New Delhi, October 10
As per the latest report of government, about 57.60 lakh individuals constituting nearly 33.39 per cent of the total population in National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi were employed.

The data is based on the 68th round of National Sample Survey conducted in 2011-2012 and it reveals the employment and unemployment situation in Delhi and is prepared by the Directorate of Economic and Statistics.

As per the data, the rate of urban employment far exceeds that of the rural one in Delhi. Out of the total 57.60 lakh persons employed, about 56.24 lakh constitute the urban workforce and a meagre amount of 0.82 lakh add to the rural workforce.

The ratio of male to female workers reveals the lesser participation of women in overall employment. According to the data, only 5.40 lakh women are employed as compared to 51.66 lakh males.

The data further categorises employment on the basis of self-employment and regular salaried employment. About 22.19 lakh (52.68 per cent of total) households depend upon financial input earned from a regular employment or waged salary while 15 to 46 lakh households (36.70 per cent of total) depend upon self-employment for livelihood.

The data further reveals that the rate of unemployed literates far exceeds that of unemployed illiterates. Out of the total unemployed, only three per cent were illiterate.

The data further categories labour force on the basis of types of work, physical viability, pension, etc. The survey reveals the comparative data of Delhi's unemployed work force with other states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal, J&K, Chandigarh, Andhra Pradesh, etc. 

New Delhi, October 10
Lieutenant Governor (LG) Najeeb Jung today appealed to all the citizens to come forward and join the campaign against tuberculosis (TB).

Speaking at the launch of 65th state level TB seal sale campaign, Jung said the fight against the deadly disease focuses on preventive measures.

He called upon all citizens to donate for the cause and in turn strengthen the campaign organized by the Delhi Tuberculosis Association.

The LG stressed the need to stringently deal with the menace of TB through prevention, detection at the very benign stage and eventual cure with the help of proper medication.

He laid emphasis upon creating awareness among the masses against this deadly disease by way of disseminating information related to its prevention and cure.

The LG expressed hope that the citizens would join the campaign. 

New Delhi, October 10
The BJP national secretary and MLA from Rajinder Nagar, R. P. Singh, said that his party would prefer election rather than forming the government in Delhi.

He said that if the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung, invites the BJP to prove the majority in the House, it will prefer election rather than forming the government as it does not have the required number of MLAs.

Singh said this after the Supreme Court adjourned the case of formation of the Delhi government to October 28 after Divali.

As the BJP does not believe in horse-trading, it will not take the support of other party MLAs, Singh said.

The BJP had won 31 seats in the assembly election and one was of its ally, SAD Badal.

It had a total of 32 out of 70 assembly seats. It was short of four seats to form the government. Now out of its 31 MLAs three-- Dr Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Bidhuri and Parvesh Verma--have been elected to Parliament that has left the BJP with only 28 seats, he said.

He said the Union government might take a final decision about Delhi after the assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra. The party is in a strong position in Delhi. If the election is held, the party will win it with a thumping majority, he claimed. 

New Delhi, October 10
Three women and two children were charred to death when a fire started from a leaking gas cylinder at a two-bedroom house in south Delhi's Jasola Vihar locality this morning.

There were about 35 persons, mostly women and children, inside the house when the fire broke out. Most of the men had left for an outstation location to attend a wedding while other family members stayed back.

The deceased have been identified as the groom Islam's mother Munnissira (40), his 30-year-old aunt, Mohsina and his uncle's mother-in-law, Bhoori Khatoon (55). A four-year-old girl, Iram, and a three-year-old girl, Sarah, also died in the fire. Iram had been adopted by Islam's uncle.

For hours after the incident, it was believed there were six deaths and the last one was of an infant. The police said that the bodies were charred very badly.

The people had assembled on the first floor of the recently constructed six-storey building.

"When the fire began, one of the men at the house began removing people from inside. Some ran upstairs, some rushed down. But before everyone could be removed, the room caught fire and those inside were burnt," said a police officer.

Islam's cousin Shakir said the rotating ceiling fans in the rooms helped the cooking gas spread to the inner rooms. "We tried to throw sand and water, but the fire spread rapidly," he told reporters.

When a fire tender arrived at the site of the incident about 30 minutes later, the five persons were already dead. "The bodies are unrecognizable. We had to seek help from the victims' family to identify them," said the officer. The fire tenders helped prevent fire from spreading to others floors and to the neighbouring buildings in the crowded locality of Jasola village.

Islam and his father Idrish ran a tobacco products shop in the area. The family also depended on the rent received from the other flats in their building.

New Delhi, October 10
Three men were arrested by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police for allegedly trying to extort Rs 30 lakh from a man and attempting to kidnap his friend, police said today.

The victim, who is a resident of Khera village in Chhawala area of southwest Delhi, on Tuesday lodged a complaint with the police that he had been receiving extortion calls from Jyoti Sangwan, a notorious criminal of Najafgarh presently lodged in Narnaul Jail of Haryana, and his brother Kapil Sangwan alias Nandu, police said.

Members of the gang had even fired gun shots at his house to threaten him and demand Rs 30 lakh, they said.

A case regarding this was registered at the Chhawala police station.

"Meanwhile, as the victim did not pay the extortion money and left the village, the extortionists started threatening his close aide, who also resides in the same area, that he should prevail upon his friend to pay the extortion money and tried to kidnap him. Another FIR was lodged in this connection," said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ashok Chand.

Yesterday, on a tip-off, three members of the gang were arrested from Najafagarh in Delhi. They were identified as Vasudev alias Vasu (18), Krishna Kumar alias Ankush (24) and Prashant Gulia (21), police said.

On interrogation, the trio disclosed that the victim had recently sold a land for several crores of rupees and they were aware about it.

On the instructions of Jyoti Sangwan and his brother Kapil Sangwan, they had fired gun shots at the house of the victim and tried to kidnap his friend at gunpoint.

They could not do carry out the kidnapping as villagers reached there and they had to flee, police said.—PTI