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Now, get info under RTI via voice mail
Noida puts black list of encroachers on Net
Need to improve quality of education: Pitroda
Teachers’ training in HR mulled
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More Muslim, Dalit, women expected in
Cong list
Minister happy with Games preparations
Malhotra: Cong double-faced on Ram Setu
Indo-US healthcare summit in Delhi in January
Man assaults meter reader
Man murdered by wife’s paramour
Behind the realty glass and chrome of
Noida — sweat and squalor
Court reserves order on custody of love child
Chefs to cook for awards
75% dengue cases from rural areas
Designer uses bandanas as anti-violence statement
Crime
File
Bikers rob car occupant
Bikers rob stamp
vendor of Rs 4.50 lakh
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Now, get info under RTI via voice mail
New Delhi, October 15 This was disclosed by the minister of state in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan. Speaking at ASSOCHAM-organized conference on ‘WiMAX for Broadband India’ here today, the minister of state in PMO also announced that the Department of Post and Telegraph (DPST) was currently drafting a proposal to this effect for Prime Minister’s approval. As soon as the PMO receives the proposal, it would be given necessary clearance for empowering the state of Delhi to first begin disseminating information sought under RTI to prospective aspirants. Under the proposal, the applicants would be required to file their applications through government accredited call centres which in turn will e-mail it to the department concerned. Thereafter, it would be the responsibility of the inter-governmental agencies to collate response in a manner which satisfies the applicants and saves his time and paper work, said Chavan. On the issue of spectrum allocation and adoption of Wimex technology at the government level, the minister said that its future policies for increased broadband access would be technology-neutral. He, however, clarified that the government would come out with Wimax policy to promote connectivity without the use of wires. On the spectrum issue, Chavan emphasized that the government is trying to build a consensus on it and the issue was almost resolved.
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Noida puts black list of encroachers on Net
Noida, October 15 Allottees of Sector-22 appear to be leading the pack where 208 spots have been included in the list of Noida Authority. For the first time, many places in villages have also been included in this list. The encroachers have been told to remove encroachments over drains else the authority will demolish them. In Sector-8, there are 20 encroachments while in Sector-9 there are eight. The Internet does not show encroachments or illegal possession of any other category. Sector-63 has 88 encroachments while Sector-27 has 49 illegal structures. In Sector-57, there are 45 encroachments while there are 33 in Sector-80. The list also gives the nature of encroachment, name and address of encroachers in details. The Dy CEO of Noida Authority has warned people to remove the encroachments in front of their houses within seven days else the authority will demolish them. The slum dwellers in Sectors 8, 9 and 10 who have built their jhuggis on public land have similarly been warned. The authority is known to have brought a scheme of plots for such jhuggi dwellers. Some 3,000 shops are being run illegally in these slum sectors. Some of the shops here stocked goods worth Rs 8 to Rs 10 lakh each. The owners of these shops in slums areas themselves live in posh sectors but are doing business worth lakhs of rupees in their shops located in the slums, it is stated. They even have free water and power supplies. No action is ever taken against them, it is pointed out.
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Need to improve quality of education: Pitroda
New Delhi, October 15 “The potential of one of the youngest population in the world can be fully utilised by large-scale expansion and improving the quality of our educational institutions. There are issues with the tools of learning, governance, research, salary structure, content, etc. The need of today’s India is a novel strategy for education. We have to rethink in terms of learning tools and methodologies to improve the quality of education,” said Sam Pitroda, the chairman of National Knowledge Commission (NKC), while speaking at a seminar on Demography, Disparity and Development in the Capital. The seminar was organised by All India Management Association and NKC. The NKC, an advisory body to the PM, was set up in June 2005 with the vision of transforming India into a knowledge society by reaping the democratic dividends. India is tremendous source of human capital and for leveraging upon this opportunity, government has to emphasise universal access to education and skillful development. “The reason for ‘Bimaru States’ and J&K’s present turmoil is unemployment of the capable youth,” said professor Amitabh Mattoo, the vice-chancellor of Jammu University and a member of NKC. “A true knowledge-based community can be created only by strengthening the base through primary and vocational education, while focussing upon expansion, excellence and inclusion in the higher education system. For the dividends that higher education has paid are critical,” said the NKC chairman. NKC feels that the country requires at least 1500 universities to double our gross enrollment ration against the 350-odd universities now. The existing universities should be free from affiliated colleges. This calls for major reforms in the regulatory framework to facilitate entry of private and foreign universities, said Pitroda. The NKC has recommended for smaller universities, upgradation of salary structure, besides an independent regulatory authority, which would be equidistant and help in the quest of excellence and knowledge. “In India, there are far many regulations and poor governance; there is either under or over-regulation. We need a modified controlling authority,” said professor Balaram, the director of Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and member of NKC. The scientist emphasising the need of quality research by more number of qualified people said, “Despite, India being touted as a leader IIT domain, there is a missing generation in the research area. There is need for better Ph.Ds., more manpower for quality work. We are poised for a revolutionary change.” Pitroda said that the states have not properly implemented the NKC’s recommendations on e-governance. NKC urged on evolving a standard form and redesigning our processes. Pitroda emphasised the modernisation of vocational and basic learning tools. It’s really unfortunate that not many people in India know about the NKC website (www.knowledgecommission.gov.in), which gets only a few visitors. “Our website is getting less than 10,000 hits every month. Even vice-chancellors and professors do not take trouble to visit our website. However, countries like Portugal and Mexico have already started working towards building their knowledge commissions on the lines of ours,” said Pitroda. Meanwhile, the tenure of NKC, which was supposed to end this month, has been extended to March next year, and during this time, the body would look towards the execution of its plans and proposed roadmap. Indeed, the key word that can help us attain a tremendous gain in this globally competitive world of 21st century from the demographic dividend, which we have, is knowledge.
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Teachers’ training in HR mulled
New Delhi, October 15 At their first advisory committee meet which took place in the capital on Wednesday, V. Vasanthi Devi, chairperson of the Institute of Human Rights Education (IHRE), asked V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, the vice-chancellor of IGNOU, to introduce a course for teachers on human rights.
— IANS |
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More Muslim, Dalit, women expected in
Cong list
New Delhi, October 15 According to sources, generally the DPCC sends three names for each seat to the AICC, out of which the high command selects one. But this time it is not the case. For some constituencies, the DPCC has given two or just one name, which means that candidates for such seats have been finalised. The screening committee will hold the last meeting on October 20 for a final look at the list. Sources informed that initially the party had decided not to issue tickets to those MLAs whose performance was not good, but now it has accepted their applications, as not doing so would have sent a wrong message. Sources suggested that Muslims, women and dalits will be given more tickets as compared to the last election. This has been done to counter the (Bahujan Samaj Party) BSP, who is contesting assembly elections in Delhi for the first time. The BSP is in power in Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of Chief Minister Mayawati. Last time a total of 12 women had contested the assembly election on Congress ticket. This year, according to sources, Congress will field more women candidates. |
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Minister happy with Games preparations
New Delhi, October 15 “The construction work at the Nehru Stadium is on schedule. The fabrication work is going on and the whole stadium will have bucket seats with numbers,” Gill said. “Not only the Nehru Stadium but also other venues will be ready by late 2009 or January 2010 for the Games. Due to the construction work the athletes are facing problems of training. SAI will help them by organising camps,” he said.
— IANS |
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Malhotra: Cong double-faced on Ram Setu
New Delhi, October 15 “On the one hand AICC chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh participate in Ram Lila and take part in Dussehra celebrations and on the other hand deny Ram’s existence,” said Malhotra. The BJP leader said that it was also intriguing that the union government had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, which hurt the feelings of crores of Hindus. The Congress leaders have thus presented their double face. |
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Indo-US healthcare summit in Delhi in January
New York, October 15 “The health summit would focus on prevention, diagnosis, treatment options and share ways to truly improve healthcare transcending global boundaries,” Dr Sanku Rao, AAPI president, said announcing the three-day Jan 2-4, 2009 conference. Rao said the public-private initiative between AAPI, a prestigious organisation with over 40,000 physicans as members, and the Indian government was all about dedication and commitment of Indian American physicians to improving healthcare in India. Health minister Anbumani Ramadoss will inaugurate the meet and deliver a keynote address. Minister for overseas Indian affairs Vayalar Ravi will attend the summit and has extended full support of his ministry to the event. Besides the ministries of health and overseas Indian affairs, Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the Medical Council of India (MCI) have also joined hands with AAPI in organising the second annual summit. At the meeting, a wide variety of speakers including senior government officials, think tanks, hospital administrators, healthcare professionals and eminent physicians would debate on how to work together to solve the healthcare challenges facing India. A large contingent of leaders from AAPI, BAPIO (British Association of Physicians of Indian Oorigin) and Canadian Association of Physicians of Indian Heritage (CAPIH) are expected to attend the summit, Rao said. Together with the involvement of IMA and MCI, AAPI has plans to reach out to the rural poor in India. AAPI has identified seven areas - heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, deafness of new-born, mental health, infectious diseases, mother and child health care and emergency care for cooperation between India and the US. Some of these diseases have been successfully tackled by US physicians, thanks to advances in medicine and technology. Last year, the first summit, that too was held in New Delhi, came in for praise from the president and prime minister of India as it ushered in a new era of cooperation between physicians of both the US and India. Both the prime minister and health minister had urged AAPI to give priority to improving maternal and child healthcare, where the gap between the rich and the poor is huge. AAPI has drawn up a three-pronged strategy to tackle the issue: maternal health, new born and child health and adolescent health. Now that infectious diseases has been approved as a specialty course and for fellowship and training in India following AAPI’s efforts, Rao said AAPI would promote geriatrics as the next specialty and conduct specialised courses in the discipline in medical colleges. — IANS
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Man assaults meter reader
New Delhi, October 15 It was also alleged that the house owner threatened to have the BSES employee implicated in false police cases and forced him to sign a false statement. According to BSES, Madan Mohan Kathuria, a resident of D -133, second floor, East of Kailash, having two BSES electricity connections (2530 N5261080 and 2530 N 6210128) had been consistently defaulting in payments and had accumulated huge arrears. On 2530 N 6210128 itself, his arrears had reached a staggering total of Rs 1.11 lakh. Even the consumer forum, where the matter was being heard, after going through all the facts, ruled in BSES’s favour and asked Kathuria to pay the arrears. However the payment has not been made till date. The connection was cut after the verdict of the forum. The BSES said that meter reader Ravindra Prasad Semwal had gone to take the meter reading from the still active second connection 2530 N5261080. On finding the meter box locked, Semwal asked Kathuria for the keys. To ascertain the identity of the meter reader, Kathuria asked for his identity card, which Semwal promptly showed. After this, Kathuria demanded to speak to a senior BSES official, which was also arranged. But, immediately after putting down the phone, Kathuria forcibly pulled Semwal inside his house and started manhandling, threatening and abusing him. The police said that further investigations were continuing and Semwal’s statement was being recorded. |
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Man murdered by wife’s paramour
New Delhi, October 15 During investigation it was noted that Sadiq, who did not have any direct relation with the family of the deceased, was taking keen interest in the case. On interrogation, it was learnt that Sadiq was having an illicit relation with the wife of the deceased. After initial denials, Sadiq, on sustained scientific interrogation, broke down and accepted that he was having an affair with Mustak’s wife and wanted to marry her. He also supported Mustak’s family financially in order to gain easy access to his house. In fact he had often requested Mustak to divorce his wife so that he could marry her. But when Mustak did not oblige he decided to kill him. On the day of the murder, he persuaded Mustak to come with him to Loni for some enjoyment and offered him whisky at a remote place near Ambedkar College. When Mustak got completely drunk, Sadiq slit his throat with a butcher’s knife.
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Behind the realty glass and chrome of
Noida — sweat and squalor
Noida, October 15 Just behind the site of what is touted as a world-class residential project, lies his home, a tent made of pieces of old tarpaulin weighed down with bricks, which has been home to his family for the past six months. Hundreds of workers like Raman, who earn about Rs 100 a day, live in a sprawling cluster of tents such as this. The crew has no electricity and relies on the floodlights at the construction site for illumination at night. Utensils are covered under a patina of sand and cement - courtesy the construction work nearby. Accommodations have no toilets; when the need arises, Raman says there’s always the open field behind the workers’ tents. “Water is a big problem,” says his wife Meera. “The drinking water is dirty and we use the water used for construction work to cook and drink. My children have fallen ill several times but there is no other option.” The construction industry - growing at a rate of 15 percent annually - is one of India’s largest employers: Raman and his family are among an estimated 40 million homeless labourers engaged in the sector. Of this, the real estate industry is estimated to be worth at least $15 billion, according to industry lobby Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). Ironically, the people building modern India and its worldclass cities are forced to live in the basest of conditions. Developers such as Omaxe recognise the ill - and the negative fallout that it could entail: migration of labour to greener pastures. Omaxe today runs a project that focuses on improving the quality of life of the construction workers. Called ‘Sambhawna’, the project ensures basic hygienic facilities such as sanitation, pure drinking water, proper lighting and residential facilities for people working at sites. The company avers this initiative is not only part of its corporate social responsibility but it also checks migration of labour. Says Rohtas Goel, Omaxe chairman and managing director, “Our initiative has not only enhanced our relationship with the workers but also helped to keep a check on migration of labour which is very common in this industry. “Because of the poor infrastructure available to them, skilled workers often opt for overseas jobs, mostly in the Middle East, because of better working conditions,” Goel said. But the situation could yet improve for the Indian construction workers. Early last week, the government said it has become incumbent on the industry to provide facilities such as fuel for cooking, mobile toilets, potable water, healthcare and crèches for workers and their families while getting environmental clearance for development projects. “Construction workers and their children living in slums without even the basic facilities at most of the construction sites is not uncommon. This is certainly a welcome step by the government,” said a spokesperson of real estate major DLF. “When we tied up with Laing O. Rourke (British construction firm Laing O’Rourke Plc) for construction projects in Gurgaon, we started providing our workers with living space with a sewage-treatment plant and 24-hour power, bathroom, first-aid centre, something not available in even some of Delhi’s neighborhoods,” he added.
—IANS |
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Court reserves order on custody of love child
New Delhi, October 15 Metropolitan magistrate Naveen Arora reserved the order for Thursday after hearing the defence contention opposing the parents’ claim. The caregiver parents, Asha and Satveer, surrendered before the court on Wednesday, but their advocate Nitin Sharma raised questions over the jurisdiction of the case. Earlier, the court had issued warrants against the caregivers, who have refused to return the baby boy to his parents. The court passed the order after the parents, Sushil and Pallavi, sought the custody of their child from Asha. Sushil and Pallavi had got married secretly in February 2006 when they both were minors. The boy was born on September 24, 2007 at the Safdarjung Hospital here and was immediately handed over to Asha, whom they had met through a common friend, as the couple wanted to avoid uncomfortable questions from relatives. On reaching the legal age of marriage, Pallavi and Sushil formally married on November 22, 2007. “Soon after their marriage, the couple approached Asha to return the child but she continued to make lame excuses on one pretext or the other and did not return the child to them despite repeated requests,” Pallavi’s lawyer Kamal Singh Pundhir told IANS. “Sushil gave Rs 10,000 to Asha but she refused to hand over the baby to him until he made an additional payment of Rs 8,000. But when on May 14, Sushil went to her home with the money, she refused to give the child and challenged him to take whatever action he wanted against her,” added Pundhir. The couple then decided to move the court against Asha. — IANS
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Chefs to cook for awards
New Delhi, October 15 This is the fifth year of the event where chefs are honoured and recognised for their outstanding contribution. The event is attended by top leaders of the hospitality industry. The exclusivity of International Chefs Day for this year is a charity dinner with a novel theme – ‘Green Cuisine’ offering organic, trendy and healthy cuisine where chefs from different hotels and restaurant will present their culinary creations under one roof. The awards function will be the culmination of gourmet specialty week celebrations where chefs from various top hotels and restaurants in Delhi and NCR are giving live cooking demonstrations. The proceeds from all the events will go to charity organisations like Plan India and PHD Family Welfare Foundation. Anil Bhandari, former CMD, ITDC, and chairman, organising committee, chef awards 2008 said, “We are celebrating International Chef’s Day and chef awards since 2004 and this is the 5th year in the running. We believe chefs are not only the ambassadors of our country, but they also form an integral part of the hospitality industry. During these celebrations, chefs present their best of the skill in cooking, garnished and served in the platter.” There would be over 14 categories of awards, including golden hat chef award, silver hat chef award, and best food critic award, chef of the year, lady chef of the year, master chef international cuisine award and many more.
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75% dengue cases from rural areas
Noida, October 15 He said conditions are very serious in 50 villages around Noida. The main cause for the high incidence of dengue cases is the lack of precautionary measures. Rain water remains accumulated in rural areas for days together and no fogging operations or insecticide sprays are ever carried on there. The malaria officer of health department however says fogging operations and sprays were started in September, which will be continued up to November. Dengue cases are being reported from other sectors too, besides Sector-12 and 22. Even a Health Fortnight started on Gandhi Jyanti day also seems to have produced no effect, though the target during this fortnight is to keep every street, locality and village neat and clean.
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Designer uses bandanas as anti-violence statement
New Delhi, October 15 “I used bandanas as a protest against violence. There was no literal sense to it but just a thought. I didn’t want to talk about it with the media first and then I thought why not? So much is happening in our country and this was my way of condemning violence,” Rathore
told. — IANS |
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Crime
File The guard had brought one of the robbers to victim’s house as a domestic help 6 months ago Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 15 Three robbers, including a woman, entered Subhadra Sharma’s R-Block house and robbed her off Rs 1.5 lakh and jewellery after beating her and tying her hands and legs. She was alone in the house at the time of robbery. In her statement to the police, Subhadra recognised one of her attackers and provided her description. She told that he had come to her house with Ramesh Kumar, a security guard in the area, when she had asked him to find her a domestic help six months ago. According to the police, Ramesh Kumar is helping them to trace the man in question. “It is just a matter of time before we catch the culprits. Ramesh Kumar is co-operating and we have sent police teams to all his possible hide-outs”, said a police official. The robbers had knocked Sharma’s door and asked if she wanted a domestic help. When she refused, the woman with the robbers asked for a glass of water and when Sharma went to kitchen to get the water, they followed in and attacked her. Man robbed of Rs 3.5 lakh on road
A businessman accompanied by his sons was allegedly robbed of Rs 3.5 lakh by five unknown assailants on two motorbikes near Karkardooma court in East Delhi today morning. The incident took place around 10 am on the road outside the courts complex. Surya Niketan resident Prem Chand (55), along with his son Sandeep (26), was carrying the money on a scooter while his elder son Deepak was on the other scooter following them. When they reached the road outside the Karkardooma court, five men on two motorcycles stopped them. While two people kept sitting on the motorcycle, the other three got down and allegedly demanded the money bag. The bag was tied to a hook between the seats. The robbers fired two rounds. While Prem Chand was bruised by the gunshot, his son Sandeep got a bullet injury in his shoulders as they tried to snatch the bag. Hearing the gunshot, a Delhi police constable posted at the court gates rushed to their aid and aimed at the running robbers with his rifle. However, the gun did not go off and the bullet was stuck in the barrel, giving ample time to the robbers to escape with the money. According to East Delhi police, a case has been lodged at Anand Vihar police station and the investigation are on. There was no lead regarding the robbers till late evening. Prem Chand runs a mobile recharge coupon business in the Vishwas Nagar area of East Delhi. |
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Bikers rob car occupant
Noida, October 15 the victim of a car robbery, the victim had to approach a relative posted in Delhi Chief Minister’s office for help. On his intervention, the report was registered against the bike-borne robbers. But it was a theft report which was registered by the police and not of a loot or robbery. Ashish Kumar Jha, a resident of B-516 Sector-50 in Kendriya Vihar, was coming home in his car on Sunday night, when bike-borne criminals overtook his car near Morna village and blocked its way. At gunpoint, the robbers looted his lap-top, Rs 7,000, gold ring, credit and debit cards from his car. The robbers fled away after committing a robbery in full public view. When Ashish approached the Morna police post, the cops refused to register the complaint. After a telephone from the Delhi CM’s office, the cops registered the complaint, but only of theft while it was a case of loot. Sector-24 police excused themselves by saying that Ashish did not own the laptop as it had been given to him by the company. So this complaint is not in order. Police say it appears to be a little suspicious matter. In another case, the gold chain of a woman,
Sangeeta, a resident of Sector-62, was snatched by some bikers while she was coming out of a Mall near Fortis hospital. The bikers sped away after the loot. |
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Bikers rob stamp
vendor of Rs 4.50 lakh
Greater Noida, October 15 Sanjeev Agarwal, a resident of Ghaziabad, was on his way to his residence from Greater Noida when he had to slow down his scooter, as a Tata-407 came in his way. It was then that six armed robbers on two bikes blocked his way and snatched his brief case containing the cash and stamp papers. The police is carrying out vehicle checks to nab the robbers, but they could not be traced till 7 pm. |
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