New Delhi, January 28
The city government has permitted private unaided schools to hike their fee by formulating a slab on tution fee. The slab on tution fee was approved on the Bansal Committee recommendations in a cabinet meeting today. The committee was constituted after the Sixth Pay Commission report.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said that fee of 1,976 recognised unaided private schools would be hiked.

Dikshit claimed that the cabinet had considered all aspects before approving the fee hike. The tuition fee will increase in five slabs from Rs 100 to Rs 500 per month in 1,976 recognised unaided private schools.

Schools have been suggested to hike their tuition fee from September 1, 2008, in case they feel it to be unavoidable. They have been placed in five categories on the basis of their present monthly tuition fee. Schools charging up to Rs 500 per month can hike their fee by Rs 100. Those charging between Rs 501 to Rs 1,000 can hike their fee by Rs 200. While those charging between Rs 1,001 to Rs 1,500 per month can make an increase of Rs 300. Those charging between Rs 1,501 to Rs 2,000 can make a hike of Rs 400 whereas those charging above Rs 2,000 per month may increase of Rs 500.

However, suggestion for hike in tuition fee is not mandatory. Though an upper limit of Rs 500 has been fixed, schools can take the decision on their own.

Dikshit further said that arrears would be similarly categorised and deposited by parents in two instalments. The first instalment can be paid by March 31 while the second can be paid by September 30. Schools, however, have the liberty to decide their dates for payment of fee.

She informed that a grievance redressal committee was being constituted with director, education as the chairperson. Besides, a member from parents’ teachers’ association and a chartered accountant will also be in the committee. The committee will look into petitions filed by schools who feel aggrieved by the suggestions.

The affected schools have been requested to approach the committee along with their accounts within 30 days from the issue of the order. Salary arrears will be released to the teachers of 1,976 recognised unaided private schools in two instalments — first 40 per cent in April and the remaining 60 per cent in October.

Private schools had refused to enforce the pay commission’s recommendations saying that the salaries of their staff could not be increased without hiking the tuition fee. They do not have other source of revenue, they had said.

The city government had constituted a committee headed by retired I.A.S. officer S.L. Bansal to examine the implications involved in the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations in respect of recognised unaided private schools. The recommendations submitted by the Bansal Committee were further examined by a committee headed by secretary, education.

New Delhi, January 28
The Delhi cabinet today decided to authorise MLAs to recommend development works from unreleased MLA land area development scheme (MLALADS) funds pertaining to 1994-95 and 2008-09.

It has also approved a proposal to make the city smoke-free by 2009 through a project in collaboration with Bloomberg Global Initiative (BGI).

Besides, Delhi Skills Mission Society will also be set up.

Dikshit confirmed the decision and said that the project would be implemented in two years by September 2010. An estimated Rs 10 crore would be spent on it.

The Bloomberg Global Initiative would contribute $9,94,344 (Rs 4 crore approximately) whereas the city government would contribute Rs 6 crore.

She said the government would sign an MoU with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA, for exchange of technical know-how and capacity building in field protocol and installation of Air Nicotine monitoring devices at several areas in the city.

The Chief Minister said the government was committed to making Delhi smoke-free by 2009, before the Commonwealth Games, to protect citizens from the ill-effects of tobacco smoke. Tobacco is the second major cause of death. Nicotine in tobacco is the most addictive substance. Over 45 per cent men and 7 per cent women smoke in Delhi.

The cabinet has approved a proposal for re-allocation of unreleased MLALADS funds to new MLAs. The city government and the MCD have not yet released Rs 59.80 crore.

The cabinet also expressed grief over the demise of MLA Ram Babu Sharma. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said that he was a dedicated Congress worker.

New Delhi, January 28
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi police investigating the DDA flat scam would have to further await the forensic report on the software used in the draw from Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad.

According to EOW sources, the CFSL has now asked for the server along with the original copy of software used in the process to reach any verdict. The EOW had sent a copy of the software used in the draw to the CFSL, Hyderabad soon after the irregularities in DDA flat draw came to its knowledge so as to know whether the software could have been manipulated to favour certain individuals. “We had sent the copy of software to the CFSL, Hyderabad and were awaiting their verdict on it. But CFSL has now demanded the original software along with the server to reach any conclusion,” said an EOW official close to investigation.

He added that the delay would not stall the investigation as the police already had enough material to verify. “If the CFSL establishes that the software could have been manipulated, then we would have to check the credentials of DDA officials involved in handling the software and the draw. But we are already doing it on our own and the delay in report would not effect our investigation,” said the official.

The draw of lots for 5,238 DDA flats took place on December 16 last year. However, the irregularities in the draw came to light after a property dealer Deepak Kumar told the police that a former DDA official M L Gautam along with his coterie has managed to get allotment of 40 flats for his men on the basis of fake identity. Initially, the Delhi police did not believe him but when a person who was allotted a flat in the draw, told the police that he had neither applied for a flat nor he had a Permanent Account Number (PAN) card, the investigation was taken up by the EOW. Six people along with the whistle-blower Deepak Kumar and M L Gautam are already in police custody. Deepak had accepted before the police that he too was part of M L Gautam’s plan but had fallen out of his favour just before the draw.

The EOW is currently engaged in verifying the role of various bank officials and businessmen close to M L Gautam as it believes that some of them were part of his plan. Without divulging any name, the officials close to investigation maintain that all the names that have sprung up during questioning of the accused are free of guilt unless something comes up against them.

New Delhi, January 28
A towering leader of the Delhi Congress and opponent of Delhi Chief Minister in the party, Ram Babu Sharma expired last night after a heart attack at the Apollo Hospital where he had been admitted for the last 12 days for treatment of throat cancer.

Ram Babu Sharma who had been in politics since his student days left behind his wife, two married sons and a daughter.

He held various posts in the party, including as president of the East Delhi Youth Congress and the district Congress president and in 1997, he contested the MCD election from Nandnagri and emerged victorious. He became the leader of the Opposition in the MCD in 1998 when the BJP was in power.

Gurgaon, January 28
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has selected Gurgaon for a pilot project on disaster management and preparedness to provide a safer and disaster-resilient atmosphere.

This was revealed by deputy commissioner Deepti Umashankar while presiding over an orientation-cum-coordination conference on chemical (industrial) disaster management organised at the meeting hall of mini secretariat here today.

“Gurgaon lies in seismic zone-IV, which makes it prone to earthquakes and the recent urban development has increased the vulnerability of disasters like fire, chemical accident and radiological hazards,” she said, adding that tragedies like the Charkhi-Dadri plane crash, Dabwali fire incident and Samjhauta Express mishap in Panipat are lessons for us. Umashankar asserted that all-out efforts would be made to make Gurgaon a disaster-resilient city by ensuring community partnership of RWAs, students, youth and panchayti raj institutions. She also emphasised the need of private-public-partnership in coping with any eventuality.

Senior NDMA specialist Brig. B.K. Khanna gave a presentation and told that a table-top meeting would be held on February 4 and a mock exercise would be carried out at a randomly selected industrial unit on March 9. Underlining the need of such mock exercises, Brig Khanna said it was required to inculcate culture of preparedness and identify the gaps therein.

Representatives from Hero Honda, Suzuki Powertrain, Muruti Udyog, Honda Motorcycle and Scooters and AG Industries also gave presentations on the occasion.

ADC Parveen Kumar; SDM (I) J.S. Sangwan; SDM (II) K.K. Gupta; district revenue and disaster management officer Amir Singh; professor Abhay Srivastva from Haryana Institute of Public Administration; Rakesh Dubey, director, DMI, Bhopal, besides Maj-Gen R.K. Kaushal and Maj-Gen V.N. Dutta from NDMA  were also present.

New Delhi, January 28
The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has come up with the Young INTACH website, to commemorate its 25 years of contribution towards protecting our dying heritage. This platform designed for young people, teachers and educationists across the world would act as a ground for stimulating exchanges on matters related to preservation of our heritage sites, cultural reserves and precincts of historic, aesthetic, architectural and natural importance.

INTACH organised a National Convention of All India INTACH conveners at India Islamic Cultural Centre and four postage stamps were released today by the minister of state for communications and information technology, Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia. These stamps, of Rs 5 each, bear pictures of Patiala’s Quila Mubarak, Rajhasthan’s Jaisalmer Fort, Goa’s Saint Anne’s Church and Laddhakh’s Mangyu’s Monastery, all having been restored by the INTACH.

The Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit applauded the efforts of INTCAH in restoration of our exquisite reserve of heritage and living traditions and emphasised upon inclusive public participation. Emphasising upon community involvement in heritage projects, while furthering the development drive for the Commonwealth Games she said, “To make the games more eventful, we can light up and identify our Capital’s richness and culture so that the visitors can be shown the glimpses of our rich history.”

The chairman, S. K. Mishra, said the conference which took up discussions on themes of art conservation, heritage development and education in particular, has expanded the scope of the global canvas of cooperation.

New Delhi, January 28
Measures to promote education among women have yielded good results. Enrolment of girl students at the university level has shown a 100 per cent increase.

This and several other aspects of university-level education in India were revealed in a study named ‘Universities of India 2008’ that was released in the Capital on Saturday.

The publication contains various aspects of 165 universities and university-level institutes across the country that fall under the purview of University Grants Commission (UGC) or ministry of human resource development (MHRD).

According to the study, total number of students enroled in the surveyed universities grew by 81 per cent for the academic sessions 2006-07 and 2007-08.

However, the report, at the same time, also indicates that the faculty recruitment has not been able to keep pace with the growing number of students. The pupil to teacher ratio changed from 1:15 to 1:22 for the same period.

Releasing the publication, Suresh Elangovan, managing director of Mindlogicx, who compiled the study, said the publication was an information repository of UGC-recognised universities in India and was expected to serve as a reference tool on Indian universities.

“This publication is our first initiative to showcase the knowledge base of Indian universities to the world and specifically to the education industry,” said Elangovan.

The study pointed out at the growing enthusiasm amongst Indian students towards higher studies. It revealed that student enrolment for Ph.D programmes grew by 17 per cent for the academic session of 2007-08 over the previous year.

Among the surveyed universities, the number of students with work experience grew by 53 per cent for last year’s academic session over the previous year, indicating that higher education as a medium of updating skills and knowledge is gaining attraction among professionals.

The study also indicated some of the problems facing the Indian university education. Moving beyond the traditional concern of lack of funds, quality of education and retention of faculty emerged as key concerns in the study.