New Delhi, September 4
The administration at the All India India Institute of Medical Sciences today handed over to 49 doctors long overdue MBBS degree certificates carrying, among others, the all-important signature of union health minister and Institute president Dr Anbumani Ramadoss.

The 1200-strong Resident Doctors Association that went on strike last week to press for timely distribution of degrees confirmed that these had been distributed by the acting registrar of AIIMS, Dr Sandeep Agarwala.

But the trouble is not really over as RDA has only won half the battle.

Sources in RDA alleged that the health minister’s office in Nirman Bhawan refused to sign MS and MD degrees urgently needed by doctors wishing to pursue further degrees.

New Delhi, September 4
Former model Geetanjali Nagpal, 32, found begging on the city’s streets, has been admitted to the Vimhans Hospital here.

Nagpal, who is under the care of the Delhi commission for women (DCW), was admitted to Vimhans late last night, after taking permission from the metropolitan magistrate at Karkardooma court here.

She is supposed to appear before the court tomorrow, but with the current state of health, it seems that she would not be able to appear before the court tomorrow. Therefore, the commission, reportedly, will seek more time for her to appear before the court, DCW chairperson Barkha Singh told PTI.

Yesterday, doctors had diagnosed her, as she suffers from fear psychosis.

A photojournalist found the ex-model begging in Hauz Khas. It seemed that she had nowhere to go, as her family had disowned her. Government agencies floundered in finding a shelter for her and took hours to decide on how to rehabilitate her.

Nagpal had once walked the ramp for top designers and was a contemporary of star Sushmita Sen — PTI

New Delhi, September 4
Abhijit, one of the students on a relay hunger strike at Delhi University said, “The hunger strike at DU and will continue, till the administration does not give us a serious hearing and our grievances are not addressed.”

B.Sc. students of the restructured programme have been sitting on a hunger strike since Monday, though the protest has been underway for two weeks. Students are protesting against the ‘grossly unfair examination result.’ Students belonging to the restructured B.Sc. programme across DU are supporting the agitators.

Abhijit informed, “Today five of us are sitting on strike and, we will continue till we get justice. Some 65 per cent students across DU, who sat at the B.Sc. restructured examination, flunked in the paper. This is unprecedented, we have worked hard for the examination and none of us is going to accept this result.”

He added that they had met the vice-chancellor and had acquainted him with their grievances, in the beginning. The VC had assured them of looking into the matter. However, no action has been taken yet. “The committee members’ response to our request is negative, but we want justice. We will continue this strike, till talks are held with the VC and committee members,” said Abhijit. 

New Delhi, September 4
On the eve of teachers’ day, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) today honoured 13 teachers with the ‘teachers award’ for 2006, in recognition of their services. Minister of state for human resource development M.A.A. Fatmi awarded the teachers. The award consisted of a merit certificate, a shawl and cash of Rs 25,000.

Lauding teachers’ role in shaping the country’s future, Fatami said that only quality education would lead to the development of India. “Unfortunately, the number of good and qualified teachers is not adequate in the country. A country that lacks education will not be able to progress. It will lag behind in every sector,” he added.

The minister said that apart from power and a vibrant economy, India needed to have education for all its citizens, to achieve the status of a developed country by 2020. “We require have a very good education policy,” Fatmi added.

Admitting that many posts for teachers were lying vacant, Fatami said that education was the priority for the Centre. “The government has provided the maximum grant to its various education schemes,” he added.

The recipents of the CBSE award are- Chitra Srinivas, PGT (History) Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, New Delhi; S.K. Munjal, principal, St Margaret School, New Delhi, Dr (Capt) G.S. Dhillon, principal, Dalhousie Public School, Dalhousie; Manvinder Bajwa, vice-principal, Bhavan Vidyalaya, Chandigarh; S.S. Nathan, principal Bal Vidya Mandir, Chennai; Dr T.S. Sashikala, principal Howard Public School, Hyderabad; M.S. Iyengar, PGT (Ehglish), Prakash Higher Secondary School, Ahmedabad; Dr Raj Bahadur, senior PGT (Physics), St Angela Sophia School, Jaipur; Shivram Modgil, principal, DAV Public School, Ranchi.— PTI

New Delhi, September 4
Junior doctors at the Safdarjung Hospital in the Capital today went on a strike, after a patient’s relative allegedly assaulted a physician.

Protesting against the alleged assault of a physician by a patient’s relative, they stopped attending patients at the Out Patients Department (OPD) from the morning, Resident Doctors’ Association general secretary Rohit Tyagi told newsmen.

The incident occurred last night. “We learnt about the incident this morning and decided to go on strike. Such incidents highlight the issue of the safety of doctors”, he said. However, the emergency and ICU services remain unaffected.

Meanwhile, police said that investigations were on to ascertain the facts involving the incident.

Earlier, doctors at the GTB Hospital had gone on strike after a similar incident. Doctors at various government-run hospitals have constantly been demanding adequate security, as such violent incidents have increased over the years.

New Delhi, September 4
The Delhi High court has dismissed a petition filed by the Escorts Heart and Research Institute, challenging a notice by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), for evicting the land allotted to it, as it had allegedly violated the provisions under the lease deed.

In April, 2004, the DDA’s estate officer had issued a showcause notice to the hospital management for eviction on the ground that the hospital had violated the terms and conditions of the lease deed that specified free treatment of people.

A division bench of Chief Justice M.K. Sharma and justice Sanjeev Khanna yesterday rejected the hospital’s plea and noted that instead of conducting proceedings under the Public Premises Act (eviction and unauthorised occupants), the DDA should have filed a civil suit for obtaining the land again.

Besides, the bench rejected another submission made by Escort counsel Sanjeev Puri stating that the DDA had never given the land on lease to the hospital.

New Delhi, September 4
To muster support in their nationwide agitation against the entry of big corporate houses in retail trade, a delegation of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT)

today met BJP president Rajnath Singh and handed over a memorandum demanding the immediate restriction on corporate retailers. CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal led the delegation. Trade leaders like- Murli Mani, Ramesh Khanna, Satish Garg, Vijay Pal, Shyam Sharma, Ramesh Kapoor, Hari Om Goel and others joined the delegation.

Assuring BJP’s support to the trading community, Rajnath Singh said that the BJP was opposed to the entry of big industrial houses in retail trade. He added that the party considered that such a move would adversely affect crores of small retailers and other sections of society across country and, would result in mass unemployment.

The interests of small shopkeepers must be protected at all levels. Singh lauded the trading community’s role in bringing the economic and social development of the country and termed it as the ‘real backbone’ of the nation’s economy.

He regretted over the government’s approach in ignoring issues concerning domestic trade. He said that the BJP would not hesitate to raise its voice in favour of traders and would join them.

Earlier, in its memorandum, the CAIT had revealed the operation philosophy of multinational retailers. It had said that given their global outsourcing skills these companies would use their pockets and indulge in ‘predatory pricing’ to crush any sort of competition from small retailers and, once the competition is driven away, the prices are jacked up to hit the consumer.

Not only traders, but people of other sectors including, employees, farm labourers, transport, consumer cooperative societies, commission agents, small and medium scale industry etc would also be affected and, therefore, big corporate houses should be kept outside the retail trade.

New Delhi, September 4
The Capital is likely to have its autonomous National Law School (NLS) with a deemed university status soon. A bill in this regard was recently passed by the Cabinet and would be tabled during the monsoon session of the Assembly.

As per the bill, there will be a provision for an executive council and an academic council. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall be a visitor at the law school. The Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court will be appointed as the chancellor and will appoint the vice-chancellor. aThe school is expected to start its session from 2008. An integrated judicial complex is likely to be set up in sector 14, Dwarka, which will house the campus of the institute. The complex will also have a law centre and a guidance centre.

New Delhi, September 4
Millions of Hindus in India and abroad on Tuesday celebrated Janamashtami, the birthday of Lord Krishna, one of the most popular Hindu gods, with special prayers, spiritual discourses, dance and music.

The day started with people thronging Krishna temples, with devotion in their hearts and prayers on their lips.

Many temples wore a festive look, bedecked with flowers and illuminated by lamps. Several places of worship also had floats depicting scenes from Krishna’s childhood.

As ever, the maximum rush of devotees was at Mathura, the lord’s birthplace some 135 km south of New Delhi.

Mathura had pilgrims coming from all over the country. Temples in the holy city were richly decorated and they liberally distributed sweets to everyone.

In New Delhi, the Birla temple saw people queuing up right since early morning. Generous offerings of fruits, flowers and sweets were made to the gods.

Celebrations were on in many households too— with kheer prepared for the special day. Many observed a fast..

“Barring children, all members of our family are fasting to celebrate the Lord’s birthday. We visited the Birla temple and Akshardham temple,” said Ajit Kumar Nayak, a teacher.

Krishna is one of the most lovable gods. Famed for his naughty antics as a child and his flirtatious playfulness, Krishna is at the same time believed to be the ultimate saviour and protector.

“To a foreigner or a non-Hindu, the escapades of the child Kanha, or the dalliances of Murari, could appear a trifle bizarre. But the attraction of Krishna lies precisely in this exuberance of his multifaceted personality,” says author Pavan Varma in “Krishna: The Playful Divine”.

Hundreds of devotees gathered at Delhi’s International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) temple—IANS

Noida, September 4
Three persons died in three accidents at different places in Dadri area on Sunday, while two were seriously injured. The injured have been rushed to hospital.

Rafique, a resident of Tajpur village in Bulandshahr was taking his wife in his Maruti van to village Bumbavad when a Tata-407 coming from the opposite direction collided with the van. Rafique, his wife and driver were seriously injured. They were rushed to a Ghaziabad hospital where Rafique succumbed to his injuries.

In the second accident, Satpal, a resident of village Senthali, was waiting for a transport at village Anandpur when a vehicle hit him. Satpal was rushed to Navin hospital in Dadri where he later succumbed to his injures.

Surinder of Veerpura village was going along with his wife Anita to village Barolla on his scooter. When he reached near Syndicate Bank at village Kathora, a truck coming from the opposite direction hit their scooter. Both Satpal and his wife were seriously injured as they fell on the road. The injured couple were rushed to Navin hospital, Dadri, where Anita later succumbed to her injuries. The police have sent the bodies for autopsy after registering cases against the drivers of vehicles involved in accidents.

Noida, September 4
The principal and Prof. Ambardar, secretary Vishwa Bharati Public School, Noida, jointly presented a cheque for Rs 30,000 to the Rotarians, as VBP School’s contribution towards Rotary Blood Bank coming up at Noida, during the Induction Ceremony for academic session 2007-08 last week.

The staff and student members of the Interact Club at Vishwa Bharati Public School Noida, had organized the Induction Ceremony to flag off their activities for the academic session 2007-2008.

The ceremony began with the lighting of the lamp by Rtn. Dalbir Singh, president, and Rtn. Amit Oberoi, director, New Generations from Rotary Club of Noida.

A.K. Bhat, gen. secretary, Prof. Ambardar, secretary, Vishwa Bharati Women Welfare Institution and Rtn. Ashok Manchanda, treasurer, Rotary Club of Noida were also present on the occasion.

The principal Veena Bhasin stressed upon the need to be compassionate and caring towards society.

The outgoing president of the Interact Club read out the Annual Report of 2006-2007.

Fifty-five new members, including the office-bearers were formally inducted into the club by the Rotarians. Prakar Garg was collared as the new president, Gauri Badekar as vice-president.

Gurgaon, September 4
Under the scheme of appointing safai karamchari in each village, about 400 Dalits in Gurgaon district will get government jobs. The scheme will come into effect from October 2 this year.

In Gurgaon district, 397 Dalit families are going to be benefited by the scheme. The district has a total of 237 villages and according to 2001 census, 143 villages of the district had population below 2,000 where as population of 71 villages was above 2,000. Thirteen villages of the district have population above 5,000 and population in ten villages has crossed 10,000.

On blockwise analysis, Gurgaon block has maximum seven villages with over 10,000 population and these include Nathupur, Chakarpur rupa, Manesar, Dundahera, Jharsa and Sarai Alawardi. The government is going to appoint six safai karamcharis in each of these villages. Eleven villages in Gurgaon block were having population more than 5,000. Besides, 24 villages were having population above 2,000 and 22 villages had population below 2,000. In Gurgaon block 156 Dalits will get government jobs.

Similarly, 84 Dalits will be appointed in Sohna block. This block has two villages Badshapur and Bhondsi having more than 10,000 population each whereas two villages Baluda and Tikli had a population of over 5,000. In this block, 13 villages were of over 2,000 population while population in 38 villages was below 2,000.

In Pataudi block consisting of 70 villages, 56 villages had population below 2,000 whereas 13 villages had population above 2000. Only one village namely Bhorakalan had population above 10,000.

According to the state government’s scheme, 88 Dalit families will get employment in their own villages. Similarly, Faruknagar block had 27 villages of below 2000 population and 21 villages of above 2000 population. Sixty-nine Dalit families will be benefited by this scheme.

The Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has announced in the Gohana rally recently that the government is going to appoint safai karamcharis in the villages.

As per the Chief Minister’s announcement, a safai karamchari will be appointed in the villages having population up to 2,000 and in villages with more than 2,000 population two safai karamcharis would be appointed.

There would be four such karamcharis in villages having more than 5,000 population and six karamcharis to look after cleanliness in villages having more than 10,000 population.

According to population census, out of 6,764 villages in Haryana, 4,148 villages had population below 2,000 and in 2,015 villages population was between 2,000 and 5,000 whereas 514 villages had a population ranging from 5,001 to 10,000.