Man survives 15th floor fall in New Zealand

PTI

Melbourne: In a miraculous save, a young British man, who was slightly "tipsy", has survived a fall from the 15th floor of a building in New Zealand. Twenty-year-old

Tom Stilwell fell from his neighbours' balcony in his apartment block in Auckland yesterday, while trying to lower himself onto his balcony, which was directly below his neighbours'.

According to his friends, Stilwell had bone fractures and internal injuries, but was "fine" and "a very lucky man". Stilwell is said to be in New Zealand on a working holiday. Stilwell found himself locked out of his flat early yesterday, and asked a neighbour if he could climb from her balcony into his flat, his friends said.

The neighbour, Geraldine Bautista, told the New Zealand Herald that Stilwell was "a little tipsy" but polite. "I wasn't scared of him - he just requested 'Can you please let me jump off from the balcony? I will not bother you, just let me use your balcony,'" said Bautista.

"I never thought he would really do that. In my mind I thought 'Okay, I'll just let you see that it's really impossible. I didn't think he'd jump, because it's really scary," she said. However, he quickly pulled himself over the balcony railing before she could stop him, Bautista said.

Stilwell's fall was broken by the roof of an adjacent building some 13 floors below. Tony Smith, a medical director at St John, an emergency health-care organisation, said that a person's chances of survival were increased if they were able to break their fall on something. Smith, however, said that "survival from falls of that height are extraordinarily unusual".

Aadhaar coverage in Chandigarh above 95 per cent: UT official

Chandigarh: Chandigarh has achieved enrolment of 95 per cent of its population for the Aadhaar scheme and clocked the highest number of direct cash transfers to beneficiaries through use of the unique identity card, officials here said On Thursday.

Out of 43 pilot districts in India, Chandigarh has recorded highest number of transactions under the Centre's Direct Benefit Transfer scheme with an amount of Rs 3 crore distributed amongst around 17,000 beneficiaries, UT adviser KK Sharma said in a release here.

These include funds from both the central government and the

UT administration, the release added.

IT secretary Prerna Puri, meanwhile, said that a sum of Rs 4.62 crore has been approved for integrating Aadhaar with schemes under the three departments of Social Welfare, Education and Chandigarh Housing Board.

She also stated that with a view to utilising the demographic data collected as part of the Aadhaar scheme, a data hub would be set up in Chandigarh to enable various departments to verify and tally the records.

In due course, the schemes of the departments of Food and Civil Supplies, Registering and Licensing Authority and Property Registration, too, would be integrated with Aadhaar, she added.

PTI

Women cops walk away with medals

Chennai: “We put in more effort,” answers S.I.M. Latha, who, with others of her ilk, won 21 medals, offering neck-to-neck competition to their male counterparts at the recently concluded Tamil Nadu state police duty meet.

This event is an annual professional contest for the police, conducted by the CB-CID wing of the state police, which saw women officers walk away with a string of medals. Some women officers got more than one medal, the various categories including scientific aids to investigation, computer awareness and anti-sabotage check.

DGP, CB CID Narinder Pal Singh said, “These competitions sensitise police personnel and make them aware of the need for having a scientific edge to their investigation.” The officer reminded the personnel of how criminals had changed their ways and there was a need to incorporate scientific methods into investigation.

The event also had competitions for dogs. The auditorium of the Tamil Nadu Police Academy where the event was held, reverberated with applause as Anand, a five-year old Labrador, a part of the dog squad team, went up to the dais with his trainer, constable S. Jegan, to collect a gold for explosive detection.

The constable said, “He has been raised from a pup at our station in Egmore.” The city police have 27 members in their dog squad, whose duties include explosive and narcotics detection. SI Vishwanathan of the dog squad was visibly happy at their accomplishments. The dog squad of the Chennai police was the runners-up in the event.

'Nirbhaya' device to help people in distress

TIRUCHIRAPPALLI: Bhabha Atomic Research Centre at Mumbai has developed a personal distress signalling device 'Nirbhaya' that will send SOS messages to police besides near and dear ones during any emergency faced by its user.


The compact low cost tele-distress alarm device will be linked to a cell phone that would send SMSs to the police and the family in case of distress, "whatever be its nature... kidnap, attack, robbery or heart attack", according a release by the BARC.

The device, that is rugged and cannot be destroyed easily, has been named 'Nirbhaya' after the December 16 Delhi gangrape victim.

It can be easily carried around in a pocket or purse and requires a cell phone for its functionality, the release said.

During an emergency, the user has to press a single switch on the device and it will automatically send signal on bluetooth to multiple cell phones along with its GPS location.

The operating software of the device installed on the cell phone connected to it would send pre-formatted text messages to five pre-selected cell phone numbers, the release said.

Once the switch is on, it continues to send GPS location of the cell phone of the person in distress once every minute, and the phone transmits the messages as well as the location of the device repeatedly, the release said.

So, even if a kidnapper, for instance, manages to snatch the device, the last location of the victim would be known to police, it said.

The device has a rechargeable battery and comes handy when crimes against women are reported in big cities like Delhi, said a senior IPS officer here.

Joy of birth behind grim walls of prison

HYDERABAD: A cradle ceremony is a joyous occasion and nothing can dampen the joy even if it happens in a jail. Two babies born in the Special Prison for Women, Chanchalguda are the cynosure of all eyes.

While one baby was born to a convict who has been sentenced to a one-year jail term, another was born to an undertrial who had come to the prison in the ninth month of her pregnancy. When the women complained of pain, prison authorities took them to the Government Maternity Hospital for delivery.

After the delivery, the women are back in prison. "The cradle ceremony performed for the babies was a joyous occasion for all the inmates in the prison," a jail source told STOI. New clothes were bought for the babies and, of course, there were new toys too.

It is not just these two infants but there are 18 more children in the prison on whom the inmates dote. All of the children are aged below three years. According to prison authorities, there are 260 prisoners in the jail out of which 112 are convicts and the rest undertrials.

With as many as 20 toddlers now in the women's jail, the inmates, it is learnt, keep themselves busy doting on the little ones. At the play school on the jail premises, two teachers take care of the children, while the infants stick to their mothers.

Children aged above three years are sent to nearby schools outside the jail. However, this year there are no children in this age group, so prison authorities are not hassled to look for school admissions and bother about their transport.

As a rule, women prisoners can keep their children in the jail itself until they reach the age of five. After that, the children will have to be sent to their families or relatives. If the women make a request that some arrangement be made to take care of their children

There are a couple of voluntary organizations that take the children from the jail and provide them with all that they need, including education. When a woman prisoner is released, she can take back her child from the voluntary organizations.

According to sources, the undertrial woman who delivered a baby recently, was sent to jail in a murder case. Her family, it is learnt, was not even in a position to apply for her bail as a result of which the pregnant woman had to be in the prison.

Children of women convicts and remand prisoners in the jail are given a special diet, including milk. Food that is prepared especially for them has less 'mirchi' and prison authorities serve the children what they prefer to eat. As for their mothers, they have to serve the jail sentence dished out to them.

SBI to open 8 new branches & 63 ATM counters in Tripura

Agartala: State Bank of India (SBI) will open eight more new branches and 63 new ATM counters and increase the Credit Deposit ratio to give more service to the customers in Tripura, official sources said on Saturday.

Chairman of SBI, Pratip Chowdhury yesterday met Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and assured that the CD ratio would be increased to 50 percent by the next fiscal and eight more new branches and 63 new ATM counters would be opened in the state.

At present the CD ration is about 34 percent.

Sarkar requested Chowdhury to open more new branches in the rural areas, especially in the tribal compact areas.

Chowdhury said the SBI would be interested to give more loans to the entrepreneurs for development of industries and added that low industrialisation in the state was one of the causes for low credit deposit ratio.

At present there are 51 branches of the bank and 108 ATM counters in Tripura.

PTI 

More central funds for rural jobs, roads in Karnataka

Bangalore: The central government has agreed to release more funds to Karnataka for implementing various schemes to improve the welfare of the people in rural areas across the state, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Friday.

"I have agreed to release Rs 2,133 crore to Karnataka under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) during this fiscal (2013-14) and the first instalment of Rs 774 crore will be sanctioned soon," Ramesh told reporters after reviewing the implementation of the various centrally-sponsored rural schemes in the state here.

With an opening balance of Rs 345 crore and the first instalment of Rs 774 crore, the state government will have Rs 1,115 crore at its disposal to speedily implement the NREGA scheme till December for providing jobs to the rural people across the state.

"The state Chief Minister (Siddaramaiah) has agreed to depute a team of officials to study the implementation of the NREGA scheme in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state, which had been able to create more rural jobs under the scheme," Ramesh said after the review meeting with state officials.

The state government has also agreed to open separate bank accounts for women job card holders and set up a social audit directorate in Bangalore to monitor flow of funds under the programme.

"The state government should utilise the NREGA funds also for the benefit of small and marginal farmers to augment their irrigation needs, improve soil fertility and water supply," Ramesh suggested.

Referring to the Comptroller and Audit General's (CAG) critical observations on the implementation of the NREGA scheme in the state, Ramesh regretted that there was diversion of funds and many works were incomplete during the last couple of years.

"We were very unhappy at the manner in which the central schemes were implemented under the previous (BJP) government. There were diversion of funds and works were incomplete as the NREGA was very badly implemented," Ramesh lamented.

For instance, the state spent Rs 1,440 crore under the NREGA scheme last fiscal (2012-13) as against Rs 1,640 crore in previous fiscal (2011-12), he noted.

"I have told the state government to eliminate misuse of funds and bogus job card holders," Ramesh noted.

The minister has agreed to set up a national rural training academy in Bangalore to impart job skills to rural folks to work under the NREGA scheme on the lines of the rural development and self-employment training institute at Dharmasthala, about 300km from here.

"I have agreed to sanction Rs 278 crore for integrated watershed development this fiscal to supply water for three lakh hectares of arid areas across the state," Ramesh said.

Siddaramaiah sought funds from the central ministry to develop 2,245km of roads for rural connectivity across the state under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

"I have asked the Chief Minister to send the proposal by July to release funds by August so that upgradation works can be taken up after the monsoon under the PMGSY at a cost of Rs 40 lakh per kilometre," Ramesh said.

The state government also sought funds to build an additional 50,000 dwelling units for the rural poor under the centrally sponsored Indira Awaz Yojana (IAY) to house tribals, devadasis and migrants.

"I have agreed for additional sanction provided the new units are also targetted at destitutes, vulnerable social groups, widows and forest dwellers," Ramesh added.

The central government has sanctioned funds to build 87,814 dwelling units under the IAY this fiscal.

"Implementation of the IAY scheme was very bad during the previous government, as 13 districts did not send utilisation certificates and 17 of the total 30 districts across the state did not close their accounts," Ramesh recalled.

IANS