New Delhi, March 5
Delhi is located in the second highest zone of earthquake hazard in India. It comes under seismic zone IV.

A workshop to promote earthquake risk management was held in the Capital today. It was organised by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) and US-based NGO GeoHazards International. Swiss Re, a leading reinsurer supported the workshop.

The workshop, ‘Integrating Earthquake Risk Mitigation into Hospital Facilities Planning’, is part of the campaign to reduce earthquake risk in medical facilities. Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna inaugurated the workshop while Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit addressed the concluding session.

The Chief Minister assured that all government buildings would be made quake resistant soon. She claimed that her government had almost geared up to meet any challenge from earthquake or other natural calamities.

Dikshit said that it was imperative to ensure that the city, which has population of over 15 million, had made arrangements to face any disaster.

She said that hospitals must have the facilities to treat a large number of wounded persons. She called upon home guards, civil defence and scouts and guides to co-operate during any disaster in the Capital.

She exhorted medical superintendents to assess disaster management facilities in their hospitals.

Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna said that as the Capital falls in a high-risk area, damage could be minimised only through careful preparedness and constant alertness.

He suggested that each hospital should form a disaster preparedness advisory group to discuss the preparedness in case of any disaster. Such a group should meet at least once a month.

He called upon professionals to build a robust system of prevention, mitigation and preparedness to reduce the risks of natural disasters. He said that in case of any disaster, a rational advance planning could save human lives and physical infrastructure.

He said that the DDMA should encourage community participation. NGO’s can play an important role in case of any disaster.

Experts debilitated on non-structural mitigation measures in hospital buildings. They looked into ways to ensure minimal disruption post-disaster, as well as seismic retrofitting in existing buildings.

New Delhi, March 5
The All India Intellectual Forum (AIIF) in collaboration with the Bharatiya Vitta Salahakar Samiti (BVSS) organised a ‘Seminar on Union Budget-2008’ in Delhi University’s arts faculty on Tuesday.

The seminar was attended by a large number of economic experts. Proceedings were conducted by Prof. Nem Kumar Jain, chairman of the seminar.

Presenting the Concept Paper, Hari Vishnu Gautam said that in the age of globalization particularly after economic reforms adopted by the nation, the interest of the public in the Budget has increased considerably.

He added that, “the opposition to the Budget by communist parties has confused the common man about Budget proposals. Also, the implementation of waiving the loan of farmers worth Rs 60,000 crore will be an uphill task”.

Prof. N.K. Jain said, “The Budget reflects government preparation to go into general election. He opposed dividing the population into majority and minority segments.”

Prof. Jain said that allocation to education should have been more, so as to realize the dream of a knowledge society. He further said that the confusion of minority status is lingering, at the levels of districts and states. One should be clear in before criticizing or wooing any section of society.

Praveen Gupta, M.D. of Mithun Securities, said that “suicide by farmer is a very old problem and should have been tackled long ago. The waiving of loan of farmer will prove to be a mere jugglery of statistics”.

Yatinder Khemka (C.A.) said that “this is 18th Budget since the economic reforms started. The finance minister has taken care to bridge the decline in the consumption of consumer durables..”

New Delhi, March 5
The Director of Education, exercising its powers under section 24(4)(b) read with rule 56(1) of the DSEAR-1973 —- today cancelled the recognition of Dinkar National Model School, Kondli after an inquiry found the school guilty of inflicting corporal punishment to a student recently.

The school was granted recognition under the provisions of the Delhi School Education Act, 1973 and Delhi School Education Rules, 1973.

A complaint was lodged by Naresh Kumar, that his daughter was awarded corporal punishment because of which she went into coma. Dy. director of education (East) R.N.Sharma was directed to conduct the inquiry.

According to the DDE (East), the school ran unauthorized classes while violating rule 45(1) of the DSEAR-73, which prohibits opening of new classes without prior approval of the competent authority. Also, the infrastructure of the school was not up to the mark.

The High Court of Delhi had prohibited corporal and physical punishment in CWP 196/98 (Parents for Meaningful Education vs. Union of India and Others).

The school in its reply claimed that it was recognised till only VIII class so Rinki Kaushik, the victim, a student of X, was not a student of the school.

However, the reply of the school is doubtful, as documents like fee card and the progress report of the victim show that she was a student of class X of the school. Rinki was physically abused by the teacher and principal of the school.

Noida, March 5
Three criminals intruded into the house of a builder and state secretary of Udyog Vapar Mandal in Sector-41 Noida and decamped with Rs 2.69 lakh. The wife of the builder, Komal, was alone in the house at the time of robbery.

The intruders did not touch jewellery and other valuables. Some workmen engaged recently for woodwork in the house are being suspected by the police.

Vipin Agarwal who lives in House No. E-141 in Sector-41 is in construction business in Noida and Greater Noida. His wife was alone at home on Tuesday afternoon. Their two daughters and a son were away to college and school respectively. Vipin Agarwal had left for his office in Greater Noida only half an hour earlier.

At 11.45 a.m., Komal went out to answer the doorbell. One man showed her an envelope saying he was from a courier agency and had come to deliver a letter. As the housewife opened the door, two more men forcibly entered the house pushing her aside. One of intruders put a revolver on her ear-pit saying they will shoot her if she raised the alarm. As she pointed to the keys under a pillow on the bed, one criminal hit her head against a wall so that she fell on the bed unconscious.

The intruders took out Rs 2.69 lakh from the cupboard and sped away on a bike parked outside the house. Komal

immediately informed her husband who in turn alerted the police. He said a fortnight ago he had engaged some carpenters and painters for making furniture.

SP City R.K. Gautam said the way loot had been carried out within five minutes, it is clear the robbers were well acquainted with the house layout and also had a clear idea as to where valuables were kept in the house.

Noida, March 5
On National Safety Day, an SI of Noida police, who had waved a car to stop for checking, was not only shot at by miscreants in the car in Sector-62 but his service revolver along with 10 live cartridges and mobile phone were also snatched by the robbers before fleeing.

The SI Om Prakash Singh was rushed to Fortis Hospital by the police team. Noida police have constituted five teams to track down the criminals.

SI O.P. Singh, in-charge of NIB police post in Sector 62 was on his way to Sector-58 police station late last night on his bike while on a patrol duty. Near Nawada village, in Sector-62, his suspicion was raised by a Santro car moving at that time. As SI O.P. Singh tried to stop the car, the criminals banged his bike with the car. As he fell down, some inmates jumped out of the car and assaulted the SI.

As the SI tried to pull out his service revolver in his self-defence, it was snatched by the criminal, one of whom shot at him on left leg. The SI fell down and the criminals sped away with his service revolver, 10 live cartridges and a cell phone battery. After sometime as some passers-by came there, O.P. Singh requested them to inform the NIB police post. The fact that an SI had been shot at was flashed by police control room and O.P. Singh was rushed to Fortis Hospital. He was operated upon and a bullet removed from his leg. He is stated to be stable now.

Addl SP Ravinder Gaur said police were trying to find out if the SI was shot with his own service revolver. It will be ascertained after the ballistic report. He said the criminals would be apprehended soon.

New Delhi, March 5
About 10 to 20 percent of the Indian population suffer from functional bowel diseases, including irritable bowel disease and dyspepsia or pain centred in the upper abdomen.

Minister of state for health and family welfare Panabaka Lakshmi today said that a survey conducted by the Indian Society of Gastroenterology across the country among 4,500 people showed that 10-20 percent of the general population suffered from functional bowel diseases, including irritable bowel disease and dyspepsia.

Informing the Lok Sabha, she said according to the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a clinical condition arising from multi-factorial causes. Various studies have suggested that GERD is a common problem worldwide. — IANS

New Delhi, March 5
Sam Pitroda, chairman of the National Knowledge Commission was awarded with the ‘EDGE Education Personality of the Year Award – 2008’ at a conference held in the Capital today.

Pitroda was honoured for his efforts to expand education opportunities in the country.

Pitroda said, “We will have to change the mindsets of people to recreate centers of excellence. Private institutions can play a major role in creating the constituencies.”

Union minister for human resource development Arjun Singh inaugurated the three-day Emerging Directions in Global Education (EDGE) 2008 conference on March 3 at the India Habitat Centre here.

Seven personalities from Science and Education were felicitated. Many are the recipients of the Padma Awards.

The awardees included, TK Oommen, chairman, Schumacher Centre for Development; Shayama Chona, principal, Delhi Public School; Amit Mitra, secretary general, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce Industry (FICCI); Bina Agarwal, professor of Economics; Surjya Kanta Hazarika; Asis Datta, director, National Centre for Plant Genome Research and Amitabh Mattoo, vice-chancellor, University of Jammu.

The event included a workshop on ‘Harmonisation and Governance of Education’ and a round-table discussion on ‘Making India the Global Education Destination’. 

New Delhi, March 5
The court of Deepa Sharma, ASJ, Tis Hazari, has convicted two persons Anil Sisoli and Anil Lusana of attempt to murder.

On October 8, 2004, an information was received in Special Cell that notorious criminal of UP, Anil Sisoli, would come near Gagan cinema, Delhi, in Alto car to meet his accomplice. He appeared in a blue Alto car in UP police uniform along with Anil Lusana, another convict, and opened fire on Spl. Cell team after he was directed to stop the car by the police party. He was overpowered whereas Anil Lusana escaped due to darkness. However, he was arrested at a later stage after having been declared P.O. by the court concerned.

One English pistol with cartridge, UP police constable uniform with I. Card were recovered from the accused. The court had convicted both the accused with a maximum of five years’ RI along with fine of Rs 35,000 to Anil Sisoli and Rs 20,000 to Anil Lusana.