New Delhi, March 23
The meeting of the Faculty of Social Sciences in Delhi University that was to decide the fate of many courses, including history, economics, geography, political science, sociology and social work today did not pass even one course in the semester system.

The statutory body has called in for another meeting soon to decide on the further course of action.

"We did not receive any of the revised courses from any department. Just the department of social work had its syllabus ready but that also has been put on hold till the time more clarity is seen in the rest of the courses. There has to be a uniform module that would be followed by all the courses. There was a general discussion on the shortcoming and problems of introducing semester system in individual courses," said Prof KK Anand, member, Faculty of Social Sciences.

Even the department of political science failed to make a detailed presentation of its course module. The department had earlier passed the semester system module in its committee meeting.

The faculty members today had almost a four-hour-long meeting with as many as 35 to 38 members and thoroughly discussed every course and the problems within.

"We need more clarification as of now. With the courses not prepared, we do not have any module that tells us the number of main papers, interdisciplinary courses and the language courses," added Anand.

The members also kept in mind that many departments, including history and geography had voted against the semester system over the past week.

"The dissent and the problems of the teachers cannot be ignored. There are time constraints and other factors involved. The general body meetings have had elaborate debate on the semester system, which has to be kept in mind," said another faculty member.

The faculty strongly condemned the university's registrar's letter to the head of the history department, threatening action if the semester system module isn't passed by March 28.

Besides, the directions of the administration to give the names of the teachers who were in support or against the semester system were looked upon as "trespassing" into the rights of the committee members.

"The dean of Faculty of Social Sciences will now be writing to the vice-chancellor about the registrar's letter. This move by the teachers has come now because the academic council never consulted the faculty in the first place. One statutory body cannot function for another. Had we been involved since the beginning, this situation wouldn't have occurred," said another faculty member.

New Delhi, March 23
Estimated Budget for the year 2011-2012 that was presented in the Delhi Legislative Assembly yesterday by the Chief Minister was not more than a political speech. There was nothing in it for the welfare of the citizens, said Jagdish Mukhi, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA during a discussion on the Budget in the House.

Criticising each head of the Budget, Mukhi who was finance minister during the BJP government in Delhi demanded the withdrawal of additional taxes on various goods. Hike in the registration fee on diesel vehicle cannot stop the movement of such vehicles. Now instead of Delhi, people will purchase vehicles from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Hence, the government will lose revenue.

The government should have consulted the neighbouring states before taking the decision on the diesel vehicles, he suggested.

Sweets and namkeens are offered to the guests by the poor. If VAT is levied on these items, poor citizens of Delhi will be affected, he accused.

Keeping in view the welfare of the poor, the government should also withdraw the proposed tax, Mukhi said.

While presenting the Budget, the Chief Minister said that a few goods were exempted from VAT.

Mukhi said it was only eyewash. There was hardly any tax collected from these goods.

Attacking the Chief Minister, Mukhi said that the Budget was presented with the mention of the Commonwealth Games that had given a "bad name" to the country due to financial bungles. The CBI is investigating the case.

The Chief Minister increased allocations in all the heads without considering the expenditure made in the previous year.

Increasing the MLA Area Development (MLAAD) fund by Rs 50,000 is not sufficient. The fund is Rs 2 crore at present. Mukhi suggested that this fund should be increased up to Rs 5 crore.

New Delhi, March 23
A large number of BJP activists today demonstrated near the Delhi Assembly against the budget of the Delhi government, which they claimed, is anti-people and would lead to further price rise.

The demonstrators were detained near Chandagi Ram Akahara when they broke the barricades put up by the police to stop them from reaching the Assembly. They raised slogans like "Delhi karati hahakar, fail hui Sheila Sarkar".

Addressing the demonstrators, Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta said that the Congress government which came to power in the name of the common man had presented an anti-people budget in the 12th year of its rule. No concrete steps had been announced for the welfare of the villages of Delhi, unauthorised colonies, slum clusters, rehabilitation colonies, homeless people, youth, women and senior citizens, he said.

"False promise of making Delhi free from slums has been made in the budget. The lives of the people living in slums cannot improve by constructing 4,000 houses only. Now, 400 villages of Delhi have become jhuggi colonies. There is no budget allocation for the improvement of the villages," Gupta said.

He said that the Chief Minister was so "intoxicated" with power that she did not even think of the Indian culture of entertaining guests with sweets and namkeen and by showing fear of diabetes and blood pressure, imposed a 12.5 per cent VAT on them. 

New Delhi, March 23
The plan of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to set up a veterinary hub in the city has hit a hurdle as the civic agency has been unable to acquire the area identified for it.

The corporation had identified a 27-acre plot at Mukundpur village in northwest for the development of the hub. However, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has objected to the use of the area and the project has not moved beyond paper works.

According to MCD officials, the DDA is not giving the requisite permission for building the hub on the land. The matter was raised at a meeting of the standing committee and councillors had expressed concerns about the proposal.

"We had applied with the DDA, but it did not give us the permission," said MCD commissioner.

As per the plan, the veterinary hub will have various facilities like animal shelters, sterilisation units and a canine cremation ground.

The chairman of the standing committee Yogender Chandolia has asked the commissioner to send a reminder to the DDA in this regard.

"We have decided to write again to the DDA for its permission," said K.S. Mehra, municipal commissioner. He said that the MCD had also removed the encroachments from the area.

The setting up of a veterinary hub was one of the main features of the MCD's annual budget 2011-12 that was proposed by the commissioner in December 2010.

The veterinary hub would be a first-of-its-kind as the MCD does not have any veterinary dispensary or facility at present.

"The creation of such a facility will help pet owners who cannot afford to visit private doctors. Often, pet owners leave ill pets, including dogs, cows and buffaloes, on the streets due to expensive treatments," said Dr R.B.S. Tyagi, director, veterinary department, MCD. He said the treatment facilities would help save lives of many pets.

New Delhi, March 23
Despite the relative success of the National TB Control Programme, it is a distant way to go as far as eradicating the disease is concerned. The disease kills two people every three minutes and accounts for over 3 million deaths annually, as per the official data of the union health ministry's TB Control Programme.

Deputy director general of the TB Control Division, Ashok Kumar said there are still areas that need to be considered for the successful coverage of the treatment therapies and factors like nutrition and hygiene need to be taken up seriously.

After the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme was rolled out a decade ago along with the Direct Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS) following later, the number of patients covered under the national programme has increased, but the gains are still not satisfactory.

Other obstacles in the success of treatment have been improper doses and irregular treatment, given the medication period is six-to-nine months, said Dr R P Vashisht, Delhi TB control officer. Thus, the challenges in attaining the target treatment rate by 2015 are lack of diagnostic centres, delay in diagnosis, break in DOTS treatment, besides the stigma that is attached to the TB.

While DOTS has borne fruit, it has invited criticism in general as under this, it has been noticed that patients who discontinue the treatment due to any reason have been found to be at-risk of multi-drug resistant (MDR), a fatal condition.

"There is a need to generate awareness around the symptoms of the disease and the common symptoms are cough, fever, chest pain and difficulty in breathing, loss of appetite, etc. With 80 per cent being that of pulmonary TB, it is important to see that if a person has cough for more than two weeks he or she should visit a TB centre," Dr Vashisht added. 

New Delhi, March 23
Woman-specific studies seem to be getting serious attention at Indira Gandhi National Open University, with the varsity announcing an entire array of gender-related courses. These programmes include an MPhil in gender and developmental studies, an MA in women and gender studies, certificate and diploma in gender studies and nutritional security, then a certificate and diploma in gender and labour studies and lastly, a certificate and diploma in gender in cinema.

There are also new programmes which include a certificate and diploma in gender and law, gender and science and gender agriculture and sustainable development.

The director, school of gender and development studies, Prof Savita Singh said, "Women's empowerment and education are intrinsically related and the one is not possible without the other. Our country still has a long way to travel before women's empowerment is achieved. Social evils against women abound whether it is violence against women, female foeticide, dowry or wife beating, there is scope for a lot of original work to be done in the field."

Prof Singh added, "There is also considerable interest among a dedicated section of students who are willing to work in this field and there is also a need for trained social workers who will intervene in this area and work steadily towards women's empowerment. Hence, we set up the school for gender and development studies and also started a slew of courses in this challenging field."

The syllabus for the course has been formulated by a panel of experts from within the varsity and expert opinion from outside the varsity has also been considered.

In accordance with the university policy, the MPhil programme will have workload equivalent to 48 credits. Eligibility includes an MA degree in women and gender studies.

The MA in women and gender studies would equip students with the ability to deconstruct the complex power hierarchies and relationships operating in society.

The course structure and syllabus have been carefully devised by a panel of experts. Eligibility conditions include a graduation in any discipline. 

New Delhi, March 23
The Delhi High Court today directed the University Grants Commission (UGC) and Delhi University (DU) to conduct an enquiry into the alleged misappropriation of funds by the Ramjas College management.

The court also directed them to probe the alleged gross irregularities committed by the college management pertaining to the appointment of some staff and deposition of employees' provident fund.

The division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said: "To maintain transparency, DU and the UGC are directed to conduct the enquiry as serious allegations were levelled against the college management."

The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Delhi University Forum for Accountability and Democratisation.

The petition sought a direction to the university to exercise its regulatory function over Ramjas College.

It said the rules for membership of the college's governing body were not followed and there were irregularities in the appointment and promotion in teaching and non-teaching posts.

The court should direct the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to conduct an audit of the college accounts, the petition said. -- IANS

New Delhi, March 23
Suspecting infidelity, a 35-year-old man allegedly stabbed his wife to death in the Gokulpuri area of northeast Delhi last night. Shabana (31) was discovered dead inside her room with three stab wounds. The police has arrested Shabana's husband, Nizamuddin.

The incident came to light in the wee hours of today from house number 14 in the New Mustafabad area of Gokulpuri.

According to the police, Nizamuddin called it around 3 am, saying some unidentified robbers had killed his wife. When the police reached his first-floor residence, he said that four robbers entered the house and one of them killed Shabana for resisting them. However, not convinced by the story, the police questioned the couple's children, and one of them told it that Nizamuddin stabbed Shabana after a quarrel last night.

"We have arrested Nizammuddin and are questioning him. One of his sons, who 12 years old, told us that the couple had a fight last night over Shabana's alleged affair with some other person. Later, Nizammuddin stabbed her. However, Nizamuddin is refuting the charges," said a police official.

New Delhi, March 23
The Delhi police has arrested a woman and her paramour for the murder of her husband who was found strangled close to his house in the Sultanpuri area of outer Delhi yesterday morning.

The police says that Samar Singh (30) was strangled by Ashwani Kumar (24), paramour of his wife Beena (25), on the night of March 21.

According to Chhaya Sharma, the case was cracked after one of the couple's neighbours told the police that Beena had an illicit relationship with Kumar and Singh had no idea about it.

"Following this information, a search was conducted at Beena's house and a torn shirt which had a photocopy of Ashwani's election card was recovered. On interrogation, Beena broke down and confessed to have committed the murder," said Sharma.

Singh had come to know about Beena's affair with Kumar and often scolded her for this. The couple had fought on the night of the murder and Singh had manhandled Beena.

"Yesterday, after being beaten up by Singh, Beena rang up Kumar and told him about the fight, asking him to do something to eliminate Singh. As per a plan, Kumar came to Beena's house in the night and after beating Singh, strangled him," said Sharma.

Singh and Beena had got married five years ago and have a daughter. Kumar, a school dropout, hails from Munger in Bihar and worked as a labourer in Lahori Gate. He too is married and has a son.