New Delhi, May 10
Reviving the memories of the historic 1857 uprising and the famous march of the rebel sepoys, at least 30,000 youth from all over the country today reached the National Capital Territory of Delhi after completing a 60-kilometre journey, "Jang-e-Azadi," from Meerut in the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

The rally was received at the Delhi border by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and members of her Cabinet along with other VIPs and cheering crowds.

Addressing the rally, Dikshit said the uprising of 1857 was a source of inspiration for today's youth too and urged them to emulate the sense of sacrifice and love for the country as shown by the martyrs who fought for the independence of the country.

She said in her message her government was in the process of identifying places identified with the Independence movement and these would be preserved as a tribute to the martyrs.

More than 30,000 youth from the 623 districts of the country were participating in the rally organised by the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS). The rally was kicked off from Meerut's Kranti Park by union minister for sports and youth affairs Mani Shankar Aiyar on May 7.

The march has substantial representation from faroff places like Andaman and Nicobar Islands, North-Eastern states and Jammu and Kashmir. More than 6,000 women are also participating in the rally.

The participants, who were carrying colourful buntings and banners, were welcomed with flower petals showered on them. The rally had halts in Modinagar, Muradnagar and Mohan Nagar before entering the Capital.

The participants are being made to halt on the banks of the Yamuna today where adequate arrangements had been made for them. They will assemble at the historic Red Fort here on May 11 (tomorrow) for the inaugural function of the year-long celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the First War of Independence.

New Delhi, May 10
Gathering from various states in Meerut and then proceeding from there to Delhi in a rally to celebrate the First War of Independence's 150 years was a source of inspiration, said participants of a rally. Thousands of youth from Meghalaya, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal and other states of the country have come to Delhi through Meerut to attend the function to be celebrated tomorrow.

G. N. S. Marathon, a teacher in Meghalaya, said the rally was source of inspiration for cooperation and brotherhood to fight for national causes. When sepoys raised their voice against the British government in 1857, they received cooperation from all parts of the country to fight the First War of Independence. Indian rulers of small areas had stood against the British government and fought bravely, he said.

A majority of the participants in the rally were the youth of the country. "When we reached Meerut, we were happy to see the historic city. We imagined the rally as a battalion of sepoys who had revolted against the British Government, " they chorused.

Historical places in the national Capital like Red Fort, Company Bagh, Hardyal Library, earlier known as Harding Library, are source of knowledge about the First War of Independence fought by Indian nationals from 1857 to 1947.

Mohan Kumar, a student of BSc. second year in Madhepura in Bihar, said, "I am happy to participate in the rally. The government had made proper arrangements for everything.

The government allowed free travel for participants of the rally. I came to Meerut by train and from there the participants walked down to Delhi. On the way, the arrangement for food and lodging was good."

New Delhi, May 10
The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA), at the executive committee meeting, greeted the nation on its 150th year celebration of the Indian freedom struggle which began on May 10, 1857.

The JNUTA feels this massive movement of Indian people against British colonial rule is a glorious chapter of Indian history when both Hindu and Muslim community under the leadership of Bahadur Shah Zafar fought a nationwide war to free the country from the British yoke. Despite the fact that the freedom struggle did not succeed, yet it paved the way to a long march for attaining it in 1947.

Academics at the JNUTA feel today there is a strong need to revive the spirit of communal amity and patriotic feelings among people that were the hallmark of 1857 and preserve the democratic structure and freedom of the country.

In this context, JNUTA expressed its deep concern at the disturbing communal happenings in various parts of the country, which included communally charged and extra-judicial killings of people in Gujarat.

Academics mentioned a particularly disturbing case was that of killing Kauser Bi, brutal attacks on Christian priests in Rajasthan and Maharashtra, the burning of James Laine's book on Shivaji, attack on renowned artist M. F. Husain and harassment of inter-religiously married young couples in Madhya Pradesh by communal fascist forces.

The JNUTA demanded strongest action against these communal forces disturbing the social harmony of our society.

It also demanded that all cases of extra-judicial killings in the name of 'encounter' anywhere in the country should be probed and guilty police officers, if any, punished.

The JNUTA further demanded that Shahabudin, who had been convicted for life in a kidnapping case, should be removed from Lok Sabha as member.

Academics also expressed deep concern about the incidents in Nandigram and other parts of the country due to the SEZ policies of central and state governments, which brought a lot of suffering to peasants and other rural people.

Further, they asked for proper compensation to the people who had suffered due to these policies and incidents, calling for a CBI inquiry in the Nandigram case to be made public.

New Delhi, May 10
Resident welfare associations (RWAs) in East Delhi have urged the Delhi Government to wind up the house building co-operative societies (plotted) in East Delhi which have handed over their essential services to the MCD.

"Most of the house building societies came up in the early seventies. Their main purpose was to allot plots to members. Now they have no role in the societies. There are about 42 house building societies in East Delhi. Almost all of them have handed over their essential services to the MCD in early nineties," said V. N. Bali of Ram Vihar RWA.

S. K. Chibber, Editor, Corporate Era, a magazine on co-operatives, said. "Worldwide, co-operatives cease to exist after the plots are handed over to members. After this, the resident welfare association (RWA) takes care of all residents and treat them equal."

"Section 94 of the Delhi Co-operative Societies Act clearly says that in case of a house building co-operative society where all plots have been allotted to its members and basic civic services have been transferred to the local civic body, the Registrar of Co-operative Societies shall, after giving 60 days' notice to the committee, initiate winding up proceedings and such co-operative house building society shall be wound up," Chibber added.

"In most of the co-operative house building societies, about 90 per cent of the original members have sold their plots at heavy premium. Those few members left in the society are enjoying being unchallenged office-bearers. These people do not represent the entire residents living in the colony," said R. P. Aggarwal of Anand Vihar RWA.

Eminent lawyer Sanjeev Sharma said, "The Delhi Government has realised the co-operative game after the Dwarka scam and now has brought these house building and group house building societies under the ambit of Right to Information Act (RTI) and a general power of attorney holder can become member of the society after paying Rs 500."

Earlier, most of the housing society management was charging a huge amount from house, flat or plot buyers. 

New Delhi, May 10
In a notification, the Delhi University administration has clearly stated that all candidates appearing in the annual examinations 2007 are not allowed to take their mobile telephones inside the examination hall.

Further, in case any candidate is found in possession of a mobile phone inside the examination hall they will be asked to switch it off and keep it outside the hall and at their own risk. In such cases, the staff of the examination hall will not be responsible for theft or loss of the mobile phones.

Candidates are advised to keep their mobile phones outside the premises of the examination centre. Lastly, if a candidate is found in possession of a mobile phone in the course of the examination this will be treated as unauthorised material and the examination superintendent will proceed against the candidate accordingly.

New Delhi, May 10
There is good news for nerds and computer game enthusiasts. The Planman Media here is launching PC Magazine, which is being described as the world's largest personal computing magazine, in collaboration with Ziff Davis Media of the United States. According to a spokesman of the publishers, Ziff Davies Media is a leading integrated media company serving the technology and videogame markets. The spokesman said the Indian PC Magazine would be published monthly and lead and power tech user to take intelligent decisions. —TNS

Greater Noida, May 10
A very piquant situation has arisen in Greater Noida, as G B Nagar district administration has decided to order attachment of properties of Greater Noida Authority for its failure to deposit Rs 33 lakh as royalty for land mining in the area, it is learnt.

It seldom happens when a government organisation is hauled up for its failure to deposit government dues. It is also rarely found that a government department orders attachment of property under another government organisation.

SDM Sadar, Harish Chander has signed orders to this effect, it is learnt. According to the district magistrate Ajay Chauhan, GNIDA resorted to land mining in various parts of the city as per its own whims. The GNIDA had allegedly neither obtained permission from the district administration for such land mining and diggings nor GNIDA had deposited the royalty amount dues with the administration, the DM said.

The experts invited by the district administration from Dehra Dun had conducted a survey and found out that district administration had suffered a loss of Rs 33 lakh in royalty which it was entitled to from GNIDA for having dug up and removed earth from various places.

The district administration had sent three written communications to Greater Noida Authority, but GNIDA did not bother to send even a single reply.

So under rules, it has been decided to issue attachment orders against GNIDA properties.

The SDM has ordered the Tehsildar J P Gupta to immediately seize cars, furniture, air conditioners, TV sets, refrigerators, and other moveable property of GNIDA and recover the amount of Rs 33 lakh by conducting their public auction.

The news of this attachment order had created a scare in the GNIDA where officials feel auction would come as a bolt from the blue and tarnish the image and prestige of the Greater Noida Authority.

Gurgaon, May 10
The national flag can be seen hoisted atop the State Bank of Patiala building on New Railway Road here even after sunset. This is an infringement of the rules under Flag Code of India, 2002, as the Tricolour should be folded after sunset.

"The flag has been flying atop the bank building 24-hours a day for the last three months," alleged Amit Gupta, who resides in a house located opposite the bank.

The Rule 3.6 of Flag Code of India, 2002, which came into effect from January 26, 2002 mentions, "Where the practice is to fly the Flag on any public building, it shall be flown on that building on all days including Sundays and holidays and, except as provided in this Code, it shall be flown from sun-rise to sun-set irrespective of weather conditions. The Flag may be flown on such a building at night also but this should be only on very special occasions".

It appears that the bank officials did not read the rules before hoisting the flag at the building. For the sake of convenience of the public, Flag Code of India, 2002, has been divided into three parts. Part I of the Code contains general description of the National Flag. Part II of the Code is devoted to the display of the National Flag by members of public, private organisations, educational institutions, etc.

"Part III of the Code relates to display of the National Flag by the Central and state governments and their organisations and agencies," added Gupta.

The branch manager of the bank could not be contacted. However, another bank official confirms that the Tricolour keeps flying during the night also. He added, "we clean it regularly".

The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 (Amended by the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Act, 2003) states "whoever in any public place or in any other place within public view burns, mutilates, defaces, defiles, disfigures, destroys, tramples upon or otherwise shows disrespect to or brings into contempt (whether by words, either spoken or written, or by acts) the Indian National Flag or any part thereof, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

Faridabad, May 10
Raja Nahar Singh of the erstwhile Ballabgarh state here was among a few young fiery rulers who laid his life fighting the mighty British power in the First War of Independence. The 34-year-old ruler was hanged to death on January 9, 1858.

Though his name appears in history books as one of the heroes from the National Capital Region (NCR) in 1857 mutiny, there had hardly been any effort made by any state government to keep his legacy alive.

The monumental remains that belonged to this warrior are today lying in dilapidated condition. Sheer neglect has left only a few buildings, which include a palace and Chhatri (residence of queen) and some gates. While the historical buildings have not been adopted by any archeological authority, the palace has been turned into a motel being run by the Haryana Tourism.

Nahar Singh became the king of Ballabgarh at a tender age. His velour and fighting abilities led him to be appointed as Internal Administrator of Delhi by the last Moghul Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, when he was sent to exile in Burma.

Nahar Singh became an enemy for the Britishers after he challenged their invasion of Mewat and surrounding areas. Nahar Singh who had support of both Hindus and Muslims of the area pushed back the enemy valiantly when his state was attacked. While he was captured in a fraudulent manner, he declined to tender apology demanded by the enemy.

The kingdom of Faridkot, where his only daughter was married away, had also tried to intervene in the matter, but brave Nahar Singh told them that he would not bow before the foreign oppressors and thus went to gallows at Chandni Chowk in Delhi.

Nawab of Jhajjar and ruler of Farrukhnagar near Gurgaon were also hanged for revolting against the British rule.

The Britishers, who had nearly captured the heart of the country at that time, razed down the buildings and palace of Nahar Singh to desist the people from revolting.

Nearly all the historical remains, including the pictures and other items owned by the Nahar Singh family were either destroyed or taken away.

'Keep the fire of revolt alive and do not let it off in any condition', was the last message of this martyr, says the historical records.

The hope of revival of the remains of this kingdom got alive when the state government set up a body named as 'Ballabgarh Beautification Society' in 1993 and the government decided to hold an annual Kartik festival in memory of this warrior.

While several lakhs were spent on the renovation of the palace and other buildings, but the work got stalled after some time.

All the gates of this estate had either been damaged severely or sold several years ago.

A case was still pending in court against some persons who tried to raze a historical building and wanted to develop a colony on the area. While the palace has been with the Tourism Department at present, a private college, City and Sadar police stations, DSP office, a senior secondary school, a park, Tehsildar office and a jail exist on the premises of the palace.

New Delhi, May 10
The executive council of Jamia Millia Islamia university recently passed a proposal to set up a Centre for North-East Indian Studies. An MoU is in the pipeline between JMI and the Centre for North East Indian Studies and Policy Research (C-NES), based out of Guwahati.

This is reportedly the first such centre of its kind and will work in tandem with a think-tank based out of the North-East. The Jamia centre will draw on the expertise that C-NES already has in the field of research, publications and study on issues of connectivity of the NE with other regions like SE Asia, migration, demographics, women in conflict situations, participatory planning and governance.

Rakshanda Jalil, the media coordinator at Jamia, informs that priority areas for this centre will focus on ways and means of increasing academic research and develop policy alternatives on the geographical entity of north-eastern India comprising all 7 sister states as well as West Bengal and neighbouring countries of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Tibet and China.

Gurgaon, May 10
The administration today placed a patwari of Mubarakpur village under suspension for alleged irregularities in revenue records.

The administration had received complaint about the alleged irregularities being committed by the revenue official.

On probe, it was found that the patwari had left page blank in mutation register, which is a serious lapse under Punjab Lands Records Manual. Also, he was accused of being irregular in making entries into the record book. During the last two months, he had made entries of only nine mutations, out of 36 sent to him by the tehsildar. Every patwari is supposed to make entry of every registry in the record book within a period of 15 days.

According to a communication from the administration, the official is alleged to have not collected 'abhiyana' and other revenue recoveries after February 26 this year.

The patwari has already been chargesheeted on corruption charges.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, has directed all the tehsildars and naib tehsildar to regularly check the revenue records of patwaris. 

New Delhi, May 10
Two students of class XII at Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram, have been selected to attend the summer courses at Stanford University this year.

Poshak Agrawal will attend the Stanford University Mathematics Camp with 100 per cent financial aid and also the Educational Programme for Gifted Youth at Stanford University from June 24 to Aug 11.

Ishaan Chugh, another student, will attend the 'Introduction to Cosmology' course from June 24 to July 13, a school release said.

New Delhi, May 10
The Homoeopathic Pharmaceutical Association of India (HPAI) has demanded from the union government an amendment in Rule 43-A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, for getting clearance for imported drugs. As a result of technical lacuna in the rule, homoeopathic medicines worth crores of rupees were lying in the custody of the custom department in Delhi, HPAI president R. N. Wahi said.

He said for the past 17 years importers of the medicines had been getting the consignment from the custom department in Delhi after showing a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Additional Drug Controller at IGIA in Delhi. At present, the department concerned had refused to accept the NOC, saying that the consignment could be cleared from the Nava Sheva port in Mumbai as imported drugs landed there through ships.

The importers have to pay penalty for the consignments which have already arrived in Delhi.

The medicines imported from foreign countries landed in Mumbai from where they were transported to different centres in India. Delhi was the centre for distribution of medicines in North India. Medicines were brought from Mumbai to the Delhi custom division from where the importers got the consignment released. If any legal formality was required, it was done easily.

If it is cleared from Mumbai, the traders may have to face two difficulties. One, they cannot clear legal queries easily. Secondly, they get the delivery of consignments late.

The association members have written letters to union finance minister P. Chidambaram, union minister of health and family welfare Anbumani Ramadoss, the adviser, homoeopathy, department of Ayush, Government of India, the chief commissioner of customs and drug controller of India appealing to get released their consignments from Delhi custom department.

New Delhi, May 10
Though Delhi food and civil supply minister Raj Kumar Chauhan claimed in the Delhi Assembly House meeting that new ration cards were issued to citizens without any hassle, but this was not true. A number of people were seen at the food supply office in Okhla Industrial area phase II who claimed getting a new ration card was not easy. The officials ask for a number of documents that are difficult to procure.

Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Harkesh Nagar, said he lived in a rented house. "My landlord has given me in writing that I live in his house to use as a proof of residence. When I asked for the official concerned in the food and civil supply office in the industrial area, he made a demand for power of attorney to prove ownership of the house which I could not provide".

Sunita, a resident of a slum cluster in the industrial area, said recently the government had claimed that now jhuggi dwellers could get ration cards which would not be used as a proof of residence. This was only for getting ration for government shop. But the ration cards were just not issued.

She said, "My husband and I both work in a factory on daily wages. Our salary is meagre and not sufficient to feed all family members. Grains are available at cheap rates on government shops. Ration cards for poor people will be a major relief."

She said it was a major harassment for a woman to go to the food and civil supply office repeatedly as a liquor shop was located adjacent to the office where people were seen standing purchasing alcohol. 

Ghaziabad, May 10
In posh Raj Nagar and Avantika colonies of Ghaziabad, armed robbers ransacked two houses and decamped with valuables worth lakhs of rupees in broad day-light.

The thieves intruded into the houses of a trader in Raj Nagar and a government officer in Avantika colony and made the inmates captives after tying them up.

On Wednesday afternoon, about six robbers came on three motorbikes and forced their way into the house of trader SK Goel. Goel's family members were present at the home when the incident took place.

The intruders pushed all the inmates into a room at gun-point. They decamped with cash, jewellery worth lakhs of rupees and a lap top etc.

In Avantika Colony in Kavi Nagar also, Ramtol, an officer in union agriculture ministry, lives with his family.

While he was in his office, 7 to 8 robbers entered his house when only his wife and three daughters were at home.

New Delhi, May 10
The Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) demanded on Wednesday that all teachers who have superannuated before March 15, 2007, should be re-employed till they turn 65 years of age.

DUTA president Amar Deo Sharma said that, "this is our long-pending demand. We have also urged the UGC chairman to consider the demand that all the teachers who are not 65 years of age and have retired be re-employed till they attain this age limit."

A concerned DUTA delegation on Monday met UGC chairman Sukhadeo Thorat and presented their charter of demands.

In addition, the delegation has demanded that the retirement age for librarians also be enhanced to 65 years.

Faridabad, May 10
Two middle-aged women were killed when a mound of earth fell on them near Nangla Jogian village in Ballabgarh subdivision this morning

The victims, identified as Chandravati and Baleshari, both residents of Nangla Jogian village, got buried under the mound when they went at the spot to fetch earth. —TNS