The Department for International Development (DFID) of Britain plans to invest up to 150 mn pounds in Bihar, a senior official of the British government said.
"Over the next five years, the DFID is planning to invest up to 150 million pounds (approximately Rs.1,050 crore) in Bihar on strengthening governance, urban management and health service delivery including nutrition and water and sanitation," DFID India deputy head Chris Chalmers said at a media workshop here.
The DFID has also struck a strategic partnership with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to make sure that the donor support to the state is provided in a coordinated manner.
"This is an innovative approach to reduce the burden on the government," Chalmers said.
Last June, the DFID signed an agreement with the Bihar government to invest in the state. "The DFID's main aim is to assist and help the Bihar government with the governance reform programme," the British official added.link
Sunday 15 February 2009
112 held for alleged Railway Board exams paper leaking racket
In a joint operation by police of three states, an alleged racket involving leaking of Railway Recruitment Board examination papers was busted on Sunday with the arrest of 112 people, including some aspiring candidates, after raids in Jaipur and Bhopal.
Following the arrests, the written test for the post of Assistant Station Master by the RRB, Ajmer scheduled today was postponed and a new date would be announced later, the board's chairman C L Bharti said.
While the arrests were made in Jaipur and Bhopal by the police of the respective states, they were working on a tip-off from Uttar Pradesh Police.
"With the help of Rajasthan SOG and Bhopal Police raids were carried out in Jaipur and Bhopal. While 105 people, including 11 gang members and 94 aspiring candidates were arrested from Jaipur, four operators were nabbed in Bhopal," Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Brij Lal told reporters in Lucknow adding that copies of the relevant question paper were recovered from both the places.
The ADG said a former employee of the North-Eastern Railway was the kingpin of the paper leaking racket.
Lal said "Bediram, who was a travelling ticket examiner in NE Railway, is the mastermind. In December last year he was arrested from Allahabad by the STF, which busted a similar racket there, and was released on bail recently."
He said after he was nabbed by the STF, the railways terminated Bediram's services.
"We are trying to nab the kingpin, who is at large since being released from jail," he added.
Brij Lal said that in December last year, the STF busted a gang leaking question papers for a railway examination, in which a few aspirants were also arrested.
"Since then the state police was tracking the gang members. Through electronic surveillance, we came to know that they have leaked the question paper of an examination being conducted by RRB Ajmer today," he said.
The ADG said that based on the surveillance inputs two teams of UP STF were constituted to crack the network.
In Jaipur, Kapil Garg, Additional Director General of Police, ATS & SOG, Rajasthan told reporters that the gang used to charge Rs 4 lakh per candidate.
They used to tell aspiring candidates to initially pay Rs 1,000 and submit their original documents including mark sheets and certificates as collateral security before the examination.
Aspiring candidates would then have to pay a second instalment of Rs 50,000 after they had been able to match the leaked question paper with the actual one and final payment of the balance amount had to be paid on their selection, Garg said.
He said around Rs 80,000 were recovered from the gang members during the raids.
All the arrested persons are in Rajasthan SOG custody here and investigation in the matter is on after registering an FIR, he said.
While students slated to appear at Ajmer centre were called at Jaipur and Bikaner, those with Kota as their examination centre were asked to assemble in Bhopal.
Of 94 aspirants arrested from a motel in Jaipur, as many as 82 were from Bihar.
"As the gang is based in Bihar, majority of the aspirants are from that state," Garg said.
Following the arrests, the written test for the post of Assistant Station Master by the RRB, Ajmer scheduled today was postponed and a new date would be announced later, the board's chairman C L Bharti said.
While the arrests were made in Jaipur and Bhopal by the police of the respective states, they were working on a tip-off from Uttar Pradesh Police.
"With the help of Rajasthan SOG and Bhopal Police raids were carried out in Jaipur and Bhopal. While 105 people, including 11 gang members and 94 aspiring candidates were arrested from Jaipur, four operators were nabbed in Bhopal," Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Brij Lal told reporters in Lucknow adding that copies of the relevant question paper were recovered from both the places.
The ADG said a former employee of the North-Eastern Railway was the kingpin of the paper leaking racket.
Lal said "Bediram, who was a travelling ticket examiner in NE Railway, is the mastermind. In December last year he was arrested from Allahabad by the STF, which busted a similar racket there, and was released on bail recently."
He said after he was nabbed by the STF, the railways terminated Bediram's services.
"We are trying to nab the kingpin, who is at large since being released from jail," he added.
Brij Lal said that in December last year, the STF busted a gang leaking question papers for a railway examination, in which a few aspirants were also arrested.
"Since then the state police was tracking the gang members. Through electronic surveillance, we came to know that they have leaked the question paper of an examination being conducted by RRB Ajmer today," he said.
The ADG said that based on the surveillance inputs two teams of UP STF were constituted to crack the network.
In Jaipur, Kapil Garg, Additional Director General of Police, ATS & SOG, Rajasthan told reporters that the gang used to charge Rs 4 lakh per candidate.
They used to tell aspiring candidates to initially pay Rs 1,000 and submit their original documents including mark sheets and certificates as collateral security before the examination.
Aspiring candidates would then have to pay a second instalment of Rs 50,000 after they had been able to match the leaked question paper with the actual one and final payment of the balance amount had to be paid on their selection, Garg said.
He said around Rs 80,000 were recovered from the gang members during the raids.
All the arrested persons are in Rajasthan SOG custody here and investigation in the matter is on after registering an FIR, he said.
While students slated to appear at Ajmer centre were called at Jaipur and Bikaner, those with Kota as their examination centre were asked to assemble in Bhopal.
Of 94 aspirants arrested from a motel in Jaipur, as many as 82 were from Bihar.
"As the gang is based in Bihar, majority of the aspirants are from that state," Garg said.
Saturday 14 February 2009
12 injured in Bihar train collision
At least 12 people were injured when a passenger train collided with a goods train in Bihar's Motihari district early on Saturday morning, the second accident within 24 hours.
15 killed as Coromandel Express derails in Orissa
The Gorakhpur-Muzaffarpur passenger train collided with the engine of a goods train standing at Sugauli railway station near Motihari. "All the injured have been admitted in a local government hospital for treatment," the official said.
He said the accident took place when the passenger train driver overshot a red signal. Fifteen people were killed and 140 injured when the Howrah-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed in Orissa.
Cries for help pierce silence of night
Lalu Prasad, while presenting the interim railway budget for 2009-10 in parliament on Friday had pointed to the railway's safety record.
15 killed as Coromandel Express derails in Orissa
The Gorakhpur-Muzaffarpur passenger train collided with the engine of a goods train standing at Sugauli railway station near Motihari. "All the injured have been admitted in a local government hospital for treatment," the official said.
He said the accident took place when the passenger train driver overshot a red signal. Fifteen people were killed and 140 injured when the Howrah-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed in Orissa.
Cries for help pierce silence of night
Lalu Prasad, while presenting the interim railway budget for 2009-10 in parliament on Friday had pointed to the railway's safety record.
Friday 13 February 2009
Girls organize Valentines Day party for Dhoni
Ahead of the Valentine’’s Day, Ranchi girls have expressed their love for Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni by organizing a gala party here on Friday.
Clad in their favorite attires and dancing to the Bollywood tunes, the female fans of the suave Indian captain wished him luck in finding love soon.
Today, all of us are celebrating Valentine’’s Day together and have taken Dhoni with us because he is a bachelor and is from Ranchi. We hope that he will find a girlfriend soon and then we would join him in the celebration, said Nimita, a female fan.
The enthusiastic girls revealed that their list of most eligible bachelors in the nation included Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rahul Gandhi and Yuvraj Singh; and they would love to be associated with any one of them.
After the party, the excited girls rushed to Dhoni’’s residence with roses, Valentine’’s Day cards and various gift items to pronounce their love for him.
But, Dhoni could receive none of it, as he had gone to Chennai to take part in the team selection for the forthcoming tour of New Zealand.
Nonetheless, the security guard at his residence with a twinkle in his eyes accepted the gifts from the lively bunch of Dhoni’’s fans.
We don”t have any problems with Dhoni’’s girl fans. See all of us are from Jharkhand including Dhoni. So it’’s natural for girls to react in this way, said Dinesh Chandra Gupta, a guard at Dhoni’’s residence.
Clad in their favorite attires and dancing to the Bollywood tunes, the female fans of the suave Indian captain wished him luck in finding love soon.
Today, all of us are celebrating Valentine’’s Day together and have taken Dhoni with us because he is a bachelor and is from Ranchi. We hope that he will find a girlfriend soon and then we would join him in the celebration, said Nimita, a female fan.
The enthusiastic girls revealed that their list of most eligible bachelors in the nation included Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rahul Gandhi and Yuvraj Singh; and they would love to be associated with any one of them.
After the party, the excited girls rushed to Dhoni’’s residence with roses, Valentine’’s Day cards and various gift items to pronounce their love for him.
But, Dhoni could receive none of it, as he had gone to Chennai to take part in the team selection for the forthcoming tour of New Zealand.
Nonetheless, the security guard at his residence with a twinkle in his eyes accepted the gifts from the lively bunch of Dhoni’’s fans.
We don”t have any problems with Dhoni’’s girl fans. See all of us are from Jharkhand including Dhoni. So it’’s natural for girls to react in this way, said Dinesh Chandra Gupta, a guard at Dhoni’’s residence.
Thursday 12 February 2009
No oil reserve in Ganga basin, Cairn calls off exploration
Oil exploration major Cairn India has wound up its work in Ganga basin area of Bihar&aposs Darbhanga district after failing to trace oil reserve.
District Magistrate Arun Prasad said today the company, which had started the drilling work in May 2008 at Hawidih village after taking 4.5 hectare of lands on lease from farmers, decided to wind up operations as scientific tests of mud extracts after digging showed no signs of oil reserve.
Cairn had secured the contract for oil exploration work at Hawidih village under Baheri block.
Meanwhile, the first consignment of heavy machines, used for drilling purposes, has left Darbhanga for Barmer in Rajasthan.link
District Magistrate Arun Prasad said today the company, which had started the drilling work in May 2008 at Hawidih village after taking 4.5 hectare of lands on lease from farmers, decided to wind up operations as scientific tests of mud extracts after digging showed no signs of oil reserve.
Cairn had secured the contract for oil exploration work at Hawidih village under Baheri block.
Meanwhile, the first consignment of heavy machines, used for drilling purposes, has left Darbhanga for Barmer in Rajasthan.link
Six awarded life imprisonment in Bihar
A fast track court today awarded life imprisonment to six people after they were convicted in the murder of a person in 1996 in Bihar's Darbhanga district.
Additional district and sessions judge Deonandan Prasad Singh today convicted Birendra Raut, Mithilesh Raut, Ganesh Raut, Prayag Raut, Raman Raut and Sukhri Yadav in the murder of Fekan Yadav of Naurachhadam in Darbhanga on June 20, 2006 and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
The court also slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on each. According to the prosecution, Yadav was killed with sharp weapons when he was in a field.
Old enmity was stated to be the reason behind the crime.link
Additional district and sessions judge Deonandan Prasad Singh today convicted Birendra Raut, Mithilesh Raut, Ganesh Raut, Prayag Raut, Raman Raut and Sukhri Yadav in the murder of Fekan Yadav of Naurachhadam in Darbhanga on June 20, 2006 and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
The court also slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on each. According to the prosecution, Yadav was killed with sharp weapons when he was in a field.
Old enmity was stated to be the reason behind the crime.link
Wednesday 11 February 2009
Kanti Singh releases book on Bihar
Union minister of state for tourism Kanti Singh on Wednesday said that as many as 261 castes/communities and tribes still exist both in Bihar and Jharkhand.
Singh releasing the much awaited Anthropological Survey of India (ASI)-sponsored "People of India -- Bihar and Jharkhand" volume (I & II) here said that this book would be immensely beneficial to a cross section of the people. She said that it is a landmark book for those studying the contemporary society of Bihar and Jharkhand.
The minister also inaugurated the photo exhibition on "Festival of Diversity: Communication and Empowerment" here at Hotel Pataliputra Ashok. This exhibition will be put up at Patna's Gandhi Sangrahalaya for a month.
It was a dream project of the late PM Rajiv Gandhi. He had mooted the idea to trace the various castes and communities in India by publishing statewise `People of India' way back in 1990s.
Former bureaucrat and academician the late Kumar Suresh Singh was entrusted with the job of publishing this magnum opus and was appointed the director general of ASI. To date, 72 volumes of People of India project has already been published. It took nearly two and half decades to publish the Bihar volume.
Bihar volume (two volumes) was published by a Kolkata-based publication. Bihar's two noted social scientists namely Surendra Gopal (historian) and Hetukar Jha (sociologist) have co-authored the Bihar volume.
Director incharge of the ASI V R Rao said that this book would be translated into Hindi soon. Speaking on the occasion, RJD MP Ram Kripal Yadav said that this book would be immensely useful for all in a state like Bihar if it is translated into Hindi.
Joint secretary, ministry of culture, GOI, Luv Verma welcomed the guests. This volume would be a readymade reference book for policy makers, social scientists, bureaucrats and politicians.
The editors have also included communities such as Marwari, Sindhi, Sikh, Jain, Khatri, etc. since they have become a visible feature in the present social set up.
It has been found that around 40 languages and dialects are spoken in Bihar and Jharkhand, they said. Each write up describes the major features of lifestyle, religious views, life cycle rituals, major occupations, customs, traditions, marital practices, etc of the people of Bihar and Jharkhand.
Singh releasing the much awaited Anthropological Survey of India (ASI)-sponsored "People of India -- Bihar and Jharkhand" volume (I & II) here said that this book would be immensely beneficial to a cross section of the people. She said that it is a landmark book for those studying the contemporary society of Bihar and Jharkhand.
The minister also inaugurated the photo exhibition on "Festival of Diversity: Communication and Empowerment" here at Hotel Pataliputra Ashok. This exhibition will be put up at Patna's Gandhi Sangrahalaya for a month.
It was a dream project of the late PM Rajiv Gandhi. He had mooted the idea to trace the various castes and communities in India by publishing statewise `People of India' way back in 1990s.
Former bureaucrat and academician the late Kumar Suresh Singh was entrusted with the job of publishing this magnum opus and was appointed the director general of ASI. To date, 72 volumes of People of India project has already been published. It took nearly two and half decades to publish the Bihar volume.
Bihar volume (two volumes) was published by a Kolkata-based publication. Bihar's two noted social scientists namely Surendra Gopal (historian) and Hetukar Jha (sociologist) have co-authored the Bihar volume.
Director incharge of the ASI V R Rao said that this book would be translated into Hindi soon. Speaking on the occasion, RJD MP Ram Kripal Yadav said that this book would be immensely useful for all in a state like Bihar if it is translated into Hindi.
Joint secretary, ministry of culture, GOI, Luv Verma welcomed the guests. This volume would be a readymade reference book for policy makers, social scientists, bureaucrats and politicians.
The editors have also included communities such as Marwari, Sindhi, Sikh, Jain, Khatri, etc. since they have become a visible feature in the present social set up.
It has been found that around 40 languages and dialects are spoken in Bihar and Jharkhand, they said. Each write up describes the major features of lifestyle, religious views, life cycle rituals, major occupations, customs, traditions, marital practices, etc of the people of Bihar and Jharkhand.
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