Old liquor policy back in Delhi from today: All you need to know

Old liquor policy back in Delhi from today: All you need to know

From Thursday onward, only government-run liquor shops will be open in Delhi for a period of at least six months. The Excise Department is soon coming up with a new app—mAbkariDelhi—to provide customers with liquor-related information.
What changes from today:
300 shops will open in Delhi from Thursday and the 250 shops being run by private players will be shut.

All discounts and offers—buy one, get one free, two-plus-three on MRP of liquor price—will be discontinued and the dry days in the national capital will once again go up from 3 to 21.
Shops at the Delhi airport will remain shut for another few weeks as procedural requirements are still pending.
Once the Excise Department app goes live, one can check the availability of various brands of liquor in Delhi, the list of retail vends with its locality, information about dry days, and a bottle scanner tool to check the genuineness of liquor. The app will be available in both English and Hindi.
By the end of the first seven days, as many as 500 shops will be functional across the city. The price will not increase but may slightly come down as the existing import fee of Rs 45 per nine bottles, 1 per cent VAT and 1 per cent retail fee will go.
By December end, 200 more shops will open including in the airport area, NDMC zone and Delhi Cantonment area. Besides, six to eight premium vends for selling foreign liquor brands will open in malls and shopping complexes in September, and there will be 12 more by the end of this year. In total, Delhi will have 700 liquor shops by the end of 2022.

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Airport handguns seizure: Gurgaon brothers ‘have been smuggling weapons from Europe for a decade’, police say

Airport handguns seizure: Gurgaon brothers ‘have been smuggling weapons from Europe for a decade’, police say

Investigation into the seizure of handguns at IGI Airport from a Gurgaon-based couple has revealed that one of the accused, Manjit Singh, and his younger brother Jagjit Singh have allegedly been importing handguns from Europe to India for over a decade. The business was allegedly run from their offices and residence in Austria and Gurgaon under the garb of a garments business.
On July 11, Jagjit and his wife Jaswinder were caught with 45 handguns worth Rs 22 lakhs at IGI airport. The couple had come from Vietnam when the customs department found the weapons stashed in their two trolley bags and arrested them. On July 18, the Delhi Police’s Special Cell arrested Manjit from Dwarka for allegedly smuggling the weapons from France. Customs officials had said that Manjit had also arrived at IGI Airport at the same time and handed over the weapons to Jagjit.
The investigating team found that Manjit and Jagjit have allegedly been smuggling blank pistols from different countries under the garb of their business, Three Circles Exports, to evade arrest. In 2014, Manjit and his two associates were arrested by Delhi Police’s Special Cell from Dwarka with over 150 pistols and revolvers. The weapons were recovered from a Tata Nano car during checking and Manjit was later released on bail. All the pistols that have been recovered are blank pistols but with ‘slight modification’ they can be used to shoot someone.
During questioning, the accused are learnt to have told investigators that their father had a real-estate business but they wanted to start something of their own. In 2000, Manjit travelled to Hong Kong and started the business of importing garments, said police. Soon, Manjit was able to get a visa in Austria.
Said a senior officer, “Within a few years, he came in contact with a few men in Austria who were selling weapons illegally. On his trip back to India, he allegedly contacted gun houses in Delhi and Gurgaon and found that the demand for such pistols is high. He allegedly started importing pistols from Austria, Germany, France and other countries. Everything was being done alongside the garment business. Jagjit also joined his brother and moved to Austria for some time. He also got married to an Austrian national but the couple separated in 2017. He later got married to Jaswinder.”
Each weapon was bought at Rs 4,000- Rs 6,000 and sold at as much as ten times the price in Delhi and Haryana. Officers found that the brothers were allegedly making huge profits since 2007-08. They also allegedly opened an office in Austria to deal with gun sellers and contacted them through social media.
A team under DCP Rajeev Ranjan, ACP Sanjay Dutt and inspector Chandrika Prasad found that the accused allegedly have 4-5 properties in Delhi’s Kalkaji and Dwarka along with a farmhouse in Gurgaon. Manjit revealed during questioning that he also went to America and wanted to settle there but didn’t get a VISA.
The Foreign Post Office (FPO) connection
Customs and Special Cell teams also found that Manjit was allegedly set to receive over 30 handguns at the FPO in Delhi’s ITO area. The handguns were being sent through 5-6 parcels, some of which have been stopped/blocked in Paris.
“Since 2011, Manjit has allegedly been smuggling hundreds of pistols each year. He makes 2-3 trips to Europe every year for his business. It is suspected they have connections at the airport and postal department because many of the parcels have gone through and only a few have been blocked over the years,” said the officer.
Manjit also claimed that he was taking pistols because he is a state-level shooter and has a shooting range but police claimed they haven’t found any licence to prove this. Manjit has no hunting/sporting licence in any country, police added.
“The passengers (Jagjit and Jaswinder) were intercepted by Customs when they had passed the green channel of the arrival hall and were approaching the exit gate… both passengers had admitted their previous indulgence in smuggling 25 pieces of assorted guns from Turkey having a value of Rs 12,50,000,” a statement issued by Commissioner of Customs Zubair Riaz Kamili read.
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‘Gabbar Singh strikes again’: Rahul Gandhi hits out at GST rate hikes

‘Gabbar Singh strikes again’: Rahul Gandhi hits out at GST rate hikes

Calling it “breathtakingly irresponsible”, the move has also been slammed by senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.

rahul gandhiCongress leader Rahul Gandhi. (Photo: Express Archives)Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Monday took a swipe at the Narendra Modi-led government over the revision in GST rates announced by the Centre in order to increase revenues, accusing it of destroying the world’s fastest growing economy.
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Sharing on Twitter a list of items that are due to be costlier because of the hike in rates, the Congress MP, while referring to the tax as “Gabbar Singh Tax”, wrote: “HIGH taxes, NO jobs. BJP’s masterclass on how to destroy what was once one of the world’s fastest growing economies.”

This comes after the GST council headed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman decided to bring packed foods like milk, curd and paneer, unpacked ones like rice and wheat when packed and bank fee for issuing cheques under the five per cent slab and hotels charging Rs 1,000 or less per day for stay under 12 per cent bracket.
Calling it “breathtakingly irresponsible”, the move has also been slammed by senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. “This GST rate hike is breathtakingly irresponsible at a time of mounting economic difficulties for most Indians. The Aam Aadmi will bear the brunt of the burden even as inflation eats into his earnings. Does this government believe it can get away with anything?” he asked.

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At Delhi’s libraries, leisure reading gives way to competitive exam prep

At Delhi’s libraries, leisure reading gives way to competitive exam prep

On a sunny weekday afternoon, the Dyal Singh public library in Central Delhi looked oddly deserted from the outside, but a glimpse of the rooms inside proved otherwise. The tables were lined with readers, while the reading rooms were bursting at the seams. This library, like many of Delhi’s public libraries, has found itself host to students preparing for competitive exams.
The librarian, Pankaj, says, “Before Covid, about 70% of our visitors were students. But now that the situation has gone back to normal somewhat, the number has increased.”
He adds that the library, which houses thousands of books in various languages, is open to and hosts people from all age groups and parts of society. The reading rooms, though, were teeming with students poring over textbooks. At the Dyal Singh library, these rooms are free to use, through the payment of a nominal security deposit.
Civil Services aspirant Sunil says it is easy to study in a quiet library environment. “It’s also very useful for me when I need new reference material,” he adds.
Delhi’s oldest public library is home to more than just books: kittens play around near a shelf of ageing Urdu manuscripts, in a building that houses books dating back to the 1600s.
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The modern-day competitive exam culture has left a mark on the Hardayal Municipal Public Library, which too has been seeing its fair share of CA and UPSC aspirants.
“Earlier, you would see more people coming to borrow books and read. These days, you see mostly students coming to study,” says acting librarian Rajender Singh. He adds that while the library, which has been in operation since 1862, is primarily a heritage library, they have also stocked up on study materials for various competitive exams to cater to the new generation of readers.
A cheap and quiet reading space is a draw for students here as well. The fees only add up to Rs 1,000 a year, with a refundable deposit of Rs 200.
A Chandni Chowk staple, the Delhi Public Library is one that seems to have embraced the rising number of students, and with branches all over the city, its effects are not limited to Chandni Chowk alone.
According to Delhi Library board chairman Subhash Kankheria, “Education is something we cannot ignore if we have to progress as a society. That is why we are focusing on the students who come to the library and provide all facilities for them. We have reading rooms and study material, and if any textbooks are not available students can apply to get them purchased.”
The chairman says that the fees charged are nominal, compared to private reading rooms and study halls across the city.
He adds, “These places may charge Rs 1,000 for their facilities or even more, but we only charge Rs 100 a month. Even this charge is only to show that the service has value.”
On the whole, it seems the library as a quiet place to read for the average person is giving way to the library that caters to those facing India’s competitive exams. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as librarian Pankaj says, “In a way, everyone who enters a library becomes a student.”

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Changing Demographic: At Delhi’s libraries, leisure reading gives way to competitive exam prep

Changing Demographic: At Delhi’s libraries, leisure reading gives way to competitive exam prep

On a sunny weekday afternoon, the Dyal Singh public library in Central Delhi looked oddly deserted from the outside, but a glimpse of the rooms inside proved otherwise. The tables were lined with readers, while the reading rooms were bursting at the seams. This library, like many of Delhi’s public libraries, has found itself host to students preparing for competitive exams.
The librarian, Pankaj, says, “Before Covid, about 70% of our visitors were students. But now that the situation has gone back to normal somewhat, the number has increased.”
He adds that the library, which houses thousands of books in various languages, is open to and hosts people from all age groups and parts of society. The reading rooms, though, were teeming with students poring over textbooks. At the Dyal Singh library, these rooms are free to use, through the payment of a nominal security deposit.
Civil Services aspirant Sunil says it is easy to study in a quiet library environment. “It’s also very useful for me when I need new reference material,” he adds.
Delhi’s oldest public library is home to more than just books: kittens play around near a shelf of ageing Urdu manuscripts, in a building that houses books dating back to the 1600s.
🚨 Limited Time Offer | Express Premium with ad-lite for just Rs 2/ day 👉🏽 Click here to subscribe 🚨
The modern-day competitive exam culture has left a mark on the Hardayal Municipal Public Library, which too has been seeing its fair share of CA and UPSC aspirants.
“Earlier, you would see more people coming to borrow books and read. These days, you see mostly students coming to study,” says acting librarian Rajender Singh. He adds that while the library, which has been in operation since 1862, is primarily a heritage library, they have also stocked up on study materials for various competitive exams to cater to the new generation of readers.
A cheap and quiet reading space is a draw for students here as well. The fees only add up to Rs 1,000 a year, with a refundable deposit of Rs 200.
A Chandni Chowk staple, the Delhi Public Library is one that seems to have embraced the rising number of students, and with branches all over the city, its effects are not limited to Chandni Chowk alone.
According to Delhi Library board chairman Subhash Kankheria, “Education is something we cannot ignore if we have to progress as a society. That is why we are focusing on the students who come to the library and provide all facilities for them. We have reading rooms and study material, and if any textbooks are not available students can apply to get them purchased.”
The chairman says that the fees charged are nominal, compared to private reading rooms and study halls across the city.
He adds, “These places may charge Rs 1,000 for their facilities or even more, but we only charge Rs 100 a month. Even this charge is only to show that the service has value.”
On the whole, it seems the library as a quiet place to read for the average person is giving way to the library that caters to those facing India’s competitive exams. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as librarian Pankaj says, “In a way, everyone who enters a library becomes a student.”

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