New Delhi, January 31
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit launched another round of pulse polio campaign in the Capital today. The polio immunisation programme will start from tomorrow.

She exhorted parents to bring their children to polio booths for immunisation.

The government has made elaborate arrangements to administer polio drops to children up to 5 years of age.

Delhi health minister Kiran Walia said that 8,000 booths would be set up to administer polio drops to children tomorrow. Over 30,000 workers and employees of the health department will be deployed from 9 am to 4 pm to ensure maximum reach. Stalls will be stationed at railway stations, ISBTs, public places, including Appu Ghar, major temples, Metro stations, Millennium Park and zoo.

Stalls will also be commissioned on February 3 at five new Metro stations from Vishwavidyalaya to Jehangirpuri line. Besides, door-to-door weeklong survey will also be carried out under the search and immunisation programme. Over 17,000 workers in 9,200 teams will visit different colonies, including slums and JJ clusters to administer polio drops to those children who have not been administered with the polio vaccine.

Dikshit said, “Being a pioneer in the pulse polio programme, Delhi is regarded as a role model. It will strive to eliminate the disease. Last year, the country had reported 556 cases, of which only five were reported from the Capital.”

Complementing the health department officials for their efforts in overcoming the threat of polio in Delhi, Dikshit assured it will be ensured that no polio virus enters the city.

Delhi had initiated the pulse polio immunisation programme in 1994 and had launched house to house search and immunisation in 1999. 

New Delhi, January 31
A court here on Saturday extended the judicial remand of the four accused arrested for the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) flat allotment scam.

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Digvinay Singh sent all the four accused to custody for 14 days.

The four are Laxmi Narayan Meena, retired DDA employee M.L. Gautam, real estate agent Raju Ram and Deepak Kumar, who allegedly blew the lid off the scam after he fell out with some fellow real estate agents.

The court also rejected the bail plea of Dinesh, who helped the other accused in making fake election cards.

The draw of lots for 5,238 DDA flats, priced between Rs 7,00,000 to Rs 7.7 million, took place on December 16.

It has been marred by charges of irregularities in selecting successful applicants.

The Delhi police’s Economic Offence Wing (WOW) started investigations after a man, who was allotted a flat in the draw, told the police that he had not even applied for a flat. — IANS

New Delhi, January 31
University students from across the country extended solidarity towards students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in their fight against the “clampdown on democracy in the university”.

In the wake of the stay on Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) elections, the Joint Struggle Committee invited students from across the universities to participate in a national convention on “Campus Democracy” yesterday.

“On the pretext of cleaning campus politics, the Lyngdoh report has been used to stall the elections in JNU. Here, elections have been conducted by the students for four decades without the shadow of money and muscle power, a fact even Lyngdoh report has appreciated and acknowledged,” said Sandeep, president, JNUSU.

As against JNUSU elections, an overwhelming number of colleges and universities across the country do not hold students union elections at all, inspite the Lyngdoh committee’s recommendations to do so. Only eight out of 24 central universities hold student union elections.

Students from Benaras Hindu University (BHU) complained that the university administration refused to lift the ban on the student union elections there.

“A complete undemocratic council of students has been constituted in the name of representation of students. We are not even allowed to raise voice against anti-student policies of the university as they (authorities) have imposed Section 144 on the campus under which not more than five students can gather at one point of time,” said Santosh Chandravesh from BHU.

He added, “The move to ban JNUSU elections is completely regressive and should be seen as a breach of the democratic rights of the students.”

The Delhi University students complained that even at places where Lyngdoh committee’s recommendations were implemented, the student union elections had seen no decrease in the use of money and muscle power.

“Money and glamour still rule the student politics in Delhi University. Infact, what has decreased after the implementation of Lyngodh recommendations is the genuine participation of students,” said Rohit from Delhi University.

He said students across the country looked at JNUSU for its democratic ethos and student activism. “JNU was always recognised as a university with active students’ movement. We were all so proud of it and now, Lyngdoh decided to put this regressive ban on its students’ union elections,” said Rohit.

Students from Allahabad University said Lyngdoh report has been used to stall a thriving democratic tradition where the student union played a conscious and constructive role.

“This kind of selective implementation is very problematic. Students’ community across the country is with JNU students in their fight to re-establish their democratic tradition,” said Sunil from Allahabad University.

Garhwal University students complained that students’ rights were being suppressed all over and even a political meeting or poster was out of question.

“Campus level democracy is being attacked. When Lyngdoh appreciates JNUSU elections himself, then why should they put a ban on them? These elections had a symbolic relevance for the students in universities across the country. We all stand in solidarity with JNU students as they fight for their rights,” said Pawan Nautiyal from Garhwal.

Participants said there was a need to look at the politics behind the Lyngdoh committee recommendations that aimed at stopping the participation of youth in politics.

“If not challenged right now, the implications of Lyngdoh’s recommendations would be dire. Students from all the universities should register their opposition towards its implementation,” said Jitu Hazarika from Guwahati.

Meanwhile, JNU’s Joint Struggle Committee is gearing up for its next date in the Supreme Court on February 2, when the fate of JNUSU elections is likely to be decided. 

New Delhi, January 31
A total of 9,246 students were conferred degrees at the fifth convocation of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) on Friday. The chief guest for the occasion was Padma Shri professor P. Balaram, director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Balaram said, “Interdisciplinary skills are essential for solving all major scientific and technological issues that confront us, whether in the area of modern biomedical and agricultural research, pharmaceuticals or solar energy and climate change.”

Tejendra Khanna, Lt. Governor of Delhi and chancellor of GGSIPU bestowed degrees on 19 Ph.D. scholars, while Balram awarded gold medals to 61 students for topping in their respective academic programmes. In addition, 216 students of master of technology were conferred degrees and Shruti Gupta, an MCA, was given the award for ‘Exemplary Performance’ by the vice-chancellor of the university, professor Dilip K. Bandyopadhyay.

The highlight of this year’s convocation was the award of degrees to 18 foreign students, who have successfully completed their masters in human resource planning and development, offered by Institute of Applied Manpower Research (IAMR), in affiliation with the university. These students belong to different countries like Maldives, Sudan, Nepal, Malawi, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Lesotho, Cambodia, Bhutan, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Dominica.

Earlier, while presenting the annual report of the university, Bandyopadhyay said that GGSIPU has added several new courses in the 2008-09 session like B. Tech (tool engineering), bachelor of prosthetics and orthotics, M.Tech. (nano science and technology), BBA, LL.B and M. Sc. (biodiversity and conservation) to mention some. 

New Delhi, January 31
People today celebrated the end of the winter season and welcomed Basant Panchami which is also known as the Saraswati Puja day.Students offered prayers to Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom and learning.

Saraswati represents creativity and inspiration and it is said that the goddess presents herself when the weather is pleasant and nature is in its full grandeur. It a season of inspiration, passion, cheerfulness and good mood. These days are also associated with worshipping Kamdeva—god of love.

On the outskirts of the city, one could see mustard fields surrounding Delhi in full bloom, reminding that it is the springtime now. As yellow colour is associated with this festival, families got dressed in bright ‘kesaria’ and assembled before the idol. They sought blessings from the goddess of learning. Students placed their books before the deity hoping that the goddess would make them successful in the field of knowledge.

Temples also organised havan. Pandit Chandra Mohan, the priest of the Saraswati temple in Laxmi Nagar, said, “An elaborate puja with, ghee, joss sticks, sandalwood and incense was done. Shlokas were chanted amidst sounds of drums.

Parents initiated their pre-schoolchildren into the world of the written word. Making a pre-schoolchild hold a pencil is considered to be the best tradition among Hindus to worship goddess Saraswati.

Going back to history even Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, a great Indian guru, laid the foundation of the world-class academic institution, Kashi Hindu Vishwavidyalaya at Basant Panchami.

Educational institutions organized special prayers for Saraswati. Those appearing for boards participated in a special havan and prayed for their examinations scheduled to start soon.

New Delhi, January 31
The Delhi High Court’s (HC) recent verdicts directing the Railways and a majority of government departments to adhere to the mandate to recruit people with disabilities (PWD) have given the physically challenged persons a reason to celebrate, for this has opened new avenues of employment for 60-70 million PWD in India.

The directive has come in response to the consistent efforts of the All India Confederation of Blind (AICB) and National Confederation of the Blind (NCB), NGOs, which had filed petitions in the Delhi HC pointing out the failure of various government departments and PSUs in recruiting PWD.

Under the Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, there is a statutory provision of three per cent reservation and recruitment for PWD in all government and public sector undertakings. However, several departments, including the railways, have been defaulting to meet this obligation since 1996, since the time the Act came into force.

A. K. Mittal, president of AICB said, “AICB in 2005 brought to the attention of Delhi HC an advertisement by the Railways for 8,000 posts, which did not have a single mention of reservation for PWD. But, due to the lagging of court proceedings, the railway department later also came up with several other recruitment advertisements for Group-C and D sections without any reservations for disabled persons.”

“In March, in order to assess the status of backlog in the hiring of PWD, a double bench of the Delhi HC ordered the Railways to furnish data on the backlog in recruiting the physically challenged people. In compliance with the Act of 1995, since 1996, ideally 71 Group-A posts should have been filled by last year,” said Rajan Mani, the attorney who filed the petition on the behalf of AICB.

But, astonishingly, the report submitted by the Railways showed the patent neglect by the department, as 66 posts of Group-A were still lying vacant with only five recruitments made, which means an alarming 90 per cent of the post are still unutilised. Similarly, 4,000 Group C and D posts were lying vacant.

To set the record straight, the Delhi HC has created a special committee, which would be chaired by the chief commissioner for PWD and consist of joint secretary of department of personnel training, ministry of social justice and empowerment, the staff selection commission and the Union Public Service Commission. The committee would organise a centralised recruitment drive to fill up 50 per cent of the available vacancies in the railways. Further, it has directed the railway department to fill the entire backlog by the end of this year.

This order is a specific instance of an earlier verdict given by the same bench on December 19 last year which directed all the government establishments and PSUs to head for a centralised recruitment step that would cover 50 per cent of total posts as compensation to the PWD. 

New Delhi, January 31
Outer Delhi MP Sajjan Kumar today claimed that he had released Rs 1.31 crore from the MP land area development fund for the installation of 110 handpumps in temples, mosques, gurdwaras and churches in Sangam Vihar and its adjoining areas.

He has also promised to release Rs 1 crore more for boring 41 tubewells in areas where Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has not been able to provide regular supply.

Around seven lakh people live in Sangam Vihar and its adjoining areas. In absence of regular water supply, the Jal Board provides water through tankers which often cause quarrels among residents, Kumar said.

There is no arrangement of proper water supply in the area. During festivals like — Ramzan, Eid, Navratra, Gurpurb, Christmas and other occasions — residents face problems of water shortage. 

New Delhi, January 31
After winning three prestigious national and international awards in the last five months, BSES’s IT department has now received the coveted ISO 27001:2005 certification for information security management, said Prashant Dua, spokesman of the power distribution company.

The BSES has become the first discom in Delhi and the second in India to get the coveted certification.

The ISO 27001 is an international standard for information security management, certifying that a company’s IT processes and infrastructure is geared to address all possible internal and external security risks and threats in the domain of information management and data integrity, Dua said.

The ISO 27001: 2005 certificate, besides benchmarking the IT systems and processes in accordance with the international norms, has enormous benefits for BSES 25 lakh customers and stakeholders like quicker response time for customer queries, increased security for customers and near-zero errors in billing.

The BSES received the coveted ISO 27001: 2005 certification from the reputed Det Norske Veritas (DNV), the certification body headquartered in Norway, after a long process, involving stringent checks and audit of its processes, plans and procedures.

For the last six months, BSES had been re-aligning its procedures and preparing for this certification by benchmarking them as per the strict international norms, vice-president of IT department of the company, Karan Singh said.

According to Arun Kanchan, CEO of the company, BSES is continuously striving for excellence across all domains and functions often setting the pace and direction for others to follow. 

January 31, Noida
An undertrial escaped from police custody from the court complex area last evening. The senior superintendent of police has suspended two policemen today for the incident.

Suspended policemen include head constable Tej Ram and constable Sarvjit Singh. They had brought the undertrial Manoj Kumar from Dasna jail for court hearing.

Manoj escaped while Sarvjit Singh was taking him to court room from court jail. As they reached near the court room, Singh got busy in talking with someone and Manoj used the opportunity to run away.

For some hours, the policemen kept the matter to themselves and did not inform senior officers. They tried to search Manoj themselves. But, when they failed to locate him, they informed their senior officers.

SSP Naveen Kumar said, “We will soon announce a reward for anyone providing any information about Manoj.”

January 31, Noida
The Noida Phase II police has arrested six thieves and recovered power transformers and other equipment stolen from power distribution centres of Noida and Greater Noida.

Superintendent of police A.K. Tripathi said,” junior engineer Anil Sharma informed that some persons were stealing transformers and power cables from the Sector 92 area. The police team raided the area and arrested Amjad Khan, Munish Kumar, Raju Singh Bhim Bali, Mahesh Singh and Ashok Mahto.”

They confessed to have stolen seven power transformers, including one from Dankore and one from Sector 92.

In another case of crackdown on criminals, the Sector 20 police arrested three vehicle thieves and recovered one stolen motorcycle from them. Those arrested have been identified as Ravi Kumar, Ayyub Khan and Amit Singh. They confessed to have committed around two dozen vehicle thefts from Noida and surrounding areas.

Further, at Greater Noida, a person named A. Rizwan was arrested for committing theft and smuggling opium. Four hundred grams of charas was also recovered from him.