New Delhi, February 15
In view of the Commonwealth Games that the national Capital would host in October this year, the Delhi Cabinet has approved re-scheduling of autumn holidays. The schools would remain closed during the mega-sports event.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit announced this today.

She said that the autumn break in schools would be extended from eight to 17 days to reduce traffic congestion. The autumn holidays will start from October 1 and end on October 17, as the Commonwealth Games will be organised between October 3 and 14.

It would help the city hosting the mega-sports event smoothly. 

Besides, summer holidays will be reduced from 61 to 49 days. 

Re-scheduling of school holidays would not affect the number of working hours in schools, said Dikshit. 

As per the new schedule, the total number of working days in 2010-11 would be 218 as against 215 working days in 2009-10. 

According to source, if schools are closed, buses used to transport students would be used to transport the public thus, curbing traffic congestion.

Sources said that the government had decided to deploy volunteers to help sportspersons and visitors during the event. Students of 70 government schools would be hired as volunteers. 

New Delhi, February 15
Delhi finance minister A.K. Walia and social welfare minister Mangat Ram Singhal who visited Asha Kiran Home for mentally retarded persons today suggested that there should be enough staff to look after the inmates.

At present, there are only 36 attendants to look after 730 inmates at Asha Kiran Home. They cannot handle such a large number of inmates. The home has capacity of only 350 inmates.

The ministers suggested that there should be 240 attendants, 100 sweepers and 100 nurses.

The ministers were accompanied by the director, Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), Dr Nimesh, secretary (Social Welfare), Manoj Parida and other senior officers of the social welfare department.

The inmates include men, women and children of all age groups. Most of them are mentally retarded or orphans and have been brought to the home from the streets. They are prone to epileptic strokes.

The ministers have also recommended that the home should have facilities of X-ray, lab and ambulance for initial screening. Every inmate brought to the home must be medically examined and a case history prepared to facilitate treatment. They have also recommended the facility of laundry. 

It has also been suggested that a specialized dietician and nutrition expert be posted in the home.

The ministers further recommended that a separate ward in the Ambedkar Hospital should be ready for those inmates who require hospitalization.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA from the Rithala Assembly constituency, Kulwant Rana, demanded resignation of social welfare minister Mangat Ram Singhal on moral grounds as it was his responsibility to provide the necessary facilities to the inmates. As many as 25 children have died within two months. During the last four years, 138 inmates have died, of them 69 are children.

New Delhi, February 15
In the light of the Sachar Committee report on the status of Muslims in India, the highly contentious issue was once again debated by experts at the St. Stephen's College today.

As part of the The Doha Debate Series of the BBC, panelists Seema Mustafa, journalist, and civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad argued that even though the Muslims in India had right to participate in democracy, they were still at the level of SC-STs as far as employment and access to education went.

Whereas minister of state for communications and information technology Sachin Pilot said economic disparity was one of the biggest challenges before the Indian government.

"There is no targeted campaign against the Muslims in this country, the issue of backwardness should be looked at from the perspective of economic disparity being faced by people of all the communities," said Pilot, a former student of the college, who received huge applause by the present Stephenians.

He said no other country in the world with as big Muslim population as India had provided them access to democracy. "We have Muslim participation in all the sections from politics to Bollywood and sports," said Pilot adding that the representation was a result of the guarantee to equal opportunities to the minorities under the Constitution of India.

Though much needed to be done to ensure inclusive growth, he added.

Talking Pilot's argument further, eminent journalist M.J.Akbar said while some Indians did discriminate against the minorities, India as a country did not put Muslims at a disadvantage.

He said the Muslim community required to take note of massive gender inequality. "A community cannot progress without its women being put at a back-foot. Indian Muslims need to fight gender inequality," said Akbar.

Young generation was doing away with religious discrimination while they believed in equality and things would be much better in the years to come, he said.

Setalvad, who has also been supporting the Muslim victims of Gujarat riots, said the representatives of the Muslim community that we see in different areas were only the elite Muslims. "Things are not the same at the level of normal poor Muslim who does not enjoy the same status," she said.

Supporting her argument, Mustafa said it was very hard for a normal Muslim to escape the stereotypes formulate by the political class. "It is very difficult for a Muslim boy to rent out a place in Delhi or get equal representation at the level of defence forces," she said.

This was the first time The Doha Debate, generally conducted on the hottest issues faced by the host country, was organised in India. 

New Delhi, February 15
Several prominent tribal artists and writers of the country will come together during a three-day seminar-cum-workshop on ‘Art Forms of Marginalised Communities: Bhils and Gonds,’ organised by Indira Gandhi National Open University’s (IGNOU).

The workshop, being organised in collaboration with IGNOU’s School of Performing and Visual Arts, will be held from February 15 to 17.

The seminar will focus on the art and literature of tribes like Bhils and Gonds. It will include paintings drawn by tribal artists and poetry and other compositions of tribal writers. It will act as a platform for the tribal artists to speak for themselves.

Bhils and Gonds are two of the most prominent tribal communities of India. These tribes have a long history.

The Bhils, for instance, have been mentioned by Ptolemy’s ‘Traetus on Geography’ as the ‘Pyllitai.’ They also find a mention in Ashokan edicts. The Gonds have an equally proud history.

Both the tribes have a non-state and non-caste societies and prefer to call themselves “adivasis”, the original inhabitants of India. 

New Delhi, February 15
The Central district police has apprehended a proclaimed offender wanted in three cases. He had escaped along with the handcuffs from the custody of the Punjab police team that had come to arrest him in the 2001 from the area of the Jama Masjid police station.

According to the police, Mohammad Zaheer (49) was arrested last night from near Jagat Cinema in the Jama Masjid area on a tipoff. "Zaheer had escaped from custody in 2002 with his handcuffs on. He was wanted in connection with three cases in Amritsar and a Punjab police team had caught him from the Jama Masjid locality on January 29, 2002. He desperately attempted to flee and the police team had to handcuff him. In the meantime, family members and the neighbours also gathered there and the police team was obstructed from performing its lawful duty. The accused had taken advantage of the situation and fled along with the handcuffs that were put to prevent him from escaping from the custody," said Jaspal Singh, DCP (Central).

Consequently, a case of causing obstruction to the government servant in discharging the lawful duties and escaping from the lawful custody was registeredat PS Jama Masjid, Delhi. Later, he was declared a proclaimed offender in this case by the court of P. Kashyap, ACMM, Tis Hazari Court, Delhi. 

Ghaziabad, February 15
A man was arrested here today, six months after he allegedly threw acid on the face of a 22-year-old woman.

Abid, who allegedly threw acid on the face of Shaheen Parveen for rejecting his marriage proposal, was arrested from a bus stand at Loni, a police officer said.

Abid allegedly threw acid on Shaheen Parveen, principal of Shanti Niketan Junior High School on Delhi-Saharanpur Road in the Loni area of Ghaziabad on the school campus on August 11 last year.

Describing the incident, the police officer said Shaheen went into her room to resume the day’s work after the morning assembly prayer on the school ground. Two youths came to meet her on the pretext of a child’s admission.

They engaged Shaheen in a conversation when a third youth entered her office, carrying a tiffin box. The youth opened the tiffin filled with acid and threw it on her while she was sitting on her seat. Shaheen suffered severe burns on her face, head and chest.

According to Shaheen’s father Nawabuddin, he had come across a matrimonial proposal for his daughter. When he discussed about the match at home with his family members, they did not show much interest and declined the proposal.

The boy Md Wali and his family, however, kept insisting Nawabuddin to talk again with Shaheen and make her accept the proposal.

“This did not happen and the boy’s family was repeatedly insisting to Nawabuddin for the alliance. When they did not see it happening, the boy came and threw acid on her face,” the police officer said. — IANS

Gurgaon, February 15
A group of seven men allegedly stabbed a guard and tied the other to a tree in the posh DLF Phase-I area of Gurgaon early today.

The police is searching houses in the area to find whether any of them was robbed.

According to Rishipal, the station house officer of Phase-I police station, the seven men entered DLF Phase-I around 2:30 am and when a guard, member of Quick Reaction Team (QRT) of DLF, intercepted them, they overpowered him and tied him to a tree.

“When the other guard came, they stabbed him 14 times,” he said, adding that the second guard, identified as Ramesh, has been admitted to a local nursing home.

“Ramesh cannot give a statement as his condition is critical. We have taken the statement of the other guard, Jaswant,” Rishipal added.

A case has been lodged against seven unknown people under Sections 459 (grievous hurt caused whilst committing house trespass or house-breaking), 307 (attempt to murder), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. — IANS

New Delhi, February 15
A 21-year-old man was stabbed to death in the Karkardooma area of east Delhi last night.

The deceased has been identified as Imran. Six men allegedly accosted Imran and his friend Saurabh. The two were beaten up before one of them stabbed Imran in the chest causing his death. The incident took place around 8 pm near CPT ground close to Cross River Mall.

According to the police, Imran and Saurabh had gone to the secluded area near the ground to attend the nature’s call when six men intercepted them and started beating them without any provocation.

“The two were thrashed and then they asked Imran and Saurabh to hand over their valuables. While Sourabh gave Rs 400 and mobile phone, Imran resisted. As a result, one of the men pulled out a knife and stabbed Imran in the chest. The assailants then fled,” said an official from Anand Vihar police station.

Saurabh called the police, after borrowing a mobile phone from a passer by. The police admitted Imran to a hospital. However, he succumbed to his injuries.

Saurabh is a student of B.Com at a college in east Delhi, while Imran worked in a private company. A case has been registered.

New Delhi, February 15
A 35-year-old man was shot dead in the Rohini area of outer Delhi last night.

According to information, the victim, Devender Sharma, was alone in his house in G-block of Rohini’s Sector 16 when the incident took place. “Devender’s mother had gone to a relative’s place last night and so he had called his friends over to his place. However, he had a dispute with them over some money matter and one of them pulled out a revolver and shot him twice in the chest. He died on the spot,” said the police.

As per the police, Devender worked as a driver with a cloth merchant in Sohana (Haryana).

“He used to come home every night and the accused are being said to be his friends. No arrest has been made so far, but we are working on some leads based on Devender’s mobile phone records,” said the police. 

New Delhi, February 15
Lieutenant-Governor Tejindra Khanna has ordered transfer of senior Delhi police officers.

B.S Brar, special commissioner of police, intelligence and operations, has been posted as special Commissioner of intelligence, IGIA and FRRO (disciplinary and administrative matters related to Delhi police personnel). Satish Chandra, special commissioner of police, vigilance, has been posted as special commissioner of the armed police. Shanti Kumar Jain will be the new special commissioner of police for vigilance.

Rajesh Kumar will take over as special commissioner of police, operations (PCR and communication) from special commissioner of the armed police. A.K. Singh has been posted as additional commissioner of police of the Police Training College.

Arun K. Kampani will continue to hold the post of DCP 7th Battalion of the Delhi Armed Police and also look after the anti-riot cell.