The Bihar government is trying out innovative ways to involve the transgenders in socially useful work.
It has successfully used the services of transgenders to recover taxes from habitual defaulters in Patna.
Now, the social welfare department plans to rehabilitate them - in a first such rehabilitation scheme for transgenders.
Bihar Social Welfare Minister Damodar Raut told that the government would soon launch a plan for the rehabilitation of transgenders. "It is in the pipeline. The rehabilitation scheme for transgenders will be a reality in the state soon," he said.
"Transgenders will be provided literacy and vocational training to prepare them for respectable regular employment. It will give them the opportunity to enhance their socio-economic status," said Masood Hassan, director of the social welfare department.
The transgenders will be trained free of cost, he said.
Sources in the department said the selected transgenders would be trained as drivers, cooks and guards for residential apartments, while some others would be provided training in handicrafts, painting or computer applications.
Mr. Hassan said the social welfare department had already invited applications from recognised NGOs to conduct a survey of transgenders to collect information about them before implementing the rehabilitation scheme.
The department also plans to engage some transgenders to popularise the state government's women and child welfare schemes, an official said.
Transgenders visit families on auspicious occasions across the state. "Their visits would be more fruitful if they can be engaged to propagate government schemes," the official said.
Last year, transgenders in the State had formed welfare associations demanding the right to employment, marriage and child adoption among other things.
Referring to the position of transgenders in the Mughal empire, Kali Hijra, a leader of the transgenders, said they would be employed to guard the harems and some even became the aides of queens.
"We have suffered a lot for centuries and most of us live in abject poverty. We want restoration of our recognition on the pattern of the Mughal era," Kali Hijra said. link
Monday 13 July 2009
Saturday 11 July 2009
Daughters are no longer a burden in Bihar
The government of Bihar has launched the Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojna scheme to help the poor fathers with financial aid to married off their daughters well. This decision of the state government has brought a glow into the eyes of the poor parents. The government scheme has put an end to the bad days of poor fathers.
Under the scheme, the state government will provide a financial help of Rs 5,000 for a girl’s marriage to the families whose annual income is below Rs 60,000.
In the financial year 2008-09, the state government under the scheme has distributed around Rs 40 million to more than 78 thousand poor families.
Government will only provide the money for the girls who are married off at their standard age ie, 18 years.
Poor families who married off their daughters before the age of 18 years will not receive this government assistance.
This scheme will not only provide financial support to the girls of poor families in getting married, but will also help in getting rid of the social stigmas like child marriage and dowry.
In Bihar, family planning survey conducted so far revealed that 51.5 per cent of the girls are married off and are sent to their in-laws before their standard age. In Jahanabad, West Chanparn, Nalanda, Supaul, Madhubani, Vaishali, Jamui district, more than 60 per cent of the girls are married of before the age of 18 years. Twenty two districts of the state suffer from the same condition.link
Under the scheme, the state government will provide a financial help of Rs 5,000 for a girl’s marriage to the families whose annual income is below Rs 60,000.
In the financial year 2008-09, the state government under the scheme has distributed around Rs 40 million to more than 78 thousand poor families.
Government will only provide the money for the girls who are married off at their standard age ie, 18 years.
Poor families who married off their daughters before the age of 18 years will not receive this government assistance.
This scheme will not only provide financial support to the girls of poor families in getting married, but will also help in getting rid of the social stigmas like child marriage and dowry.
In Bihar, family planning survey conducted so far revealed that 51.5 per cent of the girls are married off and are sent to their in-laws before their standard age. In Jahanabad, West Chanparn, Nalanda, Supaul, Madhubani, Vaishali, Jamui district, more than 60 per cent of the girls are married of before the age of 18 years. Twenty two districts of the state suffer from the same condition.link
Friday 10 July 2009
Regional cancer centre to come up at IGIMS
Efforts are on to set up a state-of-the-art regional cancer centre at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) here, Bihar&aposs Minister for Health N K Yadav told the state assembly.
Replying to a short-notice question of Vinod Narain Jha (BJP) and subsequent supplementaries from RJD&aposs Shakeel Ahmed Khan, Ramchandra Purve and Ramdas Rai, Yadav said the central government had approved a proposal for setting up a regional cancer centre at the IGIMS, equipped with modern facilities.
He said the government was also making efforts to add bone marrow transplant facilities at the centre.
The minister said around one lakh people from the state were receiving medicare from the cancer units at the IGIMS, Patna Medical College and Hospital, and Mahavir Cancer Institute here, even as he admitted that patients were going to Delhi and Mumbai for treatment at advance stages of the disease.link
Replying to a short-notice question of Vinod Narain Jha (BJP) and subsequent supplementaries from RJD&aposs Shakeel Ahmed Khan, Ramchandra Purve and Ramdas Rai, Yadav said the central government had approved a proposal for setting up a regional cancer centre at the IGIMS, equipped with modern facilities.
He said the government was also making efforts to add bone marrow transplant facilities at the centre.
The minister said around one lakh people from the state were receiving medicare from the cancer units at the IGIMS, Patna Medical College and Hospital, and Mahavir Cancer Institute here, even as he admitted that patients were going to Delhi and Mumbai for treatment at advance stages of the disease.link
One killed, six injured in Bihar court blast
A man was killed and six others injured, one of them seriously, in a bomb blast inside an advocate's chamber in the district court premises here today.
Bhojpur police superintendent Sunil Kumar said the crude bomb was tied to the waist of the man and exploded when he entered the chamber and was about to take a seat.
The six -- four lawyers and two clients -- present in the chamber were injured in the blast, he said. The police captain said the condition of the advocate, one of the injured, is serious and has been rushed to Patna Medical College and Hospital for further treatment.
The security of the court premises has been beefed up in view of the blast, the SP said, adding the investigation is on. District Magistrate Safina A N visited the sadar hospital where the injured were admitted and instructed the authorities to provide prompt treatment to those injured in the blast.link
Bhojpur police superintendent Sunil Kumar said the crude bomb was tied to the waist of the man and exploded when he entered the chamber and was about to take a seat.
The six -- four lawyers and two clients -- present in the chamber were injured in the blast, he said. The police captain said the condition of the advocate, one of the injured, is serious and has been rushed to Patna Medical College and Hospital for further treatment.
The security of the court premises has been beefed up in view of the blast, the SP said, adding the investigation is on. District Magistrate Safina A N visited the sadar hospital where the injured were admitted and instructed the authorities to provide prompt treatment to those injured in the blast.link
Bihar govt asked to appoint conservator for tiger reserve
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
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
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
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