New Delhi, July 24
Two hundred and fourty one passengers and eleven crew members of a Air Mauritius plane had a providential escape today afternoon at the Indira Gandhi International Airport after the pilot noticed fire in the undercarriage of the aircraft and aborted the take-off minutes before its scheduled departure.

“All the passengers and the crew members were evacuated safely,” said an official of the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) after confirming the incident.

According to DIAL officials, an investigation has been launched and the cause of the fire, which was noticed at around 2:08 p.m., is yet to be ascertained.

“We are yet to get details on how the fire occurred,” the official said and pointed out a technical fault as one of the possible reasons.

The Air Mauritius plane was to fly to the Mauritius capital Port Louis from here.

The passengers of the plane had been shifted to a nearby hotel and arrangements are being made by the airlines for an alternate aircraft. The incident also led to several flight disruptions.

However, according to DIAL officials, the flight movement was restored to normalcy soon after the incident.

New Delhi, July 24
In the first-ever meeting called by the President with country’s eminent women, Pratibha Devisingh Patil discussed issues that lie at the core of women’s empowerment at Rashtrapati Bhavan, today.

The group of invited women activists included Amita Singh, Leela Seth, Vijaylakshmi Ravindranath, Ranjana Kumari, Prema Cariappa, Mohini Giri, Tesse Thomas, Kapila Vatsyanan, Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee and Shyamalha Pappu.

While acknowledging the role of Indian women in the freedom struggle, the President said that women have begun to make a mark on national life through Panchayati Raj, which is a landmark.

She also recognised that reforms needed to be introduced in the rural areas to improve the condition of large population of women living there.

“It was a good meeting and I am happy to see her concern towards women’s issues,” said Mohini Giri. “We should train the country at the school level by making the primary level teachers gender sensitive. Government schools have wide reach and gender education can start from the grassroot.”

Mohini also stressed the need to formulate a national policy on war widows. “Disturbed areas like North-Eastern states and Kashmir have to be mainstreamed otherwise we would keep pushing people towards terrorism,” she said.

The President wanted to have regular consultation with the group.

“We should identify the districts in the country where the rate of enrolment of girls in schools is low. We can then do some consolidated work in these selected areas. Education is the key to women’s empowerment,” said Ranjana Kumari.

Ranjana also said that steps should be taken towards ensuring that all the homes in the country are violence-free.

“I have always talked about the representation of women at decision-making places. In this context, 33 per cent reservation is very important,” she said.

One of the important points mentioned at the meeting was about women’s health and the provision of required nutrition to mothers. 

New Delhi, July 24
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) has been rated as the No 1 business school in the country for the extensive ‘global exposure’ it provides to its students. It was followed by IIM (A) and IIM (B) at ranks 2 and 3, respectively.

The ranking was conducted by ‘Zee Business Best B School Survey’, a first of its kind on Indian television in association with leading international research firm Synovate.  IIPM also achieved rank 7 (ahead of two IIMs) as the best B school overall, rank 8 for best industry interface, rank 9 for best placements (ahead of one of the IIMs) and rank 9 for best course content.

Under the aegis of IIPM’s global opportunities and threat analysis (GOTA) programme, all of IIPM’s more than 3000 students visit Europe or America or other developed nations for two to three weeks to get first-hand international exposure of how the best in the world work. They visited hundreds of world organizations like The World Bank, ILO, United Nations, WTO, big corporations like Nestle, Honda, IBM, BMW, FIAT, Citigroup, and universities like IMD and many more in the recent past.

Students from top international universities also visit IIPM to undertake a specialisation semester. This is the global students exchange programme (GSEP). In 2007-08, as many as 12 institutions from France, Italy, Russia, Denmark, Austria and Germany sent their students to study a module/trimester at IIPM.

IIPM’s international placements this year have been only second to IIMs. While IIMs placed 249 of its students abroad this year, IIPM placed 165 followed by ISB with 111. 

New Delhi, July 24
After dodging the police for almost nine years, a person wanted in a murder case was finally arrested by an official with Seema Puri police station yesterday.

Satpal, 27, resident of Bholanath Nagar, was arrested from near Shahdara Bus Terminal on the basis of a tip off.

He is an accused in the murder of woman Urmila that took place on December 5, 1999. According to the police, Urmila, a resident of Kalandar Colony in Seema Puri worked as a sweeper in the Red Cross Hospital in Seema Puri. She was allegedly close to Satpal’s father Data Ram and often visited his house in the neighbouring jhuggi for drinks. According to Urmila’s son Lal Singh, she often returned home in drunken state. And sons of Data Ram used to regularly quarrel with Lal Singh for allowing his mother to have drinks with their father.

On December 5, 1999, Lal Singh found his mother lying dead near Durga Mandir in Kalander Colony of Seema Puri. She had injury mark on her vagina and other parts of body.

On the basis of suspicion expressed by Lal Singh, Data Ram and his son Jabar Singh were arrested next day itself. However, Satpal could not be arrested despite of all efforts of the police.

He was declared a proclaimed offender by the court of Archana Sinha, MM, Karkardooma Court in March 2000, and since then he was evading arrest.

Satpal disclosed that on the night of the murder his father Data Ram told him that Urmila was having illicit relations with some person in Seelam Pur, so he killed her. Then, he and his father threw her body near Durga Mandir and fled away. He told that since the incident, he was hiding at different places to evade arrest. 

New Delhi, July 24
With Delhi University (DU) colleges reviewing their fee structures for the new session, fee hike at Kirori Mal College (KMC) has left the students considerably agitated.

KMC has hiked its fee by Rs 500 per course from the new academic session. “We are talking about accessibility in education, but the college, on the contrary, has decided to increase the fees. College authorities must consider the students coming from economically deprived backgrounds,” said Siraj, a senior student at KMC.

The students today launched a signature campaign in the college against the fee hike as well as other issues. More than 600 signatures were collected.

“After trying to talk to the authorities regarding the hike, we have now collated many college-level issues and are taking them to students,” said Siraj.

The students demand a rollback on the fee hike along with the provision of fee waiver and scholarships for deprived students.

“Another sensitive issue is of the construction of girl’s toilets in the college,” said Madni Ashraf, general secretary, KMC unit of the Students’ Federation of India.

KMC does not have any girl’s toilet in the science block of the college.

On the activity front, students want the administration to rebuild the college auditorium that is on the verge of collapse.

Students also demand that the college should sanction the same amount of funds for all departments. “Political Science department gets Rs 16,000 per year, when Geography gets Rs 22,000 for similar purposes,” said another student.

Even years after the implementation of the internal assessment system in the university, the college still needs to formulate student-faculty committees in all departments except English. These committees deal with the discrepancies in college assessment.

New Delhi, July 24
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has mooted a proposal for setting up of AIDS Detection Centres in industrial hubs like Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad to help the large work force employed there in detecting the deadly disease in its early stages.

The proposal was mooted after an elaborate survey of these industrial hubs discovered that no such facilities existed in these areas in the National Capital Region (NCR) despite the fact that the majority of workers are migrants who are more susceptible to the dreaded disease.

According to the health committee estimates of the Assocham, most of the migrant workers engaged in construction, real estate and large infrastructure projects are at present dependent on AIDS detection facilities, called anti retroviral therapy (ART) centres in Delhi and Meerut.

The proposal which will be shortly submitted to the union health ministry and the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) by the president of Assocham,

Sajjan Jindal and its secretary-general D S Rawat, also reveal that these districts have been facing unregulated movement of migrant workers, street children and women from various parts of the country, particularly Eastern UP, Bihar, Orissa, North-East, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and even Nepal, most of whom are suspected to be suffering from AIDS.

About 15 lakh labourers are believed to have settled in scattered places and slums of the NCR, out which at least 30-40 per cent are suspected to be quietly enduring syndromes of the dreaded disease as they cannot easily access AIDS detection centres in Delhi and Meerut.

The chamber is taking this cause with the authorities as part of its corporate social responsibility and even willing to earmark a significant part of its earnings for setting up of the proposed centres in collaboration with any voluntary or social organisation.

The chamber has also advocated the need for creation of ‘Anti-AIDS joint

task force’ to combat the menace of AIDS in Delhi and the NCR in which senior functionaries belonging to the government of Delhi, UP and Haryana are made members of the proposed task force from health departments. The task force should also have senior functionaries and office-bearers of the apex industry associations, including their well-known constituents.

Rawat said the NCR has over 35,000 industrial units and most of its workforce lacked awareness about AIDS.

The chamber believes that despite AIDS becoming so pervasive, particularly among slum dwellers that are engaged in construction, real estate and infrastructure businesses, NACO has yet to take a serious note of setting up of centres in these areas. Compared to nine ART centres run under the various government hospitals in Delhi, the NCR has only one centre located in Meerut under its LLRM Medical College.

The chamber has already appealed to most of its members to try to partner with NACO for setting up of such ART and community care centres in Delhi and NCR. Pharma companies can also contribute more effectively by providing anti-AIDS drugs at affordable prices to these centres.

Assocham has also suggested the central government to remove all levies on anti-AIDS drugs to bring their prices down since the treatment of AIDS is very expensive, running into thousands every month. The import duty on these drugs is 10 per cent, while the excise duty is 16 per cent. If the import levy is lowered, the cost of these drugs could be lowered by 6 per cent, while the net excise duty impact will be around 9 per cent.

To spread awareness in Delhi and NCR’s rural areas, Assocham stressed on the need to work closely with districts, panchayats, nagar palikas and schools which have wide-ranging network to access the rural poor to make a difference to the epidemic situation in India as well as improve the quality of life of those living with HIV.

Noida, July 24
The Noida police has arrested nine members of a biker’s gang, and seized seven bikes, 10 revolvers and seven cell phones from them. The bikers were planning to strike at a posh Noida market, according to police. They were wanted in eight criminal cases, including a loot in Moradabad in January this year.

After an informer’s tip-off, the Sector-58 police started a vehicle check at 11.30 pm near Mamura crossing yesterday. When cops signalled six riders on three bikes to stop, the pillion riders opened fire on cops. Police in retaliation encircled them and arrested them. The arrested bikers were identified as Juned, Hamid Ali and Zaid Mohd of Bulandshahr, Ali Mohd of Moradabad, Jai Prakash Thakur and Anil Arora of Delhi.

According to SSP, gang leader Juned told the police that they had planned to loot the show room of KK Jewellers in Sector-18 Noida. The gang had looted Rs 6.96 lakh in a daring day-time operation in Moradabad on January 1, 2008. The biker criminals are wanted in eight cases.

In another case, an SOG and Sector-20 police team arrested three vehicle thieves near DPS School Noida. They were identified as Ashish, alias Aasu, of Bagpat, Dinesh of Muzzafarnagar and Moni of Karawal Nagar, Delhi. On their disclosures, police recovered five motorcycles.

They used to sell stolen vehicles in Bagpat and Ami Nagar for Rs 5,000 to 7,000. Besides carjacking, the gangsters used to loot cell phones of wayfarers.

According to SP City, Ashish was the gang leader who had gone to jail from Loni, Ghaziabad under Gangster Act. There are 10 cases against him in Loni alone, the SP City said.

Faridabad, July 24
The Kranti Yatra of the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), flagged off yesterday by the party president Rajnath Singh, entered Faridabad today evening.

The Yatra was given a public welcome at Neelam Bata Chowk. It headed for Palwal in the district after coursing through the city. It will enter Mewat after completing its lap in this district.

National president of the youth wing of the party Amit Mathur said that the Yatra would cover 60 districts in the National Capital Region. It will culminate in a rally at the Ram Lila ground in the national Capital on August 9, which will be addressed by senior leaders including L.K. Advani and Rajnath Singh.

According to Mathur, the Yatra has been undertaken to tell the people about the unethical practices adopted by the Congress to win the confidence motion moved by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in the wake of Left withdrawing support from the UPA government.

Mathur said that the Congress, which invokes the name of Mahatma Gandhi, does not care to heed to the ethical standards advocated by him. 

Noida, July 24
A fast track court here awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment to 10 persons for beating up policemen including a station officer, confining them, snatching their guns and disrupting government functioning.

Additional session judge Alok Chaturvedi also slapped a fine of Rs 17,000 each on Haroon, Sarfu, Rafique, Ali, Mohd and Sehjare and Rs 15,000 each on Kanchan, Illyas, Sadique, Sayed Ahmed and Shaukat.

Two of the accused— Khechera Jaffar and Subhan— died during the case.

The court was informed by assistant district public prosecutor Jagdish Nagar that on July 27 1994, four cops including Vinode, Ombir, Krishna Pal and Dharamvir, posted with Javer police station, went out for patrolling at around 7.50 p.m. They went to Nangla Pehsu village to arrest some members of Taufique gang who had committed a crime in Bulandshahr.

The cops had overpowered Rafique, the alleged criminal, but in the meantime some villagers overpowered Vinode and Ombir and snatched their rifles after tying them up. They also freed Rafique. Two of the cops managed to escape.

On getting the information, the Bulandshahr SSP reached the spot with a police contingent and freed the cops. The police team also arrested many villagers and brought them to the police station.