Gurgaon, August 29
Anna Hazare, who was admitted to a hospital here after he ended his 12-day fast for a stronger Lokpal Bill, is stable and moving towards normalcy, doctors said today.

"Nobody knows when he will be discharged. His condition is stable. He has to be monitored. Usually, it takes 2-3 days. When his parameters are established and his body starts tolerating and digesting food, only then he can go," chairman of Medanta Medicity, Dr Naresh Trehan, who was monitoring Anna's health during his fast, said.

The 74-year-old activist was brought to the hospital yesterday after he called off his hunger strike.

Anna wants to take rest and has declined requests to meet him because he is "still very weak", Dr Trehan said.

Various tests have established that the activist's liver and kidneys are normal, he added.

"His condition has improved 30 per cent between yesterday and today. He has not started eating properly but progress is satisfactory," Dr Trehan said.

The doctor said it was important that they increase his diet gradually. "His blood pressure is 130/84 and heart rate is below 80 and this is a good progress. (It is) in the right direction," he said.

"The tests show that blood ketones and urine ketones have decreased," he said, adding his weight has also stabilised.

"It was falling 500 grams (per day) during the fast but it fell only 200 grams yesterday, which is also an indicator that his recovery is on the right path," he added.

"He has slept and has taken a lot of rest since yesterday. He was given juice last evening, and this morning given vegetable soup. Initially, he will be given light fruits and subsequently solid diet," Dr Trehan added. — PTI

Greater Noida, August 29
Rahul's claim of mass rape in Bhatta and Parsaul villages has proved true as seven women alleged rape by policemen, said union minister of state Jitendra Singh while speaking at Bhatta today.

The minister distributed 750 domestic gas connections to the families at three villages of Bhatta, Parsaul and Achhepur.

Singh said the affidavits given by seven Dalit women alleging rape by policemen had confirmed Rahul's claim of mass rape at Bhatta on May 7. Seven women in Bhatta village had alleged rape, but the state government had refuted the charge.

Even the National Commission for Women (NCW) at Parliament had ruled out rape and claimed confirmation of molestation charges.

After submission of affidavits by women, now the NCW is also investigating the case afresh.

The women have stated in their affidavits submitted to the National Commission of the Scheduled Castes (NCSC) that their men folks had fled for fear of arrest and women were alone at homes when some men in uniform raped them.

Though the NCSC had directed the Gautam Budh Nagar SSP to file FIR on the basis of affidavits submitted by them, till date no FIR has been lodged, he said.

The matter was being investigated, said a police officer.

The minister said the new land acquisition policy of the Centre would be beneficial to the farmers.

New Delhi, August 29
The first day of the monsoon session of the Delhi Assembly was adjourned without taking up any business after the BJP leaders created pandemonium in the House to start a discussion on the Comptroller and Auditor-General's (CAG) report which had recently indicted the government for alleged financial irregularities in the CWG projects.

Trouble began after the Leader of the Opposition, VK Malhotra, demanded a discussion on the CAG's report. Other members of the party kept on insisting a debate on the 800-page report, drawing strong reaction from the treasury bench and leading to the adjournment of the House two times in first one hour.

The party leaders also stormed the House on the matter of hike in power tariff announced by the Delhi Electricity Regularity Commission (DERC). They demanded a rollback of the decision taken by the regularity.

The BJP leaders said the DERC was hand in glove with the Delhi government and hiked the tariff with the government's consent. "Despite all three power distribution companies earning huge profits, they still insist on increasing the tariff. The accounts of all three companies should be audited by the CAG in the interest of people of Delhi," said a BJP MLA.

While on the Opposition's demand of raising a debate on the CAG and the Shunglu Committee, Speaker Yoganand Shastri adjourned the House twice for 30 minutes each as the BJP MLAs continued to raise slogans against Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and the Delhi government.

However, Dikshit slammed the BJP for not allowing the House to function and said the CAG report could be discussed in the Assembly as it was being examined by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament.

Shastri said the report could not be discussed in the House as it was being examined by the PAC. On demands for discussion by some BJP MLAs on the Shunglu Committee findings, he said the report was being examined by a Group of Ministers (GoM).

"It is not the Chief Minister who is indicted. The CAG has not said it anywhere in its report. Whether it is the CAG or the Shunglu committee, these are the cases of implied corruption," she said.

New Delhi, August 29
In a heart-wrenching incident reported this evening, two brothers were allegedly strangled by a 24-year-old man who lived on rent in their residence in the Jehangirpuri area of northwest Delhi.

According to the police, the victims have been identified as Sooraj Gupta (7) and Gopal Gupta (5). Their bodies were discovered from under the bed of one Ashok Gupta, the main suspect behind the double murder.

Ashok, who lived in a rented room in the same building and had cordial relations with the victims' family, is absconding.

"The brothers lived with their father, Raja Ram and mother Phool Kumari, on the second floor at H-1/393, Jehangirpuri. The suspect, Ashok Gupta, also lived as a tenant on the second floor of the same building, which is owned by Raja Ram's father-in-law. He is absconding after the incident," said a senior police official, adding that Raja Ram in his statement to the police has said that he did not have any enmity with the suspect.

According to information, the brothers were alone in the house. Raja Ram, a three-wheeler driver had left the house in the morning while his wife had gone to the market leaving behind the victims.

"Sooraj and Gopal had returned from the tuition when their mother left for a nearby market to pick up some grocery. According to her, Ashok was in the house when she left. However, when she returned after an hour or so, children were missing while Ashok's room was locked," said the official, adding that she searched for the children but couldn't find them. She then peeked through the window inside Ashok's room and saw the leg of one her sons.

According to the police, the motive behind the murder is not clear. "Ashok was very close to the family and even took his meals with them. Three days ago, Ashok had a minor quarrel with Raja Ram and since then he had not been eating food at Raja Ram's house. Raja Ram does not believe that Ashok could kill his sons for the minor fight," said the official, adding that investigations are on and efforts are being made to trace the culprit.

New Delhi, August 29
The body of Dinesh Yadav (34) who immolated himself last week in support of Anna's appeal against corruption was today handed over to the bereaved family after a postmortem and other police formalities, said sources from Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital, where he was admitted to the ICU on August 23.

The deceased had come to Delhi from Bihar to express his solidarity for the cause raised by Anna and took the extreme step. He has left behind a poor family and five children.

Dinesh used to do small jobs in Singhada village in Patna district to sustain his family whose future is uncertain now. He was the sole breadwinner. His younger brother Amarjeet lives in Sahibabad here and is engaged in some unskilled work, earning very little.

When Dinesh was recuperating in the ICU, his relatives had reportedly said that no one from Anan's team had come and visited him.

When contacted on the matter, a core committee member of India Against Corruption, the organisation spearheading the Anna-led movement, said, "We have visited him in the hospital and even met the family today when the body was given."

Amidst speculations that Anna' supporter, who sustained nearly 90 per cent burns after he had torched himself near Rajghat, died two days ago, the hospital as well the Delhi police maintained that he succumbed to his injuries this morning.

His brother Amarjeet along with some others has already taken the body to his native village for the last rites.

New Delhi, August 29
Even as the Ramlila Maidan today was vacant after witnessing lakhs of footsteps in the past 10 days for being the protest site of social activist Anna Hazare's hunger strike, some supporters who lost their wallets and other belongings in the milieu are coming to the Kamla Market police station in the hope of any recovery.

According to the police, it has received more than 60 complaints from people who lost their belongings like mobiles, wallets, money, ATM cards, identity cards, etc. during the protest here.

"Apart from 60 missing complaints, two FIRs have been registered and we have arrested three people in these cases. Two persons were arrested on charges of attacking the police on duty while one person was arrested for making a hoax bomb call at the Ramlila Maidan," said a senior police official from central district.

An FIR regarding the attack on policemen on duty was registered after a group of eight drunken men attacked the policemen posted at the VIP gate at the maidan in the wee hours of August 26. Two persons - Anil Tyagi, a BCA student, and Abhisekh, a finance officer with Indigo Airlines - were arrested soon after the incident.

However, the police has failed to make any further arrest because the two say that they do not know the others.

"There were at least eight persons involved in the incident but no more arrest could be made as these two are claiming that they did not know them. Tyagi has claimed that he attacked the policemen after he heard from someone that they had beaten up some supporters. However, we are working to establish the identity of others and more arrests would follow," said the official.

In another case that was reported on the night of August 22, the police has arrested a tout who called up the PCR and claimed that a bomb had been planted at the Ramlila Maidan. "We arrested one man from New Delhi railway station after he made a hoax bomb call from his mobile. He touts for hotels in Paharganj and gets commission for the same," said the official.

New Delhi, August 29
The Ramlila Maidan which had grabbed the attention for the past 12 days and become the address for India's first movement against corruption, today wore a deserted look.

The business in and around the Maidan, which has earned the historic stature, has come back to normal.

The usual state of affairs at the Maidan was a stark contrast to the period when Hazare kept his fast at the venue and brought thousands of people to support him in his anti-corruption campaign.

Only a few tents lie at the Maidan now after the frenzied demonstrations consisting of waving of flags and shouting of slogans like 'Bharat Mata ki jai' and 'Vande Mataram'.

The remaining tents adorning the empty Maidan belonged to a private company, Rishi Tents. Its owner Omi Bansal said. "The tents and the poles will be taken to our godown. We have time till August 31 to empty the Maidan," said Bansal.

He is feeling proud of having provided his services for Anna's campaign. "I have set up tents for many rallies, but his demonstrations were the biggest. I had to set up tents in one lakh sq ft, out of this 70,000 sq ft was for waterproof tents and the remaining 30,000 sq ft for non-waterproof ones," he added.

Besides the tents, there were food stalls, TV crew, medical camp, information centres and mobile toilets, but most importantly, Hazare's makeshift accommodation on stage, which became his home for 12 days. It had only a few mattresses.

The India Against Corruption volunteers were also absent, who with the Delhi police had managed the security of the Gandhian and his supporters. The vendors outside the Ramlila Maidan have also gone back to their usual business after making good money by selling the flags and Anna caps.

Most of the daily-wage earners around the Ramlila Maidan said that the demonstrations were a usual affair.

"The Anna Hazare protests were a normal affair, but I support him as he has brought a change in society by his movement. My business was not affected by the demonstrations, although there were police barricades that prevented me from entering the area around the Ramlila Maidan," said Mukesh, a rickshaw puller.

A tea seller outside the main gate of the Maidan said that he is an ardent supporter of Hazare. "I had closed my stall when people demonstrated here. Although the protests are over, I support Hazare and his movement," said Ramesh Mishra, the tea seller.

New Delhi, August 29
Delhi Technological University (DTU) is in the midst of a placement boom. The DTU academic session began on August 2 and within three weeks, 86 job offers have already been received from 16 reputed companies which have visited the university.

Some of the companies include Microsoft, Deloitte, Goldman Sachs, Direction, Texas Instruments, Indian Oil, Maruti, TCS and Indian Navy.

Neeraj Nimwal, the placement officer at DTU, said, "The highest pay package received so far is Rs 16 lakh per annum and DTU has already booked dates for placements for another 30 companies till September 30. The campus placement will continue till next April."

The companies for which the dates have been booked include Mckinsey, Oracle, Engineers India Limited, NTPC, Wipro, Info Fidelity and foreign companies such as Work Applications of Japan, EPIC of America which offer pay package ranging from Rs 28 to Rs 37 lakh.

Nimwal said, "In the 2010-11 academic session last year, DTU had received 955 job offers from 176 companies. With the impressive beginning that placements have already made this year, the university is expecting to cross its last year's milestone and achieve the target of over 1,000 job offers for its UG and PG batch."

"A major highlight of this year's placement is that the leading companies besides making job offers to the final year students are also offering paid internship to the 3rd year students. This will further enhance the industry interface, prepare students for the technology challenges of the industries and in turn will assure even better pre-placement jobs offers for the students," added Nimwal.

The vice-chancellor, Prof PB Sharma, commented recently that, "Delhi Technological University has a strong focus on industry relevance for its educational and research programmes. Our strategy provides for the troika of education, research and innovations. It is the result of this strategy that the university is experiencing a boost in the number of placements this year as compared to last year."

New Delhi, August 29
The Delhi High Court today slapped a fine of Rs 20,000 on a youth who gave out his former girlfriend's mobile number on a social networking site (Orkut), projecting her as a callgirl, in 2008.

Saurabh, 25, approached the bench of Justice Ajit Bharihoke seeking quashing of an FIR filed against him by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) cell of the Delhi police under Section 67 (publishing of information which is obscene in electronic form) of the IT Act.

"The court imposes on you a fine of Rs.20,000," said the judge.

Meanwhile, the court also ordered quashing of the FIR against the youth after the girl's submission that she wants to withdraw the case.

The duo was studying together in a school in Pushp Vihar area of south Delhi when they became friendly with each other but later separated. The youth took the break-up badly and, deciding to take revenge, he shared the girl’s number on Orkut, saying that anyone can contact her anytime.

After some time, some mutual friends came to know about the matter and tried to sort it out. After some time, the girl, who is now married and lives in Mumbai, agreed to compromise and drop the charges. Therefore, the youth approached the high court, seeking relief. — IANS

New Delhi, August 29
The pull of the unknown, wanderlust and India's richness as a destination of great heritage are the flavours of the 17th Delhi Book Fair 2011.

It is hardly surprising: the official theme of the fair, which opened on Saturday at Pragati Maidan, is travel and tourism.

More than 250 Indian and foreign publishers are hosted here in a bid to promote the domain of travel and tourism in India by linking it to travel literature, a genre whose appeal cuts across all divides.

"The boom in travel in the last decade has created a demand for cheaper travel books in India," Bikash D Niyogi, managing director of Niyogi Books, told IANS.

"Travellers look for books that they can read and throw away," he added. Three of Niyogi's new high-end travel titles include Mussoorie Merchant by Hugh Ashley Rayner, a volume on Chittorgarh Fort by Dharmender Kunwar, and Tracing Marco Polo's Journey: The Silk Route by Major HPS Ahluwalia.

"In the lower price segment, we are publishing Hugh and Colleen Gantzer's travels in four volumes," Niyogi said.

One of the highlights of the fair is "The Highway on My Plate" by travellers and foodies Rocky Singh and Mayur Sharma. The anthology reviews more than 100 eateries across India, including the Tawang monastery kitchen in the heights of Aruanchal Pradesh.

The demand for updated destination guide books has been consistently growing because of increased domestic travel.

"In India, when people set out on a holiday, they do not think of buying a book," Atulya Dev Issar of Diamond Books said. "They buy it impulsively at the destination."

Foreign buyers, on the other hand, plan their itineraries and arrive armed with destination guides, he said.

Jaico's new travel titles - The Afghan Journey, Twitchhiker, The Man Who Swam the Amazon and The Last Tourist in Iran - are targeting the growing tribe of outbound travellers.

The DK Eyewitness Travel Guides, published by Penguin Books, and the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry's state travel guide books have been logging steady sales, an spokesperson for the India Trade Promotion Organisation.

Old favourites like Pico Iyer and William Dalrymple remain in demand. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors has a database that combines guidebooks, fiction and travel education books.

"Increased domestic travel has created a new segment of readership - the Hindi-speaking readers who look for quality travel literature and translation in Hindi," Rajkamal Publications CEO Amod Maheswari said.

These are travelogues with stories.

According to a spokesperson for Wisdom Tree, which has 10 "Incredible India" books on destination, art and culture, the genre has immense potential but it needs more books.

An outlook by the ITPO says the Rs 80-billion book publishing industry is riding a wave of success through innovative marketing and blog discussions.

"Every book on India featuring its history and culture and is a travelogue," said Tarun Kumar of Universal Voice Publishers. — IANS

New Delhi, August 29
A 29-year-old jawan, employed with the artillery section of the Army, allegedly shot himself dead in the Akbar Road residence of a Vice-Admiral where he was posted.

According to the police, the incident was reported around 3.30 pm and the deceased has been identified as Bhoomappa, a native of Karnataka. The reasons behind his extreme action are being ascertained.

According to information, Bhoomappa was posted at the government residence of the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, Vice-Admiral Shekhar Sinha.

"When other employees heard the gunshot, they rushed to Bhommappa and found him lying in a pool of blood. He shot himself in the head by his INSAS- service rifle. He was rushed to the Armed Forces Clinic on Dalhousie Road where doctors declared him brought dead. The body has been sent for post-mortem," said a police official from the Tughlaq Road police station.

No suicide note was recovered from him.

Bhoomappa had joined duty at the Vice-Admiral's house on July 12, 2011.

"Preliminary investigation has revealed that Bhoomappa got married in June and joined duty as sentry at Sinha's house in July. His colleagues said Bhoomappa did not indulge in gossip much and preferred to stay alone. It seemed he was upset over some personal matters," said the official.

His family has been informed about the incident.

New Delhi, August 29
The magic of the monsoon is set to be brought alive through music, song and dance in a three- day festival that begins in the national Capital today.

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations is hosting a Malhaar Festival with performances by renowned musicians and dancers.

Legendary tales speak of the powerful raga in Indian classical music which when sung with passion can cause the sky to burst open in rain.

"Traditionally Malhaar used to signify an invocation to the rain gods. There are at least 12 different kinds of Malhaar with respect to the stages of rain and the various moods it brings," says Suresh Goel, director-general ICCR.

In one of the legends, it is believed that the raga 'Megh Malhaar' was sung to invoke the rain gods and cool musician Tansen's body after he rendered the fiery Raga Dipak to prove to emperor Akbar that his music had the power to start a fire.

Ustad Amir Khan immortalised 'Malhaar' with a track in the film "Baiju Bawra" based on the raga.

Folk singer Malini Awasthi is scheduled to open the festival followed by a performance by Kathak danseuse and choreographer Aditi Mangaldas.

Awasthi, known for reviving traditional styles of music in the Benarasi style would perform several age-old monsoon based compositions such as Benarasi, Awadhi and Mirzapuri Kajri along with a few folk rain songs.

"The ICCR has been celebrating the monsoon festival for over 10 years now," says Goel.

Kathak dancer Sharmishtha Mukherjee would present traditional and contemporary choreographies based on monsoon ragas such as "Dhuliya Malhar" and "Miyan Ki Malhar".

"I am doing a total of six choreographies three of which are group dances and one solo dance depicting the monsoons. One would be dance on recorded sound of dripping water. There will be a lot of experimentation with sound, space and music during this show," says Mukherjee.

Another danseuse Aditi Mangaldas who has attempted to carve out a contemporary vocabulary in kathak says she she would experiment with music and light during the festival.

"My first piece is based on a music composition by Subha Mudgal based on Raag Desh. I am also presenting a contemporary production," says Mangaldas.

Other artists who are participating in the festival include the Gundecha brothers who would present Hindustani "drupad" vocal music.

Other Hindustani vocalists include Ustad Ghulam Sadiq Khan of the Ram Pur Shaswan Gharana and Ghulam Abbas Khan.

Padma Bhushan awardees Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra who have delighted audiences with their high degree of literary content are also scheduled to perform. — PTI

New Delhi, August 29
A 22-year-old unemployed ganja addict was arrested here for allegedly kidnapping a minor girl after taking cue from a television serial, the police said today.

Mohd Sartaj, who was thrown out from an embroidery unit 10 days ago, was apprehended from the Chand Bagh area yesterday and the 3-year-old girl rescued, DCP (North-East) Sanjay Kumar Jain said.

"Sartaj was living in a relative's house in Janta Colony in the Welcome area. He was in dire need of money for buying ganja. He planned to kidnap the girl after he came to know that the victim's father owns three autos.

"He got the idea from a TV serial in which a man gets easy money after kidnapping. As per plan, on the day of incident, he kidnapped the girl from the main road and put up the girl in his relative's house in Mustafabad," Jain said.

Sartaj allegedly kidnapped the girl on Saturday and demanded Rs 1.25 lakh as ransom.

During investigation, the police suspected the involvement of a known person. The victim's father received three consecutive ransom calls over his mobile phone.

"On verification, it came to notice that the telephone booths from where the calls were made situated in a particular locality. Since, the accused was using different PCO booths to evade, all telephone booths in that area were put under surveillance," Jain said.

Sixty policemen headed by inspectors were deployed at around 20 telephone booths.

"Yesterday, one of our head constables found a suspicious person who tried to flee away after seeing police. He was overpowered and arrested," Jain said. — PTI