New Delhi, December 8
Tussle between the ruling party in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the administration has begun just second day after the municipal commissioner, K.S. Mehra, tabled the proposals of the estimated budget for 2012-13 before the House meeting.

The proposal sought levying congestion charge, hike in parking fee and property tax.

The BJP is of the view that the municipal commissioner has proposed to levy new tax, hike in parking charges and property tax to favour the Congress in the municipal elections to be held in April next year. While the citizens are already under the burden of inflation, the new taxes will prove fuel to the fire. The electorates will go against the BJP in the elections.

The commissioner has done this to get political benefit as he is eying the senior post in the Delhi government. Same tactic was used by Rakesh Mehta when he was the municipal commissioner. Later he was elevated to the post of chief secretary, said a BJP leader.

Keeping this in mind, chief of the BJP of Delhi unit Vijender Gupta today directed the chairman of the standing committee Yogendra Chandolia to call special meeting tomorrow to reject the imposition of the new taxes and other economic burden on the citizens of Delhi proposed in the budget proposals by the municipal commissioner.

He said the BJP-ruled MCD during the past four years had successfully increased revenue collection from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 7,000 crore without imposing any new taxes. The BJP was not in favour of imposing any kind of new taxes during these times of price spiral on the people of Delhi. Gupta said the proposal of new taxes by the commissioner was the result of connivance between the Congress and the bureaucracy.

The entire list of the proposed taxes be rejected immediately because the BJP is clearly of the view that the revenue from the present sources is sufficient to meet the expenditure and there is no need to impose new taxes on people.

He alleged that the Congress planned to recover the increased expenditure resulting from the trifurcation of the MCD from the people of Delhi, but the BJP would not allow this conspiracy of the Congress to succeed.

He further said that proposed new taxes for the year estimated for 2012-13 presented by the municipal commissioner before the standing committee, had been prepared under the pressure of the Delhi government.

While proposing increase in the property tax, parking fees, one time parking charges and imposing congestion and sanitation charges by the MCD commissioner, neither the ground reality has been taken into consideration nor any survey by the expert committee has been done nor the views of the deliberative wing of the MCD has been taken.

This proves that the commissioner has acted in an arbitrary way and imposed despotic decision of the Congress government on the people of Delhi, Vijender said.

The municipal commissioner was not available for the comment.

New Delhi, December 8
The Supreme Court today gave the green signal to hold the students' union elections in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for the first time after 2008.

Allowing the election, a Bench comprising Justices AK Ganguly and JS Khehar also relaxed the age and attendance criteria for the students. It has raised the age limit from 28 to 30 years and done away with the mandatory 75 per cent attendance for the contestants.

The Bench, however, clarified that the recommendation of the JM Lyngdoh Committee, which had gone into the issue of students' union elections in universities across the country, on pamphlets would be applicable to JNU. The committee, appointed by the SC, had placed a ceiling of 5,000 on the number of pamphlets that could be distributed by each candidate.

In 2008, the SC had stayed the union elections in JNU for breach of the Lyndoh panel guidelines issued in 2006 and sent out contempt notices to the vice-chancellor and registrar for their failure to enforce the approved drill.

The panel had been asked to suggest ways and means to eliminate the influence of money and muscle power in such elections and ensure that the exercise was undertaken in an orderly manner in all the states.

New Delhi, December 8
After a gap of three years, Jawaharlal Nehru University is all set to hold student elections in January 2012. Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP), AISA, AISF, NSUI and SFI today called for a united general body meeting (UGBM) following the court order and decided that the elections will take place in this academic year.

Due to the delay in the decision, it was decided to conduct the elections in January. However, the regular election schedule will be followed from the academic year 2012-13.

"With this latest Supreme Court judgment, the way has been cleared for JNUSU elections subject to the new guidelines laid down by the court. We have been told that the next JNUSU elections can be held in January 2012. A UGBM will be convened in the first week of January to elicit the opinions of the student community. The UGBM will be held on January 6," said a joint statement by student parties.

However, the court did not accept all the suggestions made by the amicus curiae in his petition.

"We welcome the court's decision. We are happy that the decision is in favour of the students. Everyone had been waiting for the decision to come for over a month now. Had the decision come a bit early, students would have got more time to strategize elections this year. But still, it's a great achievement. The university will witness elections after three years," said JNU's public relations officer Poonam Kudesia.

Assistant dean of Student Welfare Sachitananda Sinha added, "JNU polls mirror any democratic structure. With the court now granting the permission to conduct elections, it's now the students' call. Whatever they decide, their decision will definitely be supported."

New Delhi, December 8
A speeding Blueline bus killed one person after ramming into the rear of his motorcycle at the traffic light in Sarai Jullena Marg, New Friends Colony yesterday evening. The deceased's brother escaped unhurt and witnessed the accident as he was buying a cigarette at a nearby stall.

Two brothers, Nizamuddin (38) and Shamuddin (50) were going home in Jamia Nagar on a motorcycle when the accident occurred.

A police official said, "About 6.30 in the evening, Nizamuddin had halted his motorcycle at the traffic light in Sarai Jullena Marg, New Friends Colony, which is opposite to the Escorts Hospital. A Blueline bus then rammed into the rear of the bike. The bus driver, Dilip Singh (40) was rushing to cross the red light and get more passengers. The impact threw Nizamuddin off his motorcycle. His brother witnessed the accident when he had gone to buy a cigarette from a nearby stall. Shamuddin with the help of two students and the driver rushed Nizamuddin to the Holy Family Hospital."

There the doctors declared him brought dead. Dilip was arrested under Indian Penal Code section 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and section 304 A (causing death by negligence).

The official said that the bus was coming from Mehrauli and heading towards Anand Vihar via Ring Road. 

New Delhi, December 8
After going through the replies of power distribution companies in the city to a show cause notice issued by Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC), the regulator has asked the Delhi government to put forth its views on the issue of the discoms' financial constraints before a decision is taken.

Meanwhile, the power regulator has also asked the state-run NTPC not to snap supply of power to Reliance Infrastructure-backed BSES discoms till next Monday for failing to clear dues of over Rs 195 crore.

DERC had slapped notices to BRPL and BYPL on November 25 following a communication from the Delhi government which asked the regulator to take urgent steps to ensure uninterrupted power supply in Delhi as the two discoms owe around Rs 3,000 crore to a number of generation and transmission companies.

"We have decided to direct NTPC not to discontinue power supply to BSES. We will hear the Delhi government's opinion on the issue and a decision may be taken on Monday," said DERC sources.

In the notice, the DERC has asked the discoms as to why their licences should not be suspended for failing to pay huge dues to generation and transmission companies.

On the issue of whether DERC has jurisdiction over NTPC, a DERC member said as per Delhi Electricity Act, the regulator has the power to issue such directives. The issue of BSES discoms facing financial difficulties and DERC's notice to them also figured in a cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. No concrete decision was, however, taken in the meeting, sources said.

The combined consumer base of BYPL and BRPL is around 27 lakh and the two companies distribute power in nearly 70 per cent of total areas in the city.

In the notice, DERC, invoking the provisions of Section 24 of the Electricity Act, 2003, had said if the commission was not satisfied with replies by the discoms, it may appoint an administrator to discharge the functions of the licencees.

Both the discoms submitted their replies to the regulator yesterday in which they presented their financial status, reflecting difficulties in meeting increasing operational expenses due to high cost of power procurement.

New Delhi, December 8
Flaying the government's slipshod approach to the issue of 'missing children', a nationwide study released today by child rights NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan ranks Delhi among the five major metros for the highest number of children going missing.

As many as 6,785 children disappear in Delhi every year, with 850 children remaining untraced and hapless parents are left to live in uncertainty.

In the absence of law, such cases if registered as FIRs may be dealt under Juvenile Justice Act or under the trafficking law if established under various sections of Indian Penal Code.

"This dilutes the whole process with a number of times, they (missing children) just remain as daily diaries. The police station has a standard operating procedure, but how far it is implemented is an area of examination," said Vijayalakshmi Arora, who is the director of policy and advocacy at Child Rights and You.

According to child rights activists, the real issue is education. Parents are unaware of the rights of their child and entitlements. "Most of them are from urban slum settlements. The fact is the moment a child goes missing, the action of tracing the child should happen. Due to lack of knowledge about the process, the parents run to police stations where a lot of critical time is lost," added Arora.

Also, when it comes to coordination among police stations for passing on the required information, it is a big problem, maintain BBA activists.

"We are still struggling to fix up the process. We don't have a clear system of recovering the victims from the traps of traffickers. Even after they are traced, counselling seems to be an area of concern," stressed Arora.

While the study exploring gaps in the system shows a total of 1,17,480 children missing (unreleased official census 2011) from 392 districts in the surveyed period and of which 74,209 were traced, 41,546 children remained untraced in the survey period.

It also points out at the glaring discrepancy in the official data of the National Crime Records Bureau and Zonal Integrated Police Network Website in particular. 

New Delhi, December 8
Promoting global identity and cultural amalgamation through performing arts like dance, music and theatre which broaden the horizons of understanding of different cultures among children, the festival of performing arts kicked off today in the capital.

With six venues, 200 performances and a flourishing journey of 10 years, the 11th edition of the "International Children's Festival of Performing Arts" is being presented by the Ryan Foundation in association with National Bal Bhavan and Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

The festival started with an opening ceremony at Talkatora Indoor Stadium in the evening and will continue till December 13.

With over 10,000 children from more than 100 schools across India and over 800 students and artists from 25 countries participating in the event, this year's edition is full of exquisite performances by children from seven years of age to 16 years.

From the ballet dancers from Romania to the mime artistes from Pakistan and folk dancers from Russia, the festival has a lot to offer.

The festival revolves around the theme - "The World Is My Playground" - focuses on creating an international platform for young people to perform, unite, exchange ideas and explore the medium of dance, drama, puppetry and various other genres of performing arts.

The theme aims at establishing a stronger bond between the young cultural ambassadors from across the globe. The theme conveys the message that the world is a stage where one can perform multifarious acts without any boundaries and can utilise the young, mental faculty to paint vibrant pictures," said Grace Pinto, managing director of Ryan International Group of Institutions.

The six-day extravaganza expects students and artists from Bangladesh, Brazil, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Turkey, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe to attend the festival.

During the next six days, the festival will take place at multiple venues in the capital, including Talkatora Indoor Stadium, National Bal Bhavan, Little Theatre Group, India Habitat Centre and Shri Ram Centre.

Open to schoolchildren only, the general public will be able to catch the festival from the fourth day onwards.