New Delhi, October 18
Marginal increase was observed in gaseous pollutants due to crackers which emit carbon monoxide (CO) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx).

There was not much increase in air and noise pollution as the Delhi government launched anti-cracker campaign over the years. The government took help of eco-clubs, schools, colleges and resident welfare associations. Besides, seven professional theatre groups staged street plays at 70 locations, including residential, market and public places. The government gave a catching slogan “Say no to crackers”.

Dr Mohan George, in-charge, Delhi Pollution Control Committee, said that respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) has increased from 316 ug/m3 to 466 ug/m3. The minimum value was observed at Inderpuri and maximum was observed at Paharganj. The concentration exceeded the standards at all the locations. Suspended particulate matter (SPM) increased from 508 to 730 ug/m. The minimum value was observed at Rajpura Road and the maximum was observed at Mukherji Nagar.

The carbon monoxide values are within the limit at all the locations. The minimum values are observed at Yamuna Vihar and the maximum at Pahar Ganj.

The minimum values of the NOx are observed at Patel Nagar and the maximum at Paharganj. At all the locations, the Nox levels are within limits. Sulphur Dioxide was also within the limit.

The analysis shows that the noise pollution ranged between 71.8 dB (A) to 78.9 dB (A) at different locations while in last year, the range was 67.1 dB (A) to 79.5 dB (A).

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee monitored the air pollution levels at 40 locations and noise levels at 10 locations on Divali. This was done to assess the impact of celebrations on the air and noise pollution levels in Delhi. This exercise of conducting the monitoring during pre-Divali and Divali has been done by DPCC since 1998.

New Delhi, October 18
Delhi will be the partner state of the India International Trade Fair (IITF), 2009 to be held at Pragati Maidan from November 14 to November 27. The Delhi pavilion at the fair is managed by the Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation (DSIIDC) on behalf of the Delhi government.

“The 2010 Commonwealth Games, which Delhi will host, and the services sector, for which the national Capital has become well-known, will dominate the Delhi pavilion’s theme,” said Chetan Bhushan Sanghi, managing director, DSIIDC.

The interiors of the re-modeled Delhi pavilion will cover an area of 1,422 square meters. Health, education, tourism and hospitality sectors will also figure prominently at the pavilion.

One side of the pavilion will be dedicated to the Commonwealth Games, which will be the biggest sporting event to be hosted by India.

It will show tableaux float of the Games and previous Games’ mascots in the form of live puppets. The “coat of arms” of 71 participating Commonwealth countries will be shown suspended from the ceiling.

An erected sculpted hand and a larger than life size computer on its top will represent the services sector. There will also be three to five enlarged mobile telephones whose screens will highlight, in the form of SMS, the many schemes on offer.

To highlight the Delhi’s vibrant mood, an arch like structure made up of several neon bands will be erected at the exit gate, adding colour and brightness. A large screen will focus on the services.

Also on display will be a 10 x 30 feet wide balloon containing different colours. The upper level of the pavilion will see elements of the latest telecommunication transmission technologies.

Sanghi said visitors will also get to see the technological advances made by Delhi and the city’s beautification projects.

Three seminars on important topics and four cultural events will be organised by the Delhi government during the IITF.

New Delhi, October 18
Limousine cabs, English-speaking drivers, credit card swipe machines in taxis - the Indian Capital is pulling out all stops to offer a smooth ride around town as the 2010 Commonwealth Games approach.

Not only are taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers being trained to be at their best behaviour during the Games to make Delhi a top tourist destination, but the fleet of taxis is about to go up as well. A fair sprinkling of woman taxi drivers will also be seen at the wheel.

“In the run up to the Commonwealth Games, we will have cabs with credit card swipe machines for making card payments,” said Neeraj Sharma, managing director and CEO of Delhi Cabs.

“The credit card service will be launched before the Games in October next year. We are also upgrading our cabs and increasing our fleet from the present strength of 500 in Delhi,” Kumar said.

“We are already training our drivers for soft skills, first aid and defence management.”

Another major player in the national Capital, Mega Cabs, is also planning to increase its fleet before the Games.

Mega Cabs vice-president Vinod Mishra said: “We now have 225 cars and we are adding 300 cars in next three months. The number will go up to 1,000 cars by the time the Games begin. We are training our drivers to speak English.”

The Delhi government also plans to have 5,000 radio taxis and 11,000 brand new commuter-friendly buses in the next few months. Already several cab services have been operating in Delhi and national capital region (NCR) areas like Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad.

The Capital will also see a number of women drivers during the Games.

“We are training women drivers. Now we have 16 and the number should double in a few months. We are also training them in soft skills,” said Meenu Vadhera, founder of Azad Foundation, which trains women drivers.

The government has also launched a massive training programme for taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers who are undergoing a course at the Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA) in Gurgaon.

The four-day training includes lessons in personal grooming, courtesy, hygiene, English-speaking skills, first aid and safety management.

“We will be training 3,000 taxi and 4,000 auto-rickshaw drivers for the Games. Some 300 have already undergone training,” said G. Anupama, HIPA additional director. “We are also teaching them yoga and stress management and these will be useful to them lifelong,” she said. A tourism ministry official said: “The training is necessary for drivers as they would be the first people to come in contact with the visitors or tourists.”

“The impression the taxi drivers and auto-rickshaw drivers create on tourists would be a major factor in establishing Delhi as a top tourist destination,” the official said. — IANS

New Delhi, October 18
Nursery admissions are in full swing across the Capital and NCR. Admission rush can be felt in many schools as parents line up for interviews and are collecting admission forms.

Many schools in west and south Delhi, including Dwarka and NCR have started admissions despite the fact that the education department guidelines for nursery admissions are yet to come in.

The Indian School in south Delhi has opened admissions and sale of forms will begin from October 21 that will be followed by interviews. Delhi Public Schools (Indirapuram) and (Faridabad) have started nursery admissions. Forms have been sold and interviews held.

A parent, Ramesh Kapoor, said: “I applied for my son’s admission at DPS (Faridabad). We went through the interview but I was not satisfied with the questions asked. The teachers focussed on the parents rather than the child, they didn’t see my son’s potential and grilled me on my job, relationship with my wife.”

However, some schools have been waiting for the Department of Education’s (DOE) guidelines. The Springdales School at Pusa Road is one of them.

A teacher from the school said, “It is the school’s policy to follow the guidelines. We expect this to happen within a week, even though the school will hold meetings with the management to decide the schedule for the nursery admissions. However, admission will be opened after an announcement from the DOE.” Another school that will open admissions post Divali is the Sri Ram School, Gurgaon.

The school coordinator said: “Nursery admissions are yet to begin. Forms will be made available from October 22-24. Parents can book a seat during that period and there is no online registration for it.”

Many schools, both in Delhi and NCR, have started the admission process early. An official from the DOE said: “Many schools are eager to start admissions at the earliest in order to sell the maximum number of forms and benefit from the fact that many established schools in Delhi will begin the process later. Some schools have even completed the process in September.”

The official added that “the DOE will be holding a meeting with officials to draft the guidelines that will take place in a week and then circulars will be sent to schools.”

The department issued a circular in November directing schools to follow a common schedule to regularise admissions.

Many schools, especially in NCR, completed the admission process in September and early October.

These include the Banyan Tree World School in Gurgaon, Amity International in Noida, DPS, Faridabad, and Indirapuram, Father Agnel School, Noida.

The common complaint from most parents is that most schools have provided around three days for the task of collection and submission of forms. While other parents complain of unfair questions asked during interviews. 

The Delhi police has decided to enforce control over maintenance companies by making significant changes in the clauses of the contract that will be awarded. ”A penalty of five per cent of the total bill amount was being imposed on the maintenance agency. But in the new contract, the clause has been strengthened with heftier fines and blacklisting. These agencies will be forced to set the signals in order to avoid penalties,” another official said. 

According to the new agreement, all minor faults have to be corrected within six hours of receipt of complaints and for all major problems, the deadline is two days. If any signal remains non-functional for over five days, traffic police will not pay maintenance charge for it. Once the five-day period lapses, a penalty of Rs 500 per day will be charged. - IANS 

New Delhi, October 18
With 2.5 million students registered with it today, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has come a long way since its inception in 1985. In its silver jubilee year, the university has decided to look back at its success story.

The vice-chancellor of the university, V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai announced that the university would enter the silver jubilee year tomorrow.

IGNOU today stands as the largest open university in the country taking ahead the idea of “alternative to formal education for the disadvantaged groups of society” to becoming a university of choice.

The university has 61 regional centres, 2,243 learner support centres, presence in 34 countries, 323 academic programmes, 4,500 academic councillors, over 3,500 courses, 12 divisions and 21 schools of study.

“The university has emerged as the largest open university in the world. Its self-learning and self-instructional materials have earned worldwide recognition as it has been identified as Centre for Excellence in Distance Education by the Commonwealth of Learning in Canada,” said Ravi Mohan, spokesperson, IGNOU.

IGNOU had started with a vision of social inclusion and democratisation of education and now has a large number of socially and academically relevant programmes.

Outside the country, the university is providing infrastructure, facilities and content management courses to 53 African countries as part of pan-Africa project.

For learners abroad, the university works through its presence in 34 countries with 53 partner institutions.

The open university has also collaborated with world-class foreign universities in Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and America.

New Delhi, October 18
A businessman lost jewellery and cash worth Rs 50 lakh on Saturday, the night of Divali, in a robbery that took place at his Lakshmi Nagar residence in the Capital. Praveen Kumar said some unidentified men robbed his house when he was away celebrating Divali .

The robbers, who most likely knew that Kumar had recently sold some property, ransacked the house and took away expensive items.

Kumar said on the day of the festival, his whole family was at his relative’s place celebrating Divali with them.

As the family was not planning to return to the house till late, Kumar asked a neighbour to light some diyas outside his house.

The neighbour found the locks of the house broken and saw the house ransacked after which Kumar was informed.

The cash was lying in the house as the family was going to purchase a shop soon.

Noida, October 18
A couple, which opposed the attempt to rape their minor daughter, was beaten to death. The injured girl, too, succumbed to injuries in the hospital where she was admitted by the police. The police has sent the bodies for autopsy and is interrogating a tea stall owner and a security guard.

A case has been registered at the Sector-39 Kotwali against the unidentified assailants.

Birju (45) of Chitode in Rajasthan, was living in Sector 99 along with his wife, Indira (40) and adopted daughter Pinky (14). Birju was a blacksmith by profession.

When tea vendor Chhudi Chauhan reached his tea shop on Friday morning, he was surprised to observe silence in Birju’s hut.  Later, he found Pinky lying there in a pool of blood and the bodies of Birju and Indira in bushes a few metres away from the jhuggi.

Their faces bore signs of injuries and a hammer and iron rods were found nearby. The jewellery worn by Indira appeared to have been  removed after killing her. 

The SSP, SP city, CO and inspector, Sector 39, Kotwali, had visited the site. According to the police, Pinky’s clothes had been torn. The police said the probe indicated that the assailants had tried to rape Pinky and when the parents opposed, they were killed.

Greater Noida, October 18
In two shootouts that took place in villages here on Friday, one village Pradhan was shot dead while two others got injured. Old enmity was the reason in both cases.

According to superintendent of police SK Verma, a shootout took place due to old enmity in two rival camps at Nagla Hukum Singh village.

The police arrested three persons from the scene. According to information, their accomplices even fired at the police to rescue them.

A number of personnel were deployed at the village.

Two villagers Yatin and Vijender got injured and were admitted at a private hospital. Their condition was stated to be critical till late evening today.

Whereas, pradhan of Niloni village Chandrveer was shot dead by unidentified assailants.

The deceased was also accused in four murder cases.