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4 THE HINDU TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2014NOIDA/DELHI

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Lecture on Sufism, Islam and globalisation

Aligarh Muslim University is organising a speciallecture on Sufism, Islam and Globalisation in theContemporary World: Methodological Reflections on aChanging Field of Study on Thursday. The lecture, whichwill begin by 11 a.m., will be delivered by Professor Carl W.Ernst from the University of North Carolina, U.S. It is being organised by the Centre for Quranic Studiesdirector K.A. Nizami. Vice-Chancellor of AMU ZameerUddin Shah is also scheduled to attend it. Staff Reporter

Aligarh Muslim University

Six telephone cables stolen

Miscreants stole sixtelephone cables ofthe Mahanagar TelephoneNigam Limited betweenNational Highway-24 andSanjay Lake in MayurVihar Phase-II on July 31morning. About 5,000 connectionsin the IndraprasthaExtension societies fed bythe Mayur Vihar exchangehave been affected.According to the MTNL,the process of restorationhas been initiated and isexpected to be completedwithin a weeks time. The IP Extensioncomprises around three tofive urban villages, whichhave also suffered due tothe theft of the telephonecables. Staff Reporter

Man held with illicitliquor bottles

The police have arresteda bootlegger in WestDelhi and seized 31 cartonsof illicit liquor. The accused,identified as Mahender (24)of Amar Colony, wastransporting theconsignment from Haryanaand was arrested following atip-off in Nihar Vihar, thepolice said.The police got informationthat a person carrying illicitliquor from Bahadur Garharea of Haryana was comingtowards Adhyapak Nagar.Acting on the tip-off, we laida trap and arrested him,said a senior police officer.The officer said Mahenderhad been supplying illicitliquor to different parts ofWest District and OuterDistrict. PTI

Delhi experiences overcast, humid day

Overcast conditions persisted in the Capital onMonday as high humidity level caused discomfort toDelhiites. Humidity in the air was recorded between 59and 88 per cent during the day, MeT officials said.The maximum temperature in the city was recorded at35.4 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal, while theminimum settled at 27.8 degrees Celsius, one point abovenormal.According to the MeT Department, 0.2 mm rainfall wasrecorded at Palam observatory. However, other parts ofthe city did not receive any rainfall. The weatherman hasforecast light rainfall and thundershowers in some partsof the city. The sky will remain generally cloudy. Lightrain/thundershowers may occur in some areas, theweatherman said. PTI

A medley of tree images as raindrops fall into apuddle of water on a rainy Monday in NewDelhi. PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY

NEW DELHI: The Union HealthMinistry has announced aseries of measures tointensify its effort towardsattaining zero deaths due tochildhood diarrhoea. Andbringing in rotavirus vaccinefor children is the latest moveto arrest hospitalisation anddeaths due to diarrhoea.

Diarrhoea caused byrotavirus kills nearly 80,000children each year, resultingin up to 10 lakhhospitalisation, pushingmany Indian families belowthe poverty line. It alsoimposes an economic burdenof over Rs.300 crore each yearon the country, noted UnionHealth Ministry HarshVardhan.

Being brought in as asolution is the indigenouslydeveloped and licensedrotavirus vaccine.

This has been developedunder a public-privatepartnership by the Ministryof Science and the Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare,and in India, we willintroduce this vaccine in aphased manner, noted theMinister.

While the move hasreceived support from several

quarters, world renownedphysician Dr. MaturamSantosham from JohnsHopkins School of PublicHealth, United States andothers claim that thisprescription appearsseriously flawed.

Dr. Santosham has notedthat on an average the cost ofhospitalisation for each

episode of rotavirus diarrhoeais Rs.3,000. However, a paperpublished in the Lancet statesthat the vaccine that has nowbeen licensed in India has solittle efficacy that 55 babieswill have to be given thevaccine (costing aboutRs.180/child) to preventdiarrhoea in one child, notedDr. Jacob Puliyel, a well-

known paediatrician and amember of the NationalTechnical Advisory Group onImmunisation, Governmentof India.

The cost of vaccine tovaccinate 55 children (toprevent one case ofdiarrhoea) will be Rs.9,900. Itis obvious that it is cheaperfor the Government of India

to pay the full cost of allchildren admitted withrotavirus diarrhoea(Rs.3,000/case of diarrhoea)than it is to try and controldiarrhoea with this poorefficacy vaccine (Rs.9,900 percase of diarrhoea avoided),he noted.

He further explained thataccording to the Lancet paperthere is a risk that one childin every 2,000 babiesvaccinated will developintussusceptions acondition where the intestinetelescopes into itself andleads to intestinal obstructionand bleeding from the gut.

In rural India where thereare no paediatric surgeons orradiologists to diagnose theproblem or treat it, it has amortality of up to 40 per cent.The chance of developingintussusceptions with thisnew vaccine is actually fivetimes greater than therotashield rotavirus vaccinethat was withdrawn from theinternational market becauseof this risk, said Dr. Puliyel.

Cautioning against themove, he added: The anxietyof public health experts in thecountry cannot be brushedaside without better evidenceabout the safety of therotavirus vaccine.

Doctors question efficacy of rotavirus vaccine This is the latest move to arrest hospitalisation and deaths due to diarrhoeaBindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI: Several incriminat-ing documents, includingblank fitness and medical cer-tificates with seals of seniorresident doctors, have been re-covered from the possession ofan attendant working at the AllIndia Institute of Medical Sci-ences here.

An inquiry into the recoveryof these documents has beeninitiated against the attend-ant, identified as Rajesh Ku-mar, by the authorities, a topAIIMS official said.

Kumar is absconding andhe has been suspended. AnFIR against him will be lodgedsoon, the official said. As perthe complaint given to theChief Vigilance Officer, a ref-erence was received from Dr.R.K. Chadda, Professor andActing Head, Department ofPsychiatry regarding the de-tails of the documents foundafter opening the locker of Ku-mar who was deployed as anattendant in the OPD ofPsychiatry.

Director of AIIMS was in-formed and Deputy Chief Se-curity Officer, R.S. Rawat, hasbeen asked to lodge an FIRwith the police. PTI

Incriminatingdocumentsfound in lockerof AIIMSattendant

GURGAON: The members ofClean Gurgaon, an environ-mental group working to-wards making Gurgaon a citywith efficient waste manage-ment practices, have sentsuggestions to the Ministry ofUrban Development on itsDraft Municipal Solid WasteManagement Manual, 2014.They have stressed the needto organise rag-pickers, pro-vide them working space inall localities and advocate de-centralised solid wastemanagement.

Clean Gurgaon memberN.B. Nair, who retired fromthe Bhabha Atomic ResearchCentre, Mumbai, said effortsshould be made to bring inrag-pickers organisations indirect contact with the sourc-es of wastes like housing com-plexes, business houses andeliminate contractors fromthe scene. Mr. Nair opinedthat green waste is a greatwealth for an agriculture-based country like India and

all green waste should go forcomposting. On bio-medicalwaste, Mr. Nair said it can bedisinfected and treated as anyother waste and there was noneed for expensive autoclavesfor it.

He also said instead ofwasting money on fancy re-search projects, we only needto organise rag-pickers, givethem regular employmentwith minimum wages, equip-ment and working space in alllocalities.

Lamenting that the revisedmanual has no such provisionto strictly mandate bodieslike the Delhi DevelopmentAuthority and the HaryanaUrban Development Author-ity to implement the revisedRules of 2014, DLF Phase-IH Block Residential Com-munity president ParimalBardhan has suggested thatthe document must providepossible legal sanctionagainst non-observance therules.

Mr. Bardhan, former advi-sor to the European Commis-sion in India, also suggestedthat de-centralised solidwaste management should bestressed as an important wayforward to handle waste man-agement in metro cities andState Capitals and municipalbodies should consider pro-viding tax incentives like dis-count on property tax tomembers of housing socie-ties, apartment owners for it.

Ashok Kumar

Environment panel seeksworking space for rag-pickers

NEW DELHI: An association rep-resenting e-rickshaw oper-ators moved the Delhi HighCourt on Monday seeking re-view of its recent order ban-ning battery-operatedrickshaws from plying in theCapital. The petition wasmentioned before a DivisionBench, which agreed to hear iton Tuesday.

The Battery Rickshaw Wel-fare Association, which has fil-ed the petition, soughtmodification of the July 31 or-der, saying it was adversely af-fecting lakhs of familiesdepending on e-rickshaws fortheir livelihood. It said theCourt may review its order inthe interest of justice.

Petitioners counsel R.K.

Kapoor pointed out that theUnion Road Transport Minis-try had issued an advisory tothe Chief Secretaries of allStates and Union Territorieson the regulation of electric

motor-propelled three-wheeled vehicles. The adviso-ry was earlier not brought tothe Courts attention, he said.

The Bench, comprising Jus-tice B.D. Ahmed and Justice

Siddharth Mridul, which hadpassed the interim order ask-ing the Delhi Government tostop e-rickshaws from plyingon city roads, observed thatthe e-rickshaws operationsmust be regulated in accord-ance with the traffic rules.

The petitioner said the e-rickshaws might be permittedto operate on roads till a regu-latory framework was evolvedand the Motor Vehicles Act,1988, and the rules framedthere under were amended.This may be made conditionalto the compliance with theregulations issued by the po-lice or local administration, itadded.

The number of battery-op-erated rickshaws plying on theroads in the Capital is estimat-ed to be about 70,000.

Petition seeks review of High Courtorder banning e-rickshaws Mohammed Iqbal

An e-rickshaw packed with school children in NewDelhi. PHOTO: MEETA AHLAWAT

NEW DELHI: Waiting to hearback from a prospective em-ployer can be a stressful ex-perience for anyone. But,those who are clearly over-qualified for the job shouldbe able to relax. Not Nita(name changed). The 27-year-old holds an M.A. inHindi and has applied for aschool attendants post in amunicipal corporation. Thejob entails taking care of stu-dents and helping out teach-ers, and pays minimumwage, which is Rs.7,722 permonth for un-skilled work-ers.

I want to be a teacher,but getting a governmentjob isnt easy. I dont haveany other option this timebecause this would be myfirst job, she said.

She had applied for thepost, which requires Class Xqualification, with the NorthDelhi Municipal Corpora-tion. Thousands of applica-tions for 270 posts of schoolattendants and 95 posts ofnursery ayahs were handedin from May 29 to June 4.

This is the first time inover a decade that we haveadvertised such vacancies,so the number of applicantsis high. Till now, we havebeen able to process 15,000applications and it will takeanother month to know theexact number, said NorthCorporation Education Di-rector Jasram Kaim.

He explained that there

were many others like Nitawho were over-qualified forthe jobs. We have got grad-uates who have applied forthe nursery ayahs post, headded. But, he said, the ap-plicants with higher qualifi-cations will not be given anyextra credit for the same.

Senior municipal officialssaid they could only set min-imum qualification criteriaand not the maximum.South Delhi Municipal Cor-poration spokesperson Mu-kesh Yadav said: Usually,when we conduct recruit-ment for group D jobs, mostof the applicants are over-qualified.

Stories repeatthemselves

Inadequate employmentfor the thousands of newgraduates joining the Cap-itals workforce every year,plus the perceived securityof government jobs, meansthat the next time there arevacancies in the municipalcorporations, Nitas storywill repeat itself.

Graduates apply forMCD jobs that payRs.7,000 per month Damini Nath

I want to be a teacher,but getting agovernment job isnteasy. I dont have anyother option this timebecause this would bemy first job

NEW DELHI: The local civicbodys plan to redevelop andrestore the 150-year-oldTown Hall building inChandni Chowk will getback on track after monthsof delay, senior officials saidon Monday.

The North DelhiMunicipal Corporation andINTACH had prepared anambitious blueprint toreturn the heritage structureto its past grandeur.

Due to the delay in theBudget this year, the funds

for the plan had been hadbeen held up, said acorporation official. TheUnion Ministry of Tourismhad in February cleared theRs.50 crore project, butbecause of the Model Codeof Conduct being imposedfor Lok Sabha elections,officials said, work orderscould not be issued.

Senior officials will meeton Wednesday to take theplan forward. The TownHall, which has becomerat-infested, used to housethe erstwhile MunicipalCorporation of Delhi.

Town Hall redevelopment plan to get back on track Damini Nath

The iconic Town Hall building in Old Delhi. FILE PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

NEW DELHI: The Department ofFood Supplies and ConsumerAffairs on Monday once againtook up the drive against saleof underweight LPG cylin-ders, sale of small-sized illegalLPG cylinders, and use of do-mestic LPG cylinders forcommercial activities.

Commissioner (Food andSupplies) S.S. Yadav said thiswas the third such drive to betaken up by the Departmentin the past two months. Earli-er, a similar drives were car-ried out on June 5 and June26.

In all these drives put to-gether, about a thousandpremises have been raidedand 800 LPG cylinders havebeen seized; 95 FIRs havebeen lodged

Mr. Yadav said in the actionon Monday, the teams raided53 LPG agencies and foundirregularities like sale of un-derweight LPG cylinders,weighing machine not beingcarried with the delivery vehi-cle, use of uncertified weigh-ing machine by the deliveryboy and non-display of ver-ification certificate for theweighing machine.

Besides this, more than 350premises were also raided tocheck the sale of illegal small-size cylinders and use of do-

mestic cylinders for commer-cial purposes. In total, 30FIRs have been lodged againstthe culprits by the raidingteams and 60 illegal LPG cyl-inders have been seized.

He said the Liquefied Pet-roleum Gas (Regulation ofSupply and Distribution) Or-der, 2000, issued under theEssential Commodities Act,1955, bans unauthorised pos-session, supply and consump-tion of LPG, as well as itsunauthorised storage andtransport. There is also a banon sale or distribution of LPGcylinders below or in excess ofthe standard weight.

Stating that a number ofpeople in the city were indulg-ing in the business of illegalfilling of LPG from the biggercylinders into the non-stan-dardised small cylinders andtheir sale, Mr. Yadav said thiswas very dangerous and maylead to explosions and fireaccidents.

The small cylinders, whichare illegal and are locallymade, are also dangerous.Such premises also abet in si-phoning off of LPG from thedomestic gas cylinders andcheating consumers by sup-plying underweight cylinders.

60 illegal LPG cylinders seizedduring raids, 30 FIRs registeredSpecial Correspondent

Officials say manyindulge in the illegalbusiness of filling LPGfrom bigger cylindersinto non-standardisedsmaller ones. PHOTO:KAMAL NARANG

three minor children whoare presently under the careand custody of the aggrievedtill they attain their major-ity, Ms. Phutela said.

One-time compensationalso granted

The court also asked thewomans husband to grant aone-time compensation ofRs.7,000 to her for causing amental and emotional dis-tress by maintaining an illic-it relation with anotherwoman during theirmarriage.

The court passed the di-

rections ex-parte as thewomans husband chose toappear before it onsummons.

The couple got married in2002 and soon afterwardsher husband started tortur-ing her for not bringing suf-ficient dowry.

Dowry demand

The woman in her com-plaint, among other accusa-tions, alleged that after themarriage her husband haddemanded Rs.1 lakh in cashand a motorcycle despiteher parents spending Rs.3lakh on her marriage. Shestated that her father hadlater paid her husbandRs.50,000.

She was thrown out ofthe house

She further alleged thather husband and his familymembers once tried to sether on fire by pouring kero-sene over her, but the neigh-bours saved her. She wasthrown out of her matrimo-nial house several times butdue to the intervention byher family she was able tore-enter it and stay there,the woman complained.

NEW DELHI: A Mahila court inthe Saket district courtshere has directed the hus-band of a woman to give hermonthly maintenance ofRs.4,500 and Rs.2,500 eachto her three minor children.He repeatedly beat her andlater deserted her to staywith another woman.

Domestic Violence Act

Metropolitan MagistrateNiti Phutela granted themaintenance under the Pro-tection of Women AgainstDomestic Violence Act,2005, holding the husbandguilty of the charges of caus-ing physical, mental andemotion violence to her overthe years.

The court asked KedarNath to provide mainte-nance to his wife throughout her life and or till sheremarries and to their chil-dren, two sons and onedaughter, till they becomeadults.

he (womans husband)is directed to pay a sum ofRs.4,500 to the aggrieved tillher lifetime or remarriageand Rs. 2,500 each to the

Husband to provide maintenanceto abused wife, three childrenNirnimesh Kumar

Court holds thehusband guilty ofthe charges ofcausing physical,mental and emotionviolence to wifeover the years

Wife alleged thather in-laws oncetried to set her onfire by pouringkerosene over her,but the neighbourssaved her