Delhi

The Palette Art Gallery in association with The Australian High Commission is proud to present Dust, a solo exhibition of works by one of India’s leading contemporary artists, Gigi Scaria.

Scaria conceived the exhibition after embarking on a cultural exchange program in Australia in 2012 as a Macgeorge Fellow at the University of Melbourne.

The artist drew inspiration from Australia’s vast, open landscapes. The exhibition explores the geographical diversity of India and reveals the powerful connections between the Australian and Indian continents.

A heavy blanket of fog enveloped the national capital on Thursday morning, hitting air, rail and road services badly.

According to the MeT department, the general visibility at the Indira Gandhi International Airport dropped to below 50 metre and because of poor visibility operations of more than dozen of flights were affected.

Train services were also affected due to fog.

Road traffic was equally chaotic as the motorists tried to navigate through the dense fog.

Delhi Education and Urban Development Minister Manish on Tuesday said that the state government is likely to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill on Friday in their next cabinet meeting. “We had discussions on Lokpal as well. But we haven’t received the formatted draft from the Law department.

Indian National League’s head office was inaugurated at Jamia Nagar, Abul Fazal Enclave Part I, New Delhi. Addressing the inaugural function, national president of Indian National League Prof. Mohammed Sulaiman said that 18 years have passed since the foundation of national League. He maintained that politics is not for gaining wealth but for the service of nation and community.

Daily pollution figures collected from New Delhi reveal that the city’s air is laden with dangerous small particles of pollution.

Beijing`s US Embassy sent out warnings in mid-January, when a measure of harmful fine particulate matter known as PM2.5 rocketed above 500, in the upper reaches of the measurement scale, for the first time this year.

This refers to particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter believed to pose the greatest health risk as it penetrates deeply into lungs.

Reacting to the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chief Barkha Singh’s meeting with Lieutenant Governor to seek action against Delhi Law Minster Somnath Bharti, Bharti on Saturday said that Singh was a member of Congress, and that the decision of the DCW was motivated and political. “Women commission is political, and Barkha Singh is a member of Congress, that is why she is doing all this,” said Bharti.

Reacting to the recent comment made by Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti on a reporter, after he was asked if he was planning to resign from his post on moral grounds, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dr. Harshvardhan on Friday said that it was very unfortunate that Bharti was insulting women as well as the media, and that he should be sacked if he did not resign.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention in retaining nine senior IAS officials who were transfered out of city government by Home Ministry earlier this month.

In a letter to Singh, Kejriwal said all these officials have vast experience and his new government required their services, top sources said.

We are new in government and need “good officers” who have been working with Delhi government for some time, he said in the letter.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Friday released a video showing three policemen beating a man and pulling out his wallet. The policemen have since been suspended.

This comes just days after Kejriwal led a protest Jan 20 and 21 against Delhi Police and staged a roadside sit-in in the heart of the capital.

The AAP posted the video online with a message that asked union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde whether action would be taken against the policemen caught on camera.

Delhi government employees working on contract will be given permanent jobs, Education Minister Manish Sisodia announced Friday.

A 13-member committee headed by Chief Secretary Sanjoy Kumar Srivastava will decide the policy and guidelines for this, the Aam Aadmi Party leader said.

According to an official, over one lakh employees are currently working in different departments of the Delhi government on contract.(IANS)

Arvind Kejriwal’s role in leading a protest while holding constitutional office today came under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court which slammed law enforcing agencies of allowing unlawful assembly of supporters of the Chief Minister in the heart of national capital.

The apex court disapproved the Delhi Police inaction in permitting people to gather outside the Rail Bhavan despite prohibitory orders under section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure barring assembly of five and more persons being in force.

Rebel AAP legislator Vinod Kumar Binny met Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi Friday and sought action against Law Minister Somnath Bharti for his vigilante action against Ugandan women during a raid in the national capital.

“The antics of our law minister has brought shame to Delhi and the country. The (Delhi) chief minister (Arvind Kejriwal) should have removed Bharti from his post by now, he must step down,” Binny said after meeting Bassi.

The Supreme Court Friday issued notice on a PIL seeking action against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for violating the law while holding a constitutional position.

An apex court bench headed by Justice R.M. Lodha issued notice to the centre through the home secretary and also to the Delhi government after petitioner M.L. Sharma contended that a law maker cannot be a law breaker at the same time.

This invited an observation by Justice Lodha that there cannot be a dual personality.

It was a pleasant Friday morning in Delhi and the minimum temperature settled three notches above the season’s average at 11 degrees Celsius. The Met Office has forecast a clear day ahead.

“The afternoon will be clear and it will be sunny. There will be light fog in the evening,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The maximum temperature is expected to hover around 19 degrees Celsius.

Almost a month after it took power in the capital, the AAP Thursday announced its Delhi unit, to be headed by Ashish Talwar, Durgesh Pathak and Dilip K. Pandey.

An Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) statement said the Delhi unit would “look after all political activities” in the city.

Talwar would be its convenor and Pathak the co-convenor. Pandey would be the secretary. The Delhi unit would be responsible for the preparations for the Lok Sabha election this year.

A three-day international kite festival beginning Friday will promote cultural tourism in Delhi and showcase the city’s heritage, officials said Thursday.

The third edition of the “Delhi International Kite Festival” will be held Jan 24-26 at the Golden Jubilee Park near the Old Yamuna bridge and will be inaugurated by Tourism Minister Somnath Bharti, said a statement by Delhi Tourism.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that his meeting with the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Najeeb Jung was a routine one, and added that there was no discussion on or about state law minister Somnath Bharti.

“It was a routine meeting. There was no discussion on Somnath Bharti,” he told media here today.

Somnath Bharti, who has been facing severe criticism for leading a midnight raid on the house of a Ugandan woman, had alleged that a sex trade and drug peddling racket was flourishing in the locality with the help of foreign nationals.

Delhiites experienced a cold but clear day today with the minimum temperature recorded at 13.5 degrees Celsius.

The city recorded 1.8 millimetres of rain between 8.30 AM yesterday till 8.30 AM today. Humidity level was recorded at 98 per cent.

The minimum temperature was six notches above normal, and the day temperature is expected to be 19 degrees Celsius.

Yesterday, the maximum temperature was recorded at 17.8 degree Celsius, while the minimum temperature was 12 degree Celsius, four notches above the normal.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and is believed to have discussed the controversy surrounding Law Minister Somnath Bharti, who is under attack for allegedly heading a group of assaulters in a midnight raid in south Delhi.

The meeting came a day after various women rights activists and Delhi Commission for Women sought action against Bharti for allegedly taking law into his hands.

The Delhi High Court Wednesday disposed of a plea seeking recruitment of officials in the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) after the Delhi government informed it that it was taking steps on the petition.

The government told a bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Jayant Nath that it was soon going to hire officials for the vacant positions.

The court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal requesting directions to the government to fill the vacancies.

A Ugandan woman who was allegedly assaulted by Somnath Bharti during his vigilante-style raid last week has identified the Delhi law minister after seeing video footage from a news channel and newspaper clippings, police said Wednesday, as a woman sub-inspector was appointed to investigate the case.

Police said five women – two from Uganda and three from Nigeria – who were allegedly victimised by Bharti and supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the night of Jan 16 recorded their statements before a metropolitan magistrate Tuesday.

President of Women Congress Shobha Oza on Wednesday demanded proper investigation against Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti and his followers following his controversial midnight raid at the house of a Ugandan woman, and said that he should be punished for what he did. “It was very irresponsible on the part of Somnath Bharti to have acted like this, and take law in his own hands.

Women rights organisations here have written an open letter to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, urging him to take action against Law Minister Somnath Bharti for his alleged action against Ugandan women.

“It is with extreme dismay that we write to you regarding the horrific act of harassment and racial profiling of Ugandan women by a group led by Somnath Bharti, comprising other members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),” the letter said.

“Such a targeting goes against the sense of security and human rights of all women in general, and of single and working women in particular.”

A case has been registered following a scuffle between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters and police during a protest led by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet ministers near Rail Bhavan, an official said Wednesday.

“We have registered a case under various sections, including rioting,” a police official told IANS.

The case has been registered against “unidentified people” at the Parliament Street police station, the official added.

Delhi Transport Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj Wednesday defended Law Minister Somnath Bharti on the issue of trying to bust a sex-and-drug racket last week.

Talking to reporters, Bhardwaj said people should be asked, and a live survey should be done in the area to know the truth.

“Ask any random 100 people in the area whether there is a drug and sex racket operating, ask them if what Somnath Bharti did was wrong,” he said.

He also asked the media first to do their “exercise”.

“If you as a common citizen witness a sex and drug racket, won’t you inform the police?” he asked.