The Indore Insider

Meet my sweet little guest, a house shrew. Wondering what it is? It looks like a long-nose rat, but it rather a pleasant guest which causes no harm to humans at all. In fact, it is the perfect house keeper eating away all the insects in the house. Though confused with rodents, it is far from a rodent. A house shrew is even rumoured to bring money as per superstitions. The reason behind could be, 'Harming the ones, who never hurt us, is clearly not even human'. An important lesson that this little shrew reminds us of pleasure of living with nature.

Zila Panchyat office seems haunted by ghosts, who pick up and vanishes orders of inspection and punishments sent by Commissioner and Collector office. The number of skeletons in Zila Panchyat office continues to rise as the recently issued reminder order from Collector office also went missing. There have been several other previous reminders and orders that went missing at the office. The reminder order citing letter number 126 was cited in the order issued and signed by Deputy Collector recently.  In an appeal under RTI, complainant Sanjay Mishra had received a copy noting that Zila Panchyat office received an order of inspection against in-charge Devendra Choubey, Zila Panchayat CEO Neha Meena denies ever receiving any such inspection order. Now, when collector sent the reminder on the same order at the direction of Commissioner Akash Tripathi, Neha still denies receiving any such letter. “I have not received any order from Collector office recently,” she said. The number ...

Indore has recorded the lowest admission enrolments under RTE in the state this year with 2,911 seats allotted under Right to Education (RTE) Act still empty, as applicants do not register admission. This means about 32 percent allotted seats have no takers in the district.  “Not allotted a quality school of their choice is a major reason behind people not registering admission despite having gone through the entire process of allotment and being selected in the lottery system,” district program coordinator (DPC) Akshay Singh Rathore gave the possible reason. The same reason was discussed in the meeting on suggestions for Education Policy 2019 headed by Manish Verma, Joint Director of School Education Department, Indore. “There are many private schools, which are running simply for getting grants through RTE and lacking in quality education and infrastructure,” he said. Under their suggestions, the department even suggested a modification in RTE in education policy to reserve s...

Conducting interschool wildlife quiz, city zoo brought together winners of seven schools competing for the title of Tiger Warriors at a local school on Monday. To raise awareness about decreasing tiger population and richness of Indian wildlife, the quiz connects with school students every year. In the battle for the title, three students team from six school participated and prepared themselves to be called intelligent saviours. Challenging each other by their knowledge of wildlife, students had stiff competition. Quiz was conducted in five rounds with wildlife question on visuals, audio, scientific names, facts, national parks etc. A volunteer coordinating the quiz Aishani Jain said, “We are trying to encourage students in exploring wildlife around and further save animals, as decreasing population of several species in India is highly alarming.” She explained that rich wildlife of India is eroding due to negligence. “We can avoid negligence only when we care about them and care ...

Madhya Pradesh reclaimed the title of ‘Tiger State of India’ with ‘526’ the highest number of tigers in a state in the country. The number of tigers grew by 70 percent in the last five years, i.e. about 14 percent every year. Madhya Pradesh had lost the coveted ‘tiger state’ status to Karnataka in 2011. As per the 2018 report, Karnataka is a close second with 524 tigers, followed by Uttarakhand with 442. The target for other states was lower as compared MP that had stood on third place with 308 tigers in 2014. Karnataka had 408 tigers and Uttrarakhand had 340 tigers in 2014. “Clearly, we had among the highest growth rate of tigers and in MP, a part of credit goes to extreme protection steps that we had undertaken,” additional principal chief conservator of forest department Alok Kumar said. He added that several awareness programs and encroaching was controlled in jungle areas, which helped in controlling the population. “If you have a safe home, then you are bound to flourish and...

On the second Monday of Shravan, devotees of Shiva from all age-groups observed a fast. Participating in various rituals, people prayed to lord Shiva to guide them in their life. Most temples in the city thronged with devotees in the morning for ‘Rudra Abhishek’ and then in the evening for chanting mantras and singing bhajans. In Geeta Bhawan temple, Rudra Abhishek was done with special 11 items. Head priest of the temple Kalyan Dutt Shastri said, “Rudra Abhishek is an extremely important as a ritual, which is considered to be one of the finest, purest and compelling ritual in Hinduism.” He noted that Flowers, ghee, curd, honey, fresh milk, panchamrit, rose water, sugar candy, coconut water, Ganga Jal, camphor and holy ash were used for the special Abhishek. Shiva ligam was decorated forming a unique face at Khandeshwar Mahadev in Sukhliya. The special meditative face of ligam was prepared in the evening using various items of Rudra Abhishek.  Pt. Pawan Sharma At Vaishnavadh...

With the findings of All India Tiger Estimation, 2018 to be announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on International Tiger Day, Madhya Pradesh has its hopes high of becoming the ‘Tiger State of India’ again with at least 25 percent rise in the population. Indore is already leading the tiger population at city zoo by having one of the best breeding records in the last five years. “We have had over 35 tigers in the zoo in the last five years, which is a rare figure, because breeding is normally quite challenging in tigers,” Dr Uttam Yadav, in-charge Kamla Nehru Prani Sangrahalaya, said. He shared that city zoo has been able to bring in more special breeds by exchanging tigers. “Tigers are in demand in all the states and since, we are able to have good breeding and healthy population, it makes us easy for us to get other animals in exchanges,” Yadav said. He talked about various breeds like albino black buck that have made their way to Indore, first time in state with tiger exchange...

With the theme of ‘Air Pollution’ for World Environment Day 2019, Indore celebrated the day by major plantation drives around the city on Sunday. Among many private plantation drives by various communities, five major plantation drives were done with help from forest department in townships in the city. Taking the initiative to spread further, Nukkad Natak, quiz and educational workshops were organised in townships. There are four important forest types: Tropical Moist, Tropical Dry, Tropical Thorn, and Subtropical broadleaved Hill forests. Based on composition, there are three important forest formations namely Teak forest, Sal forest and Miscellaneous Forests. Species from these forests that can grow easily in Indore were shared in the workshop. “We discovered various species like Gultara, Sweet Neem, Karanj, Peepal, Shetut and Paras Peepal that can grow easily in our climate,” Atul Mittal, coordinator, said. Various issues of township including Narmada line, incomplete roads, ...

The members of Christian community of St Joseph Church honoured senior citizens of the parish to celebrate National Parents Day on Sunday. More than 50 senior citizens were special guests of the event. The day is observed on fourth Sunday in July. It fell on July 28 this year. Father Thomas Rajamanikam said the day is celebrated to honour parents. He added that parents’ unconditional love and sacrifice for their children can't be measured but must be remembered and celebrated. Most senior citizens who are now grandparents narrated their experiences and life lessons with parish members. Senior citizens participated in the holy mass and special prayers were offered for them. To make them feel special, a special programme of felicitation, gift-giving ceremony and get-together was organised at the church. “All special guests here today are our guides and gurus who empower us to succeed in life,” organiser Sylvester Paul said. He cited examples of households where elders are not re...

With their prototype of Powered Exoskeleton Walking Assist Device ready, a group of 23-year-old mechanical engineering students from Indore are hopeful of enabling paraplegics to take a walk and experience a normal life. Being pioneering in the field in India with their prototype, the students will soon secure a patent right and will take it into a full-fledged project if funded. Sharing how he came across the idea, Shobhit Kumar Das, one of the ideators, said, “My friend (Somesh) often talked about his grandfather, who was paraplegics and needed help in every routine task from taking bath to getting around.” With the task of making a project for their engineering evaluation and the difficulties faced by Somesh’s grandfather, they kept pondering over possibilities of solving both the issues. “We came across possibilities of exoskeletons, which are available at price over $40,000 abroad, which makes them non-feasible for even their own citizens.” Understanding the concept, studen...

‘Health Talk’ was organised by Create Stories with a group of parents at a preschool at Mahalaxmi Nagar on Saturday. Deepak Sharma informed that the purpose of this program was to discuss important health related knowledge about growing kids and what should parent do to make them grow healthy. In the program Laparoscopic and Bariatric Surgeon Dr Achal Agrawal discussed on various health topics with parents. Dr Achal Agarwal said, “Nowadays, obesity leads to social inferiority, in which the child feels stress due to teasing of other children. India has obesity (obese) in 14.4 million children and India is in second place in the world in the case of obesity, the reason for the increased obesity in children is biological changes and lifestyle.” He explained that childhood obesity is a serious medical condition that affects children and adolescents. “Childhood obesity is particularly troubling because the extra pounds often start children on the path to health problems including diabe...

Marking Indore on the world map with their achievements, 24 students divided in four teams won more than 100 medals at the World Scholar’s Cup Regional Round hosted by the Mayo College Girls School, Ajmer. The students from the Emerald Heights International School (EHIS) have qualified for the Global round of the competition. The students brought laurels to the school by winning 92-Gold and 67-Silver medals at the championship. “It is moment of pride to see students enjoying themselves and experiencing more perspectives from such competitions,” school principal Siddharth Singh said. Since the global round is in Sydney in August, it is not feasible for students to compete in the same. “Such championships are more about exposure and experience, which students got along with medals and achievements,” Singh said. Congratulating the students, school president Muktesh Singh felicitated them and motivated them to dream higher and follow their heart. Students had participated in four comp...

Right to Education (RTE) Act aims to provide ‘free’ and quality education to all, under which 25 percent seats of private schools are reserved for government sponsored children. The idea was to allow an underprivileged child to get quality education and fulfil their dream of studying in a renowned private school. However, the dream has been tampered by many private schools that are simply running to get RTE funds from government and lacking in providing quality education. Limiting RTE to renowned and quality schools is a major suggestion that will be given for National Education Policy 2019 by Education Department, Indore division. This was concluded in ‘Education Policy’ meeting organised by Joint Director Manish Verma on Friday. The meeting had collective decisions from Indore division including Barwani, Khandwa, Khargone, Burhanpur, Dhar, Alirajpur, Jhabua. During the discussion, Verma said, “Currently, the RTE Act provides for free and compulsory education to all children from ...

Changing school after class X or moving to a different school for higher education in class IX? Central Board of Secondary Education will help students only under justified circumstances and norms. In other scenarios where the shifting is not justified by a valid reason, the board quoted, “Admission will be given by the admitting schools by fulfilling their requirements as per rules and no permission is to be sought from the CBSE. However, all such admissions should fulfill all criteria of the Examination and Affiliation Bye-Laws of the CBSE.”  Admission in class-IX and Class-XI is a natural phenomenon as students of schools affiliated to the Board up to Middle Level are seeking admissions in class-IX and students from Secondary Level Schools are seeking admissions in class-XI in other CBSE affiliated schools. Also students of Senior level schools change school in Class XI due to non availability of desired subjects in the previous school. “It has been observed by the Board th...

The last date to register for Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB) special round 2019 is on Saturday.  The registration process, which began on Thursday night is for engineering aspirants who have cleared JEE Main examination and are seeking admission to IIITs, NITs and GFTIs. The candidates need to log onto the official website of CSAB, which is csab.nic.in. According to notification, candidates or aspirants applying for admission through special round are required to complete the registration process along with the fees payment for the counselling process on or before July 27, 2019, which is Saturday. The special round of CSAB counselling 2019 is being held to screen, shortlist candidates and to facilitate admission to undergraduate courses for engineering and architecture at IIITs, GFTIs and NITs. Candidates applying for the special counselling will be allotted seats through counselling process based on the rank secured by them in the JEE Main 2019 examination. The counsell...

Beware! Charging over MRP (maximum retail price) can result in about 50,000 percent more compensation. While many retailers, food outlets and international chains feel they can sneak by charging over MRP under the shade of taxes, District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum Indore-2 is not going to let it slide and set an example in their latest verdict against Domino’s Pizza. Domino's Pizza, Inc., branded as Domino's, is an American multinational pizza restaurant has been ordered to pay compensation of Rs 5,000 to a consumer for charging Rs 10 over MRP on a water bottle. Plaintiff Jitendra Arjane, resident of Krishna Bagh colony, Indore had raised the complaint against   Domino’s Pizza Prime House, Indore and other outlets. “On Nov 18, 2013, when we went to pizza at the outlet, we got thirsty and bought a water bottle of Kinley,” Arjane said. The water bottle had a printed price of Rs 20. The plaintiff approached the representative of the outlet, demanding an explan...

While snacks like popular ‘bhajiya’ is definitely the most loved food during rains, it is not enough to fill up stomach. Discussing various pickles that can help food lovers survive the monsoon, a group of food bloggers met in the city in Vijay Nagar area to discuss various ways to eat healthy and delicious during monsoons on Thursday. “Since it becomes difficult to get fresh veggies, we can have pickled vegetables and even try other asian food like kimchi to ensure that food is safe, healthy and delicious,” chef Amit Pamnani said. “Spicy green chilli pickles, mango pickles tossed with fenugreek and cardamom, bright yellow cauliflower pickles – you name it! There are various ways in which, we can ensure delicious diet for monsoon,” food blogger Astha Mahajan said. Carrot pickle was also cited as an alternative veggie pickle. Richa Sharma, a food enthusiast, talked about Adark (ginger) and amla (Indian gooseberry) pickles, which help in keeping a healthy digestion. “Digestion i...

The popular ‘Chachi 420’, who robbed many women of Kayast community with her well-crafted lies and fake investment scheme, has to spend more time in jail, as her bail was rejected by Session Court on Thursday. Manju Verma, a middle-aged woman, is accused of robbing women with her plans of over Rs 1 crore. Out of this, 8 women have come together with evidences of Rs 62 lakhs been taken by Manju by forgery. Manju’s bail was rejected by district court earlier this week. Hence, the accused appealed Session Court for the same. In the hearing, advocate Manoj Sharma representing objectors said, “The accused took another person’s cheque book, signed it and gave it to the victims as security of her promised returns on investment.” This clearly showed that Manju had forged documents to trick victims. “The accused should be charged under section 467 and 468 of Indian Penal Code (IPC),” Sharma said. The section quote ‘forgery of documents for the purpose cheating’ the victim and the arrest be...

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has released notice information candidates who gave CTET about the provision to challenge answer sheet with the last date of doing the same as July 26, i.e. today. The issued stated that all the candidates who appeared in CTET (JULY), 2019 held on 07/07/2019 are informed that the scanned images of OMR answer sheets of the candidates & answer keys will be uploaded on the website www.ctet.nic.in by 26/07/2019 (till 11:59PM). “There is a provision for the candidates to challenge the answer keys through the link available on the website,” the notice issued by Director (CTET) & Secretary, CBSE stated. It added that a fee of Rs.1000/- per question will be required to be submitted through credit/debit card. The fee once paid is non-refundable. “If the challenge is accepted by the Board i.e. if any mistake is noticed by the subject experts in the answer key, a policy decision will be notified on the website and the fee shall be refunded,...

About 300 government school teachers working in government schools located in urban and rural areas of Indore district are suffering from delayed salary payments since last 3 months. The delay in payment has even resulted in many to take up debts, approaching the collector office, the group of teachers submitted a memorandum addressing the chief minister Kamal Nath. Teachers expressed their grief and quote that they have begged and pleaded with local and state-level officers, but they are just asked to bear with the ‘budget crunch’. There are about 1,624 government schools in Indore area, where the struggle of teachers continues. “With Rakhi approaching, our expenses are more than normal, and with the current delays in payments, it is difficult to even meet the daily bills,” said district secretary of Teacher’s Association Pawan Mohaniya. He added that some teachers have incurred debts even amounting to Rs 10,000 to meet daily expenses. “We have informed the district administratio...

The Annual General Body Meeting in St. Raphael’s Higher Secondary School for the academic session 2019-20 was held over the weekend in the school auditorium. The meeting commenced with lighting of lamp and prayer song. The PTA General Secretary welcomed the gathering, followed by Presidential address. Glimpses of the various school activities were shown through PPT. The meritorious students of class XII were awarded by PTA members and teachers. The existing PTA was declared as dissolved by the President, Principal Sister Jancy Joseph. Elections were conducted and new PTA Committee was formed. The meeting was adjourned with vote of thanks followed by National Anthem. The school principal has been changed after 6 years and headmistress after 3 years. The new committee heading the school is: President: Sr Jancy Joseph  Treasurer: Vijay Motwani  Joint Secretary: Smita Nim  Nominated Executive Members:  Sr Valsa Joseph, Sr Vinita Singh, Rita Bisht, and Sumati Kau...

Indore, the cleanest city of India can become the smartest city of India soon, with school students joining the initiatives and engaging in community development projects. In the recent meeting of Sahodaya Group of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools, group president Reena Khurana had invited Aditi Garg, CEO of smart city project. Aditi talked about various projects under smart city for Indore. “We have about 235 projects under smart city to make Indore smart,” she said. Many of these projects are targeted towards community development along with technology. With an aim to engage students in practical learning and making them responsible citizens, the group requested collaboration from Aditi. Appreciating the idea, she gave her consent and confirmed collaboration of CBSE schools with smart city project. Under the collaboration, school students will be working on the allotted project and coming up with innovative solutions for solving community issues in Indore. “Ch...

A class 12th commerce student of Madhya Pradesh education board will knock the doors of court, after receiving ‘negative response’ from education department for solving problem in his mark-sheet. The students complaint had brought board’s negligence to light, as it was found that his mark-sheet showed 18 marks out of 80 marks in ‘Book keeping and Accountancy’, whereas the answer-sheet totalling showing 22 marks. “It was the last chance for me to save my year and continue my studies, but despite of the fact that negligence is at the end of checking examiner, I will have to suffer losing a year of education,” the student said. Shubham Dhiman, 17, student of MB Khalsa School attempted class 12th MP board examination for the academic session 2018-19. His mark-sheet showed 18 marks with 16 marks in practical that gave him a supplement in accountancy subject. Being sure of at least getting passing marks, he applied for re-totalling. However, there was no change in the marks.  Still ...

Continuing with the democratic conventions in academics SICA 78 elected its Parent Teacher Association (PTA) for the session 2019-20. Sanjay Gangrade was elected as the President and Manish Jain as the Vice-president of PTA. The class representatives for all the classes were also elected on this occasion. The entire process was conducted in a very cordial and amicable atmosphere. The parent representatives assured all their support for overall development of their wards. They all cheered the endeavours and achievements of the school.   Padmini Khajanchi, the Chairperson presided over the function and N. Ravichandran, Convenor; and Sivankutty Nair, committee member were present on this occasion to express their whole hearted support to PTA for achieving excellence. Principal S. L. Gorya, Dinesh Upadhyay and Anik Kumar Vyas; headmistress S Kalavathy and Swati Jain, assistant headmistress RA Vijaylaxmi and Arti Mishra discussed with the parents the various issues related to...

Observing ‘Shravan Somvar Vrat’, women and men fasted for the day by limiting their diet to fruits and one meal. The day is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Further, some would be fast on Tuesday known as ‘Mangala Gauri Vrat’. The month of Sawan is the fifth month of the Hindu calendar beginning from Chaitra, and is the most auspicious month of the Chaturmas. On Purnima or full moon day, or during the course of the month the star ‘Shravan’ rules the sky, hence the month is called Shravan. Temples in the city thronged with devotees for ‘rudra abhishek’ in the morning. ‘Om Namah Shivay’ echoed in the air throughout the day in temples. Most temples had prepared special ‘prasad’ that was distributed among devotees in the morning and evening. On the first Monday of Savan, a fair was held on many Shiva temples of the city. The largest fair was seen at Baneshwar Mahadev in Banganga and Shiva temple in Devguradia. Apart from this, there will be a festive atmosphere in the evening on other temples....

The number of skeletons in Zila Panchyat office are more than one can imagine. Despite having replied to an appeal under RTI confirming that they have a received an order of inspection against in-charge Devendra Choubey, Zila Panchayat CEO Neha Meena denies ever receiving any such inspection order. The number of orders vanishing from Zila Panchayat office is a clear indication of an insider-game, where orders are being stopped from compliance. When asked about the inspection order against Choubey that was passed by then commissioner Sanjay Dubey, Neha said, “We did not receive any such order, there is no inspection passed against Choubey, he is right in front of me and confirms that no such inspection has been ordered.” The order was passed last year originally with three reminder orders. The last reminder order was sent in July 2019. Missing order, copy received from commissioners’ office, action soon In follow-up of yesterday’s case, where it was revealed that Choubey had held ...

Manju Verma, accused in the case of fraud of taking over a crore rupees by fooling women and men, was rejected bail by district court on Monday. Manju a middle-aged woman fooled women and men from 6 colonies with fake investment schemes. Further, she became close friends with the women and asked them for monetary help for fighting a case for her husband. Objector advocate Manoj Sharma said, “Manju is booked under section 406 and section 420 of Indian Penal Code (IPC).” With the bail rejected, the case will move to session court. “Section 406: Punishment for criminal breach of trust.—Whoever commits criminal breach of trust shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both,” Sharma cited the section. Section 420: Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.—Whoever cheats and thereby dishonestly induces the person de­ceived to deliver any property to any person, or to make, alter or destroy th...

The pious month of Shravan or Sawan has begun. During this time, Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati are revered will full gusto and fervour. Devotees throng Shiva temples in huge numbers and seek the Lord's blessings. One such Shobha Yatra was taken out from Ranjeet Hanuman temple during the weekend. Further, Shiv Maha Purana was read out by priests Pawan Tiwari and Deepesh Vyas. In this month, each Monday is celebrated as Shravan Somvar across all temples with the Dharanatra hanging over the Shiva linga, bathing it with holy water and milk, throughout the day into the night. Today is the first Shravan Somvar, which would be celebrated no less than a fest in the city. Observing ‘Shravan Somvar Vrat’, women and men will fast for the day by limiting their diet to fruits and one meal. Gopaldas Rathi, the campaign head of the story, shared that Lord Shiva's Rudra Abhishek was performed at Shiva Temple located at Ranjit Hanuman temple in morning.

The Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Indore successfully organized Taxathon- a 5 km walk on Sunday, as one of the activities to celebrate the 159th foundation day of Income Tax, which falls on 24th July every year. Justice SC Sharma graced the occasion as the chief guest and flagged off the event, while other dignitaries included AK Chauhan, IRS, Pr. Chief Commissioner of IT, MP & CG; DP Haokip, IRS, Chief Commissioner of IT, Indore; and Lokesh Jatav, Collector Indore. Some notable highlights of the event include: • The idea behind the event was to promote a voluntary tax culture and spread awareness about the role of taxpayers in nation building activities, aptly summarised by the event theme "Aaykardata Rashtra Nirmata". • Despite inclement weather and heavy rains, the event witnessed the active and enthusiastic participation of more than 1000 walkers from all walks of life, and was supported by the Academy of Indore Marathoners. • Indore’s taxpayers excitedly...

A 12-hour-long ‘Tiranga Run’ will be organised on August 18 from 6 am to 6 pm in Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Takshila campus. The run is being organised by Indore Superchargers group for promoting fitness in the city. “We are the cleanest city of India, we can also be greenest and healthiest city, because every residents supports improvement and development in Indore,” group president Dr Yogendra Vyas said. This is the second season the 12-hour run in the city. “There would be participants from all over India and even some international runners, who will join the run in Indore,” Vyas said. He added that about 700 runners will be joining the run. “We have already received confirmation of 40 runners, who will be completing the full run of 12 hours,” Vyas said. Runners from different parts of the country including Greater Noida, Balaghat, Surat and Bhopal have already registered themselves to participate in the run. “There are 15 runners from Indore, who will be running for 12 hours...

With an intention to stop the punishment of an officer found guilty, in-charge of Zila Panchayat office Devendra Choubey held back the punishment orders sent out by then Indore commissioner Sanjay Dubey. This was revealed in Right to Information reply received by an activist Sanjay Mishra on Sunday.  Sharing the details of the case, Mishra said, “BRC (block resource coordinator) Rajendra Singh Tanwar did not do monitoring of government schools as ordered.” The complaint was handled by commissioner. “Commissioner had ordered inspection against the officer in 2018, which was to be conducted by Choubey,” Mishra said.  To avert the inspection, Choubey sent the name of another BRC officer Manor Diwan to the commissioner. “CEO Zila Panchayat had conducted inspection of Dubey and found him guilty of misleading the department,” Mishra said. Admitting his mistake, Choubey was excused with a warning. “In case of Tanwar, who had failed to fulfil his duties, commissioner ordered stop...

Bringing pride to the city and wings to her dreams, 14-year-old shooter Anshika Gupta has secured scholarship of Rs 40 lakhs from ‘Khelo India’ with her excellent shooting skills.  The Khelo India programme by government of India aims to revive the sports culture in India at the grass-root level by building a strong framework for all sports played in our country and establish India as a great sporting nation. Having excelled and selected among top 5 shooters in the country, Anshika will receive annual financial assistance of INR 5 lakh per annum for 8 years. She will also get assistance in form of equipments to practise shooting. Story of the young shooter Born and brought up in Sidhi, Madhya Pradesh, Anshika had no exposure to the world of sports until 2016. “In 2016, when I came into class VII, my parents sent me to Indore to study in Emerald Heights International School, since there were no good schools in Sidhi for higher education,” she said. Moving to Indore, she lived ...

Studies have shown that students who participate in co-curricular activities have a marked improvement in the grades. This was justified and explained by Colonel Nikhil Diwanji during his address as chief guest at Investiture ceremony of Laurels School International on Saturday. “Better performance is a result of skills that they learn such as better time management to accommodate their hobbies and class activities, better organizational skills and a boost in their self-esteem,” Diwanji said. He gave an example of how skills learnt in clubs such as debate can be applied in the classroom too, as the students learn how to express themselves better. To help the students feel a sense of responsibility and in keeping with the tradition of the institution, new members of the perfectorial body of Laurels School International, for the academic session 2019-20 took the oath. The ceremony began with the school prayer song followed by the oath ceremony. School director Jennifer Chacko and p...

With no rights on Sindh, Sindhi community is trying to keep their culture and heritage alive by promoting their language. Working on the same, a certificate course in Sindhi language will begin on July 28 at Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore. The course will be a certificate course of six months teaching students about basics of communicating in the language. A pilot run of the certificate program was held a couple of months back. The last date for registering for the course is July 26. “During the Sindhi Sammelan in Indore a couple of years, where we had international delegates from all over the world sharing their opinion, we came up with the idea of promoting the language,” Manish Devnani, coordinator of the course, said. He quoted that the language can be learned in Devnagri script or Persian script. “An important part of business is personal connect and with Sindhi businesspersons all over the world, the language is bound to help an entrepreneur,” Devnani said. Tuition fee ...

The last minute to registering admissions under Right to Education (RTE) on July 20, hundreds of students were enrolled in allotted schools. Considering the gap between allotted schools and registered admissions, education department extended the dateline of uploading registrations to Sunday. “It is better if students register into the schools as soon as possible, but instead of letting the seat go empty, we are allowing the last minute registrations to extend for the night,” district project coordinator (DPC) Akshay Rathore said. He noted that admissions have already been delayed, but it is essential that students seeking admissions under RTE finalise their admission on the portal. The number of registered admissions had stood still till July 18 and suddenly saw an increase on the last day. Every minute the number of admissions registered varied between 5 and 15. From 5 pm, which was the initial deadline of registering admission, to 8 pm, the number of registered admission grew f...

First Friday of 40-day-long Chalio also called Chaliho Sahib was celebrated with fervour by community members at Jhulela temple, Chattribagh on Friday. The festival is observed every year in months of July to August, dates vary according to Hindu calendar. This is a thanks-giving celebration in honour of Varuna Deva and Jhulelal for listening to their prayers. About 2,000 people joined the celebrations at the temple starting from 6:30 pm to 11 pm. Understanding their responsibility towards environment, community members began the celebration by planting saplings in the temple premises. While some people fast only on the first and last day of Chalio, others fast for the first nine days or for 21 days. Sindhi women and danced in front of idol of Jhulelal in their temples to the tune of their folk music and bhajan, the devotional songs. Sindhis make a symbolic representation of their God Jhulelal in each and every household of theirs, which is known as Bahrana Sahib. ‘Baharana Sahib...

The number of dog bite victims continues to grow in Indore, as two little girls suffered injuries and one was admitted in MY hospital due to a dog attack in Ishaq colony, Khajrana area on Friday. A case was registered under section 289 of Indian Penal Code. Two sisters, 7-year-old Suman and 5-year-old Madhu were playing outside their house, when a couple of stray dogs attacked them. “The dogs attacked the little girls at the signal of Imran Sheikh, a nearby resident, who often petted and feed the stray dogs,” complainant Nilo, wife of Krishan Bhil said. She noted that Sheikh and his family had previously signaled the dogs to bite the girls, but luckily, girls had escaped. Nilo, originally from Dhar, is caretaker of an apartment and works part-time in construction. “I was working on-site when my brother Jitendra came running to me and informed me about the serious condition of my daughters, who were saved by nearby residents from dog attack,” Nilo said. The incident happened at 8:3...

In a shocking revelation, passing percentage of class X CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) in academic session 2018-19 has come down from 93.12 percent in 2017-18 to 86.70 percent. With exception to Delhi region, all the regions have shown a downfall in results with lesser number of students passing the examination. Ajmer region that cover Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, has a steep fall in the passing percentage from 97.73 percent to 91.86 percent. This fall of 5.87 percent was unexpected for schools and a definite shock to many, who had been celebrating having 100 percent passing percentage for decades. In comparison with other regions, Ajmer region has performed a little above average. The biggest fall is seen in Dehradun region with a fall of 17.69 percent. Dehradun region covers Uttrakhand and Western Uttar Pradesh i.e. Badaun, Baghpat, Bijnour, Bulandshahr, GautamBudh Nagar(Noida), Ghaziabad, Hapur, J.P.Nagar/Amroha, Meerut, Moradabad, ...