Major rivers in north Bihar, especially the Kosi, Gandak, Budhi and Bagmati, are in spate following heavy rains in their catchment areas and are posing a threat of floods, officials said Friday.
With heavy rainfall recorded in the catchments areas in neighbouring Nepal, the water levels of these rivers have been rising to dangerous levels for the last two days.
"The Bagmati has crossed the danger mark at some points and the water level in Gandak also increased following water discharge into the river from Nepal," said an official of the central water commission.
In view of the spate in major rivers, the state government has alerted the administrations of flood prone Madhepura, Supaul, Saharsa, Araria, Purnia, Darbhanga, Samastipur and Sitamarhi districts.
Official sources said engineers of the water resource department have been directed to keep a vigil on the vulnerable embankments.
According to reports reaching here, an embankment on the Bagmati river in Aurai block was breached, resulting in inundation of several villages Thursday.
The fear of a repeat of last year's devastating floods is haunting thousands of people in the region from where Kosi flows following a record water discharge into the river from Nepal.
However, Bihar Water Resources Development Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav said the Kosi embankment was safe and there was no need to panic.
He stressed that the eastern Kosi embankment, which was breached Aug 18 last year, flooding five districts of northern Bihar, was totally safe.
Last year, more than three million people were rendered homeless in Bihar when the Kosi river breached its bank upstream in Nepal and changed course Aug 18. Large tracts of land were flooded, forcing people to flee their homes.
Thousands of people were affected in the floods that were said to be the worst in Bihar in the last 50 years. People were forced to live along roads under the open sky without food and drinking water or in relief camps set up by the state government. link
Friday 3 July 2009
Wednesday 1 July 2009
Bihar to host IRC meet in Nov
Bihar would host the 70th annual session of the Indian Road Congress (IRC) from November 14-17. Around 2,000 top engineers from across the country would congregate in Patna to take part in the four-day session being held in the state after a gap of 17 years.
The state government has sanctioned Rs 2.42 crore for organizing the annual show which comprises several technical sessions during which experts would present their papers on different aspects of road and bridge constructions.
Bihar engineers, too, have been asked to submit their research papers in the session and entries are likely to come in a month.
Debates would also be organized in which participants would raise questions on different topics and experts from the respective fields would answer them.
Set up in 1934 with the objective of developing roads in the country, the IRC is a premier technical body of highway engineers in the country.
The activities of the IRC has expanded over the years and it has now grown into a multi-dimensional organisation. It provides a national forum for sharing of knowledge and pooling of experience on the entire range of subjects dealing with construction and maintenance of roads and bridges, including research, planning and technology.
IRC also proposes standard specifications for road and bridge constructions which are followed by agencies across the country.
"The annual session in Patna would offer a great opportunity to Bihar engineers as they can share quality time with technical experts from across the nation," local organizing secretary of the IRC's 70th annual session Babban Ram told.
He said that the state would use the session to share its experiences in road and bridge constructions with experts from outside. Besides, it would also solicit their suggestions to further improve its performance on this front.
The state would also urge the experts to visit few sites facing problems and suggestions would be solicited from them for finding a long-lasting solution.
"Gandhi Setu is one of the prospective sites to which experts would be urged to pay a visit as the problems in this important bridge is a big issue in the state," Ram said and added that experts' advice on this important bridge would be of immense help in improving its condition.link
The state government has sanctioned Rs 2.42 crore for organizing the annual show which comprises several technical sessions during which experts would present their papers on different aspects of road and bridge constructions.
Bihar engineers, too, have been asked to submit their research papers in the session and entries are likely to come in a month.
Debates would also be organized in which participants would raise questions on different topics and experts from the respective fields would answer them.
Set up in 1934 with the objective of developing roads in the country, the IRC is a premier technical body of highway engineers in the country.
The activities of the IRC has expanded over the years and it has now grown into a multi-dimensional organisation. It provides a national forum for sharing of knowledge and pooling of experience on the entire range of subjects dealing with construction and maintenance of roads and bridges, including research, planning and technology.
IRC also proposes standard specifications for road and bridge constructions which are followed by agencies across the country.
"The annual session in Patna would offer a great opportunity to Bihar engineers as they can share quality time with technical experts from across the nation," local organizing secretary of the IRC's 70th annual session Babban Ram told.
He said that the state would use the session to share its experiences in road and bridge constructions with experts from outside. Besides, it would also solicit their suggestions to further improve its performance on this front.
The state would also urge the experts to visit few sites facing problems and suggestions would be solicited from them for finding a long-lasting solution.
"Gandhi Setu is one of the prospective sites to which experts would be urged to pay a visit as the problems in this important bridge is a big issue in the state," Ram said and added that experts' advice on this important bridge would be of immense help in improving its condition.link
16 sent to jail in fodder scam case
A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in the Jharkhand capital Wednesday awarded four to seven years of rigorous imprisonment to 16 convicts in the multi-million rupee fodder scam in Bihar’s animal husbandry department.
Special CBI judge Pankaj Kumar also slapped fines between Rs.50,000 and Rs.500,000 on the convicts in the case regarding fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.110.9 million (Rs.11.09 crore) from the Doranda treasury of Ranchi in the early 1990s.
The CBI court had Tuesday convicted 48 accused for withdrawing the amount by producing fake bills and nine convicts were awarded three-year imprisonment.
Remaining convicts would be sentenced Thursday.
Sixty-one cases were lodged by the CBI in relation to the fodder scam, which surfaced in 1996. Of them, 53 were transferred to Jharkhand after it was carved out of Bihar in November 2000.
According to CBI sources, government officials swindled more than Rs.9.5 billion in the name of fodder with help of fake suppliers and politicians.
Till now, special CBI courts have pronounced their judgements in 30 cases and more than 230 accused have been convicted.
Former railways minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra were accused in five fodder scam cases.link
Special CBI judge Pankaj Kumar also slapped fines between Rs.50,000 and Rs.500,000 on the convicts in the case regarding fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.110.9 million (Rs.11.09 crore) from the Doranda treasury of Ranchi in the early 1990s.
The CBI court had Tuesday convicted 48 accused for withdrawing the amount by producing fake bills and nine convicts were awarded three-year imprisonment.
Remaining convicts would be sentenced Thursday.
Sixty-one cases were lodged by the CBI in relation to the fodder scam, which surfaced in 1996. Of them, 53 were transferred to Jharkhand after it was carved out of Bihar in November 2000.
According to CBI sources, government officials swindled more than Rs.9.5 billion in the name of fodder with help of fake suppliers and politicians.
Till now, special CBI courts have pronounced their judgements in 30 cases and more than 230 accused have been convicted.
Former railways minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra were accused in five fodder scam cases.link
Even I can succeed Advani, says Shatrughan Sinha
With raging dissent in BJP coming out in the open, a senior party MP felt all is not well within the party where some leaders have been divulging to the media matters transpiring inside party fora.
Film star-turned-MP, Shatrughan Sinha said there were some leaders whose dreams have been shattered after the party's poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls and they were leaking matters raised at the party fora to the media.
"Leakage of matters raised inside the party reflects that all is not well within the organisation," the MP from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar told reporters.
On who will succeed L K Advani, who is at present leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sinha said, "It can be anyone. May be even me. But Advani is not leaving. He is acceptable to all workers and will be leading the party."
Sinha said points raised by senior party leaders Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Jaswant Singh should be given due importance.
"They have been with BJP since its inception and hence the party leadership should seriously deliberate on the points raised by them," he said.
The three leaders had attacked the party leadership for not taking responsibility for BJP's debacle and opened the can of worms by airing their views in the media while analysing the defeat.link
Film star-turned-MP, Shatrughan Sinha said there were some leaders whose dreams have been shattered after the party's poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls and they were leaking matters raised at the party fora to the media.
"Leakage of matters raised inside the party reflects that all is not well within the organisation," the MP from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar told reporters.
On who will succeed L K Advani, who is at present leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sinha said, "It can be anyone. May be even me. But Advani is not leaving. He is acceptable to all workers and will be leading the party."
Sinha said points raised by senior party leaders Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Jaswant Singh should be given due importance.
"They have been with BJP since its inception and hence the party leadership should seriously deliberate on the points raised by them," he said.
The three leaders had attacked the party leadership for not taking responsibility for BJP's debacle and opened the can of worms by airing their views in the media while analysing the defeat.link
Monday 29 June 2009
Konwar sworn in as Bihar governor
Former Assam minister Debananda Konwar was on Monday sworn in as the governor of Bihar. Patna High Court's acting Chief Justice Shiva Kirti Singh administered the oath of office and secrecy to Konwar at a simple function at Rajbhavan's Darbar Hall. Konwar, 63, whose appointment as the state governor was notified by the Rashtrapati Bhavan on June 24, succeeds R L Bhatia whose tenure ended last week.
A four-time MLA and a former finance minister in the Tarun Gogoi-led ministry of Assam, Konwar took oath in Hindi. Chief minister Nitish Kumar, Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Choudahry, Legislative Council acting chairman Arun Kumar, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, several ministers and top bureaucrats attended the swearing-in ceremony. Several relatives and friends of Konwar had also arrived from Assam for the occasion. Some Congress leaders were also present to greet him.
Later, the new governor and his wife joined Nitish and other dignitaries for high tea. Nitish said the appointment of Konwar was a good sign for better relations between Assam and Bihar. "The governor is now a Bihari and he will certainly be of great help in maintaining cordial relations between the two states," he said wishing Konwar success.
A four-time MLA and a former finance minister in the Tarun Gogoi-led ministry of Assam, Konwar took oath in Hindi. Chief minister Nitish Kumar, Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Choudahry, Legislative Council acting chairman Arun Kumar, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, several ministers and top bureaucrats attended the swearing-in ceremony. Several relatives and friends of Konwar had also arrived from Assam for the occasion. Some Congress leaders were also present to greet him.
Later, the new governor and his wife joined Nitish and other dignitaries for high tea. Nitish said the appointment of Konwar was a good sign for better relations between Assam and Bihar. "The governor is now a Bihari and he will certainly be of great help in maintaining cordial relations between the two states," he said wishing Konwar success.
Tuesday 23 June 2009
Banning Maoists not a solution: Lalu
RJD leader Lalu Prasad today said the Centre's decision to ban Maoists was not a solution and called for an all-party meeting to discuss threadbare the measures to be taken to end the problem.
"Banning the Maoists is neither a solution nor treatment. It is a delicate issue which cannot be resolved with application of force," Prasad told a press conference.
It would be better if a permanent solution to the problem was found and for it the Centre should call an all-party meeting to discuss how to resolve the vexed issue, he said.
Noting that the root of the problem was in poverty and non-development, Prasad said the representatives of the misguided Maoist rebels should be invited for a dialogue to end the problem.
Due to the ban the ultras might float a new group and become more intense in their acts of violence to press for their cause, he said.
"The ban is being considered to be an eyewash keeping in mind the Maoists laying siege to Lalgarh in West Bengal. It is a step taken in haste," the former Railway minister said. "The issue needs to be politically and cautiously solved," he said.
He said it was "unfortunate" that Naxalites had expanded their area of operation in Bihar after the NDA came to power.
"Banning the Maoists is neither a solution nor treatment. It is a delicate issue which cannot be resolved with application of force," Prasad told a press conference.
It would be better if a permanent solution to the problem was found and for it the Centre should call an all-party meeting to discuss how to resolve the vexed issue, he said.
Noting that the root of the problem was in poverty and non-development, Prasad said the representatives of the misguided Maoist rebels should be invited for a dialogue to end the problem.
Due to the ban the ultras might float a new group and become more intense in their acts of violence to press for their cause, he said.
"The ban is being considered to be an eyewash keeping in mind the Maoists laying siege to Lalgarh in West Bengal. It is a step taken in haste," the former Railway minister said. "The issue needs to be politically and cautiously solved," he said.
He said it was "unfortunate" that Naxalites had expanded their area of operation in Bihar after the NDA came to power.
Thursday 18 June 2009
Bihar cop in league of top mathematicians
An ADG-rank IPS officer of Bihar Amrik Singh Nimbran has joined the select league of world's top mathematicians with his new formulae for computing the value of `pi' having been uploaded on http://www.machination.eclipse.co.uk.
The website is jointly edited by well-known maths wizards Michael Roby Wetherfield of the UK and Prof Hwang Chien-lih of National Taiwan University, Taipei.
A collection of identities for computing the value of `pi', discovered by Nimbran during 2007-08, were sent to the two mathematicians on June 1, 2009. Four of these made their way to the website on June 7, 2009. In a subsequent e-mail to Nimbran, Wetherfield acknowledged that "stimulated by your (Nimbran's) results, I generated new identities myself within a week".
Nimbran came up with two more formulae this month. These two too Wetherfield and Chien-lih uploaded on their website. "I am surprised by your super ability about finding new excellent identities!" Chien-lih wrote to Nimbran in a congratulatory mail.
`Pi' is a mysterious number that denotes the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. In general parlance, its value is taken as 22/7 which is just an approximation. Mathematicians across the world have been fascinated by this number and research has been going on to find a better approximation. Therefore, any formula which gives a better value of the `pi' in the shortest possible time is welcome in the mathematical world.
The Bihar cop has been engaged in mathematical research actively for over a decade and some of his research papers have been published in reputed journals brought out by Bihar Mathematical Society, Indian Mathematical Society and National Council of Educational Research and Training. His papers were also sent to the journals of London Mathematical Society and Fib Quarterly of The Fibonacci Association (USA) which commented favourably on the works of Nimbran.
A BA with economics and maths as optionals, Nimbran was the first non-mathematician to give an elementary proof of Fermat's last theorem for a cube in which he had proved that no integral cube number can be broken into two integral cube numbers. Prof K C Prasad of Ranchi University and Prof Emeritus Tej Narain Sinha of Bhagalpur University, who are regarded as the authority on Tarry-Escott problem (on numbers), expressed surprise on seeing Nimbran's proof.
"I was inspired by reading the works of great Indian mathematician S Ramanujan," Nimbran told TOI. He said he evaluates the value of `pi' through different approaches using Inverse Tangent Function which was first used by John Machin in 1706 and has since been used till date to find the value of `pi'.
"Now there are only three leading authorities on `pi' in the world --Wetherfield, Lih and Jorg Arndt of Australian National University," Nimbran said. He was modest enough not to include his name in the league.
The website is jointly edited by well-known maths wizards Michael Roby Wetherfield of the UK and Prof Hwang Chien-lih of National Taiwan University, Taipei.
A collection of identities for computing the value of `pi', discovered by Nimbran during 2007-08, were sent to the two mathematicians on June 1, 2009. Four of these made their way to the website on June 7, 2009. In a subsequent e-mail to Nimbran, Wetherfield acknowledged that "stimulated by your (Nimbran's) results, I generated new identities myself within a week".
Nimbran came up with two more formulae this month. These two too Wetherfield and Chien-lih uploaded on their website. "I am surprised by your super ability about finding new excellent identities!" Chien-lih wrote to Nimbran in a congratulatory mail.
`Pi' is a mysterious number that denotes the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. In general parlance, its value is taken as 22/7 which is just an approximation. Mathematicians across the world have been fascinated by this number and research has been going on to find a better approximation. Therefore, any formula which gives a better value of the `pi' in the shortest possible time is welcome in the mathematical world.
The Bihar cop has been engaged in mathematical research actively for over a decade and some of his research papers have been published in reputed journals brought out by Bihar Mathematical Society, Indian Mathematical Society and National Council of Educational Research and Training. His papers were also sent to the journals of London Mathematical Society and Fib Quarterly of The Fibonacci Association (USA) which commented favourably on the works of Nimbran.
A BA with economics and maths as optionals, Nimbran was the first non-mathematician to give an elementary proof of Fermat's last theorem for a cube in which he had proved that no integral cube number can be broken into two integral cube numbers. Prof K C Prasad of Ranchi University and Prof Emeritus Tej Narain Sinha of Bhagalpur University, who are regarded as the authority on Tarry-Escott problem (on numbers), expressed surprise on seeing Nimbran's proof.
"I was inspired by reading the works of great Indian mathematician S Ramanujan," Nimbran told TOI. He said he evaluates the value of `pi' through different approaches using Inverse Tangent Function which was first used by John Machin in 1706 and has since been used till date to find the value of `pi'.
"Now there are only three leading authorities on `pi' in the world --Wetherfield, Lih and Jorg Arndt of Australian National University," Nimbran said. He was modest enough not to include his name in the league.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
