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Cabinet reviews swine flu
situation A woman and her kid outside the screening centre of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi on Sunday. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui
Petitioner claims Rs 150-cr compensation
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Academicians, economists deliberate
on education reforms
DU gets its own networking site
Rajputs miffed about ‘understatement’ of
community’s strength
Yamuna Expressway cuts number of plots
Eco-friendly empowering
Folk media, DVD players, plasma TVs: Hooda drive has it all
Court summons 6-yr boy booked for rioting
Man held for raping colleague
Prez hosts freedom fighters
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Cabinet reviews swine flu
situation
New Delhi, August 9 There are 11 Delhi government hospitals, two central government hospitals and one MCD hospital where the swine flu patients are being treated. So far, 178 patients have been discharged from various hospitals after treatment, whereas 58 are still under treatment. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, while briefing the media after the meeting, said the cabinet had advised people not to create panic and follow instructions issued by the health authorities. Parents and school authorities had also been asked to educate children about the signs and symptoms of H1N1 influenza so that it was ensured that there remained no scope of any panic, she said. She further stated that the government had commissioned a round-the-clock control room with the telephone number 011-23921401 to provide all information and directions with regard to H1N1virus. The government had appointed a state level nodal officer and an additional nodal officer to effectively coordinate the issues related to H1N1 influenza, she said. People have been asked to follow instructions of the union government about quarantining patients either at hospital or home. There is ample availability of 3-layer mask in the market, which is available at a very reasonable price. The people have further been advised to not take any medicine without consulting any physician. The Chief Minister said schools would be sent an advisory by the principal secretary (education) to give relevant information about H1N1 flu so that students could be educated and their misgivings and fears could be dispelled accordingly. If any particular school feels that there is a need to close down that particular school, the authorities would have to approach the directorate of education stating all facts and reasons in details, said the CM.
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Medical negligence case Ananya Panda Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 9 Welcoming the judgement, he has claimed a compensation of Rs 150 crore. While discussing the implications of the apex court’s decision today at Press Club, Dr. Kunal said though the judgment came after a long battle of over 11 years, it is very crucial for future practicing of medicine in the country. A child psychologist Anuradha Saha, who had come to India on vacation in 1998, after developing skin allergy went to Advanced Medical Research Institute/ Apollo Hospital, but there initially she was diagnosed wrongly by Dr Sukumar Mukherjee. Later, Dr Baidyanath Haldar detected her suffering from toxic epidermal necrolysis, a form of drug allergy, but she succumbed to sepsis due overdose of steroids. Following Anuradha’s death, Dr Kunal filed a lawsuit for criminal negligence under the Section 304-A IPC in 1999 with the Calcutta trail court, and in 2002, both the erring doctors, Dr Sukumar and Dr Haldar were convicted and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of three months. Thereafter, both the convicts appealed against the trial court’s verdict in the Calcutta High Court, which overturned the decision in 2004. Dr Kunal then filed two cases, one with the Supreme Court and the other with the National Consumer Redressal Commission (NCRC). While the consumer body dismissed the case, the apex court convicted Dr. Sukumar for negligence of civil liability of paying compensation yet to be decided by the NCRC along with a penalty of one lakh. The SC also imposed fine of five lakh on the hospital. The apex court’s ruling clearly reads that doctors cannot exceed the recommended dose of any drug, and its is mandatory that the doctors should inform the patients about the possible side-effects of the drug and any alternative to it if any. Another important point of the ruling is that even in cases involving housewives, compensation would be mandatory. Pointing out at the increase in the frequency of medical lapses due to gross negligence, Dr Kunal feels in India, doctors in India have been misguiding people and carrying on self-justifiable and arbitrary practices of medication. There are many practitioners who rather than following the manufacture’s instructions prescribe medicines more than the range advised clinically, and this judgment would put a check to the malpractice, he said. He stated that most of the time doctors don’t even verify what medical representatives, hardly graduates and with half understanding of the drugs, sell. He added that the ruling would make doctors more accountable and more importantly the ordinary people would have more force in their arguments against cases of faulty medication. Meanwhile, an exhilarated Dr Kunal welcomes the judgement and claims a compensation of Rs 150 crore, which if considered would be the highest ever in the case of medical history.
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Academicians, economists deliberate
on education reforms
New Delhi, August 9 Talking in a seminar “Against Neo-Liberal Thrust in Education”, CPM’s MP Sitaram Yechury highlighted the need for expanding state responsibility in education and increasing social control over all private educational institutions, “both in terms of their fee structures and admission policies.” The Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust
(SAHMAT) held the seminar yesterday focussing on the recently passed Right to Education Bill and the hundred days agenda to bring about changes in higher education of HRD minister Kapil
Sibal. Agreeing to certain extent with the other speakers on dangers of privatisation of education, Professor Yashpal said there were challenges from the private institutes, but maintained that the direct intervention from the government in the functioning of universities should also be stopped. In the inaugural session, Prabhat
Patnaik, noted economist from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) said the universities needed to be oriented towards “intellectual engagement”, which was not subservient to the market. This could not be achieved without fighting the neo-liberal economic context in which the changes were being
introduced. Muchkund Dubey, president, Council for Social Development, and Zoya Hasan from National Commission for Minorities spoke of the need of having an equitable and publicly funded educational system, which also met the need of socially and economically disadvantaged groups. The second session of the seminar focused on school education and was addressed by Jayati
Ghosh, economist from JNU. “The Right to Education Act was silent in terms of absence of financial responsibility of the state for providing education, and on the norms for educational institutions,” she said. Other speakers in this session were Ashok
Agarwal, social jurist, Ravi Kumar from Jamia Millia Islamia and Rajendran from the School Teachers Federation of India. The session highlighted the problems in the Right to Education Act and the minister’s proposal to make class X examinations optional. Ashok Agarwal used his vast experience in dealing with private schools for evaluating the ways in which the current Right to Education Bill created and institutionalised a discriminatory system against disadvantaged groups and diluted Article 45 of the Constitution guaranteeing right to education to all children from 0-14 years. The third session of the seminar focused on higher education and was chaired by economist
C.P. Chandrasekhar from JNU. Speakers in this session included Sudhanshu Bhattacharya from
NEUPA, Dhruv Raina and Soumen Bhattacharya from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Vijender Sharma from Democratic Teachers Forum, N.Raghuram from Indraprastha University and Dinesh Abrol from National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies. The session highlighted the limitations of the National Knowledge Commission and Yashpal Committee with respect to their recommendations for reforming higher education. Sudhanshu Bhattacharya said the government needed to set up a National Commission on Higher Education to check malpractices and privatisation of education.
Vijender Sharma showed how the Yashpal Committee had created space for private education and said there was a need to oppose foreign investment in education. “This could only be done by increasing social control over private capital,” he said. |
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DU gets its own networking site
New Delhi, August 9 Started by Honey Arora, a technical expert, Network DU (www.networkdu.com) has all the features of other social networking sites and more. “Our aim is to get DU more connected through this site. In the IITs and IIMs, the alumni really help their juniors in getting internships and job placements. Network DU will do something similar. Besides friends, a student can get in touch with alumni of the university through this portal and seek help in terms of their career,” Arora told IANS. Of the 2,000 people who have registered, 1,500 are at present studying in the university while the rest are alumni. There is, however, no restriction on a non-DU member joining the network. Arora himself is not an alumni of the university. “I was a student of Punjab Technical University. But I, along with some others from IIT Delhi and IIM-Bangalore, zeroed in on Delhi University because I think DU is very tech-savvy,” said Arora, who owns Sparks Logics, the firm which started Network DU. With blogs, music, chat and even an online shopping link, the site gives you all that other networking sites have to offer. It also has debates raging on hot topics like “Should ragging be banned in DU?”with two students in Kirori Mal College getting arrested recently for ragging a junior. The site also has space for classified information like contact addresses of hostels and PG accommodation around the campus. So if you are looking for a place to stay, all you need to do is log in. Besides this, it has information on the institutes in the campus, scholarships and internships. Although he is happy with the response that the site has been getting, especially since the advertisement has only been through word of mouth, Arora said that he is planning to go to ex-DU bigwigs like Kapil Sibal and convince them to join the network. “I am planning to go to Kapil Sibal and ask him to join Network DU and spread some good word about the site. DU has produced some of the most well-placed professionals in the country in every field. If someone like Sibal, who is active on Facebook, joins the site it will make others interested too,” he said. “However I will go to him only after we have got a stronger registration number like 5,000,” Arora added. Arora’s mission does not stop at DU. He now plans to create similar networks for other universities. “I am going to Amity University next and create a portal for their students. The officials of the private universities like Amity are very encouraging and eager to help in such initiatives. “Money is a problem now but I am looking for investors so that I can create such networks for students of major universities of the country and then connect these networks so that the whole student community can come together in a single platform and interact,” Arora
said. — IANS |
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Rajputs miffed about ‘understatement’ of
community’s strength
Faridabad, August 9 The community feels that leaders of various political parties, including the Congress, ask for their support in the name of community, especially during the elections, but once they get elected or are politically adjusted, they forget the community. The leaders of the Haryana Rajput Pratinidhh Sabha
(HRPS), led by a retired IAS officer of the state, Hukam Singh Rana, had to field the complaints from the Rajput community in several villages they visited today and yesterday in NIT,
Prithla, Ballabarfh and Palwal assembly segments to mobilise support for the state level “sammelan” of the community scheduled at Karnal on August 21. The Rajput community demanded political parties, especially the Congress, to give ticket to one of its members in the newly created assembly segment of Prithla on account of the significant presence of Rajputs in the area. The members of the community, however, supported the leaders of HRPS during their visit to the villages and turned out in good number to listen to them. The enthusiasm was apparent, especially in
Chaisa, Sikri, Aasauti, Ballabgarh and Palwal. The Rajputs alleged that the Congress was not attentive to the just share and representation of the community in tune with its numerical strength. The community has urged the HRPS to throw a challenge to all the political parties to dispute the allegation that the community’s numerical strength was underplayed in the official statistics. The community was ready for a public debate, the members told their leaders. They expressed apprehension that the record was being “cooked up” by some vested quarters for a long time and urged the leaders of the HRPS to get to the bottom of the
matter. Rana urged the members of the community to organise and unionise their voices to make an impression on the political parties. He also urged them to lay stress on education, especially vocational education, to their children. Rana stressed that female education was must if the community desired to further upgrade themselves socially and politically. He told the agitated members of the community to organise themselves and collectively take up their grievances with the leaders. With regard August 21 Karnal
sammelan, Rana said the event was being organised to give strengthen to the voice of the community. Also, it would take stock of the grievances of the community, which include below par participation in political and governmental process in Haryana. Leaders of various political parties, including the senior Congress leaders of the All India Congress Committee, Digvijay Singh and Prithviraj Chavhan have consented to address the
sammelan, he added. |
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Meltdown Impact Our Correspondent
Noida, August 9 Due to the financial meltdown, the demand projections for residential plots has been recast to 21,000, sources said. It is felt that not many applicants were coming forward to invest in property now. This fact had been kept in view by Yamuna Expressway Board which has taken the decision to reduce the the number of plots. According to another decision, J.P. Group has been allotted 1000 hectares of land for making formula one track by the side of expressway. The board also approved a proposal to exempt this allottment from stamp duty. In another decision, the board has authorised the Chairman to increase the size of plots to be given to farmers from 6% to 7% as demanded by farmers whose land has been acquired . The Authority has also approved the decision to hike the rate of land compensation in Aligarh and Agra districts by Rs 22 per sq mt annually. The chairman was also authorised to amend the terms and conditions of allottment of land. This will enable small-scale investors to invest money in big cities, the board felt. Aligarh farmers are currently getting a compensation at Rs 390 per sq mt which is being increased to Rs 412 plus Rs 24 as bonus making it Rs 436 per sq mt. Meanwhile, Agra farmers who are getting Rs. 400 as compensation will be getting a per sq mt compensation of Rs 422 plus Rs 24 as bonus making it a total of Rs 446.
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Eco-friendly empowering
New Delhi, August 9 The NGO’s “polylooms project”, launched along with the environment department of the Delhi government, would address the twin objectives of waste management and women empowerment. The initiative launched at Sanjay Colony in Okhla, Phase-II, endeavours to support the government’s efforts of reducing plastic garbage by focusing upon waste’s utmost utility. Sudha from Deepalaya said under the programme, waste cloth and polythene would be converted into articles of utility. Waste plastic would be yarned to make mats, bags, pencil holders etc. And for this, a group of eight women has already been trained. Based on the concept of self-help groups, the project would facilitate deprived and underprivileged women from the slums with employment opportunity. On the occasion, senior scientific officer of the environment department Dr S.C. Sabata said, “This is an opportunity for the women to contribute towards the cleaning of Delhi.” Adding that the platform would enable them to come up with a safe livelihood for themselves, Sabata said, “It is more crucial because women have to suffer the most due to lack of access to proper hygiene and sanitation facilities.” |
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Folk media, DVD players, plasma TVs: Hooda drive has it all
Gurgaon, August 9 The ‘Vikas Yatra’, which was flagged off by Hooda from Chandigarh on August 6, reached Gurgaon last evening. It was flagged off to cover all municipal as well as rural areas of the district here today. Comprising specially designed publicity vehicles, the yatra is slated to tour the entire state between August 6 and 25. All publicity vehicles are equipped with DVD players, plasma TVs, column speakers, loudspeakers, mikes and portable gensets. The vehicles are so designed on all sides, that various welfare schemes of the state government along with pictures are prominently exhibited. In the video CDs run on the plasma TVs, the beneficiaries of various welfare schemes can be seen dancing on the songs highlighting the schemes. These songs in local dialect have been prepared on the tunes of popular songs of the area so that the message percolates down to the masses smoothly. Besides, a bhajan party also accompanies each vehicle for singing songs on the achievements of the Hooda government. After popularising its policies and programmes through print as well as electronic media, the government has devised this new publicity campaign, which is an amalgamation of folk and media technology. The idea is to highlight the welfare schemes and achievements of the Hooda regime in view of the approaching Assembly elections. Eight publicity vehicles, one each for all four blocks in the district and the rest for the areas falling under the local municipal corporation and the municipal committees of Sohna, Pataudi, Hailey Mandi and Farukhnagar, have been hired for the district. |
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Court summons 6-yr boy booked for rioting
Noida, August 9 In September 2008, the electricity department had lodged a complaint after a mob ransacked their office and damaged a transformer in Shalimar Garden in Loni. The police later submitted a chargesheet against five people, including Vishal Chabbra, a Class II student. The boy’s father Naresh said, “We were confused, shocked and disturbed when Vishal’s name appeared in the summons. How can a six-year-old minor destroy files, overturn an electricity transformer and cause damage to a government office?” The chargesheet was filed by sub-inspector O.P. Singh, the investigating officer (IO), last December. Interestingly, he mentioned the charges against them were proved and as the accused are influential persons their arrest could create a law and order problem. The Chabbra family,who haven’t told Vishal, are preparing for the August 22 court hearing. It is understood that Ghaziabad SSP Akhil Kumar, has initiated probe on the FIR when presented to him against the minor boy. “It is shoddy work on part of IO. The SSP has powers to scrap the case under provision of 173/8 of Cr PC (Criminal Procedure Code). I will ensure that justice is done”, he said.
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Cracks in pillars not serious: Sreedharan Our Correspondent
Noida, August 9 Sreedharan also said all the Metro pillars have been examined in Noida track and the it has been found that cracks are not serious. Sreedharan was participating in a Kabir Foundation programme organised in NTPC auditorium in Sector-16A Noida. He said track laying programme in Noida was progressing quite satisfactorily. The DMRC chief said the question of power availability has also been resolved satisfactorily. He said that a high level technical committee had found that the collapse was due to a serious design deficiency. The structure was designed by a well-known structural consultancy and was constructed by one of the best civil contractors of the country. Sreedharan had inspected a station near Akshardham yesterday. Later he visited New Ashok Nagar, Sector-15, Atta and Golf Course Metro stations in Noida.
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Man held for raping colleague
New Delhi, August 9 The 27-year-old victim in her complaint at the Paschim Vihar police station alleged that her colleague Prashant Rana gave her a cold drink spiked with some sedative substance after they got down from their call centre cab late Friday near her house in Jwala Hedi market. The victim hails from Uttrakhand and is putting up in a rented accommodation. Rana lives in the nearby area of Budh Vihar. Deputy Commissioner of Police (West Delhi) Sharad Aggarwal told IANS that the victim approached them late Saturday with a complaint that she was raped by her colleague Rana. Doctors have confirmed the rape.. “She said she did not remember the place where Rana took her and raped her. She said she got up at the unknown place. We have arrested Rana,” he said.
— IANS |
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Prez hosts freedom fighters
New Delhi, August 9 While Satyawati was a dedicated fighter throughout the independence movement, Subhadra holds the credit of being the youngest freedom fighter to be sentenced to jail at an age of 13 years. The President offered them khadi sarees and bouquets, and sat with them and their family for about 45 minutes. |
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The Delhi cabinet today called an emergency meeting to review the situation of H1N1 flu in the Capital and also took stock of the preparations to treat the patient.
The cabinet was told that 14 hospitals in Delhi had been treating the affected people.
