Delhi underground

While schools in the city are openly flouting its guidelines on pre-school admissions, the Directorate of Education is like a 8220;toothless tiger8221; that only stares and growls but can8217;t bite...

Toothless DoE
While schools in the city are openly flouting its guidelines on pre-school admissions, the Directorate of Education DoE is like a 8220;toothless tiger8221; that only stares and growls but can8217;t bite, parents seeking a seat in schools for their children said. Last month, the DoE said schools must follow the schedule outlined by it and must distribute forms between December 15 and 31. The schools are, however, following their own schedules and the DoE hasn8217;t done much except issue warnings. Schools that had to notify the DoE of their separate schedules, now say they will do so before December 14. While the schools are using technicalities and loopholes in the law, lobbying and all other tactics possible to evade action, it8217;s the parents who are suffering; the DoE is only issuing more circulars.

Weight problems
Besides spreading the message of the importance of a healthy life, World Diabetes Day, observed last week, brought to the fore how medical professionals view 8220;persons living with weight problems8221;. According to the latest trend amongst Delhi doctors, the words 8220;obese8221; and 8220;obesity8221; are no more politically correct. Obese people are now referred to as those having a 8220;high waist circumference8221;.

Remote control
The Chief Justice of India, K G Balakrishnan, on Wednesday, inaugurated the evening courts by pressing a button on a remote control. The court proceedings were being telecast on big monitors and the idea seemed perfect, for the inauguration was being organised at two district court complexes simultaneously. The event, however, left the audience a bit perplexed. Expecting some major action on the monitors after the CJI pressed the button, they could notice nothing happening and were found asking everyone around if they saw anything changing after the button was pressed. Later, they realised that it was just an exercise to officially inaugurate the proceedings and the button was pressed to signify that, without any tangible 8216;happening8217;.

Full stop
Old habits die hard. During the inauguration of the evening courts in the Capital, a Delhi High Court judge delivered an impressive speech on the objectives and necessity of the move. However, during his speech, media persons were taken by surprise when he said 8220;full stop8221; after a sentence. A lawyer present at the function soon clarified that judges speak out punctuation marks when they dictate orders to their stenos and, hence, there was nothing odd when he said 8220;full stop8221;.

It8217;s all in the numbers
Having ignored for years the need to maintain detailed records of data related to elections beyond the cursory number of voters, a senior officer at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer admitted that it was perhaps a mistake. 8220;We did not see the need to maintain a record of number of male and female voters and other such information. In retrospect, I wish we had because it would have made it easier to identify the segments that traditionally do not vote,8221; the officer said. In a bid to rectify that wrong, a detailed record of the number of male and female voters has been prepared this year. However, there is still no record of the economic background of the voters.

Cashing in
Everyone seems to be cashing in on the rush of the poll season, and trying to find a way in which the polls can prove to be lucrative for them. The most recent entrants are software firms in the Capital, which have gone all the way to create and maintain a database of each and every voter in each constituency. The information is then made available to the candidates contesting the elections in order to better manage their potential voters.