New Delhi, November 22
It almost looked like a mini-mela outside the Pragati Maidan also with visitors exiting the trade fair and enjoying the roadside chaat in large numbers, littering the way heavily.

The little party outside the maidan left behind a lot of garbage today. Stalls from Paanipuri, kachori, samosas, ramladdoos to those selling toys, key chains and earrings were flooded with people.

Be it the gate number 3 or 4 or the Pragati Maidan Metro station, the entire roadside was full of these stalls. And the garbage from these stalls was on the roads with people just dropping more litter throughout the day.

The police and traffic officials were only concerned about congestion near the gates and did not allow any

vendor to stand there. However, most vendors away from the view of cops were hurriedly raking in moolah.

"We have been telling these vendors to leave and not spread litter. But they just get up and put up their stalls some meters away. We cannot follow them all around," said a traffic policeman outside the gate number 5.

The visitors were just not bothered about the waste. They were not using garbage bins and throwing plastic glasses, paper plates and other items.

"The food is cheaper here and tastes well. We were waiting for someone to pick us up. Meanwhile, my daughter just gave in to the temptation of golgappas. What's wrong with that?" said Mitali, eating at a stall outside the maidan today.

Question them about the litter and pat comes the reply from almost everybody that it is a common feature in fairs.

"It will get cleaned up, don't worry," comments an elderly person waiting for a bus to Connaught Place.

The stalls outside the fair cashed in on the weekend rush. There were over 1.50 lakh visitors today. Even on Saturday, nearly 1.10 lakh visitors thronged the fair beating the last year's highest number, that was 1.5 lakh.

Even though there was no untoward incident despite the huge weekend rush, the litter outside the maidan was an ugly sight.

"The sales have increased remarkably in the last two days. The stalls inside are making big bucks. We are also cashing in on the opportunity," said Kishan, a chat vendor outside the maidan.

New Delhi, November 22
One of the hottest destinations for visitors thronging the India International Trade Fair 2009 this weekend was the Delhi Pavilion, courtesy products made by Tihar Jail inmates. The centre has been attracting hordes of visitors at the ongoing fair.

From handicrafts, snacks, gifts to garments, Tihar stall offers it all. Priced at Rs 50 onwards, the stall has different sized, carved wooden pieces like key ring holders, photo frames and decorative items.

Pratima said: “The products by Tihar inmates have been an important aspect of Delhi Pavilion. One wonders if the products are hand-made.”

Visitors can choose from an array of jute bags made by the inmates of Jail 2, silk kurtas handcrafted by men of Jail 8 and 9, woollens made by women prisoners and jewellery of semi-precious stones. Gel candles and postcards with paintings made by prisoners also have been one of the hottest picks.

Offered by Armaan, an NGO working with Tihar inmates and released prisoners, the exhibition displays the products made at workshops in the jails.

Neeru Arya, general secretary, Armaan, said: “We do not receive funds from the government. We had helpers in the initiative, for example a well wisher donated 100 m silk cloth for kurtas. We also received bangles from the organisation that partnered with us at IITF last year. The money that we make here will be utilised for the rehabilitation of prisoners.”

Most who enter the pavilion with curiosity end up purchasing items at the Tihar stall.

“The products are good and affordable. I just purchased a jute wall hanging from the stall,” Mahurima, a visitor from Faridabad, said.

Tihar, the biggest jail in South Asia, houses over 11,000 convicts, and runs several vocational training programmes, including a baking school. The vocational programmes provide financial support for the inmates.

New Delhi, November 22
One of the accused in the sensational murder case of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan has approached a Delhi court seeking discharge on the ground that the police has failed to link him with the offence.

In an application moved before the additional sessions judge (ASJ) S K Sarvaria, accused Baljeet Singh Malik said the investigators, in the chargesheet, did not attribute any role to him in the murder of Soumya.

“There is nothing in the chargesheet which can show the actual participation of the accused in the commission of alleged murder of Soumya Vishwanathan,” said the plea, filed by Malik’s advocates Amit Kumar and R K Mishra.

The court, which is to frame charges against the accused and four others, including prime suspect Ravi Kapoor, has posted the application for hearing tomorrow.

Kapoor had allegedly shot at Soumya, a journalist of ‘Headlines Today’ news channel on the night of September 30 last year while she was returning home in her car from office at around 3:30 am.

The other four accused, including Malik, was in the car, used in trailing the victim, police said, adding that they wanted to rob her.

The police said the recovery of the weapon allegedly used in the murder of IT executive Jigisha Ghosh, who was killed on March 18 this year, had led to the cracking of the killing of Soumya also.

The application also stated that the accused who was arrested on March 28 in connection with Ghosh’s murder, was later framed in the Soumya case on the basis of his disclosure statement alone.

The plea said the accused was “falsely implicated” in the case due to the pressure of the media as the victim was working for a leading media house.

“Police has been clueless even after the lapse of six months since the date of alleged offence,” it said adding that “the accused has allegedly been shown to be sitting on the back seat of the car and nothing more has been assigned to him.”

The accused have been charged under various provisions of IPC and MCOCA dealing with robbery, murder, criminal conspiracy and running an organised crime syndicate.

New Delhi, November 22
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today flagged off a rally of electric vehicles to mark the beginning of two-day summit, which will start tomorrow.

The rally comprises 18 vehicles ranging from electric two-wheelers to a CNG mini-truck. It also showcased Toyota’s hybrid car ‘Prius’ for the first time in India.

Mahindra & Mahindra’s bio-diesel version of its sports utility vehicle Scorpio also took part in the rally. The bi-annual Environment-Friendly Vehicle (EFV) conference would happen under the aegis of the World Forum for Harmonisation of Vehicles and would share inputs in regard to measures for promoting environment-friendly automobiles.

The two-day long summit would also deliberate on legal and economic problems for introducing such vehicles and technology in the society. Earlier, three EFV conferences were held in Tokyo (2003), Birmingham (2005) and Dresden (2007).

New Delhi, November 22
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has decided to lease out the newly-built rendering plant at the modern Ghazipur abattoir to a private agency for five years and invited bidders to participate in an open auction later this month.

The highest bidder will be given the rights of operation and maintenance of the plant for a five-year period. The agency will pay rent on a monthly basis to the civic body, a senior MCD official said.

The state-of-the-art slaughter house in Ghazipur has a modern rendering plant, a processing unit to convert waste animal tissue into value-added materials like poultry meal.

“The move will help the MCD earn revenue and do away with the problem of carcasses of animals found lying here and there in the city, which can cause health hazards. This will also help in preventing spread of diseases,” MCD director (veterinary services) RBS Tyagi said.

“The auction will be held at the additional commissioner (Veterinary) office on November 30. If the highest bidder is unable to take up the work, the second highest will get a chance. There is also a provision to increase the lease rent by 10 per cent annually,” he added.

“The waste animal tissue will be processed at the plant in a scientific way to generate byproducts, from which the private firm will earn profits,” he said.

He said the meat traders, who were earlier opposed to shifting to the new abattoir at Ghazipur, are now cooperating with the civic agency and hence, slaughtering activities are normal.

Following a Supreme Court order, MCD had closed the 200-year-old Idgah abattoir here and shifted all operations to Ghazipur. The traders refused to move to the new centre, contending that it lacks facilities and is unhygienic. They also moved the apex court in this regard.

However, after assurances from the authorities to provide more facilities and in the absence of a favourable ruling from the court, they withdrew agitation.

Rendering is a process that converts waste animal tissue into value-added materials. A rendering process generally yields a fat commodity like yellow grease or tallow (used for animal feed or making soap) or meat and bone meal for poultry birds.

Ghaziabad, November 22
A man who often danced with a group of eunuchs, was allegedly castrated by some members of the group, due to a rift between them, the police said today.

Though the incident took place late on Wednesday, it came to light only on late Saturday when the man, Javed of Kaila Bhatta in Ghaziabad, met the senior superintendent of police and lodged a complaint.

“I joined a group of eunuchs as a dancer. But when I realised that I was not getting my due share, I left their group. They called me on Wednesday night to the Nandgram area in Ghaziabad under the pretext of negotiating fresh terms and made me unconscious by administering some intoxication in my tea. Next morning I found I had been castrated,” said Javed.

“I am a married man and have two wives and three children. But these greedy eunuchs have played havoc into my life and castrated me,” Javed added.

Jagvir Singh, station house officer (SHO) of the Sihani Gate police station, said, “It was a rift over sharing of money. Javed wanted to be the head of the group. A case has been registered against Pinky, Vinod and some other members of the group.”

“The medical examination of the victim has confirmed that he was castrated. The accused have gone underground. We are trying to arrest them,” Singh said. — IANS

New Delhi, November 22
The Delhi joint commissioner of police (Traffic) SN Sirvastva today urged the students of Indian Institute of Delhi (IIT) to develop a new technology for zero maintenance traffic lights suitable for all weather conditions.

While speaking at a seminar on ‘Safety on Roads’ organised by the alumni of IIT, Delhi, Srivastava said: “The situation worsens when traffic lights stop working due to rains or ongoing construction for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games. Non-functional traffic signals lead to jams and accidents.”

“Development of the weather, low-maintenance traffic signals that can function according to environment will help check major traffic snarls in the national Capital. Motorists in Delhi adhere to traffic signals more than the traffic police personnel,” he added.

“Traffic control signaling will improve in the Capital under the Intelligent Traffic System (ITS) that would be put in place before the Games. It is an advanced system and will help in controlling and monitoring vehicular movement. Though there are problems, things will be much better in the coming years,” he said.

Delhi is infamous for its traffic bottlenecks as the number of vehicles plying on the clogged roads has crossed 58 lakh.

In addition, there are more than a lakh vehicles coming from neighbouring states into the city everyday.

With at least 1,000 new vehicles getting registered daily, the traffic police is already grappling for a solution.

There are around 725 traffic signals and 435 blinkers in Delhi.

He said the police had already started identifying bottleneck areas where the equipment could be installed. Tenders had also been floated for installing new signals and blinkers.

“Traffic signals regularly go on the blink because of power failure, waterlogging and construction. Some requisites in the tender are the installation of Light Emission Diodes (LEDs) on signals or blinkers, the conversion of existing LED-based traffic light signals into solar signals, installation of auditory signals and automatic signal monitoring systems,” he added.

Manesar, November 22
With the western culture gaining acceptance in cities, we may think Hindi is not a popular language, but it has been scientifically proven that learning Hindi develops one’s brain in a way that makes it capable to learn many other languages.

The city-based National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) has derived an inference that learning the national language has an advantage over the Queen’s language, as it exercises more areas of the brain.

In a first-of-its-kind study in the country, scientists of the NBRC have discovered that reading Hindi uses larger areas of human brain than reading English. According to the study, both sides of the brain work while reading Hindi, but while reading English, only one side of the brain, i.e. left, works. The study has used the technique of functional magnetic resonance imaging.

“We have for the first time studied the processing of an Indian script — Devnagari — in the human brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI),” said Nandini Chatterjee Singh, who led the multi-disciplinary team of researchers. “Our paper presents the cortical activations while reading in Devnagari,” she added.

“In Devnagari, consonants are written in a linear left to right order with different sounds and vowel signs positioned non-linearly above, below or on either side of the consonants. As a result, the vowel precedes the consonant in writing certain words, but follows it in speech, making it a unique case for investigation,” Chatterjee said, and explained, “Our results suggest bilateral activation, i.e. participation from both hemisphere of the brain for reading phrases in Devnagari. The specific areas involved from the left hemisphere are the insula, fusiform gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus, similar to what has been observed for reading alphabetic scripts such as English and the superior parietal lobule from the right hemisphere, as also seen while reading syllabic scripts such as Japanese. Devnagari has the properties of both alphabetic and syllabic scripts and hence the results showed both kinds of activations. In addition, there was bilateral activation in the middle frontal gyrus and the occipital areas which we attribute to highly non-linear visuo-spatial processing required for reading Devnagari.”

“It is the first functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) study, a non-invasive method to study cortical activations online, providing the images of a working brain while reading Hindi.

The task of reading involves processing of visual codes that stand for different aspects of language. Scripts of the world vary in the way they represent languages in writing. Several studies have been done with respect to reading in English. While there are common areas or circuits involved in reading across scripts, script-specific activations have also been reported in literature,” she claimed.

The present study is the first in a series of studies that have been carried out at NBRC. The future studies will be concerned with brain mechanisms involved in reading two or more scripts, which is a more natural phenomenon in India as almost all school-going children in India learn to read in more than one language.

Noida, November 22
A workshop on human rights and police was organised in the control room of Noida police today to acquaint the cops with the legal aspects of human rights.

Dr Mala Bhandhari from an NGO, Sad Rag, said tremendous changes have taken place in society. The police must acquaint itself with the changing realities.

The workshop was an attempt to understand problems of the policemen and make them understand the importance of human rights and the implications of ignoring them.

She said 97 per cent of the violations of human rights are reportedly committed by the police forces.

O.P.Vyas, assistant registrar, Human Rights Commission, said police should function as champion of human rights as it was an important part of criminal justice system—the other two being the prosecution and the judiciary. Police is the custodian of law and the only visible part of government or state authority.

The policemen’s problems and points of view were echoed by a number of SHOs by narrating case studies and practical difficulties. In Europe and the USA, police is allowed the remand for suspect for much longer period than in India. Some of the difficulties of taking a suspect or criminal on remand make it impossible to complete investigations and even interrogation, they said.

The police facea the problems of working within the framework of law, the demands of duty and the expectations of society which are also changing. But the situation for the police cannot change unless the law is changed and the law cannot be changed unless there is massive public pressure.

The policemen were advised not to violate the human rights of the accused or criminals.

New Delhi, November 22
Got questions about pregnancy, puberty or plain simple facts about the birds and bees? If you have such queries on your mind and are afraid to ask parents or share with friends — just dial a government-run toll free helpline.

The helpline (1800-11-6555 or 011-6666-5555), run by the Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh (JSK) or the National Population Stabilisation Fund of the health ministry, receives over 300 calls per day.

“We receive calls on this helpline number from both men and women. We get over 300 calls a day on issues of safe contraception and even unwanted pregnancy,” Shalini Shukla, communication officer for the campaign, told IANS.

The helpline is primarily aimed at Hindi-speaking areas. The numbers are available 9 am to 6 pm six days a week in both Hindi and English.

The helpline, started in June 2008, was made toll free in March this year.

It intends to fill the information gap on contraception, safe abortion, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, infant and child health issues in teen aged mothers or unmarried and newly married couples, Shukla said.

“We received an overwhelming response and that’s why we made the helpline number toll free. There is a major dearth of information in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand where access to such information is not easily available,” Shukla said.

The JSK has set up a grand display and information stall at the health pavilion of the ongoing Indian International Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi that will be open to public from November 19-27.

“We have advertised this helpline number very little, still we have received good response. People want to know about these things and this shows how much of a gap and taboo exists in our society on sex education,” Shukla stressed.

The helpline call centre is manned by people who answer queries from a bank of questions and answers prepared with the assistance of doctors from leading medical institutes in the country including the Maulana Azad Medical College, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Lady Hardinge Medical College.

The call centre is run by a private BPO unit and trained agents assisted by a gynaecologist.

A doctor assisting the helpline stressed that “a toll free number is easy to remember and provides reliable information anonymously on all questions people want to ask but are shy to do so face to face”.

According to the health ministry most underage marriages are due to lack of education and information.

As per the Nation Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2005-2006, a high percentage of girls and boys were married before they reached the legal age of 18 years and 21 years, respectively.

Underaged marriages are prevalent in states like Jharkhand (70 per cent women and 50 per cent men), Bihar (69 per cent women and 42 per cent men) and Rajasthan (63 per cent women and 59 per cent men).

According to JSK, teenage pregnancies are an overwhelming cause of maternal deaths in the country, and around 3.5 million teenagers in India begin child bearing each year. — IANS

Noida, November 22
The number of patients of swine flue in Noida is increasing steadily. Three children were confirmed as cases of swine flue on Friday.

They are six, seven and 11 years old. On November 18 also, three cases of swine flue were confirmed. They were also all children from Sectors 17, 29 and 19.

The district authorities had got them confirmed as swine flue patients from a laboratory in Delhi.

According to sources, 10 suspected victims of swine flue were detected within three days by Delhi lab. Out of these seven children were from Amity school.

Samples of all these patients had been sent to Delhi. The reports of these tests are expected on Monday.

The district chief of medical services, Dr Raj Rani, has confirmed that the total number of victims of swine flue in Noida is 45 now.

New Delhi, November 22
The Delhi Police today arrested two men who allegedly extorted money from policemen and government officials on the pretext of conducting fake sting operations on them.

Pushp Kumar Sharma (38) and Pankaj Kumar, in thirties, were caught last week when they were allegedly trying to extort Rs 10,000 from Rishi Rose who is a head constable posted at Vasant Vihar.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) said: “They used to create a fake scene of accident on main road. But, they pretended to compromise as soon as the police reached the spot. On the pretext of paying money to the victim, they took change of Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 note from the police following which the duo used to leave the spot.

“After some days, Sharma starts making calls to the policeman concerned, threatening him that they have captured their images with money and have done fake sting operation on him. Then, they ask him to pay up,” Dhaliwal added.

Two police officials, a head constable from Lodhi Colony Police Station and a sub inspector from IP Estate Police Station have been identified as his earlier targets.

The police has recovered Rs 10,000, a mobile phone from which those extortion calls were made, a motorcycle and a car from them.

The incident relating to Rose took place on October 21 when the police received a call that an accident between a car and a motorcycle has taken place near IIT gate.

New Delhi, November 22
The Delhi police today arrested four men for abducting and raping an 18-year-old girl while she was going to school with her brother in west Delhi.

Four men, including the alleged rapist, were arrested in connection with the incident that took place around 7:30 am in the Janakpuri area. The brother tried to resist but was overpowered.

The victim, daughter of a businessman, is a student of class XII in a private school, was going on a rickshaw with her brother when the incident happened.

The police said main accused Sunny (24) was following the girl along with three friends Shashi (21), Jeev Raj (22) and Kapil (21) in a car.

“Sunny along with his three friends overtook the rickshaw and grabbed the girl. Her brother tried to resist but was overpowered following which they abducted the girl,” the police added.

They then took her to a secluded stretch at Sitapuri in Dabri.

“Three accused got out of the car and then Sunny raped her. He then threatened her of harming her family if she complained about the incident,” the official said, adding that her brother had called parents and the police was informed around 8.00 am.

A wireless message was immediately sent to all police stations to keep a tab on the car. Whereas, the police later found the victim and the accused in Sitapuri.

Sunny knew the victim and used to allegedly eve-tease her. He is also the resident of the same area and is not doing anything, the police said.

Noida, November 22
A senior engineer of a private firm became a victim of carjacking after an ‘accident’ near Pari Chowk in Greater Noida.

Ajay Chaturvedi tried to take an ‘injured’ man, whose motorbike hit his car from behind, to hospital.

However, he found to his horror that while the ‘victim’ did not board his vehicle, four ‘bystanders’ got into the car, beat him up and fled with the vehicle.

Chaturvedi is a resident of Sector-50, Noida. According to Surendra Kumar Verma, SP Rural Noida, the victim was returning from duty with his friend around 9 pm. While Sanjeev was to get off

near Pari Chowk, the victim was to take the Greater Noida Expressway to reach Noida. “As the Wagon R car reached Pari Chowk, Sanjeev got off but the door

did not close properly. As Ajay opened the door again to slam it back tight, a bike hit it from behind and as the rider fell on the ground, four ‘bystanders’ rushed towards the car and asked Ajay to take the ‘injured’ biker to hospital,” said S.P. Verma. As soon as Ajay agreed, the four men barged inside the car.

“The assailants then asked Ajay to drive and after covering some distance, they beat him up and drove towards Gautam Budh Nagar University. Here, they threw the semi-conscious engineer out of the car and fled with the vehicle,” said Verma.