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Delhi votes today in triangular contest
Techie left job to find her niche in arts
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‘Corporate sector, civil society should focus on community development’
Three gun traffickers held
Do exercise your right, Vardhan urges voters
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Delhi votes today in triangular contest
New Delhi, December 3 The Congress party led by Sheila Dikshit rallying on its development agenda has made all efforts for an unprecedented fourth successive win. The BJP too has intensively campaigned to regain power after 15 years in opposition. In what is seen as her toughest electoral battle, Dikshit may face people's wrath because of a significant rise in prices of fruit and vegetables in the last two months besides the anti-incumbency factor which is visible in certain areas. Charges were also traded between the BJP and the Congress on a number of local issues like regularisation of unauthorised colonies, BRT corridor, demand for full statehood and high water and power tariffs. A total of 1.19 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise tomorrow. There are over 4.05 lakh first-time voters. A total of 810 candidates are in the fray for the 70-member assembly. The BJP has fielded candidates in 66 seats and the Congress and the AAP in all 70 constituencies. The BSP is contesting on 69 seats, the NCP on nine and the Samajwadi Party has fielded candidates in 27 seats. A total of 224 independents are also in the fray. The entry of Arvind Kejriwal's AAP has changed the dimension of the fight and it will be interesting to see whether the newbie will just be a 'spoiler' or win some seats, riding on its anti-corruption plank, as predicted by the opinion polls. The stakes in this election are high for Dikshit who mainly highlighted her achievements and development agenda while BJP's chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan promised to cut power tariff by 30 per cent and slash vegetable prices within 30 days of coming to power. The BJP has promised to give 12 subsidised LPG cylinders in a year to each household instead of the current nine besides ensuring full statehood. It has also promised to set up a dedicated women security force. On the other hand, the Congress has promised to set up a single command system to address the problems of multiplicity of authorities and a common economic zone for the entire National Capital Region to minimise load on Delhi's infrastructure. It has also promised to construct double- decker flyovers to ease traffic congestion. The AAP has promised to remove corruption and pass the Jan Lokpal Bill within 15 days of coming to power besides cutting power tariff by 50 per cent. What's more, 700 litres of water per day will be given free to each household. |
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Techie left job to find her niche in arts
New Delhi, December 3 Today as she stands by her work at an art exhibition in The Lalit Hotel in Delhi, she looks upon it as an achievement. Nailed to a wall is her best piece of art-two long plates made of red clay with engravings of bamboo trees, which are pasted on black wooden panels. "I have a fascination for bamboo. Most of my work has some significance to bamboo. It is something that is always in my mind when I work," she said. Explaining how she had made the two panels, she said that she had first brought a wooden frame and then beat and flattened red clay on it. She made the complex bamboo patterns and heated the clay plates at 800° C, before pasting it on the wooden panels. "It took me about a month to make this work. But then I had all the help I needed. I had spoken to my teachers who gave me all the details over the phone. I have my two friends, Sangeeta and Tripti, one is an engineer and the other a banker, who have helped in creating my piece of art. This exhibition is an opportunity for me," said Sachi. Sudha Pillai, a former member secretary of the Planning Commission, also displayed her work. Her favourite work is a painted mural showing the tree of life. "It is symbolic in most cultures," she said. After her retirement, she regularly goes to her art studio in the morning and paints there. |
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‘Corporate sector, civil society should focus on community development’
New Delhi, December 3 "Inclusiveness is an important goal in the growth story. The Planning Commission has created a nodal window for receiving suggestions from grass-roots NGOs and civil society so that ideas are received from the people most impacted by the decisions taken. This will help in bringing in creative and relevant ideas for catalyzing change," she said while speaking at the third
CSR-CSO Bridge organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with the National Foundation for Corporate Governance with the World Bank as an institutional partner. Dr Hameed congratulated CII on creating a platform that could enable the ingenuity of the corporate sector and the strengths of CSO to reach pockets of the greatest deprivation. Delivering the valedictory address during the two-day event, eminent thinker and administrator Gopalikrishna Gandhi said that the new Companies Act, while personifying the integrated aspirations of various stakeholders, has some inherent and eloquent anomalies. The act in its Clause 135 on CSR, necessitates companies to spend 2 per cent of profits on CSR vis-a-vis Article 293 A 1A, which has created a provision for corporate contribution to political parties up to 5 per cent of their profits. |
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Three gun traffickers held
New Delhi, December 3 "A haul of 22 semi-automatic pistols with 22 extra magazines, a Hyundai Santro car have been seized from the accused. The weapons were meant for supply to some persons at Kardampuri and Mangolpuri in Delhi," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav. The Special Cell was tipped off that a huge consignment of illegal weapons will be supplied in a Santro car at Wazirabad Road in Nand Nagri. A police team was constituted and around 09:20 am, they laid a trap and all the three accused were arrested. They came in a Santro car from UP and halted on the service road of Wazirabad Road. Two persons came out of the vehicle and were waiting for someone. The driver remained seated in the car. "All the three persons were overpowered," said Yadav. They initially tried to bluff the police team on one pretext or the other but ultimately revealed that they used inbuilt capsule cavities below the backseat of the car besides the petrol tank to conceal the weapons. A thorough search resulted in the recovery of 22 pistols as well as 22 spare magazines from the car. During investigation, involvement of one Tanman Singh, who hails from Madhya Pradesh, as the alleged manufacturer as well as main supplier of illegal arms and ammunition came to light. |
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Do exercise your right, Vardhan urges voters
New Delhi, December 3 Vardhan, a four-time MLA from the Krishna Nagar constituency in the Trans-Yamuna area, said that the first time voters numbering about four lakh were the young soldiers of the Indian democracy. It is their sacred duty to vote tomorrow so that the whole world may know that the youth of India have strong faith in democracy. He has exhorted all the women, youths, senior citizens of all sections of society that since people in many states have registered a record voting, they should also create a new record of voting in the Capital and show to the world that the voters here are aware. They can differentiate between a good and a bad party. The people of Delhi know how to punish and reward the ruling party at a proper time. He said after independence, the citizens of Delhi have given a fitting reply to the ruling party for their record-poor or
otherwise--at the time of elections. They believe in the power of votes. They know that the governments can be dislodged and formed with the use of right to vote. The tribal people in Chhattisgarh, which is a Naxal-affected area, have registered 70 per cent voting. |
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