Police separated the groups and detained several dozen people, said police inspector Harcharan Verma, adding that there were a handful of injuries, none serious.

Several hundred members of Shiv Sena marched in downtown New Delhi to celebrate the destruction of the mosque 15 years ago by Hindu extremists.

They were met there by protesters from a coalition of Muslim groups calling for the mosque to be rebuilt and for those that destroyed it to be brought to justice.

Witnesses said the Shiv Sena members charged the Muslims, setting off the violence. However, both sides blamed the other.

THE AUSTRALIAN
December 8
For Indian commuters who have never knowingly waited for the little green man before crossing the road, there was a rude awakening on the way to work yesterday as Delhi police enforced a jaywalking law for the first time in 27 years. In farcical scenes at six busy intersections in the capital during the morning and evening rush hours, police pounced on people flouting long-forgotten road rules to demand a 20 rupee (57c) on-the-spot fine, warning them of a court appearance and possible jail sentence.

Smart-suited office workers and bedraggled beggars alike were targeted in a drive to instil some road sense into ill-disciplined pedestrians under a law unexpectedly reimposed on Wednesday. On the first day of enforcement, nearly 190 pedestrians were fined even as police instructed workers to paint faded zebra crossings, put down new ones and repair faulty traffic signals.

BBC ONLINE
December 12
Two teenage Indian boys have been remanded in custody accused of killing their classmate at a school near Delhi. Euro International school in question is located in sector 45 of Gurgaon, one of a number of satellite towns around Delhi experiencing booming property and business expansion. The school’s website describes it as one of Gurgaon’s top schools. It says it is a “state-of-the-art environment” and has CCTV cameras installed in all classrooms…. Despite India’s stringent gun control laws, a number of recent feuds over property deals in suburbs such as Gurgaon have been settled with firearms.

THE OBSERVER
December 23
I got a little carried away when confronted by the teetering piles of bronze singing bowls at Jaswant Singh, the cavernous old shop near Gate Three of the Jama Masjid, India’s biggest mosque, in the bustling Old City of Delhi. Part of a stock of more than 12,000 bowls, they surged across the floor, lapping at my feet. The three Singh cousins are India’s biggest exporters of Indian bowls and other handicrafts, selling them at 900 rupees, about £11, per kilo. What do they sound like? I took a liking to the monster as soon as I heard it struck at Singh’s. A bright, trumpet-like high note blending into a rich, deep hum, both with a pulse. I have just struck it a hefty blow on the outer side of its rim with a baton — whose leather-covered head is the size of a big jam jar — and found it audible for just over four minutes. The sound of badly made bowls lasts only a few seconds.

TIME
December 28
A series of so-called near-misses in New Delhi over the last two weeks has focused attention on a host of problems ranging from shortage of air traffic controllers and pilots to outdated technology and inadequately maintained equipment at the 125 airports around the country. Experts say it is a wonder disaster has not yet struck. “India needs 4,000 air traffic controllers, but has only 1,500,” says D S Raghavan, president of the Delhi-based Air Traffic Controllers’ Guild. He says Indian traffic controllers work without weekly breaks to make up for the shortfall, which is against international norms and poses severe safety risks. “Given how stressful the job is, traffic controllers are allowed to work no more than eight hours a day, and 110 hours a month. But we work 10-hour shifts round the year!”