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UNITED STUDENTS new website and blog: WWW.UNITEDSTUDENTS.IN

Missing kids: Parents await justice

Source: NDTV

Saturday, January 6, 2007 (Noida):

In the past eight days, Nithari village place has seen it all. Now, there's a gathering of other parents who are not from Nithari but have nevertheless lost their children. They now hope they may find people who will listen to their grievances.Forty-eight year old Geeta Pal come to Noida from Okhla. Her 16-year-old son left for school in April 2005 and never came back."I called up police everywhere from Okhla to Daryaganj. Police said your son must have ran away with a girl," said Geeta Pal, Resident, Sangam Vihar.Guddi's six-year-old son has been missing for the past year and a half."Police never took my case seriously. I told them about the suspects but they left soon and the case was never investigated further," said Guddi, Resident, Sangam Vihar.Mahmood Ali is yet another parent who has given up hope. His 21-year-old son went missing last year and the police did nothing, he says. He believes his son may be dead but he's come here looking for justice."I have gone to the police endless times but all my visits were left unheeded," said Mahmood Ali, Resident, Noida.They may not be from Nithari, but the fact remains their near ones are missing, for which politicians have taken less or no action. Perhaps this incident serves as a wake up call to the lax administration not just in Nithari but everywhere where justice is denied every hour.

Noida killings: Sonia slams UP govt
Source: NDTV

Saturday, January 6, 2007 (Noida/Gandhinagar):

Launching a scathing attack on the UP government, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said that there is no law and order in the state.She visited Nithari village, the site of ghastly serial killings, a week after the murders came to light.Gandhi claimed that the state's chief minister had relented under pressure from the Congress and asked for a CBI probe. "We demanded a CBI inquiry right in the beginning. At that time the Chief Minister refused a CBI inquiry. Now he has agreed under pressure," said Gandhi.The UPA Chairperson, who spent nearly 30 minutes at the village, met with the families of the victims and inspected the areas adjacent to the infamous residence of main accused Moninder Singh Pandher."There is no law and order in the state. Look at the situation yourself," she added.CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat also visited Nithari on Saturday and condemned the killings.Meanwhile, the police are trying to unravel the motive behind the macabre killings.

Narco analysis

Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant Surinder have been put through a psychological evaluation at the Directorate of Forensic Sciences in Gandhinagar.Over the next two days the accused are expected to undergo narco-analysis, brain mapping and polygraph or lie detector tests, which may provide some more leads for the police.According to reports, the duo had informed the officials that high profile persons including a senior politician of Uttar Pradesh and a doctor frequented Moninder's house. Meanwhile, the police in Noida have refused to comment on the reports of cannibalism involved in the incident.Earlier in the day, both Moninder and Surinder were taken to Gandhinagar Civil Hospital for medical examination. Several tests, including X-ray and ECG were conducted and their urine and blood samples were also taken. Moninder had a shop in Haridwar of JCB machines used in construction name of the shop "JCB classified auto distributor." From the time Moninder was arrested the labourers and other workers at his shop have disappeared.

Son defends father

But, Karan Pandher, son of the main accused Moninder Pandher, has lashed out against the media.Maintaining that his father was innocent, Karan said that he would take the help of private investigators as he felt that the police wasn't doing a good job. Karan alleged that the media has manipulated his words against his father."Every person should have a fair trial. My father has not been given a fair trial. If he is given a fair trial, we as a family are ready to face the consequences," said Karan. Karan also defended his father saying that he was not the serial killer and that he suspected the involvement of a doctor in the neighbourhood. He claimed that the doctor's drain is linked with the main drainage through a manhole and skeletons could have reached through this.

DUSU polls: NSUI bags three posts

Rati Ramdass
NDTV

Saturday, September 9, 2006 (New Delhi):

Despite the bad press that ABVP got over professor's killing in Ujjain it still managed to take away one post from the NSUI.

A nail biting finish to the Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) elections on Saturday after an inordinate wait despite the EVMs used this time.

The NSUI, which held all four top posts managed to win only three of them this year losing the Vice President's post to the beleagured ABVP.

NSUI's Amrita Dhawan, is the new DUSU president and the Secretary and Joint Secretary are from the same party.

"We were confident that we will win right from the beginning this win shows us how much the students support us they have won not us," said Amrita Dhawan, President, Delhi University.

The BJP backed ABVP seemed pleased with its solitary win Vikas Dahiya managed to take away the DUSU vice president's post from the NSUI.

"Even though NSUI swept the other seats. We managed to win one seat this just shows that we are still popular," said Vikas Dahiya, Vice-President, Delhi University.

But in an election that is known for its extravagance and big budget campaigning. United students independent candidate Aaditya dar was impressive. He managed to keep within the ten thousand rupees limit for campaigning and still got 4000 votes, which is unheard of for an independent candidate at DUSU. Perhaps this means that Delhi university students may finally be waking up to issue based politics.

UNITED STUDENTS - An Initiative by People's Action
Lets together make a difference...

United Students, a Delhi University based neutral group would be working on various issues in the coming months and requires active participation from all of you. If you are ready to go out in the open and make a difference, contact any of our coordinators who will further guide you.

United Students has been already campaigning for issues like Reservations,Jessica Lall and Priyadarshini Mattoo Case,RTI,Campus security etc.

Currently we are campaigning for the registration of Voter ID Cards in DU.

Since the organisation is volunatry, time commitment is flexible.

Regards,

For Further Details Contact :-
Dhruv Suri - dhruvsuri@gmail.com
Aaditya Dar - aadityadar@gmail.com
Nikhita Arora - nikhita_arora@yahoo.co.in
Aditya Raj Kaul - adityarajkaul@gmail.com
Devika Mallik - devika_malik@yahoo.com


United Students -

E-mail - unitedstudents.india@gmail.com

Website - www.unitedstudents.tk

United Students @ ORKUT
http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=13038478

UNITED STUDENTS @ Yahoo Groups
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/united_students/

Blog - www.unitedstudents.blogspot.com

Please spread this message to all your friends...

Voter registration drive in Delhi University
Prashant Pandey
The Hindu,Friday, Aug 18, 2006

AWARENESS DRIVE: Members of United Students at the launch of voter registration campaign for students in the Capital on Thursday. Photo: Anu Pushkarna

NEW DELHI: In a unique initiative to make newcomers to Delhi University aware about their voting rights and help them in getting their voter-identity cards, United Students -- a student group of Delhi University -- started a voter registration drive on the North Campus on Thursday.

Students who have turned 18 but do not have a voter ID card yet will be targeted during the drive.

Several groups of United Students went round the North Campus making students aware about the need to have a voter ID card. The students will also be provided Form No. 6, as prescribed by the Election Commission, to apply for the card and then submit it along with their identity and residence proofs. The group members would then segregate the applications as per constituencies and deposit the applications in the offices concerned. The students are supposed to follow it up after that.

Aditya Dar, one of the group members, said the plan was to both educate and enthuse students who were not yet registered as voters to immediately do so on the spot. Another member said there were about 40,000 new entrants to the University and the entire chunk was the target of the drive.

United Students is also planning to campaign for temporary voting rights for the outstation students at Delhi University who were staying in hostels or paying guest accommodations.

"They are residents of Delhi for the term of their college and, as such, must be given the right to exercise their franchise in the municipal, State and General Elections. They also face problems as they do not have permanent residence status here," said Nikita Arora, another group member from Kirori Mal College.

"We are also trying to ensure that students having local guardians are provided this facility as well," she added.

To attract more and more students towards the drive, United Students are using ice-cream carts, dubbed "Voter ID Cart", to go round various colleges of the University and hand over Form 6 to students.

Agitating students meet President Kalam

May 04, 2006 20:32 IST
UNI

Agitating students on Thursday met President A P J Abdul Kalam and submitted a memorandum, demanding roll-back of the proposal to provide 27 per cent reservation to OBCs in Central Government educational institutions.

''We are against caste-based reservation. Higher education must be merit based. Only those students who meet the merit criteria should be in these institutions,'' said Aditayaraj Kaul spokesperson for the United Students which called on Dr Kalam at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The Reservation Ruckus

Talking to UNI, Kaul said a five-member delegation of the United Students, which represents pupils from the Delhi University, the IP University and several schools, submitted the 21-point memorandum to Dr Kalam.

''Caste-based reservation is just a ploy of politicians to divide us. It is only vote bank politics at our expense,'' he said.
He said the delegation asked the President to have a ''relook'' into the 1990 Mandal report and the primary education policy.
Kaul said Dr Kalam gave the delegation a patient hearing and assured them that he will look into their demands.

The student leader claimed that the United Students has the support of the Bharat Uday Mission, representing IIT and JNU students, the Youth for Equality under which all the five medical colleges of Delhi are represented and the Youth of Justice.

Students petition Kalam against reservation
Tribune News Service



New Delhi, May 4 : A group of students protesting against reservation in higher education today met the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and sought his intervention.

“We submitted a 21-point memorandum to the President during the meeting here today. He agreed with our view on primary education and the need to study the reservation system to see whether it has really helped the deprived sections,” said Aaditya Dar, who was part of the five-member delegation that met Dr Kalam.

In the petition, the students have sought the President’s intervention on, “the issue of extending reservations to yet another section of society not based on economic parameters but on considerations of caste and which is exercising the entire student community all over the country”.

The delegation, which also included Gursimran Khamba, Aditya Raj Kaul, Devika Malik, and Dhruv Suri put forth the need to reassess the reservation policy to ascertain whether it holds relevance in the present times. They pointed out, “Our final argument against the recommendations of the Mandal Commission is this: a report of recommendations based on a situation analysis of 1978 and thereabouts can by no reasonable accounts be taken to represent the realities of the India of 2006 and thereafter”.

“Our contentions are that the system of quota extensions is bad on fundamentals of equity knowing well that the notion of equality can be a question of original circumstances. However, the direction of every advancing human being is to seek equity not emanating from an unjust mechanism, but a potentially just mechanism,” the students said.

Referring to the issue of reservation and the reaction that it has drawn, they said, “We assure you that the educated middle-class populations of this country see this as an assault on their individual efforts of pulling themselves up to become world citizens by a political class that is only focussed on short-term electoral gains”.

The President was also presented 1,71,000 signatures of people opposed to reservation, including many who belong to the communities that this bill expects to serve.