New Delhi, December 30
The father of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) student, who died of dengue last year, has asked the institute to pay him Rs 5 million as compensation, saying a government enquiry had put the blame on negligence by doctors.

K. Vijaya Kumar, the father of Kamalla Raj Kiran, a seventh semester student who died of dengue on September 30, 2006, has also threatened to take legal action against the prestigious institute if he fails to hear from it on the matter soon.

“For the past one year, I have sent several letters to then AIIMS director (P. Venugopal). But not once I heard from him - either orally or a written answer,” Kumar, who belongs to an impoverished scheduled caste family, told IANS on phone from Hyderabad.He said when he recently came to know that a committee set up by the health minister confirmed that his son died due to AIIMS doctors’ negligence, he sent another letter to Venugopal on October 30 this year.

“In this letter I have asked for a compensation of Rs 5 million on the basis of the enquiry committee’s findings,” he said.

But what came as a shock for many in AIIMS was that Venugopal forwarded the October 30 letter of Kumar to the academic section instead to the administration for its views only hours before the Supreme Court on December 3 refused to restore his services.

Venugopal, who had been involved in a fierce tug-of-war with Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, was ousted from the institute following the Indian Parliament passing a legislation that shortened his tenure.

Reliable sources said after the letter was received, officials discussed the issue with the acting director T.D. Dogra. “He has formed a committee to look into the matter,” the source said.

The anguished father is hoping that the acting director will take the matter seriously. “I will wait for a few weeks more and if I don’t hear from the institute I will file a case against the institute for negligence.”

Kumar, who had raised the matter for compensation on humanitarian grounds last year also, said Venugopal had formed a committee of three doctors, including the present acting director, to talk to him.

“Dogra knows about my case. A committee member told me at that time there was no rule under which I could get compensation, so I returned to Hyderabad. But when I came to know about the committee report, I wrote again to the director asking for compensation,” said the homeopathic doctor, who works at a state-run dispensary.

In his letter, Kumar said that the “report of the enquiry commission” into the death of his son has proved that Raj Kiran “died due to negligence of the doctors on duty, and overall delay in giving treatment at the right time”.

A three-member enquiry committee was set up by Health Minister Ramadoss, who is also AIIMS president, in October 2006 to probe the circumstances that led to the death of the student.

In the report, the members said “there was delay in providing treatment to Raj Kiran at the AIIMS casualty.”

Raj Kiran visited the AIIMS casualty as a patient Sep 27 and was sent back to the hostel after “symptomatic treatment though his hematocrit was 50 percent, the platelet count was 105,000 and he had coffee coloured vomiting, indicating gastrointestinal bleeding”.

The next day he was advised hospitalisation, but was provided a bed only late in the night and was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit September 29 and was operated upon. He died on September 30.

In his letter, Kumar said: “We were informed by his friends only when he was in coma. Neither the hostel in-charge, nor the hospital personnel or the college, informed us. By the time we reached Delhi, his condition was very critical and he passed away on September 30.

“We cannot get back our son, we feel that our claim for ex-gratia is justified. As we belong to a poor family and we had so many hopes and aspirations from our son, who was a brilliant and very intelligent boy, we have appealed for some ex gratia and have been pleading for that for the last one year,” said the father of the 2003-batch student in his letter.

He said he had pinned all his hopes on Raj Kiran, his eldest son. “I have another four years before I retire. I have a daughter and a son. I have to pay for their education and for their marriage. How would I be able to do it alone?” — IANS 

New Delhi, December 30
Putting to rest a nationwide political debate whether Lord Ram has any historicity or not, hundreds of historians said that he is “not a part of history” but “certainly lives in mind and soul”.

“Ram is not a historical figure. We don’t find proof of his existence in the pages of history. But let me clarify, he is in the minds and souls of millions of people,” said eminent historian Ram Sharan Sharma.

Sharma, who has written 115 books, said: “Let’s not fight in the name of Lord Ram. He is simply beyond history.”

Over 1,000 historians are in the national Capital participating in the three-day Indian History Congress that ends on Monday.

Baba Mishra, a leading historian from Orissa, said that not only the pages of history but recent archaeological excavation in several places have not found traces of Lord Ram.

“No, We don’t find any historicity of Ram. As a Hindu, I will continue to worship Lord Ram but when it comes to finding his historical existence, I will go by fact,” Mishra, a professor at Sambalpur University, told IANS.

“Excavation in Ayodhya, Nadigram and Shrungabirpur (all in Uttar Pradesh) has not found any trace of Lord Ram’s existence. As historians, we should not be biased - let’s keep our personal belief and fact separate,” he added.

Many historians at the congress said that Ram Setu controversy has its root in vote bank politics. They believe that like Ram, Ram Setu is not a manmade structure.

G.J. Sudhakar, a historian from Chennai said: “Neither was Ram a human being nor was Ram Setu manmade. Let’s not debate the historicity of Ram. I believe in Ram, and millions believe in him. Let Ram remain our faith and belief.”

“I think, Hindus will continue to worship him but he will not find a place in the pages of history,” said Sudhakar, a history professor at Loyola College, Chennai.

D.N. Roy, a professor of history at Bhagalpur University in Bihar, said politicians remember Lord Ram only before election.

“Opposing or favouring Lord Ram is a political move of all politicians. All political parties have been successful in politicising our belief and thus want to get political mileage out of it,” Roy said.

“It’s unfortunate that our politicians are dragging our belief, faith in the name of history. Let’s keep both things separate for the betterment of our younger children and next generation,” he said.

N.R. Jena, another historian from Orissa and Ashok Kumar Singh from Uttar Pradesh believe that government may evaluate environmental impact before dredging Ram Setu.

“If it will bring more economic benefit then government may go for it but they should not do this without assessing other things like historical and religious impacts,” Singh said. — IANS 

New Delhi, December 30
In order to ensure safety of commuters and Metro property from incidents of vandalism on New Year’s Eve, Metro train services will be partially curtailed on Lines 2 and 3 that connect Rajiv Chowk station on Monday.

All services on Line-2 (Vishwa Vidyalaya to Central Secretariat) will stop at 8.30 pm on Monday.

The last trains from Vishwa Vidyalaya and Central Secretariat will start at 8.15 pm and 8.25 pm, respectively.

On Line-3 (Indraprastha to Dwarka Sector-9), normal services will stop at 8.18 pm.

Thus, the last train from Dwarka Sector-9 to Indraprastha will start at 7.34 pm while the last train from Indraprastha to Dwarka Sector-9 will start at 8.18 pm.

However, after 8.18 pm, normal services on Line-3 will continue to be available between Dwarka Sector-9 and Karol Bagh till 11.00 pm.

The last train from Karol Bagh to Dwarka Sector-9 will start at 10.47 pm while the last train from Dwarka Sector-9 to Karol Bagh will start at 10.00 pm.

Services on Line-1 (Shahdara to Rithala) would remain unaffected and continue from 6.00 am to 11.00 pm as usual, said Delhi Metro Rail Corporation spokesperson Anuj Dayal. 

New Delhi, December 30
Children are calling the shots at the box office. In 2007, the Hindi entertainment industry embraced the new-age marketing mantra of selling to and through children. The recently released ‘Taare Zameen Par’ is a case in point.

Never before had the industry taken films about children as seriously as it did this year. After decades of avoiding children’s cinema, the dream merchants of Hindi filmdom did a complete turnaround and audiences were treated to nearly a dozen films about children and even one about a baby.

The most remarkable difference was that none of these films were funded by government bodies entrusted with the task of promoting children’s cinema. They, instead, had big industry names associated with them.

The biggest was Aamir Khan’s directorial debut ‘Taare Zameen Par’ that not only drew standing ovation from critics, but also touched moviegoers and made the cash register ring.

Even action hero Bobby Deol found himself charmed into doing a film about children and importance of education titled ‘Nanhe Jaisalmer’. Then there was Vishal Bharadwaj’s ‘Blue Umbrella’ and Rahul Bose-starrer ‘Chain Kulii Ki Main Kulii’ and a box-office dud ‘Apna Asmaan’.

The Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Hey Baby’ may not be exactly ideal for children to watch, but it was a laugh riot and a good watch for wannabe parents.

Moreover, there were a slew of animation films including ‘Bal Ganesh’, ‘My Friend Ganesha’ and the recently released ‘Hanuman Returns’ directed by none other than Anurag Kashyap.

Never before have so many films for children competed simultaneously with big-budget potboilers for the attention of producers, distributors, exhibitors and cine-goers.

Despite the fact that children have a major say in consumption patterns of Indian households and hence contribute to the success of a movie, the Hindi film industry has traditionally shied away from peddling children’s films.

While the idiot box has been quick to grasp the value of catching them young and is inundated with channels dedicated to children and the advertising world routinely relies on children to sell products, Bollywood has been rather slow to learn the new marketing mantra.

In spite of successful children’s films like ‘Makdee’ that grossed over Rs.7 million and ‘Hanuman’ that mopped up Rs.30 million, the industry prefers not to invest in films that feature children alone and instead go for films that appeal to children as well as adults like ‘Koi ... Mil Gaya’ and ‘Krrish’ that made Hrithik Roshan an icon among children and earned over Rs 180 million and Rs 410 million respectively.

The commercial success of ‘Taare Zameen Par’ in which Aamir has taken a backseat and child actor Darsheel Safary emerges as the star, gives hope that more such films will be churned out in the future.

In the 1970s, Hindi cinema had churned out some great films about children including Tapan Sinha’s ‘Safed Haathi’(1977), Rajesh Khanna starrer ‘Haathi Mere Saathi’ (1971) and Reena Roy’s ‘Rani Aur Lalpari’(1975).

According to Vishal Bhardwaj, whose ‘The Blue Umbrella’ bagged the National Award for the best children’s film, the market for children’s films in India is huge and untapped.

Unlike Hollywood where the budget of a ‘Harry Potter’ film can easily compare to any top line film, in India investing in such films was not considered wise until recently.

“It was a vicious circle. Whatever children’s films have been made over the years were low-budget endeavours of a handful, well-meaning, creative lot. With fewer outlays for children, the outcomes have not been too spectacular and hence for most Bollywood filmmakers, this genre has remained a risky proposition,” Bharadwaj said.

With high quality small budget movies doing roaring business, Bollywood is desperate and willing to tread paths less travelled. The industry is looking to movies like ‘Bheja Fry’ that was made for under Rs.10 million and pocketed Rs.170 million.

Given that the usual rules are not working, filmmakers are turning to lesser-explored genres. And children’s films are no longer seen as risky.

Sketching the character of today’s teenagers is turning out to be quite a challenge for Bollywood’s writers. Most children today are “young adults” as Zain Khan is portrayed in ‘Chain Kulii Ki Main Kulii’.

Also, these young adults are capable of being the core of big-budget movies just like Sana Saeed, who brought screen father Shah Rukh Khan together with his batch mate Kajol in ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’.

In fact, Hansika Motwani, who debuted as a child actor in ‘Koi... Mil Gaya’, has gone on to play an adult even though she is just in her early teens. She played the love interest of Himesh Reshammiya in the just-released ‘Aap Ka Surroor’.

“Children today are far more mature, at least in the metropolis and emerging cities. With no-holds-barred exposure to foreign films and cyber world, any film that features children cannot be passed off as a children’s film,” said Vishal Bhardwaj.

Here is hoping that Bollywood scriptwriters rise to the challenge of scripting films that can engage this very fickle category of viewers, else ‘Taare Zameen Par’ may remain a one-off.

With some child artistes surpassing established grown-ups in terms of acting prowess, their remuneration is getting fatter.

“Today, a child earns Rs 15,000 for a still and around Rs 30,000 for television commercial. And if an ad requires many children who just have to be part of a crowd and needs no styling, they get Rs 3,000 to Rs 6,000,” said an ad man.

“The amount is higher for films. A lead child model gets around Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 depending on his ‘grade’ and accessibility.”

Amit Arora, who scouts for child models, says, “If a child is much in demand, he even gets Rs 50,000 to Rs 200,000 every year, subject to a flexible schedule. For instance, he shoots in Delhi and dubs in Mumbai or, say, signs a contract against endorsing a competitive brand.

He says, “I know many parents who have taken transfer from Delhi to Mumbai only because their child is in great demand in ads and films.” — IANS 

Ghaziabad, December 30
BJP leader, Prem Singh Yadav, 35, who was abducted from Vaishali, Ghaziabad, last Saturday, has been shot dead. The police have recovered his body from jungles of Kural village under Hafizpur police station area of this district.

Prem Singh was originally a resident of Etawa but had been living in Ghaziabad with his family for many years. Prem Singh Yadav had contested the last assembly elections from Bhartna seat against Mulayam Singh Yadav on BJP ticket.

He had earlier fought the elections from Shahdabad Daulatpur vidhan sabha seat of Delhi on Samajwadi party ticket.

He had been living in an apartment built on plot No. 765 in Vaishali with his family for a number of years. He was a property dealer.

According to police, the murder is linked with some property dispute as well as some dispute concerning monetary transactions. The police have arrested a number of people who are being interrogated.

Police believe Prem Singh Yadav was shot dead soon after his kidnapping last Saturday. 

New Delhi, December 30
Osian’s – Connoisseurs of Art, an arts and cultural institution, is ringing in the New Year by reconstituting its senior management team to help contribute towards its continued growth as a unique infrastructure builder. 

Romances and Dances by Wendy Quinlan

It has appointed one of the country’s most celebrated personalities of theatre, cinema and art, Ebrahim Alkazi, as an independent director on its board. Further, in the ongoing expansion at the senior management level, Meena Hingorani joins Osian’s as Head of their new Art Advisory Services division.

Ebrahim Alkazi was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan and recently distinguished as a ‘Living Treasure’. He served as the founding director of the National School for Drama in New Delhi between 1964 
and 1977. Initially in Bombay and later in Delhi, he developed the reputation of a director who brought a new sense of realism and purpose to Indian drama, and as a teacher who nurtured some of the leading talents of the era – including Naseeruddin Shah, Raj and Nadira Babbar, Om Puri, Rohini Hattangady, Manohar Singh, among others, all of whom have had a distinguished career in cinema.

Alkazi revolutionized Hindi theatre by the magnificence of his vision, and the meticulousness of his technical discipline. He was the first recipient of Roopwedh Pratishtan’s Tanvir Award (2004) for lifetime contribution to theatre. Alongside his pioneering work in theatre from the early 1970s to the present day, Alkazi has encouraged the up and coming generation of modern Indian artists through his path breaking exhibitions at The Black Partridge and Art Heritage Galleries. A connoisseur of modern Indian artists, his collection is one of the finest in the world, with a focus on the artworks of masters such as F.N. Souza, Ramkumar, K. G. Subramanyam, M. F. Husain, Tyeb Mehta, Somnath Hore, Akbar Padamsee, A. Ramachandran and Adi Davierwalla amongst others. Further, Alkazi has been responsible for giving leading contemporary artists such as Laxma Goud, Gieve Patel, Arpita Singh, Nalini Malani, Sudhir Patwardhan, Gogi Saroj Pal, among many others, a break and first exhibitions much before they came to be known and respected in the art world.

Cuerdas y Tacon — Strings & Heels

Homage to Safdar’s memory

It is not unusual for art activity to taper off at the end of the year and in the first couple of weeks of the new year. This is because those concerned with the art scene too like to take time off during the festive season to reinvigorate themselves for the next year. This is the time for introspection, planning and generally appraising the art scene that was. This is precisely the reason why not many exhibtions and shows are organised in the first couple of weeks of January.

However, one event that does take place on every New Year’s Day for the last 19 years is the annual cultural tribute to the memory of Safdar Hashmi, actor, poet, political and 
street theatre activist who was fatally attacked on January 1, 1989 while performing a play in the neighbouring Ghaziabad, 20 kms away from Delhi.

The spontaneous protest generated by this gruesome act led to the formation of the platform—Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust, (SAHMAT). Actors, academics, writers, painters, poets, photographers, architects, theatre, media and cinema persons and cultural activists came together with the conviction that all creative and intellectual endeavour in India upholds the values of secularism and pluralism.

Since 1989, artists and cultural activists gather at a central place in the Capital on January 1 to pay homage to Safdar’s memory.

This year the memorial will be held at the Vithal Bhai Patel House Lawns from 1 p.m. onwards.

The World of Sankho Chaudhuri

Flamenco presentation

The India International Centre (IIC) here has organised several progrmmes for the first week of the New Year to begin with Cuerdas Y Tacon – Strings and Heels, a Flamenco presentation by Tal Y Cual, Judith Martinez and Christophe Perez on the guitar on January 2 at the Centre’s auditorium.

On January 4, the Centre along with the Delhi Music Society is presenting a Concert – Piano recital by the internationally acclaimed pianist, Joseph Banowetz. This will be followed by a Romances and Dances, a recital by Wendy Quintan of Australia on the flute on January 6.

From January 9 to January 16, the Centre in collaboration with the Crafts Revival Trust is presenting an exhibition entitled “The World of Sankho Chaudhuri – Folk and Tribal Art” at the Art Gallery in its Annexe. His exhibition of art and artifacts is entirely from the collection of Sankho. 

New Delhi, December 30
Deepalaya, an NGO working with the underprivileged children, released its publication ‘Blossoms from the dust’, in the Capital on Saturday.

Deepalaya REACH India Programme (DRIP) has been engaged in education of the socio-economically backward children since 1979.

The director general of The Energy and Resource Institute and Noble Prize winner Rajendra K Pachauri released the book ‘Blossoms from the dust’. Also present on the occasion was Lead India finalist Sanjiv Kaura.

The book gives a detailed account of transformation of underprivileged children as a result of DRIP initiative. The campaign was carried out with the help of six other West Delhi-based NGOs. The NGOs were trained to implement the programme.

DRIP campaign was launched in October 2004. The programme has two objectives, to build the capacity of six selected NGOs and to mainstream a minimum of 3,000 out of schoolchildren by August 2007.

During the training period, more than 100 people participated in the programme. As many as 11,931 out-of-school kids were identified, out of which 8,415 were enrolled and 4,932 admitted to MCD schools. Out of the mainstream children, 2,907 are attending the remedial education centres started by the partners.