New Delhi, November 22
A woman and her daughter were shot at by their neighbour at E-block in the Hazrat Nizamuddin area of south Delhi when they tried to stop him from urinating outside their house, said police officials.

While the girl died, her mother is undergoing treatment.

According to the police, Sadmani, 50, and her 17-year-old daughter, Binno, were present in their house when Javed, a neighbour, came and started peeing outside the gate of their house.

"When Sadmani came out and tried to stop him from doing so, the accused allegedly started abusing her. Hearing a commotion, Binno came out of the house," said a police officer.

Javed then took out a pistol and opened fire on Sadmani and her daughter. Sadmani received one bullet injury while her daughter received two in her abdomen.

Both the injured were taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences where Binno was declared brought dead. She was studying in class 11 in a government school in Jangpura.

The police officials said that the incident was reported at E-Block in Hazrat Nizamuddin of south Delhi on Wednesday evening.

Later, Javed fled from the scene. "We have registered the case and launched a hunt to arrest the accused," said Additional Commissioner of police Ajay Chaudhary.

Sadmani's husband, a caretaker of Vatika Palace at Pragati Maidan, was not present in the house when the incident took place, the police said.

New Delhi, November 22
A 15-year-old class eight student of a government school today allegedly tried to commit suicide by jumping off the fifth floor of her house after being harassed by her teacher on Wednesday afternoon.

The incident has been reported from the Samaypur Badli area of Outer Delhi. The family members of the victim, Neha (name changed), said that her class teacher paraded her naked inside the classroom, alleging that she had stolen a cell phone. Neha was quite depressed after the incident and she allegedly tried to commit suicide, said the police. DCP of Outer Delhi, B S Jaiswal said that they are taking the matter seriously and action will be against the accused. The police has not registered an FIR so far. An ACP-level inquiry has been initiated into the matter. The police has spoken to the students and teachers of the school to know the exact cause behind the incident.

A senior police official said that they have taken the statement of the girl's family members and are investigating the matter. "The girl lives in the Yadav Park area and her father is a businessman. The police got a call from the hospital authorities," said the police official.

He said that the victim is undergoing treatment at Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital and her condition is stated to be critical. Simran, the victim's maternal aunt, said that Neha came back home and narrated the incident to her family and then went to her room.

"She broke into tears and was trembling, and then jumped off the fifth floor," said Simran. She said that her schoolteacher Suman had been harassing her for the past few days. "Suman is responsible behind the incident. We have lodged a complaint against her with the police," said Simran.

The family members said that despite their complaint, the police has not taken any action against the accused teacher. Angry family members and their relatives along with the residents of the area also staged a protest against the accused outside the school.

"The allegations made against the school administration and teacher are serious. Let us conduct our inquiry and then action will be taken against the guilty," said the senior police official.

New Delhi, November 22
The Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, today strongly criticised the government's move to restrict the winter session of the assembly for only four days, saying that "it is a mockery of democracy".

He demanded that the duration of the session should be at least for a fortnight so that the problems of Delhi can be seriously discussed and people apprised of them.

Malhotra expressed his shock that while the national capital is facing severe crisis and people are facing number of problems, the Shiela Dikshit government is not willing to discuss those issue in the assembly.

The government is not willing to face the assembly because it has unable to control the unprecedented price hike which has affected the common man.

It has no answer as to why prices of essential commodities have gone out of control.

People want answer from the government regarding the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), subsidy on limited number of gas cylinder, pollution in Yamuna, shortage of teaching staff in the government-run schools, worsening condition of slums, etc.

He said that there was a total collapse of authority in the capital and the government is abdicating its responsibility.

He also said that the government's intention during the short period assembly session was to bring out an amendment in the Delhi Gurdwara Act and Agriculture Product Market Committee (APMC) Act for the FDI but the BJP would stoutly oppose it.

Delhi Vidhan Sabha is perhaps the only assembly in the country which does not adhere to any tradition or set of rules. While other state assemblies usually have 40-60 sittings a year, but here the Chief Minister goes through the motions by having 20-25-day sittings to complete the formalities.

New Delhi, November 22
For as many as 2,000 inmates and 150 staff members of Tihar Jail responding in case of a medical exigency may not be tough now.

During a two-day training programme by Indraprastha Apollo Hospital here, they were imparted basic life support skills with which once equipped anyone can help a person to pull through a medical emergency.

The training involves treating patients in casualty handling, soft tissue injury, musculoskeletal injury and common emergency situations.

The initiative is a part of the hospital's community outreach programme under which PCR van constables, NSG commandos, students in various schools and colleges, resident welfare associations, members of local community and many others have been trained.

Head of department, accidents and emergency, Apollo Hospital, Dr Priyadarshini Pal Singh said, "Through basic life support training, we would like to educate everyone on the do's and don'ts in case of an emergency situation and help them become more responsible citizens in times of a crisis. It is very important that every person in the community knows about basic life support skills to improve the quality of community health.

For example, it is important that those who are present at the scene of cardiac arrest know the resuscitation skills."

On the same lines, the Heart Care Foundation of India has undertaken the job of training general public, students and teachers in Delhi.

"We are running a campaign which began during the 19th MTNL Perfect Health Mela and till date 10,500 members of the public have been provided hands-only cardio-pulmonary resuscitation," said Dr K K Aggarwal.

New Delhi, November 22
Promoting 'eco-friendly' tastes and lifestyle in the ongoing India International Trade Fair, educational wooden toys and game accessories are much sought-after both by Indian and overseas visitors.

Visitors' interest is a reflection of their preference for eco-friendly lifestyle. Clearly, there is a growing awareness that children are vulnerable to the harmful effects of plastic toys, organizers said.

Of over 300 stalls at 'Saras' pavilion, around 10 stalls are from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, displaying eco-friendly toys, accessories and utilities.

There are lacquer-painted wooden toys, utilities and fashion accessories at 'Saras' and different state pavilions, which have carved a niche for themselves for their exquisite craftsmanship.

Creating mythological figurines and carvings resembling those unearthed at the sites of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, the artisans have gone global with a gamut of items to attract overseas visitors. Not only the wooden bangles and earrings made by the artisans of the villages there is also a wide range of such products which are a rage at the fair for their designs and finish, said the organisers.

There are toy planes and trains from the wood of neem and Indian blackberry (Jamun), while there were also mythological characters and deities, dolls representing the rural life, flora and fauna, office stationery and musical instruments. Their enchanting designs, bright colours, earthly appeal and utility have enhanced the popularity of these artefacts in India and abroad.

The products are crafted from the locally available wood and the dyes are also obtained from indigenously grown plants, trees and flowers. These artisans pick up the art from their ancestors and have sought to revive it in an organised fashion.

New Delhi, November 22
After much hue and cry over St Stephen's decision to bar actor Suraj Sharma of 'Life of Pi' from taking the exams due to low attendance, college authorities today confirmed that the teenage actor has been allowed to write his exams.

A day before his film was slated to hit theatres in India, 19-year-old Suraj Sharma, who has made his debut with the Ang Lee flick, was denied an admit card for his semester exams in the college. Suraj is a first year student of philosophy at St Stephen's.

A senior official from the college requesting anonymity said that Sharma's parents and principal Valson Thampu had reached an agreement before the actor took off for shooting and the promotional tour of the much-anticipated film.

As per the agreement, Sharma was supposed to submit a certain number of assignments to make up for the loss of his attendance. Sharma missed a paper on Monday. However, he will now be able to sit for his Logic exam tomorrow, the official said.

"He has reproduced his assignments today. He was also asked to write an additional essay. He will now be permitted to write exams," the official said.

As per the norms, the college requires students to have at least 66.6 per cent attendance to be able to appear for exams.

Principal Thampu remained unavailable for comment even after repeated attempts.

However, vice-principal Clement Rajkumar said, "The college wanted to help the boy. After the Unmukt Chand incident, the college came up with a mechanism of assignments in lieu of attendance. Earlier, I was told that he had submitted them. Later, he said that he had lost them. Finally, all the assignments have been submitted today."

Earlier this year, the star of India's U-19 Cricket World Cup triumph, Unmukt also faced a similar situation. However, the college promoted him to second year after his case got much media attention.

New Delhi, November 22
Jamia Milia Islamia is all set to introduce Urdu as a compulsory subject for two years in all the undergraduate courses from the next academic session, Vice-Chancellor Najeeb Jung said.

After the annual convocation ceremony today, Jung said that the university was gearing up for many academic changes. "Till now, the language was taught to the undergraduates but the scores were not included in the total. As a result, attendance kept shrinking and even teachers lost the motivation and interest to keep on going. Furthermore, we have noticed a regenerated interest in the language and so far, the feedback on the move has been positive. Hence, this decision was taken and the same will be implemented by 2013 session next year," Jung said.

The university is now also in the process of introducing English as a compulsory language for students studying honours language courses like Hindi, Persian, Pashto, Arabic and many others. The move has been initiated as a part of 'seminal shift to prepare students for the competitive job market after college', he said.

"Students are on board with us on this decision. We received a remarkable response when we introduced remedial English classes last year for a four months span.

At the convocation ceremony, a total of 4,179 degrees/diplomas were awarded to the students who have successfully completed post-graduation, graduation and diploma from different faculties/departments/centres of the university in the academic session 2010-11. The university handed out 147 gold medals to the toppers of different courses and also awarded 204 PhD degrees to research scholars.