New Delhi, May 19
In support of teachers and students of Delhi University, teachers from Jamia Millia Islamia, JNU and various student organisations today marched towards the residence of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, demanding the scrapping of the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) at Delhi University.

They also submitted a memorandum to the UPA chairperson in support of their demands.

The marchers chanted slogans against the FYUP, colonialization of education and dictatorial attitude of DU Vice-Chancellor.

The memorandum said that Delhi University has implemented four-year graduation course when there is already a huge crunch of resources in terms of teachers, classrooms, hostels, library and laboratory in the university.

It is pathetic that Human Resource Development Minister Pallam Raju has also supported the programme in his statement to Parliament in which he said it was approved by the university, court and the students, after exhaustive deliberations. The Vice-Chancellor has taken decided to effect this major change without debating it in a transparent and democratic manner. And the impression is being given that all the teachers were involved in this decision. The reality is that a task force formed by the Vice-Chancellor is instrumental in bringing out all these illogical changes which have been disapproved by most of the students and professors, the memorandum said.

If one goes through the curriculum of FYUP, one will understand that this neo-liberal policy is nothing but commercializing the education system and a process of indirectly aiding the private universities.

The anti-academic and anti-student structure of the proposed FYUP is not in consonance with the national education policy of 10+2+3. If 600 universities in the India like DU start autonomously deciding their own education policies, there would be imbalance and collapse of nation education system.

The UPA-led government should immediately take action to save the existences of UGC and welfare education system, the memorandum said.

This change in graduation level will distance the downtrodden students with poor economic condition from the education as they will not be able to bear the additional expenses due to addition of one more year in the graduation.

The protestors urged the UPA chairperson and the Prime Minister to intervene in the issue and stop the implementation of the four-year course.

New Delhi, May 19
Honking and other sources of noise pollution have tremendous bad effects on health. Honking the horn, especially at traffic signals, has become a burning issue. Taking it seriously, the city government has launched a public campaign and organized several workshops.

Earth Savior Foundation (ESF), an NGO, has also started campaigning against honking.

Bikers and a large number of car drivers honk the horns at high decibels that lead to serious accidents at times. To prevent this nuisance, the ESF has decided to file a PIL in the court for taking strict action against such drivers.

The ESF founder, Ravi Kalra said, "Honking is a big problem. When I launched a campaign against it in Delhi, I got tremendous support from the Delhi Police and many senior police officials were deployed at the places where the ESF launched the awareness campaign."

Kalra focused his campaign on Toll Tax Bridge where the activists of the NGO stuck posters at the back of one lakh trucks. "Do not blow horns," read the posters.

However, seeing that their campaign has not created much awareness, the NGO has now decided to file a PIL in the court, seeking strict laws to check unnecessary honking, Kalra said.

When asked as to what action the police take in this regard, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Anil Shukla said the sound of horns should not be above 80 decibels in Delhi, especially around educational institutions, religious places and traffic signals.

These places were identified by the Supreme Court. Blowing the horn near these places is an offence which invites a challan, he said.

The Director of Environment Department, Anil Kumar, said that the government often launches campaigns to make people aware of the negative effects of noise pollution. Many workshops have also been organized on the issue.

Describing its effects on health, the Director said that honking raises blood pressure, causes hearing loss and stress-related illnesses. Honking can be controlled by enforcing strict laws. Social awareness programmes should also be taken up to educate the public about the causes and effects of noise pollution, he said.

New Delhi, May 19
The Delhi Government is all set to put in place a transparent mechanism by the end of the year under which people will be able to access hassle-free services in all 13 sub-registrar offices without any jurisdictional issue.

Explaining the new system, Urban Development and Revenue Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said that people will be able to apply for registration of their property by filling in a form online following which they will be given appointment number, date and time for coming to the sub-registrar office of their choice.

He said that all the 13 sub-registrar offices will be linked through an online portal through which people will also be able to check ownership details and past transaction of properties. The online portal will have an online fee calculator, besides having details about stamp duties and other required documents for property registration.

The aim of the ambitious project will be to offer people a tout-free and seamless property registration experience through a highly secured online platform, which will replace the six-decade-old current system.

Under the new mechanism, people from any area of the city will be able to get their properties registered in any one of the 13 sub-registrar offices and they will even be able to check genuineness of the properties as well as ownership details and past transactions.

Admitting that there was corruption in the existing system, Lovely said that the government is determined to rid it of lacunae and the new mechanism will offer 'great relief' to people who often faced a lot of hardships in getting their properties registered.

As per existing system, people can get their properties registered based on jurisdiction of the sub-registrar office.

Under the new system, a limited number of people only will be given appointment for meeting officials of the revenue department and entry of unauthorised persons will be strictly restricted.

"I admit there is corruption in the existing system. That is why we are making very significant systemic changes to put in place a transparent and people-friendly mechanism where there will be no room for touts," Lovely, who is credited with bringing IT-application in transfer, postings, evaluation of performance for teachers when he was Education Minister, said.