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5,000 kids toil in sports goods units: Study
Now tackle stress online
This Dussehra, burn Ravana in the
comfort of your home
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Letter threatening seven blasts puts Faridabad cops on toes
Malhotra for one-time amnesty from sealing, demolition
Contributions sought for
TB patients
LG stresses on proper
civic services
Live in the present: Zen master
School told to readmit dismissed poor students
B.Tech student held for snatching
Engineer killed as bike skids
Fake currency gangsters nabbed
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5,000 kids toil in sports goods units: Study
New Delhi, October 7 According to the study, in the villages and urban slums of Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh and Jalandhar, Punjab, many of these children and their families are forced to work under heavy debt as bonded labourers. As a result their health and education is completely compromised. The study titled “Offside: Child Labour in Football Stitching-A Case Study in Meerut District” was released by Kailash Satyarthi, a child rights activist, chairperson, Global March Against Child Labour and founder, BBA along with five child football stitchers from Solaklaa, Meerut yesterday. All the five children are now enrolled in schools under BBA activities, but still have to stitch footballs to pay off the huge debts taken by their parents. Heena, a nine-year-old with huge dreams, said that her eyes, hands and back ache constantly because of the tiring work, but she is happy that now she is able to go to school. She wants to become a police officer to arrest all the criminals and stop all kinds of violence. Nisha, a 13-year-old girl, still has bandage on her finger as a result of the needle pierce while stitching a football. While explaining the procedure to stitch the leather pieces together, she said, “We have to be very careful with the needle work otherwise the contractor cuts Rs 1-2 from our pay as repairing charges for every single flaw.” “If you roam around in the slums of Budh Vihar and Kamal Pur on the outskirts of Meerut or go to remote villages like Shiwal Khas, you can come across hundreds of young children stitching artificial leather pieces stamped ‘child labour free’. Not only this, many of these children dream of playing with a football. What else could be a bigger crime?” alleges Satyarthi. The study revealed that even after working for 12 to 14 hours, a child can stitch maximum two footballs and earn at best Rs 3 to 5, which is 40 times less than the retail price of a football. If the whole family of 6 to 7 members work tirelessly for these long hours, they can produce only 10 footballs earning Rs 30 to 50 a day. If a stitch comes undone, the contractors deduct the repair cost from the labourers’ wages. The study highlights the major health hazards faced by the children. All the children interviewed complain of finger cuts and injuries whereas 35% still have fresh cuts on their fingers. Another 35% complain of pain in eyes while 50% were found suffering from continuous backache and 85% have regular pain in their hands and fingers.
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Property dealer murdered
in Gurgaon
Gurgaon, October 7 Preliminary investigations suggested that the deceased had returned home after leaving his wife and minor daughter at his native village Bajgera near here for navratras. The incident came to light when his father called him over phone, which was not answered. He found the body of the deceased lying in the bathroom when he went there looking for him. The officials of Palam Vihar police station said that the incident might have occurred around midnight after the deceased had drinks party with some unknown persons. The body bore deep wound by some sharp-edged weapon. A case has been registered against unknown persons. Further investigation is on to identify the accused and ascertain the motive behind the murder. |
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Now tackle stress online
New Delhi, October 7 According to experts, all the physiological problems are rooted in stress. How stress can affect our health is an important issue for each individual as it is stress that finally culminates into anxiety and depression. A major factor contributing to our daily stress is work pressure and job responsibilities. So it’s very important to nip stress in the bud before it takes its toll on one’s happiness. And you can now do this on line. To spread awareness about the-ill effects of stress, WiZiQ.com is offering free sessions on stress management. The sessions will provide tips to tackle stress and lead a healthy life. Bhushan Bhatia, an experienced trainer will deliver these sessions. It will be followed by four more sessions in October. “We all undergo stress in our lives but how to identify it becomes a pertinent question. I’ll delve into the symptoms of stress, which can also have a positive or a negative influence. Anyone who undergoes stress can transform its negativity to positivity. This is an important point in fighting stress. There are a lot of techniques to de-stress yourself,” says Bhushan Bhatia. Bhushan Bhatia is an experienced trainer with a nationalized bank in India. He is MBA (HR) and holds diplomas in bank management, industrial relations. He has also undergone training by IMPACT: “Train the Trainers” by University of Auckland, Six-Sigma by National Productivity Council. WiZiQ.com is an online learning platform focused on empowering teachers and education service providers to reach out to students and make learning more effective.
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This Dussehra, burn Ravana in the
comfort of your home
New Delhi October 7 This festival season, online and mobile users can burst e-crackers and burn effigies on their PCs and mobile phones. Webdunia ushers in the spirit of Dussehra – good triumphing over evil –while the computer users can play a fun-filled game based on Ravana Dahan, the mobile users can download an application. Not only is it a safer and convenient way to celebrate Dussehra, it’s also a green way. The eco-friendly game strengthens Webdunia’s ‘go green’ campaign, as without bursting a single cracker, online users can burn Ravana’s effigies by simply logging on to www.games.webdunia.com. The GPRS-enabled mobile users can log on to wap.webdunia.com to reach the Ravana Dahan icon. The application can be downloaded free of cost on mobile phones. Lakshmi poojan is also available on the Webdunia.com. Users will also be able to offer aarti to Goddess Lakshmi on their computers. The cyber world promises to fire your imagination all the way up to Diwali, with eco-friendly crackers in all shapes and sizes. Children can light up rockets, sparklers and bombs virtually without parents watching over them anxiously. What’s more, the fireworks can continue for an unlimited period. The exciting range of fireworks can be burst by logging on to Webdunia.com on its religion channel under Virtual Pooja and Online eCrackers. There’s no end to what you can do this Dussehra in cyber world from sending e-greetings to celebrating the festival virtually. Recently, Webdunia had offered users a choice of sending e-greetings in nine Indian languages. E-greetings are a convenient, reliable, creative and climate friendly way of wishing people on a special occasion. |
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Letter threatening seven blasts puts Faridabad cops on toes
Faridabad, October 7 According to Brijender Singh, he received the letter in his mail yesterday evening. The text was written on a postcard put in an envelope dated October 1, 2008. The postcard had “Indian Mujaheedeen Jindabad” written on its top. The letter challenged “there will be blasts and stop them if you can”. The stamp on the envelope could not be deciphered and will be sent for expert examination. The seven places specified as targets include SRS Mall (Sector-12), railway station, Fortis Hospital, B.K.Hospital, Vaishno Devi temple (Trikona Park), Subham Tower and Market No.1 (NIT). Significantly, all the places mentioned are the busy centres of the city. Especially, with the festival season around, the crowd increases manifold at these places. The problem for the police is that the letter does not specify the month. And so, today being October 7, authorities were all out to prevent any untoward incident. Also, in the past 10 days the police has received several calls about bombs but, all of them turned out to be hoax. However, Brijender Singh said that the threat could not be taken lightly. Immediately after the deputy commissioner received the letter, the entire civil and police administration swung into action. All the specified areas were sealed. In fact, Market No.1 remained closed. Neither the shopkeepers opened shops nor the public took the risk to go there. According to a senior police officer, about 700 police personnel were pressed into service to meet any eventuality. Sniffer dogs requisitioned from Delhi were roped in to smell any explosive. GRP personnel were requisitioned from outside to man the railway station as it was the most vulnerable place. The other places mentioned in the letter have been literally cordoned off. No vehicles were allowed to enter the areas. The Vaishno temple, which is thronged during the Navratra season, presented a deserted look. In fact, the entire city looked like a fortress with high visibility of police personnel. Police gypsies carrying commandos kept zooming through the city. The police has assured people of full security and also urged people to be alert.
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Malhotra for one-time amnesty from sealing, demolition
New Delhi, October 7 Professor Malhotra was speaking at a function organised by the Confederation of All-India Traders (CAIT) here which was attended by many traders from different markets of the city, chairman of the standing committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and local party leaders. He said the national capital had a special role in the nation’s economy by virtue of it being the oldest trade distribution hub. He recommended one-time amnesty scheme from sealing and demolition.
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Contributions sought for
TB patients
New Delhi, October 7 The Lt-Governor made this appeal at the launch of 59th state-level TB Seal Sale Campaign of the Association at Raj Niwas here. The Lt-Governor said tuberculosis continued to be a major public health challenge and ignorance about the fact that the disease is curable is also one reason for its higher incidence. He said mass awareness about the curability of tuberculosis on its early diagnosis has brought us closer to disease eradication. Stating that enlightened citizens of Delhi were always willing to donate for a genuine cause, Khanna appealed to them to voluntarily contribute to the noble cause. At present, there are approximately five lakh TB patients in Delhi which makes it about 3 per cent of the total population. The sale proceeds of these campaigns are utilised by the association for the creation of general awareness about tuberculosis, a greatest public health problem in our country, providing welfare measures, including financial grant to the needy TB patients, and other activities pertaining to the prevention and control of tuberculosis in the disadvantaged and marginalised communities. |
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LG stresses on proper
civic services
New Delhi , October 7 The focus of this conference was to discuss the possibilities and challenges in mega-cities. Emphasising proper delivery of civic services to the public at grassroot level, Khanna said, “We are short-changing the public on delivery of services. So, now we must critically analyse whether we are giving enough to the taxpayers or not.” “There must be a mandatory third party quality audit. The local bodies often talk about paucity of resources, which could be true but, we need to analyse it properly,” said Khanna Speaking on the ocassion, Mayor Aarti Mehra stated that civic bodies should focus on public participation in civic activities. “There are innumerable challenges before the local bodies. We must meet the challenges by adopting modern technologies and ideas,” added Mehra. |
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Live in the present: Zen master
New Delhi, October 7 The preacher from Vietnam, called as Thay by his disciples, is a versatile personality, being a poet, author, teacher and international peacemaker. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967 by Dr Martin Luther King and has the credit of authoring 50 books in English and presently lives in Southern France. Thay went on to outline the role of concentration in spirituality that is something which all people, irrespective of age, can practise and bring joy and transformation to their lives. “Spirituality can be very simple like one has to be fully present while holding a cup of tea, and then the communion of mind and body is called drinking. It can be followed by anybody, including the young people.” Outlining the present to be most rejuvenating, Thay said, “We should not miss out our appointment with the present as there are plenty of wonders available in today for us. We must encounter life in its greatest form and be happy and nourished.” Adding he says, “Don’t let yourself be caught up by worries and tensions related to future as that would only take the right and joy of living in the present, which is the most wonderful time to be.” Emphasising breathing in and out with complete focus, the versatile Thay said, “Breathe in and out mindfully. Follow your in-breath, direct all your concentration to this focal point and if you succeed in doing so then you can release all your past and tensions of future, with your awareness getting deeper. Then, exhale and be fully alive, living life to the fullest.” Dr Sama, a gastroenterologist and founder of World Academy of Spiritual Sciences, which had arranged the platform for the lecture, said, “The main idea behind this session was to generate awareness of life energy to our health, disseminating knowledge about curing ailments by effective meditative techniques along with teaching mindfulness in every action and action of ours.” With oriental methodologies of alternative medication gaining recognition at the world stage, such symposiums are needed to highlight the ways that could bridge the gap that exists between the eastern and western medical systems.
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School told to readmit dismissed poor students
New Delhi, October 7 A division bench headed by Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah has ordered Suraj Bhan DAV Public School, Vasant Vihar, to take back the two students belonging to the economically weaker section (EWS) of society. Somya, a student of class IV, and her brother Shubham, who is in class III, were admitted to the school in 2004-05 under the EWS quota. Though the siblings were entitled to free education, the institute started demanding that they deposit the full fees and other charges. “Since July 2008, the school had been repeatedly threatening the parents to either deposit the fees and other charges or the names of the students would be struck off the rolls,” said advocate Ashok Agarwal, who appeared for students. He said the school, in violation of orders of the high court and the Delhi government, removed the students on September 20. The school contended that the parents were required to submit their income certificate from the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) every year, which they had not done. But the court on Friday rejected the school’s arguments. —
IANS |
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B.Tech student held for snatching
Noida, October 7 One of the snatchers held is a B.Tech. student, who took to looting and snatching just for fun. The police swung into action after it got information that two criminals on a motorbike had snatched a mobile phone from one Arvind of Sector-18 from near Sector-49 police station. The bike, which did not have a number plate, was stopped at a vehicle-check post. On failing to produce the necessary documents of the bike, the two were taken to police station. During interrogation they revealed that they had stolen the bike from Surajpur. On frisking, two mobile phones were recovered from them. The two have been identified as Amit and Umendre. Umendre lived with his relatives in Surajpur while studying B. Tech at IIMT Institute in Greater Noida. |
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Engineer killed as bike skids
Noida, October 7 of road. His bike had skidded on the road and he was dragged to a distance. As a result, he was seriously injured in the head. Shockingly for about 15 minutes, he lay on the road seriously injured and writhed in pain but nobody helped him till a cab came from the opposite direction and its driver rushed him to a hospital with the help of policemen. But it was too late as he was declared brought dead by doctors. Amit Jha, 30, was employed as a solution engineer in HCL office, Sector-16A, Noida. Originally from Darbhanga, Bihar, Amit Jha had been living in Pandav Nagar, East Delhi, for last three years. He was on the way to his office in Film City on bike. He removed his helmet near APJ School. His bike slipped a little later due to bad conditions of road, said police. Since the bike was at high speed, he was dragged along the bike for some distance. Amit received serious injuries on the head. After about 15 minutes when a cab driver Gaurav Gupta, saw him writhing in pain, he stopped his car. After informing the nearly police post and with the cops’ help, Gaurav Gupta rushed Amit to Kailash Hospital, but precious time had been lost and Amit was declared brought dead. From the phone number found on his person, police informed his father Vinay Kumar Jha in Patna. His father immediately left with his family for Noida by air and took Amit’s body to Patna. Software engineer, Amit Jha had joined his job in HCL Sector-16A, Noida, only two days ago. Previously he was working in HCL in their Sector-125 office. Amit had come to Delhi in 2003 after obtaining his engineering degree from R.P. Sharma Institute of Technology. The road where Amit’s bike had slipped was not repaired properly after it had been dug up for some job recently.
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Fake currency gangsters nabbed
Noida, October 7 The anti-terrorist squad (ATS) of the Noida police nabbed two members of such a gang late on Sunday night and seized Rs 70,000 in fake currency notes of Rs 500 denomination from them. The fake currency gangsters were nabbed from a weekly market on Sunday evening. The criminals have been identified as Mukesh Kumar and Bubbloo, alias Mithlesh, originally from Bihar. Bubbloo lives in Khora colony on the Noida border while Mukesh is from Bijarsi village. They told the police that Nadeshwer, alias Giri, of Bihar supplied fake currency notes to them. Babbloo was in possession of 80 illegal notes while Mukesh had 60 fake notes of Rs 500 denomination. They told the police that they got fake currency notes worth one lakh for only Rs 65,000 so their profit is almost double. Two relatives of Bubbloo were also arrested with fake notes in April this year, the police said. The ATS team later handed them over to Kotwali, Sector-58. The cops are trying to find out about other members of the gang and the extent of their network. |
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