The Hindu : New Delhi News : Briefly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 10, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Briefly

BJP candidate from Chandni Chowk Smriti Irani receiving blessings from Jain Muni Vidyanandji on the eve of the polling day in New Delhi on Sunday.

Campaign against smoking

NEW DELHI MAY 9. In a unique initiative, Mr. and Mrs. Tobacco Clinic, a campaign by the Heart Care Foundation of India, organised a lecture for a group of smokers who were told about the health problems caused by smoking.

Addressing the participants, Foundation's vice-chairman, Dr. K.K. Aggarwal, said smoking, which causes 44,000 premature deaths every year, was the largest preventable cause of death. "Smoking reduces a person's life span by 15 per cent which amounts to approximately 10-15 years of life lost. Each cigarette smoking takes seven minutes of a person's life."

Dr. Aggarwal said a 30-year-old woman smoker would die seven years earlier compared to a male smoker whose life span gets reduced by five years. The risk of death in male smokers was 1.7 times higher than a non-smoker while smoking increases the chances of death by 30 per cent due to coronary heart disease by the age of 75.

US forces flayed

NEW DELHI MAY 9. The Students' Islamic Organisation of India has condemned the prisoners' abuse cases in Iraq by the US-led coalition forces. Demanding immediate withdrawal of the "occupation forces" from Iraq, the Organisation general secretary, Marghoob Ahmed, said all the Heads of States whose army was in Iraq should be prosecuted for violating the global norms laid for treatment of the prisoners of war.

According to Mr. Ahmed, " the so-called champions of human rights are now being exposed before the international community. The US and its allies have now lost all moral rights to utter a single word on human rights and humanism."

Skill enrichment programme

NEW DELHI MAY 9. To keep teachers and students at pace with the latest developments in the information technology sector, NIIT and Microsoft have together embarked upon "Samridhi", a unique skill enrichment partnership programme for engineering colleges. Under the arrangement, NIIT and Microsoft will conduct interactive workshops with over 100 engineering colleges and IT educational institutions across 25 cities.

The programme will give career aspirants an overview of emerging trends and cutting edge technologies currently deployed in the industry. Experienced professionals from content development teams of NIIT and Microsoft will conduct the workshops. The entirely free-of-cost skill enrichment programme with the help of both the faculty and students help them upgrade their current knowledge and basic developmental abilities.

Focus on water conservation

National Human Rights Council activists holding a demonstration against the `feel good' propaganda of NDA Government at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Sunday. Photo: V.V. Krishnan

NEW DELHI MAY 9. The Kalinga Shikshya Samaj, Delhi, organised an awareness campaign on water conservation in the Jaganath Temple complex at Hauz Khas in South Delhi on Saturday. Over 30 students from various schools took part in the campaign. A poster-making and quiz competition was also organised on the occasion. Experts told students about the importance of water as well as environment conservation.

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