New Delhi, November 30
The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to admit a student, who had complained of caste discrimination, to the course of his choice.

Justice S. Ravindra Bhat also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the university, which will be paid to the petitioner, Amritashva Kamal, within two weeks.

“The university is directed to offer the petitioner a seat according to his choice in the reserved/Scheduled Caste category and admit him to the course of his choice. The university shall bear the costs of these proceedings,” the court said in its order.

The petitioner had said that his brother Saurabh Kamal was constantly being humiliated and harassed on caste lines by a group of students, including Mahinder Kumar Chauhan, a former student of the university, who apparently was staying in a JNU hostel.

When the two brothers asked Chauhan not to harass them, he reportedly abused and assaulted them.

An inquiry conducted by a university committee found Chauhan and others guilty. Chauhan was barred from entering the JNU campus and also from taking admission in the university in future.

But, at the same time, the chief proctor passed an order declaring that the campus would also be out of bounds for the petitioner and he would not be allowed to take admission here.

The court observed that the said order was in violation of principles of natural justice.

“The said order is also assailed as being in complete violation of the inquiry committee report, as there is not even an iota of evidence against the petitioner, and rather he is found specifically to be a victim of physical violence and harassment on caste lines. It is clear that the impugned order is unsupportable in the law. It is arbitrary. It was also issued without materials in support of the JNU’s opinion,” Justice Bhat ruled. — IANS

New Delhi, November 30
The Delhi High Court today dismissed the petition of Ashok Malhotra, the prime accused in a multi-million-rupee land scam, who alleged that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had illegally detained him.

A bench comprising Justices Mukul Mudgal and Reva Khetrapal dismissed the petition, which stated he had already been in judicial custody for the maximum permissible limit of 90 days.

A lower court remanded Malhotra and seven others involved in the scam to judicial custody till December 13, soon after they surrendered before the court on the expiry of their interim bail on November 23.

The high court on Wednesday reserved the lower court’s order.

Malhotra, arrested August 6, allegedly prepared fake and forged documents like ration cards, identity cards and bank documents in the name of non-existent applicants to garner chunks of plots meant to rehabilitate slum dwellers. — IANS

The CBI had Nov 5 filed six chargesheets against Malhotra and others who allegedly made a killing through irregularities in plot allotments in collusion with civic officials. — IANS

New Delhi, November 30
The Red Fort was formally accorded the status of a world heritage site on Thursday, making Delhi the only place in the country with three world heritage sites.

The other two monuments in the coveted list from the national capital include Humayun’s Tomb and Qutub Minar.

The status was accorded here at a ceremony organised by director-general of Unesco Koochiro Matsuura in front of the Diwan-i-Khas here.

That the Red Fort has long been a witness to ‘trysts with destiny’ of the country needs no mention. However, its universal value as a cultural property has earned it a coveted status.

For practical purposes, the inscription of the Red Fort on the world heritage list does not provide it with any extra formal international legal protection.

However, it does place an obligation on the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to provide careful protection and management of the site, to prevent any further damage to the built fabric and historic gardens in the fort and its setting and to ensure its survival for future generations.

The monument bears testimony to Mughal architecture built upon local traditions but enlivened with imported ideas, techniques, craftsmanship and designs to provide a fusion of Islamic, Persian, Timurid and Hindu traditions.

Though first referred for an inscription on the World Heritage List in 1992, it was deferred due to the multi-administrative control of the Red Fort. The nomination was however, re-submitted by the ASI to Unesco in 2006.

The world heritage committee in its meeting held on June 23-27, 2007, accepted
the nomination of the Red Fort complex, for inscription on the World Heritage List.
— UNI

New Delhi, November 30
India is among the bottom five countries in South and West Asia, when it comes to female literacy rate, says a new report released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

With a mere 47.8 per cent female literacy rate, India sits at the bottom fifth position with countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan at more dismal positions.

According to the data presented in the report for the period between 1995-2005, Bangladesh’s female literacy rate is 40.8 per cent, Pakistan’s is 35.4 per cent, Nepal’s is 34.9, and Afghanistan’s female literacy rate is just 12.6 per cent.

Also, less than 60 per cent of the total adult population of South and West Asia can read and write.

The report titled ‘Education for all by 2015. Will we make it?’ was released on Thursday at the global literacy meet organised by the UNESCO and the ministry of human resource development (HRD).

The report says that India, Nigeria and Pakistan account for 27 per cent of the children in the world, who are not enrolled in schools.

India’s education satellite Edusat, devoted to distance learning courses, is one of the saving graces in the face of a poor education scenario in this part of the world, the report says.

Calling it a revolution in distance learning, the report says that a year after its launch in 2004, “Virtual classrooms have become a reality with the connection of more than a dozen teacher-training centres and 50 government schools in Kerala.” — IANS

New Delhi, November 30
The Rotary International today announced its partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to eradicate polio.

It has received a grant of $100 lakh from the Gates Foundation to fund societies involved in the anti-polio campaign.

“The dedication of the Rotary members has played a vital role in bringing polio to the brink of eradication,” says Bill Gates, co-chairperson of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Eradicating polio will be one of the most significant public health accomplishments and we are committed to reach that goal,” a press release said.

The polio eradication grant is one of the largest grants ever given by Gates Foundation.

New Delhi, November 30
Delhi’s new chief secretary Rakesh Mehta who has taken over charge from his predecessor R. Narayanswami today underlined his priorities for the betterment of the city as well as for improving the governance.

His topmost priority is the development of city infrastructure in preparation for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2010.

This includes the “hard” infrastructure of roads, bridges, flyovers, stadia, etc. Work also needs to be put apace on the “soft” infrastructure like tourism promotion areas, heritage city promotion, sprucing up the city for the Games.

Creating awareness among citizens about the Games, promoting bed and breakfast scheme, cultural activities, etc.

Addressing the media after taking charge from his predecessor, Mehta said that preparation for CWG was appreciated by the Commonwealth Federation.

Still this is a challenge because Delhi is a megacity and foreigners and other tourists will come during the Games.

The city should be developed in such a way so that tourists carry a high opinion of the national Capital of the country.

Public transport is another issue that he has taken on top priority due to the increasing traffic congestion and long-term solutions need to be explored.

Delhi has 40 lakh vehicles and its roads are spacious enough to accommodate them. Apart from this, lakhs of vehicles of neighbouring states are driven on Delhi roads.

To reduce the number of private vehicles, improving public transport is the need of the hour, Mehta stated.

The new chief secretary who has also worked as Municipal Commissioner in Delhi stated that High Capacity Bus Service (HCBS) corridor should be monitored closely and its implementation should not be hijacked by vested interests.

Penetration of Information Technology for providing services to citizens needs to be speeded up and widened. A timebound plan would be reviewed from time to time.

Besides, issues of environment and climate change have become important in the emergence of Delhi as a global city.

Noida, November 30
A man, his son and daughter-in-law have cheated an NRI of Rs 3.48 crore. A relative of the NRI has lodged a fraud case with the sector 20 police here against the three. One of them was arrested on Wednesday.

According to information available, Sarvjit Lamba, an industrialist in the USA owns three factories there. One Nageshwer Prasad of Shivalk Park, Malviya Nagar, Delhi, had contacted him about two years ago and offered to set up a company in Noida in partnership with him.

Lamba had invested about Rs 3.50 crore in this factory but Nageshwer changed the name of the Noida factory established in A-51 Sector-8 Noida from Gifts India.Com to Gifts India with 32.47 % share in the name of Sarvjit Lamba.

Nageshwer, his son Rohit and daughter-in-law Jaya were jointly managing the Noida factory, it is learnt.

After some time, Nageshwer told Sarvjit on phone that the company was running into huge losses and is on the brink of closure.

Actually Nageshwer was running the business in his own name by manipulating the documents. He had also given the second floor of the factory on a monthly rent of Rs 7 lakh to a company by name of Birla Soft.

After this when Lamba sent his relative, Joginder Singh Sethi to the company to check up the position, the real position came out.

Sarvjit then demanded from Nageshwer to return his investment of Rs 3.50 crore to him which Nageshwer refused to do. Now Joginder Singh

Sethi has lodged a case of cheating and fraud in Sector-20 police station against the three cheats– Nageshwer, his son and daughter-in-law.

On Wednesday police arrested Nageshwer’s son, Rohit after investigations. Nageshwer and his daughter-in-law are absconding, police said.

New Delhi, November 30
The first-ever SAARC bands festival got underway here at the picturesque Central Park of Connaught Place with external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee inaugurating it in the presence of chairman, ICCR, Dr Karan Singh.

The three-day musical extravaganza will see some of the top fusion bands of the region perform here.

It will also be for the first time that so many of the SAARC countries would be playing together on one stage over three days.

The festival, which is open to the public and begins every day at 4 pm, was started with a scintillating performance from the city’s very own band Advaita. A performance that was at par with the other top bands which would be playing here.

The highlight of the first day of the festival, which has been organized by the ministry of external affairs in conjunction with ICCR and Seher, was of course the performance by the big band from Pakistan, Strings.

The other interesting aspect of the first day was the performance by the Bangla Fusion band. The fusion of Bangla songs with the rock music was specially exciting.

The fourth band to take away the heart of Delhites, who gathered in large numbers at the Central Park, was the Soulmate from Shillong.

However, the highlight of the festival would be the finale on Sunday which would have the famed trio of India, Shankar, Ehsan, Loy singing for almost two hours at the Central Park.

The festival has been conceptualized by India, which is chairing the SAARC this year. It is part of the SAARC cultural festival. The other features of this would a SAARC dance festival and also a SAARC food festival.

The festival is also seeing for the first time the participation of band from Afghanistan. It would be the first time ever after the overthrowing of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan that a rock band from that country would be travelling abroad for a performance.

The Aryan Band was formed by a group of students studying in exile in Tehran University. But now they have gone back to Afghanistan and have been playing music all over the country.

Besides, they are also concentrating on mixing thetraditional Pushto folk music, which the present-day generation in Afghanistan has forgotten, with the rock music to arrange a totally different kind of music.

Each evening of the three-day festival would comprise four-five bands with a 60-90 minutes slot dedicated to every band. While showcasing some of the biggest names in the Indian subcontinent, the festival is also a great opportunity for some upcoming young bands to get exposure.

New Delhi, November 30
Minister of state for science and technology Kapil Sibal assured today that the Capital would receive the Delhi State Spatial Data Infrastructure (DSSDI) project by February 2009.

It would not only help in detecting illegal constructions, but also help in monitoring the changes that take place in respect of land and buildings.

Speaking at the launch of the DSSDI project, which involves the survey of India and Delhi government, Sibal said, “A year ago, we started this project, in view of the large number of unauthorised constructions in the Capital. I commit that by February 2009, we will be ready with this three-dimensional project, which will put a stop to illegal constructions.”

“We started with a pilot project in the Chandni Chowk area.” He elaborated that with the help of the technology used in the project, issues like unauthorised construction, power pilfering, leakage in water system and traffic congestion would be known, immediately.

Expressing hope, Sibal said, “If the project is successful in Chandni Chowk, it will be successful in the entire Capital. And, if it is successful in Delhi, I am sure it will be implemented in the rest of the country. You cannot grow unless you use technology as a tool to grow. And, I am happy that the project will be completed way ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010.’’

“We have started with Delhi, but we are in touch with the Chief Ministers of other states. If they express their willingness, we will implement the project in their states too. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has already expressed his keenness about it,” he informed.

New Delhi, November 30
Winter break may well help stave off the dreaded “exam ka bhoot” syndrome and provide the much-needed respite from exam-related stress. This is the conclusion of a large number of experts working with school-going children.

Stress may take a backseat if students spend their winters creatively and meaningfully, so feel experts.

Forthcoming winter breaks and the spirit of the new season can ease out the stress factor significantly before they face the all important end-of-school examinations.

According to these experts, the New Year resolutions, extra hours of sleep, new movie releases and seeing family and friends will together help students relax by lowering blood pressure and stress hormone levels and releasing enough endorphins and boosting the immune system

The holiday season is ideal for self-reflection. A lot of students are not motivated when they are pressurized, so a long break can act as a re-fueler before they gear up for the final countdown.

With few months left for most crucial examinations to begin, (CBSE, ICSE AND X STD), many students find themselves weighed down by expectations, especially the ‘exam ka bhoot’ syndrome.

Comparisons and peer pressure are major concerns for students attempting their board exams. These concerns bog students down, leading to severe examination stress and cases of suicide.

Competition has never been fiercer—some say the pressure is far greater than it used to be.

It cannot be healthy when stress affects concentration, ability to study, even sleep.

Exam stress may not be a disease in itself but all studies have shown high levels of stress are counterproductive.

Says Dr Bhavna Burmi, Child Psychologist, Escorts Heart and Research Institute, here, “Stress in students is primarily due to parental pressures and competition among peer group, which usually increases as the examination approaches. In most cases parents are the real culprits. Other causes include peer pressure, change of school or the medium of instruction.”

Just like exams, stress too can be measured on a scale. It is found that levels of stress during holidays fall under the ‘optimum’ category and best suits the pschological requirements of that time.