Statescape — Rubber unit reactor blows up; three killed

NEW DELHI: Major trade unions have decided to hold a demonstration on December 3 to protest against the Supreme Court order upholding the Kerala High Court judgement declaring bandhs as illegal and unconstitutional. The National Platform of Mass Organisations, including the Central Industrial Trade Union, the All India Trade Union Congress and the Hind Mazdoor Sabha, asserted that bandhs were “inalienable, fundamental and democratic rights of working people”.

Vit E can check Alzheimer’s disease

NEW DELHI: The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has recommended Vitamin E for delaying mental deterioration in moderate Alzheimer’s patients. The Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study’s (ADCS) reports that Vitamin E taken separately is more effective than Vitamin E and selegiline combined. Researchers at Tuffs University, Boston, found that Vitamin E daily in doses greater than the recommended daily allowance (RDA) enhanced immune response in older patients without causing side-effects.

Graduates can be peons, rules HC

CALCUTTA: The Calcutta High Court has ruled that there is no legal bar on appointing a graduate as a peon. A division bench upheld the appointment of Zalil Ahmed as a peon of a panchayat. Zalil’s appointment was annulled by the High Court on June 18, 1996 on the grounds that he was not eligible as the post was meant for persons with lower qualification. The judge had set aside the West Bengal government’s circular which said there was no bar on graduates being appointed as peons. Quashing that order, the division bench observed on Monday that the appointment did not violate Article 14 and 16 (i) of the Constitution.

Bihar varsity teachers’ strike on

PATNA: Classes in colleges and universities continued to be disrupted across Bihar as the strike by teachers unions, to press for their demands, entered its second day. More than 17,000 teachers, belonging to the Federation of University Teachers’ Association of Bihar (FUTAB), are protesting against the “anti-teacher” stance of the commissioner for higher education K D Sinha. FUTAB general secretary A K P Yadav accused Sinha of “ignoring the Acts and statutes in framing the budget for the universities”. He alleged that the state govt was planning to cut teachers’ pay and allowances.