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Noida SEZ has no room for new units
Quota issue: JNUSU activists on fast
Noida to celebrate 33rd anniversary tomorrow
JNU dons sell books for a song
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CPI (ML) launches drive against price rise
DPCC greets Russian delegation
Fire damages wheat crop around Faridabad
Cops held for robbery
College to face action
for opening on holiday
Woman burnt to death for dowry
Singh, Kaur of the year
Court summons Aamir
No raise in sewer charges
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Noida SEZ has no room for new units
Noida, April 15 This has happened for the first time in last 23 years. Set up in 1985, Noida Export Promotion Zone (NEPZ) was converted into a Noida Special Economic Zone by the government two years ago. The government offered a number of facilities and incentives to promote exports from here. This attracted the exporters to set up their shop in the zone. Export units even help the local market to have a problem-free existence. The area was declared a “No Power Cut Zone”. Besides, units enjoy freedom to export goods. The state government has recently abolished surcharge on NSEZ. According to officials, the NSEZ has reached a saturation point as it is left with no more space to accommodate units here. The leading Indian and foreign companies in NSEZ include Wipro, Patni Computers, Boeing, Teen India, DHB Global, Cadence, Syscom, etc. Till a few years ago, there were only 110 units in NSEZ, but last two years have witnessed a spurt in the number of units coming up here–making a total of 200 units. Most of the units here deal in jewellery with second spot being occupied by IT and engineering units followed by garment units. The NSEZ offers employment to over 42,000 workers. Out of which 22,000 are directly linked with it for their livelihood. Over 2,000 women are also employed here. The number of people indirectly employed here is over 20,000, the officials said. |
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Quota issue: JNUSU activists on fast
New Delhi, April 15 “The decision to launch an agitation was taken in the council meeting,” said Sandeep, president JNUSU. Other left organisations like the Students’ Federation of India have also given a call to support the agitation. “We understand that it is the end of this semester and students are very busy,” said Roshan, secretary, SFI, JNU unit. “But, these are important issues that need to be solved in toto. So, we have appealed to the student community to join the relay hunger strike,” he said. Some of the main demands raised by the JNUSU include the implementation of 27 per cent reservation and 54 per cent increase in seats. “With the recent historic judgement passed by the Supreme Court, it has to be ensured that the administration implements 27 per cent reservation in one go,” said Rishika, joint secretary, SFI, JNU unit. Other demands raised by the Union include the implementation of the administration’s agreement with the JNUSU regarding the disbursement of the UGC scholarships from July 2005 and recognition of madarsa certificates in the university. The SFI has also demanded the change in composition of the proctorial committee inquiring into the recent violence during the Chandrabhaga hostel night. “The present proctorial committee continues to shield the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)activists,” said Rishika. The “SFI will continue to boycott the inquiry proceedings till its composition is not changed,” she added. On the other hand, the ABVP took out a march on the campus today attacking the SFI leadership. “We demand the expulsion of Roshan and Dhananjay, who attacked our cadre during the Chandrabhaga hostel night,” said Manoj, vice-president, Delhi unit of ABVP. “Both of them are sitting on hunger strike. We want to expose their real character,” he said. The ABVP leadership has alleged that the SFI has sparked this agitation to cover up the violent character of their leadership. |
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Noida to celebrate 33rd anniversary tomorrow
Noida, April 15 Its objective was to attract industries to set up their base in Noida. The venture had attracted a large number of investments by industrialists who were given new incentives and directions. It was the beginning of new revolution in Noida which would change the face of Noida area in due course of time. The real estate boom of five years ago made Noida scale new heights in a short time. This progress had overshadowed the steady development of last 28 years. These five years thoroughly changed the face of Noida so that this industrial township was labelled as the UP’s show window, electronic city, industrial city, etc. Electronic city and hi-tech city were the other titles earned by the phenomenal progress made by this industrial township. On Thursday, April 17, 2008, Noida Authority will be celebrating its 33rd birthday. Noida Authority has gained and achieved a lot during these years. Notable among these is real estate boom with ever rising land prices from Rs 120 sq mt in 1980 to Rs 33,000 per sq mt with every indication that land prices will soon cross Rs 50,000 per sq mt mark. Noida has also attracted a rush of BPOs with 200 BPO, and call centres already functioning here, its 500 IT companies giving livelihood to estimated 3 to 3.50 lakh people. The IT companies have helped Noida achieve new heights. Noida landscape is dotted with five big and hundreds of smaller malls which have changed the face of the area. The DND flyover in 2003 and Greater Noida Expressway have not only brought Noida and Greater Noida closer to national Capital but have ushered in an era of unprecedented development. To cap it all, its world-class infrastructure has already become the cynosure of one and all. The Metro-Noida project slated to be completed by early 2009 will further catapult Noida to world standards in transport and infrastructure facilities. Added to it will be a chain of flyovers and under-passes for smooth flow of city’s ever- increasing transport. The Ganga Jal project for clean and hygienic drinking water and a modern health care at a fee of Re 1 for its residents are some other attractive facilities and municipal services which will soon be provided to the citizens.
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CPI (ML) launches drive against price rise
New Delhi, April 15 Raising slogans, they also demanded benefits to construction labourers and measures to protect unorganised workers in Delhi. The marchers handed over a memorandum to the Chief Minister. Addressing the gathering after the march, CPI (ML) Delhi state secretary Rajendra Pratholi demanded from the government to take certain measures immediately to cushion the poor from the impact of inflation. The government should expand public distribution system (PDS) to bring 25 essential commodities under universal coverage, immediate suspension of all corporate tax exemption and increase food
subsidy. AICCTU Delhi state general secretary Santosh Rai termed the Delhi government as killer of workers and blamed it for the high death toll of building workers. The government is projecting Commonwealth Games Village as Delhi’s pride, but in fact it is an international shame. The Delhi government is wooing huge amounts of corporate capital towards the Games while denying the basic legally guaranteed rights to the workers and forcing them to live in inhuman conditions.
AICCTU’s Delhi president N. M. Thomas said that the construction sector has been left in the hands of mafia with full government protection. He demanded that the Delhi government should bring all construction workers under the below poverty line category, issue voter I-cards to them, include them in the ESI scheme and take full responsibility for their health, education, housing, etc. Meanwhile, senior officers of food and civil supplies department had a meeting with all zonal officers for conducting more raids as they doubted that wholesale dealers had hoarded the commodities resulting in their high prices. Sources said that price rise has become a political issue. Leading traders are associated with one or the other political party. Whenever election approaches, price of certain goods is reported high. Once the election is over, price is stabilised. |
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JNU dons sell books for a song
New Delhi, April 15 Although most of the books were course related, there were many on apartheid, poetry, history, fiction and art. Organised by the school of IT, the books were lapped up by the students in no time. Abhishek Kumar, a PhD student of the department of biotechnology, said he rushed to the school of IT when he saw his friends coming to the class with armful of books. “It’s quite strange that I didn’t come to know about the fest, otherwise I could have got more books,” said Kumar, holding three books on ecosystem in his hand and rummaging through the shelves for more. “But I am happy with what I got. These books cost no less than Rs 300-500 each and here I got all the three of them at a nominal price,” he added. Ram Ramaswamy, professor of physics in the school of IT and one of the three professors who contributed their books to the fest, said that this would become a regular affair from now on. “We have so many books in our homes which we have not read for ages, books which we no longer require or may consider as a bad buy. Why let them go waste? Three of us (professors) put up these 600 books for the fest and they simply disappeared from the shelves in two hours,” Ramaswamy told IANS. “The festival is the first of its kind in JNU and we hope to make it a regular affair,” he added. Anshika Gupta, a student doing her masters in literature and a self-confessed bookworm, said that more people should emulate this festival. “It’s a wonderful thing to do. We all have so many books lying in our homes untouched and unread for years... what better way to bring them back to life than by letting someone else read them? “I have picked up some novels, magazines and a book on poetry from the fest on Tuesday. The amazing thing was that they were priced at as low as Rs 20-50 each. Next time they do this, I will probably put up some of my old books for it as well,” said Gupta, while typing a message to her friend to come to the fest. “Not only that, some of the books are as old as 50 years... they can be quite a treasure,” added her friend Harsh. The festival, which was on for just three hours, had just one rule — not more than five books per
person. — IANS |
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DPCC greets Russian delegation
New Delhi, April 15 He said this while felicitating a delegation of youth from Duma at Rajiv Bhawan, DPCC office, here today. The delegation included science and technology department member Victor Nefedov, family, women and children department member Elena Afanasieva, youth affairs committee chairman Powel Tarakanov and regional affairs member Sergey Pakpeev. Welcoming the delegation, Agarwal said Prime Ministers Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had accorded priority to cordial relations with Russia. The two countries had a close bond in the field of education and culture. Both countries had been supporting each other in various forums, Agarwal said. The Russian delegation stressed the need to further strengthen the friendly ties between the two countries. Elena said Russia had always treated Indians as family members in Russia and such a warm relationship should be maintained and consolidated. Powel said India and Russia had a lot of similarities in their cultural affairs and that was a major factor in bringing the two nations together. Sergey said the Russian students who come to India to study Hindi, particularly at JNU, were all praise for the country on returning home. |
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Fire damages wheat crop around Faridabad
Faridabad, April 15 Three fire brigade fleet was pressed into service to control the situation, which doused the raging fire in the field after one hour of operation. Although the police has not registered a case in the matter, unofficial reports say that a owner of adjacent field did harvesting of the wheat crop and set on fire the husks. He had allegedly done the harvesting through a machine. The fire set up accidentally caught on with the standing crops in the adjacent field resulting in the havoc. The seven acres is owned by three persons. Giriraj, whose more than three acres of crops have been damaged, said that he would take up the matter with the police and the administration later. The fire created terror in Sikrona and nearby villages. The billowing smoke waved into Ballabgarh city area, creating panic. Villagers came out of their houses. The incident occurred in the day time. According to many, had it not been for the timely action of the district authorities, the fire which assumed intensity could have spread to other areas of standing crops.
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Cops held for robbery
Ghaziabad, April 15 SP, Railway Police, Kashi Nath Singh deployed a number of GRP teams from Saharanpur to Lucknow to detect such cops illegally fleecing the passengers. On Monday, GRP inspector S.S. Chauhan learnt that some UP police cops were collecting money from passengers on 5210 Janseva Express going from Amritsar to Barauni. They even beat up some passengers. Inspector Chauhan started a checking campaign with his
team. Some passengers of Ludhiana Sadhu Ashram corroborated these allegations saying the cops had robbed them of Rs 4,500. Some other passengers said they had also been fleeced. GRP team ultimately nabbed the uniformed Agra cops who initially tried to flee on seeing the GRP. The accused were formally arrested and money recovered from them. |
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College to face action
for opening on holiday
Ghaziabad, April 15 District magistrate Deepak Agrawal said action would be initiated against the institute and an inquiry had been ordered. RD Engineering College at Duhai, Ghaziabad remained open on April 14, Ambedkar anniversary and Ramnavami, a holiday announced by the central government. College spokesperson Vinay Kumar Singh said since the practical and internal test dates were finalised a long time ago, any change in the dates were not possible as it could jeopardise the pre-examination preparations schedule. Vice-chancellor UP Technical University Prem Vrat said the university through its circulars (29518 and 29806) dated January 11, 2008 instructed the affiliated institutes to follow the instructions including closing the institute on April 14.
— IANS |
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Woman burnt to death for dowry
Greater Noida, April 15 Neerja, a resident of Murad Garhi locality in Greater Noida, was allegedly killed by her husband Vinod, sister-in-law Sadhna and mother-in-law Tarawati on Monday night. The police has registered a case against the three, who are absconding, on a complaint by Neerja’s father Virendra. Virendra, a resident of Bulandshahr, said in his complaint that his daughter was married to Vinod in 2005. She was often tortured by her husband and the in-laws to bring more dowry. She had pleaded with them that her parents were not in a condition to give more, but her in-laws would torture her.
On Monday night, they poured kerosene on her while she was asleep and set her on fire. In the morning, they told the police that she had
committed suicide. However, the police during investigation found that she had been killed by the three family
members. — IANS |
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Singh, Kaur of the year
New Delhi, April 15 The pageant was organised by Ayur Herbals in association with the All Saints Educational Society with an aim to instill a sense of pride in the traditions among Sikh youth. Other competitions held during the pageant were best hair and best turban categories. The event culminated in a fashion show. |
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Court summons Aamir
New Delhi, April 15 Metropolitan magistrate Jagdish Kumar issued summons to Aamir Khan for February 10, 2009. The court had last year issued summons to the actor asking him to appear today, but he failed to do so. The case pertains to the seizure of seven VCDs of the 2001 release ‘Lagaan’ and 34 of ‘Gadar’ by the Delhi Police during a raid on the shop of accused Risabh Chawla in Lajpat Rai market here on June 22, 2001.
— IANS |
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New Delhi, April 15
New Delhi, April 15
