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World Book Fair
Nursery Admissions |
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Bonding with school
children
Stadiums: PWD uses innovative designs; saves money
Five get 8 years in jail for gangrape
Cop gets 3-yr jail for bribery
Produce Madani, Kolkata jail told
Three held for trading in leopard skin
Robbers held
Homoeopathy promoted
Starry opening of Gurgaon’s Kingdom of Dreams
14 builders bid for 7 housing plots in Noida
150 illegal phone towers sealed, network affected
2 Koreans hurt in accident
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World Book Fair
New Delhi, January 30 Habib’s observation that the no-examination move would render the education process redundant and detach students from books pushed Sibal into a blunt response, that came armed with an admission: “If learned people like Irfan Habib fail to understand the contention on which removing the class X board is based, how do I expect a common man to understand? I wouldn’t say it’s his fault, but I would say that I have failed as a minister.” Sibal, however, firmly countered Habib’s inference that the recently announced exam reforms tantamount to a drift away from Pt Nehru’s vision of the children of India. “I don’t think taking exams and reading books have anything to do with each other. I failed once in class XI, but that hasn’t stopped me from reading books even as I turn 62. Secondly, nobody is doing away with exams. I never said that evaluation isn’t required; instead I believe that children require continuous comprehensive evaluation and not one at the end of the year which creates stress. Giving children one book for the entire year and evaluating him on the basis how well he mugs it up isn’t educating him either. Instead constant evaluation is required,” said the minister. On Habib’s contention about Nehru, Sibal was quick to contest any discordance between his exam reforms and Nehru’s vision for the children of India. “I think evaluating children this way is exactly what Pt Nehru would have also wanted. I believe that we are doing exactly what he would have wished for the children of India,” retorted a visibly perturbed Sibal, who has been hounded by critics for his “out-of-box” education reforms. The seeds for today’s confrontation between the minister and Habib were in fact sown right at the start of the inaugural, when Habib, in contravention of procedure, spoke before the minister. As chief guest at the function, Habib, a former chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research , took the podium and spoke at length about the need to make the book fair annual (a move the ministry has been resisting) and set standards for publications. In defence of making the book fair annual, Habib said it was the second largest in the world. The HRD minister brushed aside the proposal saying the NCRplayed host to numerous books fairs throughout the year. “I wonder why Mr Habib hasn’t been invited to any of the other book fairs? |
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Nursery Admissions
New Delhi, January 30 For nursery admissions, schools in the city follow a 100-point system wherein they award points for factors like siblings studying in the same school, neighbourhood, alumni, girl child or first born. However, a number of schools had additional criteria such as the parents’ proven track record, group discussions, views on education, profession and educational qualifications. Some of these schools include Sanskriti, Vasant Valley, Gyan Bharati and The Heritage. In most schools, the first shortlist will be out on Monday. P. Guha, a resident of south Delhi who works with a media firm, had carefully selected institutions that were giving preference to professionals. But the Delhi governments’ move has left her crying foul as she does not score on the sibling or alumni criteria. “I had selected some schools that fitted my educational profile or those that were giving weightage to my profession. But now after this directive, I don’t have any choice but to just pray and bank on my luck,” said Guha. The Delhi government now says that awarding points for parent’s profession and qualification is discriminatory and schools which are yet to bring out their lists will have to scrap these criteria. The new diktat has not got gone down well with many parents who say the change comes at “the last minute”. They are wondering why the government has reacted now when the schools started distributing their forms with these criteria on December 15. Meenakshi Deep Ghatak, an aggrieved parent, posted on the website www.admissionsnursery.com: “The last-minute directive from the department of education is not only too late in the day but also a knee-jerk reaction under pressure from a powerful non-professional lobby. It will create huge chaos and uncertainty and serve to manipulate results to favour those whose wards would otherwise not find a place in some particular coveted schools.” Many parents say they had carefully selected schools that were giving points for parents’ profession and education, besides others favourable factors, as these would give their wards a better chance of securing admission. “Schools have become the property of sibling and alumni. So a child will experience reservation from its first step into education. The points system should be revised and should be made such that all get equal chance,” Ritesh Kumar Agarwal posted on www.admissionsnursery.com. — IANS
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Bonding with school
children
The 19th New Delhi World Book Fair began in the Capital today with book lovers flocking counters frantically searching for their favourite books. The main highlight of the day was Ruskin Bond as he landed at the fair, meeting schoolchildren and signing copies for his fans.
Children couldn’t stop asking questions to Bond as they approached him for getting their books signed. “I cannot believe I just got my copy signed from him. It actually is quite enthralling for us. We are having loads of fun here,” said Parthav, who was on the trip to book fair along with his classmates. “For more than five decades he has been spreading his magic with words, winning millions of hearts. I grew up reading his books, and I am here with my daughter today who is totally excited to see him,” said Mrinali, a housewife at the pavilion. There wasn’t room for anyone to stand comfortably as hundreds of people kept thronging in. Rupa publications this time is out with Ruskin Bond’s 2in1 series that sold like hotcakes today. Talking about his interactions with readers, Ruskin said that he was happy to be here and delighted to see such enthusiasm for books amongst young children. “It gives me immense happiness to be here. I have grown old yet I do not feel tired talking and interacting with children here. I have always left at home amongst the reader community,” said Ruskin bond. |
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Stadiums: PWD uses innovative designs;
New Delhi, January 30 The Ludlow Castle training venue for wrestling, inaugurated today, has been completed at a cost of Rs 13 crore, whereas the budget allocation for the project was Rs 20 crore. Chatrasal Stadium is nearing completion at a total cost of Rs 70 crore in place of total budget of Rs 98 crore. “The stadiums are now open for any kind of inspection if anyone feels that quality compromise has been done. It is because of the steel structures and innovative designs that we have managed to complete them in less time,” said Anil Pundit, project manager of the three stadiums and the superintendent engineer of the PWD. The PWD department has undertaken the construction of three stadiums, namely Ludlow Castle, Chatrasal Stadium and Thyagraj Stadium. The first two have already been completed while the work on the third one is near completion. “Over 30 per cent saving in the construction of the Chatrasal and Ludlow Castle stadia was achieved through the use of innovative design by using less space against the earmarked areas,” he said. Pundit said the PWD has become the first agency to have completed any projects related to the Games. Explaining the way savings were achieved, he said that the municipal bylaws ensured that less area was used for construction, which changed orientation of the stadia,thereby resulting in less covered areas at the ground and roof for both the stadiums. “In place of large roof areas, we have gone for column based slope in place of steel trushes, which resulted in major savings due to less consumption of steel. Further, in place of installing cooling towers, we have gone for central air-conditioning at both the stadiums. No AC plants were needed to be set up, which again contributed in major savings,” he added. Also, in place of roof tanks to store water, the PWD has gone in for storage of water within walls by creating space.
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Five get 8 years in jail for gangrape
New Delhi, January 30 Slapping a fine of Rs 3,000, additional sessions judge Shalinder Kumar held Surinder, Dharambir, Kapil Kumar, Prem and Manoj Kumar guilty under section 376 (2) g of the IPC relating to offence of gang rape. Convicts do not deserve any leniency as they had committed a gang rape in a pre-planned manner on the pretext of providing a job…” said the court taking a serious view of the matter. However, due to lack of evidence, the court acquitted three accused Anil, Pramod and Kameshwar, gatekeeper of the building. The court also rejected the submissions made by the defence counsel that the 28-year-old victim had given consent to the act. “…the victim had gone with them to an office, apparently shows that she was a consenting party...” the defence counsel said. On this, the court said, “It is not believable that the victim would have given consent to sexual intercourse with so many persons at one time.” During the trial, the convicts said before the court that the victim herself had come to the place of incident at 13th floor of Padma Tower, Rajendra Place here, on the date and no force was used on her. However, the victim who is elder in age to all the men and is a postgraduate alleged that two of the accused called her on mobile as she was in need of a job. They got her number from one of the common friends. They took her to the place of incident on their bike and committed rape. She added that she just accompanied the accused for procuring a job. On August 8, 2004, police arrested eight persons after the woman lodged an FIR with the Prasad Nagar police station alleging that they had raped her after forcing her to take two pegs of liquor.
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Cop gets 3-yr jail for bribery
New Delhi, January 30 Additional sessions judge
A.S. Yadav held Anang Pal, who was posted at Nand Nagri police station, guilty under the Prevention of Corruption Act and slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 on him. Pal, 46, was caught accepting a bribe of Rs 5000 from complainant Surinder
Kaur. On the intervening night of February 13 and 14 in 2000, Pal had allegedly threatened Kaur to pay him the bribe or he would implicate a case against her son. However, he was arrested red-handed by the anti-corruption branch of Delhi police. |
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Produce Madani, Kolkata jail told
New Delhi, January 30 Chief metropolitan magistrate Kaveri Baweja said, “An explanation be sought from Kolkata jail authority about why Madani was not produced.” She also asked the Alipur Jail, Kolkata, where Madni is lodged to report whether it had EVL facility. Md Omar Madani, 50, the alleged top aide of Lashkar-e-Toiba founder Hafiz Saeed, was arrested by the special team of Delhi police in June 2009 from the Qutub Minar area. He had allegedly come there to hand over money to some one for recruiting youths to carry out terror activities. However, Madni was handed over to the Kolkata police on June 29, 2009, as he was wanted there in a case regarding seizure of fake currency worth Rs 60,000. The police claimed that Madni had been working on “spotting youths for carrying out terrorist activities, sending them for training at Lashkar camps in Pakistan and then launching them in India.” He has been chargesheeted under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Five diaries were seized from Madani.
The diaries contained the contact numbers of many LeT operatives in Pakistan, Nepal and India, including that of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, and also the mobile number of Hafiz Saeed that he had used before he was put under house arrest in Pakistan following the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. A matrix of codes was also seized from him. It was in 1996 that Madni, who can speak Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, English, Bengali and Nepali, was initiated into “jehadi activities” after he was motivated by Markaz-Dawa-Wal-Irshad members. |
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Three held for trading in leopard skin
New Delhi, January 30 According to deputy commissioner of police (North) Sagarpreet Hooda, Satish Thakur is the mastermind of the crime. He hails from Himachal Pradesh and had unsuccessfully contested assembly elections two years ago. The accused were arrested on January 29 by a team of the Delhi police and officials of the wildlife department from near Inderlok Metro station. “They came in a car and were intercepted. The car was searched and one leather bag was found at the rear seat. The bag was checked and animal skin was found in it. The wildlife inspector identified the skin as that of leopards, an animal which comes under the ambit of the (prohibited) schedule list,” Hooda said. During interrogation, Thakur revealed that while working at a Manali hotel he became friendly with one Pradeep Kumar who used to stay in that hotel. In 2007, Thakur contested assembly elections, but lost. He had taken loans to contest elections and had no source to return the same. It was then that Pradeep told him that he had some animal skins and selling them could fetch good money. Thakur also roped in his friend Vipin Kumar, who is an MBA, but unemployed. Vipin asked his friend Mahender Nath, a driver, to bring his car for their journey from Himachal Pradesh to Delhi. They were going to sell the skin when they were arrested.
Pradeep is still absconding.
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Homoeopathy promoted
New Delhi, January 30 "The popularity of homoeopathy is rising by every passing day as it cures diseases in a safe, harmless, gentle and simple way," said the health minister. Walia said this at the launch of the second phase of 'Homoeopathy for healthy mother and happy child' at the Guru Gobind Singh Government Hospital. The campaign is has been launched to enhance the capacity and skills among homoeopaths in dealing with issues related to mother and child care . |
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Starry opening of Gurgaon’s Kingdom of Dreams
Gurgaon, January 30 Addressing the gathering, he said the Opera Theatre of this centre would be a cultural centre of world fame. “As Gurgaon is developing at a very fast pace and has become an international city, such an entertainment and leisure destination was the need of the region,” the CM said, adding that he hoped the centre would attract tourists and generate employment avenues for the local people. Bollywood script-writer Javed Akhtar, actors Vivek Oberoi, Isha Sharvani, Gauhar Khan, choreographer Shiamak Davar, costume designer Neeta Lulla and action-and-stunt advisor Alan Amin were present. The Kingdom of Dreams has been developed by Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., Apra Group and the Great Indian Nautanki Company Pvt. Ltd. The ceremony was attended by the Haryana minister of state for agriculture, Sukhbir Kataria; CPS, Rao Dan Singh; MLA Badshahpur Rao Dharampal; personal secretary to CM, Chhatar Singh; financial commissioner to Government of Haryana, D.S. Dhesi; HUDA chief administrator, DPS Nagal; commissioner, town and country planning, TC Gupta; commissioner, housing board, S.P. Gupta; MCG commissioner, Rajesh Khullar; divisional commissioner, T.K. Sharma; commissioner of police, S.S. Deswal; Gurgaon HUDA administrator, Deepti Umashankar, and Gurgaon deputy commissioner, Rajender Kataria, among others.
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14 builders bid for 7 housing plots in Noida
Noida, January 30 In the presence of bidders and officials, authority officer on special duty Yash Pal Singh opened the technical bids after the bidders had been satisfied with the box seals. On January 8, the authority had announced a group housing scheme for the six plots in sectors 76, 104 and 137. On January 19, the authority added one more plot of sector 45 in the scheme. All the plots were bigger than 50,000 sq mt area. Two plots of 51,000 sq mt and one plot of 60,000 sq mt are in sector 137. One plot of 64,600 sq mt was in sector 104. Sector 76 has two plots of 81,740 sq mt and 2,35,630 sq mt. The sector 45 plot area is 60,350 sq mt. The reserved price was Rs 20,400. Permissible population density is 1,650. The maximum permissible ground coverage is 40 per cent. There is no height limit. The reserved price of the biggest plot of 2.35 lakh sq mt is Rs 480 crore and the smallest plot of 51,000 sq mt costs Rs 104 crore. The bidders included Supertech Limited, Mahagun, Poorvanchal, Gaur Sons, Exotica Panchsheel, Anjara India, Amarpalli Sillicon, Amarpalli Presley, Ashiana Pacific, Today Home Infrastructure, Picty & ATS Infrastructure, SDS Infrastructure, Aggarwal Associate and S.V.P. Joint Venture.
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150 illegal phone towers sealed, network affected
Noida, January 30 The authority claims that these towers are unauthorised and were erected without taking any permission from it and that the owner companies of these towers did not reply to the reminders send to them. Replies were received for 128 towers and they were exempted from sealing, said the Noida Authority. These allottees have been asked to submit related documents within ten days, failing which, their towers would also be sealed. Noida has around 400 mobile phone towers. As around 50 per cent of these towers were sealed, the mobile phone network in the city has been affected. |
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2 Koreans hurt in accident
Greater Noida, January 30 According of superintendent of police, S. K. Verma, the injured Koreans were Hijung (35) and Choi Yir (48). They were first admitted at the local Kailash Hospital, but were shifted to a Delhi hospital late afternoon.
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The 19th New Delhi World Book Fair began in the Capital today with book lovers flocking counters frantically searching for their favourite books. The main highlight of the day was Ruskin Bond as he landed at the fair, meeting schoolchildren and signing copies for his fans.
Gurgaon, January 30
