Archives for 2021

New Delhi The Delhi Cabinet on Monday approved a new excise policy lowering the minimum age for consumption of liquor to 21 years from 25 years, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced.

According to the new policy, no new liquor shops will be opened in Delhi and the government will not run any vend.

“The new excise policy was approved by the Cabinet today on basis of the recommendations of the Group of Ministers. It was decided that no new liquor shops will be opened in the national capital and the government will not run any liquor shops. At present, 60 per cent liquor shops in Delhi are run by the government,” Sisodia said at a press conference.

“Government will ensure equitable distribution of liquor shops so that liquor mafia are thrown out of the trade. A revenue growth of 20 per cent is estimated after the reforms in excise department,” he added.

Gandhinagar: Gujarat’s Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani was on Friday suspended from the state Assembly for a day for “indiscipline” after he raised the issue of a Dalit man’s murder without the Speaker’s permission.

He was evicted from the House on the orders of Speaker Rajendra Trivedi over the issue.

Mevani had been evicted from the Assembly for the same reason on Thursday as well.

As soon as the Question Hour came to an end, Mevani, who represents the Vadgam Assembly constituency, suddenly raised a poster that carried the picture of the Dalit man killed on March 2 by a mob allegedly in the presence of a policeman. The poster read: “Why you are not arresting the culprits?”

He was referring to the incident, in which one Amrabhai Boricha (50), a resident of Sanodar in Ghogha taluka of Bhavnagar, was allegedly killed in the presence of a local police sub inspector.

As Mevani’s mic was turned off, he started shouting and asked why the BJP government in the state has not arrested the PSI yet.

He asked the government to clarify if the Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja was related to the PSI.

The speaker then asked Mevani not to indulge in “indiscipline” and sit down.

Trivedi told the MLA that he should first seek permission from him if he wanted to raise any issue.

When Mevani did not sit down despite repeated requests, Trivedi asked the sergeants to take the MLA out of the House.

Trivedi also suspended the MLA for the day for “indiscipline”.

Mevani was then escorted out by the sergeants without using much force.

New Delhi, Mar 19: Around Rs 10 lakh has been raised for the boy who was allegedly thrashed for drinking water inside a Ghaziabad temple, online crowdfunding platform Ketto said Friday.

The fundraiser was started to extend financial support to the boy’s family and for his education by one of the co-founders of the fact-checking website Altnews, Ketto said in a statement.

Through the crowdfunding, around Rs 10 lakh has been raised in just two days with contributions from about 648 people, it said.

Commenting on the fundraiser, the altnews co-founder said the boy belongs to a poor family and wishes to study hard to change his family’s fate. “Within 2 days we have raised around Rs 10 lakh on Ketto.org. The money raised on Ketto will support Asif to secure his future and get some financial stability,” he said.

The teenager was allegedly thrashed by a man, who was arrested after a video went viral showing him beating up the boy for drinking water inside a temple in Ghaziabad, police had said on Saturday.

In the disturbing video, Shirangi Nanad Yadav was seen asking the boy his name, who said he was Asif. Yadav was then seen brutally thrashing him. The incident reportedly took place near Dasna Devi temple.

New Delhi Five days before the launch of the doorstep ration delivery scheme by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Centre on Friday asked the Delhi government not to implement it, saying it is “not permissible” to use subsidised foodgrain allotted under the national Food Security Act for the ambitious project.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sought to know as to why the centre is against the “ending of ration mafia” and termed the Union government’s move just days ahead of the launch of the scheme as “astounding and rather unfortunate”.

The decision comes against the backdrop of the Union government introducing the GNCTD (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha which seeks to give overarching powers to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi which revived the tussle between the AAP dispensation and centre.

Kejriwal was scheduled to launch the scheme with doorstep delivery of ration to 100 households in northeast Delhi’s Seemapuri on March 25.

In a letter written to the Delhi government on Friday, Joint Secretary in the Union Food Ministry S Jagannathan said the subsidised foodgrains being allocated by the central government for distribution under the NFSA “cannot be used for the operationalisation of any state specific/other scheme under different name/nomenclature other than NFSA as the same is not permissible under the Act.”.

However, the central government will have no objection if the Delhi government comes out with a separate scheme without mixing the elements of the NFSA, it said.

In June 2018, Kejriwal along with his cabinet ministers had staged a sit-in at the LG office, demanding approval of doorstep delivery of ration in the city.

In his Republic Day address this year, Kejriwal had termed the initiative as a revolutionary step in changing the city’s public distribution system (PDS).

The modalities of the scheme had also been notified by the Delhi government last month.

In his letter to Delhi food and civil supplies commissioner Padmini Singla, Jagannathan said while states may like to enhance the distribution of subsidised foodgrains, including additional entitlements, more subsidy etc, the nomenclature from NFSA to any local state scheme may be misinterpreted by the beneficiaries as state benefit and may give rise to confusion regarding their rights under the Act.

Under the NFSA, passed by Parliament in 2013, the central government provides foodgrains to states for distribution to 81.35 crore people via the PDS at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 1-3 per kg.

As per the ministry’s data, about 41.33 lakh tonnes of foodgrains have been allocated under the NFSA to Delhi government till February of the 2020-21 fiscal for distribution via PDS. Out of which, offtake has been 40.97 lakh tonnes.

In the national capital, there are around 72 lakh beneficiaries of the PDS.

On its part, the AAP said it is deeply saddening that the central government has asked the Delhi government to stop the ‘Mukhya Mantri Ghar Ghar Ration Yojana’.

Addressing a press conference, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said the Delhi government has not taken a single penny from the centre to implement the social welfare scheme.

Under the scheme, each eligible beneficiary would have been delivered ration including properly packaged wheat flour and rice, after their biometric verification.

Earlier this week, Kejriwal, his cabinet ministers and AAP MPs and MLAs had staged a protest at Jantar Mantar against the GNCTD (Amendment) Bill.

The chief minister had alleged that the Centre wanted to weaken his government through the bill.

The BJP has brought this bill as it is scared of the AAP’s reach in other states, Kejriwal had claimed.

Bengaluru: The entrance examination for COMED-K and Uni-GAUGE for admission to engineering courses will be held on June 20 as a combined test.

The entrance test will be held for admissions to BE or B.Tech courses for colleges affiliated to the Karnataka Professional Colleges Foundation Trust and Uni-GAUGE member universities, a release said here on Friday.

The exam will be conducted online in over 150 cities across the country, it said, adding this year, COMED-K and Uni-GAUGE member universities expect over 80,000 students to appear for the examination.

The online application process will begin on March 22 and will end on May 20.