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CITY/NCR NOIDA/DELHI 4 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NDMC parks fraught with safety hazards Councillors raise concern over live wires, dilapidated swings and lack of security Damini Nath NEW DELHI: Municipal parks across Delhi have become safety hazards, with live wires, dilapidated swings and lack of security being highlighted by councillors themselves. A 24-year-old lawyer, Gaurav Rana, was electrocuted by an exposed wire at a North Delhi Municipal Corporation park in Pitampura on Sunday. The incident evoked sharp criticism from municipal councillors, who said the accident was just waiting to happen. While the North Corporation has started a probe, the state of municipal parks across Delhi is in question. Officials admit there is a shortage of staff, including gardeners and security guards, and that it has led to parks being neglected. Councillors said repeated complaints had gone unaddressed and the parks posed a threat to the children and senior citizens who frequent them. DU V-C to take charge of new online course Staff Reporter NEW DELHI: Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh will be in-charge of the University’s first and soon-to-be launched online course on India in the 21st Century. 10 lectures The course comprises 10 lectures, all to be delivered by Prof. Singh, and will be open to people from all over the world. It will come with a certificate if it gets approved by the University’s Academic Council. A statement issued from the Registrar explains that this course is designed to portray some of the great milestones in the India’s modern history, with perspectives from the past and indications into the future. The course can be accessed by students and others in the University community by using the DU internet network, but others will have to enrol for the course to view the lectures on the University website. The course will begin from January 30. CM YK OPEN DANGER: Lack of coordination between the electrical division and Horticulture Department results in lights not being repaired at municipal parks in Delhi. — PHOTOS: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT South Delhi Municipal Corporation councillor Virender Kasana said his Chittaranjan Park ward had many such parks where naked wires pose a threat. “A six-year-old boy had died in 2009 after being electrocuted at an Alaknanda park, but we don’t seem to have learned. The parks in South Delhi still have so many risks,” Mr. Kasana told the House on Tuesday. The light poles in municipal parks are installed by the electrical division, while the greenery is maintained by the Horticulture Department. Mr. Kasana added that the lack of coordination between the two departments was responsible for the lights not being repaired and maintained. SDMC Mayor Khushi Ram Fortis does a first with rare heart implant Bindu Shajan Perappadan NEW DELHI: Doctors at the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute implanted India’s first Subcutaneous Implantable Defibrillator (S-ICD) on a 48-year-old heart patient from Bihar. The S-ICD system is approved for patients who are at a risk of sudden cardiac death due to life threatening ventricular arrhythmias and those who do not require a pacemaker. The patient was treated by Ashok Seth, chairman, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, and Anil Saxena, director of Cardiac Pacing and Electrophysiology, who implanted the device. The patient, Arvind Sahay, had suffered damage to his heart following a heart attack in October, 2014, and his heart was pumping at a low efficiency of only 25-30 per cent. He had undergone angiography and angioplasty with three stents after the heart attack and was breathless on occasions. In view of his poor heart function and the risk of sudden death, the decision to implant the subcutaneous ICD was taken. Dr. Seth said, “This first case of S-ICD in India will be a strong hope for several potential ICD patients who could be S-ICD is approved for patients who are at a risk of sudden cardiac death due to life threatening ventricular arrhythmias at risk of sudden death, including those with poor veins and those at high risk for major infection associated with a transvenous lead.’’ He said that sudden cardiac death is a major public health problem in India and accounts for about 10 per cent of all deaths in the country. Nearly, 80 per cent of these deaths are due to ventricular arrhythmias, a large number of which can be prevented by timely resuscitation. Implantable defibrillators (ICDs) have changed the outlook for such patients, by significantly reducing the risk of sudden cardiac death and totally external subcutaneous ICD is a landmark advancement in this direction. The subcutaneous ICD is an innovative device which does not require any lead to go into the chamber of the heart for its functioning unlike the other previous devices. ordered the Commissioner to give a report about the status of the Corporation’s parks in the next meeting of the House. Meanwhile, the North Corporation is investigating the Pitampura incident to fix the responsibility of officials concerned. The three municipal corporations of Delhi have a total of 15,000 parks under their jurisdiction. Uber driver alleges attack in prison van NEW DELHI: The Uber cab driver, accused of rape, alleged in a court here on Tuesday that he was threatened and attacked in a prison van. Accused Shiv Kumar Yadav’s counsel Alok Dwivedi moved a plea alleging that the driver was threatened and attacked in the prison van by fellow inmates while he was being taken back to jail after the January 17 court proceedings. Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja asked the lockup in-charge for a report on the allegations. Yadav had earlier made a similar complaint to the court, which had directed the Delhi Police and Tihar jail authorities to ensure his security and provide him a separate enclosure in the prison van. Meanwhile, the court recorded the statements of two Delhi Police officers — a constable and an official of the malkhana (where evidence related to cases is stored) — and a nodal officer of Vodafone. Constable Arvind told the court that on December 12, 2014, he had deposited the mobile phone recovered from Yadav at the time of his arrest with the CFSL office for forensic tests. — IANS NHRC directs Chief Secretary to submit report on church attacks Says these may violate fundamental right to freedom of religion Mohammed Iqbal NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognisance of reports about a church in Vikaspuri , which was vandalised last week. Prior to this, four other incidents of attacks and suspected arson at Christian religious institutions have occurred in Dilshad Garden, Rohini and Jasola since December 1, 2014. The NHRC has observed that these frequent attacks on religious institutions of the minority community, if true, may violate the fundamental right to freedom of religion and cause “immense harm” to the country’s social fabric. The culprits involved in these incidents should be brought to book, it said. The commission has issued notice to the Delhi Chief Secretary calling for a report on these incidents within four weeks. The Chief Secretary was also directed to submit a report about the action proposed to Street vendors protest delay in issuing licence Street vendors say in the absence of legal documents they have to pay bribes to operate. — FILE PHOTO Staff Reporter NEW DELHI: Street vendors from across the Capital on Tuesday protested outside the offices of the municipal bodies against the delay in issuing licences to hawkers. The three municipal corporations and the New Delhi Municipal Council were supposed to conduct a survey before allotting vending licences as per the Street Vendors Bill, 2014. The National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) that organised the protests, said be taken to prevent recurrence of such incidents in the Capital. The church in Vikaspuri was allegedly vandalised by two men in the early hours of January 14, even as the church authorities claimed that the attack was carried out to stoke communal tension. Marching to the tune Christians at a candle light vigil against the fire in a Delhi Church. — FILE PHOTO Captured on CCTV The incident was captured on closed circuit television cameras installed in the vicinity of the church. When the priest arrived at the church in early morning, he found the glass cabinet mounted on the outside wall broken and the statue of Mother Mary lying on the ground. Video footage reportedly showed two men on a motorcycle vandalising the church, first by breaking the glass cabinet and returning shortly after to push the statue causing a fall. Earlier, an incident of arson was reported at St. Sebastian’s Church in Dilshad Garden, which is among the biggest churches in East Delhi, in December. The entire interior, including the altar, the Cross and religious scriptures, were reduced to ashes in the incident. The church was active till a night before the burning because of religious ceremonies for Catholic children receiving their first Holy Communion. The NHRC had taken cognisance of the incident of arson at St. Sebastian’s Church as well, while observing that the destruction of a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any group was an offence under the Indian Penal Code. FLYING HIGH: Rehearsal for the Beating Retreat ceremony under way at Vijay Chowk on Monday ahead of the Republic Day celebration. — PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR that the vendors had to pay bribes to be able to operate in the absence of legal documents. NASVI national coordinator Arbind Singh said the corporations had set up town vending committees, but “not a single vendor was given a licence in the past 10 years”. The street vendors handed over a memorandum to the three municipal commissioners and the chairperson of the NDMC. According to the NASVI, the officials assured the vendors that challans would not be issued till the surveys were completed. PK makers accused of plagiarism NEW DELHI: Novelist Kapil Isapuri has approached the Delhi High Court, accusing the makers of Aamir Khan’s film “PK” of plagiarism. He said certain portions from his Hindi novel “Farishta” published in 2013 were “stolen and copied” and used in the film. Isapuri has sought punitive damages of Rs.1 crore from the filmmakers along with credit for his work. The Rajkumar Hirani directorial, which raises questions about religion and people’s blind faith in godmen, has been co-produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Hirani. The movie also stars Anushka Sharma and Sanjay Dutt. The plea, filed through advocate Jyotika Kalra, alleged that the makers of the film as well as scriptwriter Abhijat Joshi stole the characters, expression of ideas and sequences from the novel “Farishta”. — IANS Court indicts PMO officials for hiding facts in coal block case Nirnimesh Kumar NEW DELHI: A Special court here dealing with coal block allocation scam cases on Monday indicted the then Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) officials for hiding facts on the allocation of a coal block to a private company in Maharashtra. Special Judge Bharat Parashar put the officials in the dock while considering a charge-sheet in connection with the allocation of “Lohara (East) Coal Block” to Messrs Grace Industries Limited allegedly in an illegal manner. The Central Bureau of Investigation has chargesheeted only one director of the company. It has given a clean chit to the other director and the public ser- NEW DELHI: Four people, including a government pharmacist, have been arrested for illegally selling Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) medicines in the open market, police said on Tuesday. Shahid Usmani(32) — the kingpin of the racket — along with Manoj Rajpal(35) was arrested on January 17 from Bhagirath Palace, wholesale market in old Delhi, where he had gone to deliver a consignment of stolen medicines. Sanjay Kumar (42) and Swaraj Dhankad (57) were arrested from different locations on Monday for their involvement in selling the medicines meant strictly for government hospitals and vants involved in the allocation of the coal block to the company. Referring to the specific opinion by the then Minister of State of Coal, Dasari Narayan Rao, that GIL was not ‘eligible’ for allocation of the coal block applied for, the judge said that “the PMO officials should have highlighted the same before the file was submitted to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh”. The PM was at that time also holding the additional charge of the Ministry. “…I am constrained to observe that even the working of the officers of the PMO also does not appear to be above board,’’ the judge said “Cognisance of the aforesaid offences thus needs to ESI dispensaries. Police have recovered life saving and antibiotic medicines worth Rs. 5 lakh from their possession. “We have arrested four people, including a government employee, for illegally selling CGHS medicines in the market and seized medicines worth Rs.5 lakh from their possession,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said. be taken including that of the offence of criminal conspiracy against the public servants (H C Gupta, Secretary, Coal, K S Kropha, Joint Secretary, Coal, and Vishwas Sawakhande, Director, Directorate of Geology and Mining, Government of Maharashtra. At the same time the private parties involved in the process i.e. M/s GIL and its two directors, Mukesh Gupta and his wife Seema Gupta, cheated the Government of India by making false claims regarding net worth of the company and its installed capacity so as to obtain wrongful gain i.e. seeking allotment of the coal block,” the judge said. The court also ordered the CBI to further investigate the case. Four held for selling CGHS medicines Police have recovered life saving and antibiotic medicines worth Rs. 5 lakh from their possession He said the accused disposed off the medicines at Bhagirath Palace. “The investigation conducted so far has revealed that Dhankad and Kumar used to obtain costly medicines meant for government health scheme beneficiaries and then sell the same to Usmani on charging their commission. Usmani would further sell the same to Rajpal,” Yadav said. “The accused were indulging in this illegal trade for around five years,” Yadav said. Dhankad, a pharmacist at a government dispensary in Najafgarh, met Usmani five years ago and agreed to sell him the medicines.— IANS ND-ND
NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 Traditional crafts with a chic makeover Jaideep Deo Bhanj OLD MEETS NEW: The Design Fair is on at Nature Bazaar in Andheria Modh till January 27. NEW DELHI: Dastkar Haats are always about interacting with artisans trying to keep their crafts alive by adapting to contemporary taste. Buyers learn about crafts that are unique to a region and help the artisans sustain themselves by making purchases. However, the current Design Fair being organised at the Nature Bazaar in Andheria Modh here is a bit different. The fair connects buyers directly with jewellery, textile and décor designers who have adapted crafts in contemporary styles. The new ideas and designs from these creative minds have helped give a new lease of life to artisans struggling to sell their crafts as designs have not evolved for decades. The event, organised in partnership with Delhi Tourism, has many items up for grabs, including stoles, jackets, accessories and garments made from recycled textiles; jewellery made using ancient techniques interpreted in modern designs; innovate block-printing techniques; and new motifs and graphic designs that are executed on the looms of traditional handloom weavers. Many of the stalls are a result of a design intervention project by the National Institute of Design or other notable designers who have helped craftsmen make their products more appealing to the customer. Chhandak Jana, a fashion designer based in West Bengal who is participating in the fair, says he has used motifs inspired by Madhubani paintings and new block print designs on his clothes. “The problem was that there were very limited motifs and block print designs. Although people liked the style, they did not purchase more as two garments would look similar. Now that I have used new motifs, people will have a lot more to choose from,” he adds. Another stall set up by Amanda Brown sells poly-fill duvets for kids’ bedrooms. During her quest to find decent bed furnishings for her kid’s room Amanda came across very limited and expensive options. So she took a trip to Jaipur, met with block-print artisans and came up with a line that is moderately-priced and safe for kids. “Many kids in the city develop allergies due to the dust around. Therefore, it is very important to choose materials that do not attract dust,” she says. Apart from the usual pinks and blues, she has come up with line of gender neutral colours like mauve, yellow, green and orange for parents fed-up with pinks and blues. The exhibition is on till January 27 at Nature Bazaar, Kisan Haat, Andheria Modh, opposite Chhatarpur Metro Station, Delhi. STATE 5 DUTA to approach President Staff Reporter NEW DELHI: Alleging that misgovernance of University administration had resulted in the decline of several institutions, the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DU- TA) is planning to approach President Pranab Mukherjee, who is the Visitor of the University, Vice-President Hamid Ansari, who is the Chancellor, and the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development. ‘Inefficiencies’ “The sharp decline in the number of DU-maintained institutions, as a result of the current administration’s misrule, is increasing exponentially by the day,” said DUTA president Nandita Narain, adding that three institutions had been affected by the administration’s inefficiencies. “In Kirori Mal College, the governing body is protecting an acting-Principal facing criminal investigation following Court orders on serious charges of financial bungling levelled by the University Grants Commission. On the other hand, it has dismissed the suspended Principal, even though a statutory inquiry headed by a former Supreme Court Judge exonerated him,” said DUTA member Saikat Ghosh. The recent loss of the University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS) to the Delhi Government has also not gone down well with the DUTA. “The UCMS, which is the most important medical college under DU, has been severely neglected by the University administration and now, surreptitiously handed over to the Delhi Government without discussion and approval of the University Executive Council,” said Ms. Narain. She added that at the Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute too, two Assistant Registrars who raised the twin issues of corruption and financial irregularities were terminated by the governing body; one of them, despite having a High court order reinstating him, and the other, through an inquiry, despite the fact that the governing body has no disciplinary power against such employees “The fact that the University administration is treating its medical colleges with such contempt and indifference shows the scant regard it has for the health and well-being of the University community,” said Ms. Narain. She added that the DUTA had already asked for an appointment with the Visitor, and is currently awaiting a response from Rashtrapati Bhavan. CM YK Portraits of women through the ages Rana Siddiqui Zaman NEW DELHI: A show of nearly 300 works of art by 100 artists, from circa 1900 to 1980, is going to be unveiled on January 23 at Swaraj Art Archive in Noida’s Sector 2. Aptly titled Stri Avalekha, which means women in painting, the show has been culled from the Swaraj Art Archive. The works explore the female form as painted and photographed by both male and female painters and photographers through the ages. For instance, it shows how women, especially women models, reacted to painters and photographers. The motions and reactions can be seen in the gestures and body language — coy, bold, careless, conscious and so on. What makes the show unique is its unusual display method. The works of art are devoid of the name of the artist, period, chronology or titles in order to allow visitors enjoy them without the influence of “tags”, as show curator Smriti Rajgarhia Bhatt puts it. “No chronology, names, periods, etc. will allow the viewer to read and dwell into the artwork itself, rather than assess it pragmatically based on market researches associated with specific artists. A small effort has been made with this exhibition for the art to speak for itself without being weighed down or enhanced by the artists’ biographies. The viewer will then experience art without judgement and/ or in comparison with the plethora of stylistic languages through Indian art,” she added. The works have been divided into categories like love, pride, devotion and acquiescence. They will include works by legendary painters like Raja Ravi Verma and M. F Husain, and A show of nearly 300 works of art by 100 artists, titled Stri Avalekha, will be unveiled on January 23 at Swaraj Art Archive in Sector 2 of Noida modern and post-modern artists like F. N. Souza and Rekha Rodwittiya. However, a pamphlets mentioning the names and histories of each work will be available for the visitors. “The show will provide a visual comparative of the iconography associated with each of the artists and their muse,” said Prarthna, the research personnel of the show. Some of the works at the exhibition are by foreign artists who were inspired by India, specifically Goddesses Kali and Durga as depicted by artists from around the globe and not by those from the Bengal school of art. For instance, Kali and Durga as painted by the famous Nandlal Bose and unknown Dutch Bengal painters in stark contrast to nude models as painted by students in college and known/unknown painters and photographers, Raja Ravi Verma’s women deities, which finally became a house hold possession, especially the portraits of Goddesses Lakshmi and Sarawati, etc. The show also has Bollywood lobby cards, pictures of popular arts by modern and post-modern masters. The show will be on till April 1. From March 1, Swaraj will hold several workshops for students and others around the show to educate them about Indian and foreign artists and their sensibilities with the reference to the female form. ND-ND
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