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Hold mobile courts for beggars: HC
2200 FCI grain bags found
DSSSB to be reconstituted
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Samjhauta survivor dreams of dinner with dead kids
Probe in human trafficking
Errant bikers to get stick
Colours of Northeast pain
No baby swaps at
AIIMS, DNA test confirms
Hunger mocks shining India
Most wanted Joginder held
Films, soaps revive value of books
Blueline victim’s wife commits suicide
Mercury rises to 9.8° C
Pay revision panel for
DVB workers set up
Man poses as journalist
arrested
GGSIPU plans real estate research centre
Reality show
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Hold mobile courts for beggars: HC
New Delhi, February 18 The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the increasing number of beggars in the national capital. The court had appointed a lawyer, who last year had filed a series of suggestions to tackle the issue. “Let us start with having four mobile courts and then other recommendations will follow. But first seek permission from the concerned authorities to begin the process at least,” said a division bench comprising Justices Vikramjit Sen and P.K. Bhasin. The bench asked the government to file its reply by Feb 25. The suggestions filed by lawyer V.P. Chaudhary included declaring some of the beggar homes as open homes where any person driven by necessity is allowed to stay. “Initiating measures to send beggars to their native places from where they have migrated to the Capital will be a another good option to stop the menace of begging in the Capital,” Chaudhary told IANS. Providing vocational training to beggars and biometric identification to create a personal data bank are some of the other recommendations. Chaudhary also submitted before the court that some policemen were in league with beggars and shared their collections. — IANS
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2200 FCI grain bags found
New Delhi, February 18 The suspect had planned to sell the grains on exorbitant rates. According to sources, wheat would be sold to flour mills and rice would be sold in open market. The godowns were raided following an information that rice and wheat bags meant for ration shops of control rate were being transported and stored in two godowns in Dakshinpuri. The owner disclosed that he had rented out the godowns to Raghupati who had stored the grains. The police conducted a raid at his residence and some other places, but could not trace Raghupati. The ration shops were closed when food and civil supply personnel reached there. Later, they were sealed. The bags were transported to godowns from shop number 30, 33, 35, 36, 25, circle six and eight. Senior food and civil supply department officials contacted the FCI to find out numbers of the truck and name of the transporters. They have asked FCI to register complaints against them. The godowns and shops will be de-sealed tomorrow, sources said.
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DSSSB to be reconstituted
New Delhi, February 18 While briefing media after the meeting, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit stated that reconstitution of the existing DSSSB, which was constituted in the year 1996, would help enhance efficiency and transparency and utilization of the state-of-the-art techniques including IT-enabled services. Reconstituted of the board would recommend suitable candidates within 180 days from the date of receipt of indent for recruitment to the vacant posts. She stated that the board would continue to make recruitment to 200 categories of group ‘B’ and ‘C’ posts. It was imminent to reconstitute the existing board as it was able to make recommendations for only 37 per cent of the vacancies requisitioned resulting in huge backlog of vacancies in different categories which affected functioning of various departments of the city-government.
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Samjhauta survivor dreams of dinner with dead kids
New Delhi, February 18 “I am the father of five kids who were martyred inside the train. There is not a single day when I have not cried or seen my kids in my dreams,” Ali, 40, who hails from Faisalabad, told IANS here. “Before my kids (three sons and two daughters) went to sleep that night, we had dinner together. I want to have dinner once again. Can anyone give me that,” he said as tears rolled down his cheeks. “After the train left Delhi, my wife and children and I had dinner together. I cannot forget that moment. I want to live that moment again.” At least 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, were burnt to death when bombs ripped through two coaches of the train near Diwana railway station, around 90 km north of New Delhi. The blasts occurred in the night of February 18-19 last year. Currently in Delhi, Ali narrated his “unforgettable experience” and will visit Panipat in Haryana tomorrow, where all blast victims were buried. Ali had visited India to meet his relatives in Delhi and Ghaziabad. “Both the Indian and the Pakistani governments had already given me compensation but can money ever replace my sorrow? “I have stopped travelling in trains and this time too I came to India on bus. I don’t know when I will come to India again. It reminds me of my children,” he said, showing his charred hands and forehead. Recounting his “worst nightmare”, Ali, a general store owner in Faisalabad, said, “Almost the passengers were sleeping when I heard the blast. Within minutes the train was in flames.”
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Probe in human trafficking
New Delhi, February 18 A division bench of Justices Vikramjit Sen and P.K. Bhasin asked the deputy commissioner of police (DCP), South Delhi, to appear before the court on February 25 to explain the delay in investigations despite court orders. Last month the court had asked the police to file a comprehensive report on the human trafficking and alleged abuse of human rights by the placement agencies in the national capital after many such agencies came under the scanner for alleged human trafficking under the guise of providing domestic helps and guards. The court was hearing a petition - filed by an NGO called Shramjivi Mahila Samiti - accusing a placement agency of luring 298 women and children to the city from West Bengal on the pretext of providing them jobs as domestic servants but abusing them. — IANS
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Errant bikers to get stick
Faridabad, February 18 The police will ensure wearing helmets, check more than one pillion riders and take action against the minors driving the motorised two-wheelers. The district police chief Alok Kumar said that the two-month campaign launched by the department on January 1 has borne fruit. According to him, the major concern of the police was the crime of chain snatching. He reeled out statistics to show that since the start of the campaign, there has been only one case of chain snatching. The total number of cases was 150 in 2006 and 87 last year. Although the police chief held out the statistics, it is the general perception that the number would be higher as in a majority of the cases, the victims do not report the matter for varied reasons. The trend of chain snatching had been on the increase not only in Faridabad, but also in other cities and towns falling in the National Capital Region. The reason could be that more women come out of their houses these days. Kumar said that chain snatching is generally done by one or two pillion-riders. The result of the campaign is that now there are not more than one pillion riders, he added. The feeling doing the round in the police circles is that other crimes would also be reduced by focusing on the motorcyclists as criminals use bikes in a number of cases. |
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New Delhi, February 18 Hailing from the eight northeastern states - Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram, Sikkim, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh - these artists began working on their canvases on Monday and will complete two works of art each, which will be later put together in an exhibition by the Akademi. The conclave is part of the national conclave of the northeastern states for promoting access to justice to women of the region. The themes of the art works, therefore, are in some way or the other related to the issues of women and human rights. Punyo Chobin, a 22-year-old art student of Visva Bharati, Santiniketan in West Bengal, is one of the participating artists in the conclave. “There are just so many issues affecting the northeastern states and my own, Arunachal Pradesh. There is HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, violation of human rights...but then again which place today is not affected by any of these issues?” Chobin asked. “Like the blank canvas in front of me, my mind is blank. I am still thinking over the issues...but the theme of my drawing will be human rights,” he told IANS. Smita Saikia, an artist from Assam, stood playing with her brush and staring at the blank canvas, deep in thought. “The theme of my painting will be an incident in Assam when a woman was harassed,” she said bringing out tubes of acrylic colours. Sudhakar Sharma, secretary of the Lalit Kala Akademi, said that it was for the first time that an art conclave with regard to human rights and the northeastern states specifically was held in the capital. The conclave, which is held at Gandhi Darshan near Rajghat, will be on till Feb 25. It also has an exhibition of handicrafts and other wares of the region, street theatre, quizzes, workshops and discussions on various aspects of human rights, especially those pertaining to women, under its umbrella.
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No baby swaps at
AIIMS, DNA test confirms
New Delhi, February 18 “The DNA test report confirmed that the female baby belonged to the same parents,” said Y.K. Gupta, spokesman for AIIMS. Hospital authorities had ordered a DNA test to verify the claim on Friday. Ayuesh Gupta and Prem Lata in their complaint to the police alleged that the AIIMS staff had told them that the mother had delivered a boy on February 14. But when Prem Lata was shifted from the labour room to the general ward, they were told that she had given birth to a girl and the baby was given to her. “Some unscrupulous elements must have spread the rumour. As a precaution, we displayed an advisory in the wards for parents to seek information about their babies from the doctor concerned,” Gupta told IANS. He said those responsible for creating the confusion are being investigated. “The guilty will be punished. Such rumours can malign the name of an institution like AIIMS,” he added.
— IANS |
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Making computers useful for
visually challenged
New Delhi, February 18 “Being visually impaired, I understand how difficult it is,” he said. “Even when you are literate, you have to seek someone else’s help to write your examinations or an application.” Dipendra found his M.Phil dissertation-loosing track while it was being converted into print format. “It is restricting! There has to be some reading and writing equipment for the visually challenged,” he said. When information technology did not help the visually impaired, Dipendra dropped the idea of completing his PhD in Indian classical music. “There are many people who can sing, but there are a few who can work for the good,” he said. Dipendra started working with the National Association for Blind. He is passionate to make computers useful for the visually challenged. “When I first touched the computer, I knew I have to use it,” he said. “Now, that we have it, the point is to introduce people to it.” However, Dipendra feels it is not for employment purposes that people should learn technology. “It is empowering more than a guarantee of employment,” he said. Meanwhile, Dipendra’s struggle is on. “There are many limitations that one faces while working on disability in developing countries,” he said. “Changes will have to be introduced on policy level. If you want to make a book accessible in India, there is a problem of copyright laws.” “We want to compile an on-line library of books for people with print impairment but we do not have the required permission to do it,” he said. The standards provided by the World Wide Web (www) are also not applicable in India. Another limitation of the technology is that it is not cost-effective. “Thing are very expensive and hardwares used are not even easily available,” he said. “We want people at large to build some pressure on the government to at least acknowledge these problems. Very few people raise their voices,” he lamented Dipendra, who has recently been honoured with the National Award and the Lakshmipat Singhania Award in the young leaders category, feels that the blind face certain basic problems. “Most NCERT books are still not converted into Braille, newspapers are far behind,” he said. A Braille dictionary is so bulky that keeping all its volumes together is a big task. In hope of some consolidated public action, Dipendra has been working for the visually impaired. Now, he sings once in a while. “I am out of practice; do not have enough time for it,” he said. |
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Hunger mocks shining India
New Delhi, February 18 Malnutrition among children below the age of three is pegged at nearly 44 per cent against the sub-Saharan average of 25 per cent in Africa, said Gian Peitro Bordignon, country director and India representative for the World Food Programme (WFP). “India has the largest number of undernourished people in the world and one-third of the world’s underweight children. There are more than 220 million people who are hungry and food-insecure in the country,” Bordignon told IANS in an interview. The World Food Programme, which has been working in India to end hunger since 1963, has assisted over 1.5 million women and children in the country in 2007. “In Chhattisgarh, one of the most backward tribal states in the country, nearly 50 per cent of people in villages suffer from malnutrition. The food situation is pre-occupying,” Bordignon said. He is just back from a tour of Chhattisgarh, where the WFP is implementing a micro-level village development programme, the Grameen Pushti Yojana, with the National Mineral Development Corporation and grassroots non-profit groups in Dantewada in Bastar, a hotbed of Maoist violence and widespread poverty. The problem of hunger in Chhattisgarh’s tribal areas is complex, Bordignon said. According to him, it is a vicious cycle of underdevelopment, marked by total absence of income generating activity, ignorance and security-related problems that have led to lax supervision of food delivery programmes. This means reduced accessibility of people to basic food items. Bordignon feels the problem calls for a multi-pronged solution. “We call it the life-cycle approach. It is a package of solutions that ensures better value in terms of food commodities, accessibility to abundant food and self-reliance on one hand and better delivery services on the other. “At the same time, we educate tribals - men, women and children - about better hygiene, health, food habits and agriculture to ensure long-term development,” the WFP official said. Food habits in the remote villages of Chhattisgarh are strange, Bordignon observed. “The tribals in Dantewada don’t drink milk because they believe cow milk is meant solely for calves, not humans. As a result, they don’t milk their cattle. The tribals have limited access to fresh vegetables and fruits, and their intake of minerals and vitamins is inadequate,” he said. The UN food arm, which plans to improve the overall nutrition and quality of food of the tribals in the area, will oversee food procurement and implementation of the project. The Grameen Pushti Yojana was unveiled by central minister Ram Vilas Paswan on January 18 and will take off March end. The plan looks into “all aspects of lifestyle uplift, with fortified food for children as the core development area”, Bordignon explained. Under the programme, WFP will distribute among children its fortified food, Indiamix, a blend of soya, vitamins and minerals, rich in micro-nutrients. “It is already part of the government’s Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS),” Bordignon said. Over 50,000 children and lactating mothers will benefit from the programme, which will cover health, sanitation, income generation, horticulture and setting up of grain banks in nearly 35 Chhattisgarh villages, the UN food official said. Bordignon has over 20 years of experience to his credit. In Nepal, he implemented a pilot de-worming project within the ambit of the WFP primary school feeding programme, which was later developed into a worldwide WFP initiative. “We have increased the pace of work in India lately,” he said. The WFP has roped in sitar exponent Anoushka Shankar, daughter of maestro Ravi Shankar, as its latest celebrity advocate. The list includes heavyweights like Hollywood stars Penelope Cruz, Drew Barrymore and Collin Farrell and soccer sensations Ronaldinho and Kaka from Brazil, who have been campaigning for the reduction of hunger worldwide. — IANS
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New Delhi, February 18 The Special Cell of the Delhi Police nabbed Joginder Singh, who carries a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head, from Sarai Kale Khan. “A desperate, inter-state gangster and a most wanted fugitive of Delhi, Joginder Singh was arrested following a specific tip-off that he is trying to reorganise his gang to commit some serious offence here,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Railways) Madhup Tiwari said Monday. “A police team intercepted Singh at Ashram and asked him to surrender. But he whipped out a pistol and fired at the team. He was later apprehended,” Tiwari added. Singh has been accused in the murder of a doctor and several robberies in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. In another case, a family of burglars operating in Delhi was arrested and stolen gold and diamond jewellery worth Rs.2 million recovered from them. The gang was involved in over 50 cases of burglary. The police arrested kingpin Nadeem, his wife Shahana and his brother-in-law Rahees. The police also found cash worth Rs 300,000 from their home in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Two people who received the stolen jewellery, identified as Amit Kumar and Gaurav, were also apprehended. “The accused used to make entry in the gate register of the flats with fake names to gain easy access to the apartments manned by security guards. The gang used to target the homes of working couples and come in cars to commit theft to avoid suspicion,” Tiwari said. “They disposed of the jewellery and other costly items immediately to their permanent receiver Brij Kishor at half the market rate,” he added. The police also identified property worth Rs 3.5 million purchased by the arrested persons with the money made from the burglaries.—IANS
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Films, soaps revive value of books
New Delhi, February 18 It makes perfect business sense either way. To cash in on the trend, leading media and entertainment company STAR India recently joined hands with Prakash Books to publish nearly 300 titles based on TV serials by the end of 2008. Eminent poet and filmmaker Gulzar recently unveiled his book, ‘Two Tales of My Times’. The book encompasses two stories of the 1980s – ‘New Delhi Times’ and ‘Maachis’ - on which films have already been made. Gulzar had earlier produced 15 hours of video on Munshi Premchand’s ‘Godan’ and ‘Nirmala’, to attract readers to the books. He is now working on a 15-hour video on Rabindranath Tagore and his works. “At a time, when youngsters are glued to Internet and television channels, you cannot feed them forcefully. We must provide what youngsters want to read,” Gulzar explained. While Gulzar’s efforts are more cerebral, the cause and effect equation can be seen almost instantly when it comes to a mass medium like television. One latest instance is the saga of warrior king Prithiviraj Chauhan that unfolded on television, and led to increase in sales of books on him. “Before the serial on Prithviraj Chauhan came on television, we used to sell around 1,000 copies of books a year related to the warrior king. But after the serial came on television, we sold more than 10,000 books per annum,” said Abhimanyu Gupta, owner of the bookshop Abhimanyu Prakashan in West Delhi’s Rana Pratap Bagh. “Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel ‘Devdas’ has been getting good response over the years as a number of Hindi films have been made on the book,” Gupta told IANS. Recent animation films ‘Hanuman’ and ‘Hanuman Returns’ have increased the sale of children’s books related to the Hindu deity. “After the release of animation film ‘Hanuman’, we started selling 50 per cent more books on Lord Hanuman. The reason is visual medium has a greater impact on viewers,” said publisher Manoj Sharma of Kitabghar Prakashan. Agreed Amrita Talwar, media and networking officer of Katha, a non-profit organisation, which works in the areas of education, publishing and community development. “The sales of our book ‘Hanuman’s Adventure’ in the Nether World’ shot up by 10 per cent after the film ‘Hanuman’ was released.”
— IANS |
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Blueline victim’s wife commits suicide
New Delhi, February 18 According to police, Dalmia Biwi hanged herself with a shawl inside one of the toilets of the newly built Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre at around 6 p.m. The wails of the baby alerted the hospital staff, who broke open the toilet door to find the woman dead. Dalmia Biwi, a labourer from Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, was very upset after she lost her husband Aqueed Ali, 31, in an accident Sunday. The husband and wife with their baby were alighting from a Blueline bus in Nizamuddin area of south Delhi when another Blueline bus knocked down Aqueed. He was rushed to the hospital, but doctors declared him brought dead. Dalmia and the child survived. They were in the hospital for treatment of the minor injuries sustained in the accident. “The woman had asked for the way to the toilet and closed the door from inside. She hanged herself with a shawl,” Y.K. Gupta, chief spokesperson of AIIMS, told IANS. “She had taken the baby inside. When the baby began crying, our staff broke open the door and found the woman dead,” Gupta added. |
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Mercury rises to 9.8° C
New Delhi, February 18 According to the Met office, the minimum temperature was normal for this time of the year, thus maintaining the relief from the severe chill of the past two weeks. A slight mist was witnessed in the morning. The visibility levels, however, remained near normal at 500m. The Met office has forecast a mainly clear sky during the next 24 hours with a slight mist during morning hours.
— UNI |
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Pay revision panel for
DVB workers set up
New Delhi, February 18 The committee would have three members and one member secretary. It would look into the issues relating to pay revision of employees of the four successor companies of the then Delhi Vidyut Board. The companies are: Delhi Transco Limited (DTL), Indraprastha Power Generation Company Limited (IPGCL), Pragati Power Corporation Limited (PPCL) and Delhi Power Company Limited (DPCL) which is a holding company that holds the shares of all these companies as well as that of the government share in distribution companies. Four separate wage committees will also be notified one for each of the companies with the same members for each committee so that coherence between the recommendations for each of the four companies could be maintained. Walia added that the committee is being requested to submit its recommendations within six months. However, the committee would be at liberty to submit interim recommendations. The last wage revision committee was constituted in 1994. The committee would examine the structure of pay allowances and other facilities and benefits and structure of pension, death-cum-retirement gratuity, family pension and other terminal or recurring benefits. |
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Man poses as journalist
arrested
New Delhi, February 18 Arvind had been threatening the complainant against telecasting his sting operation tape or publishing a story against him, if he did not fulfill his demand. Arvind had demanded Rs 2 lakh from the complainant. Later, he met the complainant in a Central Delhi area and finalised the deal at Rs 1 lakh. The complainant delivered Rs 20,000 to Arvind that day. Another date was decided for the delivery of the remaining amount. Meanwhile, the chemist registered a FIR. A trap was laid and the alleged imposter was arrested. |
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GGSIPU plans real estate research centre
New Delhi, February 18 It is India’s first centre to offer professional courses and research opportunities to students in real estate and infrastructure development. Students will also participate in consultancy works, training and research programmes, seminars, conferences, workshops on issues related to real estate and other identified areas of common interest. Dr Kuldip Chander, head, Building Engineering and Management Department, SPA; Kailash Gupta, vice-president, CREDAI and Prof K.K. Aggarwal, vice-president, GGSIPU were present. |
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