The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Delhi and neighbourhood

	Diesel to cost more Tribune News Service New Delhi, December 24 Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today announced that the government would increase diesel price by 25 paise per litre to control air pollution. She added that a fund called the Environment Cess Fund would be started to help introducing clean air policy. An Environment Cess on diesel would be levied, after the issue of a notification in this regard. The CM announced this, while expressing concern over the quality of air in the Capital. The state cabinet would request the union ministry of petroleum and natural gas to introduce 50-PPM sulphur diesel in the NCR by 2008-09. Adequate number of PUC centers would be commissioned at 19 border points of the Capital to prevent the entry of polluting vehicles in the Capital. The financial package to encourage the replacement of diesel driven vehicles by vehicles running on CNG was also discussed. The financial incentive could be in form a direct subsidy on the capital cost of the vehicle and reimbursement of amount equivalent to the value added tax. The CM added that a mechanised chicken dressing plant at Poultry Market, Ghazipur would be set up on a public-private partnership model. The plant would run in two shifts. This will be an eco-friendly plant and would be designed using the principles of good manufacturing and hygiene practices to meet international standards. However, a spokesperson of the Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT) has alleged that the state government is negligent in ensuring that diesel run goods carriages operate under legally prescribed weight limit. Air quality in the city can be easily improved by better enforcement of the anti-overloading provision of the Motor Vehicle Act. Moreover, the pollution under check (PUC) system in the city is faulty and pollutant vehicles are easily issued PUC certificates. The government should use the existing measures to curb air pollution generated by diesel run commercial vehicles and personal cars and not increase the fuel’s price.
	Traditional festivities set Christmas mood for youth New Delhi, December 24 Can Christmas be merry without mistletoe, wine and Santa Claus? Definitely not! The youth in Delhi - like the rest of the country - are harking back to traditions to keep the spirit of Christmas alive. Some call it the Yuletide, after the Scandinavians who celebrated the ancient festival of Yule, while the world at large associates the festival with the birth of Christ. The youth in the city feel that Christmas needs a “personalised flavour to make it special.” Joleen Gomes, an executive with advertising major Grey Worldwide, says, “I celebrate the festival at home every year. Last night, I stayed up to bake cookies, a mix of Bengali and English delicacies, at home.” “I combed the Lajpat Nagar, Khan Market and Chandni Chowk markets for goodies and material to install a crib at home. It is ready. I have even stitched my clothes.” She believes nothing is better than being at home during Christmas. “We are so busy working round the year.” A resident of Laxmi Nagar in East Delhi, Joleen will go to the St Matthew’s Church for her midnight mass, along with nearly 500 Christian families of the area. “St Matthew’s Church has three masses, one for the Bengali crowd, another for the Malayalam-speakers from Kerala and another in Hindi. Forty years ago, this Church started from my home,” she said. Roxanne Moon, an executive with American Express, is also celebrating Christmas at home. She will go the Alaknanda Holy Church, while Shalini Joseph has come down from Mumbai to be with her parents in Delhi for Christmas. Of course, the appeal of the festival cuts across faiths with non-Christians gearing up equally for plum cakes, gifts and parties. Delhi-based Reena Choudhury, a management associate with communication firm Actimedia, will party with her colleagues at work. “It is a homely affair. We will split the cost, food, cake, gifts and the decorations between 40 of us at workplace. A friend has loaned out her place. We are making it quiet and cosy,” the young executive said. However, the scene is somewhat different in hotels. They are crammed with events. The high point, say hoteliers and event managers, is the food. Almost every star hotel and entertainment resort in the Capital is hosting its own Christmas lunch and dinner.The league of Santa Claus, mostly home-grown, is already on the prowl among children with their gift sacks. “There’s a special Christmas-eve dinner on Monday night and a lunch on Tuesday morning. The celebrations began from December 18, with a special play on the birth of Christ by eight children aged between three to six,” said Pallavi Singh of Hotel Crowne Plaza, Delhi. The hotel has done up two “huge Christmas trees” for the occasion. Chef Vijay, a portly man with a laughing face, is the Santa Claus like every year. “He has been showering the diners’ children with gifts,” Singh said. A children’s choir has been assigned the task of singing carols. “The choir has been coming several times during the day to entertain guests,” Singh said. At The Patio, a pastry shop at the Metropolitan hotel, Santa Claus Sandeep Tanwar, a hotel employee, is keeping his evenings aside for the kids. “The gifts are a secret. Even we will get surprise gifts,” said a senior hotel official. The spreads at hotels are exotic and “very foreign”. The Patio has a special cookie spread of English fruitcakes, Christmas puddings, Yule Logs and chocolate mud cakes. At the La Piazza in Hyatt Regency, Chef Wladimiro has prepared a special signature menu with a mix of “fresh ingredients and exotic flavours,” while the Café, an eatery, has laid out a sumptuous buffet. The ITC Maurya has been serving roast turkeys with herbs and chestnuts, along with the traditional Christmas cake. An hour before midnight on Christmas Eve, churches in the Capital will begin their ceremonial services. The Sacred Heart Cathedral, Gole Post Office, in the heart of the Capital will host a vigil at 11 pm, followed by celebrations the next day. It has made an elaborate crib - complete with baby Jesus with his mother Mary, angels, the cattle in the manger and the star of Bethlehem that has been drawing people in hordes.— IANS
	Sales bring cheer to streetchildren Azera Rahman New Delhi, December 24 In the grey winter mornings, six-year-old Chottu smiles, as he trots along one of the Capital’s roads with a bunch of red Santa caps under his arms. He has no clue what Christmas is. But, he does know that he makes an extra buck during this time, bringing cheer to his family. Chottu is just one of the hundreds of children on the Indian Capital’s roads who, like elsewhere, sell various items, from newspapers and magazines to balloons, flowers and other products to commuters. Pleading and begging, more often than not, their faces are clouded with disappointment as people roll up the car windows or shoo them away, as they try to sell their products. But not during Christmas! “Since the past three-four days, I haven’t had to work too hard to sell my caps. They are readily bought,” Chottu told IANS, a little hesitant, a little shy. So what does Christmas mean to him and his family? “Hmm? At this time of the year, generally, the sales go up, so I bring more money back home... and, we — my mother, I and my younger sister — all are happy,” he said. According to Kailash Satyarthi, chairperson of the Bachpan Bachao Aandolan (BBA), an NGO that works for the benefit of children, there are nearly 5,000 street kids involved in the selling of Christmas decorations. Sanjida, heavily pregnant and a young mother of two, similarly is really happy with the sales. “I have sold 50 such caps in two days,” she smiled, sitting on the pavement with her kids in South Delhi’s R.K. Puram area. “I get these caps from Sadar Bazar, which is a wholesale market, near Connaught Place. I sell them at Rs 25,” she said, folding the last cap into a polythene packet. “Otherwise, I sell red roses, which I buy from the early morning flower market in Connaught Place. Although I am selling flowers too, the rapid sale of caps has lightened the load of earning my daily bread,” she said even as a huge bunch of flowers lay beside her. Although these items — the red Santa Clause caps or the Santa Clause mask — are easily available in the market, people prefer buying them from the street kids instead. “Call it the festive mood or whatever, but when celebrations are round the corner, you like to see happy faces around. You want to make people happy. That’s why these days when a street kid approaches me with a red cap, I simply buy it,” said Rajesh Kumar, a teacher. “In any case, my kids would buy it from the market... why not make these kids happy as well by buying their stuff?” As the mood is upbeat, with Christmas and then the New Year round the corner, people tend to give away and splurge a little. “The other day I was returning from a get-together in an auto, when at the red light a kid came, begging me to buy his balloons. Somehow, I was so moved at the sight of his torn clothes that I bought the entire bunch of balloons,” said Sharda Nath, a college student. “That smile on his face... it was adorable. He was obviously not expecting it! I then gifted those balloons to my friend. It just made me happy seeing the kid and then my friend thrilled.” “I don’t know what ‘Krismas’ (Christmas) is or who Santa is but, he must be a good man. Whenever he comes, he brings smiles to my home,” said Chutki, a smiling eight-year-old with Santa Clause masks tucked under her arm. — IANS
	HC defers telecom spectrum case to January 3 New Delhi, December 24 The Delhi High court today deferred till January 3 the hearing of the petition filed by major GSM players Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Spice Telecom against the government’s telecom spectrum allocation process. The court has also refused to immediately halt the spectrum or airwaves allocation process, as requested by these operators. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has already started the process. The DoT has started awarding new licences and allocating airwaves to mobile firms who had applied as of September 25, according to the directive given by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) on December 12. The operators under the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) decided to move court last week challenging TDSAT’s interim order. “All four members of COAI, namely Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Spice, who are parties in the original petition before TDSAT (Telecom Appellate and Disputes Settlement Tribunal), have decided to approach the High Court in a writ petition against the non-speaking interim order given by the TDSAT on December 12, 2007,” the COAI had said in a statement. Spectrum or radio frequency is the lifeline of telecom operators for their business development and expansion. India is adding about eight million subscribers a month. The humongous growth has led to a need for additional spectrum. — IANS
	Minimum temp above normal Tribune News Service New Delhi, December 24 A clear sky greeted Delhiites today with the minimum temperature recorded at 10.6 degrees Celsius, three degrees above normal. Mercury dipped slightly from yesterday’s 12.8 degrees Celsius. Visibility was normal at 1,500 meters. The Met office has forecast mainly a clear sky tomorrow. The minimum temperature will be around 9 degrees Celsius.
	Cabinet approves setting up of SPV Tribune News Service New Delhi, December 24 The state cabinet has given its nod for setting up of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956, for undertaking the work of three-dimensional geophysical information survey mapping the underground as well as over ground structures in the Capital. The SPV would be known as Geospatial Delhi. The project would be completed within 18 months. The government had sanctioned the budget of Rs 120 crore for the project at the time of singing the MoU between the state government and the Survey of India last month. It was found essential to have an institutional mechanism wherein, the implementation of the project could be speeded up. A separate institutional framework would handle the complexities of the project. Moreover, the cabinet has decided to accelerate the pace of development in all unauthorised colonies.
	Female condoms: An emerging market Nanima Basu New Delhi, December 24 Indian women are gradually waking up to the fact that their sexual health is in their own hands - if the sale of female condoms is anything to go by. “The market for female condoms is just beginning to develop,” said M. Ayyappan, chairman and managing director, Hindustan Latex Ltd (HLL), a state-run condom manufacturer and so far the only player in this market, told IANS. “Currently, the male condom market in India is to the tune of two billion pieces annually, and we are expecting the female condom category to attain at least three percent of that in the next three years.” According to health experts, the need for female condoms had always been felt, especially among sex workers for whom it is not just a way to ward off sexually transmitted diseases but also a tool of empowerment. HLL recently launched a new type of female condom, Velvet, a more cost-effective product than its predecessor Confidom, which is for the premium segment. One pack of Velvet costs Rs 100 and contains three pieces while Confidom costs Rs 250 consisting of two pieces. Velvet is manufactured in HLL’s plant in Kerala. It is made of a material called Nitrile, which is provided by its US-based partner Female Health Company. “The distribution channel for Velvet is the regular medical stores and modern trade outlets (like superstores). We are also in the process of installing female condom vending machines at high-end hotels to dispense the condoms,” said Ayyappan. “The product will soon be available through e-commerce at getcloser.in website and other e-portals. Confidom is already available through e-commerce.” In the first year of launch, the company expects to sell 1.5 million packets of Velvet. HLL has a sales target of about Rs 5 billion by financial year 2008-09, of which about 8-10 per cent is expected to be contributed by the female condom segment. It aims to achieve a turnover of Rs 10 billion by 2010. The company, which posted a turnover of Rs 2.44 billion, exports its products to over 70 countries. It is also exploring the option of exporting Velvet. Narendra Malhotra, president, Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society of India and Family Planning Association of India (FOGSI), said, “The unmet need of female condoms in India is huge and if marketed properly this may become the fastest and hottest selling method. The potential is huge.” “And looking at its business potential, a lot of private players are expected to come into the market,” Malhotra added. Agrees Ayyappan, who says, “Currently we are the only company marketing the product. But we do expect private firms to get into the category and any amount of competition is always good for the consumer and the category.” “More options being available will only increase the prevalence rate of contraceptives.” HLL is also working extensively in six states — Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and West Bengal — to increase awareness of female condoms. “Any new contraceptive choice takes a few years to gain complete acceptance among the masses,” said Rajeev Kumar, product manager (consumer business division), HLL. “Today, a significant section of Indian women are financially free. Earlier, the woman had to depend on the man for using condoms. Female condom provides an increased option of contraception and gives a choice to the woman,” Kumar added. But still a lot needs to be done as far as awareness and acceptance of the products is concerned. “Even though it is picking up, awareness about female condoms has not yet gained popularity, especially among women from the higher social strata,” said Ayyappan. — IANS
	Every four hours, one Indian woman ends life Sahil Makkar New Delhi, December 24 On an average one Indian woman commits suicide every four hours over a dowry dispute, as per official data, despite a series of laws to empower them. According to data complied by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 2,276 female suicides due to dowry disputes were reported in 2006 i.e.., six a day on an average, while the figure was 2,305 in 2005. In 2004, at least 2,585 such cases were registered across the country. Statistics suggest that Madhya Pradesh topped the list for the fourth time with 585 cases, accounting for one-fourth of the total number of such suicides last year in the country. West Bengal was second with 445 cases and Uttar Pradesh third with 314 cases. The national Capital was seventh with 69 cases. Police officials in the Capital told IANS that suicide by hanging was the most common means adopted to end life followed by self-immolation in such cases. The NCRB is a central body assigned to compile crime figures in the country. Its figures also state that one case is registered almost every hour under dowry death, which includes suicides as well as murders. “A total of 7,618 cases were registered under dowry death in 2006, while 6,787 cases were registered in 2005. In 2004, at least 7,026 such cases were recorded,” a police official said. Dowry is a social evil but continues to be a common practice in almost every part of India. Women at the time of marriage are expected to bring with them jewellery, cash and even consumer durables are part of dowry to the in-laws and they are subsequently ill treated, often violently, if they fail to do so. Abetting suicide is punishable by imprisonment up to 10 years and a fine. Anti-dowry laws in India were enacted in 1961, but the laws themselves have done nothing to halt dowry transactions. Many of the victims are burnt to death - they are doused in kerosene and set fire to. Routinely the in-laws claim that the death happened simply due to an accident. When evidence of foul play is too obvious to ignore, the story changes to suicide - the wife, it is said, could not adjust to new family life and subsequently killed herself. Maikrao H. Gavit, state minister in the ministry of home affairs, had recently informed the Rajya Sabha that his ministry from time-to-time has been issuing advisories to all the states and union territories to give more focused attention to prevention, detection, registration, investigation and prosecution in such cases. “In the advisory dated October 27, 2004, they were requested to take action on the recommendations of the National Commission for Women regarding the Dowry Prohibition Act and its implementation,” Gavit said. “The advisory covers that dowry related cases must be adjudicated expeditiously to avoid further harassment of women. Police personnel dealing with dowry cases should be sensitised and given training to deal with such sensitive cases,” he added. On the flip side, however, the dowry laws in India have also been misused. Swarup Sarkar, an activist with Save India Family Foundation, an NGO, said men are subjected to severe discrimination under law and their basic human rights violated every day in the name more legal provisions that claim to empower and protect women. “Thousands of men are becoming victims of ‘legal terrorism’ unleashed through the misuse of Section 498 A of the Indian Penal Code, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, adultery laws, laws against rape and sexual harassment, and even laws pertaining to divorce, maintenance and child custody,” Sarkar said. The government figures say a total of 396, 312, 365, 312 and 297 false cases were registered from 2002-2006 respectively under dowry deaths and 322, 175, 167, 238 and 210 false cases were registered during 2002-2006 respectively under the Dowry Prohibition Act. — IANS
	‘Ramchand Pakistani’: a film of values Sarwar Kashani New Delhi, December 24 Angry Ramchand Kohli, a Pakistani Dalit boy, sprints away too far. His father tries to stop him but both end up crossing the border. They land in an Indian jail, are interrogated as suspected spies and the mother back home fights the consequences. That is the plot of ‘Ramchand Pakistani’, a Pakistani movie having key characters from the socially marginalised Dalit community in the Muslim dominated nation. Excerpts from the movie, which will be released in India and Pakistan in April next year, were shown at the 6th WISCOMP (Women in Security Conflict Management) convention this month in Delhi. A collaboration of Indians and Pakistanis, the film has Nandita Das playing the character of Champa, the mother of seven-year-old Ramchand. India’s Debayjyoti Mishra has given the music and the background score of the movie, and Shubha Mudgal has sung three of its four songs. Rashid Farooqui plays the father while the child and grownup Ramchand are played by Syed Fazal Hussain and Navaid Jabbar respectively. All three are Pakistani actors. Says the writer of the movie, Javed Jabbar, “On the face of it, the Pakistan-India and the Hindu-Muslim aspects of the film appear to be fairly straight forward and predictable...Yet it can be claimed with confidence that the specific features and contours of the story of ‘Ramchand...’ make it an original film.” “Simply by being who they are, or through their interactions with each other, the characters of the story reflect some, if not all, of the facets that mark the complex relationship between two neighbouring societies and states,” Jabbar told IANS. “The Indian jail in which Ramchand and his father are imprisoned becomes a microcosm of the contrasts and commonalities, the empathy and the mistrust, the hate and the love... It espouses the values of peace, friendship and trust between diverse people,” said Jabbar. — IANS
	Ghaziabad to have 4 multi-tier car parks Our Correspondent Ghaziabad, December 24 Ghaziabad city will soon have four large multi-tier and fully automatic car parks at congested places. The places identified for the 10-storey parking in Mahanagar are near Metro station in the city, Raj Nagar district centre, Ram Lila ground and Choudhry crossing (Clock Tower). A Singapore-based company has agreed in principle to develop multi-level automatic car parks at all these places. The technical team of company had recently inspected the locations here. Vice- chairman ,Ghaziabad Development Authority, S.K. Diwedi ,said in all, eight sites have been considered for multi-tier parkings. Two sites in Indirapuram, and one in Indirapuram Phase-II, one in RDC, one in Ram Lila ground, one on Ambedkar road near Choudhry Chowk and one in Kaushambi. The foreign company has okayed the four sites offered by the GDA. He said the company has been asked to present a model of parking near metro station in Sector-4 Vaishali. The Ram Lila ground parking will be fully under-ground. Diwedi said.
	2 car jackers nabbed Our Correspondent Noida, December 24 Two master auto- thieves were nabbed by the Noida police after an encounter. The police claimed to have recovered eight stolen vehicles. These thieves used to park the stolen vehicles in posh sectors and after two or three days would drive them to Lucknow to dispose them off there. The police learnt that certain shady characters were hanging around the Expressway. The Sector-39 police tried to stop a Scorpio vehicle in an under-pass on Expressway, the occupants fired at the police team. The police arrested two of the car’s occupants. They were identified as Puneet Kumar of Shyam Park, Sahibabad and Mahrishi Kumar Pandya ,alias Tunna Pandaya of Dawerya. They were staying in Marina Hotel in Ghaziabad. From the places indicated by the nabbed persons, the police recovered another seven vehicles from Shipra Sun City, Vaishali in Ghaziabad and Sector-62, Noida. SSP A. Satish Ganesh said, the car jackers used to break open or remove the boot lock.Then they used to develop a duplicate key and drive away the vehicles.