Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has asked the Bihar government to appoint a full-time conservator in the Valmiki Tiger Reserve in the state at the earliest to ensure better management in the park where tiger-count has declined in the recent years.
Expressing his concern over the fate of tigers, whose number has declined from 30 to 13, and other wildlife in the park spread over 880.78 sq km, Ramesh, in a letter to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, urged him to expedite the process of signing tripartite pact with the Centre so as to avail central assisted fund.
The minister has sought reasons as to why no full-time conservator has been appointed in the park even when there is no dearth of officials, a senior official in the environment ministry said.
The top post in the reserve in Betia in Champaran district had been lying vacant for the last nine months and currently conservator Ashok Prasad has been entrusted with multiple charge of Muzaffarpur, Betia and Siwan forests, he added.
The state of affairs of field staff is equally precarious in the reserve with at least 40 per cent of the total posts lying vacant.
Due to vacancy at the top level, poachers get sufficient security gaps to target the endangered predators.
Except miscellaneous funds to meet the salary of the staff, there is no separate fund allocated by the state for the management and development of the park.link
Friday 10 July 2009
Thursday 9 July 2009
12 injured as Howrah-Dehradun Express derails in Bihar
At least 12 passengers were injured when two coaches of Howrah-Dehradun Express derailed in Bihar's Gaya district on Friday.
"The SLR van and guard's coach of the train jumped the rails near Bilwa station about 50 km from here at about 3.55am," PRO of East Central Railway U K Jha said.
Eye witnesses said the passengers received minor injuries as the train was moving at a slow speed.
The derailed coaches were detached from the train, which resumed journey at 5.55am, Jha said.
There was no disruption in the movement of other trains due to the mishap, he said. link
"The SLR van and guard's coach of the train jumped the rails near Bilwa station about 50 km from here at about 3.55am," PRO of East Central Railway U K Jha said.
Eye witnesses said the passengers received minor injuries as the train was moving at a slow speed.
The derailed coaches were detached from the train, which resumed journey at 5.55am, Jha said.
There was no disruption in the movement of other trains due to the mishap, he said. link
Bihar to enact a law against land grabbing
The Government of Bihar is planning to come out with a legislation in the current session of Legislative assembly to stop illegal and forceful dispossession of lawful owner from his land.
At present, there is no specific law with respect to prevention of forceful and illegal dispossession of lawful owner of land. Such cases are tried in civil courts and take many years to get the matter adjudicated. In fact the aggrieved person has to go to Civil Courts to prove his ‘Title’ over the land in question and naturally burden of proof lies on the petitioners. Thus the aggrieved person has to prove first that the land in question belongs to him, only then the court will order for restoration, for which the aggrieved person has to bring a fresh suit after winning the title. The process obviously is complicated and biased against the law abiding and weak citizens and slated favourably towards land grabbers and land mafia.
Nitish Kumar’s much published and praised experiment of holding Janata ke Darbar me Mukhya Mantri or ‘Chief Minister in the court of public’ programme has been flooded with complaints related to land disputes. Most of the cases, which came before the CM are related to forceful dispossession of land by land mafia or criminals. Since no such powers of restoration of such illegal and forceful dispossessions are vested with executive branch of government, the CM found himself helpless on this issue. He used to send the petitioners either to police or to district collectors for redressal but this was of no use because neither collectors or police has the power to restore back the dispossessed land to the lawful owner. In fact CM’s secretariat got stuffed with such problems and become an issue of much discomfort to the CM.
Taking cue from this problem, CM constituted a committee, which suggested enactment of a legislation to this effect.
The draft of the proposed legislation is ready and likely to get cabinet’s nod within a couple of days. The legislation titled ‘Bihar Land Dispute Redressal Act’ is likely to be put up before the Legislative assembly after approval by the Cabinet. Once this law is passed, Bihar will perhaps become second to Andhra Pradesh only to legislate such law.
It is going to be a land mark in the history because land grabbing and illegal dispossession have become a chronic problem across the country. Lands, especially in urban and metros are becoming costlier day by day and absence of any specific law gives loop to Police and other muscle men to earn fortune.
It would require Union government’s consent also because powers under this proposed law would be conferred on executive branch of government hitherto enjoyed by Civil courts, meaning thereby that some provisions of Civil Procedure Code (CPC), which is a central code, would be amended.
Hopefully this law would pave way for other states also to ponder on this vital issue and frame laws on similar lines.link
At present, there is no specific law with respect to prevention of forceful and illegal dispossession of lawful owner of land. Such cases are tried in civil courts and take many years to get the matter adjudicated. In fact the aggrieved person has to go to Civil Courts to prove his ‘Title’ over the land in question and naturally burden of proof lies on the petitioners. Thus the aggrieved person has to prove first that the land in question belongs to him, only then the court will order for restoration, for which the aggrieved person has to bring a fresh suit after winning the title. The process obviously is complicated and biased against the law abiding and weak citizens and slated favourably towards land grabbers and land mafia.
Nitish Kumar’s much published and praised experiment of holding Janata ke Darbar me Mukhya Mantri or ‘Chief Minister in the court of public’ programme has been flooded with complaints related to land disputes. Most of the cases, which came before the CM are related to forceful dispossession of land by land mafia or criminals. Since no such powers of restoration of such illegal and forceful dispossessions are vested with executive branch of government, the CM found himself helpless on this issue. He used to send the petitioners either to police or to district collectors for redressal but this was of no use because neither collectors or police has the power to restore back the dispossessed land to the lawful owner. In fact CM’s secretariat got stuffed with such problems and become an issue of much discomfort to the CM.
Taking cue from this problem, CM constituted a committee, which suggested enactment of a legislation to this effect.
The draft of the proposed legislation is ready and likely to get cabinet’s nod within a couple of days. The legislation titled ‘Bihar Land Dispute Redressal Act’ is likely to be put up before the Legislative assembly after approval by the Cabinet. Once this law is passed, Bihar will perhaps become second to Andhra Pradesh only to legislate such law.
It is going to be a land mark in the history because land grabbing and illegal dispossession have become a chronic problem across the country. Lands, especially in urban and metros are becoming costlier day by day and absence of any specific law gives loop to Police and other muscle men to earn fortune.
It would require Union government’s consent also because powers under this proposed law would be conferred on executive branch of government hitherto enjoyed by Civil courts, meaning thereby that some provisions of Civil Procedure Code (CPC), which is a central code, would be amended.
Hopefully this law would pave way for other states also to ponder on this vital issue and frame laws on similar lines.link
People uses cowdung cakes to burn dead in Darbhanga
Breaking an age-old tradition, people in a district of the Eastern Indian state of Bihar are turning to cow dung cakes, instead of damp firewood, in order to cremate bodies in what is being considered a revolutionary step aimed at conserving energy.
“We place the kin’s body in a sitting position inside a ditch dug out with the help of villagers and then cover it (body) from all sides with cow dung cakes before setting it afire; this reduces the body to ashes without letting the foul odour from the burning body mix with the air, “ said Ravi Bhusan, a villager from Darbhanga town, some 122km north of Patna. Darbhanga is the only district in Bihar where people have taken to this practice.
“Cremation by this practice is not only cheap and time-saving but is also contributes to the conservation of energy and corrects ecological imbalances,“ he said. Explaining further, he pointed out that according to Hindu mythology, wood from the mango tree was required to cremate the bodies. This meant that a full-grown tree had to be cut down in order to meet demand.
“This had been posing severe threats to forestation in the region. Moreover, the cremation of the bodies by this method had been causing air pollution since the people were using damp firewood to enable the bodies burn fully, causing a great deal of smoke,“ said Dr Vidyanath Jha, a researcher at the botany department of CM Science College, Darbhanga, who has been encouraging the masses to adopt this practice in the interests of protecting nature. There has been a particular threat to mango trees since they are considered very auspicious in Hindu belief.
Officials had said that the practice was normally used only in flood-prone areas where the people found it difficult to consign the body to flames owing to lack of firewood and sufficient space. But today even towns in Darbhnaga were observing this practice.
The state government has in the meantime planned to construct raised platforms at the cremation sites in order to check air pollution and the huge consumption of firewood. “We have worked out a plan under which it will require only about 100 to 120kg of firewood, instead of over 350kg to cremate the bodies; this will indeed check pollution,” said Prem Kumar, a senior official at the public health and engineering department.link
“We place the kin’s body in a sitting position inside a ditch dug out with the help of villagers and then cover it (body) from all sides with cow dung cakes before setting it afire; this reduces the body to ashes without letting the foul odour from the burning body mix with the air, “ said Ravi Bhusan, a villager from Darbhanga town, some 122km north of Patna. Darbhanga is the only district in Bihar where people have taken to this practice.
“Cremation by this practice is not only cheap and time-saving but is also contributes to the conservation of energy and corrects ecological imbalances,“ he said. Explaining further, he pointed out that according to Hindu mythology, wood from the mango tree was required to cremate the bodies. This meant that a full-grown tree had to be cut down in order to meet demand.
“This had been posing severe threats to forestation in the region. Moreover, the cremation of the bodies by this method had been causing air pollution since the people were using damp firewood to enable the bodies burn fully, causing a great deal of smoke,“ said Dr Vidyanath Jha, a researcher at the botany department of CM Science College, Darbhanga, who has been encouraging the masses to adopt this practice in the interests of protecting nature. There has been a particular threat to mango trees since they are considered very auspicious in Hindu belief.
Officials had said that the practice was normally used only in flood-prone areas where the people found it difficult to consign the body to flames owing to lack of firewood and sufficient space. But today even towns in Darbhnaga were observing this practice.
The state government has in the meantime planned to construct raised platforms at the cremation sites in order to check air pollution and the huge consumption of firewood. “We have worked out a plan under which it will require only about 100 to 120kg of firewood, instead of over 350kg to cremate the bodies; this will indeed check pollution,” said Prem Kumar, a senior official at the public health and engineering department.link
Lawyers abstain from civil court
Lawyers of Patna civil court on Thursday abstained from their professional duty on a call of District Bar Association (DBA) in protest against imposition of service tax on lawyers having a legal practice of more than Rs five lakh.
The DBA has given a call for two-day abstention on Thursday and Friday. It has also passed a resolution, condemning attack on a judicial magistrate of Begusarai, S N Ram recently.
DBA president Jaiprakash Singh said lawyers already pay income tax and the imposition of service tax on them, as announced in the Union Budget, is unjustified as the Central government seems to have treated the legal profession as an industry.
Bihar State Lawyers' Association president Ramesh Prasad Singh said the imposition of service tax on lawyers would harm the interests of poor litigants.link
The DBA has given a call for two-day abstention on Thursday and Friday. It has also passed a resolution, condemning attack on a judicial magistrate of Begusarai, S N Ram recently.
DBA president Jaiprakash Singh said lawyers already pay income tax and the imposition of service tax on them, as announced in the Union Budget, is unjustified as the Central government seems to have treated the legal profession as an industry.
Bihar State Lawyers' Association president Ramesh Prasad Singh said the imposition of service tax on lawyers would harm the interests of poor litigants.link
Live telecast of question hour in Bihar legislative Council soon
The live telecast of the one-hour question session of the Bihar legislative Council on TV would soon become a reality. CM Nitish Kumar on Thursday said the government has absolutely no problem with it. Like the state assembly, it can be done in the council also, he said.
Nitish, who was present in the council during zero hour, said that there might be some problem on Friday as question hours in both the assembly and the council start at the same time on that day. This could be sorted out, he said.
Earlier, RJD member Badshah Prasad Azad raised the issue regarding the live telecast of council proceedings on the pattern of the assembly.
Acting chairman Arun Kumar said that the proposal regarding the live telecast of the council was rejected earlier. “Now, the proposal has been sent again,” he said. On July 2, raising this point, Mundrika Singh Yadav (RJD) had said that while question hour proceedings of the state assembly was being telecast live on TV channels, the same was not being done in case of the council.
Ghulam Gaus and Ram Bachan Rai (both RJD) supported Yadav for bringing the matter to the notice of the acting chairman of the council. Kumari Jyoti, Congress, too said that equality should be maintained on this front. link
Nitish, who was present in the council during zero hour, said that there might be some problem on Friday as question hours in both the assembly and the council start at the same time on that day. This could be sorted out, he said.
Earlier, RJD member Badshah Prasad Azad raised the issue regarding the live telecast of council proceedings on the pattern of the assembly.
Acting chairman Arun Kumar said that the proposal regarding the live telecast of the council was rejected earlier. “Now, the proposal has been sent again,” he said. On July 2, raising this point, Mundrika Singh Yadav (RJD) had said that while question hour proceedings of the state assembly was being telecast live on TV channels, the same was not being done in case of the council.
Ghulam Gaus and Ram Bachan Rai (both RJD) supported Yadav for bringing the matter to the notice of the acting chairman of the council. Kumari Jyoti, Congress, too said that equality should be maintained on this front. link
Bihar-Based Husk Power Wins $250K in Business Contest
Husk Power Systems, a Bihar-based start-up that can convert rice husks into electricity, has won an inaugural global business plan competition sponsored by venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Cisco Systems.
The company will receive a $250,000 investment from DFJ and Cisco to help take the technology to the next level.
There were 16 finalists in the “Global Business Plan Competition” for university and business school students. They presented their business plans to judges June 30 from 15 schools in six countries through Cisco’s TelePresence technology.
Members presenting from the Husk Power Systems team were University of Virginia, Darden School of Business 2009 graduates Manoj Sinha and Charles “Chip” Ransler. They launched the company in 2007 with co-founder Gyanesh Pandey, a Bihar-based engineer.
“We’re honored to receive this recognition and opportunity, especially considering the level of competition,” said Ransler, Husk Power’s chief strategy officer.
“We look forward to working with the investment professionals at Cisco and the DFJ Global Network to make Husk Power Systems a pioneer in providing electricity to rural villages in India.”
“With this competition, we certainly witnessed that entrepreneurship has no borders, and we look forward to expanding it to even more universities worldwide next year," said Tim Draper, managing director, DFJ.
“Deciding on just one winner was difficult, especially with this caliber of candidates. We are excited to have chosen Husk Power Systems, which is especially remarkable for its alternative power technology, and we can’t wait to see how this team becomes the next game changer.”
HPS can cost-effectively convert rice husks into electricity, using 35-100 kilowatt “mini power-plants” that deliver power on a pay-for-use service to villages of 2,000—4,000 inhabitants in India’s rice producing regions.
The 31-year-old Sinha, who has an electrical engineering degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and worked at Intel Corp., learned first hand about power shortages in India when he grew up in Bihar.
The system produces enough electricity to supply 300-500 households for 8-10 hours a day. A byproduct is silica, a valuable ingredient in making cement. There are generators in five villages currently, with the hope to expand that to 100 in a few years.
The long-term plan, Ransler told one reporter, is to profit from the global market in credits — earned by avoiding greenhouse-gas emissions, and to sell the benefit.
Husk Power Systems previously won first place in the University of Virginia business plan competition in 2008 and the social innovation competition at the University of Texas at Austin.
Judges evaluated factors including management teams, addressable market size, competitive positioning, barriers, capital efficiency and financial projections. DFJ and Cisco said they will continue to work with the winner and other finalists to mentor the “next wave of disruptive technologies.”
The other India-based finalist in the competition was Kasaragod, Kerala-based Innoz from the LBS College of Engineering. The company developed an SMS text messaging interface for trivia and other information for 300 million Indian cell phone subscribers.link
The company will receive a $250,000 investment from DFJ and Cisco to help take the technology to the next level.
There were 16 finalists in the “Global Business Plan Competition” for university and business school students. They presented their business plans to judges June 30 from 15 schools in six countries through Cisco’s TelePresence technology.
Members presenting from the Husk Power Systems team were University of Virginia, Darden School of Business 2009 graduates Manoj Sinha and Charles “Chip” Ransler. They launched the company in 2007 with co-founder Gyanesh Pandey, a Bihar-based engineer.
“We’re honored to receive this recognition and opportunity, especially considering the level of competition,” said Ransler, Husk Power’s chief strategy officer.
“We look forward to working with the investment professionals at Cisco and the DFJ Global Network to make Husk Power Systems a pioneer in providing electricity to rural villages in India.”
“With this competition, we certainly witnessed that entrepreneurship has no borders, and we look forward to expanding it to even more universities worldwide next year," said Tim Draper, managing director, DFJ.
“Deciding on just one winner was difficult, especially with this caliber of candidates. We are excited to have chosen Husk Power Systems, which is especially remarkable for its alternative power technology, and we can’t wait to see how this team becomes the next game changer.”
HPS can cost-effectively convert rice husks into electricity, using 35-100 kilowatt “mini power-plants” that deliver power on a pay-for-use service to villages of 2,000—4,000 inhabitants in India’s rice producing regions.
The 31-year-old Sinha, who has an electrical engineering degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and worked at Intel Corp., learned first hand about power shortages in India when he grew up in Bihar.
The system produces enough electricity to supply 300-500 households for 8-10 hours a day. A byproduct is silica, a valuable ingredient in making cement. There are generators in five villages currently, with the hope to expand that to 100 in a few years.
The long-term plan, Ransler told one reporter, is to profit from the global market in credits — earned by avoiding greenhouse-gas emissions, and to sell the benefit.
Husk Power Systems previously won first place in the University of Virginia business plan competition in 2008 and the social innovation competition at the University of Texas at Austin.
Judges evaluated factors including management teams, addressable market size, competitive positioning, barriers, capital efficiency and financial projections. DFJ and Cisco said they will continue to work with the winner and other finalists to mentor the “next wave of disruptive technologies.”
The other India-based finalist in the competition was Kasaragod, Kerala-based Innoz from the LBS College of Engineering. The company developed an SMS text messaging interface for trivia and other information for 300 million Indian cell phone subscribers.link
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