New Delhi, January 2
A 60-year-old woman was allegedly raped and killed by a man in the Civil Lines area of North Delhi two days ago. The Delhi police has arrested Achey Lal (45), resident of Timarpur, in this connection and according to senior police officers, accused has confessed to the crime after they found his mobile near the dead body found at house number L-11, Majnu Ka Tilla.

According to Rupinder Kumar, Additional DCP (North), accused Achey was known to victim Sharda and after consuming alcohol inside her house, he sexually assaulted her.

The incident was reported on December 31, when the police discovered naked dead body of victim on the ground floor of her house.

During investigation, it was revealed that she was a poor woman and worked as a maid in various houses in the locality.

"It was also learnt the Achey Lal of Gopalpur village, Timarpur was the last person seen at the place of incident by the witnesses. His mobile phone Nokia-1102 was also found lying near the body.

Achey Lal was apprehended and was interrogated. Initially, he tried to mislead the police by saying that she was a motherly figure for him but after intense interrogation, he broke down and confessed to having killed the lady after raping her," said Kumar.

The accused had also been arrested in a rape case earlier but was acquitted by the court.

During interrogation, Achey Lal disclosed that his wife had gone to her native place a long ago. The victim was the wife of his labourer and he usually visited their house.

"On the day of the incident, Achey Lal reached her house and sent her husband for work. After he was alone in the house with victim, he consumed alcohol and sexually assaulted her. When she tried to resist, he shut her mouth with a cloth and murdered her," said Kumar.

Achey Lal originally comes from Sultanpur district of UP and is working for last 15 years with various tent owners. He has 7 children and belongs to a poor family.

He is a habitual drunkard.

New Delhi, January 2
It is a placement season at Delhi University once again and with the winter break slated to end in a couple of days, many promising recruiters are set to come for hiring. Contrary to popular belief, placements at DU are not just concentrated in the commerce department, but companies from various fields like sports, art, culture and media also come and hire hundreds of students every year.

Once the university reopens, companies will be flooding the campus for placements. While some banks and private corporate have already declared dates for the written test and interviews, any other companies will elect candidates in the coming months.

"A good number of students would be placed this year as a lot of companies have come to the campus as compared to last year," said an official from the placement cell.

The Delhi University's central placement cell is largely managed by students with help from teachers. Students of Sri Ram College for Commerce and Stephen's College have so far bagged the highest package of Rs 38 lakh from Deutshe Bank.

"Many more companies are yet to come. Google is one company that has been regular with DU placements for the last three years. Citi Bank, Bank of Switzerland and many other potential hirers are yet to come. Apart from the hardcore economic stream, we have tried to call many media agencies, public relations and advertising firms to hire students. Some fellowships like the Gandhian Fellowship and NREGA give students a chance to work in the social work sector as well. We try to collaborate with many companies from various fields every year," said Shreya Majumdar, member, Central Placement Cell, DU.

"Apart from the central placement cell, every college has its own placement cell. We coordinate with them and see what kind of jobs students are interested in. We accordingly contact companies who generally don't hire from college students. Many times we receive positive responses. From being employed in small publishing firms to research assistants for movies and documentaries, we help the students get it all," said Shreya.

Aneesha Goswami, Lady Shri Ram College, Journalism (Hons), said, "Ours is a professional course, but we don't have formal placements after the course ends. Earlier, many students opted for higher studies, but for the last two years, the active placement cell of the college has led to many publications and channels. I myself got placed at Google through college last year."

The people amused that the reason, given by Amar Singh for resigning from the Samajwadi Party was to his ill health. But Amar Singh has after that gone on a foot march holding public meetings and his favourite words seem to be "If I open my mouth, Mulayam will go to jail". Politics makes strong friendship and then stronger enemies.

India’s Al Gore

Narendra Modi

Nitish Kumar may not have wanted the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendar Modi to campaign in his state Bihar. Maybe somewhere that is responsible for Modi's efforts to change and reinvent himself. Lately, he was refused an American visa for some conference in America. That in itself was a blow to Modi and shame to the Indian government--a Chief Minister of Gujarat was refused visa by the Americans.

Narendar Modi has recently penned down a book on climate change. It is modelled on Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth". Modi has written many books in Gujarati on various subjects like 'Ek Swayamesevak' and 'Prem Tirth'. His books have been published in Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Gujarati.

The Gujarat government is leaving no efforts to try and make Narendar Modi as India's Al Gore. Modi's is one of the rare ones whose books can be read online too.

Narendar is up to date on everything that is good for his state, it seems.

'Patience is a virtue'

Sonia Gandhi

The big wait for the long overdue reshuffle of the union cabinet and AICC does not seem to be happening soon.

One of the reasons is that a senior leader has advised the party high command that there should be no changes till January 14 as it is Makar Sankranti. The stars will be favorable for the Congress then. As it is, some Congress men feel that the party is facing a very difficult time nowadays. So, it is best to wait for the auspicious day to come in. At the 83rd plenary session of the Congress, Sonia Gandhi in her concluding address said that it is best to be patient and wait for your turn. She said there are many qualified and deserving people in the Congress who have been left out.

She also said that everyone in the Congress will be given a chance. "Patience is a virtue" is what Gandhi seems to be preaching here. Hopefully the high command will pay heed to what Jyotiraditya Scindia said at the session that the "Ganesh Parikrama" to Delhi must stop for the dedicated grassroot party workers for party tickets. And the ones who left the Congress when the party was at a low should not be allowed to join once the Congress comes back to power.

The public at the moment does feel a bit let down by the ruling government and does hope for a positive change of guard. With so many leaders involved in scams and scandals, talent seems to be missing. Most probably they are also thinking of pulling talented and dedicated

Congressmen from state to the centre. That to would be good no doubt.

Greater Noida, January 2
In view of suicide attempt by an MBA student when she caught copying in the examination, the Greater Noida Technical Institutions Association has decided to impart art of living training to students so that they do not develop suicidal tendencies.

Today, Ishan Institute of Management Technology (IIMT) students were given the art of living tips. Association president DK Garg, who is also the chairman of the IIMT, said, "There is a need of human values and art of living training for the students to prevent suicidal tendencies among them."

"High education loan, job competition and the high expectations of the parents put the students under tremendous pressure to show results higher than his or her ability," said Garg."

Some universities too have initiated the steps. Vice-chancellor of Mahamaya Technical University (MTU) SK Kak said, "Now orientation programmes have been planned to train the teachers for human values and professional ethics. Without clearing this course students will not get the degree despite passing their degree examinations."

"Thirty-three teachers from the colleges affiliated to UP Technical University were trained in December," said Bhanu Pratap Singh, Orientation Programme coordinator.

The management of the institute feels that it would help the students in understanding the human relationships and decrease depression and prevent suicidal tendencies among them.

"The objective of the course is to help the students appreciate the essential complementary between values and skills to ensure sustained happiness and prosperity which are the core aspirations of the human beings," said Pushyapati Saxena, MTU registrar.

"This kind of course will help us in reducing stress and will prevent suicidal tendencies among the students. The students will be able to understand the breakdown of relationships, generation gap, depression and ways to handle such situations," said Rajni Sharma, a student.

IEC College director Naveen Gupta said," The course is beneficial for the students. It will help them understand themselves and human values. They will understand that without the study of human values the technical education can generate more problems than solutions. Further, they will understand that lack of understanding of the human values is the root cause of all problems.”

“Everyone is prone to make mistakes and chooses wrong path. One should face the challenges of the life. Life is precious and one should not think of ending it even under adverse conditions," said Sunny Bhandari, another student.

Gunjan Kumari, MBA student of BBS College, had attempted suicide by jumping from the third floor at the Skyline Institute on Wednesday after she was allegedly caught copying in the examination. Luckily she survived and only suffered fractures.

New Delhi, January 2
When allopathy fails in providing long-term relief, the role of homoeopathy begins and this notion seems to be holding ground in people's belief at large as a gradual shift from allopathic to homoeopathy medication is seen, be it common influenza, H1N1 or any chronic ailment.

If experts of the traditional medicine system, the second oldest after ayurveda, are to be believed an increase of 30 per cent in patients resorting to homoeopathic advice has been seen.

While doctors attribute the rise to several factors, including the cost-effectiveness of homoeopathy and side effects of allopathic drugs, several national-level trials and studies are underway to assess the efficacy of homoeopathic medication in controlling the complications arising in several diseases.

In this regard, two prominent centers begin a multi-centric study on influenza in many regions, including Noida and another on influenza-like illnesses, including H1N1 in Kerala. "The council has started control trials - one for influenza-like illnesses, in which two lakh people in Kerala have been administered a drug, arsenicum album, as a part of a study, done after H1N1 outbreak gripped many states in 2009.

The results are under final analysis and we are now compiling the data for release," said Director General of Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy Dr Chaturbhuja Nayak.

According to Dr Nayak, homoeopathy surely takes an edge when it comes to viral ailments, like chikungunya, viral conjunctivitis, chickenpox, etc. and it also ensures better management of chronic as well as incurable diseases, including cancers, HIV/AIDS and TB by preventing complications and facilitating palliative care.

"The tendency to catch cold and cough if not treated from the roots, may aggravate to become tonsillitis leading to chronic bronchitis or asthma due to suppression by allopathic drugs, antihistamines, antibiotics and steroids. This is when the role of homoeopathy begins and these days, it is becoming popular due to the side effects of allopathic drugs, which may only suppress the symptoms. Take for example, pain killers like voveran and brufen in case of arthritis these actually decalcify the bones and make the person weak. However, this would not happen with the homoeopathic drugs," said Dr SPS Bakshi, president of the Homoeopathic Medical Association of India.

While homoeopathic drugs are milder in comparison to allopathic medicines. These treat the cause while the allopathy only destroys the symptoms. So, the merits of traditional system in managing allergies and chronic disorders cannot be ruled out, say homoeopaths.

"The homoeopathic treatment is simple and cost-effective as well as safe and harmless," stressed Dr Nayak. Homoeopathy works very well in case of genetic, hereditary and chronic problems and allopathy is effective in acute cases like heart attacks, fractures, etc., he added.

New Delhi, January 2
The prices of onion in the national Capital continue to hover at Rs 45-60 per kg, depending on its quality. Traders in Delhi's Azadpur Mandi said onion prices are unlikely to witness a sharp fall before the arrival of fresh crops, which is expected by the middle of this month.

The supply of onions from Rajasthan to Delhi has been low due to higher retail prices in Jaipur and other cities in the state, they said, adding that the Gujjar agitation has also affected supply. In order to provide relief to consumers, the Centre plans to sell imported onions in retail markets through outlets of Mother Dairy.

On December 20-21, onion prices had skyrocketed to Rs 70-85 per kg in Delhi from Rs 30-35 due to crop damage in the key growing states of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

The Centre had banned onion exports and abolished import duty to boost domestic supply and curb rising onion prices, which helped bring down the prices to some extent. However, they are still quite high.

According to government data, onion retail price stood at Rs 52 per kg in Delhi on December 31, 2010.

On the other side, the BJP protested against the rising prices of CNG and PNG. It said that the state government has put extra pressure on the on the first day of the new year.

"The government has taken an anti-people decision by increasing the prices of CNG and PNG. It will have adverse effect on lakhs of people of Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida," said Vijender Gupta, the Delhi BJP chief.

Gupta claimed that due to the increase in the prices of onion, tomatoes, milk and vegetables 30 per cent extra burden has been imposed on every household in Delhi. The increased price of cooking gas will increase the burden further.

During the last 18 months, the price of CNG was increased by 7 times. The price has now been increased to Rs 29 per kg. The price of piped gas supply has also been increased by Rs 2.15 per cubic metre.

New Delhi, January 2
Almost six months of dormancy after this year's Delhi University Students' Union was elected, it has suddenly sprung into action. But not for protests or raising any serious concerns in the student community but for remodelling the union room, changing the banners, organising the New Year party for the DUSU alumni and correcting the names of colleges and much more.

Consistent statements from the DUSU office have been boasting of such deeds in the recent past. Instead of addressing issues like the delaying of college fests due to lack of space or the implementation of the semester system where the union did not stage even one significant protest, DUSU seems to be busy with many other things.

Luckily, one of the appreciated moves by the union is the organization of a seminar on global warming, but it comes at a time when students are busy with exams.

"We had no support from them when we wanted help during the fiasco between the labourers of Commonwealth Games and the paying authorities, they were nowhere to be seen when hostels were evacuated for the Commonwealth visitors. Not one significant protest or course of action. Only formal memorandums were submitted which the authorities never took seriously," said Sakshi Thakkar, Miranda House.

"Follow-ups on cases are mostly pending and piling. How does it matter if any college named after a personality name does not have a prefix of "shri". That does not concern the students; these are the issues which do not even qualify to be referred to as one for us," said Dhru Bhandari, Kirori Mal College.

Prof Shirish Kunder, Zakir Hussian College, said, "Previously. student unions had a lot of power in the university. The union was capable of stalling classes for their issues. Now, no one seems to be interested anymore. Students do not connect to their leaders; they in fact don't even know their leaders."

The student union on the other hand maintains they have always been with the students through thick and thin. They have answers ready for every question.