September 19
A girl was shot dead by two unidentified youths in her residence.

The police have registered a case, but the motive of the attack is not clear yet. The youths had come to her residence in Rajiv Nagar on a motorcycle.

The deceased, Rubi Sehrawat, had procured her M.Ed. degree from Kurukshetra and was to be married in November.

She was alone in the house when the two assailants attacked her. While her mother had gone to pick up her grandson from school, her father, a retired officer of the Haryana government, had gone to some place.

The two youths are said to have barged right up to the bedroom and fired on her from the close range. She received one bullet injury and died on the spot.

The police suspect the hand of one Gautam who had been stalking her for sometime. He wanted to marry Ruby, but she had rejected his advances, the sources said.

Gautam is absconding and efforts are on to trace him.

New Delhi, September 19
The investigations into the Safdarjung Hospital rape case were today handed over to the Crime Branch by the Delhi Police Commissioner, Dr. K. K. Paul.

While no reasons were given for taking away the probe from the district police, the order came a day after the rape victim claimed that the person arrested as accused was not the man who assaulted her, and that she had identified the person under duress.

The woman, a resident of Mehrauli in South Delhi, was raped and robbed in the toilet of Safdarjung Hospital at knife point on September 14 when she had gone there for a check up.

Two days later, on September 16, the police claimed to have arrested Sanjay alias Sonu (25), a suspect in more than two dozen criminal cases, for the rape after circulating his portrait based on the description given by the victim and quizzed some 500 employees of the Safdarjung Hospital. The police also recovered a knife from his possession. 

New Delhi, September 19
The CBI has arrested a Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) official on charges of demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh from a businessman for extending official favours.

The CBI Spokesman said the agency laid a trap on the basis of a complaint from a person whose residential premises were raided by the DRI on September 8, 2005 for evasion of excise duty.

It is alleged in the FIR that the Intelligence Officer in connivance with his seniors demanded a sum of Rs 50 lakh from the complainant in order to favour him in the case registered with the DRI.

The official was caught while allegedly accepting Rs 5 lakh as the first instalment.

Searches were conducted at the premises of the accused officer and another senior officer of the DRI whose role in the matter was also being probed.

New Delhi, September 19
The Delhi Government has agreed to set up a committee headed by a retired High Court judge to oversee the testing of electricity meters.

Power Minister Haroon Yusuf informed this today to a delegation of the Conferderation of All India Traders (CIAT) who met him here and expressed doubts about the on-going meter testing drive according to which only one out of 256 meters was found faulty.

According to CIAT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal, Yusuf said the proposed committee would comprise of a retired High Court judge and representatives of the private power distribution companies, trade associations, residents welfare associations and technical experts.

Its task would be to formulate policy, standards and parameters of meter testing and supervise the process, according to a CIAT release.

Ghaziabad, September 19
A man under the influence of liquor shot dead his friend in Govind Town Colony under Loni Kotwali police station.

SO police said both were having drinks when they fell out on some point and the murder took place. A report has been filed against the murder accused.

Pappu, son of Lokman Sharma, who had damaged his hand due to electrocution, had opened a floor mill in his house.

Pradeep, son of Sitam Ram Jatar of the colony, was an old friend of Pappu. Both the friends were known to be habitual drinkers, but lived separately in their own houses.

Both quarrelled on some point while drinking liquor last night at 12.30 am. Pradeep took out a local revolver and fired a shot at Pappu’s chest, killing him on the spot.

The police have sent the body for autopsy and are looking for Pradeep. An FIR has been filed by Pappu’s brother Hari Kishen.

New Delhi, September 19
The annual function of Zila Mandi Jankalyan Sabha, Delhi, was held on the eve of the traditional ‘Sair Festival’ of Himachal Pradesh in the Shah Auditorium in the Capital.

The programme, held on Saturday, included a cultural programme by
the Hindi Academy, Delhi and the those belonging to the Language and Culture Department of HP Government, who had specially been invited from Shimla.

The state minister, Mr Kaul Singh Taakar, was the chief guest on the occasion.

A number of VIPs from HP including MLAs and sympathisers of the Sabha also attended the function.

The general secretary of the Sabha, Mr Sonu Ram Verma, said that 14 eye camps were organised by it in Himachal Pradesh.

The Sabha has also adopted a number of orphan children, whose boarding and lodging expenses are being paid by it.

These children are staying at Rama Nand Bal Gopal Ashram, Kangra. A souvenir highlighting the activities of the Sabha was released on the occasion.

Noida, September 19
The Allahabad High Court today reserved its orders till September 23 on a bunch of petitions challenging cancellation of allotment of plots in Noida and demanding a CBI probe into the matter.

Hearing the petitions filed by one of the allottees, Deepak Sharma, and an NGO, Manav Seva Samiti, a Bench comprising Justice B S Chauhan and Justice Dilip Gupta fixed September 23 for pronouncing the order. About 1250 plots in Noida were allotted through lottery on July 2 but the allotments were later cancelled by the Chief Executive Officer in the wake of allegations of irregularities. — TNS

New Delhi, September 19
The Delhi Police have busted a gang involved in supplying fake currency. The suspect, identified as Anil Kumar of Bulandshahr, has been arrested. One motorcycle, a country- made pistol and fake currency totaling Rs 2.15 lakh were seized. — TNS