New Delhi, January 15
The sale and submission of nursery admission forms ended today. Applying to multiple schools this year, parents said that the process took much more time with the criteria changing every second day.

This year, the department of education had issued guidelines under which the schools had to ensure that "admission applications are made available to all the applicants till the last date of submission of applications".

This benefited parents as they had more time for the application process.

"It was better this time. I was denied forms on the last three days last year. But today, it wasn't tough to procure forms or submit them. Some schools even appointed volunteers to help us with the last-minute details," said Prakarti Dave, a parent at Tagore International.

With the admission process ending today, schools will now post the first list latest by February 15.

The second list will be declared by February 28, said a senior official of the Directorate of Education.

Parents will now have to wait patiently till the results are declared. According to a recent survey conducted by admissionsnursery.com, 84 per cent of the participating parents said they were apprehensive about getting admission easily this year.

"Nearly 40 per cent of them said they have applied to 10-15 schools. Close to 20 per cent put the number at 15-20 schools and 14 per cent said they have applied to more than 20 schools. Parents are 'nervous' and those who have been trying for a couple of years now are downright 'depressed'. But the is not all grim with 17 per cent saying they were 'excited' and 15 per cent expressing confidence about their chances of getting a seat for their child," said Sumit Vohra from admissionsnursery.com.

New Delhi, January 15
A historic Sikh shrine drawing faith of over 15,000 devotees daily, the Sis Ganj Sahib Gurdwara in the heart of walled city of Chandni Chowk, tops the tourist chart when it comes to religious sightseeing in the national Capital.

With a huge flow of tourists and devotees pouring in the holy place every day, not only as part of their religious rituals but to get 'langar' etc, the gurdwara plays a significant role in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Committee Management Election.

At was at this spot that the ninth Sikh Guru Teg Bahadur was beheaded on the orders of the Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb, in 1675. The body was taken away by his disciple Lakhi Shah Vanjra to village Raisina and cremated at the place where Rakab Ganj Gurdwara stands today. The head of the Guru was taken away to Anandpur Sahib by another disciple.

All the candidates in the fray understand the religious relevance of the Gurdwara.

"There is no end to the visitors here. The rooms here are full throughout the year," said Baldev Singh, manager of the Gurdwara Committee. "I have been a regular visitor to this place for the last ten years. The facilities here are quite good," said Inderjeet Singh from Pitampura.

The place has parking for about 200 cars and over 30 scooters and bikes. Though there was a plan for multi-level parking, the project has been shelved due to lack of consensus over the proposal.

The Gurdwara has around 250 rooms for the visitors. The place has a provision for 200 lockers for people who come to stay at night. The work is also on to make the Gurdwara centrally air-conditioned with a budget of over Rs 8 crore.

Known for being one of the nine historic Gurdwaras in the city, the shrine has put in place modern facilities for its visitors who come from all over the world.

"Many foreign tourists come and stay at the Gurdwara as you would not find such facilities in the vicinity," said Kuldeep Singh Bajaj, vice-chairman, Gurdwara Sub-Committee.

The Gurdwara stands serene in the midst of the hustle and bustle of old Delhi and is witness to the transformation of Old Delhi into one of the biggest commercial hubs in the city.

New Delhi, January 15
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president, Paramjeet Singh Sarna at a meeting of the election code of conduct demanded that security men of the Punjab police should be withdrawn from Delhi forthwith as they were being misused in the election, sources said.

Sarna said that candidates of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) are influencing the electorates taking the security guards along with them. He has written a letter to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs appealing to send the Punjab police personnel to the Punjab state. He said if anybody needs security guards, he should be given Delhi police security men.

Director of Directorate of Gurdwara Election G.P. Singh said, "A copy of the complaint of misuse of the security men of the Punjab police submitted by Sarna has already been given to the Delhi police. The Delhi police has informed the Directorate that it has taken up the matter with its counterpart in Punjab", said G.P. Singh.

Besides, it was also decided that no candidate will stick poster on walls. The contestants have been asked to remove the posters from walls on their own. If they will not do this, the civic body will be asked to remove all the posters and for that the candidate concerned will have to pay the civic body.

Each party can have only two offices in the city and each candidate can have only one election office in his ward with a banner of 8-ft long and 4-ft wide. Each candidate can use only three vehicles with the prior permission of the Returning Officer for campaigning and other election work.

On the day of election the candidate will have only one booth at a distance of 200 m from polling station. Keeping sound pollution, the Directorate advised the contestants that they should not use loudspeakers on moving vehicles.

The meeting was attended by Director of Directorate of Gurdwara Election G.P. Singh, Revenue Secretary Dharmpal, Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) president Paramjit Singh Sarna, Shiromani Aklai Dal (Badal) Manjit Singh (GK), Kendriya Guru Singh Sabha president Tarvinder Singh Marwah and Dashmesh Sewa Society, the sources said.

New Delhi, January 15
With a view to exploring collaborative opportunities for education, training and research for surgical professionals of India and the UK, a four-member team of the UK's Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) today visited the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and the Army's Research & Referral Hospital.

Tasked with developing an overseas agenda, the RCS, an independent professional body committed to promoting the highest standards of surgical care, was here to assess the surgical and teaching expertise for super-specialised courses.

The academic exchange is expected to open up opportunities for training of surgeons.

"The Royal College of Surgeons was looking at the possibilities of exchange for training and research and the move will help surgeons of both the countries at a time when a large extent of the surgeries in India is being done by surgeons in private sector," said Dr D.S. Rana, chairperson of the Board of Management, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

According to Dr Saumitra Rawat, senior consultant surgeon, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, "This opportunity will ensure that surgeons obtain super-specialty and multidisciplinary skills not easily available within the specialty training programme in India". 

New Delhi, January 15
A 50-year-old government employee allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in a Labour Ministry office in Yojana Bhawan this morning.

The police has found a suicide note at the site of the incident. It is purportedly written by the victim, Kanhiya Lal, and reads that he was depressed because of his daughter's illness. "The note mentions that Lal spent a great amount of money on treating his daughter's illness, which could not be cured. He could not handle the responsibility anymore and took the extreme step," said a police official.

Lal is a resident of Pushp Vihar. He has four children. He was working as a peon in the office of the Director of the Labour and Employment Division of the Labour Ministry. He hanged himself by a muffler in the same office.

The body has been sent to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for post-mortem.