New Delhi, June 28
Even as the admission process in Delhi University was set in motion, the Supreme Court was approached today by the anti-reservation students accusing the varsity of violating the court's stay order on implementing the OBC quota in central education institutions.

The application was moved by the Youth for Equality (YFE), one of the several petitioners before the apex court on whose petitions the interim stay on implementation of the new OBC Reservation Act was granted by the court on March 29.

YFE's counsel M L Lahoti, in the application, pointed out that despite the stay order, the common centralised form issued by Delhi University for admission to the graduation -level courses this year, had a column indicating reservation of seats for the OBC students.

This was clear violation of the Supreme Court order. Similarly, Symbiosis International University of Pune in its prospectus had also shown 7 per cent reservation of seats for the OBC students, it said.

Lahoti said such violation of the stay order was nothing short of contempt of the court by these universities.

The court before closing for the ongoing summer vacation, had rejected the Government's review petition against the stay order and referred the matter to a constitution Bench to decide the validity of the new OBC Reservation Act, providing for 27 per cent reservation for the students from the other backward classes.

The quota was to be implemented from this academic session in staggered manner during the next three years to enable the central institutions create adequate infrastructure by 2009 to implement it in full.

Faridabad, June 28
The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) officials removed encroachment on about two acres of land, worth several crores in its Sector 20 here today.

The bulldozers razed a large number of jhuggis that had come up on this land, meant for commercial and institutional purpose.

The encroachment had come up in the shape of two unauthorized colonies, Krishna Colony and Ram Nagar, in this sector located between Mathura Road and the railway track near Ajronda Chowk.

It is reported that the police had to use mild cane-charge and teargas shells to disperse the mob that had assembled at the site as many residents refused to vacate the land despite the notice.

It is stated that some residents claimed that their colony had been several years old and the department's action had been illegal, as they were not provided with any alternative spot where they could shift.

The action has left hundreds of families homeless, said a resident, protesting against the action.

However, the HUDA officials said that the notices had been given to the encroachers well in advance.

According to Mr J.S.Ahlawat, administrator, HUDA, the land under encroachment would be recovered.

The department had been doing its best to provide the basic amenities and facilities to the allottees of both residential and commercial plots, he added.

New Delhi, June 28
The Delhi government has got a green signal from the Lt Governor to regularise the plots allotted to the members of weaker section under 20-point programme launched by the Central government.

Giving details of the scheme, the Delhi development minister Rajkumar Chauhan pointed out that the city government had decided to regularise the plots allotted under 20-Point Programme to the economically deprived people in December 2005.

He said such people had been allotted plots of different sizes at various places of Delhi.

A total of 12,500 plots were allotted between 1981 and 1985 and 9,576 plots from 1985 to 1989 for residential purposes.

These plots had not been registered in the record of the Revenue Department, creating hurdles for the allottees. In the revenue record, these plots have been shown on the land of Gram Sabha.

The minister pointed out that these plots had been allotted on the lease of nine years.

Keeping in view all these problems, the government had decided to regularise and register them in the revenue record. Elaborating on the scheme, the minister said the one-member committee that studied 89 villages had counted the number of such plots 19,101.

According to the study report, a total of 9,811 plots are still occupied by the original allottees and as many as 7,871 plots have either been sold or transferred to others. The committee said it could find information about 1,419 plots only.

Chauhan said presently, 7,589 out of the total 19,101 plots were empty and 9,599 plots were being used for residential purposes.

He said some kind of commercial activities were going on in 756 plots and 439 plots were being used for both residential and commercial purposes.

He also pointed out that no information was available about the usage of 635 plots.

He said under the present regularisation process, the current status of these plots would be registered in the revenue record and a certain conversion charge would also be charged for regularisation.

If the original allottee uses the plot for residential purposes, no fee will be charged and if the plot is being used for commercial or any other purpose, a conversion charge at the rate of Rs 50 per square meter will be charged.

Similarly, if the original allottee has sold the plot and the present occupier uses the plot for residential purpose, he will have to pay Rs 100 per square metre.

If the present occupier is not the original allottee and he is using the plot for commercial purposes, that plot will not be regularised.

Ghaziabad, June 28
In Uttar Pradesh alone, a large number of farmers are reportedly under agricultural debt of a whopping Rs 65,000 crore.

After Karnataka, it is the UP farmer who is under the maximum debt. UP farmers who had taken to Kisan Credit Cards in a big way are ruing their fate as it has deteriorated their conditions, notwithstanding the claims of government agencies like Nabard.

Farmers are allowed credit up to the fixed limit under the credit card scheme but most of them find it impossible to repay their loans on time.

According to Nabard, up to March 31, 2006, some 13,33,064 farmers in UP had been given credit cards and the amount of their loan stood at Rs 65,037 crore, second only Rs 79,007 crore of Karnataka farmers. Maharashtra farmers are at third slot.

UP tops the number of farmers who have accepted credit cards in any state. Over 16.79 lakh UP farmers had opted for credit cards up to 13 August 2006. The farmers have taken sizeable loans from UP Cooperative Bank.

But over 50.24 per cent farmers become defaulters in repayment of their loans every year. Farmers were able to return only Rs 112.27 crore loans to banks as against the due amount of Rs 225.63 crore.

Thus 50 per cent of farmers find themselves unable to free their land pledged to the banks.

Over 51 per cent of a large number of farmers who have taken loans from banks, financial institutions or traditional money-lenders in the country are unable to repay their loans. Out of these, over 17,000 farmers have been driven to commit suicide in the country during the past decade--since 1997.

The statistics paint a dismal picture of the state of farmers in the country who now contribute a mere 2.7 per cent to country's progress, while industry and services sectors have a development rate of 8.7 per cent and 11 per cent  respectively.

Faridabad, June 28
The social welfare department here has released a sum of Rs 23,000 to 77 beneficiaries of the Laadli social security allowance scheme last month.

The scheme was launched by the state government two years ago for those parents who had only daughters and no son. Such parents are eligible to receive a pension of Rs 600 per month--Rs 300 each for father and mother--from the state government. The age of the applicant should be between 45 and 60 years.

"Though the scheme is meant to provide a boost to the birth of the girl child, as the state has seen a sharp drop in the sex ratio against the girl child over the past several years, there seems to be lack of awareness and guidance to the rural people," claimed an official of the department.

This, he claimed, has been evident from the number of persons who have approached the department so far, while the population of the district is around 22 lakh.

Ravi Kant of the ShaktiVahini, an NGO based here, said that the department officials should go to the rural parts to provide information and receive applications from the residents on the spot and sanction the allowance.

He said there were several villages in remote areas and reaching the office there was not possible for many of them. Moreover, he alleged that insensitivity of the officials of the department concerned had been a major deterrent in the success of any such scheme.

The government also provides old-age pension to those residents who are aged 60 years or above, with no income limitation. The government has allocated Rs 3 lakh for this purpose in the present financial year.

The department has fixed Wednesday of the second week of every month to identify such beneficiaries in the district.

Meanwhile, in another scheme meant for the physically challenged persons, the department released Rs 24.40 lakh as monthly pension during May for about 5883 beneficiaries.

The applicant with 100 per cent disability receives a monthly pension of Rs 600, while those having partial disability get an allowance of Rs 300 per month.

The total annual budget for this purpose has been over Rs 2.86 crore in the district.

New Delhi, June 28
The hunger strike at JNU has continued into its fifth day, with the administration and the students being at loggerheads on the karamchari issue.

The JNUSU has decided to intensify the struggle by taking out a march tomorrow at 10.30 am.

Dhananjaya, the president of the JNUSU, said, "The administration is being extremely uncooperative and it has not held any negotiations with us so far. Some 50 students have sat on hunger strike but this has made no difference. If our demands are not met, we will intensify the struggle."

Meanwhile, there is apparent dissatisfaction among the students on campus with the university administration's tough stance of disciplining 11 students for misbehaving with a university official.

A protest movement was launched on Saturday night after the administration took disciplinary action against the students including top functionaries of the JNUSU for misbehaving with a top varsity official.

The varsity rusticated seven students for separate terms and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on three leaders for allegedly 'gheraoing' the Registrar on February 19. The gherao was done during a protest demanding minimum wages for the daily workers.

The JNUTA has also come out in favour of the students' position and asked the administration to open negotiations.

New Delhi, June 28
For the 30 thalassaemic children who visited the 10 Janpath today, meeting Congress President Sonia Gandhi at her residence was like a dream come true.

"When I saw her, I asked my friend to pinch me to ensure that I was not dreaming," a visibly excited Inderjeet said after the 20-minute meeting with the country's one of the most influential politicians.

A thought echoed by all the other young members of the delegation, Nupur, Kritika, Bhanu, Akash Deep, Chandani, Nikhil, Kirti and Ganesh.

The outcome of the meeting should indeed bring smiles to the faces of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RJF) office-bearers because as per RJF media advisor D. Krishna Rao, the meeting had primarily been arranged to bring happiness to the children.

The children, all from Faridabad, who met Ms Gandhi in her capacity as the RJF chairperson under the aegis of the Foundation Against Thalassaemia also made a special request - to include thalassaemics in the special category like handicapped.

"Thalassaemics of our state, approximately 500 as per our estimates, should be included and classified as 'handicapped' and benefits and privileges of this category extended to them," stated the memorandum presented on the behalf of the children by Foundation Against Thalassaemia general secretary Ravinder Dudeja and president B. Dass Batra.

Besides, they also urged Ms Gandhi for help in providing them with medicines and injections so that their parents could be saved of mental tension resulting from heavy expenditure.

Eleven-year old Tushar Arora, a Class VII student from Faridabad, who also sang the A.R Rehman version of "Vande Mataram" for Ms Gandhi, later recounted how his life depended upon regular blood transfusions and daily injections.

Ms Gandhi, who appeared to enjoy Tushar's rendition, joined in by clapping along with the children. She also posed for photographers along with a poster prepared by children that stated: "You don't have to be Batman to save lives. Donate blood. Save lives".

During the interaction, she posed with children for photographs and signed their autograph books. She also assured the delegation that she would look into the matter.

According to Dudeja, in the past the Foundation had approached the Prime Minister as well as the President, apprising them of problems faced by thalassaemics.

New Delhi, June 28
Subhash Arya, Leader of House in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, today demanded that the last date for depositing mixed land use charges be extended from June 30 to August 30.

He said that it was not possible for lakhs of traders and professionals to understand the ticklish process of this scheme and arrange money within five days. At least traders and professionals should be granted two months time.

He alleged that the urban development ministry delayed the process of fixing rates of conversion and parking charges as a result of which the traders and professionals were facing difficulties.

"Still, there are some points on which the notification is silent. Everyday, new problems are being observed by the MCD for which clarifications are being sought from the ministry," he said.

Arya further demanded that the ministry should reconsider the notification of DDA issued on June 22 and remove the shortcomings. He added that it should issue another amended notification immediately.

He regretted for not decreasing the parking charges. "The present exhorbitant rates are out of the reach of traders," he said.

He further said that it was not clear why parking charges were imposed in the special areas. These special areas comprise crowded places like Old Delhi, Sadar Paharganj and Karol Bagh which have been a commercial place for the last 50 years. "There is no justification to charge parking rates from the traders of these areas," he said.

Arya further demanded that DDA Flats, resettlement colonies and commercial areas established prior to 1962 should be exempted from payment of mixed use and parking charges.

New Delhi, June 28
Delhi unit president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and MLA, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, today announced that the party would contest the assembly elections in the national Capital alone.

For the assembly elections to be held next year, the NCP has reconstituted its executive.

Among the new office-bearers are: vice-presidents -Mahesh Awana, Anil Bandhu, Bijender Dutt Sharma, Mahavir Fouji, Mahabir Singh, Surender Kumar Prajapati, Satyaprakash Swami, Satish Kumar Solanki, M. U. Khan and Sunahri; genereal secretaries--Vijender Bhardwaj, Aisha Siddiqui, Mempal Chaudhary, Ajay Tyagi, Vijay Kumar Jha, Mohammad Abrar, Nand Kishore Jaggi, Rekha Rani, Surya Prakash Bhardwaja and Ashok Kumar. Besides, secretaries and joint secretaries have also been appointed.

New Delhi, June 28
For some people who are seeking alternative to traditional lasik incision (with blades) or who may be afraid to have a blade cut their cornea, there is good news.

Now a new blade-free lasik will cut the corneal flap (instead of a blade) using a computerised laser light before reshaping the corneal surface for easy surgery and recovery.

Many people in the west are turning to such 'IntraLase Lasik' in order to enjoy clear and sharp vision, 24 hours a day, without the need for any lenses.

The IntraLase Method takes about 20 seconds per eye, with the entire lasik procedure often completed in both eyes in approximately 30 minutes. Patients see better immediately with recovery typically lasting a few hours, followed by a few days of mild eye irritation.

Dr Mahipal S Sachdev, medical director, Centre for Sight, says, "Traditional lasik surgery, where flaps are cut, have long depended on the strength of the cornea. This blade-free technique is made

for patients who have steep, flat or thin corneas and not suited for traditional lasik surgery."

Various clinical studies in the west have shown that the IntraLase method results in foremost visual outcomes and gives highest degree of surgical control in treating corneal disorders such as long-sightedness, shortsightedness and astigmatism as much as in 90 per cent cases. More than 95 per cent of advanced lasik patients