New Delhi, October 24
The All India Gujjar Sangharsh Samiti is organising a rally at Ramlila Ground on November 3 in support of its various demands.

Addressing a press conference, the All India Gujjar Sangharsh Samiti patron Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that the rally was being organised to seek an end to the discriminatory attitude of the government towards the Gujjars and to get justice for all the wrongs done.

About five lakh people of the community from various states are expected to participate in the rally.

He said that Gujjars were not only in Hindus, they are in Muslim, Sikh and Christian religions also. Sikhs in Punjab are Gujjars and Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana originally belong to their community.

Bidhuri said Gujjars from all religions will participate in the rally. Their strength will warn the Rajasthan as well as central governments.

The rally will convey a strong message to the government that there should be no more delay in conferring the scheduled tribe status on Gujjars, he said.

He demanded that a Gujjar regiment should be created in the army. He also asked for adequate representation for the community in the union cabinet as well as in the state governments.

If the government acquires land of the Gurjjars, it should offer one job each to the family member of the landlord. Gujjars should also be given market rate of their land. House tax should be waived off in the villages and immediate steps should be taken to extend Lal Dora in order to provide relief to lakhs of villagers.

Bidhuri also demanded that all those people, who sacrificed their lives during the recent agitation in Rajasthan, should be given Rs 10 lakh and injured Rs 2 lakh each as compensation. All cases registered against Gujjar leaders and others should be withdrawn immediately.

New Delhi, October 24
After the holy cows, monkeys seem to have the run of the Capital. They are all over - from the presidential palace to residential neighbourhoods.

Despite causing the death of the city’s deputy mayor and biting thousands, the simians still seem to enjoy the quiet hospitality of most locals.

The problem has turned into an epidemic.The authorities are at their wit’s end. With the Commonwealth Games just three years away, the administrators are grappling with a crisis that they have never faced: “What to do with thousands of monkeys that are perennially hungry and have made every bit of the sprawling city their home?”

The administration says that it is taking all possible measures to curb the menace. It is frantically hunting for monkey catchers across the sub-continent, mainly in Tamil Nadu.

It has steeply hiked the payment for every trapped monkey to Rs 450 ($10). Monkeys falling in the net are being transported to forests. Yet the problem refuses to end.

The seriousness of the situation was realised over the weekend, when Deputy Mayor, Jeet Singh Baweja died after falling off from the terrace of his house, as he tried to defend himself against a horde of monkeys.

The Delhi Metro has adopted measures to prevent monkeys from getting on to the swanky trains. Some officials have suggested that monkeys should be shipped to the Central Asia.

A frustrated Delhi High Court, which earlier ordered the authorities to end the monkey menace by June, refused to revisit the issue on Monday. “We are barely able to bring relief to people. We cannot afford to look into the case of monkeys any more,” Chief Justice M.K. Sharma observed.

And in a society, where millions respect the animal because they see it as an embodiment of Hindu monkey god Hanuman, Mayor Arti Mehra conveniently washes off her hands off the problem. — IANS

New Delhi, October 24
With a huge population of HIV/AIDS patients in the country, condom is no more a taboo word for Indians. A new UN study found that 95 percent of Indian male believe condom can prevent the spread of disease and 70 percent of women know where to get it.

After three years’ awareness campaign, jointly organised by UNAIDS and National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), a report released Wednesday revealed “dramatic results in key areas of reproductive health knowledge, HIV awareness and sexual rights”.

The campaign, nicknamed ‘CHARCA’, has its focus on six high-prevalence districts of Aizwal (Mizoram), Bellary (Karnataka), Guntur (Andhra Pradesh), Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Udaipur (Rajasthan), and Kishanganj (Bihar).

The incidence of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) across the six districts is down from 55 percent to 17 percent. Only five percent of young women in Guntur, six percent in Kanpur, and eight percent in Kishanganj were willing to accept husbands with extra-marital relationships.

The study found that the percentage of young women aware of where to get male condoms has increased significantly.

In Guntur, the awareness has reached 84 percent women as against 30 percent three years back. Similarly, 91 percent women in Aizwal now know about it - an increase of 49 percent.

Releasing the results and recommendations of the project, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes said: “The results attained in three years have clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of a grassroots district-level intervention that empowers women to protect themselves and a possible route-map to rid the nation of this devastating pandemic.”

NACO director general K. Sujatha Rao said: “Given the vulnerability and risk of young women and the difficulty of mass reach of awareness programmes, CHARCA has been successful in building effective models of district-level interventions which address women’s empowerment through an expanded response.”

She said the recommendations of the joint campaign group would find a place in the National Aids Control Programme (NACP III).

“99 percent of men in Aizwal believe condoms protect people against AIDS. Across all districts, the belief that condoms protect against HIV/AIDS has increased from 65 percent to 95 percent among all men,” the report said.

“Awareness of single-partner sex as a preventive measure against STIs increased from an average of 40 percent to 76 percent across districts. Among districts Bellary and Guntur have made substantial progress,” the study found. — IANS

New Delhi, October 24
With Divali approaching, Delhi Police is keeping an eye on the sale of illegal crackers.

East district police seized around 800 kilograms of illegal crackers stored in the area yesterday.

A patrolling party was around Farsh Bazaar, when they got to know about a huge amount of illegal fire crackers that were stored in a house in the area.

A team was constituted and the mentioned house was raided.

Noida, October 24
A doctor, who had administered wrong medicines to a pregnant woman which resulted in her miscarriage, was fined Rs 1.45 lakh by the district consumer court, GB Nagar.

Besides, the doctor will have to pay Rs 10,000 as the treatment charges, etc.

The court ruled that a patient was a consumer and the doctor was a shopkeeper. Om Prakash, husband of the pregnant woman and a resident of Surajpur had filed this case.

He said he had taken his pregnant wife to Dr Raj Banodhya’s clinic in R.C. market, Dadri where the doctor prescribed some medicines after examining the patient. But within a few days, his wife felt miserable after blood discharge.

Om Prakash then took her to Navin hospital where gynaecologist, Dr Monica Agarwal told them that due to wrong medicines, the child had died in the womb and as such the mother would have to undergo termination of pregnancy.

A notice was sent to Dr Raj Banodya, but he did not care to reply. Om Prakash filed a plea in the consumer forum after his wife became normal.

Though the accused doctor said the allegation was all wrong, forum chairman R.P. Shukla said the doctor had not even cared to reply to the forum’s notice while the consumer couple were upset at the death of their to-be-born baby.

Therefore, the doctor will have to pay Rs 1.45 lakh for the loss of the child, mental agony caused and Rs 10,000 as damages and cost of treatment, Shukla declared.

Greater Noida, October 24
A security guard of a closed factory, who had intruded into the adjoining paint factory in Surajpur, was taken for a thief and beaten to death with clubs, lathis, saryas, etc by the manager, his friend and guards. The police have taken four accused into custody.

SP police, Greater Noida, A.K. Vijeta said there is a glossy paint factory in Site C in Surajpur industrial area. Some workers were on duty in the night shift in this factory due to the Divali festival.

At about 1 a.m. on Tuesday, a security guard, Ram Pal, of the adjoining factory which was lying shut, scaled the wall to enter the paint factory. He was caught by the security guard of paint factory who along with another guard took him to the manager, Manoj.

The Manager and his guards beat up Rampal with clubs, saryas and lathis so severely that it resulted in Rampal’s death.

When the police reached the site, the body of the chowkidar was lying there. Some workers told the police that the deceased had known the manager and the factory security guards and while being thrashed he kept saying, “I am not a thief, please forgive me.”

But those beating him did not relent and kept thrashing him till he died. Police have arrested paint factory manager Manoj and security guards Chanderpal, Lallan and a friend of the manager. The police have also seized a blood-drenched sarya from the spot.

The police are also investigating whether it was an intentional murder due to some enmity as there was hardly anything in the paint factory that the deceased could have stolen.

New Delhi, October 24
The Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan and his brother judges of the Supreme Court have agreed to lend their ears to the woes of children on Children’s Day on November 14.

The informal hearing for children who have lost one or both parents to cross-border terrorism, Naxal insurgency and communal rioting is being facilitated by the Guild of Service (GOS), a Delhi-based non-government organisation and National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).

GOS chairperson Dr V. Mohini Giri told TNS here today that 150 children from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Godhra will assemble in the apex court to narrate stories of a lost childhood to the judges. This will be followed by an interaction with Home Minister Shivraj Patil.

Giri said that most of these children are very vulnerable.

“There is so much terrorist activity in the country that the future of children of militants appears bleak. I want them to have a normal childhood. I want to lessen their trauma and bitterness so that they can grow up to be normal citizens. Many of these children have seen their fathers being gunned down and in the absence of proper education, they may be misled by anti-social elements. We now find that they are being enticed to join terrorist and rebellious communal groups.”

Giri who has been chairperson of the National Commission for Women said that she wants the government to prepare a special scheme to integrate these children into the mainstream.

“I met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ensure that conflict-affected children are granted admission and provided free education in Kendriya Vidyalayas and Sainik Schools. Education is the most potent ammunition

in the hands of the children that would prevent them from picking up the gun. No school gives admission to orphaned children whose parents were labelled terrorists.

There are several instances of children as young as ten years old hurling grenades put in their hands by militants.’’

These children are inmates of ‘Apnu Ghar’ run by GOS in Godhra and ‘Rahat Ghar’, J&K, besides homes run by Prayas in Assam and other sister organisations in Andhra Pradesh. “What is unique about these homes that the surviving mother is also accommodated with the child. Unfortunately, Apnu Ghar has closed down due to paucity of funds.’’

GOS said that the idea to look after children was bornduring a visit to J&K eight years back. “Most widows I spoke to were only interested in the secure future of their children.’’

In the past, a separate batch of 70 terrorism-affected children came to the national Capital for a sight-seeing tour.

New Delhi, October 24
A report prepared by the Delhi directorate of Economics and Statistics stated that the birth and death rate in the Capital are lower than the national figures. It also provides details of birth rate, death rate, trend in birth order and comparison with the figures of 2005.

The birth rate in the Capital is 19.95 per thousand as against the national figure of 23.8 while, death rate here is recorded at 6.11 as against the national figure of 7.60. 884 births are reported per day as against the national figure of 71,812 whereas, the reported deaths are 271 as against the national figure of 22,932.

The total number of births registered in the Capital during 2006 were 3.23 lakh as against 3.24 lakh during 2005. Out of the 3.23 lakh births registered during 2006, about 1.76 lakh were male and 1.47 lakh were female. During 2005, male and female births were recorded at 1.78 lakh and 1.46 lakh respectively. The female births during 2006 have increased marginally. The number of female births per thousand male births increased from 822 in 2005 to 831 in 2006.

The birth rate in Delhi declined from 20.61 per thousand during 2005 to 19.95 during 2006. The average number of births registered per day in the Capital decreased from 889 in 2005 to 884 in 2006.

The institutional deliveries here are increasing. About 78 per cent of the total births took place in institutions during 2006, as compared to 74 per cent in 2005.

The total number of deaths registered in Delhi during 2006 were 98,908 as compared to 94,187 deaths during 2005. The average deaths registered per day are 271. The death rate per thousand was 6.11 in 2006.

The infant mortality rate per thousand births works at 18. About 5,825 were infant deaths in 2006. Out of 98,908 deaths during 2006, about 37 per cent were 60 years and above. 22 per cent were in the age group of 31-50 years, 15 per cent in age group of 51-60 years, 12 per cent in the age group of 15-30 years and 14 per cent were below 14 years.

New Delhi, October 24
A minor girl was killed when a hut in a slum area in east Delhi caught fire, officials said today.

Karishma (3) was sleeping when the hut behind Akshardham Temple area caught fire at around 1140 hrs last night, the officials said.

She was rushed to hospital where doctors declared her brought dead.

Three fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the flames.