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Following Delhi closely are Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune, ranked 2nd to 8th, respectively, in the overall quality of life ratings. Ironically, the NCR, which should have kept pace with the development of Delhi, has failed to do so. Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad have been ranked 9th, 27th and 32nd, respectively.

A liveable city, according to the report, is not just an urbanised area in an urbanised region defined by the presence of a municipality.

Liveability refers to an urban system that contributes to the physical, social and mental well-being and personal development of all its inhabitants, it said.

Source: Mail Today Delhi Best City To Live In

Haryana Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati Thursday sent a communication to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in this regard.

'We have appealed to the UNODC to set up migrants resource centre in Haryana with the help of International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Earlier, we had also sent a proposal to the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs to set up pre-departure orientation centres at Panchkula and Gurgaon towns to assist prospective migrants,' Gulati said.

She added: 'To curb illegal migration to other countries, we had set up overseas placement bureau, in 2007. It also helped the youth to get overseas employment by providing expert guidance to cater to the growing demand of both skilled and unskilled workers like technicians, IT professionals, engineers and doctors in foreign countries.'

According to official records, so far the overseas placement bureau has successfully placed applicants in Middle East countries. They have also received inquiries for physiotherapists in the US through its consultants.

Gulati said the practice of illegal immigration in Haryana is mainly prevalent in districts adjoining Punjab, like Ambala, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Kaithal.

'To keep a tab on unscrupulous agents, we have made it mandatory for the recruiting agencies and agents, who are facilitating job seekers to get an overseas job, to get registered with the government. Even in case of any marriage of an Indian citizen with a person of foreign domicile, we verify his/her details from the embassy of the respective country,' Gulati said.

 Information to this effect was shared by Haryana Chief Secretary, Urvashi Gulati that Haryana has decided to by revise its existing industrial policy of 2005 and will be ready by the end of April.

Further, Haryana Chief Secretary argued Industrialists to give their suggestions to a committee formed for the purpose under the chairmanship of the Principal Secretary (Industries) up to March 15.

When you're no longer there, the state will look after your child using the insurance money.

The scheme, called Asmita, to be launched by the National Trust ­ the autonomous branch of the ministry that focuses on these four particular disabili- ties ­ will provide life and acci- dent insurance cover to the par- ent or legal guardian of any child who falls in these categories.
Once you're gone, the money will be used by the National Trust to take lifelong care of your child.

Insurance companies have been asked to submit their bids by March 15. "We'll be working through the district collectors and var- ious NGOs working in this field, whom we are already in regu- lar touch with," said Atul Prasad, chief executive officer, National Trust. "We expect to launch in the next two months.
We hope to enroll around 10,000 parents in the first year."

"The premium will depend on the age of the parent. The older he/she is, the higher it will be," he added.

"Since this is a group insur- ance policy, the premium will be much lower than if a person insures himself individually," said Sanjay Pande, Managing Director, Amicus Advisory.

There are an estimated 22 lakh people suffering from these four forms of disability, accord- ing to National Trust statistics.

This clause is generally carried in fine print and can easily be missed by the consumers.

So, in such cases can the consumers file their complaints under the Consumer Protection Act and avail of the inexpensive and speedy remedy or would they be bound by the terms of the agreement and have no alternative but to resort to arbitration? The above issue became all the more controversial for the reason that Section 3 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 lays down that the provisions of the said Act " shall be in addition to and not in derogation of the provisions of any other law for the time being in force". Are the provisions therein in derogation of the Indian Arbitration Act? These questions have often been raised in consumer disputes and are still being raised.

The above issue came up for an authoritative ruling before the Supreme Court in the case of Fair Air Engineers Pvt Ltd, which had entered into a contract with K. K. Modi to carry out the installation of a central air- conditioning unit at his residence in New Delhi. Since it committed a breach of contract Modi filed a case before the Delhi State Consumer Commission claiming a compensation of Rs 3.75 lakh for alleged deficiency in service.

The author is an advocate and editor of Consumer Protection and Trade Practices Journal ( CTJ).

rosykumar2000@ yahoo. com

Source: Mail Today By Rosy Kumar Consumer fora can handle arbitrations

India's existing laws equip the police to arrest only those touts who operate in select places such as at railways stations or bus stands.

The proposed law, called The Delhi Prevention of Malpractices and Touting Bill, 2009, has been sent to the home ministry for approval, a senior state government official said.

" It could be tabled in the ongoing budget session of Parliament for it to become an Act," said a state home official.

The proposed law makes touting a non- bailable offence and a first time offender, including anyone who abets touting, can be jailed for up to one year or slapped a fine of up to Rs 2,000 or both.

A repeat offender can be jailed for up to two years and slapped a fine of up to Rs 5,000 for every subsequent offence. Even an attempt to tout is a violation of the proposed law and offenders can be jailed for up to six months or fined up to Rs 2,000 or both.

The law also empowers the police commissioner to banish a repeat offender from Delhi for up to a year, said a home ministry official.

Convicting touts will also become easier as under the proposed law written complaint will be considered evidence and a judge can deliver judgment even if the complainant doesn't turn up in court.

The extension of 7.05 kmlong Delhi-Gurgaon Metro link to the Industrial Model Township (IMT) Manesar, linking Mundka (an area in outer Delhi) with Bahadurgarh, the last township of Haryana bordering Delhi and extension of Delhi Metro to Faridabad are some of the projects the government has taken up this year, the minister said.

``The JV would be set up to monitor and expedite such projects which would not only benefits lakhs of people in Faridabad, Gurgaon and Bahadurgarh but also improve the infrastructure," Ajay Singh said.

Besides, the Haryana budget has a special allocation for augmenting drinking water supply in Gurgaon, Manesar, Bahadurgarh, Sampla and Badli townships. For creating investment opportunities in the state, the budget has also allocated funds for the extension of the IMT, Manesar, allotment of land to SEZ for the IT industry in Gurgaon and development of Roz Ka Meo, an area falling under Mewat district. The government has proposed to earmark rupees 1,200 for the completion of these projects. Gurgaon is one of the cities selected for development under JNNURM and for developing city bus services, the finance minister said.

Creation of Haryana infrastructure development board (HIDB) headed by CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda has also been planned to give a boost to infrastructure development.

After working for over a year to prepare detailed map of Delhi using 3-D imaging, the Delhi State Spatial Data Infrastructure project is now ready for implementation.

Over 330 applications have been shortlisted by 35 state departments that will begin using the information provided through this project for their various needs from April 1.

The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) will be the first department to implement the project. It will use the project to have real-time online tours of monuments in the Capital... on the lines of the tour of the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The Rs 120-crore project, started in March 2008, entails a detailed 3-dimensional map of Delhi (ground-level and underground) through aerial photographs.

There will also be real-time monitoring of the ground situation in the city with the help of 64 wireless internet protocol cameras. There will two control rooms, one at Delhi Secretariat and other at Survey of India office, along with the 10 monitoring centres that will be located across the city.

Each of the nine administrative districts will have seven cameras, installed on top of the tallest building in the area. These cameras can give precision pictures of objects upto a distance of 5 km and cost Rs 5 lakh.

Earlier, Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta had asked the 35 departments to choose five applications each to utilise the available data. The departments have reverted to Survey of India and IT department with a list of 335 applications.

Source: The Indian Express Delhi's 3-D map ready, govt depts to begin use from April 1

The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) has hired 41 private security personnel for the area, which has approximately 2,500 big, small and medium industrial units and offices.

The personnel include 29 guards, six armed guards and six patrollers who are deployed round the clock to ensure surveillance, traffic management and removal of encroachments in the area.

"The plan was in the pipeline since January last year but was put into effect only in mid-December last year after the development agency received several com plaints from owners of units in the neighbourhood," Hambir Singh, deputy general manager of HSIIDC, said.

"The cost is being borne by the HSIIDC for the time being. A service charge will be levied later," Singh said.

The duty is divided into two shifts, each spanning 12 hours.

"The police and the owners of units have been very cooperative since we took charge. The only problems we face are the villagers living in the surrounding areas, as they refuse to remove their kiosks that have been set up illegally," an official managing the duties said.

"Parking on the road was always a problem in Udyog Vihar. Bus and cab drivers would drop off employees in the Cyber City and DLF areas and later park their vehicles on pavement here due to a lack of parking space available there. The move is a welcome relief," Krishan Kapoor, general secretary of Haryana Industrial Association, said.

The plant, spread across 60 acres near Bhiwadi, would have an initial capacity of 6 lakh vehicles per annum. The company intends to scale up its capacity to 12 lakh vehicles per annum after five years with an additional investment of Rs 600 crore. Bureau of Investment Promotion commissioner Purshottam Agarwal told ET that the state government has cleared the company's proposal. Bureau of Investment Promotion is Rajasthan government's investment promotion agency.

"We have offered them a customised package which includes land at concessional rate, cash subsidy on VAT, 50% subsidy on stamp duty, 50% concession on electricity duty and special rate of 0.05% on central sales tax. The civil work is likely to begin this month," he said.

After roping in Honda Siel's second car plant in Khushkhera near Bhiwadi in 2008, this is the second big-ticket investment for Rajasthan in the automobile sector. "The car plant of Honda Siel is one of the magnetic factors for the company to select Rajasthan for setting up its two-wheeler manufacturing facility in the state. It will help the company manage both plants in a better way. Another pulling factor is the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) complex in Neemrana where dozens of Japanese companies have already set up shops. The HMSI plant will also attract various auto ancillary and accessory units that supply auto parts to this company," he said.

Source: Economic Times By Rituraj Tiwari Honda Picks R'sthan Over Haryana For Second Unit

Bewildered, his parents told the police they had noticed some unusual behaviour in their son but did not know what to do.

Now, there is a glimmer of hope for such families.

Parents worried for their `deviant' children can log on to a website www.dpjju.com and seek help. Launched by the Delhi Police, it has names of sev- eral NGOs and agencies that can counsel the children.

The police launched this web- site in view of the rising number of incidents where teena- gers have taken to crime.

"If parents notice any deviant behaviour in their children, they should bring it our notice," said Sudhir Yadav, joint commis- sioner of police, juvenile justice unit. "There are several agen- cies working in collaboration with us that will counsel them."

vijaita.singh@hindustantimes.com

Source: Hindustan Times By Vijaita Singh Kids in Crime Web? Net Help At Hand, "WWW.DPJJU.COM" Police Launch Website For Parents

Exchanging views: Haryana Assembly Speaker Harmohinder Singh Chhata with Governor Jagannath Pahadia on the first day of the Budget Session in Chandigarh on Friday.

The Haryana Government has decided to impose a complete ban on mining of major minerals in Faridabad, Gurgaon and Mewat districts for 10 years and has initiated steps for preparation of a 30-year perspective mining plan, State Governor Jagannath Pahadia announced here on Friday.

In his address to the members of the Haryana Legislative Assembly on the first day of the Budget Session here, he said this would ensure that the scarce natural resources are exploited in a judicious manner.

The State Minor Mineral Concession Rules would be completely reviewed, he added.

The State Government had identified three early bird projects including a Multi-modal Logistics Hub, an Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre and a Mass Rapid Transport System from Gurgaon to Bawal as a part of the mega project of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor which was being developed along the alignment of the freight corridor running for about 1,480 km through six States.

The Government would re-visit the Industrial Policy of 2005 and announce a revised one by this April-end with focus on hassle-free approvals and clearances to the entrepreneurs in an efficient and transparent manner.

Mr. Pahadia said the State Government had launched the Jawahar Social Infrastructure Mission with a budget of Rs. 150 crore to create state-of-the-art schools, vocational education and training centres and State institutes for differently-abled children who were mentally challenged and suffered from impaired vision, hearing and speech. Homes for senior citizens and children in need are also being set up.

Source: The Hindu Haryana imposes ban on mining of major minerals

Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah was hearing the case of an RTI applicant Jagdish Prasad Gaur who had sought photocopies of educational records of Joint Director, Security, R D Sharma besides other personal details from Lok Sabha Secretariat but his request was turned down.

Gaur had alleged that Sharma abused him and he wanted to file a criminal case against him which required these details.

The secretariat cited exemption clauses of the RTI Act which allowed withholding information which is personal in nature and would not serve any public interest.

Inflation in fuel, power light and lubricant group was 9.59%, slightly lower than 9.89% in the previous week. However, it is expected to surge significantly next week when the impact of the fuel price hike would be reflected in the index.

The Budget last week raised customs duty on petrol and diesel to 7.5% from 2.5%, while excise duty was raised by Re 1 on non-branded (normal) petrol and diesel. This saw the oil companies immediately hike prices. Beginning February 27, petrol prices rose by Rs 2.67 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.58 per litre in Delhi.

FM Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday had blamed the multi-level supply chain system for stoking prices of food articles in the country. "Particularly with regards to food, I do agree that the cost of intermediation is very high from farm gate to the wholesale markets and from wholesale markets to retail markets," he had said.

Y K Bahl, additional CEO of Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority, said Mayawati had met officials of JP Infratech -- the project builders -- and asked them to make sure that the stretch is ready for traffic by September 30.

The six-lane Taj expressway that according to officials will come be operational before the Commonwealth Games will benefit Greater Noida and other NCR residents who would get a fast link to Agra, Aligarh, Mathura and Hathras. However, as per the project contract, the 21.5km Greater Noida expressway will be handed over to JP Infratech and will become a toll road with the opening of the 165km Taj expressway.

The Taj expressway is being built from Pari Chowk in Greater Noida to Agra. Said Bahl, ``Our objective is to reduce the time taken to reach Agra from Pari Chowk in Greater Noida to two hours. But many of the facilities cannot be completed before the Games. So, the time taken could be closer to three hours, for the present. JP Infratech is bound to complete the road along with all facilities only by April 2013. Of course, the actual full completion may come much earlier.''

Bahl said the expressway will eventually have five 5 toll plazas, six interchanges (clover leaves) and seven stops for facilities like fuel pumps, shopping, motels and garages. But, all this can not be completed before the Games. So for the present, motorists will have to go off the expressway through temporary roads. A clover leaf being constructed at Pari Chowk is also likely to be completed a month or two after the games.

It is not yet clear how much toll will ultimately be charged for the use of the Taj expressway or the Noida-Greater Noida expressway.

lalit.kumar@timesgroup.com

This is the first time that the leave details are available on the website. Along with the details of the judgments and the cases listed in the court, now the details of judges' leave and dates are also available.

According to the information updated on the website, there are judges who are on leave since 2008. Before going to any of the five district courts (Patiala House, Tiz Hazari Court, Karkardooma Court, Dwarka Court, Rohini Court), the common man who is going for the hearing of his case can know whether the judge is coming to the court for the case on that date or not. Log on to http://delhicourts.nic.in to know about the leave of the judge before whom your case is being heard.

This transparent process has brought smiles on the faces of lawyers as well as litigants who come in the court for their cases. According to advocates, they can now take the dates for the next hearing as per their convenience. At the same time, according to the people, it will save their time and the whole day won't get wasted. The information available on the website for March shows that 12 judges are on leave and out of them three are male judges and the rest are female.

Source: The Pioneer By Shikha Verma Check online before hearings

The government had brought coastal villages under the reg- ister in the first phase of the plan launched last year after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

The second phase will begin next month when enumerators list the houses where they will have to go during the 2011 Census. They will also carry a machine-readable form that they will have to fill, listing the names of people and their details across 16 other param- eters, right from their marital status, education and occupa- tion to their nationality, fin- gerprints, photograph and their present and permanent address.

The government is mandat- ed to create the register under the Citizenship Act, which will have a list of all Indian resi- dents irrespective of their cit- izenship. Like the Unique Identity num- ber, the NPR does not entail issuance of a card except in coastal areas. It is estimated that the population register would cost the exchequer near- ly Rs 3,539 crore.

According to the schedule approved by the home ministry, canvassing of information for the register will continue till September. In between, camps will also be put up to enable people who may have been missed out by enumerators to register themselves.

"The list would then be made public so that people can point out errors, intentional or oth- erwise," a ministry official said.

Buoyed by fresh arrivals, wholesale market rates for puls- es have shown a steady decline.

Keeping in tune with the trend, the Delhi government has decided to reduce rates of the pulses sold at Mother Dairy and Kendriya Bhandar outlets.

Delhi Food Supplies & Consumer Affairs Minister Haroon Yusuf said, "As per the commitment of the Delhi Government to provide maxi- mum relief to the common man, it has been decided to reduce price of pulses from March 8."

This is part of continued intervention by the Delhi gov- ernment, wherein more than 400 retail outlets of Mother Dairy, Kendriya Bhandar and National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) across Delhi are sell- ing 10 important pulses since February 10. "We keep a watch on whole- sale rates on a daily basis," said Jayshree Raghuraman, secre- tary, Delhi's Food and Supplies Department.

"When we found these rates have reduced, we too decided to bring down the rates of pulses sold under our scheme," she added.

Source: Hindustan Times From March 8, Prices Of Pulses Set To Reduce

This is not the description of a heart disease in a medical journal but definition of the now common heart attack in the pol- icy of a prominent life insur- ance company.

When St Stephen's Hospital handed A.K. Jain a bill of Rs 1.91 lakh after heart surgery, he remained cool.

He expected full reimburse- ment from his mediclaim policy with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

He had suffered a heart attack on November 11, 2007.A stent was placed in the veins to regularize blood flow.

To his shock, the company declined to pay, saying "his dis- ease did not correspond to the symptoms laid down in the insurance cover". It was point- ed out "no muscle of heart became dead" and "no eleva- tion of enzymes was noted ", and "no changes were found in the ECG".

Not ready to take the injus- tice lying down, Jain moved the consumer court.

harish.nair@hindustantimes.com

Source: Hindustan Times By Harish V. Nair Mediclaim Cos Cannot Fool Clients By Playing  With Words: Court

If the bereaved families of call centre employee Abhinav Puri and school student Sunny decide to press for compensation against alleged negligence by civic agencies, they have a good chance of succeeding in court.

Usually, factors ranging from ``loss of dependency'' to ``future prospects'' to ``pain and suffering for family'' and even ``funeral expenses'' are taken into account by courts while awarding compensation in such cases. According to initial reports, there is a strong suspicion of negligence on behalf of Delhi's civic agencies that led to the death of Puri on Sunday and Sunny on Monday.

In such cases, courts generally adopt a twin-pronged strategy. While on the one hand they try to pin liability on the agency whose negligence resulted in the deaths and hold it liable, on the other they quantify each of the above listed factors to arrive at an overall sum that can be awarded as compensation to the survivors. A principle often relied upon in cases like these is that of ``contributory negligence'' where the courts try to find out who was responsible for the negligence that led to the tragedy.

For instance, in a recent judgement in February this year, a division bench of Delhi High Court ordered the MCD to pay Rs 15 lakh to the families of two boys who fell and drowned in a seven-foot pit dug by the agency in Shakarpur. Taking suo moto cognizance of the incident, HC had roped in the Crime Branch of Delhi Police to investigate the matter, asking it to fix responsibility. On its part, the MCD suspended five of its staff though this failed to satisfy the judges. The Station House Officer of Shakarpur had also been asked to prepare a report on the circumstances that led to the deaths.

Source: Times Of India By Abhinav Garg Law Can Make Civic Bodies Pay , Courts Identify Culprit To Fix Liability And Calculate Relief