New Delhi, September 20
Delhi University girls are angry with the police on the issue of the recent mass sexual harassment by the Police Entrance Examination candidates. Students complain that the police have been extremely unhelpful in dealing with their grievances in this matter.

A student (name withheld) was travelling with her mother in a rickshaw near the Civil Lines police station when the candidates pulled down the girl from the rickshaw and tore her clothes. Though the victim's mother lodged a complaint with the cops, they got no help.

In another incident, a student from IP was surrounded by around 15-20 men and was molested.

The students claim that there were more such shocking incidents of sexual assaults against the university students. Recently, a girl from Hansraj College was dragged into the elevator at the Vishwavidyalaya metro station and was allegedly molested by a gang of 15-20 men.

According to the students, many such incidents were left unreported since the victims do not file any complaints due to psychological trauma. The DU girls insist that the police have refused so far to file any complaints.

The students are demanding that the Police Entrance Examination should be declared null and void and also that all the culprits should be given suitable punishment. They also demand that no police examination should be conducted near Delhi University colleges in the future. They have also called upon the DU vice-chancellor to take suo motu action and ask the police commissioner to intervene in this matter at the earliest.

New Delhi, September 19
As part of the golden jubilee celebrations of the National Book Trust (NBT), famous French storyteller Muriel Bloch shared her experiences in the Capital. While talking to Deepa Agarwal, a children's author, Muriel recited some of her folk tales at the French Embassy.

Her recital not only attracted children, but also kept adults clinging on to their chairs. Muriel said, "As adults, we are children."

All her stories have a moral. Her passion for stories arise out of her desire to know more about the world. "People call me a story thief. I steal stories from all over the world. They are an integral part of anyone's culture," said Muriel. "I knew about India before I arrived here, through the folk tales."

Indian stories are her favourite. "India has that mysterious and oriental feel. Stories from this land never fail to amuse me," she added.

Besides reciting stories, Muriel talked about art. When asked whether stories had to be true always, she said, "Stories are always true. Truth and lie is a dialectical process in storytelling." Often children ask after a story whether it actually happened. "A folk tale is always a piece of imagination, but it has a moral. There is a strong tradition of lying in storytelling."

After the success of the Harry Potter series, there has been a proliferation in authors writing for children in the international scenario.

But the phenomenon needs to arrive in India. The NBT is trying to give a positive push to writers here. 

New Delhi, September 19
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today exhorted the Delhi Public Grievances Commission to concentrate on the redressal of grievances of the poor. Releasing the inaugural issue of quarterly magazine "Sulabh Samadhan" published by the commission, the Chief Minister expressed confidence that new bilingual magazine would be able to disseminate the scope and activities of the commission.

The Chief Minister also added that the commission had been able to establish its relevance through its actions and accuracy. It has also provided an effective medium to the people of Delhi to file their complaints about functioning style, corruption and other excesses of government employees. The commission has also helped in enhancing transparency in various state government departments.

The commission is an Appellate Body under Delhi Right to Information Act, 2001 which empowers citizens of Delhi to directly approach the commission in case of denial of information by any department.

The Chief Minister called upon the people to come forward and approach the commission to file their complaints relating to ration cards, basic amenities like water, electricity, sewage, sanitation, transport and encroachment on government land.

She further said that the ensuing issues of the magazine would be able to provide all relevant information to the people thereby making them aware of their rights.

Dikshit also instructed the commission to include citizen's feedback column in the magazine that would enable it to live up to the expectations of the people.

The commission chairman Baleswar Rai stated that new magazine would be brought out regularly and the commission would strive hard to make its copies available to the people. The magazine is meant for free distribution among the public.

He added that the commission has been able to redress various complaints in the shortest possible time to the satisfaction of the complainants. 

New Delhi, September 19
The Delhi transport department has decided to install Global Positioning System (GPS) from January next year.

The tender will be issued on September 24 to allot contract to private companies who have expertise in the system.

The installation of this system aims at tracking buses, monitoring situation of stoppages and arrival of the next bus.

The contract will be given on built, operate and transfer basis.

Initially, the system will cover 500 stoppages and, after that, every next month, 10 stoppages will be included in the list of the system.

The GPS will find out the location of 2,500 DTC buses. Private buses will not come in the purview of the GPS.

According to sources, the bus operator companies would bear charges of advertisement on buses. Presently, the government bears the charge.

All buses will have satellite connection. If the driver needs any guidance related to the routes or, faces any technical snag in the bus, he can contact his headquarters.

Once the new system is introduced, one can get the information on SMS like--fix route, time gap between two buses, number of buses parked in depots, details of bus-drivers details.

Ghaziabad, September 19
A special CBI court today framed charges of murder, rape and concealment of facts against Maninder Singh Pandher, one of the main accused in the Nithari serial killing case.

Additional district judge of CBI Rama Jain framed the charges against Pandher, in whose residence in Nithari 19 women and children were allegedly murdered.

The court on September 12 had directed the charges to be framed against Pandher under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and 120b (criminal conspiracy).

In a related development, senior public prosecutor of CBI Anil Behl filed an additional report against Pandher, which said seven out of the 19 skulls sent for forensic tests were found matching with the blood samples of their parents including that of the deceased girl Payal. The tests were conducted at the forensic lab in Ahmedabad.

Meanwhile, Pandher's advocate Devraj Singh informed the court that he had moved the Allahabad High Court against the CBI court's order. The Allahabad HC, according to him had asked the CBI court to stay the proceedings till its reply. However, Jain rejected his application saying that the CBI court had no such direction from the High Court. —PTI

New Delhi, September 19
'Auditions', a competition for gold jewellery designers, kicked off here on Wednesday aiming to identify three trend-setting designers whose works will be showcased on the global stage.

"This year's theme 'Trend setting Gold' encourages new talent to highlight design innovation and manufacturing excellence," said Ajay Mitra, managing director for the Indian subcontinent of event organiser World Gold Council (WGC).

WGC benchmarks gold jewellery worldwide.

"The World Gold Council believes that the promotion of such innovative products and designs will further fuel consumer growth for the entire gold jewellery category," he added.

The competition, considered the Oscars of gold jewellery designing, is held worldwide in countries like Brazil, South Africa and China, as also in the Middle East. This is the second time it is being held in India and WGC says it will henceforth be an annual event.

Participants can register online or by mail. Ace fashion designer Raghavendra Rathore will judge the entries on the basis of originality, innovation, practicality of wear and ease of manufacture.

The entries will be shortlisted to 20, from which the final three winners will be selected. With WGC certification, they will be able to promote their designs with international buyers.

Rathore will also conduct workshops across the country to guide the participants on creating new designs.

"The value that I hope to bring to the competition is the opportunity to create interest among the youth in becoming gold jewellery designers," Rathore explained of his association with the event.

This apart, the competition "is the only vehicle that can connect the karigars (traditional craftsmen), students and designers on a common platform to carry their vision into the international arena", he added.

Mark Pool, marketing manager of jewellery maker AngloGold Ashanti and the creative director of 'Auditions', was upbeat about the event.

"I am very excited by the second edition of 'Auditions' India. I have big hopes and look forward to seeing the designs that will inspire and excite Indian women," he said.— IANS

New Delhi, September 19
The National Buildings Organisation (NBO) has launched a software "Building related Information & Knowledge System" (BRIKS) for online transmission of reliable data on housing and building construction activities in the country. This is expected to counter the pressure exerted by rapid urbanisation on civic amenities and housing structures in cities and towns.

The system will enable the NBO to set up National Data Centre and a management information system on urban poverty, slums, housing, building construction and related urbanisation statistics under the plan scheme "Urban Statistics for HR and Assessments" (USHA). Minister of state for housing and urban poverty alleviation Kumari Selja launched the scheme on Monday.

This system for decentralised access will help to overcome the constraints of data collection faced by NBO.