New Delhi, June 25
With the first cut-off list of Delhi University out on Thursday, on Friday students who have made it to the first list would be lining up outside various colleges to complete the admission formalities.

On Thursday, excited students were seen thronging the corridors of the colleges, as they gathered there to check out the first cut-off list.

Some students looked excited and happily talked about their prospects, while some showed tense faces and restrained themselves from talking much.

Rohan Vaidya, an aspirant who had come to Hansraj College with his friends, said, “The cut-offs have gone pretty high this year, but it was expected. I could not make it to the first list, but expect better luck with the second one. I want to study B Com (hons) at SRCC or Hansraj.”

Another aspirant standing with a group of friends at Miranda House said, “I’ve been luckier than many. I am interested in studying English (hons) and the cut-off marks for English in the first list is marginally lower than last year. This comes as a surprise because none of us expected the cut-off to be lower this year. My chances are looking brighter after the release of the first cut-off list.”

At Hindu College, students were seen discussing the cut-off marks and their prospects. Sunil Mishra, an applicant, said, “The first cut-offs are not very encouraging. They are higher than expected.”

Sunil’s friend Vineet Jha added, “The first cut-off marks are very high, but we were expecting this. The cut-offs should come down by few notches in the second and the third list. I am not going to compromise on the course.”

Shalini Vij, sitting outside Lady Sri Ram college, said, “I do not stand a chance here in the first list. I want to pursue psychology (hons) at LSR or Miranda House or Jesus and Mary.

New Delhi, June 25
Giving an edge to the OBC aspirants over the ones from the general category, most of the colleges of Delhi University (DU) have slightly lowered the OBC cut-off marks this year. The first cut-off list of the colleges was released today.

The OBC quota was implemented in the central university last year and as an extension to this, the university had this year increased 7,000 seats. Total number of OBC seats offered by DU has now become 10,000.

“With the increase in the number of seats, the total number of seats reserved for OBC students is now 20 per cent. This is a huge number that needs to be filled. Colleges want to stock the seats up and so they had to decrease their cut-offs,” said Gurpreet Tuteja, deputy dean, DU.

A deviation from the general trend, the OBC cut-off has gone down both at on-campus and off-campus colleges.

Out of the colleges located in the north campus, Hans Raj offered BA (programme) to OBC candidates at 77 per cent, which is 1.5 per cent less than past year’s 78.5 per cent. There was slight decrease in the college’s B.Com (hons.) cut-off also. The cut-off for OBC candidates was 92.25 per cent.

In Kirori Mal College, most OBC cut-offs remained almost same as the last year. Cut-offs for B.Com., political science and history remained fixed at 91, 80 and 69 per cent, respectively.

Another on-campus college, Miranda House, decreased the OBC cut-offS considerably in economics, Hindi and geography at 82.5, 60 and 78 per cent, respectively. The cut-offS for BA (programme) and history (hons.) were decreased by one per cent at 72 and 75 per cent, respectively.

However, Ramjas College remained an exception, with the OBC cut-offs going slightly higher than last year. Here, the cut-offs for BA (programme), B.Com. and B.Com. (hons.) were kept at 75, 90.5 and 91.5 per cent, respectively.

Among the off-campus colleges, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce (DCAC) also decreased OBC cut-offs for B.Com. and economics (hons.) at 87 and 86 per cent. History (hons.) also saw slight decrease at 69 per cent.

Dayal Singh College fixed OBC cut-offs at much lower percentages. For BA (programme), the percentage decreased by two percent at 65 per cent and for B.Com., the OBC cut-off came down by four per cent at 80 per cent.

In the science stream, Hans Raj fixed 86 per cent for physics (hons.) which is one point below than the last time. Similarly, the cut-off for chemistry is 76 per cent, three per cent lower than the last year.

Hindu College fixed the minimum for both physics and chemistry (hons.) at 84 per cent. There was a decrease of one per cent in the OBC cut-off for both botany and zoology at 80 and 85 per cent, respectively.

The university has invited the students who made it to the first cut-off list to get their registrations done in respective colleges by June 29.

New Delhi, June 25
The Legislative Assembly of Delhi today passed the estimated budget for the year 2009-10 without amendment as presented by the Delhi finance minister, Dr A. K. Walia, on June 22.

The budget was passed in the absence of BJP-led Opposition that boycotted the Assembly proceedings on the issue of water and power shortage in Delhi.

Dr Walia expressed surprise over the absence of the entire Opposition in the House.

Replying after the debate in the Assembly, Dr Walia described the budget as a development-oriented one that would provide impetus to various social sectors.

He further stated that a senior Opposition member, who had initiated discussion on the budget and levelled a number of baseless allegations, was also not present in the House to listen to the reply.

The government has presented a budget of Rs 23,043 crore which is Rs 3,000 crore higher than last year’s budget. A provision of Rs 3000 crore has been made to take care of increased salaries of the staff due to recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission.

Countering the Opposition’s allegation that state government has decreased the plan budget of MCD, Dr Walia stated that MCD had been in habit of keeping released funds at leisure and had not been making full utilisation of the amount.

Responding to the allegation laid by the opposition, the minister said the city government has a fiscal deficit of 1.42% of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) in 2007-08 as compared to all states figure of 2.30% of GDP.

While mentioning achievements of the city government, he stated that Rural Development Board has spent Rs 1,012.77 crore and the Trans Yamuna Area Development Board has spent Rs 677 crore.

There has been an exemplary achievement in developmental activities in unauthorised colonies where Rs 2,069.2 crore has been spent. The development works are on in 993 colonies.

New Delhi, June 25
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Thursday warned Delhiites of possible water and power shortages in the coming days, following delay in monsoon.

“We are asking people to conserve water and power. I am warning everybody of tough days ahead if it does not rain in coming days in Delhi,” Dikshit told reporters.

Worried over the increasing water and power shortages, the chief minister has called for an all-party meeting on power on Monday and on water on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators walked out of the Delhi assembly on Thursday - for the second consecutive day - to protest the water and power shortages in the Capital. The assembly budget session is being held at present.

“The situation is very grim and we are not able to meet demand. Nothing is hidden from you,” Dikshit told the assembly.

Angry over the power and water shortages, people in several parts of the Capital organised protests and vandalised public property. — IANS

New Delhi, June 25
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has been slapped with a fine of Rs 1,00,000 by the Delhi High Court for “blatant violation of the human rights” of a constable who was employed with it for 10 years before being “thrown out”.

In a recent order, Justice Kailash Gambhir pulled up the NHRC for not hearing the plea of constable Rajender Prasad who wanted his 10-year job regularised and said: “There has been blatant violation of the human rights of the petitioner, who after putting in about more than 10 years of service was thrown out on the ground that his appointment was dehors (out of) the recruitment rules.”

“Such periodical extensions on service ruins one’s entire career and at times the employee gets deprived of many opportunities maybe because of over age or other factors, which otherwise would have been available if such an employee would have been shown the exit door at the earliest possible time,” the judge noted in his order.

“Since the Commission failed to protect the human rights of the petitioner who will be thrown on the road to struggle again to search for a job, the same being in serious violation of his human rights, cost of Rs 100,000 is imposed for their inhuman act,” the court said.

Prasad, who had approached the court seeking directions for his reinstatement with NHRC on the post of constable, said he had worked in the army as a hawaldar for 15 years and had taken voluntary retirement.

“At the time of the appointment, posts of constables were lying vacant in NHRC and he was appointed against one such post with an assurance of regularisation. In view of such an assurance from NHRC, the petitioner joined the commission,” his counsel argued before the court.

The NHRC employed him on a contract basis for one year in 1996. Ten years later, on August 31, 2006, it terminated his services for no convincing reason, he said.

The NHRC’s lawyer, on the other hand, argued that the termination was not illegal as there was no provision of re-employment in the recruitment rules. The court also turned down Prasad’s plea for reinstatement, stating that there were many people waiting for employment and equal opportunity should be given to all.— IANS

New Delhi, June 25
By 2020 road accidents would be the third leading cause of death in the world, says the World Health Organisation (WHO). Every year, more than 1,00,000 people fall prey to accidents in India. Delhi alone loses around 2,000 people to such mishaps.

With India reporting as high as six per cent of the total road accidents in the world, the nation’s premier hospital – All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) — aims to train 600 doctors in handling critically injured patients before the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The training would be imparted by the AIIMS trauma centre.

Being a model centre for polytrauma care, the institute would train doctors in efficient and comprehensive trauma management through Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) instructor course. The course has been already been promulgated in 60 countries.

Doctors would be trained in life-saving skills, ABCD protocol for airway and cervical spine, handling breathing, circulation and disability cases, said Dr M.C. Misra, chief of the trauma centre.

He added life-saving skills entails securing airway and checking if oxygenation is there, looking for bleeding if any (internal or external) and ascertaining the neurological health or disability.

“Asking questions like name can assess disability. The entire assessment followed by immediate management of injuries would be over within the golden hour (4 to 6 hours), which in Indian context we can term as silver hour,” he explained.

The AIIMS trauma centre has recommended the Medical Council of India to make the ATLS course mandatory at graduate and postgraduate level of general surgery, orthopaedics, emergency medicine and anaesthology.

Besides, changes in medical curriculum, Dr. M.C. Misra feels doctors should take the ATLS training as it is helpful in handling patients who are victims of natural and man-made disasters.

To attain resilience in trauma management, he stressed upon team approach and coordination with the team leader.

“In fact years of productive life lost due to trauma exceed than cancer and heart ailment taken together, which affects at an elderly age. But in India trauma-focused treatment was not given thrust until the recent past, when the federal government and civil society started the Pradhan Mantri Swastha Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY),” said Dr Misra.

He said 20 medical colleges were upgraded with improved facilities of trauma care under the scheme. He added the ministry of health and family welfare had planned to establish level-II and III trauma centres on national highways.

New Delhi, June 25
The delay in monsoon has not only increased temperature but also the prices of vegetables in the Capital.

The vegetables prices already soaring due to shortage in their supply are set to rise further, as per the office bearers of the Delhi Agriculture Marketing Board.

“With the deficiency in the rainfall this year, the supply of vegetables has been affected badly, which is leading to a rise in their prices,” said Brahm Yadav, chairman of the board.

According to the analysis of the board, a decrease of 4.12 per cent has been registered in the supply of vegetables this month in comparison to the last year’s supply in the month of June. “We have received 4,780 tonnes less vegetables this month than the supply in June 2008,” said the programmer of the board.

The board has confirmed that the prices might elevate in case the situation continues. “If the heat wave continues to prevail, it will further curtail the delivery of vegetables leading to an increase in their prices,” she said.

However, there is complete contrast in the supply of fruits. The officials said that the supply of fruits this year has increased by 2.54 per cent in comparison to last year.

The retail prices of vegetables have seen a remarkable increase in the last one month. The price of cauliflower which has increased by 50 per cent is Rs 60 per kg. The price of tomato has increased by Rs 10 to 12 in last one month. Similarly, the price of potato has increased by Rs 5, whereas onion is four rupees costlier this month.

The poor weather condition has also affected the quality of vegetables. “Most of the vegetables are perishable and gets spoiled due to the increased temperature. Specially, the small vendors find it difficult to store the vegetables as they generally put their stalls in open,” said Raju Kohli, president, Vegetable Trader Association, Azadpur.

The maximum supply of vegetables in Delhi comes from the parts of north India, which includes Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, UP, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

New Delhi, June 25
The Tilak Marg police today arrested a man who would dupe people by giving fake advertisements in newspapers promising jobs on payment of hefty registration charges. The accused, Ashok Kumar Kaushik (44), is a resident of Shahdara and was arrested after a Shimla resident complained about being duped by him of Rs 25,000 earlier this month.

According to the complainant Sita Ram Thakur, who is an ex-serviceman, he saw an advertisement in Amar Ujala newspaper dated June 14, wherein it was advertised that jobs of supervisor and manager were available for ex-servicemen. He contacted on the mobile phone number mentioned in the advertisement. The call was answered by Kaushik, who asked him to come to Bikaner House near India Gate with ex-servicemen documents and Rs 25,000 as security deposit. Accordingly, Sita Ram came to Delhi and handed over the documents and Rs 25,000 to Kaushik. Kaushik met Thakur posing as a retired Subedaar from the Jat Regiment. He took the money from Thakur and went inside the Bikaner House on the pretext of contacting the employer. But, he never returned,” said the police.

Talking about the events leading to the arrest of Kaushik, the police said that on June 21, a similar advertisement appeared in the same newspaper, but with a different mobile number. Thakur again contacted that number with changed identity and fixed a rendezvous point. He also shared this information with the SHO of the Tilak Marg police station, after which the accused was arrested.

During investigation it was learnt that the accused used to buy SIM cards on different names and addresses and used to provide different numbers in the advertisements. He used to first judge his victims from a distance before meeting them. He used to go ahead and execute the plan only after satisfying himself that the client was gullible and not a trap.

The police is now trying to find out his previous involvements.

New Delhi, June 25
A 38-year-old maid working with a family in the Chitranjan Park area of southeast Delhi was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the servants’ quarter of her employer’s house today morning.

Archana Das, hailing from West Bengal, was discovered dead in the servants’ quarters of house number 40/88, situated in B-Block of CR Park around 7.45 am by her employers, said the police.

The police has ruled out foul play in the death and said preliminary investigation has revealed asthma as the likely cause of death. “Prime-facie it does not look to be a case of murder. The woman was suffering from asthma and this could be the likely cause of death. The body has been sent for post-mortem and further investigations are on,” said a police official from the Kalkaji police station.

However, the deceased’s family and neigbours alleged that Das was raped and murdered. Around 200 of them threw stones at her emploers’ house demanding the police to lodge a case of rape and murder.

“I called up her employers when my mother did not return till late Wednesday. They said my mother had left long time back. But next morning they called up to say that my mother had been lying dead in their house,” said Sudeep Das, maid’s son.

According to Subroto Kundu, her employer, Archana had been working with them for the past three years. She is married, and lives with her husband and three children in the slum clusters near by.

According to information, Archana and her husband had a fight last night after which she came to her employer’s house to sleep.

“Last night she had a fight with her husband after which she went to sleep in the house. There are stairs that go to the servants’ room on the top of the flat. These stairs remain open in the night,” said a police official.

New Delhi, June 25
Not only has the woman who had alleged that five policemen at Inderpuri police station had gangraped her, failed to identify the place where she was raped, but is now contradicting her statements regarding the persons involved.

According to crime branch officials, it is now only a matter of time before the woman’s concocted story falls flat.

A 34-year-old woman, a resident of Inderpuri slum cluster, had alleged being raped in the police station lock-up on Monday afternoon.

“The rape allegations are all sham. In her statement, she had alleged being gangraped at the lock-up situated on the second floor of the police station, but she failed to find the place. When taken to the lock-up, she did not seem sure about it. Secondly, she is constantly changing her statements regarding the appearances of the persons involved in the rape,” said a senior police official, elaborating that first she said all of them had moustaches, sometime later she said that two of them were clean-shaven.

According to information, there seems to be no similarity regarding the complexions, ages and heights of the culprits in her statements. “Her final statement regarding the appearance of the accused is likely to be completed by tonight. Thereafter, a test identification parade (TIP) would be conducted, where upon she would be asked to recognise the persons involved,” said the official.

According to police sources, there is already a feeling of relief in the department, as it now appears that the allegations are hoax.

“It will not take long for the crime branch to expose her lies. Ever since she accused the inspector and constables of raping her, we knew something was amiss. She seemed to have forgotten that the Delhi police is a highly disciplined force where a constable will not even dare to sit before an inspector. She is saying he raped her along with the constables,” opined a police official.

New Delhi, June 25
A 32-year-old man engaged in the dairy business was allegedly shot at in the Narela area of Outer Delhi last night.

According to the police, Dharmender, was shot thrice outside the gates of his house by two unknown assailants was rushed to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital in a critical condition. The incident took place around 10.30 pm. A case of attempt to murder has been lodged at the Narela police station and the matter is being investigated.

According to information, Dharmender had gone off to sleep around 10 when the assailants approached his house and demanded seeing him in spite of his wife telling them to come the next day.

“ However, the two pestered seeing him and said that they had urgent matter to discuss. Finally, when Dharmender was woken up and he approached the two men standing outside the gates, one of them fired at him thrice before fleeing off,” said the investigating officer narrating the sequence of events. Dharmender received three bullet injuries, including one in chest and the two on lower body. Even as a PCR call was made to tell the police, the relatives rushed profusely bleeding Dharmender to the nearby Raja Harish Chander Hospital from where he was referred to LNJP Hospital after first aid.

According to the police, while Dharmender who is recuperating in the ICU, is not in a position to give any statement, the family members could not throw light on his possible rivalry with anyone. The registration number of the bike used by assailants could also be not known as they had parked their motor cycle some distance away from the house in darkness.

“According to Dharmender’s wife, the two men were in early twenties and although she did not see their motor cycle, they had come on the bike since they were holding helmets in their hands. She could not tell anything about Dharmender’s rivalry with anybody,” said the police, adding that he is not a rich man and business rivalry looks improbable.