New Delhi, November 18
In yet another daring daylight heist, three men on a motorcycle fled with Rs 18 lakh after firing at a guard sitting inside a bank’s security van as it was passing through south Delhi’s Satya Niketan area near RK Puram in the morning today. The cash was of HDFC Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.

According to eyewitness, the robbers fired gunshots during the robbery in which a bank guard was injured. While some claimed to have seen four robbers others said there were three men on two bikes. The today’s incident comes a day after four unidentified robbers robbed Rs 24 lakh from State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, Samaypur Badli branch on the outskirts of national Capital.

“Three unidentified men came on motorcycles and fired at the security van. One bullet hit the security guard sitting inside the van,” said a police official giving information about the incident.

This is the second incident of bank robbery in south Delhi this month. On November 10, a group of armed robbers looted Rs 8 lakh from an UCO Bank branch at Hauz Khas. Certain police officials believe that there could be a gang of bikers who are involved in both the robberies. The police, however, has failed to make any arrest regarding the past robbery also.

New Delhi, November 18
Election manifesto of the Congress is like “old wine in new bottle”, said BJP chief ministerial candidate for Delhi assembly, Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

“There are hardly any differences in the Congress manifestoes of 1993, 1998, 2003 and now the year 2008 assembly election. Assurances made in the last manifesto were not fulfilled by the Congress government in Delhi,” said Malhotra after releasing the manifesto of the BJP.

He said, “Whatever we have mentioned in our manifesto will be fulfilled if the BJP is voted to power.” In the BJP manifesto, emphasis is given on electricity, health and education.

The manifesto said that agreement with private electricity companies would be reviewed, monopoly in power supply would be removed and healthy competition would be encouraged. Uninterrupted power supply is ensured, fast running metres would be replaced. As far as water is concerned, piped water would be supplied to all unauthorised colonies, more water storage

tanks for equitable supply will be constructed. Besides, the BJP will set up unified transport authority, review BRT corridor, take measures to check road accidents and install grade separators at all railway crossings.

He said when the BJP-led NDA was in power at centre, L. K. Advani tabled a proposal for full statehood for Delhi but it was not supported by the Congress. If the BJP is voted to power in Delhi and at centre, it will make Delhi a full state.

Talking of health facilities, Delhi unit chief of the BJP, Harsh Vardhan said there were a total of 40,000 beds in Delhi hospitals, including the private one that is not enough for Delhi’s population. The BJP will increase them to one lakh. Hakim Ajmal Khan Ayurvedic and Unani college will be accorded the status of medical university to promote Indian system of medicines. Those below poverty line (BPL) would be covered under the medical insurance scheme and the government would pay the premium.

To provide better education facility to the citizens of Delhi, the BJP will open Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya in each assembly constituency so that the poor can also give better school education to their wards. Besides, 15,000 vacant posts of teachers in government schools will be filled.

At present, there are two campuses of Delhi University– North and South. The BJP assured to set up East Campus of Delhi University besides concessional passes will be issued to students in Metro Rail.

When asked about amendment to the MCD Act, Vardhan said that the MCD would be divided in parts if needed. Separate municipal corporation would be carved out for development of Trans-Yamuna area.

He said that treatment plants would be constructed to treat the drain water before it falls to the river Yamuna. Both sides of river will also be beautified so that it can be used as a picnic spot.

He said during its 10 years of rule, the Congress government did nothing to save the Yamuna from pollution.

Besides, the BJP manifesto assured the development of weaker sections of society, trade, industry and sports.

New Delhi, November 18
The Congress Party is not leaving any stone unturned to come to power for the third consecutive time in Delhi. The party today got many new members, including, district and zone-level leaders of the BSP and BJP.

BJP’s Delhi Pradesh Kisan Morcha vice-president, Jog Raj; Rashtriya Lok Dal’s national secretary and vice-president of the Akhil Bhartiya Gujjar Mahasabha, Chaudhary Rattan Singh Gujjar; member of BSP’s Delhi Pradesh Bhaichara Banao Committee, Vikas Gupta and the president of BSP’s Mahila Morcha, Vinod Kumari, today joined the Congress party. The leaders formally joined Congress in the presence of J. P. Agarwal, president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC).

The leaders were accompanied to the DPCC office by Congress candidate from Rohtas Nagar, Ram Babu Sharma and Gandhi Nagar candidate Arvinder Singh Lovely.

The leaders also brought with them scores of supporters to prove their following and assure victory for Congress candidates in their areas.

Beside BJP and BSP leaders, state and district office bearers of the Rashtravadi Congress Party and its vice-president, Satya Narayan Jha, also joined Congress.

Rajkumari who contested last MCD election from Hari Nagar as an independent candidate, also joined the Congress Party.

New Delhi, November 18
When BJP legislator Puran Chand Yogi died of suspected suicide here on Sunday, his close aides speculated it could be because of his stressful life. Their fears are not unfounded as experts warn that the hectic schedule of politicians during election time can be a killer.

“My father was stressed and depressed due to the election campaign since the past few days. Although we were sure he would win a fourth time around, he was still very tense,” Yogi’s son Rajiv said.

The police said 73-year-old Yogi, who was seeking re-election from his Rajinder Nagar constituency in the November 29 Delhi assembly polls, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his house in West Delhi.

Early mornings and late nights, lack of stress busting exercises, high levels of anxiety and 17-18 hours of campaigning - experts say that the life of a politician, especially before the elections, is like burning a candle at both ends.

According to counsellor Praveen Thapar, a hectic schedule makes one forget his or her limitations and this can take serious toll on one’s health - with drastic results at times.

“Stress can be a killer. It makes you forget your potential and pressurises you to go on, even when your body and mind have reached their limitations,” Thapar, chairperson of the Sanjivini Society for Mental Health, said. — IANS

New Delhi, November 18
The youth of Delhi has become the centre stage for all the political parties, especially the BJP which is putting in all efforts to influence the youngsters to vote for the party.

The party is focusing on the first-time voters between the age group of 18 and 25 years of age. For the purpose, the party called in fashion designer, Shyna NC, who campaigned in the north campus of Delhi University today. She is also the spokesperson of the party in Maharashtra.

“I went through different faculties of the university to motivate them to caste their votes and not to take it as a holiday,” said Shyna.

“They have to realize that casting vote is the only way to criticize the system and bring about a change in the government,” she said.

The Congress has also geared up to woo youngsters.

“We have local candidates who are busy in door-to-door campaigning and visiting colleges, campuses etc. Our manifesto attracts them with promise of sports and employment opportunities that we have promised if we come to power,” said a senior Congress leader.

New Delhi, November 18
A builder in Vikaspuri area of west Delhi committed suicide by shooting himself in his house last night. The deceased Harvinder Pal Singh (59) was living alone as his wife had expired a few years back and his married children lived separately.

According to the statement given by his friend Ajit to the police, Harvinder and he were having drinks last night when the deceased complained about loneliness in his life. Even as Ajit was in the house, Harvinder walked up to his bedroom and shot himself in the temple by his licensed revolver.

Harvinder was involved in construction of buildings and roads with the Madhya Pradesh government and picked tenders worth crores.

Harvinder has two sons who live in Chandigarh while his daughters have been married off. A few years back Harvinder’s wife had expired and he started feeling lonely. After advice from friends, Harvinder married again. While his second marriage had been peaceful for two years, cracks appeared soon after. So much so that his second wife had alleged torture by Harvinder and lodged an FIR against him in August this year. She had been living separately ever since.

Friends and neighbours believe that Harvinder used to miss his first wife and often appeared depressed. They also said that he was being

harassed by his second wife and that perhaps could be the reason for him to end his life. Police is investigating the matter.

According to police, they had received news about the suicide around 9.30 last night. “No suicide note has been left behind by the deceased and preliminary investigation shows it to be a case of suicide. However, the body has been sent for the postmortem.

Meanwhile, police is recording the statements of Harvinder’s family and friends, said a police official.

Greater Noida, November 18
The stand-off between the farmers from Dhoom Manakpur and Badpura villages in Greater Noida Phase-2 and the administration appears to have become serious. While the farmers, sitting on indefinite strike, have refused to call off the agitation, the administration does not appear to be in a mood to yield either.

People apprehend that this stand-off may deteriorate into another Ghori Bachhera episode when half a dozen farmers were killed and many more injured in police firing two months ago.

Some anti-social elements could even exploit the situation. The administration has, however, deployed a heavy posse of security personnel in the area.

It may be recalled that in 2005, UPSIDC had acquired 500 bigha of land from farmers. Even at that time, farmers had agitated for increasing the land compensation rates. The administration had then assured the farmers that the rate of compensation would be increased.

Farmer had agreed to accept the compensation at Rs 245 per sq yard during 2006 in view of the administration’s assurances to raise the rates and pay them arrears.

The farmers were to be allotted a plot of 6 per cent as part of this deal. Assembly elections in 2007 had delayed the matter while GNIDA had hiked the rate of compensation to Rs 850 per sq mt.

But this hike was implemented from financial year 2007. As such the farmers from Dhoom Manakpur and Badpura felt disillusioned and started a dharna. Since the administration had later assured a higher rate of compensation, the agitation was called off.

But now differences between farmers and the administration on rate of compensation have increased.

Farmers have started an indefinite agitation against the company acquiring the land. Dadri SDM, Soumey Srivastave had offered to take a farmers’ delegation to Kanpur for talks, which has been turned down by farmers.

Farmers’ stand is that UPSIDC officers should come down for discussion. Meanwhile, farmer leaders feel if this impasse continues, agitation could turn violent. 

New Delhi, November 18
The police team of north-west district managed to recover a kidnapped girl within five hours of her going missing last evening.

According to the call made to the PCR by complainant Nawabuddinm, resident of Jahangir Puri, his 2-year-old girl Muskan had been kidnapped from Mela of Sant Nirankari Samagam and the kidnapper was demanding Rs 1 lakh as ransom at Narela.

A team led by inspector Vipin Bhatia interrogated Nawabuddin and Viki who had taken the girl to the mela. The time of the child going missing, time of the first call made to complainant at 6.18 pm and time of making PCR call raised suspicion.

Viki could not explain that how the mobile number of Nawabuddin, father of the child reached the kidnapper.

He ultimately broke down and confessed that he left the child with his aunt (maami) at Mukund Pur as he was under debt and wanted to extract some money from the parents of the child whom he knew.

Viki has been arrested.

Ghaziabad, November 18
The supervisor of a petrol pump was seriously injured by gunshot when he tried to resist two bike-borne criminals, who looted about Rs 8 lakh from him on Monday.

The incident took place in Sahababad at around 10 am. The victim, Vinod, 35, was going to deposit the money in HDFC Bank in Shalimar Extension- II in Sahababad.

According to a Ghaziabad police official, “Three petrol pump employees arrived near the Shalimar Extension-II branch of HDFC Bank in an Indica car and another employee followed them on a scooter. Just a few meters outside the bank, two men arrived on a motorcycle. One wore a helmet with a visor and the other had tied a handkerchief to cover his face.

“One of the bikers pointed a pistol at the petrol pump employees, and the other tried to snatch the bag containing cash. But, when Vinod, 35, resisted the attempt, the man with the pistol shot him near his neck. Severely wounded Vinod was rushed to Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital in East Delhi.”

The official added that the polythene bag containing notes of Rs 50 and Rs 100, was torn in the struggle between Vinod and the robbers and the cash fell on the road.

The Sahibabad police said that this could be a work of some insider.

New Delhi, November 18
In a move targeted at expanding its influence globally, Delhi University has joined Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window Lot 15 (EMECW15), designed to fund higher education, student and teaching staff mobility activities between 12 European universities and eight Indian universities.

The objective of the consortium is to create a partnership for research and development to strengthen ties between India and the European Union (EU). It also aims at strengthening cooperation between India and Europe at the academic level, and eventually in areas such as trade, politics and international organizations.

Interestingly, topics included in the education and research collaboration are agriculture, food processing, climate change, energy, environment, information and communication technology (ICT), biotechnology, and nanotechnology, all reflecting the regional needs of India.

DU is the only partner university from Delhi in the consortium. Other partner institutions include Jadavpur University (Kolkata), University of Pune, University of Kerala, Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai), Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences (Maharashtra) and Anand Agricultural University (Gujarat).

Under the scheme, a total of 301 scholarships (94 for undergraduate students, 107 for masters students, 80 for PhD students, 41 for post-doctoral fellows and 80 for academic staff) will be offered to Indian students from DU. Students will be able to pursue their higher education at any one of the selected European universities. Students will be given all the financial support during their period of study.

The contract between the Indian institutions and European universities will be valid up to April 2012. DU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Deepak Pental said, “Though we have collaborated with institutions abroad, the UGC or the ministry of human resource development does not provide any grant to ensure successful mobility or exchange of students between two countries. With the European Commission investing 10 million euros, this programme will be easier to implement.”

The EMECW15 scheme is part of the EMECW, a project funded by the European Union (EU) to increase cooperation and exchange between Europe and other parts of the world. The coordinating institution for the EMECW15 scheme is the University of Lund (Sweden). The 12 partner European institutions include Lund University (coordinator), Karolinska Institutet Medical University (Sweden), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC), France, Freie Universität Berlin (FU), Germany, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg (FU), Germany, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, University of Vilnius (UV), Lithuania, University of Amsterdam (UvA), Netherlands, International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Enschede, Netherlands, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway and University of Deusto (UD), Bilbao, Spain.

New Delhi, November 18
The Delhi Public School R.K. Puram under the aegis of the DPS Society and in collaboration with UNA-USA will soon be hosting the Model United Nations Conference DPSMUN 2008, from the 22nd -24th of November at the India Habitat Centre.

Previously, Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram has been awarded the MUNGLO (Model United Nations Global Opportunities) Award in 2004. Since then, the office of Global Philanthropy of Goldman Sachs earlier and now Merrill Lynch has sponsored the DPSMUN Conference.  They also sponsor students and teachers to attend the UNA-USA MUN Conference at New York annually. MUN has helped in inculcating in students a deep-rooted empathy enabling them to transgress boundaries with the determination of making a difference to the lives of suffering multitudes.

The underlying philosophy of DPSMUN is to recognize the importance of the United Nations as a forum of international opinion and also provide a unique educational experience through simulation. 

This helps participants to develop a multicultural view of world affairs, developing debating skills and learn the art of negotiation.  Global Classrooms will help today’s youth to become tomorrow’s global ambassadors and business leaders.

This year, the DPSMUN 2008 conference will host 850 high school teachers and students from all over India and other countries including UAE, Nepal, Kuwait, Pakistan, U.K., Singapore and China from 128 participating schools.

Noida, November 18
A love affair that started after chatting on the Internet two years ago blossomed into a love marriage on April 26, 2007. Later, differences cropped up between the man and wife.

The man, a software engineer, has been arrested by Sector 49 police Kotwali on wife’s complaint against him and five other members of his family.

The husband, Manish Srivastav been sent to jail while other accused have reportedly left for Pune.

Asha (changed name) of Kanpur had married software engineer Manish Srivastava of Pune in April last year after both had come closer through the Internet chatting.

Manish is employed in Sector-3 Noida Company as a software engineer.

But due to differences in their views, there were heated arguments and clashes. Srivastava allegedly would beat her up.

Asha, a resident of Sector-47 Noida, has filed a case in Sector-49 Kotwali against her husband Manish Srivastava and five other members of her in- laws accusing them of mental torture, dowry harassment, criminal intimidation and threatening to kill her.

This case has been registered under a number of criminal sections.

On her complaint, Sector-49 police has arrested Asha’s husband Manish and is trying to trace his other relatives who are understood to have fled to their home in Pune.

According to police, after their marriage Manish had been forcing Asha to adopt the western way of life, which she resisted. It resulted in periodic clashes between the husband and wife. Manish under pressure from his parents reportedly demanded Rs 15 lakh as additional dowry.

In May this year while the couple were in Pune, Manish allegedly beat her up in presence of his parents and others.

After this incident both came to Noida. Asha alleged that on November 13, Manish crossed all limits of brutality. After beating her up, he sprinkled kerosene on her and attempted to torch her. Somehow she managed to run out from the house when some neighbours saved her.

Subsequently, Asha lodged a complaint against her husband and his
family.