The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Delhi and neighbourhood

Best Class X results in over a decade: Minister
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 27
A changed approach towards academics in the Delhi Government-run schools has resulted in these schools securing the highest ever pass percentage of 59.73 in the CBSE Class X Board exams, Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely claimed said.

In fact, the pass percentage this year among Delhi Government schools is an increase of 11.7, more than the combined increase in pass percentage over the last six years.

“This is the best ever result in the entire decade of government schools. This is 4.57 times the overall average increase in pass percentage of 2.56 recorded by CBSE this year,” Mr Lovely said.

While Delhi’s position has slipped to number five in the countrywide tally with a pass rate of 68.11 per cent, there are a whopping 4,283 candidates who have secured 90 percent and above marks and 353 who have more than 95 percent, including 2,345 and 203 girls respectively.

Despite a poor performance in Mathematics, 1,167 Delhi candidates have been put in the top 0.1 percent; last year this number was 903. The number of merit certificates in English has come down to 730 from last years’ 1,424.

CBSE Chairman, Mr Ashok Ganguly said that about 21 per students have failed in Mathematics followed by 19 per cent failing in English. He however added that with the teaching-learning process being made simpler through experiments like mathematics labs, the Board is hopeful of better results in future.

About 2.09 lakh students from Delhi region had appeared the exam of whom 68.11 per cent students passed, which marks a rise of 7 per cent in pass rate than last year.

Government schools in Delhi have achieved 59.73 per cent pass rate against 48 per cent last year. The overall pass rate of government schools remains at 54 per cent, which is close to 10 per cent more than last year, Mr Ganguly said.

In the Delhi region, 97.28 per cent students of Navodaya passed the exam, followed by Kendriya Vidyalayas with 91.65 per cent independent schools with 88.32 per cent, government-aided schools with 62.42 per cent and private/patrachar schools with an abysmally low 25.99 per cent.

The number of students who have been placed under compartment is 53,011 and the number of cases of unfair means has fallen from last years’ 51 to 13 per cent.

Differently-abled student scores over 90 per cent

Saurabh Prasad Singh of Veda Vyas DAV Public School, Vikaspuri, who has secured 90.6 per cent in the class X examinations is “shocked”. A differently-abled student, he says he was “not expecting 90 per cent marks”.

“I was hoping will get about 87-88 percent, but when I saw it was 90 per cent in the morning, I was just shocked,” he said.

Nursing the ambition to become a software engineer, Saurabh said the support from his family and school has been of great help.

The secret of his success, he said, was “regular studying for about 4-5 hours everyday”. Saurabh, who has scored an impressive 95 percent in Mathematics, his favourite subject, enjoys listening to music and watching cricket.

Farmers suffer as money gets trapped in bank
Admn deposited Rs 20 crore land compensation in bank now under RBI ban
Parmindar Singh

Noida, May 27
Seventy-year-old Parsandi Devi is in the twilight of her life. Her husband and her only son, 32 year-old Vinod, are also no more. But she has Rs 14 lakh, received as land compensation by her husband, lying in the Mamura branch of Ghaziabad Urban Cooperative bank which she and her family cannot draw.

Parsandi and her family are not alone in this precarious condition. There are at least 1,000 farmers with 4,400 family members who are suffering in the same way for no fault of theirs. They are being deprived of their rightful money — the payment of their land compensation, adding up to over Rs 20 crore – which are locked up in this bank. The are unable to withdraw the money in the event of an emergency or for marriage etc.

These farming families had already parted with their ancestral agricultural land, depriving them of their source of livelihood, but now they also deprived of their legitimate, if meager, land compensation amount given by the government two years ago.

Interestingly the Addl District Magistrate, Shiv Prasad, had deposited the land compensation cheques of these farmers directly into the Mamura branch of the Ghaziabad Urban Coop Bank in 2004. But owing to the allegation of a fraud in the bank, the Reserve Bank of India had imposed a ban on the withdrawal of money by the account-holder on June 16, 2004.

This happened after it was found out that bank officials had sanctioned loans to their kith and kin against security of overvalued properties with connivance of the district administration officials. Although bank secretary RD Sharma and some other officials were subsequently removed by the RBI and the state government, the RBI ban on withdrawal of money still stands.

Some of the smart and panicky account-holders managed to withdraw about Rs 15-18 crore in a matter of a few days, but by the time the simple and uneducated farmers came to know of it, RBI’s ban had been imposed.

A paltry sum of Rs 1,000 for some special need and Rs 49,000 for a girl’s marriage can be withdrawn on RBI’s prior approval. But a majority of the farmers find the cumbersome process and procedure for approval beyond themselves.

Chander Prakash, another farmer who had Rs 20 lakh in his account, is dead and his wife Rashmi can not draw a big amount for the marriage of her three daughters who have all grown up to a marriageable age. Same is the predicament of Rajpal’s wife Santosh who is herself in the throes of cancer.

Farmer Bir Singh of Nangli Wajidpur has Rs.1.15 crore deposited in the bank as land compensation while Vijay Singh of Sadarpur village has Rs 30 lakh lying in the name of his father Prahalad Singh.

According to Hari Prasad of Mamura village, himself hard pressed for money, the administration never handed over the compensation cheques to the farmers but deposited them in the coop bank and opened accounts of the farmers in the bank.

Function marks Pt Nehru’s death anniversary
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 27
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today laid the foundation stone of a community centre at Freedom Fighters Colony, Neb Sarai, on the occasion of the 42nd death anniversary of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

A drive to beautify Netaji Subhash Park, build in the memory of freedom fighters in the area, was also launched on the occasion in the presence of veteran freedom fighter and All India Freedom Fighters’ Organisation (AIFFO) President Chaudhry Ranbir Singh.

Haryana Chief Minister Mr BS Hooda, his son Deepender Singh Hooda, MP from Rohtak, Delhi Development Minister Mr Raj Kumar Chauhan, Outer Delhi MP Sajjan Kumar, MLA Balram Tanwar, and a number of freedom fighters were present at the function.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Dikshit said ideals and principles for which freedom fighters, revolutionaries and martyrs had sacrificed their lives were still relevant in today’s life.

Chaudhry Ranbir Singh said the state of social and political affairs in the country, including basic freedom rights of the people, security of life, freedom of movement and expression, safety of personal property and social security, were in danger even after 57 years of freedom. Speaking on the occasion, his son, Haryana Chief Minister Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that Pandit Nehru laid the foundation of the country’s progress through his vision and guidance.

Mr Hooda said that Pandit Nehru followed the path shown by Mahatma Gandhi to lay the foundation of a strong nation.

He said dams and steel plants constructed in the first decade after Independence paved the way for all round development of the country.

According to an official spokesman, Mr Hooda said that he had requested the Prime Minister for early construction of Kishau Dam on the upper stream of Yamuna as it would help in solving water problems in Delhi. This had been first proposed by Chaudhary Ranbir Singh himself as Irrigation and Power Minister in joint Punjab.

To be constructed at a cost of Rs 88 lakh, the community centre would have a big hall and other rooms for social activities.

The Netaji Subhash Park would be beautified with installation of fountains and modern lighting system. The community centre would be named after veteran freedom fighter Sheelbhadra Yajee.

Two suspected terrorists get 5-yr jail term
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 27
Two men, originally caught for allegedly plotting to blow up the American Embassy here and suspected of having links with al-Qaida, were today sentenced to a five-year jail term by a Delhi court under the Explosive Substances Act.

Additional Sessions Judge S N Gupta also fined Abdul Rauf Hawash and Mohd Shamim Sarwar, Rs 15,000 each, while setting off their imprisonment term against the period already undergone by them in jail.

They had been convicted for possessing nearly six kilograms of RDX, under suspicious circumstances, five years ago.

During the course of the trial, however, the prosecution was unable to conclusively prove any terrorist links the accused might have had with the al-Qaida or any other group.

Two others, Sheikh Abbas Hussain and Mohd Arshad Khan, represented by amicus curiae Mehdi Hussain, have already been acquitted of all charges for lack of any evidence.

An FIR was originally registered by the Chanakya Puri police here on information that a group of terrorists with possible bin Laden links were planning to attack the American Embassy in the New Delhi area using an explosives-laden car.

On June 15, 2001, accused Hawash, suspected to be of Sudanese descent, was caught receiving a suitcase from Sarwar, which was found to contain 5.7 kgs of RDX, besides iron shrapnel, a pencil timer and a detonator.

The other two, Hussain and Khan, were later nabbed on suspicion of having supplied solicitation money to procure a car for the alleged proposed attack, and for aiding and abetting the accused. However, nothing was ever recovered from their possession which resulted in their acquittal.

Smoking ban may be extended to parks, stadia
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 27
The Delhi Government is mulling over a decision to widen the scope of ‘public areas’ where it has already banned smoking. “We are considering extending the smoking ban to open parks and stadiums which currently don’t come under the ambit of the areas where smoking is banned,” said Mr A. C. Tripathi, Programme Officer of Anti-Smoking Cell, in a conference here on Friday to commemorate ‘World No Tobacco Day’ on May 31.

The government has also doubled the penalty for smoking in public places.

Last year alone, the authorities raided 12,368 places and produced 50 persons before the magistrate.

Dr K. K. Aggarwal, President of Heart Care Foundation of India, said both active and passive smoking damaged the tissues of human body and it also caused impotency.

He added that smokers found it difficult to do away with the habit, often requiring multiple counselling sessions.

Park reopens after two days
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 27
Jim Corbett National Park, which was shut down on Wednesday due to protests from the park employees, reopened yesterday after following assurance from the Park Administration and District Administration regarding the security of the employees.

The park employees were protesting following an altercation with the taxi drivers of the region.

The RTO had caught two taxis inside the park without permit which had led to an altercation and
later protest by the park employees.

New paper market to replace Chawri Bazar
Nalini Ranjan

New Delhi, May 27
The development work of the paper market being handled by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) at Mayur Vihar Phase 3 is almost at the final stage and is expected to be opened for the general public shortly.

According to sources, all registered paper merchants operating their business at Chawri Bazar have been allotted outlets there. “Actually, it will be a sort of transfer of existing paper market of Chawri Bazar. At ten different locations of the market, parking lots have been developed and at four different places, under ground water reservoirs have been constructed for connecting fire-fighting measures. The DDA is also planning to construct a separate fire station here with the help of Delhi Fire Service (DFS) especially for the market,” said an associated paper merchant.

A DDA official said that the exercise for the transfer of the existing paper market had been initiated years back due to heavy congestion and traffic snarls at Chawri Bazar. “After a series of surveys and feasibility report, a big open space at Gazipur in Mayur Vihar Phase 3 area was earmarked for the purpose. Rs 5 crore have been spent on the development of the land for the purposed market. The DDA has allotted 997 plots in three different categories for the construction of outlets for the paper merchants of the market,” he said.

A local merchant S. K. Garg said that it would provide a respite to all of them. “As we have learnt, the market will have all possible infrastructure and facilities,” he commented.

Allotment of vacant plots to be cancelled
Our Correspondent

Greater Noida, May 27
If you have failed to construct your house within the stipulated time, the Greater Noida Authority can cancel the allotment of your plot.

According to sources, there are over 1,500 allottees who have failed to built their houses after the plots were allotted to them over 12 years ago. All these defaulters will now have to pay 4 per cent of sector rates as fine.

According to Addl CEO, GNIDA, Mr Harish Varma, the Authority could cancel the allotment of the plots of those who fail to construct their houses by April 2007. This policy would be applicable to Alfa I and II, Beta I and II, and Gama I and II sectors for the time being.

Some 9,500 residential plots were allotted in these sectors during 1994 out of which 1,200 allottees have not yet constructed their houses. The Authority has thus decided to give these people a last chance to construct their houses by April, 2007 failing which their allotments would be cancelled.

Besides, the rate of fine has been doubled from 2 per cent to 4 per cent of the sector rates for those who have not obtained completion certificates of their houses. The prevalent sector rate is Rs 4,500 per sq metre.

All the defaulters will have to pay the fine at the rate of Rs 750 per sq mt per year. With this decision of the Authority, the property dealers will not be able to built houses according to their own fancy designs and hike the prices manifold. They too will have to complete the constructions in one year’s time, the sources said.