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36 students hospitalised after eating midday meal
Land registration fetches RS 367-cr stamp duty
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Boy’s plea against CBSE rejected
Controversies dog DUSU campaigning
Nod to innovation course
More rain forecast today
Gr Noida farmers reject land takeover package
Ranbir Singh honoured
Delhi doctors get separate cadre
MCD to redress grievances within a week
Maid alleges torture by employer
Strangulation bid over Rs 1
One held in fake pilot scam
Foreigner alleges rape
Power subsidy
Plan to rein in violence in schools
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36 students hospitalised after eating midday meal
New Delhi, September 3 Dr S. Bhattacharjee, medical superintendent of DDUH, said that 36 students were admitted to the hospital after they ate midday meal which apparently had a lizard. "The students came to us around 12.30 pm. They told the doctors that a lizard was in their meal. However, none of them complained about vomiting or pain. It is rather confusing as the students are not sure whether they saw a lizard. Maybe somebody might have seen something and then passed on a message about a lizard in the meal," he said. Bhattacharjee pointed out that the students are placed under observation at the hospital. "We have not given any treatment to the students as none of them has any symptoms. However, they are kept under observation," he explained. However, a staffer said that 44 students were admitted to the hospital. "All the students were stable and they have been sent home," she said. Education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely was not available to comment on the issue.
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Land registration fetches RS 367-cr stamp duty
Noida, September 3
The entire land was taken as a single plot and allotted. It is a multipurpose project where residential, insititutional and commercial projects would be developed by the private developer. As the land falls under two sectors it could not be registered at the sub-registrar's office. It was registered at the office of the additional district magistrate (finance) as he is the ex officio district registrar. "This is the largest revenue collection from a single registration document. With this, our total revenue collection during current financial year has reached Rs 950 crore,"said DIG stamps Vijay Deo Sharma. In a related development, former UP minister and BJP leader Nawab Singh Nagar said, "I have demanded a CBI inquiry into the deal. The Authority has registered the deal in haste. Even after registration, the deal can be cancelled by the court. It smacks of large-scale corruption amounting to thousands of crores of rupees." |
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Destruction of answersheet
New Delhi, September 3 Soumik Mitra, a resident of West Bengal who appeared for the senior school certificate examination in 2009, had sought imposition of penalty under the Right to Information (RTI) law on officials who were allegedly responsible for the destruction of his answersheets. The CBSE said the answersheets were destroyed as per the rules. Dismissing his plea, Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said, "Once it is found that the authorities under the RTI Act were not empowered to make any order on the request of the petitioner for preservation (of answer sheets), it cannot be said that they are liable for any action for not acceding thereto." "Reference to Section 20 of the RTI Act, providing for the imposition of penalty and prosecution for destruction, has also to be seen in the light of other applicable rule," said the court in its eight-page order on Thursday. "Once the examination by-laws of the CBSE permitted it to destroy the answersheets within three months of the declaration of the result, destruction in accordance with the by-laws cannot be said to invite penalties under the RTI Act," said Justice Endlaw. "There is no merit in the petition. The same is dismissed," said the court. The petition said Mitra's result was declared in May 2009. He applied for rechecking and on "June 22, 2009, the CBSE intimated him that upon re-checking, no mistake had been detected". Mitra then approached the Calcutta High Court, which called for the answer scripts. The CBSE presented the scripts to the court. The petitioner on October 7, 2009 filed an application under the RTI Act that the answersheets be supplied to him. His application was rejected as the CBSE said that it had destroyed the scripts after three months of the declaration of the result. Justice Endlaw said, "The petitioner in the present case was before the Calcutta High Court with respect to his result and the court immediately called for the answersheets and recorded its satisfaction that all questions answered by the petitioner had been duly assessed and there was no error." "The petitioner, neither from the Calcutta High Court nor from any other court, sought the relief of restraining the CBSE from destroying the answersheets," the court said. "The question which arises is, whether the authorities under the RTI Act, on the request of the petitioner for preservation of the answersheets were required to or competent to pass any orders for such preservation," the court observed. Senior counsel for petitioner has not been able to show any provision in the act in this regard, Justice Endlaw said. -- IANS |
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Controversies dog DUSU campaigning
New Delhi, September 3 The ABVP leaders looked in no mood to sit back today and two cases against NSUI candidates were brought to media's attention. Interestingly, the FIR against Ajay came in from within the party with Harish Chowdhary alleging that yesterday evening, Ajay along with other NSUI leaders had beaten him badly with an iron rod. It seems that the candidates this time are focusing more on tearing down the image of their opponent, rather than strengthening their own through a meaningful agenda. Other DUSU parties in the fray, including the SFI and the Chatra Janta Dal United, said that such incidents were unfortunate just a few days before the elections. Meanwhile, ABVP's presidential candidate Neha Singh demanded action against NSUI's Ajay Chikara. "His nomination should be cancelled," Neha said in an official statement of the ABVP. Reacting to the situation, the dean's office said that a mere FIR is not a criterion for any candidate's disqualification. If arrests are made in the case, the dean's office would take due consideration. "According to our reports, the people who attacked our members (Harish and his friends) were not students. We suspect the role of ABVP because our candidates had raised the issue of corruption in DUSU office. Our panels are brightly campaigning and we stand by them," said NSUI's Shahnawas Khan.
Nod to innovation course
New Delhi, September 3 The academic council gave its nod to the CIC in which a four-year BTech programme on innovation in mathematics and IT will be run. The recommendation of the academic council was then placed in the executive council (EC) meeting which followed immediately. However, an elected member of the EC had a different point of view. Shiba C. Panda said this particular course is well designed and will meet the current demand of the society. He added that eight years ago, in the term of former VC, Prof. Nayyar, a four-year IT course in the university was scrapped due to some reasons. Dr Panda added that members of the EC criticised the university authorities with regard to the manner in which the meeting was called. The dissenting teachers added that the proposal was sent to them only a couple of days ago.
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More rain forecast today
New Delhi, September 3 "There will be generally cloudy skies tomorrow with one or two spells of rain or thundershowers, maybe heavy in some areas," he said. The IMD today recorded a maximum temperature of 34 degree Celsius, which is normal for this time of the year and a minimum of 24.4 degree Celsius, two notches below average. "The weather today has been much cooler as it rained last night," said the official. |
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Gr Noida farmers reject land takeover package
Greater Noida, September 3 "Over 40 petitioner farmers, representing about 480 peasants present at the meeting, took a pledge not to accept the compensation and false promises of providing them plots and other facilities to their children in institutional and other schemes," said farmer leader Ranvir Nagar. "The Greater Noida Authority wants to win over the farmers by hook or crook as it wants to serve the builders' interests. The farmers have to be cautious," he said. "Till now, out of 96 farmers' petitions, the Authority officials have won over 56 farmers (petitioners) by providing them cheques for compensation," he said. "The Allahabad High Court has not pronounced its judgment but it was left to the farmers to accept or not to accept it (compensation package). But the Authority wrongly propagated it and 56 innocent farmers fell in its trap and accepted their compensation. But 40 farmers are here to oppose them with full strength," said Dushyant Nagar, another farmer leader. Lawyer Rajendra Nagar, a member of the 11-member legal team of the farmers, said they would proceed to Allahabad and file the counter reply in the high court opposing and exposing the authority before the court. -- IANS |
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Ranbir Singh honoured
New Delhi, September 3 Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was among those present at the function. Hooda thanked the Bharat Ekta Andolan and its president r Buta Singh for awarding his father, who he said, was a selfless and simple person, and went to jail times during the freedom struggle. After Independence, he was made a member of the Constituent Assembly, where he raised a voice for farmers, the poor, schedule castes and backward classes. — TNS |
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Delhi doctors get separate cadre
New Delhi, September 3
The hospitals in the city catered to a huge number of patients, with 30 per cent coming from other states, and had been facing difficulties due to shortage of doctors. "This hampers in providing the best health services despite having the latest pathological equipment and life-saving appliances," said Dikshit. She was speaking at a function organised to honour 71 members of the health fraternity, including 22 doctors, with state awards 2009-10. Reward of Rs 16,20, 000 was disbursed apart from a citation to each awardee. Dikshit, along with minister of state for health Dr AK Walia, awarded 22 doctors and 49 para-medical staff members for outstanding contributions in their respective fields. Dikshit assured that there would be no dearth of funds for the expansion of quality health services, commissioning of new hospitals and medical colleges and reaching out to all the parts of the city by way of commissioning new dispensaries and mobile health clinics. "We have done all the work to commission new medical colleges at Dwarka, Ambedkar Hospital at Rohini and DDU Hospital at Hari Nagar. This will provide opportunities to Delhi students," she said. She said the government would also concentrate on curbing HIV/AIDS and cancer. The government had chalked out a comprehensive scheme named Chacha Nehru Sehat Yojna to deal with the problem. The state awards for the medical fraternity are being conferred for the past 15 years to motivate the medical and para-medical staff for better quality service to the citizens of Delhi. The award is given for outstanding performance in health services in the Delhi government, MCD and NDMC and is open to all streams like allopathy, Indian system of medicine and homoeopathy. |
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MCD to redress grievances within a week
New Delhi, September 3 The municipal commissioner today reorganised the system for an expeditious and effective disposal of public grievances. Commissioner KS Mehra, announcing the amended schedule and guidelines, directed all additional commissioners and heads of department to organise public hearings every Monday between 11am and 1pm at their respective offices in Dr SPM Civic Centre from September 5. The commissioner ordered that all additional commissioners and the heads of the departments would have to be present in the office during the public hearings. "In case an officer concerned is unable to come, he will have to ensure that the next senior-most officer attends the hearing in his place," said Mehra. Mehra asked the officers to maintain a separate register for writing the grievances. The applicants should be given a receipt of their complaints, he said. "The complaints which can be handled on the spot, must be disposed of then and there. All merit-worthy complaints should compulsorily be disposed of within one week of their registration. The complainant must be informed about the action-taken report by Speed Post or email," said Mehra Mehra said the grievances which needed only service redress and no budgetary requirements should be disposed of expeditiously.
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Maid alleges torture by employer
New Delhi, September 3 The incident was reported on August 31after the girl ran away from the house and told an NGO about the incident. According to the police, Nitu Verma, a staff nurse working with AIIMS Hospital, had employed 15-year-old Pooja as a maid in her house through a placement agency five months ago. "Pooja has alleged that Nitu used to physically torture her for the smallest of mistakes. However, Nitu has denied the allegations and says that it is a conspiracy to extract money from her," said a police official. Nitu has alleged that the NGO wanted to extort Rs 50, 000 from her but when she refused, they came up with these allegations. The police ha ssent pooja to the government-run Nirmal Chhaya centre for girls.
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Strangulation bid over Rs 1
New Delhi, September 3
"Feroz had a one-rupee coin which some students tried to snatch. However, when he resisted, one of them tried to strangulate him, following which Feroz fell unconscious. The students then ran away. When some teachers saw Feroz lying unconscious, they rushed him to a nearby hospital," said a police official. He is now out of danger. A resident of Sultanpuri, Feroz lives with his parents close to the school. The police is investigating the matter. However, no FIR has been registered. |
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One held in fake pilot scam
New Delhi, September 3 With his arrest, the total number of people arrested in the scam has gone up to 23. According to the police, the accused has been identified as Dipak Daulat Asatkar (25), who was arrested from Mumbai last night after evading the arrest for the past six months. "Asatkar obtained the commercial flying licence by using a forged marksheet. Also, he acted as a middleman between agents and pilots, who wanted to procure fake marksheets," said a police official. With this, the Delhi police alone has arrested 21 persons in the case while two fake pilots were arrested by the Jaipur police after the DGCA unearthed a fake pilot scam. Four pilots are still absconding and hunt is on to trace them, said the police official. |
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Foreigner alleges rape
New Delhi, September 3 According to the police, the victim, who works in a private firm, was allegedly raped by Elvis Mentanna (25), a native of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He resides with his parents in Mumbai. Mentanna has been arrested under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and a case has been registered at the Hauz Khas police station. The victim met Mentanna at a Greater Kailash restaurant last night. The two then went to a discotheque in a hotel in the New Delhi area. "She had drinks at the discotheque and danced with Mentanna. While leaving, Mentanna offered to drop her home. But instead he took her to a guesthouse in Hauz Khas and raped her," said a police official. He added that Mentanna allegedly threatened the victim of dire consequences and forced himself upon her at knife-point. After Mentanna left, she approached a nearby police station and reported the matter. A medical examination of the victim confirmed rape. Based on the description provided by her, Mentanna was identified through the footages of the CCTV cameras at the discotheque. He was traced to a house in south Delhi. Mentanna, however, said it was a consensual sex. |
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Power subsidy
New Delhi, September 3 A meeting of the Delhi Cabinet, presided over by the Chief Minister, decided to extend the subsidy which will benefit around 34 lakh consumers out of 52 lakh consumers of the three private discoms. — PTI |
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Plan to rein in violence in schools
The idea behind the endeavour is to ensure violence-free education in schools. The toolkit has been designed, especially for teachers and headmasters teaching in the elementary classes. The module will reach out to 2,000 schools by 2015. Some 60 volunteers have been trained so far and they will reach out to seven states, including Delhi. A Plan India study confirmed in 2006 that corporal punishment was a regular feature in the lives of most children. Children reported nearly 33 types of punishment. The more severe of these include children getting kicked, starved, tied to chairs or poles followed by beatings, and being assigned physically strenuous labour (e.g. in the fields). Cash-for-vote case
The cash-for-vote case is being investigated by the crime branch of Delhi police. However, journos were curious to know why special cell officials, including DCP Arun Kampani, had come to inter-state cell of crime branch where Amar Singh was called for questioning in the case on July 22. While the crime branch officials at that time maintained that the special cell officials were just passing through, the secret was revealed recently when the Delhi police filed a closure report in the Shanti Bhushan CD case. The fact was that the special cell which was investigating the CD realized that since Amar Singh had already been called by the crime branch, it was a good opportunity to take his statement in the CD case as well without going into the formalities of issuing summons. DUSU poll process
Delhi University has perhaps the highest number of documentaries on its students' union elections. Every year, budding filmmakers from the university shoot the DUSU election process--campaigning and associated activities. This year, however, their number has gone down due to the lack of enthusiasm among the students. The filmmakers are also finding it hard to get sponsors for a documentary on the subject. "DUSU elections are not what they used to be. The event has been documented time and again and now, the elections have become very political and lack the sort of student support it witnessed over the years. Sponsors prefer to spend money on college fests and sports meets rather than documentation of elections now," said Sumedha Pathak, a media studies student of Kamla Nehru College. (Contributed by Charu Singh, Sandeep Yadav, Jyoti Rai) |
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New Delhi, September 3
Controversies continued between student political parties on the second day of campaigning of Delhi University students' elections today. While an FIR was registered against the current NSUI presidential candidate Ajay Chikara by last year's NSUI's presidential hopeful Harish
Chowdhary.
Violence in schools, especially in the form of corporal punishment, continues to afflict children in different parts of the country. Plan India recently launched a special toolkit, positive discipline manual, for schoolteachers, NGO workers, education specialists and development practitioners to check such problem.