Chennai Region Tops in CBSE XII Exam

New Delhi, May 23 : Having achieved a remarkable overall pass percentage of 92.06, the Chennai region has finished on top in the Central Board of Secondary Education’s Class XII examination. The results for the Delhi, Guwahati and Allahabad regions were declared on Friday, while those for Ajmer, Chennai and Panchkula were announced on Wednesday.

Like last year, the Ajmer region bagged the second position with a pass percentage of 86.93, Delhi came third with 84.25, followed by Panchkula, Allahabad and Guwahati.


Girls outclass boys in all the six regions
Overall 0.09 percentage point rise in pass
In all, 637,976 candidates registered for the Class XII examination this year.

There has been an overall increase of 0.09 percentage points in the pass percentage compared to last year. The overall pass percentage is 81 this year, up from 80.91 in 2008, with girls having outclassed boys in all the six regions.

The overall pass percentage of girls is 85.94 against the boys’ 77.40.

Not surprisingly, the all-India toppers are also girls. Tannvi Aggarwal from Apeejay School in Faridabad and Mrittika Sen from Rajhans Vidyalaya in Mumbai have scored 98.4 per cent. Tannvi is a Commerce student, while Mrittika is from the Science stream.

The regular students have achieved a pass percentage of 82.69 compared with 49.72 of private/patrachar candidates.

The pass percentage for candidates from the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas was the highest among all the other institutions standing high at 94.09 compared to 92.44 per cent in 2008.

Kendriya Vidyalayas are not far behind, having secured an overall pass percentage of 91.32, marginally improving from 91 per cent last year. The Central Tibetans have done well to improve from 85.81 per cent in 2008 to 91.15 this year.

The government and private schools have bettered their performance with a pass percentage of 82.81 and 49.72 respectively. It stood at 81.96 and 37.77 in 2008.
Foreign schools

It has been a good showing by foreign schools, who have secured a pass percentage of 92.38 this year, improving from 92.15 per cent in 2008.

However, both the government-aided and independent schools have registered a decline compared to last year. The pass percentage for the former has come down to 75.68 this year from 78.61 per cent in 2008, while the independent schools have fallen from 81.68 to 80.94 this year.

As many as 3,40,876 students, including 161,139 girls, have scored 60 per cent and above. The number of girls securing 60 per cent or more has been increasing every year.

However, the pass percentage of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes has slipped this year. The pass percentage of SC candidates has fallen from 81.44 last year to 80.75 this year. The result of ST students has registered a decline from 66.04 to 64.28 per cent.

A total of 1,034 students appeared for the examinations in the disabled category, achieving a pass percentage of 88.59 improving from last year’s 86.46. Of this, 11 differently-abled candidates have scored above 90 per cent.
Merit certificates

The CBSE will this year award merit certificates to 5,248 students, including 4,348 to candidates from independent schools. The maximum certificates are for candidates from the Allahabad region (1,581), followed by Chennai (1,152) and Delhi (903).

The number of students who have secured more than 90 per cent in Class XII is 15,839 (comprising 8,059 girls), which is almost double than last year’s 8,253.

The number of candidates scoring 95 per cent and above has witnessed a three-time increase from 384 in 2008 to 1,020 (including 544 girls) this year. The maximum number of students scoring more than 90 per cent and 95 per cent are from independent schools.

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Manipur State Boxing Meet

Imphal, May 23 : Out of eight title bouts in the junior boys category, Imphal West district pugilists claimed three gold medals on the third day of the State Level Boxing Championship at Khuman lampak Boxing Arena today.

Churachandpur and Imphal east districts shared two of the gold medals on offer while Bishnupur bagged one.

In E-32 group final, Ch Wilson Singh of Imphal West-A defeated Y Purnanda (IE-A) with Lakpati Singh representing IW-B out-smarting his E-40 opponent L Bikananda Singh of IE-B and T Robertson (IW-B) adding the third gold winning the E-36 final against Sh Anit Kumar (IW-A).

The Ccpur winners were M Yaiphaba Singh, who defeated Kh Maiken of Bishnupur-B in the E-38 title bout, and Ng Anand Singh (D-42) who overcame K Anandajit of IE-A.defeating IE-B’s N Bishorjit Singh in the D-38 title bout, A Luckyson Singh claimed Imphal East-A’s first gold medal before M Nongpoknganba (IE-B) added the second with victory over Y Gyandas of Thoubal-B in the D-44 class.

Bishnupur’s only gold came in the E-34 group when N Raju Singh outclassed Thoubal-B’s O naresh Kumar.

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Sri Lankan army deaths revealed

Sri Lanka says more than 6,200 security personnel were killed and almost 30,000 wounded in the final three years of the war with the Tamil Tigers.

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa revealed the figures on state TV - the first such official statement.

It is thought at least 80,000 people have been killed in the 26-year war.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Sri Lanka on Friday to discuss the plight of about 275,000 internally displaced people.

Sri Lanka officially announced an end to the war this week, after its troops took the last segment of land held by the rebels, and said it had killed the top Tamil Tiger leadership, including its chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

'Reconciliation'

Mr Rajapaksa, brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, told the state-run Independent Television Network the final phase of the operation against the rebels had begun in August 2006.

"Since then the security forces, including the army, navy, the air force, police and the civil defence force, have lost 6,261 personnel killed and 29,551 wounded," Mr Rajapaksa said.

"We made huge sacrifices for this victory."

There are no official figures for the number of Tamil Tiger rebels killed in the civil war, although estimates vary from between 15,000 and more than 22,000.

The UN says 7,000 civilians have died since January alone, although the government disputes this figure.

The focus will now shift to the resettlement of the internally displaced.

On Thursday, two visiting Indian envoys met the president and said they had been told Sri Lanka would resettle most of the displaced Tamils within six months.

The issue will be top of Mr Ban's agenda.

Aid groups complain their access to the displaced camps has been greatly restricted.

Mr Ban will visit the Manik Farm area in Vavuniya, where most of the displaced are held.

He has sent his own envoy, Vijay Nambiar, ahead of him and on Friday Mr Nambiar said there had to be a political reconciliation.

"The process of national reconciliation, we feel, must be all inclusive so that it can fully address the legitimate aspirations of the Tamils as well as other minorities," he said.

"It is important that victory becomes a victory for all Sri Lankans."

Mr Nambiar said he had flown over the conflict zone to assess it.

"We were not able to see any civilians. What was truly striking was the almost total absence of human habitation... it was almost eerie."

He would also not rule out possible investigation of war crimes.

"Where there are grave and systematic violations of international humanitarian law, these are things which should be looked at by the international community, by the United Nations," Mr Nambiar said.

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UN to press for Sri Lankan access

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is to press Sri Lanka to ensure unrestricted access by aid agencies to displaced people in the north of the country.

Mr Ban said more than 300,000 people who had fled the fighting between Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces were in need of food, water and sanitation.

He is the first senior world figure to visit since the government said it had ended the 26-year insurgency this week.

Mr Ban said it was extremely important to initiate talks with minority groups.

A BBC correspondent travelling with him says he will later urge the Sri Lankan government to win the peace as well as the war.

'Humbled'

On Saturday, the UN secretary-general saw at first-hand the main government-run camp for refugees at Manik Farm, near Vavuniya, where an estimated 220,000 displaced people are being held.

"I was humbled by what I saw," he told reporters afterwards.
Humanitarian agencies complain that access to the refugees has been restricted and that the distribution of aid has been hampered by a ban on vehicles from the UN and other groups.

The government says it needs more time to find any Tamil Tiger members hiding in the camps, and is suspicious of some agencies which it has accused of helping the rebels. It plans to resettle most refugees with six months.

"We will try to work hard to keep that promise realised," Mr Ban said. "They need to be resettled as soon as possible."

"There clearly seem to be some limitations in [the camp's] capacity."

Mr Ban will later fly over the conflict zone where the military declared a final victory over the Tamil Tigers, before holding talks with President Mahinda Rajapaksa at his residence in Kandy.
On the plane to Sri Lanka, the UN chief said his first priority would be "unimpeded access to the sites of the displaced by international, humanitarian organisations, including the United Nations."

Mr Ban said he would also appeal to Mr Rajapaksa to open political reconciliation talks between the majority Sinhalese and the Tamil minority.

"It's time for Sri Lankans to heal the wounds and unite without regards for religious and ethnic identity," he added.

Without a political settlement that gives Tamils real rights, UN officials believe the fighting will begin anew, says the BBC's Laura Trevelyan, who is travelling with Mr Ban.

Senior UN officials acknowledge there is a risk that Mr Ban's visit could be used by the Sri Lankan govt to give international approval to its victory, our correspondent says.

Mr Ban told the BBC this would not happen, and that he was here to convey the concern of the international community.

Sri Lanka officially announced an end to the war this week, after its troops took the last segment of land held by the rebels and had killed the Tamil Tiger leadership, including its chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

War toll

It is thought at least 80,000 people have been killed in the war.

The UN says 7,000 civilians have died since January alone, although the government disputes this figure.

At a rally before Mr Ban arrived, Mr Rajapaksa dismissed any attempt to take him to an international war crimes court.

"There are some who tried to stop our military campaign by threatening to haul us before war crimes tribunals.

"I am not afraid. The strength I have is your support. I am even ready to go to the gallows on your behalf."

In the first official statement on casualties among the government forces, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said more than 6,200 security personnel were killed and almost 30,000 wounded in the final three years of the war.

There are no official figures for the number of Tamil Tiger rebels killed in the civil war, although estimates vary from between 15,000 and more than 22,000.

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GOP: Alternative energy alone won't meet US needs

WASHINGTON -Democrats will increase energy costs and make the U.S. more dependent on foreign oil if they focus solely on alternative energy, the Republicans say.
In the party's weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Republicans support a more comprehensive energy plan that would increase funding for energy research, develop U.S. oil and gas resources and promote clean coal and nuclear power.
"Democrats have focused solely on what they call green jobs. Those are jobs from alternative energy. I support green jobs, but why discriminate?" Barrasso said. "American energy means American jobs, which is why I support red-white-and-blue jobs."
He said renewable energy such as wind and solar power is important, noting that Wyoming has world-class wind resources. But Barrasso said wind and solar only account for about 1 percent of U.S. electricity, far below what is needed to meet the nation's energy needs.
Barrasso also said Democrats were misguided by ruling out the use of U.S. oil in places such as the Outer Continental Shelf and Alaska.
"There's enough oil shale in the Rocky Mountain West alone to power America for the next hundred years," he said. "As a nation, we need to be more energy independent. It is a matter of energy security, as well as national security."
"As we approach this Memorial Day, it is my hope that the Democrats can work with us to develop solutions to make our energy supply clean, affordable and reliable," he said.

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