New Delhi, September 19
Rains continued to lash the Capital for the third day in succession leading to major jams and chaos on the roads, specially at peak traffic hours. Intermittent rain continued throughout the day with the skies remaining overcast since the early morning.

According to the weather office Delhi recorded 19.9 mm of rain in the past 24 hours and warns that tomorrow could be another uncertain day with partly cloudy sky with possibility of rain or thunderstorm. The Met department said that during the next 24 hours, there might be isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall in Delhi as well as other parts of north India with a gradual recede in rainfall activity in north west India.

Due to the night rains, the weather since the morning had been pleasant, and the city recorded a maximum temperature of 29.6 degrees centigrade, which was four degrees below the normal while the minimum temperature recorded was 23 degrees centigrade, which was one degree below normal. The incessant rainfall over the last three days in fact came as a surprise for Delhiites, throwing life in the city out of gear. However, the Met department said that this was normal even at this time of the year.

“The heavy and continuous rainfall over the last few days is because of the interacting Westerly system and the monsoon system. This has caused rain showers over the entire northwest India,” D.P. Yadav, director of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

“The amount of rainfall recorded for the last three days, until this morning, was 81.7 mm, while last year the total amount of rainfall in the entire month of September was 85.6 mm. The normal amount of rainfall for September is, however, 139.6 mm, therefore this is normal,” he added.

It was, however, harrowing time for office-goers at both morning and evening peak time. “Such heavy rains at a time when we are approaching October is definitely not expected, not the least in Delhi. I can understand if it’s July or August...but not now,” said Vikas Sharma, a bank employee, desperately trying to get an auto in Connaught Place. “The rains have taken most people like me by surprise. Just when you think the weather is going to lift up, it starts raining again. The evenings are a big hassle when you can’t get an auto and even if you get one, you get stuck in the traffic jam for hours!” he rued.

However, despite all the jams and problems that the residents faced, the MCD officials said that there was no waterlogging on the city arteries except on the corridor roads wherein people got stuck due to the fact that the vehicles could run only on half the road due to the ongoing corridor construction work. 

New Delhi, September 19
Union home minister Shivraj Patil today held a meeting with Delhi police commissioner Y.S. Dadwal to review the security status in Delhi following the serial blasts in the national Capital.

After the meeting at his residence, the home minister also went to the police headquarters even as the police officials were battling it out with terrorists in another part of the city.

According to Delhi police sources, the meeting, attended by senior police officers, concentrated on using the services of ex-servicemen until the regular vacancies in the police could be filled up. “Besides the ex-servicemen, the meeting also discussed ways to obtain maximum co-operation from various groups of the society in effective policing in the city,” said a police official. 

New Delhi, September 19
Former NCP chief of Delhi unit, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, today joined the Congress in presence of Chief Minister and DPCC president Jai Prakash Agarwal. He resigned from the NCP one week back.

Along with Bidhuri, two Municipal Councillors of the NCP, Mahesh Awana and Mamta Sharma joined the Congress.

Addressing a conference, Bidhuri said, “I have full faith in leadership of Sonia Gandhi and feel that it was time to join hands and work towards giving a new direction to the country which is on the verge of becoming a major economic power.”

Speaking of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, Bidhuri said the party under the leadership of Jai Prakash Agarwal has given a new sense of belonging to the common party worker who is now able to face the challenges posed by the BJP and other communal forces.

Through door-to-door campaign in the Capital, Agarwal has rejuvenated the Congress workers and given them a place in the running of the party affairs.

When asked why he did not join the BJP, Bidhuri alleged that the BJP government in Rajasthan betrayed the Gujjar community by going back on all promises made to them.

“The state government in Rajasthan is responsible for the killing of 70 innocent Gujjars and injuring thousands. Nearly one thousand people are languishing in jails. The government had promised to withdraw the false cases registered against them. But that has not been done yet,” he said.

He also condemned the violence unleashed on the minority community in Orissa and Karnataka.

New Delhi, September 19
National leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a rally here today said that terrorism posed the greatest danger to the security and integrity of the country. A massive campaign should be launched to finish terrorism, they said.

Addressing the rally, former Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the opposition in Parliament Lal Krishna Advani said that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at centre had completely failed to curb the increasing incidence of terrorism in the country. The Congress and its allies are playing vote politics in case of punishing terrorists. This is the reason that the convict of Parliament attack, Afzal Guru, has not been hanged, he said.

Even after being warned by intelligence agencies, terrorists attacked Jaipur and Bangalore and now Delhi. It has proved that the present government is completely incompetent in dealing with terrorists, he alleged.

Advani assured that the BJP would take effective steps to deal with terrorists and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) would be implemented immediately if the BJP came to power.

BJP national president Rajnath Singh said that the union government had failed on all fronts.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narender Modi, amidst thunderous applause said that terrorism would completely be finished from Gujarat. He said those playing vote politics were actually encouraging terrorists. Modi said that some time ago he had provided detailed information to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and national security advisor about the plans of terrorists. Besides, he had warned the Prime Minister that the terrorists caught in Gujarat had clearly indicated that their next target was the national Capital. He had also cautioned union home minister Shivraj Patil, but he did not pay any heed to it.

Gujarat is fully prepared to fight terrorism. He informed that a defence security university would be established in Gujarat soon and security forces would be armed with sophisticated weapons to fight terrorists.

He said that he believed in ‘action’ against terrorists and terror. He assured that if voted to power, the BJP would not play vote politics. It believes in the unity and integrity of the country. He expressed belief that people of the country are with BJP in its fight against terrorism.

Delhi unit BJP chief Harsh Vardhan said that the indifferent attitude of the Delhi government in dealing with terrorism was a serious matter. For the last few days, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has been demanding for stern law to deal with terrorism, but the centre is sitting over the file related to the capital punishment of Afzal Guru pronounced by the Supreme Court. It shows that Congress leaders are playing vote politics in the name of terrorism. People of Delhi should teach Congress a lesson in the coming assembly elections, he said.

BJP national general secretary Arun Jaitley, deputy leader of the opposition in Parliament Vijay Kumar Malhotra, national general secretary Vijay Goel, Anita Arya and Jagdish Mukhi also addressed the rally. 

New Delhi, September 19
With dengue cases showing a marked rise in the Capital, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) says the irregular monsoon this year as well as the “lack of co-operation” by the public were reasons for the escalation.

On Wednesday, 19 new cases were reported, taking the number of dengue cases in Delhi to 293 in the monsoon season. Last year, around 60 cases were reported in the season.

“The public has lost sight of civic sense, and is shirking efforts to keep breeding areas like coolers and open tanks clean. The irregular rains have made the situation worse. If the trend continues, dengue cases are bound to escalate in the coming month,” MCD’s public health committee chairman V.K. Monga said.

According to MCD officials, this year’s dengue figures could be the highest in the past five years.

“The monsoon this year has not stuck to normal pattern. The current humid and low temperatures are conducive for breeding of the dengue virus carrying mosquitoes,” Monga added.

He said that though all of Delhi was a potential target, Najafgarh and Rohini in West Delhi are the worst affected.

Another factor that has “slowed down the agency’s work” is the strike by its action force.

Of the 3,200 domestic breeding controllers (DBC), who go about enforcing civic vigilance, 2,500 employed on contract basis were on strike on Wednesday demanding regularisation of their jobs.

Asked what the MCD is doing to tackle the situation, Monga averred: “Yesterday itself 720 DBC vacancies were filled from a list of 6,000 applications. They have started their work.”

“Also, 34 hospitals across Delhi are treating the affected for free. Below poverty line (BPL) patients are even being given free blood platelets for treatment,” he added.

The MCD is responsible for ensuring that people do not keep stagnant water for mosquitoes to breed in. — IANS

New Delhi, September 19
Delhi police may have neutralised one of the “masterminds” of the bombings in the Capital last Saturday but what the police is worried about are the whereabouts of eight more terrorists, including a 10-year-old boy, who are on the run and who apparently assembled the bombs detonated in New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Hyderabad.

“A 10-year-old boy was among those 10 people who designed, planned and assembled bombs that went off on September 13 in Delhi, July 26 in Ahmedabad, May 13 in Jaipur and Aug 25, 2007 in Lumbani Park in Hyderabad,” said a top official of Delhi Police.

“The boy was with the terrorist group of the Indian Mujahideen led by Atiq that travelled to Ahmedabad three days before the blasts and assembled bombs there on the direction of Abdul Subhan Qureshi, alias Taqueer,” the official added, pleading anonymity.

The official said there was not much information about the boy and his family.

According to police officials, the group stayed at the house of one of the SIMI (the banned Student Islamic Movement of India) activists Imran, who was later arrested by the Gujarat police for the Ahmedabad serial blasts.

“Before the bombs went off in Ahmedabad the entire group boarded the Rajdhani (Express) train back to Delhi at 4.45 p.m. the same day. They all were seated in the second air-conditioned coach,” said another top official, showing copies of the duplicate train tickets.

“The group returned to Delhi but this time they were accompanied by two more people - one from Indore and the other from UP,” sai d the senior official .

The two, said to be expert car thieves, had stolen Maruti Suzuki Wagon R cars in which the explosives were packed and kept in two hospitals in Ahmedabad.—IANS

New Delhi, September 19
Industry buff and the chief economist at Deutsche Bank, Singapore, Sanjeev Sanyal has come up with a timely book—one that marks the “new renaissance” that India is witnessing both economically and culturally after at least a thousand years of decline. It is another thing altogether that the “renaissance” is extremely fragile, dependent on international markets and players, as also the “renaissance” has a massive imbalance with more than half the country still remaining below the poverty line.

Sanyal was in the Capital today to release his book, ‘The Indian Renaissance: India’s Rise after a Thousand Years of Decline’, which was formally launched at a function organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Aspen Institute India and Penguin Books India.

Sanyal informed the audience that through this book, he wanted to present “our generation’s view of India”. He said, “For us the war of 1971 is an event in history unlike for the generation before us,” he said simultaneously adding that, “for us Maruti car was a symbol of progress and freedom.”

“The book is an also an outcome of my efforts to see India as it is today,” Sanyal informed. “Amazing changes are happening in India and by 2040 I expect 90% per cent of the population will be urban. It is fascinating to think how we will be in the next few decades given the fast momentum of changes,” he added. “Through this book I have tried to find out why a great nation and a great heritage like that of India went into decline. I think it is because we closed ourselves to the outside world about a thousand years ago and that was a reason for the decline with a few exceptions and sparks in between,” he shared his insight with the audience.

N K Singh, Rajya Sabha member who was present on the occasion, lauded Sanyal for his book. He said, “I agree with the author that liberalisation and openness go far beyond mere economic liberalisation. Cultural openness is the key.”  “The book,” he said, “has a strong streak of optimism about overcoming challenges that the country faces.”

Nandan Nilekani, co-chairman, Infosys Technologies Ltd, congratulated the author on bringing several new insights into the issue, “linking demographic dividend with primary education is one such example.” “If India has 90 per cent literacy and 45 per cent savings rate as the book predicts,” Nilekani said, “it means that we will have a huge middle class. This means we need a dramatic change in infrastructure to cater to this 200-400 million-strong middle class,” he said.

Other speakers at the function included economist and father of the author, Jayanta Sanyal.

New Delhi, September 19
Couldn’t catch Academy Award winner ‘Million Dollar Baby’ or super hit ‘Chak De! India’? A two-day film festival here will give film buffs a chance to watch these and many more internationally acclaimed films that put spotlight on gender issues.

Chromosome, as the festival that begins on Saturday is called, is all about bringing out the nuances of gender issues and what they mean in our daily lives.

With a range of films like ‘Million Dollar Baby’ about an amateur female boxer, ‘Chak De! India’, which was about a bunch of feisty Indian women hockey players and ‘Amu’ that tells the story of a victim of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, the fest aims to make audiences rethink societal notions of what is feminine and what is masculine.

Organised by an NGO Jagori, the event will be held at Siri Fort Auditorium.

Some other films to be showcased include ‘Anita and Me’, ‘Agnisnaan’ (Assamese), ‘Anahat’ (Marathi) and ‘Antarmahal’ (Bangla). All the films will be supported with English subtitles, said a press statement.

A few foreign language films like ‘A Womb of One’s Own’ (Finnish), ‘The Eighth Day Of The Week’ (Hungarian) and ‘Amores Perros’ (Spanish) are also a part of the schedule. Film screenings apart, there will also be discussions with some filmmakers.

Entry to the screenings will be free. — IANS

Greater Noida, September 19
There was a great deal of fondness between the families of Sonu and Rekha–the young Dalit lovers who were killed brutally and later burnt yesterday when caught in a compromising position in a field in Bair village, Greater Noida.

Gulab and Raju had their houses facing each other and this proximity contributed to a deep friendship and close family relations between members of their families. That is why none of the elders had an inkling that Sonu and Rekha, who were studying in the same school, had been in love for the last three years. But the killing of teenagers changed this friendship into deep enmity.

The two lovers were murdered and then set on fire in Bair village, barely 50 km from New Delhi. According to one view, the violence resulted from the financial disparity between the two Dalit families. Rekha’s mother had reportedly tried desperately to stop the killing but she too was beaten. “With the girl’s family absconding, we do not know the details,” said SSP R.K. Chaturvedi.

Only the autopsy report can reveal whether the boy’s genitals were really chopped off, said the cops. The bodies had been half burnt before villagers reached the spot and pulled them out of the fire, said a police officer.

According to village pradhan Mahipal Singh, “The girl’s father was doling out ration at his shop, when someone told him that Rekha and Sonu were seen together in the forested area close to Gulab Singh’s tubewell. On hearing this, they rushed and caught them on the spot. Both were thrashed following which Gulab Singh strangled Rekha, while Sonu died from the beating. The bodies were put on fire. But other villagers arrived on the spot and put out the fire and rescued the half-burnt bodies of the young lovers.

Gulab Singh’s family immediately fled the village. Some people then called the police. 

New Delhi, September 19
He was deployed to guard the border against any threat, but an army major ended up stealing goats and sheep of villagers.

The Delhi High Court yesterday found the charges against him just and disposed of his appeal challenging the sentence by an army court.

A division bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M.C. Garg rejected former Major Manjeet Singh Ahluwalia’s plea to restore his service and dismissed his petition challenging the sentence of “cashiering” (removal from services) awarded by the General Court Martial (GCM) 26 years ago.

The bench accepted the submission made by Jyoti Singh, counsel for the Indian Army, that the GCM was conducted in accordance with law and there was no violation of army rules at any stage.

The case dates back to October 1983, when Ahluwalia was court martialled following a complaint from the Rajasthan police that the major, who was posted at Ramsar in Barmer district and commanding officer of 116 medium regiment, had stolen several goats and sheep belonging to the villagers in 1982.

The officer was also sentenced to undergo two years’ imprisonment for the offence committed under the Army Act.

After the confirmation of the sentence by the secretary, Ministry of Defence, in 1985, chief of army staff had deducted 50% of his pay and allowances as a part of the punishment.

In a writ petition filed on January 9, 1986, the former major asked the court to set aside the October 1983 order passed by the General Court Martial and also sought a direction to restore his job besides release of pay deducted at the time of his dismissal. — IANS

Noida, September 19
The police has arrested one of the two robbers who had looted Canara Bank in Noida Sector-63 on September 11 with a toy gun. He is said to be an informer of Ghaziabad police. Neeraj was nabbed with the help of call details of his cell phone. Police has recovered Rs 1.44 lakh from him.

According to police, three criminals were involved in the Canara Bank robbery. One of them, being a resident of Aligarh district who is reported to have looted a number of banks. He is yet to arrested.

According to SSP, R K Chaturvedi, the robbers had decamped with Rs 4.90 lakh in the Canara Bank loot. The robber was nabbed on a tip-off by Sector-58 police while he was standing near Fortis hospital in Sector-62, Noida. He has been identified as Neeraj, alias Tiger, of village Parsol under Dankore police station. Currently he was living in a rented room in Barola village.

According to police, Neeraj has confessed that he had robbed Canara Bank along with a friend of Dharmendra of Aligarh.

Dharmendra had given him Rs 1.44 lakh after the loot and called him near Fortis hospital on Wednesday for giving him more share of the booty, he told the police. He was waiting for Dharmendra when the police pounced upon him. Neeraj is wanted in many cases of loot and dacoity by Ghaziabad police, it is learnt. 

New Delhi, September 19
Two persons died while four were injured in three separate incidents of accident in the Capital.

A Maruti Zen car hit a stationary Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) truck loaded with iron rods on the BRT corridor near Moolchand flyover in the wee hours today. Later an Innova car hit the mangled Maruti Zen.

Two persons in the Maruti Zen were injured while, Mohan Singh driver of the Innova car died on the spot. Anand and Navin, the occupants of the car, sustained serious injuries. The injured were taken to the AIIMS and Moolchand Hospitals. The spot where the accident took place had no lights even as the Metro work was in progress.

In the other incident at Lajpat Nagar, a 28-year-old biker was killed after a vehicle hit him. The identity of the biker and the vehicle that hit him is yet to be ascertained.

The third incident took place in the Shahdara area of East Delhi last night where a truck fell over a Tata 407 from a flyover. Two persons were injured. The truck driver could not be caught. A case of negligent driving has been lodged and efforts are being made to nab the driver.

Noida, September 19
A man, Sumit Das was beaten to death by a contractor and his four accomplices on Wednesday, for asking the price of a cell phone that he had given to the contractor.

The incident took place in the NSEZ falling under Noida Phase-II in the Kotwali area.

A case has been registered in this connection and five persons, including the contractor Bhola Nath and his four accomplices— Sahil, Anupam, Manjit, Sarkar and Chitra Dhar— have been arrested on the charge of murder. Bhola Nath works for a jwellery shop named Jai Shri Jewellers.

Sumit Das, who belonged to West Bengal, had earlier worked for Jai Shri Jewellers. He had given a cell phone to Bhola Nath. On Wednesday evening, Sumit went to Jai Shri Jewellers to collect the price of the cell phone. But Bhola Nath tried to avoid him by offering one or the other excuse.

The situation turned violent and Bhola Nath, with his companions thrashed Sumit and then fled away. Sumit was rushed to a hospital by his friends, where he was declared brought dead.