New Delhi, February 2
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has refused to accept the Delhi government’s decision to hike the fee of private unaided schools.

The civic body has directed its schools not to increase their fee and other charges.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s Standing Committee chairperson Vijender Gupta today Gupta said the MCD was not bound to follow the Delhi government in such matters.

He informed that MCD-run schools have been directed to refund the fee and other charges if hiked.

“We have directed them to submit the compliance reports within 10 days. Being an autonomous organisation, the MCD is not bound to abide by the rules of the Delhi government,” he said.

“We agree to implement the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations, but it should not become an excuse for the school management to collect unaccounted funds. Any increase in school fee has to be justified and accounted for,” he asserted.

Gupta said the permission to hike fee would be given only to those schools that have a clear balancesheet.

“We would ensure that any hike is justified and there is no diversion of funds. We have sent proforma to more than 700 unaided recognised schools seeking information about the last six years. These schools have been directed to furnish copies of the annual financial statement consisting of balancesheet, profit and loss account and receipt and payment account of the school from 2003 to 04 and 2008 to 09,” added Gupta.

New Delhi, February 2
An eight-year-old boy knifed his six-year-old playmate to death — all because of a tiff over a ball. The boy has been sent to a juvenile home, the police said here today.

The two boys were neighbours in the Tughlaqabad area of South East Delhi. On Sunday evening, the older boy allegedly attacked his friend below the ear and on the neck with a kitchen knife after a quarrel over a plastic ball, the police said.

The victim was rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where doctors pronounced him dead.

According to the police, the boys are the students of a state-run school and their fathers worked as labourers.

“The boys were playing in the victim’s house and apparently had some argument over a plastic ball. The younger boy after a while rushed to his mother in the next room and said his friend had attacked him with a knife,” said a police official. — IANS

New Delhi, February 2
Vijay Patanjali, a key financier and close aide of DDA scam mastermind M.L. Gautam, today surrendered before a district court that sent him to eight days’ police custody.

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Digvinay Singh has sent Patanjali to an eight-day police custody after he surrendered before the court today afternoon.

According to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which is investigating irregularities in the allotment of DDA flat draw held in December last year, Vijay Patanjali is the main financier. He had allegedly provided money to many applicants who had applied with forged documents.

With Patanjali’s arrest, the total number of arrest in the scam has reached seven.

The arrested persons also include ex-DDA employee M.L. Gautam and whistleblower Deepak Kumar. Besides, L.N. Meena, a Jhunjhunu resident, Raju Ram, a property dealer, Dinesh, who helped the other accused in making fake election cards, and Satbir Singh, a printing press owner are also in the police net.

Under the 2008 DDA housing scheme, 5,238 flats were allotted from among more than 5,00,000 applicants. The draw was held on December 16, but soon it was alleged that it was rigged.

The EOW is probing a complaint that a cartel of property dealers were trying to corner DDA flats reserved for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe applicants.

New Delhi, February 2
It is time for the spring to set in, but cold winds diverted towards the city again making residents bear the chill.

Delhiites bore the chill today with the mercury plummeting to 7.7° Celsius, one notch below normal. The maximum temperature remained 24.8° Celsius, three notches above normal. Meanwhile, despite a slight mist, the visibility levels remained normal this morning, with the minimum visibility recorded at 1200m, confirmed Met officials.

The coming days could witness a slight downfall in the temperature, said an official from the Met department. The weathermen have forecast a further drop in the temperature for tomorrow. The minimum temperature can lower to 7° Celsius. The sky will remain clear during the day with shallow fog in the morning and the maximum temperature can go to 25° Celsius, he added.

New Delhi, February 2
Calling it a direct move towards using university infrastructure for generation of funds, students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) opposed the unprecedented hike in price of university prospectus.

JNU students alleged that the university administration was taking unjust advantage of the ban on the student union elections and taking drastic decisions, which are unacceptable to the JNU student community.

“They hiked the price of the university prospectus by 67 per cent at once. Several such regressive decisions are being passed without any information to the students’ union. They don’t even call us for crucial meetings of the university,” said Sandeep, president, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU).

The students said instead of keeping the issues related to the students on priority, the university was going against the interest of students.

“While hundreds of outstation students are still struggling for university accommodation, the JNU administration is

busy putting individual electricity meters in the new hostel Koyna,” said Shatam, MPhil student.

For the first time in the history of the university, students who would be allotted rooms in the new Koyna hostel would have to pay individual electricity charges, as separate meters have been put outside each room.

“In my whole stay on JNU campus, I haven’t seen any fee hike here. It looks like the university administration was looking for an opportunity to settle scores with the students’ union. The moment they (Supreme Court) banned our elections, the administration started doing things its own way,” said Roshan, secretary, JNU SFI.

JNUSU has also opposed the move to give the location of Partha Sarthy Rock situated inside the campus on rent.

“It looks almost desperate the way JNU administration is generating funds from private agents. They are giving locations inside the university on rent for film and advertisement shoots,” said Sandeep.

The students are agitated at JNU administration’s recent decision to shut all the dhabas on campus by mid-night.

“This university takes pride in its dhaba culture. Some of the important decisions of the students’ community were taken at these dhabas after night-long debates and arguments,” said Amit Ranjan, Ph.D student from JNU.

The JNUSU president said, “This logic of restricting the freedom of the victim to save her/him from the culprit, is skewed. We asked them to ensure our security and the administration decided to close down our own dhabas for that.”

Students alleged that all the recent developments in the university were part of a bigger agenda of JNU administration to further the interests of private players.

“Big businessmen have pointed out several times that they were most interested in investing in the higher education. Till now, the JNU students have tried hard to keep the university affordable for the weakest sections of society. We would oppose any move from the administration of generating funds in the university,” said Sandeep.

Meanwhile, JNUSU’s case was not heard in the Supreme Court today and the ban on their election stay extended till further date in the court.

New Delhi, February 2
Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) is all set to launch a national campaign for combating terrorism tomorrow.

The campaign aims to mobilise youths and make them socially responsible. It also aims to promote peace, harmony and equality among all sections of the society.

DU vice-chancellor Deepak Pental will flag off the peace and harmony run, which will start the campaign, at the Faculty of Arts, North Campus. Sportspersons like Sushil Kumar, Akhil Kumar and Murli Kartik and actors Raima Sen and Randeep Hooda are expected to attend the functions.

The campaign has been started by some DU students in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks in November last year.

A two-day bilingual theatre ‘Madeena’, a debate competition, a music fest and a seminar will also be organised under the campaign.

Greater Noida, February 2
The district administration has arrested 162 agitating farmers of two villages, Dhada and Sakipur. The farmers were scheduled to go to Delhi to meet the President demanding bonus payment to be effective from 2005.

The administration says their demand was unjustified while the farmers say that they were given assurance by authority officers at the time of taking possession of land in 2005.

District magistrate Sharvan Kumar Sharma said, “162 farmers of villages Dhada and Sakipur were arrested as precautionary measure when they were assembling at collectorate to proceed to Delhi and meet the President to give memorandum. Farmers had been stopping work for the last three days demanding ex gratia payment of Rs 310 to be effective from 2005

land acquisition. They had stopped the work of several builders.”

“Committee has been considering their demand, but they prematurely resorted to agitation and stopped development work,” said Sharma. “They have planned ‘gherao’ at Greater Noida Authority office on February 5. Additional police force has been deployed, including PAC battalion to foil their attempt,” said Sharma.

Greater Noida Authority chief executive officer Pankaj Aggarwal said, “Their demand was unjustified. They had taken the land compensation in 2005 at the then prevailing rate. Proper agreement was executed and only then the land acquisition process started.”

Gurgaon, February 2
While government officials of different cadres are raising much hue and cry over the implementation of the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission, the lecturers of government as well as government-aided polytechnics in Haryana are yet to get the pay scales approved by the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) as per the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission.

Resentment is brewing among the polytechnics’ staff over the step-motherly treatment being meted out to them. The lecturers went on mass casual leave on January 30 and staged a state-level demonstration at Rohtak to press for their demands.

Under the banner of the Polytechnic Lecturers Welfare Association of Haryana, the aggrieved teachers marched in protest against the discriminatory stance adopted by the authorities concerned and submitted a memorandum at the Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s camp office.

The polytechnic lecturers, who were assured of a meeting with the Chief Minister within 15 days, seem to be determined for a fight to the finish this time. The association has decided to stage dharnas in front of the houses of the Chief Minister and technical education minister if their longstanding demand was not met.

“The government and government-aided polytechnics of Haryana are set up and run as per the AICTE norms, but strangely, the pay scales approved by the AICTE as per the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission have not been granted to us so far,” said Sanjay Gupta, who has been actively spearheading the campaign for getting the lecturers their dues, while talking to The Tribune here.

Gupta and other polytechnic lecturers point out that while their counterpart officials in other government departments have been demanding the implementation of the Sixth pay panel recommendations, they had not even got the scales recommended by the Fifth panel and AICTE in 1996.

While the Haryana government implemented these AICTE pay scales of 1996 in the government-run as well as private engineering colleges, these have not been implemented for the polytechnic staff till date. It may be pertinent to mention here that states like Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Jharkhand have implemented these pay scales for the polytechnic staff.

“Thanks to the discriminatory approach in the implementation of pay scales and service conditions, the polytechnic lecturers suffer stagnation which sometimes extends to their entire career span. Moreover, fresh talent is not attracted towards this career, which leaves only the below-average students aspiring to become polytechnic lecturers,” Gupta maintained.

The lecturers further assert that due to the lack of clear-cut norms, the numerous society-run polytechnics which had come up in the state during the past few years were exploiting the teachers. In light of the aforesaid discrepancies, the association has urged Bhupinder Singh Hooda, to get the AICTE-approved pay scales and service conditions recommended by the Fifth Central Pay Commission in toto.

Noida, February 2
Two persons were killed and one critically injured in two separate road accidents in Noida late last night.

First incident that was reported from Gautam Buddha Expressway involved two cars and one motorcycle. “Motorcyclist Rahul Singh, a resident of Madanpur Khadar in Delhi died with hours, while pillion rider, his friend Sunil Mandal was critically injured. He was in ICU at Kailash Hospital till late evening today,” said sub-inspector Rajesh Chaturvedi.

“The accident took place opposite Amity University’s Gate No. 6. The vehicles were going from Noida towards Greater Noida. A Maruti Swift and a Hyundai I-10 car were found at the site, but their occupants were absconding. However, they have been traced using the registration numbers of the cars, said Chaturvedi.

“Rahul had taken the motorcycle from his friend Neeraj, who resides near his house and had told him that he was going to nearby J.J.Colony with a friend. But, he instead drove to the Expressway where the accident took place, added Chaturvedi.

The second incident was reported from Sector 24. “A truck coming towards Noida Stadium from the side of Sector 56 rammed into an autorickshaw tempo coming from the NTPC area. Tempo driver Deepak Kumar was rushed to the hospital, but he died within minutes,” said Davender Kumar, station head officer, Sector 24.

New Delhi, February 2
The 18th International Conference on Human Integration is being held in Delhi from February 5 to February 8. It is being organised by the World Council of Religions and other national and international organisations under the presidentship of Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj.

During the conference there will be spiritual talks and seminars on topics like ‘how to live in peace’ on February 5 and `Kirpal-The Symbol of Love’ on February 6. Further, a meditation workshop will be held on February 8, a free cataract operation camp on February 7 and a blood donation camp on February 8.

All these functions will be held at Kirpal Bagh, Sant Kirpal Singh Marg.

The aim of such conferences is to promote human unity and peace among mankind. Param Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj organised the first International Conference of Human Unity in 1974 in Delhi which created a common platform for religious understanding, and realisation of the spiritual unity of man.

The speakers who are expected to address the conference are: minister of science and technology Kapil Sibal; chairman of minority commission Buta Singh; speaker of Delhi assembly Yoganand Shastri; Mayor Arti Mehra; minister of food, supplies and industries, Delhi government, Haroon Yusuf; minister of health, Delhi government, Kiran Walia, Rabi Ezekiel lssac Malekar, Maulvi Mufti Mohammad Mukaram Ahmed, Rev. Fr. Bento, Swami Sudarmanand from Rishikesh, Pir Khwaza Ahmed Nizami, Swami Gopalacharya from Haridwar, Lama Lomb Zang, Acharya Sadhvi Sadhna. nce.

Thousands of people from India and about 400 delegates from 43 countries of the world will be participating in this conference.

New Delhi, February 2
Tihar Jail, one of Asia’s largest prisons, has become more caring about the health of its inmates.

The sprawling prison in the western part of the Capital that has often come under the scanner of rights bodies after the mysterious deaths of inmates recorded its lowest death rate in a decade in 2008, and no suicidal death.

“Only 13 persons died in 2008 against 33 in 2007. It is the lowest mortality rate of prisoners in the past decade. It is mainly because of the utmost care shown to sick and old prisoners,” said Tihar’s law officer Sunil Gupta.

“The deaths decreased sharply due to the efforts of our motivated medical and paramedical staff and the improved medical infrastructure,” he added.

Tihar has nine prisons — eight in the Tihar complex and one in Rohini. At present over 11,500 prisoners are lodged inside the jails — against a sanctioned capacity of 6,250.

The prison has a 150-bed hospital and dispensaries in each of the jails to provide round-the-clock healthcare to prisoners. It has 107 doctors and 150 paramedic staff deputed for prison healthcare.

Gupta said a majority of the inmates belonged to the lower strata of the society.

“Prisoners who require specialised medical treatment, which facility is not available in the jail hospital, are referred to outside hospitals,” he said.

Over 23,000 prisoners were taken to hospitals like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU), Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in 2008, compared to 18,594 in 2007.

The law officer claimed there had been no case of suicidal death in 2008. Two prisoners had committed suicide in 2007.

The jail administration had come under flak in 2007 when the Delhi government and the National Human Rights Commission launched separate investigations after seven inmates died, in quick succession, inside the premises.

DIG (prison) C.R. Garg said the low death rate in 2008 was the result of various healthcare measures taken by the jail authorities.

“We have constituted a board of doctors to decide on the admission of inmates to the jail hospital. The board allows admission to only the critically ill patients,” said Garg.

“The board was constituted by the director general of the jail. With this, it has also become very difficult for the VIP or high profile prisoners to feign illness and get themselves admitted to the jail hospital by colluding with jail doctors,” he added.

“There have been instances in the past where doctors were found hand in glove with prisoners. But now it has become very difficult. The hospital administration has been asked to prepare and send reports of patients who are housed in the jail hospital for more than a week,” Garg said.— IANS

Gurgaon, February 2
Columbia Asia Hospital, Palam Vihar, yesterday organised a health check- up camp and health talk for the residents of Sector 4 and Sector 7 here. The camp was organised at Sector 4’s community centre in association with the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs). More than 400 residents were checked at the camp.

Specialist doctors from internal medicine, orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, ENT, pediatrics and dietician were present at the camp to gather inputs about the community’s health problems. 

The important part of the campaign was the health talk on common surgical problems by Dr Vidur Jyoti, senior consultant at the hospital. He spoke about how gastrointestinal diseases and malignancies such as gall bladder stones, hernia, rectal bleeding, intestinal tumors and ulcers can profoundly affect a person’s well-being if they are not prevented and treated.   

The general manager of the hospital Dr Kapil Garg said, “It is seen that patients who suffer from such diseases get mislead by a plethora of advices from people who are not qualified enough for the job. Patients follow treatments that do not help them get rid of the disease. We at Columbia Asia feel that it is imperative to take expert advice on such matters and if the disease has to be corrected by surgery, patients should not hesitate in coming forward.”

New Delhi, February 2
Be careful! Your cream may turn your face black instead of fair and lovely. It may also give you an allergy.

Yes, take a close look at the cosmetics before you reach for your purse as “lookalike” products of established brands have flooded city markets.

The grey market is doing a roaring business. It’s no longer confined to some shops in Ghaffar Market or Palika Bazaar. Even small markets in every part of the city are flourishing with fake creams, powders, lipsticks, eyelashes and hair oil.

If you have a close look at the packages, you will notice that names of popular brands are misspelt to escape from law. But the packaging and products are made so well by counterfeiters that they look real.

The fakes of most of the luxury brands are available at low prices. Although health experts caution people that fake cosmetics can lead to skin allergies, the sale of such products has not slowed down. Even educated women buy them, not knowing that they are fake.

Many small stores at Ghaffar Market are selling an entire product line of MAC, one of the leading brands in the beauty business at a price range starting from as low as Rs 250 whereas most of the original MAC products cost above Rs 900.

Counterfeits of herbal and Ayurvedic cosmetics from popular Indian brands like Ayur, Shahnaz Hussain etc are also selling like hot cakes. Perfumes and deodorants from big brands such as Gucci, Lomani and Chanel can be bought at a mere cost of Rs 500 to Rs 1000 from these markets.

Not only cosmetics, fake electronic items, gaming consoles, CDs, gadgets, jeans, shirts and other merchandise are easily available. Some people prefer to buy only fakes as they are cheaper. “I get a decent jean tailored in Mohan Singh Place market, next to Rivoli cinema, with a popular brands logo just for Rs 500,” says a college student.

Most of the products available in the roadside shops are fakes of luxury brands, such as Chanel, Gucci, Lee, Pepe Jeans, Van Huesan, MAC and VOV.

An advertisement industry professional says, “There are people who love to show off by using fakes. As they cannot afford the real branded products, they go for fake ones without really knowing that they may be playing with their health.”

A college girl from Sarojini Nagar, Nivedita says, “In our market, you can get GAP T-shirt for Rs 100, a Benetton pullover for Rs 150, a Madame outfit (with an intact price tag of 18 pounds) for just Rs 200? So, we prefer to go for them rather than opting for the real branded items.”

Sarojini Nagar Market is a favourite shopping place for those who hunt for cheap fake products. You can buy popular brands’ bone-china crockery and kitchen items. The back streets of the market openly sell the so-called ‘rejected export apparel’.

Next track of counterfeit items is the traditional bazaar of Old Delhi market, Sadar Bazar, the largest wholesale market in northern India. Just a kilometer away is Dariba Kalan, famous for antiques and perfumes since the Mughal times. Here stalls are filled with silver, gold jewellery and silverware. This market provides a variety of duplicate goods.

In the heart of New Delhi, you can’t miss Janpath, a popular destination to buy duplicate shirts and pants.

New Delhi, February 2
Terming the Mangalore pub incident in which some young women were beaten up in the name of moral policing as ‘a black spot on women’s rights’, four NGOs have come together to organise a mass protest in the Capital tomorrow.

Expected to be supported by other civil society groups and students, the protest will be held in front of Karnataka Bhavan. “We are trying to get in touch with as many people as we can. Such kind of moral policing is simply not tolerable in a civilised and democratic society that we claim to be a part of,” said Rituparna Borah of ‘Nirantar’, one of the NGOs organising the protest.

Around 40 members of the right-wing Sri Rama Sena barged into a Mangalore pub in Karnataka and bashed up several young women on January 24, infuriating people from all sections, especially the youth. — IANS

New Delhi, February 2
A youth in his mid-twenties was shot dead by some people last night in the Gaffar Manzil area of Jamia Nagar.

According to information, Shahnawaz (25) was killed over an argument between a group of people that took place during the distribution of money that they had received in a deal. Shahnawaz was rushed to the nearby Holy Family Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries few hours later.

The Jamia Nagar police has registered a case of murder and possession of illegal arms, and has detained five people for interrogation.