NEW DELHI
TUESDAY
DECEMBER 21, 2021
Class 12 scores, DU admissions de-linked: V-C Cabinet nod for
Sadia Akhtar
sadia.akhtar@htlive.com
NEW DELHI: The Delhi University
on Monday issued a notification
saying that admissions to all
undergraduate courses from the
2022-23 academic year will be
done through a Central Universi-
ties Common Entrance Test
(CUCET) or a Delhi University
Common Entrance Test (DUCET).
More details of the CUCET/
DUCET will be released in due
course of time, the notification
issued by the DU registrar said.
The order comes after the
executive council, the highest
decision-making body of the var-
sity, on Friday approved a pro-
ROHINI COURT
BLAST SUSPECT
DID NOT MAKE
BOMB AT HOME,
PROBE ON: COPS
Karn Pratap Singh
karn.singh@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: The special cell team
probing the Rohini court IED
blast case is trying to identify the
place where Defence Research
and Development Organisation
(DRDO) scientist Bharat
Bhushan Kataria, who was
arrested on Saturday for plant-
ing the explosives in the court-
room to kill his former neigh-
bour, stored the material and
assembled the device.
The investigation so far and a
search of Kataria’s house in
Ashok Vihar have given the
police reason to believe that
Kataria did not assemble the IED
at home. Footage from CCTV
cameras around Kataria’s house
showed that he had kept the IED
in his car and drove directly to
the court. Investigators are now
scanning footage of the routes
on which Kataria drove on the
days before the blast, senior
police officers aware of the
investigation said.
Kataria is being treated at
AIIMS after he, on Sunday morn-
ing, allegedly consumed some
liquid, which doctors as well as
the police suspect was either
hand wash soap or toilet cleaner,
at the special cell’s Rohini Sector
6 office, where he was being
interrogated after his arrest.
Doctors and the police said they
are keeping an eye on Kataria.
A special cell officer associ-
ated with the investigation said
that Kataria’s condition is stable
and he is out of danger.
“He drank the harmful liquid
in the toilet, which we think is a
ploy to avoid interrogation. He
has been evasive throughout the
interrogation,” said the officer.
On December 9, an IED blast
in Rohini courtroom number 102
had left head constable, Rajeev,
who was posted there as a naib
court, injured.
Special cell officials said they
were also trying to identify the
source through which he had
procured the explosive materials
and how he learnt how to make
a bomb. Till 2017, Kataria and
Vashisht lived in the same build-
ing in Ashok Vihar with their
families. Kataria had occupied
the top floor while Vashisht still
resides on the ground floor.
“When we inspected Kataria’s
top floor flat, we found a big hole
in the ceiling. We enquired about
it from neighbours and other
occupants of the building. They
told us that Kataria created that
hole in the roof before shifting to
another house in the neighbour-
hood. The idea was to trouble
the occupants of the building as
rain water leaks from that hole
and flows on to the lower floors,”
said another investigator.
Dogs maul three-year-old girl to
death in west Delhi’s Moti Nagar
HT Correspondent
letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: A pack of at least
five dogs mauled a 3-year-old
girl to death in west Delhi’s
Moti Nagar on Friday after-
noon, police said.
Deputy commissioner of
police (west) Urvija Goel said
that the girl had gone to a park
near her house when the dogs
attacked her.
HT is not revealing the
names of the victim or her par-
ents to protect the family’s pri-
vacy.
“We received information
from ABG Hospital at 2.45pm
that a girl child was brought
dead to the hospital. The body
was then shifted to Deen Dayal
Upadhyay Hospital for an
autopsy. The girl’s parents
posal for the introduction of a
common entrance test for con-
ducting admissions to undergrad-
uate courses from the next aca-
demic session onwards. The deci-
sion puts an end to the cutoff-
based admission process and
paves the way for an entrance-
based admissions system.
DU vice-chancellor Yogesh
Singh said the admissions will be
decided purely on the basis of the
test, and no weightage will be
given to Class 12 scores.
“We will conduct admissions
through the CUCET. However, if
the CUCET cannot be conducted,
we will conduct our own entrance
test. Admissions will certainly
take place through the entrance
Cold comfort: Mercury falls
below 3°C in parts of Capital
Jasjeev Gandhiok
jasjeev.gandhiok@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: The national capi-
tal woke up to its coldest morn-
ing of the season so far, with
mercury dipping to 2.9 degrees
Celsius (°C) at the Jafarpur
weather station in south-west
Delhi, amid persisting cold
wave conditions in the city. Saf-
darjung, Delhi’s base observa-
tory, recorded a low of 3.2°C,
and Lodhi Road recorded a min-
imum of 3.1°C – around five
notches below normal for this
time of the season.
Prior to Monday, the lowest
minimum temperature at Saf-
darjung was 4.6°C recorded on
Sunday morning, though the
reading in Jafarpur was 3.3°C
that morning.
The India Meteorological
Department (IMD) has forecast
that cold wave conditions will
continue across the Capital on
Tuesday, before an active west-
ern disturbance brings some
respite from Wednesday, rais-
ing the minimum temperature
to 8°C by Christmas day.
IMD has lifted the yellow alert --
issued to ask the people in an
area to remain vigilant about
the weather conditions -- in the
Capital.
“This was the lowest mini-
mum recorded this winter sea-
son for Delhi at most stations,
with cold wave conditions per-
sisting. For Tuesday, we can
expect similar minimum tem-
perature, but it will start rising
from Wednesday onwards and
could touch 7°C by Thursday,”
said IMD scientist RK Jena-
mani, adding that a feeble west-
ern disturbance will influence
the region from Wednesday.
“Cloudy conditions will
91 fresh Covid-19 cases,
test positivity rate 0.2%
HT Correspondent
letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: Of the tests con-
ducted in the city on Monday,
0.2% returned positive results,
said the state health depart-
ment’s daily bulletin, the highest
this number (known as the test
positivity rate) has been since
June 18.
Delhi also added 91 cases of
Covid-19, a day after adding 107
infections on Sunday, which was
the city’s biggest case spike in
nearly six months.
PARENTS SAID THE
GIRL WAS PLAYING
IN A PARK NEAR
HER HOUSE WHEN
SHE WAS ATTACKED
BY A PACK OF DOGS
alleged she was severely
injured after dogs attacked her
inside a park.”
The child’s father, who is a
gardener, was working at the
park when the incident took
place, said police. The state-
ments of the parents have been
recorded and a case has been
registered.
Police said they are yet to
receive the autopsy report.
Goel refused to comment on
the status of the dogs. However,
{ YOGESH SINGH } DELHI UNIVERSITY V-C
P
If CUCET cannot be
conducted, we will
conduct our own
A
entrance test
exam from next year,” said Singh.
He added that the schedule for
the entrance test was yet to be
decided, but that enough time will
be provided to the students to pre-
A western disturbance may lift the minimum temperature to 8°C by Christmas day, said the weather office.
return and this will make night-
time temperatures not as
severe. It could return to around
7-8°C between December 22 and
December 25, due to this west-
ern disturbance,” he added.
The weather department
declares a cold day if the maxi-
mum temperature is 4.5 degrees
below normal. It announces a
cold wave if the day’s low is
either 4.5 degrees below nor-
mal, or below 4°C . Both the cri-
teria were satisfied at the Saf-
darjung observatory on Mon-
No additional Covid-19 deaths
were recorded on Monday, and
the city has logged just three
fatalities of the infection so far
this month.
The test positivity rate in
Delhi was last this high on June
22, and higher on June 18, when
the statistic touched 0.22%.
To be sure, the active caseload
as well as hospitalisations are
still in the city, with a vast major-
ity of Covid-19 beds vacant.
According to the bulletin, of
the nearly 9,000 beds in Delhi,
just 197 were occupied.
locals said they have not been
yet been rounded up.
From 2017 to August 2020,
Delhi witnessed an average 120
dog bite cases a year, according
to reports by three municipal
corporations, due to which
over 150,000 people received
treatment in various corpora-
tion health facilities and dis-
pensaries in south, east and
north Delhi.
However, officials claimed
that the actual number of peo-
ple bitten by street dogs could
be higher, as this figure does
not include the number of peo-
ple who were treated at private
hospitals.
Between 2017 and 2020, the
north corporation-run Mahari-
shi Valmiki Infectious Disease
Hospital recorded 38 rabies-re-
lated deaths.
My Delhi
pare after the completion of their
board exams. “We will give at
least 30-40 days to students after
the completion of their board
exams. The entrance test will only
day.
Last December, the lowest
minimum temperature
recorded during the month was
3.3°C -- recorded on the last day
of the month. In 2019, it fell
down to 2.4°C on December 28,
while in 2018, it fell down to
2.6°C on December 29.
While night-time tempera-
ture was low, daytime tempera-
ture rose above the 20-degree
mark.
Delhi recorded a maximum
temperature of 21°C on Monday,
{ PROGRAMME EXTENDED BY SIX MONTHS }
Free ration scheme till May, says govt
HT Correspondent
letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: The Delhi govern-
ment has decided to extend the
distribution of free ration in the
city for six months till May 31,
2022, chief minister Arvind Kej-
riwal announced on Monday
following a cabinet meeting.
“The Delhi cabinet has taken
an important decision today.
Ever since the pandemic struck
Delhi, we have been giving free
ration to the people of Delhi...
The period of giving free ration
be held after a month of students
finishing their board exams,” the
vice-chancellor said.
He added that the process for
admission to courses through the
National Testing Agency (NTA)
will remain the same.
“Courses for which an
entrance is already conducted
will follow the same procedure,”
he said.
Asees Kandhari, 17, a Class 12
student, who aims to apply to DU
colleges, said the board exams
were fraught with issues ranging
from questions coming from
beyond the syllabus to the mark-
ing patterns.
She said the entrance will give
a fair chance to students to apply
a degree below normal, and
IMD forecast a further rise of
1-2°C in the next three-four days.
Delhi’s maximum was 19.2°C on
Sunday and 17.8°C on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the cold wave
has led to a deterioration in air
quality, with Delhi’s overall air
quality index (AQI) dropping
from 271 (poor) on Sunday to
332 (very poor) on Monday, as
per Central Pollution Control
Board’s daily 4pm bulletin.
Gufran Beig, project director
and founder at the Centre-run
is getting over and thus, is being
extended further for six
months. Now the facility of giv-
ing free ration to the people of
Delhi has been extended till
May 31,” said Kejriwal while
addressing a digital press brief-
ing after the Cabinet meeting.
The Delhi government was
distributing free ration to bene-
ficiaries under the National
Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013,
and the Pradhan Mantri Garib
Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).
The Centre later said there
was no proposal to extend dis-
to colleges of their choice.
“We see cutoffs skyrocketing
every year. Not everyone makes
the cut. The entrance, however,
will be common for all students. It
will give a fair chance to students
to get admitted to DU colleges
even if their Class 12 score is not
the highest,” said Kandhari.
Babli Moitra Saraf, principal of
Indraprastha College For Women,
which conducts an entrance
exam for admission to its journal-
ism course, said the college con-
ducts the entrance through NTA
every year. “We always conduct
entrances through NTA. We
expect the entrance to continue
until there are directions to the
contrary,” said Saraf.
RAJ K RAJ/HT PHOTO
System of Air Quality and
Weather Forecasting And
Research (Safar), said a drop in
wind speed and low night-time
temperatures have contributed
to trapping localised emissions.
“At night, when temperatures
dip, the air becomes heavy and
pollutants are unable to dis-
perse. Air quality is expected to
deteriorate further in the next
24 hours due to these cold wave
conditions, but they will not
touch the ‘severe’ category,”
Beig said.
tribution of free ration through
the PMGKAY beyond November
30 this year, but the Delhi gov-
ernment has been extending the
scheme since then. PMGKAY
was launched in March last year
after the Covid-19 outbreak.
Initially, the scheme was
launched for April-June last
year, but was extended till
November 30.
In May 2021, the Delhi gov-
ernment, in a cabinet meeting,
decided to give additional free
ration to the needy.
As per the eligibility pre-
teachers’ varsity
in city: Kejriwal
HT Correspondent
htreporters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: The Delhi cabinet
on Monday approved a proposal
for the establishment of a teach-
ers’ university in the city, with
chief minister Arvind Kejriwal
announcing that admissions to
the new university — to come up
in west Delhi’s Bakkarwala vil-
lage — will start from the 2022-
2023 academic year.
“Today, the Delhi cabinet
approved the establishment of
the Delhi Teachers’ University.
The University will prepare
highly qualified and well-trained
teachers in Delhi itself. As per
the commitment of the Delhi
government, ‘Delhi Teachers
University’ Bill 2021 will be
placed before the Delhi Vidhan
Sabha in the coming session,”
Kejriwal said, addressing a press
conference on Monday.
A proposal for the university
was first announced by deputy
chief minister Manish Sisodia
during this year’s Budget speech.
On Monday, the chief minister
said that the institute will be a
public university dedicated to
preparing well-trained teachers
equipped to take care of different
classes. This university will offer
four-year integrated teacher
education programmes like
BA-BEd and BSc-BEd, among
others, to help develop a new
generation of teachers.
Kejriwal said that students of
Dengue toll now 17 as
MCDs add two deaths
Paras Singh
paras@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: Civic bodies in the
national capital added two
deaths to the city’s dengue toll
for the year on Monday, as it also
reported 154 fresh infections
over the past week.
So far this year, Delhi has
recorded 9,414 dengue cases and
17 deaths, making it the second
most fatal year for the vector-
borne disease in the city. The
dengue outbreak in 2015 saw
16,000 infected and claimed 60
lives.
Once a dengue- or malaria-re-
lated death is reported by a hos-
pital, a nine-member expert
committee audits all documents
to see confirm if the infection
killed the person and whether
the origin of the case was in
Delhi.
The committee also takes a
look at other aspects such as
co-morbidities before attributing
scribed under NFSA, 5kg of
foodgrain was given free of cost
to the needy, including migrant
workers, unorganised workers,
construction workers, domestic
helpers and those who do not
have ration cards.
This includes 4kg of wheat
and 1kg of rice per person per
month.
Since then, about 2 million
people living in Delhi benefited
from the scheme, which is in
addition to the free foodgrains
being provided to 7.2 million
beneficiaries under NFSA.
03
P
Delhi Teachers
University will
be a centre for
excellence in
preparing teachers.
ARVIND KEJRIWAL,
Delhi chief minister
the university will be attached
with Delhi government schools
for the entire duration of the
course.
“The students of this univer-
sity will be attached with Delhi
government schools to get
hands-on experience with a
strong emphasis on action-re-
search. This will help students
gain excellent practical knowl-
edge in addition to theoretical
knowledge.”
“Admissions will start from
the 2022-23 session. Delhi
Teachers University will be a
centre for excellence in teacher
preparation -- both pre-service
and in-service -- in the areas of
education studies, leadership
and policy. It will work towards
bridging the gap between prac-
tice, research and policy in
teacher preparation while con-
stantly engaging with the
dynamic concept and realities of
quality education in the city,” the
chief minister said.
the deaths to vector-borne dis-
eases, said officials.
“The first of these deaths
(added on Monday) was of a
nine-year-old girl from Jaitpur,
and the second is a 54-year-old
woman who lived in Hiranki vil-
lage (near Narela),” said a
spokesperson of the South Delhi
Municipal Corporation (SDMC),
which is the nodal agency for the
collection of data related to mos-
quito-borne disease.
An official of the public health
department said dengue infec-
tions in the city have been on a
downward trajectory over the
past few weeks as temperatures
have dropped.
A bulk of this year’s cases was
reported in November, when
corporations logged 6,739 infec-
tions.
Dengue season in the Capital
usually peaks in October, but
was delayed this year likely to
the delayed onset (and with-
drawal) of the monsoon.