Faridabad, March 14
Fate of a large number of students who appeared for Class 12 exams of the Haryana School Education Board hangs in balance, as the lecturers of government schools of Haryana continue to boycott evaluation of answer papers.

The lecturers are agitating under the banner of the Haryana School Lecturers’ Association to press the Haryana government to bring parity in their salary grade with that of headmasters of schools while implementing the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission.

The schedule for evaluating answer sheets started on March 12. But the lecturers continued to boycott their duties today and also staged a dharna at the evaluation centres of both Faridabad and Palwal distict ,located at Senior Secondary School in Ballabgarh. The district president of the Haryana School Lecturers Association, Kisan Singh Tewatia said that the lecturers were boycotting the duties all over the state.

According to him, as per the Fourth Pay Commission recommendations, the lecturers of the school cadre were given salary grade at par with headmasters. It remained so for a brief period of the implementation of the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission. During the later part of the implementation period of the Fifth Pay Commission’s recommendation, the salary of head masters in Haryana was raised to Rs 75,000 from Rs 65,000.

But lecturers who were getting the same salary were kept out of the benefit. Now while implementing the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, the salary of head masters has been raised to Rs 80,000 but the lecturers are being given Rs 75,000.

The demand of the Haryana School Lecturers’ Association is that the salary grade of lecturers be brought at par with those of headmasters.

Tewatia alleged that the boycott of evaluation of the answer papers is part of the fourth phase of the agitation by the lecturers in the state. The association has taken up the issue with all authorities concerned in the past, but to no avail.

According to the association, the argument of the Haryana government that the lecturers were given the same salary as done at the Centre on recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission was not acceptable, because Delhi schools do not have lecturers.

Tewatia claimed that the evaluation of papers of Board exams of Class X, which is to start from March 17, will also be affected as the office-bearers of the ‘Haryana Rajkiye Adhyapaak Sangathan’, an association of teachers of schools, today expressed solidarity with the cause of the lecturers. They have assured to boycott the duties if the demand of the lecturers was not accepted.

New Delhi, March 14
The Election Commission is going all out to woo young voters, especially students, but some university officials feel that exams may play a spoilsport.

In a meeting held with the officials of six universities on Friday, Delhi’s chief electoral officer Satbir Silas Bedi put forward a number of proposals, including setting up of registration centres in colleges, to enable students to register themselves and vote in the upcoming elections.

Kalpana Bhrara, a Delhi University official who had participated in the meeting, however expressed her doubt on the efficiency of the initiatives.

“The initiatives discussed are very good. Besides the facilitation centres, we also discussed about initiating awareness campaigns through university websites, hoarding, seminars, even roping in students unions. But the point is that it is exam time in most universities, including Delhi University, and most students are not coming to college. Many outstation students have in fact left for home for the study break. Therefore, I think we are a little late in coming up with these ideas and initiatives,” said Bhrara.

Similarly, Rasika Vasan, a teacher in Indraprastha University, said, “The last day for registration in the electoral roll is just two weeks away. While the plans discussed for awareness are great, but time is a problem, especially when exams are right around the corner.”

According to an official of Indira Gandhi National Open University, despite their attempts at spreading awareness to ask students and teachers to register and vote in the Delhi elections last year, nearly 40 per cent did not because they did not have a voter identity card.

Most of the officials said the campaign should have started earlier.

Bhrara said, “Putting up the message of registering in the electoral roll and voting in the university website and even in the college prospectus will go a long way in stirring awareness among students. But these changes need time and I am afraid we are a little short of time now. However, we can always prepare ourselves for the next polls.”

The five-phased general elections will be held from April 16 to May 13. Delhi votes on May 7. — IANS

New Delhi, March 14
In pursuit of their demand for ‘one rank one pension’, retired soldiers of varying ranks today returned 7,500 medals won in combat and for distinguished service, here.

Thousands of veterans gathered earlier in the day at the Jantar Mantar observatory in the heart of the national capital for the protest.

“This is for the third time that we collected the medals from across the country and returned them to the President. A 10-member team including two widows went to the President’s House and returned the medals,” commodore (retd) Lokesh Batra said.

On the first occasion, the ex-soldiers had returned 2,500 medals to a representative of the President. On the second occasion, over 3,000 medals were returned.

The veterans under the aegis of the Indian Ex-servicemen Movement are demanding that irrespective of the date on which the soldier retires, he or she should get the same pension, which rises every time there is a wage revision.

The demand has arisen because of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, which did not address the ‘one rank one pension’ issue. The government has rejected the demand on administrative and financial grounds. — IANS

New Delhi, March 14
It was a unique spectacle at Sahara Paradise Banquets in Vasant Kunj that lit the faces of 50 kidney patients with broad smiles. Young names unheard of in the modelling fraternity, forgetting their health status, recreated fashion statements as they walked the ramp with élan and defined elegance. They were all clad in fascinatingly woven Indo-Western attires.

The fashion show, staged by Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj, to commemorate World Kidney Week, aimed to charge the spirit of the patients with self-esteem and confidence. Especially of the younger ones, who live a stressful life on learning about their illness.

With an increasing number of youngsters falling prey to chronic renal failures, doctors believe that this initiative would add a new flavour of joy to many young people who are struggling to cope up with the stress after being diagnosed with some kidney ailment or even after undergoing successful transplants.

“Most of the patients diagnosed with chronic kidney disorders undergo a great amount of mental and physical trauma. The idea behind this activity is to show that patients with kidney diseases can lead fruitful lives and are not necessarily incapacitated by their clinical condition,” said Dr Vijay Kher, director of nephrology and renal transplant services in Fortis.

Generally, youngsters fear that they might be discriminated at the workplace once their employers get to know about their health status.

However, Dr Kher said, “It shouldn’t be a problem for employers as in cases of dialysis patients, dialysis is conducted during night. Then, though kidney transplants don’t give a very long life, a reasonable span of life is ensured with regular check-ups.”

Nowadays, due to improved technology support, kidney transplant guarantees a life of 20-25 years to a patient. “Due to better infrastructure and awareness among people, the outcome of transplants has improved significantly. In the present times, cases of kidney related disorders are diagnosed more frequently, though they were prevalent earlier too,” he informed.

Doctors suggest that anyone suffering from diabetes, hypertension and obesity and those having a family history of such diseases is at risk and must undergo screening for possible chronic kidney disorders.

A body, Society for Kidney Support, comprising kidney transplant patients, volunteers and medical personnel, was also launched at Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj with an objective to disseminate knowledge about the causes of kidney ailments. 

Noida, March 14
Industries in this satellite town adjoining the national capital have spent nearly Rs 600 crore in the past five years on diesel to run their generators due to constant power cuts.

For the last 20 years, officials of the Noida authority and the UP government have been claiming that Noida is a ‘no power cut zone’.

However, sources say it is a gimmick to attract industries and investment in the area.

But Noida has been experiencing power cuts on a regular basis for over three hours. While residents use inverters, industrial units and commercial establishments take recourse to generators. Large number of industries use captive power plants to run their units for achieving production targets.

On an average, Noida experiences power cuts for over 1,100 hours annually. The area witnessed power cuts for around 5,475 hours in the last five years, forcing 2,700 units use generators.

According to the Noida Entrepreneurs’ Association vice-president Rakesh Katyal, there are over 9,000 industrial units here, of which at least 2,700 use generators to come out with their productions.

On an average each industrial unit spends Rs 1,200 on diesel daily, which adds to Rs 600 crore (Rs 591 crore till January 2007), said Katyal. He added this Rs 600 crore does not include the capital cost of power plants and generators.

Over a lakh households in the city use inverters during power cuts. Apart from the investment on inverters, each family has at least changed the inverter batteries twice in the last five years. An inverter costs Rs 10,000 at least. During the past five years residents have spent Rs 200 crore on power back up for households.

Noida GM of Poorv Anchal Power Distribution Corporation K.G. Puri said all power cuts are ordered by the head office. Power cuts in Noida are the minimum as compared to other towns in the state, said Puri.

New Delhi, March 14
With differences cropping up among senior leaders, New Delhi has become a hot seat for the BJP regarding distribution of ticket for the parliamentary elections.

Even after a number of meetings, the BJP central election committee has not been able to decide who would contest from the seat. And, that is the reason why the party could not announce its list of candidates for Delhi seats, sources said.

According to the sources, earlier the party was interested in fielding Hema Malini who is reluctant about contesting elections. The party waited for her nod till Holi. When she clearly refused, the party decided on Prof Jagdish Mukhi, MLA from Janakpuri.

The sources said Mukhi also refused to accept the offer. He wanted to contest from West Delhi where he was confident of winning. But the party has given nod to Parvesh Verma, son of former chief minister of Delhi Sahib Singh Verma, for that seat.

The high command had asked Arun Jaitley to convince Mukhi to accept its offer from New Delhi. But Jaitley was not able to persuade him.

Consequently, a meeting in connection with the candidates was held today also where Jagdish Mukhi showed his anger over the decision and boycotted the meeting.

If ticket for West Delhi constituency is not given, Mukhi will not contest elections, sources said.

The sources said Delhi Mayor Arti Mehra, who is also in the race, was the only choice. But she is too junior for parliamentary elections. V. K. Malhotra can be a strong candidate but he is not in the race.

Vijay Goel also showed his unwillingness to contest from the constituency he is likely to be given by the party. Goel wants to contest from New Delhi, but the party wants to make him a candidate from Chandni Chowk.

New Delhi, March 14
Protesting against the participation of criminals in politics, NGO Nyaya Bhoomi held a demonstration at Jantar Mantar today. The protestors presented a memorandum to BJP president Rajnath Singh demanding a crime-free Lok Sabha poll.

“India will be able to repress all enemies including terrorists only if political parties provide a clean government at the centre. This would only be possible if we succeed in finding 550-odd crime-free candidates,” said BB Sharan, president, Nyaya Bhoomi.

Along with the BJP, the organisation has sent memorandums to BSP chief Mayawati, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

“We are requesting parties not to let people with criminal and corrupt records contest the elections,” said Sharan.

It also demanded the Lok Pal Bill to be passed in the first year of the new Parliament. 

New Delhi, March 14
A 28-year-old man, working with a multinational company, allegedly committed suicide in his house here.

“Manjot Singh’s body was found hanging at his rented accommodation in Khirki Extension when one of his colleagues visited him Friday evening,” a police official said.

Manjot, who hailed from Gurdaspur in Punjab, worked as a team leader in a company in Gurgaon.

“Manjot had not reported for work for over a week. His colleague had gone to inquire and found the door locked. When Manjot did not open the door despite repeated knocks, he called police. Manjot was found hanging. It seems he died a few days ago,” a police official said.

The deceased left behind a note saying that he had failed to live up to the expectations of his parents and was ending his life. His father is a farmer in Punjab. — IANS

New Delhi, March 14
Two police officers, including an assistant commissioner of police (ACP), were injured in stone pelting by a mob after carcasses of cows were found in South Delhi.

Mehrauli ACP Bhishm Singh and station house officer (SHO) Rajender Bakshi were injured as the mob hurled stones in Dera village in the Mehrauli area on Saturday morning.

“The police had received a complaint about the carcasses. When the two policemen reached there a group of more than 20 people had already assembled and were shouting slogans. The policemen were trying to redress their grievances when some men started pelting stones at them,” DCP (South) H.G.S. Dhaliwal said.

“The two policemen received injuries. We rushed extra force to the area to bring the situation under control,” he said.

“We have detained a few persons. We are trying to find out the others involved in the assault,” Dhaliwal added.

The police has registered cases for cow slaughter against unknown people and also cases against the mob for obstructing and attacking public servants. — IANS

New Delhi, March 14
Lakhs of students across the nation who appeared for their CBSE Class X mathematics examination on Saturday pronounced the paper to be “difficult” and “full of indirect questions.”

Many students came out looking exhausted and some were upset.

Loveleen Chadha, a Class X student said, “The paper was much tougher than I had expected. I have answered all the questions. I hope I have got them correct. Some of the questions were very tricky.”

Another examinee Naveen Sahni said, “The paper was tough and I could not finish it. Many questions were indirect. I really don’t know how I have done. Let’s hope I pass.”

While Ritika, a Class X student, said, “I hardly managed to complete my paper. It was tough. The questions were twisted and application-based. One needed to have a thorough knowledge of the subject to answer the questions. I had prepared intensively and I hope to do well.”

This year over 1.45 million students are appearing for the board examinations at over 5,000 centres across the country and abroad. Of them, 8,24,438 are Class X students while 6,37,578 students are of Class XII.