New Delhi, March 7
Delhi University is all set to celebrate the 100th International Women's Day tomorrow. While the Delhi University girl colleges have been deliberating on several dress codes, theatre and dance groups will be putting up shows across the campus.

Most girl colleges have worked around on a theme based on one colour associated with the day.

While girls at Lady Shri Ram College have decided to wear green tomorrow, Miranda House girls will be seen donning purple-coloured wrist bands.

"Purple, green and white are the official international women's colours. The colours originate from the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) that was active in the UK in 1908. White colour represents purity, purple stands for justice, dignity, self-reverence and self-respect (representing the women's vote) and green is the colour for hope and new life. We chose green this year and have put up posters across colleges for girls to see" said Chestha Mukherjee from the college union, LSR.

"Recently, the use of the colour white has been rejected as 'purity' is a controversial issue. However, the introduction of the colour gold representing 'a new dawn' has been commonly used to represent the second wave of feminism. So we have flashed the gold background on all the banners surrounding the auditorium. We are all set for tomorrow's function," said Preeti Gosain of Jesus and Mary College.

Also, a street play on domestic help--"Naukarani" will be held tomorrow at Women's Study and Development Centre, north campus.

"The play brings to light the sexual abuse, domestic violence, discrimination and the issue of trafficking of female domestic workers and how even the police sides with the rich and influential party -- the employer. We hope to have good attendance tomorrow," said actor Pankaj Yadav of the play.

In some colleges, teachers have also decided to take some time off with their girl students.

"Girls in our colleges have arranged for a day of film screenings in the auditorium. We, as teachers, are supporting them. We have decided to give them some time off tomorrow so that they can watch some of the most celebrated movies around women.

Many teachers are also planning to attend the festival," said Shoba Mitra, English (H) faculty at Kamla Nehru College, south campus.

New Delhi, March 7
Amidst all tall talks of women empowerment, the ground reality seems to be discordant even in the country's Capital where the Mahila Panchayats seem to have added some verve to the movement, but it is still a long way to go.

The contradiction found clear resonance on the eve of International Women's Day at Talkatora Stadium where hundreds of women, from various resettlement colonies and panchayats gathered to celebrate the spirit of women. The empowered lot might have managed to convey a hunky-dory picture as far as the women's status is concerned.

On the occasion, the Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit pointed out that the contribution of women goes unrecognised even as more than 75 per cent of work is done by them.

"They work both within households as well as outside, but their share doesn't come to the focus, especially because their labour is covered under the unorganised sector. It is important to value their work by quantifying their output through monetary compensation," stressed Dikshit.

According to women activists, the major roadblock in achieving the desired status for women, be it on income, respect or overall rights, is the patriarchal society where women are considered to be a burden and a sympathised lot.

What's more, families marry off their daughters early to avoid investment in education and dowry, with more than 50 per cent of marriages involving girl children below 18 years, said director of Centre for Social Research Ranjana Kumari, while speaking to The Tribune.

"With an alarming dowry death happening every day in the country, still the urban rich and the educated class marry off their daughters with dowry," observed Kumari.

She expressed concern over the dilution of the dowry laws, with the proposed amendments of making the IPC section 498 (a) non-cognisable, bailable and compoundable.

While regressive attitude and male-dominance of men over family matters poses a major hurdle to women's coming forward for their rights, prevalence of dowry practice irrespective of class and income ladder along with insecure spaces are the main factors behind the disturbing trend of rising crimes against women.

Citing a recent study by International Centre for Research on Women, Kalpana Vishwanath of Jagori, an NGO, said, "Indian men constitute the highest percentage among men who do not believe in women empowerment, thus highlighting the duality existing in society. The way to a dignified and secured future is still distant and for this the operational network has to be widened."

In view of the increasing cases of women assault and sexual harassment, measures like involving women in the transport sector would help as a majority of such incidents are reported from buses and public spaces.

While admitting to the fact, the chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women, Barkha Singh said, "The rising crime against women needs to be addressed and on our part we have been mobilising women through security training of 43 Mahila Panchayats."

"By broadening the network of safety steps, women would have safer access to public places. Conditions have to be created and in this regard, there have been transport training programmes for women.

The idea is to get women into transport sector so that public places and vehicles would be more accessible. This would bring about an image change," asserted Vishwanath.

New Delhi, March 7
Four major retail chains and other shops downed shutters at popular malls in south Delhi Monday to protest against the 10 per cent excise duty proposed on branded apparel.

"We protest on behalf of our customers, suppliers and employees. We demand that the government rolls back the 10 percent excise on garments and made-up's in full support of Clothing Manufacturers' Association of India (CMAI) and Retailers Association of India (RAI)," read a common poster pasted at the shuttered outlets.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee proposed the tax while presenting his budget for fiscal in Parliament on February 28.

Retailers argued that the hike has not gone down too well with customers and that they are on strike because they want government to reconsider its decision.

The strike notwithstanding, the high-end DLF Emporio Mall in Vasant Kunj got a fair share of its niche customers in international luxury stores like Jimmy Choo, Giorgio Armani, Versace and Zegna, among others.

A noteworthy fact was that most Indian designers like Meera-Muzaffar Ali, Shantana & Nikhil, Tarun Tahiliani, Raghavendra Rathore and Ravi Bajaj, on the second floor of the plush mall, had shut shop.

However, an official from the mall pointed out that some of the shops could have been closed as Monday is usually their weekly day off.

"We don't interfere with individual shop owner's decisions. Many shops are usually shut on Monday, so it is hard to tell which one is shut due to the strike. We would have worried if it was a Tuesday or Wednesday or any other day of the week," an official of the DLF Emporio Mall told IANS.

Though there weren't too many customers at the mall, they were surely seen sipping a cup of coffee in the sophisticated cafetaria on the ground floor.

At the DLF Promenade Mall next door, shop owners were more forthright about aligning with the protest. While some had downed shutters, others had dimmed the lights with two or three workers sitting inside.

"We are shut due to the strike," said the manager of apparel store Biba, while the manager at the Satya Paul store was preparing to shut work at 4.30 pm.

"All Genesis Colors' brands are shut due to the strike today," said the manager at the Satya Paul store.

The Marks & Spencer store had its shutter half down, while other international brands like Mango, Esprit, La Senza and Promod weren't open at all. However, there was no indication of whether it was due to the strike or because Monday is their weekly day off.

At the recently developed Ambience Mall, four major retail chains - Shopper's Stop, Lifestyle, Pantaloons and Westside were shut, and they flaunted the protest poster.

The Home Centre wing of Lifestyle was open, while lights were dimmed at high-end store The Collective, and the shutters were down at Tommy Hilfiger.

Some shoppers, who weren't aware of the strike, were disappointed, but they either preferred to look around in the stores that were open or chose to pamper themselves with high tea.

"Ab aa hi gaye hain toh ghoom hi lein (Now that we have come, why not roam around for a bit)," said a middle-aged woman, accompanied by her friend.

The strike notwithstanding, a lot of youngsters walking hand-in-hand dominated the scene at the DLF Promenade Mall and the Ambience Mall. — IANS

New Delhi, March 7
The Unique Identification (UID) number will provide a definite identification of individual and enable the person to access various financial benefits.

The government is doing a survey for this that will be completed by October, said Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in a review meeting held today.

She said chief secretary Rakesh Mehta would oversee and monitor the progress on regular intervals.

Information in respect of 8.77 lakh below poverty line and other vulnerable families is ready, hence, it was decided to initiate enrollment of these families immediately. This will enable the city government to prepare a ground for the linkage of LPG subsidy to these families.

The UID number will be issued to all persons, though fingerprints and iris images through the machines will be taken only for the persons above five years of age. The detail during enrollment process will include name, age, parents' name, address, 10 fingerprints and two iris images. This will overcome the problem of multiple identification and duplicate access to the benefits of the social schemes.

The city government proposes to launch a campaign to bring awareness on the importance of UID numbers.

The National Unique Identification Authority (NUIA) will provide publicity material and well-designed and well-conceptualised jingles and spots for this purpose.

It has been decided to deploy 3,000 machines for the purpose. A machine is capable of completing enrollment exercise of 50 persons in a single day.

With deployment of 3,000 machines, it is expected that the enrollment in respect of 1.5 lakh would be completed in a single day.

New Delhi, March 7
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) authority said it had started the implementation of sports policy in over 1,500 municipal schools for their overall development.

Education committee chairman Mahender Nagpal said initially the first phase had been taken up. "We have started putting into practice the sports policy that was passed recently by the corporation. Under the policy the schools would be enhanced with sports facilities so as to help students in excelling in their interest of sport," said Nagpal.

In the first phase, which comprises 19 schools, playgrounds would be developed at the cost of Rs 1 crore. The play grounds have already been developed in four schools in which training to students for individual and team events is being imparted.

Nagpal further informed that in total 150 schools would be taken up for the development of playgrounds.

Besides, to improve the environment in the schools, greenery would be improved with the help of the Horticulture Department and swings would also be provided in the schools.

The sports policy also includes a proposal for providing monetary benefits to the municipal students. Taking the MCD's financial constraints into consideration, the policy aims to encourage sports that require minimum facilities. The list includes judo, karate, taek wondo, boxing, swimming, gymnastics and chess.

The MCD would soon recruit trainers, who would be paid from the fund reserved for teacher's salaries.

"For sports like swimming, we already have facilities in our schools, but we need qualified coaches and professionals. We might bring in well-known personalities to train our students," said Nagpal.

New Delhi, March 7
The Delhi High Court today issued notices for contempt of court to the additional director general, health and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for denying an MBBS doctor admission in a masters course despite the court's order last week.

Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjeev Khanna said: "Why have you not allowed the child to take admission even after this court has directed on March 4 to allot a seat? You have committed contempt of this court order."

"Issue notice to additional director general, health, central government and AIIMS. They will have to file their reply by March 15, with a clarification on which ground he was denied admission twice," said the court.

Varun Aggarwal, also denied a seat last year due to a change in the prospectus just before the counselling date, had approached the court, which Friday directed AIIMS to allot him a seat in a masters course.

"The AIIMS authorities will have to allot a seat to Varun Aggarwal in PG course in the general category either in surgery, gynaecology or orthopaedics in the next academic session in July 2011," the bench said.

In his petition, Aggarwal alleged that the AIIMS authorities had failed to follow the existing procedure and changed the prospectus just ahead of the counselling date in June 2010. On that ground, he was not allowed to get admission in MS (surgery) despite holding 179th rank in the merit list.

The court said: "The AIIMS may have been conferred with the privilege of institutional preference, but that would not enable it to change the prospectus in the manner it has been done. Thus, the action of the AIIMS on this score is vitiated and we cannot give a stamp of approval to the action of the institution."

"The hopes and aspirations of the students, who came within the zone of merit, cannot be scuttled by changing the prospectus by way of introducing a corrigendum. By issuing a corrigendum, the scenario of results changed because further results were published and more candidates were called," the court observed.

"The conditions stipulated in the prospectus are guidelines for all concerned and everyone is required to follow the same in letter and spirit and not act in transgression," the court added

After the court direction, Aggarwal went for counselling on Saturday, but was again sent back and approached the bench on Monday. — IANS

New Delhi, March 7
Continuing its drive against unauthorised constructions, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) today demolished illegal portions in nine properties of Central and Civil Lines zones.

The Building Department took the demolition action with the help of the police, amid protest from the residents.

The action was taken in the areas of Kamla Nagar, Shakti Nagar, Kadipur village and Adarsh Nagar. The action was also taken on illegal portions falling in the Civil Lines zone of the civic body. In this zone, the action was taken in Vishwakarma Colony.

"The department successfully completed the exercise in these areas with the help of the police," an official said.

New Delhi, March 7
The New Delhi district police has arrested three youths, including one having association with Hizbul Mujahiddin, allegedly involved in running a fake currency

racket. Counterfeit notes with a face value of over Rs 10 lakh have been recovered from them.

According to the police, the trio was arrested from the Khan Market area yesterday. One of the arrested has been identified as Mohd Yunus (32), who was earlier arrested after the J&K police recovered a grenade and other weapons from his house. He had contacts with local Hizbul elements. The other two arrested have been identified as Sirajuddin (26) and a graphic designer Mohd Asif (26). "The two accused were arrested after our police got to know about their movement from the Khan Market area yesterday. Later, Asif was arrested from their rented accommodation in the Daryaganj area. Yunus hails from Ramban in Jammu. He is the son of a forest guard and was arrested in September 2003 for possessing a hand grenade, a pistol and a knife. He was released on bail in December 2005, but had stopped attending court since 2008," said K C Dwivedi, additional commissioner (New Delhi).

While the police recovered Rs 2-lakh fake currency from the duo in Khan Market, a raid at their rented accommodation led to the recovery of another Rs 8 lakh fake currency.

The police also recovered computer, printer, scanner, leaf machine, green and blue foils, cutter, cartridges, papers and raw materials used for preparing fake notes. While Sirajuddin was earlier engaged in selling pirated CDs, Asif has done a graphic designing course and was entrusted with preparing fake currency.

Younis and Sirajuddin were mainly responsible for circulating it.