New Delhi, July 24
The Delhi government has increased the beneficiaries under the Food Security Scheme with new ration cards being issued to 1.2 lakh families this month.

Commissioner of Food and Supplies S.S. Yadav said that the delivery of new ration cards have been started by the department under the National Food Security Act, 2013.

Yadav said that 1,64,259 families comprising 5,55,325 members have been added to the food security net and will start receiving their entitlement as well as new food security cards from August.

Among these people there are 2, 80,549 men, 2, 74,739 women and 37 transgender. These families have started receiving the subsidised food namely rice at the rate of Rs 3 per kg and wheat, Rs.2 per kg from this month.

Yadav clarified that in Delhi, the Food Security Act has been implemented in two phases. In phase one, 32.25 lakh people having Below Poverty Line, Anatodya Anna Yojna, Jhuggi Ration Card, Resettlement Colony Ration Card and Above Poverty Line ration cards were brought under the food security net from September 1, 2013.

"Thereafter, the applications were invited from other eligible households to provide food security benefits. In response to this, the department has received 15.16 lakh applications. So far, 14.31 lakh households have been verified in the field," Yadav added.

The department has deployed over 1,500 people for physical verification of these applications. All the eligible applicants will be provided food security in the next three months.

New Delhi, July 24
The history of Rashtrapati Bhavan comes alive through sound-light-video animation, laser and holographic projections augmented reality and interactive digital surfaces at new Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum which will be inaugurated tomorrow by the President, Pranab Mukherjee, to mark the completion of his two years in office on July 25.

Chronicling the rise and fall of empires in Delhi, the museum is a part of a comprehensive conservation management plan undertaken during the tenure of Mukherjee who will be certainly known as a President for his efforts towards reviving and conserving the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

A narrative of India's presidential mansion, the museum housing interesting artefacts and presidential gifts, including model of Golden Temple, gold necklace with valuable stones given to the woman President of India apart from memorabilia surrounding historical events in Rashtrapati Bhavan will be dedicated to the nation in the presence of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, tomorrow.

From August 1, the museum is going to be open for three days - every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 am to 4 pm and visitors and heritage lovers can book online or walk in from gate no 30. During the first three promotional months the visits will be free.

All statues are of silicon and rubber while the current President's is made of wax. On display are gold-plated silver thrones of king and queen, original sketches and furniture designed by Edwin Lutyens for the Viceroy's residence, photographs and memorabilia of the President's Bodyguard, paintings from the 19th century, ancient golden coins.

New Delhi, July 24
In a letter written to the Chief Minister of Haryana, Bhupender Singh Hooda, BJP Delhi Pradesh president Satish Upadhyay has demanded that the Haryana government should release 381 cusecs of water through Tejawala Reservoir for Delhi in compliance with the 1994 agreement.

Upadhyay said that Haryana curtails release of water from Tejawala by 70 cusecs and makes false claims about releasing water from other reservoirs.

"The Haryana government has been playing such fraud with Delhi and the Congress governments in Delhi and Centre have been disregarding the interests of Delhi," he said.

Upadhyay has in his letter further said that there is scarcity of drinking water and water for irrigation purpose in Delhi and in such situation curtailment in release of water from Haryana has created water crisis in Delhi.

"If the Haryana government releases full quantity of water, the Water Treatment Plant at Bawana may be fully utilised and the problem of scarcity of drinking water could be solved immediately," he said.

He announced that through its Members of Parliament, the Delhi BJP will present the problems of the people of Delhi before upper the Yamuna River Board and if the Haryana does not start releasing full quantity of water by August 5, the BJP Delhi will stage demonstration against the Haryana government.

Despite an agreement made with the Haryana government in 1984, Delhi has not been getting its full supply of water.

New Delhi, July 24
Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung today met Home Minister Rajnath Singh amidst demand by the Aam Admi Party for dissolving the Delhi assembly and holding of fresh elections.

Jung, who was closeted with the Home Minister for about 20 minutes, is said to have discussed various issues, including the political situation in the national Capital, official sources said.

The AAP had recently alleged that the BJP is trying to form a government in Delhi by indulging in horse-trading, a charge denied by the Home Minister himself.

The BJP also has been maintaining that it was ready for fresh assembly elections in Delhi.

The BJP had emerged as the single largest party after the assembly polls in December last year securing 32 seats, including one of the Akali Dal, falling short of majority in the 70-member assembly. But it had refused to form government in December, saying it did not have the numbers and will not resort to "unfair means" to take the reins.

The AAP with 28 MLAs had later formed the government with the support of eight Congress MLAs. BJP's number came down to 28 after three of its MLAs - Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Bidhuri and Pervesh Verma - were elected to the Lok Sabha. The strength of the assembly also went down to 67 and the simple majority mark would be 34. — PTI

New Delhi, July 24
A 19-year-old boy was murdered in Rani Bagh, north-west Delhi, earlier this week allegedly by his sister's boyfriend for opposing their relationship, the police said today.

The victim has been identified as Tejyash. He was attacked when he was sleeping and fought against his assailant, but was killed in the process.

The accused are Varun Chauhan (27) and Tejyash's 22-year-old sister, Navpreet Kaur. They were apprehended yesterday. They were in a relationship for the past seven years. Kaur's family were aware of the relationship and had opposed their plan for marriage. Tejyash was a hurdle for the couple, according to the police.

"When Kaur's parents would soften their stand, Tejyash would prove to be the hindrance. The couple thought that if they could get rid of Tejyash, her parents' stand would weaken and they would be able to marry each other," a police officer, privy to the details of the case, said.

Kaur and Chauhan allegedly planned to commit the murder when her parents would be away from home and Tejyash would be asleep, thus offering least resistance. Tejyash slept in the early hours of the morning and rarely woke up before 10 am.

"Tejyash's mother usually slept in a different building, close to their home and his father, who deals in maintenance of machines, left home early for work," the officer said.

About 9 am on July 22, Kaur let in Chauhan to her apartment on the first floor of the building. He had allegedly come armed with a knife, which he had purchased from the local market. "Kaur probably did not want to witness her brother's murder, so left for work after letting Chauhan inside the house," said the officer, adding that Kaur worked for a private company.

Chauhan then allegedly attacked Tejyash who was sleeping. He woke up after he was stabbed once. He fought back, but Chauhan allegedly continued stabbing him.

"A fight took place between the two. Tejyash had almost overpowered the attacker and left him injured. But he had lost a lot of blood and was tired. Chauhan then slit his throat," the officer said.

Chauhan had panicked and he fled the house without realising that Tejyash was still alive. An hour later, Tejyash's mother arrived at the apartment and found her son with several stab wounds and a slit throat. The police were informed about the incident and Tejyash was rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead.

The police learnt of Kaur's relationship with Chauhan and that Tejyash opposed it. Chauhan was at large, but was subsequently apprehended following a tip-off to the police. According to the police, he allegedly confessed to the murder. Kaur was also arrested.

New Delhi, July 24
UNICEF ambassador and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar today stressed the need for stepping up ways to eradicate water-borne diseases through new initiatives against the mortality among children due to such diseases by Indian research institutions.

According to the World Health Organisation, water-borne diseases are the largest cause of mortality among children under the age of five in India with an estimated 3,61,000 children die due to diarrhoea every year.

"Since India has the highest mortality among children due the water-borne diseases, there is a need for the research institutions in the country to come up with brilliant initiatives to curb the diseases. Inadequate drinking water is an important risk factor, particularly among the low-income groups," said Sachin.

Sachin was speaking at the launch of "Shuddh Paani, Swastha Bharat", a national campaign of the Livpure Foundation aiming to reduce mortality among children due to water-borne diseases.

Figures of the National Health Care Survey of 2013 say that less than one-third of households in the country have access to purified drinking water and an estimated 5, 02, 000 Indians are affected by water-borne diseases annually.

"I feel proud to be associated with this initiative to safeguard children's health to the best of my abilities for the wellbeing of every child in order to reduce child mortality rate in India," said Sachin.

New Delhi, July 24
More than 18,000 people have been prosecuted for drunken driving by the Delhi Traffic Police this year.

According to the data of the Delhi Traffic Police, until July 15 this year, they prosecuted 18,645 drivers for drunken driving, impounded 9,941 vehicles and arrested 6,235 drivers.

Out of the 18,645 drivers, 11,028 were scooters or motorcycle drivers, 5,468 were car drivers, 689 were auto-rickshaw drivers, 666 were medium good vehicles and the rest included delivery vans, taxis and school buses.

According to the police, the courts are also levying heavy fines and pronouncing imprisonment in drunken driving cases. This year a total of 3,729 drunk drivers were detained, 47 drunk drivers have been awarded imprisonments ranging from one to three days, nine drunk drivers have been awarded prison sentences from four-five days and four drunk drivers have been imprisoned for more than 10 days.

"The Delhi Traffic Police has been taking intensive prosecution action against drunk driving since the beginning of the year. The special drive is held on a daily basis from the evening until 10.30 pm. The objective of the drive is to deter drivers from drunken driving and periling the life and safety of other road users," said Anil Shukla, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic).

He said that the teams of traffic police personnel armed with sufficient numbers of "Alcometers" are deployed at about 80 locations for identifying and prosecuting drunk drivers.

Besides prosecution, the drunk drivers, after attending court hearings were also made to report for a counselling session at the Traffic Police Headquarters located at Dev Prakash Shastri Marg with effect from April 27.

"At the sessions they are given educational lectures and shown short films on drunken driving. A written pledge is also taken from the errant drivers that in future they will not indulge in drunk driving. Vehicles are subsequently released to the owners after the violators have attended the above session," said Shukla.

Until July 23, a total of 16,937 drivers have attended the counselling sessions.