The Delhi government on Wednesday gave approved four new projects in the city for a better water supply in the coming summer.

The projects will include water extraction from six locations between Okhla and Wazirabad, development of recently identified water pockets in Dwarka, installation of bores in areas with high water table and restarting closed 'ranney collector' wells and borewells across Delhi.

The decision was taken by Chief Minister and Delhi Jal Board Chairman Arvind Kejriwal in a meeting, where he directed that all the four projects should be completed by March-end.

The Central Water Board has identified  six locations on the Yamuna flood plain between Wazirabad and Okhla with a potential of 383 MLD (million litres per day) water.

For the newly-identified water pockets in Dwarka, Kejriwal said that it is expected to create an additional 22.5 MLD water for the area

Leader of the Bajrang Dal, Yogesh Raj, the main accused in killing the policemen during mob violence over alleged cow slaughter   was arrested from Khurja. He released a video
claiming that he was not present at the site of violence and had nothing to do with the protests. He also alleged that the UP police were trying to portray him in bad light.

In the video, the 28-year-old also confirmed that he is the district convener of the Bajrang Dal. “I was in my house on Monday morning and received a call that some villagers had
found cow meat in sugarcane fields. After this, I went there and rushed straight to the police station,” he said in the video.

However, the arguments that Yogesh put forth in the video did not tally with the initial statement he gave to the Bulandshahr police. In his statement, Yogesh had stated that around 9 am on Monday, he and three of his friends had gone for a walk. In a forested area near Mahaw, a neighbouring village, they spotted seven people slaughtering cows, they said. Before they could raise an alarm, those people fled. He had said they were all residents of his village.

Bajrang Dal's western Uttar Pradesh region co-convenor Praveen Bhati also claimed that Raj had nothing to do with the violence. "He will cooperate with the police and come out at
the right time," Bhati said. Raj has been booked for murder and attempt to murder under sections 302 and 307 of the Indian Penal Code, respectively, as well as various sections of
arson and damaging public property.

Trouble in Bulandshahr started when carcasses of cows were found dumped in a forest area outside Mahaw village. "Activists of right-wing organisations soon gathered at the spot and alleged that people of a community were indulging in cow slaughter," ADG (Law and Order) said.

Angry villagers and members of various Hindu groups brought the animal remains in a tractor-trolley to the Chingarwathi Police Chowki and demanded action against the culprits. They raised slogans against the police administration and blocked the Bulandshahr-Garh State Highway.
 

After Delhi Police trained over 2 lakh women and girls under their programme of self-defence, it has made an entry into the Limca Book of Records

The programme was started in 2002 and is conducted by the Special Police Unit For Women and Children (SPUWAC). More than 9.8 lakh women have been trained under
5,140 programmes till November this year, PTI cited the police sources as revealing.

The special arm of the Delhi Police had informed the Limca Book of Records in February that they have trained 2,08,125 women under 989 programmes last year. Limca
verified the authenticity of the claims and subsequently, informed the special police unit about their achievement.

The central government told in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that India repeatedly asked Pakistan to immediately vacate all the illegal occupied areas. 

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in response to a question that India has always been a theoretical and opinion that the entire Jammu and Kashmir state has
been an integral part of India and will always be there. Pakistan has illegally occupied 78,000 square kilometers of Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir. 

In the written reply, Sushma Swaraj said that under the border agreement between China and Pakistan in 1963, Islamabad handed over 5180 square kilometers of Indian
territory occupied by Jammu and Kashmir to China. 

He said that we have been persistent and repeatedly telling Pakistan that it has been immediately evacuated all the areas of illegal occupation. On 30th November 2018,
this demand has been asked about it too. However, he did not reply where he had raised this issue with Pakistan. In his reply, he stressed that Pakistan has illegally and
forcibly occupied a part of Jammu and Kashmir. 

In the written reply to the question of the number of infiltrations between Dokalam in 2014, Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh said that Dokalam is a part of
Bhutan. The government has been raising the issues of violation of the Actual LC by the Chinese system and the diplomatic channel. In response to questions related to the
involvement of the Foreign Ministry or any official with the French government or signing any agreement for the purchase of Raphael aircraft, Singh responded in no.  

The central government is going to change passport rules soon as it will not be mandatory to provide Aadhaar numbers. The Ministry of External Affairs has drafted the
amendment to the rules. The law ministry has given the green signal to the opinion sought by him for this. 

In January, the government had eradicated the mandatory certificates giving great relief to the immediate passport applicants.  It was chosen to give two records out of 12
voter ID, PAN card, back-post passbook, ration card, driver's license, birth certificate, employee identity card etc. in addition to the Aadhaar card.   

It was compulsory to have an affidavit for not having a criminal background. It was decided to issue an immediate passport within three days on providing this document.
But after this the verdict came on the basis of the Supreme Court, in view of which the Ministry of External Affairs decided to change the rule to end the mandatory
mandate.  

According to a senior law ministry official, the decision of the Ministry of External Affairs  has been agreed. 

Hopefully, the new rules will soon be notified by him. He said that for verification, the remaining documents will be considered adequate in the future and self-written
affidavit will be valid for criminal background. The police related investigation will be done on the basis of affidavit. It is believed that it can be increased in the days of
issuing instant passport. Due to this the other documents are not being asked to get complete information about the applicant soon.     

It is worth noting that in order to make an immediate passport, the application has to pay an extra payment of 2000 rupees from the normal passport. Now citizens have
to pay Rs. 1500 in general category and Rs. 3500 for immediate passport fee.