New Delhi, August 10
The Supreme Court's ruling allowing examinees to access their evaluated answer sheets under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has brought cheer to students, but some school and college principals say "the move is a misfit for the education system".

"From the student's perspective, it is a respite. They will get to see more clarity and might even see change in marks, but for the CBSE it would be tough to revisit the logistics and managerial resources," said Madhulika Sen, principal of Tagore International School in south Delhi.

Ruling that evaluated answer sheets were covered under the definition of "information" under the RTI Act, the apex court yesterday said its judgment applied to all examinations, including those conducted by public service commissions, universities, the CBSE and other boards and professional agencies.

"How can you overburden the CBSE, which is too busy with work related to class X and XII exams and when the number of school students in the Capital is already over 3 lakh," said Jyoti Bose, principal of Springdales School, Dhaula Kuan.

"Most of the times re-tabulation shows errors in feeding marks into the computer. So that is mechanical error, and not the fault of the teacher," Bose said. Her views were echoed by principal of Delhi University's Ramjas College, Rajendra Prasad, who welcomed the move, but was apprehensive about its misuse.

"It's definitely a step in the right direction and will ensure transparency in the process of examination and trust in the minds of the students," said Prasad.

"It may be misused by some and some criterion must be laid down. If everybody starts filing RTI applications it will only lead to burden and confusion," he added.

Students, meanwhile, were not impressed with the caution sounded by teachers and termed the ruling as a blessing.

The ruling is also a reason to celebrate for students whose marks were goofed up in the past."I've seen many cases where re-tabulation could not satisfy a student whose result was below expectation. What's the harm in a student getting access to his answer sheet? After all, our careers are at stake," said Gunjeet Kaur, a second year student of Hindu College.

"It's indeed a blessing," she added. Kaur's views were echoed by a 31-year-old journalist who got 26 marks in economics in her class XII boards in 2000. However, on re-evaluation, the score went up to 76.

"It was a harrowing experience for me as I knew that it was a mistake. We could only take recourse to re-evaluation," recounts the journalist, who did not wish to be named. "Luckily, the result came on time for me to take admission in the college and course of my choice, otherwise my career would have been ruined. I will definitely celebrate this verdict," she added. — IANS

New Delhi, August 10
Residents of the city woke up to a pleasant surprise as rain hits the capital region early morning today.

Inconsistent showers continued throughout the day disrupting traffic majorly in the evening.

The Meteorological Department recorded 3.2mm rainfall till 5.30 pm today, however, showers continued till late evening.

Even as the rain provided a decent break from the hot and humid weather, many parts of the city experienced traffic jams and waterlogging. Major jams were seen at ITO, Laxmi Nagar, Rohini and Janakpuri.

Ring Road in south Delhi also remained affected by the bad traffic during the downpour.

For tomorrow, the weather department has predicted a generally cloudy sky with a couple of rain spells likely to hit the capital.

"We may see a few spells of rain or thundershowers in the city tomorrow. The maximum and the minimum temperatures are likely to oscillate between 26° and 31° C," said a Met department official.

The department recorded the maximum temperature today settling at 32.7° C and the minimum at 25.8° C, which are both normal for this time of the year.

Over the last week, a few spells of showers had failed to bring down the temperature to the normal levels.

However today, the weather was pleasant after the rain.

The humidity levels, however, remained high, fluctuating between a high and low of 95 and 71 per cent.

Greater Noida, August 10
More and more farmers from Patwari village are coming forward to accept the hiked compensation after signing an agreement. Till late night, around 350 farmers had accepted the hiked compensation from the land and acquisition department at the Greater Noida Authority office. At the time of writing the report, several farmers were still at the office, which was expected to function till 11pm.

Gautam Budh Nagar MP Surindera Singh Nagar told The Tribune, "A total of 1,400 farmers from Patwari village would be entitled to the hiked compensation. The Authority will have to bear an additional burden of Rs 295 crore. Till today evening, around 350 farmers had submitted applications and were issued cheques by late night today."

"After studying the Patwari village pact documents, farmers are coming forward to accept the hiked compensation, giving an approval to the pact," said Nagar

"The court has asked the Authority to reach an out-of-court settlement with Patwari farmers by August 12. The Authority hopes that most of the framers will accept the fresh agreement. These would be submitted before the court," said Nagar.

"We are talking to farmers of other villages too for their views and demands. This will help us in striking a deal with them," said Nagar.

Under the Patwari village pact, the farmers have been given a hiked compensation of Rs 550 per square metre. Besides, they will be entitled to 8 per cent developed land instead of the earlier 6 per cent.

Moreover, the abadi lands would be regularised.

Meanwhile, at Kanarsi village here, farmers today held a panchayat of around 10 villages and decided to move the court for their demands.

New Delhi, August 10
Following the hue and cry over the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) report that has pointed out financial irregularities in the Commonwealth Games projects, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has called a meeting of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) on Friday, sources said.

The meeting has been called to discuss the CAG report and make a strategy to tackle it.

All MLAs have been asked to attend the meeting to know the government's stand.

Since the day the CAG report was tabled in Parliament, the Chief Minister reiterated that she has not been indicted in the report. There was no mention of corruption and scam in the report. It had only pointed out cost escalation.

Avoiding facing the media, she deployed Arvinder Singh Lovely to brief about the CAG report on Monday.

Dikshit will inform the MLAs about the government defence on the CAG findings and is expected to field them to inform people about the issues.

She is also expected to explain to the MLAs about the circumstances in which the government had to take certain decisions ahead of the Games.

New Delhi, August 10
The Delhi police today offered Jai Prakash Narain National Park, adjacent to Firoz Shah Kotla Ground in central Delhi, to Anna Hazare for his indefinite hunger strike demanding a stronger Lokpal Bill inclusive of the Prime Minister in its preview.

The offer comes two days after team Anna, consisting of Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan, met senior Delhi police officials and requested them to decide upon the venue so that they could get adequate time to publicise about it and make the arrapgements.

However, the park is still not the final venue because as per the information, the team is yet to receive a go-ahead in this regard.

"We are yet to receive a formal communication from the police. Once we do, our senior members will have a look at the proposed venue and only then the decision will be taken about holding the fast there," said a member of team Anna.

The social activist had announced that he would go an on indefinite fast from August 16 at Jantar Mantar.

However, the police had rejected his demand that he be allowed the month-long fast at Jantar Mantar on various grounds, including that the place was not adequate for accommodating thousands of people who are expected to join Anna in the fast.

The police had then suggested Burari grounds as an alternative site which was rejected by the Gandhian leader because the place was not adequately connected with the Metro and buses.

The team also suggested four alternative venues - Boat Club, Rajghat, Ramlila Maidan and Shaheedi Park near ITO.

New Delhi, August 10
Crime Branch of the Delhi police yesterday arrested a pilot, Gaurav Jain (21), who had submitted forged documents to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for obtaining a Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL).

As many as 12 pilots were arrested earlier for submitting forged documents to the DGCA. Four touts who helped them in getting the documents and three DGCA officials were also arrested. Five pilots are still absconding.

The racket came to light when D C Sharma, Director Training and Licensing, Civil Aviation Department, had complained to the police on April 1 this year. He had told them about the submission of forged documents by Jain and one, Abhishek Kaushik. They both had applied for a CPL.

When Jain became aware of the complaint registered against him by the DGCA, he approached the Indore Bench of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, which granted him anticipatory bail for two months. He then applied for anticipatory bail at the Court of Sessions in Saket, which dismissed it on August 6.

During the interrogation, Jain had disclosed that in 2008, he went to Canada and joined the Sky Quest Aviation Limited in Vancouver. He obtained a Canadian CPL in 2009. When he returned to India, he appeared for the pilot licence examination conducted by the DGCA as he wanted to convert his Canadian CPL into an Indian one.

Jain appeared in the October 2009 examinations for two papers--Air Navigation Composite and Air Regulation, but he failed in the former.

He appeared again for Air Navigation Composite in the January 2010 examinations, but did not pass it.

During this period, he met Manoj Dhaka, a CPL holder. Dhaka assured him that if he was paid Rs 30,000, he could obtain a CPL through his contacts in the DGCA. Jain paid the amount and gave his documents to Dhaka.

Dhaka prepared a forged mark-sheet showing Jain to have passed all the papers. He then submitted it to the DGCA in April 2010. Jain was subsequently issued a CPL in June 2010.

"Dhaka is also an accused in another case where he had taken Rs 50,000 from one Rohit Kapoor (already arrested) and helped him in obtaining his CPL. Raids have been conducted to arrest Dhaka," said Ravi Shanker, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime.

New Delhi, August 10
A laboratory of weights and measures with an intention to enhance consumers' trust and overcome the problem of short weights and measures was commissioned today by the Delhi government at Tilak Nagar.

The laboratory will calibrate the working standards of weight and measures maintained in the zonal offices of Delhi more accurately. The machines in this lab can measure even 10 lakh part of a gram. Earlier, it was only up to 1,000 part of a gram. The machines are highly sophisticated and sensitive in terms of accuracy in comparison to the ones at the laboratory in Wazirpur. The department has also commissioned nine zonal labs for this purpose.

The lab has been set up in collaboration with the directorate of legal metrology, ministry of consumer affairs and GTZ Germany.

"Weights and measures are an integral part of life. The lab will concentrate on weights, measures and volume. It will fulfil the need of a separate helpline to tackle the complaints on inaccuracy in weights and measures," said Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

She expressed confidence that this state-of-the-art secondary standard laboratory would help the department establish high standards in weights and measures in terms of accuracy in Delhi and the department would be able to protect the interest of the consumers in a more effective manner.

"The lab has been set up as per the specifications provided by the union ministry of consumer affairs. It will reduce the problems and complaints relating to inaccuracy in weights and measures and safeguard their interests. It will also be able to establish its utility," said minister of state for consumer affairs Haroon Yusuf.

New Delhi, August 10
Jamia Millia Islamia recently evicted squatters who had been residing stealthily in the university's various hostels. These were largely unwanted elements who had been living with the students in the hostels. Some of them were not even studying at Jamia. The varsity's proctor and his team evicted nine of these squatters.

Jamia's spokesperson Simi Malhotra said, "The proctor and his team paid a late-night visit to the boys' hostel and caught nine people illegally occupying various hostels. Out of the nine people caught, two were outsiders whose cases have been reported to the police. The action was taken by the proctor and a team comprising the provost of the boys' hostel, deputy provosts and hostel wardens."

Malhotra added, "The varsity has also initiated disciplinary proceedings against seven others who had gained unauthorized entry into hostels. Jamia has suffered due to these unwanted elements. The proctor and his team will regularly check the hostels so that unwanted elements are not sheltered by the students."

New Delhi, August 10
At times a full-blown picture of a heart attack may fake the exact cause of a disease as in the case of a 42-year-old woman, a resident of Ballabhgarh in Haryana, who was diagnosed with a rare condition-'Tako Tsubo Syndrome'-caused due to an aneurysm (rupture of vessels supplying blood) in the brain.

The condition, noticed hardly in one per cent of patients, actually involves a brain disorder called the sub-arachnoid brain haemorrhage and mimics symptoms of heart attack. And it is this classic nature of the brain disorder that very often results in such patients being rushed to a cardiologist alone and hence the patients fail to get the complete treatment.

So the role of the cardiologist becomes vital who instead of assuming it as a case of heart attack and cardiac enzymes should refer the case to experts of neurology or neurosurgery for detailed tests as happened in the case of Omwati, who was taken to Apollo Hospital after she had visited two other hospitals of Faridabad.

It was on December 18 around 4 am that Omwati's family rushed her to the nearby hospital in Faridabad after she was found lying unconscious.

"We rushed her to a hospital after we found her mumbling, sweating and vomiting around 4 am. Doctors told us that she had a heart attack," said Omwati's husband Umed Singh, a farmer who sold off his land for the surgery, which was performed four-five days after she was stabilised by a multi-disciplinary team of doctors, including senior cardiologist Dr S K Gupta and senior neuro-surgeon Dr Pranav Kumar who led the surgical team at Apollo.

Omwati's initial investigations diagnosed her with massive heart attacks, later ascertained at the heart hospital prior to Apollo as a condition described in Japanese medical literature, 'Tako Tsubo Syndrome'. According to Dr Kumar, the brain disorder isn't uncommon as such but the fact that the symptoms of heart attack didn't subside makes it a rare diagnosis.

"After angiography ruled out the chances of any cardiac disorder and later CT scan of the head revealed a sub-arachnoid haemorrhage, in which bleeding occurred deep in the area between the brain and its covering. Such brain haemorrhage is fairly common, with almost all the patients in their ECG showing changes in heart. The symptoms in most of the cases disappear within two-three days. However, in rare cases patients continue to manifest signs and all the tests for assessing the patient's heart condition remain positive as in the case of this patient," explained Dr Kumar.

In reality the patient doesn't necessarily have a true heart attack and the conditions may be due to the release of certain substances called catecholamines that manifest as myocardial infarction, noted Dr Kumar.

"Contrary to a case of cardiac arrest, the blood supply to the heart is normal and hence the heart recovers almost 100 per cent. The catch lies in the condition which is so rare that a full diagnosis becomes difficult as most of the attention shifts to the heart right from the outset. In fact, it was the timely reporting of the case that Omwati could recover. Otherwise the low BP, potentially fatal in high-risk patients, could have led to multiple-organ failure," he remarked.

Omwati was discharged around the first week of January and had yesterday come to Apollo for a follow-up.

New Delhi, August 10
A 30-year-old man got burn injuries in a cylinder blast in the Ashok Vihar area of north-west Delhi last night.

According to the police, the incident was reported from house No 266 of Bharat Nagar around 10 pm.

"Ram Swamy was alone in the house when the incident took place. Although the cause of fire is ascertained, it is believed that there was some leakage from the LPG cylinder that led to the blast and fire," said a police official.

Swamy has been admitted to Babu Jag Jivan Ram Hospital and his condition is critical.

He lives with his wife and daughter in the house, but last night duo had gone to sleep at a relative's house nearby since there was no electricity in the area.