New Delhi, March 17
The competition among prominent BJP leaders for contesting from the prestigious New Delhi constituency in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections is not reflective of any infighting in the party. It has more to do with the fact that post-delimitation, the BJP fancies its prospects of winning the seat it had lost to the Congress in 2004.

Planning to field its best candidate, the BJP has considered several star players to take on union minister of state for urban development Ajay Maken, the Congress stalwart whose nomination from the constituency is almost certain.

In a constituency of almost 13,17,000 voters, Ajay Maken had in the last general elections defeated BJP’s Jagmohan by 12,784 votes.

After delimitation, the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency now has ten assembly seats, which is double from the last time’s five. While Jangpura, Matia Mahal and Minto Road have been dropped from the constituency, Karol Bagh, Patel Nagar, Rajender Nagar, RK Puram, Delhi Cantonment, Greater Kailash and Malviya Nagar have been included.

Out of the total ten assembly segments included in the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, six have Congress MLAs. The remaining four— Karol Bagh, Moti Nagar, Delhi Cantonment and Greater Kailash have BJP MLAs.

In the post-delimitation New Delhi seat, BJP expects major chunk of vote from its strongholds of South Delhi, including Greater Kailash, which has been Vijay Kumar Malhotra’s seat. Even in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Malhotra defeated Congress’s RK Anand from South Delhi with a margin of more than 16,000 votes. Punjabi-dominated area of Rajender Nagar is also said to be a BJP stronghold.

The BJP is also strong in Karol Bagh, where the majority of the population consists of traders and businessmen. Surender Pal Ratawal of the BJP is the sitting MLA from Karol Bagh.

Congress also lost its Jangpura constituency in delimitation from where Tarvinder Singh Marwah won the last assembly election.

What really gives hope to BJP contenders is the fact that Ajay Maken’s win in the last elections was not overwhelming. Maken got 52.04 per cent of the total votes, while BJP’s Jagmohan secured 45.73 per cent votes. Before Maken, Jagmohan had won the New Delhi constituency with a margin of 27,893 votes.

Meanwhile, the Congress insiders maintain that all the dynamics of the post-delimitation New Delhi constituency favour them. Congress is counting on the voters amongst the minorities, the schedule castes and other backward classes in the constituency hoping at the same time that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) does not queer the pitch by fielding a strong candidate.

New Delhi, March 17
The Delhi National Panthers Party in a resolution passed at a meeting held here today asked its chairman Bhim Singh to contest from Delhi.

The resolution said, “The need of the hour is to promote and strengthen the integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India which is possible only by amending Article 370 of the Constitution so that Parliament can enact on the subjects mentioned in documents of accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India.”

“This can only be done by a person who enjoys acceptability and emotional support of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and he is professor Bhim Singh,” the resolution said.

The resolution said that Bhim Singh is the only political personality who has courage and mission to integrate Jammu and Kashmir to end all violence with the cooperation of the people. His mission to implement Delhi Declaration is only possible through the cooperation of MPs on the floor of Lok Sabha.

Bhim Singh is former secretary of the student union of Aligarh Muslim University. He acquired his highest degree in law from London University. He is the only person in the world who has travelled around the world on motorcycle on peace mission. He is also the first person who crossed Western Sahara (desert) on motorcycle in 1971.

He also led Rashtra Chetna Yatra from Kargil to Kanyakumari and Kanyakumari to Kashmir on the eve of 21st century.

Addressing a conference, its Delhi unit president Sanjoy Sachdev said that Bhim Singh did not need finance to contest the elections. “We would raise resources from the masses for his election campaign and ensure his entry into Parliament to save Kashmir,” Sachdev said.

The state committee has also recommended names of panel of candidates from all seven constituencies to the central parliamentary board and the state party is prepared to contest all the seats in Delhi, he said.

New Delhi, March 17
In an early morning heist, robbers decamped with cash and valuables worth nearly Rs 2 lakh from a temple situated in the Mayur Vihar area of East Delhi.

According to information, the robbers entered the Siddhi Vinayak temple in Mayur Vihar Phase-I after breaking the back door and attacking the guard. Besides collecting the jewellery worn by the idols, they managed to open the donation box as well.

According to Bala Subramanium, secretary, temple committee, the burglars managed to gather around 2 lakh. However, according to police sources, the two robbers took away Rs 40,000 in cash and 60 gm of gold which were lying in the donation box.

It was only in the morning when the front doors of the temple were opened, that people came to know about the burglary.

The guard, Vijay, had told the police that around 3 am he was attacked by people he could not recognize.

The police is investigating the matter. According to information, they had found a mobile from the temple which is believed to be of one of the burglars. 

Noida/Ghaziabad, March 17
Private schools in the National Capital Region (NCR) — Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad — have withdrawn the proposed fee hikes following protests by parents of students.

Schools, including Delhi Public School (DPS) Noida, Kothari International School, Marigold Public School and Rockwood International School, have decided not to hike fees to pay arrears to teachers, said Anup Khanna, president of Gautam Buddh Nagar Guardians Association.

School principals wrote to the association that although the schools are under “severe stress” due to increments from 2006 in the pay scale of the staff, and were forced to hike the fees to pay the arrears to the staff, they had withdrawn the fee hikes, Khanna said.

About 150 parents on Monday held protests against the fee hike outside Ryan International and Sommerville Schools in Greater Noida.

In Noida, parents have been protesting against the fee hike for almost last 15 days. Demonstrations were held outside the DPS as well as the Bal Bharti and Cambridge School in Noida. In Ghaziabad, a protest was organised outside the Dehradun Public School.

Parents have demanded schools restore the earlier fee structure and threatened to boycott the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls if their demands are not met.

“We are already going through tough times. Many parents have also lost their jobs during current recession. The schools, instead of understanding this, have passed off the entire burden on to us,” Khanna said. — IANS

Gurgaon, March 17
A two-year-old girl Muskan died at a private hospital in Sector 15 here today. Her parents alleged that it was doctor’s negligence that caused their daughter’s death.

Muskan’s family, a native of Balia in Uttar Pradesh, currently resides at Bhwadi near Rewari. Her father Ajay Gupta runs a general store shop near there.

Muskan was admitted to the hospital on Saturday night after she accidentally consumed some drops of petrol from a bottle of Pepsi assuming it to be the cold drink. Muskan was immediately taken to a local clinic which referred her to a hospital in Rewari. But in the night, when her condition worsened, the hospital ambulance dropped them in Gurgaon.

As per the hospital records, Muskan had been out of danger for the last two days while in hospital, but suddenly her situation started deteriorating.

Her parents claimed that doctors kept her on artificial respiratory system (ventilator) till evening, but did not refer her to any other hospital. They also alleged that her body had swollen up, but the doctors kept mum, as they wanted to increase the bill.

Gupta said that when he approached the media, the hospital authority asked him not to speak to the media or else take away his daughter. He said that they were treated badly in the hospital.

However, the hospital MD said that girl’s heart was functioning till evening and this was why they did not declare her dead.

However, the girl’s family did not register any complaint.

New Delhi, March 17
The teaching community and DUTA are upset with the UGC in not releasing the additional maintenance grant to Delhi University for payment of revised salaries and arrears to its faculty members.

DUTA sources say that despite the notification of MHRD, dated 31.12.2008, clearly stating that up to 40% of total arrears shall be paid within this financial year, i.e. 2008-09, the faculty

members of Delhi University have not received revised salaries nor the 40% of total arrears due to them.

Aditya Narayan Misra, president, DUTA informs that, “on the one hand the MHRD stated

that it has given the additional grant to the UGC for payment of revised salaries and arrears to teachers and equivalent cadre within this financial year itself, on the other the UGC has withheld the additional grant which has created resentment amongst the faculty members. Surprisingly, the UGC is violating its own directives on pay and arrears disbursement.”

DUTA has urged MHRD to direct the UGC to release the additional grant to Delhi University, otherwise DUTA is prepared to agitate over the matter.

New Delhi, March 17
Eminent historian Irfan Habib said it was very important to study the development of Indian civilisation with an understanding of its economic history.

Habib, who teaches at Aligarh Muslim University, was at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to deliver the 17th Krishna Bhardwaj Memorial Lecture on “Economics and the Historians” organised by the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning.

Talking in context of the recent economic recession, Habib said, “Right now we are at a juncture from where it has become impossible to keep our eyes closed towards capitalism, class exploitation and economic history of people.”

He added, “Historians and economists across the country should start a movement for the study of economic history of Indian people.”

In his lecture, Habib discussed briefly the histories of surplus, caste system, feudalism and capitalism in Indian subcontinent.

“As is believed widely, caste system was not constructed by the Brahmins. In India caste system is an economic organisation in which lower castes were forced to produce and live at lower subsistence. The surplus that was produced in the process used to go to the ruling classes,” said Habib.

He said even the British and the East India Company never denounced the caste system because it suited their interests when they became the ruling class in the country.

Regarding the concentration of capital in the hands of a few people, he said, “The history of economics of accumulation of capital in the hands of a section always has violent past to it.”

Habib said the historians needed to be careful about basing their arguments on authentic evidence.

“One should always look at the dated evidence while concluding an argument,” he said.

Others who shared stage with Habib included eminent economist CP Chandrasekhar and dean of JNU School of Social Sciences, Harjit Singh.

Noida, March 17
Two armed bikers robbed a woman after pointing a gun towards her son near a mall in sector-32 here. The woman was on a rickshaw with her son.

A robbery case has been registered in sector-20 Kotwali.

This is the third such incident where a woman going in a rikshaw has been robbed.

The police suspects it to be the work of the same gang that had robbed a woman in a similar way over a fortnight ago.

G.K. Uma of Arun Vihar in sector-37 here was returning in a rikshaw yesterday evening when two bikers stopped the rickshaw and demanded valuables from her near a shopping mall in sector-32.

The bikers pointed a gun on her son and threatened to kill him. Uma handed her jewellery to the robbers. The robbers also snatched her cell phone.

The bikers apologised to Uma before fleeing. They said someone was ill in the family, so they had to rob her.

In another incident, two scooter-borne men had snatched Rs 10,000 from an area manager in sector-19 here who had withdrawn the amount from Andhra Bank around noon on Monday.

The scooter riders stopped Vinay who was returning from Ghaziabad at Chhijarsi village. They snatched his cell phone.

Vinay later went to lodge an FIR in sector-58 police Kotwali, but his complaint was not registered.

On March 8, two bikers had looted Rashmi, an engineer’s wife, near Vishwa Bharti School in sector-28, in a similar way.

While on February 8, two bikers had robbed Meena, daughter of a BSNL officer, near Nithari police post.

New Delhi, March 17
The Jama Masjid police station sleuths today arrested three men in connection with making ransom calls for Rs 10 lakh to a central Delhi businessman.

According to police, the accused Shahid, Salman and Mehtab had been making ransom calls to Raja, alias Anwar, since February 20. Anwar owns a cardboard factory in Chowri Bazar. The accused were demanding Rs 10 lakh. The trio were arrested as the finger of suspicion pointed at Shahid, a distant relative of Anwar.

According to police, Shahid has admitted to making the calls to Anwar as he was facing financial crunch.

Noida, March 17
Acting on the complaints about delay in supply of cooking gas cylinders and its black marketing in the city, a team under city magistrate Sanjay Chauhan recovered 171 LPG cylinders in raids conducted in six places in Mammura village.

The seized cylinders are of Indane and Bharat Gas. Two persons— Anwar and Kundan— were also nabbed, while four others slipped away. A report in this regard has been registered at the Sector-58 police station.

The black marketing rackets had created an artificial scarcity of LPG cylinders in the city and even the ones which were supplied used to be half empty.

The city magistrate also managed to seize a vehicle which was used to illegally transport gas cylinders to Mammura.

Initially the officials of the department of civil supplies were asked to look into the problem, but they could not solve it. The department managed to seize only three or four LPG cylinders in its raids.

The recovery of such a large number of LPG cylinders has created panic among black marketers and agents of gas cylinder companies involved in the racket.