4,311 cases pending in SC/ST police stations in Bihar

Even as the Nitish Kumar government has laid thrust on justice for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, cases relating to atrocities on SC/ST are increasing and a good number of them are pending in police stations. "The cases are piling up because of the slow pace of their disposal,'' officials claim. According to official records available at the state police headquarters here, 4311 cases lodged under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989 are still pending with different SC/ST police stations up to May this year. The then National SC/ST Commission chairman Buta Singh, during his visit to Bihar on April 6, 2010, had expressed serious concern over the growing number of cases of atrocities, noting that hardly two per cent of them reach logical conclusion. While the number of cases of atrocities and repression were reported to be 3,723 in 2008, it rose to 5,129 in 2009 but then declined to 3,551 in 2010. State Additional Director-General of Police (Crime Investigation Department) A S Nimbran said there are seven to eight such districts where 50 per cent of cases of atrocities are pending and these are normally the districts where very less number of cases are registered every year. Nimbran confided that there are 200 cases of atrocities and repression being registered in Bihar every month. There are 239, 196, 186, 180, 167, 141 and 121 cases pending in the districts of Muzaffarpur, Saran, Begusarai, Motihari, Gaya, Patna and Gopalganj districts, respectively, he said.

Poor in Patna warm themselves with bonfires as cold makes life unbearable

With mercury dipping below the normal level at different place of north India, people are having a tough time to move out and attend to duties in daily life.

There was less hustle and bustle on streets, as people preferred staying indoors on Saturday.

A number of poor people could be noticed sitting around bonfires in groups to save themselves from a harsh winter this time.

The streets and lanes wore a deserted look but people thronged the tea stalls.

Local people said that the sharp dip in temperature is affecting their work.

"The weather is extremely cold for the last two days, we are passing the day sitting in front of fire...we are we are not even going for work because of low temperature," said Vinod, a local resdient.

The weather is very cold for the last two days...we are warming themselves by sipping extra cups of tea...the temperature dipped further during last two days...we are shivering in cold," said Ravi, another local resident.

Harsh weather claimed maximum lives in north India. More than 300 people have died as the cold wave intensified its grip over northern state of Uttar Pradesh.link

Bihar Pollution Control Board worries about burning tyres

The Pollution Control Board authorities in Bihar are apprehensive over the stance of pavement dwellers, as they burn tyres to keep themselves warm in winter.

Chairman of Bihar Pollution Control Board Subhash Chandra said the Board would organise awareness camp to educate people about the ill effects of such a practice.

"Not only does the practice affect their health but it also pollutes the environment. We at the pollution board appeal to those people not to follow the practice and we will create awareness among these people about the ill effects of that practice. We also organise awareness camp to educate people about the consequences of burning tyres," he said.

Singh added that action would be taken against those who do not abide by the Board''s rules and regulations.

"There are some rules and regulations in place and people who do not abide by those rules, action would be taken against them," he claimed.

On the other hand, the pavement dwellers say that despite knowing the ill effects of burning tyres, they do not have any alternative to beat the cold in winter.

"It is cold in Patna, so we burn tyres to keep ourselves warm. We know that burning tyres is harmful for our health but we do not have any choice. Earlier, the government used to distribute free blankets and wood, but this time we did not get even that," said Umesh Yadav, a pavement dweller.link

Magadh University 2009 PG Results

Magadh University, Bihar has declared Under Graduate (UG) and Post Graduate (PG) Results For Academic Year 2009.

Magadh University is today one of the largest universities of Bihar and India. The University has developed horizontally and vertically having 24 post Graduate Departments, 44 Constituent and 85 affiliated Colleges, altogether with above 2 lakh students and 2 thousand teachers. Prof. B.N.Pandey, an academician of excellence is the Vice – Chancellor. The university expands over an area comprising of Gaya, Jehanabad, Patna, Nalanda, Nawada and Aurangabad districts. The areas of Bhojpur, Buxar and Rohtas and Kaimur districts have been separated under a new University – Veer Kunwar Singh University, with its headquarters at Ara in October 1992. The headquarters of this university is established at Gaya, about 2.5 Km away from the world famed heritage site of Mahabodhi Mahavihara or the Great Temple.

The Gaya – Dobhi National Highway No. 83 passes by and gives it passage to east – west connections with other urban centres of the country. It is 16 Km from Gaya, linked with Railways communication getting linkages with Delhi – Kolkata and also from Patna – the Capital city of the state. The recently built up International Airport will further facilitate its academic importance to countries like Thailand, Srilanka, Myanmar, Colombia, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, China, Singapore and others. Naturally, the University is fortunate to have this background to remain developing in coming days.

Results on Magadh University Website – http://magadhuniversity.ac.in

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar orders probe into police high-handedness

Following allegations of high-handed attitude of police at a village in Buxar district, a probe was today ordered by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

A complaint was made to the Inspector General of Police ( Patna Zone) seeking legal action against policemen who allegedly assaulted residents of Mukundpur village yesterday when they went to arrest a man named in an FIR for atrocities on a woman, official sources said.

Angry villagers had attacked the policemen, injuring two, leading to retaliation by the authorities, the sources said.link

Security alert for Durga Puja in Bihar

High security alert has been sounded in Bihar ahead of Durga puja to ensure peace and harmony in communally sensitive areas of the state.

Patrolling has been intensified in communally sensitive areas. Two companies of Rapid Action Force (RAF) have taken position in Patna and Bhagalpur, Additional Director General of Police (headquarters) Neelmani told reporters.

In more communally-sensitive areas, the RAF would stage flag march once in a day to instill confidence among the people, while extra security arrangements have been made to protect all vital installations, including properties of the Railways and Centre.

Besides, patrolling has also been intensified in communally-sensitive pockets in Patna, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Madhubani and West Champaran districts.

Static deployment of Bihar Military Police and district armed police personnel has been made in vulnerable areas to prevent any untoward incident, he said.link

Patna police to go hi-tech

With Spurt in crime, the city police in Patna, is all set to go hi-tech, thanks to initiative taken by police head quarters in this regard. Police Patrol cars will now carry GPS. Only a few weeks ago, police officers from IG to Dy SP and many SHO of the state capital were reshuffled after a bizarre incident, in which one girl was stripped in a public place on a busy exhibition road round. It earned lot of criticism for the police and national media, both electronic and print, got flooded with news related to police apathy and non-competence.

The young IPS Manu Maharaj was made city SP and crackdown has been unleashed on the criminals bring the morale of criminals down to a considerable level. Now herculean task with the top cop of the city is to keep constant watch on the movement of patrol cars, which is said to be 100 odd in number, so that the police personnel performs up to the expectations. IG PN Roy, who is also an expert in disaster management and has undergone trainings in countries like USA has chalked out plans to install Global Positioning System (GPS) on all the patrolling cars of the city in first phase.

It has been seen in the recent times that Police patrol cars remained conspicuously absent from the site of crime and could only be located when the criminals left the place of occurrence (PO). The arrangement has already been done that at least one police patrol should touch one particular place within 10-15 minutes. But due to absence of any device, the police parties on the patrol cars could easily lie about their locations at the time of commitment of crimes. Now with the installation of GPS, this problem can be checked and no police patrol can lie about its location. The SP or any other senior police official can locate the particular police parties.

If this experiment gets successfully implemented, it will certainly enhance the mobility of the police patrol parties and also help, in a better way, to keep watch on the movement of police patrol cars. At present the city police use primitive method of wireless as the sole method of communication which is far from satisfaction. There are several electronic devices easily available in the market which can intercept and leak the messages. Naxalites are using this methodology on large scale and thus they easily track the movement of police force. The leakage of wireless messages are said to be major cause of attacks on police by Naxalites.

The use of GPS will certainly improve the efficiency and communication network of the police, provided it is implemented religiously. While Nitish Kumar, the CM, has been relentlessly trying to improve the police force to bring the house in order, there are large numbers of elements in the police department itself who leave no stone unturned to thwart the reform process. The official website of the police department still carries the name of DN Gautam as DGP, whereas he has retired few weeks ago. Such is the apathy and irresponsibility of the senior police officers. Hopefully this innovation would go un-sabotaged and is implemented in letter and spirit. If it happens so will improve efficiency of the city police and help improve law and order, bring down crime rate and un-choke the traffic of the city.link

Handloom products buyer-seller meet in Patna from Aug 8

A buyer-seller meet to promote the handloom and silk industry in the state of Bihar is being jointly organised by the Government of Bihar and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Cluster Development Initiative Ltd.

This meet will be held during August 8-10 at Hotel Maurya in Patna and will be inaugurated by the Minister of Industries, Govt of Bihar and will be presided by Principal Secretary, Department of Industries, Bihar in presence of Additional Commisioner (Handlooms), Government of India.

A pool of buyers from countries like Canada, UAE and Bangladesh along with about ten buyers from India will be participating in this meet.

The clusters involved in this buyer seller meet are Bihar Sharif, Nalanda; Sigori, Patna; Manpur, Gaya; Bhuwara, Madhubani; Katoria, Banka; Hussainabad, Nathnagar, Champa Nagar and Kharik Bazaar, all in Bhagalapur.

On showcase will be handloom products made by weavers of Bihar. Amongst the products to be on display are high and medium end silk and silk mix materials for furnishing, dress materials, sarees, dupattas etc. (tasar, mulberry, linen etc.) from Bhagalpur region.

Also on view from Bhagalpur region will be low and medium end cotton products like dress material, dhoti, towels, lungi etc, tasar and cotton dress materials like kurta, shirting, bedsheets from Gaya and Nalanda.

Beautiful cotton dress materials from Patna and Madhubani including kurtas will also be on display at the nine stalls to be set up at the buyer-seller meet to be organised in the capital city of Bihar.link

Govt gears up to promote Bihari food products

Chief minister Nitish Kumar has a dream that Bihari food products should find place on every dinning table of the country. This was stated by principal secretary of industry A K Sinha at the `International Summit-cum-Exhibition on Food Processing and Agribusiness' being held at New Delhi.

While interacting with the participants, Sinha said that the government has geared up to achieve that. He said that the industry department has so far undertaken five road shows in Patna, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Begusarai and Kolkata for highlighting the strong areas of food processing to different investors.

Sinha mentioned the new schemes launched by the Bihar government and stressed that the National Commission for Farmers has dubbed Bihar the `sleeping giant' of Indian agriculture. He said that Bihar produces 50 lakh metric tonnes of paddy and 20 lakh metric tonnes of maize. He also pointed out that Bihar was the third largest producer of vegetables and seventh largest producer of fruits. He said that 75 per cent of the litchi is produced in Bihar and there are 10 lakh metric tonnes of banana and 20 lakh metric tonnes of `makhana' produced in the state.

Sinha said that Bihar has massive opportunities for rice-based industry like modern rice milling and husk-based power plants and it is the largest market for milled rice. He also pointed towards the potentiality of maize-based industry such as starch, poultry feed, corn oil and flakes and flour units. He said that the state has decided to develop two integrated food zones and food parks and would set up 100 rural agribusiness centres.

He also spoke about the enabling factors -- Bihar is the first state in the country to prepare a vision document and has come out with a very attractive policy package. He said that the state has launched two major schemes for investment in food processing sector. The first provides capital grant up to 40 per cent of the project cost, the maximum being Rs 10 crore. The second scheme for food parks provides a capital grant up to 20 per cent, maximum Rs 15 crore.link

Some relief for Bihar’s arsenic hit villages

High levels of arsenic in the groundwater pose the threat of cancer to people in many Bihar villages, but the state government has finally moved to bring safe drinking water from the Ganga river to some of these areas.

‘Multi-village water supply projects’ have been given the green signal in 200 arsenic-affected villages in three districts.

“The multivillage water supply projects would be launched soon and completed under a timeframe,” said Public Health Engineering Minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey.

The projects will cover 130 arsenic-affected villages of Simri block in Buxar district, 45 villages of Bidupur block in Vaishali district and 25 villages of Maner block in Patna district.

D.S. Mishra, an official in the department, said the government would provide safe drinking water from the Ganga to villages affected by arsenic.

“First, the surface water (in the river) will be treated to remove harmful substances and then it will be supplied,” Mishra said. He said the treatment of groundwater containing arsenic was costly and not sustainable.

The state government admitted early this year that high levels of arsenic have been found in the groundwater of 15 Bihar districts on either side of the Ganga river, posing the threat of cancer, an official said.

“A total of 57 blocks on both sides of the Ganga are affected by high levels of arsenic in the groundwater,” he said.

Arsenic causes cancer of the intestines, liver, kidneys and bladder as well as gangrene. People in several villages are suffering from bone deformation and a variety of skin problems.

“In some affected villages, people have complained of weakening and bending of the bones and dreadful rashes and lumps on the skin,” a health expert said.

Arsenic, an odourless and tasteless semi-metal element, occurs naturally in the environment and sometimes as a by-product of agriculture and industry.

An official said the worst affected districts are Bhojpur, Buxar, Vaishali, Bhagalpur, Samastipur, Khagaria, Katihar, Chapra, Munger and Darbhanga and Patna.link

Among these, Harail Chapar, a village in Samastipur district, recorded the highest levels of arsenic - 2,100 parts per billion (ppb) - in groundwater, the official added. The World Health Organisation guideline for a safe limit is 10 ppb, while the Indian government’s guideline is 50 ppb.

The official said a survey conducted in the arsenic affected districts reveals that the deeper aquifers lying below 80 metres were free of arsenic.

Last year, a state government report based on a survey of water samples collected at random from 19,961 tubewells in 398 villages found that arsenic concentration was above 10 ppb in 310 villages and above 50 ppb in 235 villages.

Patna Girl Cries Tears of Blood

In a weird and very unusual twist of medical fate, Rashida Khatoon, a young girl from northeast India cries tears of blood instead of water.

She and her unusual medical condition have been transformed into a holy shrine where worshipers come to watch in awe as blood drips from her eyelids several times a day.

Doctors in the region of Patna, northeast India, have no medical explanation as to the cause of this most unusual anomaly, but local Hindu holy men have declared Rashida a miracle. Followers bow in deference as they stand before her, showering her family with holy offerings.

“I do not feel any pain when it happens, but it’s a shock to see blood instead of water,” said Rashida of her most unusual situation.

What could be the cause of this weird occurrence? Some have suggested a brain tumor or malfunctioning of tear ducts, but there is no medical evidence to support that. No one in authority in fact, seems to know or will even venture a guess, which is even more disconcerting than to watch the phenomenon, which occurs every few hours.

Could Rashida be suffering from a case of a rare phenomenon known as Haemolacria? Little is known about this medical condition other than the fact that it occurs when a person produces tears, which are partially composed of blood. This can manifest as anything from red-tinged tears to those, which appear to be entirely blood.

Bleeding from the eyes is most certainly weird and creepy. It may be the result of a very rare medical condition, but whatever it is, it is not likely to be a gift of any sort from the holier powers that be. If you think about it, how could bleeding from the eyes be a gift except from a very creepy donor?link

Bihar organises bicycle rally to fight corruption

A bicycle rally was organised here on Saturday in a bid to end corruption in the state.

Carrying placards and shouting slogans, around 200 enthusiastic cyclists participated in the rally.

District Magistrate of Patna, Jitendra Kumar Sinha, who led the rally, called upon the people to fight corruption.

“We have started this cycle rally to end the corruption that takes place in government offices in the state. To create awareness against corruption, we have organised this rally. The State Government has started a movement against corruption and has even announced to reward those people who will help the government to fight corruption,” said Sinha.

Young participants said they were determined to fight corruption.

“Through this cycle rally, we want to convey the message that we have to end the corruption in the state and the world over. We want to create a new Bihar,” said Munna Kumar, a participant.

Anti-corruption rallies were flagged off in all the districts in the state.link

An Unusual Love Story from Bihar

"I want to marry you". Nothing unusual in this matrimony proposal right! Many a men say this to many a women everyday and somewhere someplace someone is professing their love to their special one. But young Kailash Yadav, twenty Three year old auto rickshaw driver in Delhi discovered that he had fallen in love with Jyoti, a slim and wide-eyed timid eighteen year old on pleasant train ride from Patna to Sirsa within three hours of meeting her. Again what's so different with this love story except that he took only a few hours before proposing her?

The answer lies simply in the fact that Jyoti is handicapped and affected with polio since childhood. Kailash who has decided to marry that girl for life explains on how it all happened -"We both belong to Bihar and I'm from Sirsa and was on same train to Sirsa from Patna. She was standing without a seat. I felt bad and offered her one and we got to talking getting over formal introductions. I found out that she was appearing for entrance in Polytechnic in Sirsa.During our conversation I realized the girl's shy but strong disposition to be something and not kneeling to her condition. Her will and determination won me over and over again and I decided that she will be my wife."

Next came the opposition from friends and family. No body agreed to this strange union and his village folks even his own relatives ridiculed him for what seemed such an unheard of match. He bore jibes and taunts from his own friends who thought that he has gone mad but his father was the only person who stood behind him though he sheepishly admits to have hidden the fact from his father that Jyoti's side could give only half the money for putting up the wedding of Rs.70000 and the rest came from his life saving. All in name of love yes only this seems the case.

He says-" they made fun of me and called me crazy for wanting to marry a Handicapped girl. There were villagers in my wedding who were laughing at us when we were taking our wedding vows as Jyoti had difficulty in walking properly but I shut their mouths when I took her in my arms and supported her through all the pheras."

Now all settled in married life he says-"That life has turned all rosy and I feel I made the best decision of my life. Now I work hard for my wife so that I can support her through computer course. I've done only matriculation but I want her to get the best education possible so that she can peruse her dreams.

I feel every person in the country should give conscious thought on seeing that physical incapability do not make a person but it's their personalities that holds and they should understand and value this about a person while choosing their life partners."Thus this sweet love story is neither claiming to span time or space nor does it have the sheen of a Diana and Prince Charles affair but what it does is to teach us that true love transcends physicality of being human or loving people because they are beautiful inside not out outside.link

14-day trade fair being organized from Feb 12

National Industrial and Consumer Exhibition (NICE) is organizing a 14-day trade fair in Patna with a view to presenting a wide range of products from across the country to its consumers and also promote the products made by local entrepreneurs.

The trade fair christened Expo 2009 is slated to start from February 12 at Patliputra Maidan in western Patna. NICE has collaborated with the Bihar Mahila Udyog Sangh. The organizers had been trying for either Gandhi Maidan or Miller School ground for the venue, it could not materialise, as a result of which it might inconvenience the visitors, they felt.

"Earlier, we had organized two such Expos at Miller School ground in 2007 and 2008. It proved to be a grand success," said NICE managing director Shabbir Ahmed, adding: "The trade fairs always help in boosting the image of the state where they are organized, because a large number of entrepreneurs exhibit their products for sale and appreciation."

Bihar Mahila Udyog Sangh president Pushpa Chopra said that Miller School ground would have been the ideal venue for the exhibition that has been planned. "We only hope that the government would take into consideration the pleas for a better ground," she said. On the other hand, NICE chief executive officer (CEO) Rishi Raj said that trade fairs have been helping in promoting even products made in Bihar, which, in turn, helps in providing right platform to them, apart from adding to their income through sale.

The products on display at the Expo 2009 would be from such states as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal and Punjab, among others. Given the appreciable response, 250 stalls would be erected, while there would be provision to enjoy culinary tastes. There will be special Bihar Pavilion at the fair offering items from the state's small and cottage industries, as well as at domestic levels through self-employment.

Adequate care is being taken to attract visitors by organizing cultural and other programmes, as well as competitive programmes and lottery. Utmost attention has been paid to promote crafts and art from Bihar, which would be coupled with fashion products made locally, said Raj. Among those who also gave their ideas on the significance of the fair was local trade fair organizer and Sangh secretary Usha Jha.link