New Delhi, May 21
Government schools have outshone private schools in the Capital in CBSE Class XII results announced today. The state has ranked first in government school category in the country followed by Panchkula and Chennai. 

Education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said Delhi government schools had performed the best among government schools across the country.

Though the overall success rate declined in the country-wide results, government schools here improved their pass percentage to 88.87 as compared to last year’s 87.14. Besides, 63 government schools fetched 100 per cent results as against 50 schools the last year.

Moreover, 400 schools secured 90 per cent this year while 355 schools had achieved this feat last year.

In line with the general trend, girls have fared better than boys in Delhi region. The pass percentage of boys is 81.12 while the success rate among girls is 89.13. A total of 97,402 students had appeared for Class XII examination in Delhi.

However, the top positions have gone to private schools. Two students of Delhi Public School, RK Puram and one of Rukmini Devi Public School, Pitampura, have bagged the first position with 97.2 per cent.

Two students of Apeejay School, Pitampura — Aayush Jindal and Rupinder Singh, have bagged above 96 per cent. Seven students of Amity International School, Saket, received more than 95 per cent while 79 got more than 90 per cent. Three students of Manav Sthali School got more than 95 per cent, while 35 got more than 90 per cent.

There has been a marginal improvement in aided schools as last year their pass percentage was 75.70 while this year it is 75.9. As far as Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) are concerned, last year they had scored 89.94 per cent, while this year it is 92.07 per cent.

Lovely said, “In 2000-01, the pass percentage in Class XII was only 70 per cent. It shows that we have seen a growth of approximately 20 per cent.”

New Delhi, May 21
Almost all Delhi University (DU) colleges are offering some professional courses, for which the common pre-admission form of the university would not be accepted.

There are around 18 courses for which students will have to go to individual colleges and buy application forms. Some of these courses require the students to appear for entrance tests as well.

The popular undergraduate courses in foreign languages offered by DU require students to apply separately and appear for entrance examinations.

“There are four foreign languages— French, German, Spanish and Italian— which are taught by the department of Germanic and Romanic studies. Students would need to apply at the department and appear for the test,” said sources at the Dean of Students’ Welfare office.

Similarly, undergraduate courses in English and Hindi journalism require students to apply for individual courses and appear for the entrance examinations in the colleges. B.A. (hons.) Hindi Patrakarita Avam Jan Sanchar is offered by Aditi Mahavidyalaya, Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College and Ram Lal Anand College. The B.A.(hons.) course in journalism is offered by Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Kalindi College, Kamala Nehru College, Lady Shri Ram College and Maharaja Agarasen College.

Another popular course of the university, B.A.(hons.) in social work, is offered by Aditi Mahavidyalaya and Bhim Rao Ambedkar College.

Medical courses in BAMS and BUMS are offered by Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbia College.

There are ten colleges in DU which offer BBE course. These are Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, Maharaja Agrasen College, College of Vocational Studies, Shivaji College, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College, Ram Lal Anand College, Gargi College, Lakshmi Bai College and SGBT Khalsa College.

Courses in business studies— BFIA, BBS and BE— are offered by Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College and Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology.

Course of B.El.Ed is offered only by colleges for girls. These colleges are Aditi Mahavidyalaya, Jesus and Mary College, Lady Shri Ram College, Gargi College, Institute of Home Economics, Shyama Prasad Mukherji College, Miranda House and Mata Sundari College.

Courses in pharmaceutical studies— BHMS and B.Pharma— are offered by Nehru Homeopathic College and Delhi Institute of Pharmaceutical Science and Research, respectively.

B.Sc. in physical education and sports is offered by Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Science and Sports Sciences. B.Sc.(hons.) in nursing is on offer at Rajkumari Amrit Kaur College of Nursing while B.Sc. (hons.) in occupational therapy is offered by Pt. Deen Dayal Institute for Physically Handicapped.

B.A. in fine arts is available at College of Fine Arts and BMMMC at Indraprastha College.

B.Sc.(hons.) in biomedical science is offered by Acharya Narayan Dev College, Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences and Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Science for Women.

The MBBS and BDS courses are available at Lady Harding Medical College, Maulana Azad Medical College and University College of Medical Sciences. 

New Delhi, May 21
In a major development, the Delhi High Court today set aside the government’s order derecognising the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF).

Holding the actions of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) — that subsequently disaffiliated the IHF — as illegal, Justice S Muralidhar said: “The knee-jerk reaction to losses, which are inevitable in competitive events at international level, and looking for persons to blame, cannot be conducive to a healthy development of any national sport.”

The Sports Ministry and the IOA had resorted to the extreme measure following India’s failure, for the first time, to qualify for the Olympics and the April 2008 sting operation, allegedly showing IHF Secretary K Jothikumaran accepting bribe for selecting a player for Team India.

The HC ruled that the ministry had not followed its 2001 guidelines which clearly stated that “before withdrawal of recognition, the National Sports Federation concerned will, however, be given reasonable opportunity to present their defence.”

In the 43-page judgment on the petition filed by KPS Gill, who was the IHF chief when the government derecognised the body, the HC said: “Unfortunately, for over two years now the petitioner (IHF) has continued to remain under an illegal suspension, followed by an illegal disaffiliation and an illegal derecognition. This situation calls for a restitutive correction.”

The court said it believed that even now it is not too late for the Sports Ministry to get its act together and set things in order with the cooperation of the International Hockey Federation and the IOA.

“Instead of again panicking about the revival of the IHF, it requires to be seen how the interests of hockey in India can be best served. Sports bodies have to have a degree of autonomy with the government playing the role of an effective regulator. They must be allowed to function in a democratic manner with the persons really interested in developing the game participating in its affairs,” it observed.

“For a proper enquiry into the problems besetting Indian hockey, the cloud of suspension over the IHF should be lifted. The past should be put behind and a new beginning made,” it ruled.

Justice Murlidhar slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 each on the ministry and the IOA to be paid to the IHF within four weeks.

The HC said it had earlier asked the ministry to carry out a detailed inquiry into the working of the IHF in a separate case. The ministry could have undertaken this exercise and if necessary issued a show-cause notice listing out the irregularities. The court felt that “some calm and collective thinking” was required on what should be the most appropriate corrective action vis-à-vis the office-bearer, who was allegedly found accepting a bribe.

”The criminal case registered against the office-bearer is still under investigation and no chargesheet has been filed. This only shows that an action taken in haste can do irreversible damage if the status quo thereafter is allowed to continue indefinitely. Even now if the appropriate corrective action is taken, the apprehensions of the FIH can be suitably allayed,” the court observed.

Noida, May 21
Traders under the banner of the Noida Entrepreneur Association (NEA) today held a protest outside the office of the general manager of Paschinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PVVNL), A.P.Mishra, at Sector 16 against power cuts for more than 12 hours here.

The association has threatened to stop payment of power bills if the power situation does not improve from Monday.

After demonstrating, industrialists submitted a memorandum to Mishra, who promised them better power supply in the next few days. Mishra expressed helplessness and told the industrialists that power generation in state had declined and they had no choice but to resort to power cuts as per the directions from the UP Power Corporation Limited.

“Industries are not able to run even a single shift. There can be no work even in the night as there is no power from 10 pm to 6 am in industrial sectors. During daytime too, the areas are facing power cuts of 4 to 6 hours,” said Rakesh Katyal, president, NEA.

The industries are suffering huge losses because of the power cuts. Orders of several industries were cancelled because they could not supply on schedule,” said Bimla Bothom of Mahila Udyami Parishad.

Noida residential sectors reported power cuts of 4 to 5 hours and Greater Noida residents reported power cuts of 6 to 9 hours.

New Delhi, May 21
The issue of hike in value added tax (VAT) on diesel in Delhi could not be worked out at a meeting of the Union government’s empowerment committee held today.

The meeting was attended by the members of the empowerment committee and revenue ministers of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh— A. K. Walia, Captain Ajay Yadav, Manpreet Singh Badal, Amar Agarwal and Rakesh Hooja, respectively.

The ministers refused to accept the demand of the Delhi government to hike VAT on diesel in their states, saying it would affect the sale of diesel in their states. Now, it has been decided to hold a meeting of the Chief Ministers of the states.

The Delhi government is under pressure from the petrol dealers’ association of the city, which is demanding reduction in VAT on diesel in Delhi. But the government is pressurising the Centre for bringing in parity in diesel rates in states.

New Delhi, May 21
A 52-year-old gift shop owner was stabbed to death in DDA flats of Kalkaji area allegedly by a former minor employee following an argument over pending salary.

The incident took place around 11 pm yesterday.The victim Jaganath Partho hailed from Orissa and ran a gift shop in CR Park.

The accused 17-year-old boy had worked in Partho’s shop till sometime and Partho had to give him around Rs 5,000. Last night, the boy reached Partho’s house and demanded his money. “There was some argument and the boy allegedly stabbed Partho. Hearing the commotion, neighbours gathered at the spot and locked the door from outside so that the boy could not flee,” the official said.

However, the boy broke open the bathroom’s window and tried to get down using the water pipe when police caught him. The boy hails from Almora in Uttarakhand. “He told us that he had not been paid salary for the past two months. Whenever he asked for salary, Partho allegedly abused him ,” the official said.