New Delhi, October 23
Lord Ram seems to have become an issue at the JNUSU elections at the varsity with parties divided on their position on the deity.

Pamphleteering on the issue has occurred in a big way on campus with the Bahujan Samaj Party student wing candidates at loggerheads with the ABVP candidates.

The student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party objected to the pamphlet which questioned the existence of Ram and termed him anti-women.

The fracas has tarnished the pre-election atmosphere on campus with student groups and parties taking lines on the issue.

Meanwhile, election fever has gripped the campus with graffiti lining the walls and banners out in the canteen. The polls are scheduled for November 2. From the ABVP, there is Amit Singh (president), Saurav Dubey (vice-president) and Ankita Bhatta (general secretary). From the NSUI: Tauqir Alam (president), Shabir Alam (vice-president) and Kavita Sharma (GS). The SFI/AISF candidates are: Dhananjay as president, Roshan Kishore as vice-president and Fauzan Abara (GS) and the Youth for Equality presidential candidate is Babita Sharma and Sujeet Kumar as vice-president.

The main issues this year range from better facilities on campus to more scholarship programmes.

Others include national issues like the nuclear deal and India’s foreign policy are mentioned in the manifestoes.

Students are quite vocal on issues like the nuclear deal, for instance an NSUI candidate mentions that, “On the whole we choose to support the nuke deal as it will help generate electricity to all parts of the nation by 2020.” Others are against the deal saying that it will harm India’s internal security and independence as well as foreign policy position in the long run.

Parties like the Youth for Equality are focussing on effective health insurance schemes in the university, which will help, benefit students in time of sickness especially those from the humble sections.

They are also taking up the issue of single-window registration during admissions.

New Delhi, October 23
Delhi Finance and Power Minister Dr. A.K. Walia has expressed hope that with the commissioning of Geeta Colony Bridge and disused Canal Road would provide an alternate route for commuters between East and Central Delhi.

The minister today took round of these two projects today along with Chief Engineer and other senior officers of the PWD to take stock of the situation and expedite the completion of the project.  

Walia said that Geeta Colony bridge would be the eighth bridge over river Yamuna and would become the first infrastructural project to be fully operational before Commonwealth Games.

 Its one carriageway would be opened for traffic in December 2007 whereas disused Canal Road would become fully operational by November 2007.

 Work on both these projects are running one month ahead of schedule. Geeta Colony Bridge is being constructed with an estimated cost of Rs. 129 crore and is a six lane bridge with dedicated cycle tracks on both sides.  

The main bridge is 0.56 km constructed using pre-stressed girders and with an earth fill having fly-ash core construction of 1.5 km length.  

The terminal connections on Ring Road on western side and Marginal bund road on eastern side will be signal free.  

According to the minister the project will be completed ahead of schedule without incurring cost overrun. The project had to face some hindrances including a delay in transfer of land from the UP Government.

Walia also added that both carriageways of the disused Canal Road would provide an alternate parallel road for commuters from East Delhi upto Marginal Bund Road and would substantially decongest Vikas Marg. “About 97 per cent of the disused Canal had been completed.”, he said.

New Delhi, October 23
A suspected associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Anil Soni alias Iqbal was arrested from a South Delhi locality in the Capital.

He allegedly had escaped from the police custody from a running train last weekend, while being taken to Delhi from Suratgarh.

Soni was awarded ten-year imprisonment in a fake currency racket case. He was lodged in the Bikaner Jail. He was being taken to Delhi in connection with another fake currency case.

New Delhi, October 23
On a tip-off from Indian Music Industry (IMI), the Delhi Police today seized pirated chips and equipment from a mobile shop in Shankar Market, Connaught Place, here.

The police arrested the owner of the shop and seized 1 loaded chip of 512 MB. A card reader, a computer and data cable, which were used to make copies of loaded chips, have also been seized from the premises.

The chips were loaded with movies like Murder, No Entry, Raja Hindustani, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, etc. The case has been registered in the Connaught Place Police Station.

Curbing this new form of piracy in India is an arduous task; therefore IMI has been constantly working in collaboration with the law enforcement agencies to ensure quality and timely results.

Mobile chip piracy is the new form of piracy that the world is witnessing in this technologically driven world.

Music in digital form can easily be copied from any storage device like computer hard disc or USB drive, mobile phone with stored music etc. into the built-in memory of a mobile phone or on memory cards or chips which can be further inserted into other mobile phones.

When such activity is done for commercial gain without the permission of the right owners, it is mobile chip piracy.

Commenting on the raid, Vijay Lazarus, president, IMI, said: “Mobile chip piracy is a new and growing phenomenon. Earlier, the pirate needed a computer/CD player to make counterfeit goods.”

New Delhi, October 23
The radio taxi operators at the Capital’s airports have allegedly created a cartel and charge inflated fare from the passengers.

This contradicts the conditions against which they were issued licenses by the Delhi transport department.

“Radio taxis were introduced to offer a wider choice to commuters at a fixed fare of Rs 15 per km but, they are back to monopoly,” said a passenger, who had to pay almost twice of what he had paid, when he came to the airport earlier in the day.

The government’s privatisation plans and the management company contracted for the modernisation of the airports is being criticised. “Is this their idea of modernisation? Squeeze the passenger’s options and make him pay double,” said L. Balasubramaniam of the P&T Residents Welfare Association. It is shocking to note that when airport modernisation has been initiated and customers are expected to get more choice and better quality, the old License Raj days are being re-introduced.

People’s Action, which has worked on auto and taxi fare issues said that such cartels are following the pattern of the police pre-paid booths. “When we probed the running of police booths, we found that the pre-paid booths applied a surcharge of 20-40 per cent on average, regularly, where customers had to pay in advance against a receipt,” said Col (Retd.) D.K. Shandilya, general secretary, People’s Action.

“On one hand the police cannot secure passengers traveling on the Capital’s roads, and then they charge them a premium to secure them in black and yellow cabs. On the other hand radio cab companies run a racket in connivance with the airport officials to overcharge tired and hassled passengers,” said V.K. Arora of the group.

New Delhi, October 23
Have you ever heard of balloons making you lose weight? Strange may it sound but it is true.

The weight loss balloon, technically known as Bioenterics Intragastric Balloon (BIB), helps in reducing one’s flab faster.

Excess weight gain is a serious issue and many factors contribute to it, some are genetic while others are acquired. The BIB has been introduced in India for the first time. The treatment is catalytic in nature.

As life becomes more convenient, one eats more and exercises less. This results in obesity. People of many nations are suffering with the epidemic and the situation is likely to worsen in coming years. Diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, cancer and hypertension are correlated with obesity.

According to the World Health Organisation, globally more than one billion people are overweight and at least 300 million of them are obese.

The commonest measurement of obesity is the Body Mass Index (BMI). Here, the body weight in kgs divided by square of height in meters.

A person is said to be obese, if his BMI is between 30 to 34.9 kg/m2.

If the BMI reaches the mark of 40mg/m2, it is considered as morbid obesity. People turn to diet, fitness and medication to treat obesity.

Developed by Myovatec Surgical Systems M.O.P. (Myovatec Obesity Programme) helps in controlling one’s weight.

The B.I.B is a part of the M.O.P. and helps to control one’s weight in a safe and effective manner.

Thereby, it improves the person’s health and enhances his life without the risk of surgery or drugs.

In the BIB technique, a soft, silicone balloon, filled with saline is inserted into the stomach of the patient. It is removed after 6 months. It gives the feeling of satiety or lack of hunger to the patient.

Noida, October 23
Bike-borne robbers continue to hold Noidaites to ransom as two criminals on a bike stopped a car 100 metres from police post in Sector-60 and robbed a man and his grandfather of Rs 2 lakh.

Sector-58 police, however, have registered the broad daylight robbery as theft.

Pradip Yadav, a farmer of Garhi is constructing a house in the village for which he had withdrawn Rs 2 lakh from the State Bank of India in Sector-2 Noida.

He along with his grandfather was returning home in his Maruti-800 when two bike-borne criminals started chasing them.

Merely 100 metres from the police post in Sector-60, they stopped their car at gunpoint.

Brandishing their gun, the robbers snatched the bag containing Rs 2 lakh from Yadav and his grandfather. The cops at the nearby police post remained unaware of the robbery.

However, the police have come up with a different version—that Pradeep Yadav and his grandfather had stopped the car and were talking to somebody when the bag was stolen from their car.

Hence, they registered a theft case. Yadav said the police are just trying to cover up their failure to nab the robbers.

Noida, October 23
Osteoporotic bone fractures are responsible for considerable pain, decreased quality of life, lost workdays, and disability. Up to 30% of patients suffering a hip fracture require long-term care in nursing homes, according to Dr Upender Sadhoo, senior orthopaedics surgeon, Fortis Hospital, Noida.

He was speaking on osteoporosis problem on October 20, the World Osteoporosis Day. In the US, more than 10 million people have osteoporosis and almost 34 million more have low-bone density. People of Asian origin are more at risk of osteoporosis.

People working in big offices, where sunlight cannot enter, are at greater risk. The BPO employees who work at night and sleep during the day are also at risk since they hardly get exposed to the sunlight, Dr Sadhoo elaborated.

Elderly patients can further develop pneumonia and blood clots in the leg veins that can travel to the lungs (pulmonary embolism) due to prolonged bed rest after a hip fracture. Some 20% of women with a hip fracture die in the subsequent year as an indirect result of the fracture.

In addition, once a person has experienced a spine fracture due to osteoporosis, he is at very high risk of suffering another such fracture in next few years.

About 20 per cent of post-menopausal women who experience a vertebral fracture will suffer a new vertebral fracture of bone in the following year.

Vitamin D is extremely important to avoid osteoporosis, sunlight being a rich source of vitamin D. A healthy diet should be followed. The diet should be rich in calcium. Milk products are the rich source of calcium.

Regular exercise strengthens the bones. However, somebody who is an osteoporosis patient, should not go in for heavy exercise, Dr Sadhoo advises.

Smoking should be avoided. Smoking one pack of cigarettes per day throughout adult life can itself lead to a loss of 5% to 10% of bone mass. Smoking cigarettes decreases estrogen levels and can lead to bone loss in women even before menopause.

New Delhi, October 23
After the recent outcry over recalling China-made toys by Mattel Inc because of high levels of toxins in them, quality of toys will be the highlight of the 2008 edition of the biggest toy fair in the world.

The International Toy Fair, held in Germany every year since 1950, will next year focus on the quality of toys. The weeklong fair opens on February 7 in Nurnberg.

Ernst Kick, CEO of Spielwarenmesse eG, the main organiser of the fair, said that although controlling quality of products is not their domain, they will nevertheless do whatever is possible in order to ensure that the quality of toys is not compromised with.

“To do our bit in controlling the quality of toys exhibited in the fair, we have decided to hold a quality competition among exhibitors in which their products will be tested by a panel of quality researchers,” Kick told IANS.

In the Capital to promote the 2008 chapter of the fair, Kick said that after toy giant Mattel Inc recalled nine million China-made toys sold in the US in August this year because they contained lead paint or small magnets that could fall off and be swallowed by children, quality of toys has become a crucial matter which needs immediate attention.

“After the furore over the toxic toys, quality of toys has come to the limelight and rightly so. Thus, quality will be the limelight in our fair as well, where we will encourage better quality and safe products,” he said.

The International Toy Fair has the reputation of being the biggest of its kind with a huge participation every time.

The fair has also been witnessing increased Indian participation, which rose from 21 companies in 2005 to 26 in 2006 and 32 in 2007.

For 2008, 24 Indian companies have already confirmed their participation. Besides classic products, there were 70,000 new products exhibited.

"We expect 160 new companies to participate this year and make it a huge success," said Kick. —IANS