New Delhi, June 6
Underlining the fact that Delhi accounts for 12.8 per cent of crime against children and 4.8 per cent of rapes committed on them, the Delhi Commission of Protection of Child Right (DCPCR) of the state government has framed guidelines against child abuse in city schools.

The guidelines will serve as a method for numerous stakeholders from teachers to community welfare associations and also to the police to ensure that all possible steps are taken to prevent child abuse and empower children to recognize symptoms of potentially abusive situations.

The guidelines suggest that no candidate with a criminal record of sexual or physical violence should be recruited for any position in the schools, training for teachers covering child protection issues, framing of a child protection policy and its proper display in the schools and therapeutic intervention in the form of counselling services.

"A thorough investigation should be conducted by the institution into the prior employment and engagement of the person, including police verification and checking of the references provided," said a senior DCPCR official.

He said that a uniform and standard teacher training module shall be developed or adopted by the institution which covers a broad spectrum of child protection issues ranging from recognising suspicious behaviour, being aware of a child who displays erratic or unusual behaviour and the ability to engage a child and create a safe environment as well as the legal mechanisms covering the issue of child sexual abuse.

"As part of the framework for child protection, we suggest that each institution should have a standard and uniform child protection policy applicable to all persons employed by the institution as well as those who visit the institution from time to time," said the official.

The institution should constitute or designate, including the school management committee, a child abuse monitoring committee whose primary responsibility shall be prevention of child abuse and the monitoring and implementation of these guidelines.

The DCPCR had published the draft guidelines on its website in order to invite public comment on the same before submitting them to the government process for notification. The state government had formed a committee to review the draft guidelines and help in adoption and implementation of the same, the final presentation of which will be submitted tomorrow.

"The government should not only try to do something about violence after it has happened, they must also take action to prevent it from occurring in the first place," the official added.

New Delhi, June 6
Rain and strong winds lashed the capital this evening, bringing much-needed relief to Delhiites who have been braving a harsh summer sun.

The maximum temperature during the day stood 43.6° C, three notches above from normal and the minimum temperature was recorded two degree above normal at 30.3° C against yesterday's 30.5° C.

The sky became overcast in the evening and strong winds prececed rains in many parts of the parched capital. The unexpected rains caught those headed home from office unawares and slowed down traffic.

The rain arrived about 5 pm, causing traffic jams in some parts of the city. A Huge traffic jams were reported between Okhla and Nehru Place in south Delhi.

New Delhi, June 6
A student of Jawaharlal Nehru University has alleged that a 26-year-old man attempted to rape her during a party in a hostel on the campus.

The accused identified as Prabhat Ranjan, a native of Bihar, has been arrested, said a police official today.

The victim is a BA student. She alleged that Ranjan tried to rape her in the early hours of Tuesday.

According to the police, Ranjan is a former student of the university and was staying at Narmada Hostel.

The girl said that the incident occurred when she, along with her friend Gaurav, organized a party in room Nos. 121 and 136 of Narmada Hostel. Gaurav's brother Mukesh and friends Ayush, Abhinay and Prabhat were also invited in the party.

The party began on late Monday night and continued until Tuesday early morning. They consumed liquor.

The police said that the girl fell asleep after consuming alcohol. When she woke up, she saw that her friends, except Gaurav, had left and Ranjan was allegedly trying to rape her. Gaurav was asleep after consuming alcohol.

She claims that she escaped after she pretended to retch.

New Delhi, June 6
Even as the "freshness" quotient in terms of the curricula looks to be working in favour of the Four-Year Undergradate Programme (FYUP) with applicants attaching an increased "value" to it, an additional year for the honours completion is what has emerged a reason of worry among the applicants, especially BCom aspirants.

BCom aspirants see it as a limitation as now they might find it difficult to juggle between their honours papers and professional courses, such as chartered accountancy as the "vast" content of the class curricula will demand greater attention, they underlined.

Manoj Tiwari, who scored 92 per cent in XII from Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya and eyes a seat in BCom in best college, said, "The new four-year programme has both advantages and disadvantages. We will get to learn a lot, while the demerit is that we will not be able to focus on professional courses and will have to dedicate another year. Earlier we could do the preferred course side by side, but now it will be difficult to manage."

Similarly, Gaurav, another BCom aspirant, said four year is a long duration for a graduation degree. He plans to take admission to commerce in a best college in view of his XII score (85 per cent) even as he would not mind switching to another college for LLB.

Among the science students, Nitin Rawat, whose total percentage in XII with physics, chemistry and mathetmatics was 88 per cent, Virender Singh with 75 per cent in boards from Joseph and Mary's Public School, were apprehensive about the BTech weightage, even as they find the foundation and application courses an interesting package. "We are not sure about the BTech degrees due to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) issue, but the variety in the form of diploma, degree and then honours qualification is nice," they said.

On the BTech issue, Dean of South Campus Prof Umesh Rai said, "The Supreme Court says that any university can run a BTech degree course without an AICTE approval and the degree is listed in the UGC regulations. We are already running the humanities and BSc and innovation in maths in IT for the last year and we expect that these too will get a good response.”

New Delhi, June 6
Former president of the Delhi unit of the BJP Vijender Gupta today submitted a letter to the CBI, appealing to take an action against Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on the basis of recommendations made by Lokaykuta Justice Manmohan Sarin for misuse of public funds during the last assembly election.

The letter also appealed for getting registered a complaint against the Chief Minister and other persons "for committing offence of misappropriation of public funds."

The letter said that approximately Rs 22.56 crore of public funds was spent by the Chief Minister for personal purposes and converted to her own use. The money was used for a number of government advertisements published in newspapers, installing hoardings showing pictures of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Sheila Dikshit all over Metros, bus shelters and also in form of radio jingles, TV spots, etc. This had burdened the state exchequer in carrying out campaign of the Congress for her own political gains.

Dikshit being Chief Minister is custodian of public trust. She is trustee of state exchequer and has to ensure that public fund is spent in public interest only. Dikshit caused loss to public exchequer by misusing her position, letter said.

Gupta had also filed a complaint to the Lokayukta against the Chief Minister giving all details of misuse of public funds.

The Lokayukta in its order delivered in May last year advising the Chief Minister to reimburse, either herself or through her party, being beneficiaries, a sum of Rs 11 crore, being approximately 50 per cent of the cost of advertisements used for party purposes.

He requested the CBI for immediate action be taken against Dikshit and other persons for misuse of government fund.