Two Patna students were selected to represent Bihar as Asian finalists at the Horlicks Wizkids 2009, the country's largest inter-school literary and cultural fiesta.
The two students are Chitranshu Tiwary of Don Bosco Academy and Akansha Singh of Notre Dame Academy. They will go to Bangalore to participate in the final event.
Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, who gave away prizes to the winners, was impressed with the talent and confidence exhibited by the children and advised schools to regularly organize debates to develop the communicative skill of the children.
Modi also advised the organizers to hold such events for the students of government schools who mainly belong to poor sections of the society. He said the students of public schools should also visit the slum areas or villages and take up the challenge to teach a few childred there.
About 5,000 students from 48 schools of Patna took part in over 30 electrifying, enjoyable and action-packed literary, art, talent and cultural events. Syed Sultan Ahmad, who anchored the programme, continued non-stop for about eight hours giving messages to the children to dream and think big. Khurshid Ahmad of Advantage Services asked students to learn time management for better utilisation of the 24 hours they have.link
Wednesday 12 August 2009
MLA, 7 others get life term for Bihar neta’s murder
A local court on Wednesday awarded life imprisonment to eight people, including a ruling JD(U) MLA and a former LJP MP, in the sensational murder case of former Bihar minister Brij Bihari Prasad on June 13, 1998. Another JD(U) MLA was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for harbouring the assailants.
Additional district and sessions judge-III Vijay Prakash Mishra awarded life term to former LJP MP Surajbhan Singh, JD(U) MLA Vijay Kumar Shukla alias Munna Shukla and former independent MLA Rajan Tiwari. JD(U) MLA Shashi Kumar Rai, on whose residential premises the vehicles used by the assailants were found parked, was awarded two years’ imprisonment.
Others awarded life sentence are: Mantu Tiwari, Lallan Singh, Mukesh Singh, Ram Niranjan Chaudhary and Captain Sunil. The eight have also been imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 each.
Brij Bihari, an accused in the engineering admissions scam investigated by CBI, was gunned down while he was strolling in the garden of Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, where he was admitted for treatment under judicial custody. His security guard Lakshmeshwar Sah was also killed.
CBI, which probed the murder case, submitted chargesheet against 17 accused. Three of them were killed in an encounter with Ghaziabad police, two others died natural death while another accused committed suicide in jail in November 2007. Two of the accused — Satish Pandey and Naga Singh — are still absconding.
CBI special public prosecutor Rakesh Kumar examined 62 prosecution witnesses to submit that the accused reached the hospital on a Tata Sumo and an Ambassador car and opened fire to kill Brij Bihari around 8.15 pm. Mantu used a stengun while the other seven assailants used pistols and revolvers. Brij Bihari’s wife Rama Devi, currently BJP MP from Sheohar, was complainant in this case.
As many as 18 prosecution witnesses turned hostile during the trial. The defence counsel cross-examined the prosecution witnesses but did not produce any defence witness. The CBI counsel argued for capital punishment to the convicts, pleading that the killings fell in the category of the rarest of rare cases. However, the court disallowed his plea.link
Additional district and sessions judge-III Vijay Prakash Mishra awarded life term to former LJP MP Surajbhan Singh, JD(U) MLA Vijay Kumar Shukla alias Munna Shukla and former independent MLA Rajan Tiwari. JD(U) MLA Shashi Kumar Rai, on whose residential premises the vehicles used by the assailants were found parked, was awarded two years’ imprisonment.
Others awarded life sentence are: Mantu Tiwari, Lallan Singh, Mukesh Singh, Ram Niranjan Chaudhary and Captain Sunil. The eight have also been imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 each.
Brij Bihari, an accused in the engineering admissions scam investigated by CBI, was gunned down while he was strolling in the garden of Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, where he was admitted for treatment under judicial custody. His security guard Lakshmeshwar Sah was also killed.
CBI, which probed the murder case, submitted chargesheet against 17 accused. Three of them were killed in an encounter with Ghaziabad police, two others died natural death while another accused committed suicide in jail in November 2007. Two of the accused — Satish Pandey and Naga Singh — are still absconding.
CBI special public prosecutor Rakesh Kumar examined 62 prosecution witnesses to submit that the accused reached the hospital on a Tata Sumo and an Ambassador car and opened fire to kill Brij Bihari around 8.15 pm. Mantu used a stengun while the other seven assailants used pistols and revolvers. Brij Bihari’s wife Rama Devi, currently BJP MP from Sheohar, was complainant in this case.
As many as 18 prosecution witnesses turned hostile during the trial. The defence counsel cross-examined the prosecution witnesses but did not produce any defence witness. The CBI counsel argued for capital punishment to the convicts, pleading that the killings fell in the category of the rarest of rare cases. However, the court disallowed his plea.link
Tuesday 11 August 2009
People with 40% disability to get monthly pension in Bihar
The Bihar cabinet today decided to give pensions to those with 40 per cent disability removing the earlier criteria that the disabled persons should have an annual income of Rs 30,000 to be eligible for the pension.
The cabinet has done away with the earlier system under which disabled persons having annual income of upto Rs 30,000 were entitled to get a monthly pension of Rs 200, principal secretary, cabinet and coordination department, Girish Shanker told reporters.
Now anyone with 40 per cent disability would be entitled to the pension, Shanker said adding that about 25 lakh disabled people are likely to benefit from the scheme.
The cabinet also decided to provide Rs 200 monthly pension to widows of the families having an annual income of upto Rs 60,000 under the Laxmibai Social Security pension scheme.
Earlier, widows of the BPL families were only covered under the scheme. Widows of about three lakh families would get the benefit of this scheme, Shanker said.
The cabinet also sanctioned Rs 37.26 crore to provide subsidy to the farmers to purchase power tillers. It also cleared a sum of Rs 6.24 crore to strengthen the Bihar State Remote Sensing Application Centre.
A sum of Rs 74.66 crore was also sanctioned for the payment of salary of madrassas' teaching and non-teaching employees.
The cabinet has done away with the earlier system under which disabled persons having annual income of upto Rs 30,000 were entitled to get a monthly pension of Rs 200, principal secretary, cabinet and coordination department, Girish Shanker told reporters.
Now anyone with 40 per cent disability would be entitled to the pension, Shanker said adding that about 25 lakh disabled people are likely to benefit from the scheme.
The cabinet also decided to provide Rs 200 monthly pension to widows of the families having an annual income of upto Rs 60,000 under the Laxmibai Social Security pension scheme.
Earlier, widows of the BPL families were only covered under the scheme. Widows of about three lakh families would get the benefit of this scheme, Shanker said.
The cabinet also sanctioned Rs 37.26 crore to provide subsidy to the farmers to purchase power tillers. It also cleared a sum of Rs 6.24 crore to strengthen the Bihar State Remote Sensing Application Centre.
A sum of Rs 74.66 crore was also sanctioned for the payment of salary of madrassas' teaching and non-teaching employees.
BIADA to reinstate sacked staff
The Patna High Court on Monday disposed of a Letters Patent Appeal (LPA) of the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) on its submission that it would reinstate the 108 employees whose services it had terminated.
A division bench presided by acting Chief Justice Shivakirti Singh and Justice Anjana Prakash disposed of the petition when additional advocate general Lalit Kishore submitted that BIADA had recently got an undertaking from the association of the terminated employees that they would not resort to strike and maintain discipline. On the basis of this undertaking, BIADA is going to reinstate them, he added.
BIADA had filed the LPA challenging the decision of a single bench of the Patna High Court, which had set aside the order of termination of the employees after they refused to go on contract. Soon after their termination, the employees had resorted to strike.
Panchayats:
A single bench presided by Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi on Monday directed the state government to file a counter affidavit to writ petitions of the mukhiyas of four gram panchayats -Paspura, Ulao, Singhol and Mohammadpur Raghunathpur, challenging the government decision to bring the four panchayats under the Bhagalpur municipal corporation.
Mukhiyas Rajendra Das, Vishnu Priya, Uday Shankar Mishra and Meena Devi have challenged the government move on the ground that the gram panchayats were elected for five years under the provisions of the Constitution and Bihar Panchayat Raj Act.
Petitioners' counsel M P Gupta submitted the four gram panchayats cannot be made a part of the Bhagalpur municipal corporation before completion of their five-year term. link
A division bench presided by acting Chief Justice Shivakirti Singh and Justice Anjana Prakash disposed of the petition when additional advocate general Lalit Kishore submitted that BIADA had recently got an undertaking from the association of the terminated employees that they would not resort to strike and maintain discipline. On the basis of this undertaking, BIADA is going to reinstate them, he added.
BIADA had filed the LPA challenging the decision of a single bench of the Patna High Court, which had set aside the order of termination of the employees after they refused to go on contract. Soon after their termination, the employees had resorted to strike.
Panchayats:
A single bench presided by Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi on Monday directed the state government to file a counter affidavit to writ petitions of the mukhiyas of four gram panchayats -Paspura, Ulao, Singhol and Mohammadpur Raghunathpur, challenging the government decision to bring the four panchayats under the Bhagalpur municipal corporation.
Mukhiyas Rajendra Das, Vishnu Priya, Uday Shankar Mishra and Meena Devi have challenged the government move on the ground that the gram panchayats were elected for five years under the provisions of the Constitution and Bihar Panchayat Raj Act.
Petitioners' counsel M P Gupta submitted the four gram panchayats cannot be made a part of the Bhagalpur municipal corporation before completion of their five-year term. link
Monday 10 August 2009
Improvement in human development in Bihar: Report
The primary results of Bihar's first Human Development Index (HDI) indicate that there has been improvement in the human development compared to the past due to better facilities created in the education and health sector.
The HDI value has gradually increased since 1981, but Bihar has been lagging far behind among the 15 major states. The indicators used for districts in Bihar to construct composite index are per capita district domestic product, adult literacy and infant survival rate, said project head Jagdish Prasad who is a senior faculty member of A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies (ANSISS).
The ANSISS has been entrusted with the task of preparation of Human Development Report (HDR). The project, which was sponsored by the department of planning and development, Government of Bihar, is likely to be completed by next month.
A substantial difference across districts has been found. Prasad told that there is a large regional disparity in the state which needs attention from development policy point of view.
He said that the indicators of HDI will certainly help Bihar to integrate human development concerns into its development strategies. He said that along with HDI, human population index and gross development index and district development index would also be prepared so that sectoral gap could be identified.
The report will consist of 14 chapters which mainly include development challenges and specifications of Bihar, human development in Bihar, health and nutrition, agrarian economy, social security, environment issues, gender equality and district development index: a comparative view and a road ahead.
Recently, the ANSISS had organized a day long workshop to introduce the theme of the HDR. It was also aimed at getting feedbacks from the experts of different fields on the coverage of the subject in the report. It was essential as the HDR would be an independent assessment of human development in the state, Prasad told.
Bihar's principal secretary, planning, Rameshwar Singh said that the HDR would be marked as beginning of new developed Bihar. It would be the first step towards monitoring the process of development in a manner that directly captures the quality of life of the state, Singh said.
Singh said that a major objective of the HDR was to bring about a certain consensus on the adoption of the human development approach in Bihar. The final report is likely to be submitted to the government next month, said an official.link
The HDI value has gradually increased since 1981, but Bihar has been lagging far behind among the 15 major states. The indicators used for districts in Bihar to construct composite index are per capita district domestic product, adult literacy and infant survival rate, said project head Jagdish Prasad who is a senior faculty member of A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies (ANSISS).
The ANSISS has been entrusted with the task of preparation of Human Development Report (HDR). The project, which was sponsored by the department of planning and development, Government of Bihar, is likely to be completed by next month.
A substantial difference across districts has been found. Prasad told that there is a large regional disparity in the state which needs attention from development policy point of view.
He said that the indicators of HDI will certainly help Bihar to integrate human development concerns into its development strategies. He said that along with HDI, human population index and gross development index and district development index would also be prepared so that sectoral gap could be identified.
The report will consist of 14 chapters which mainly include development challenges and specifications of Bihar, human development in Bihar, health and nutrition, agrarian economy, social security, environment issues, gender equality and district development index: a comparative view and a road ahead.
Recently, the ANSISS had organized a day long workshop to introduce the theme of the HDR. It was also aimed at getting feedbacks from the experts of different fields on the coverage of the subject in the report. It was essential as the HDR would be an independent assessment of human development in the state, Prasad told.
Bihar's principal secretary, planning, Rameshwar Singh said that the HDR would be marked as beginning of new developed Bihar. It would be the first step towards monitoring the process of development in a manner that directly captures the quality of life of the state, Singh said.
Singh said that a major objective of the HDR was to bring about a certain consensus on the adoption of the human development approach in Bihar. The final report is likely to be submitted to the government next month, said an official.link
39 encephalitis deaths, high alert in Bihar
After the death of at least 39 children in Bihar in the past 15 days, a high alert was sounded in Bihar, health officials said here Monday.
Most of the deaths took place at Patna Medical College and Hospital in the last two weeks.
“Several more children are in various hospitals for treatment,” Sanjata Roy Choudhary, head of the paediatric department at the hospital, told.
All the dead were below 10 years and from poor families, she said, adding she also suspected that two or three children died of Japanese encephalitis.
According to hospital officials, most of the fatalities were from different villages in the flood prone districts of Muzaffarpur and Vaishali in northern Bihar.
Choudhary said that she had already informed the departments concerned of the spread of the disease in the region.
Encephalitis, transmitted by a mosquito bite, is a viral infection occurring throughout south, south east and east Asia.link
Sunday 9 August 2009
Poverty, hunger drive elderly couple in Bihar to suicide
Poverty and hunger forced an elderly couple in a Bihar village to commit suicide, villagers said Sunday. However, a local official maintained the couple died of cancer but was unable to explain how the deaths occurred at the same time.
Farm labourers Inderdeo Mahto and his wife Kari Devi, both in their 60s and residents of Khushalpur village in Gaya district, allegedly consumed poison Saturday after going without food for days as they found no work since early July, villagers claimed.
'They were left in the lurch, no one helped them and hunger forced them to commit suicide,' Manoj Prasad, a villager, said.
'Mahto and his wife used to work as farm labourers to earn their livelihood but for over a month, there was no work available because of the drought like situation and people were reluctant to hire them for other jobs due to their age. He was not supported by his two sons, both of whom live separately and also work as labourers,' Suresh Singh, another resident of the village, said.
Village council head Rambha Devi also told Sunday that the couple died due to poverty and hunger.
The names of the couple reportedly did not figure in the list of those below poverty line (BPL). Villagers said the couple had requested authorities to add their names to the list but this was not done. However, both of Mahto's sons figure in the list.
Block Development Officer (BDO) Shivnarain Singh said the couple died of cancer but was unable to explain how the deaths occurred at the same time.
Police have recovered the bodies and sent them for post mortem. A case has been filed.
Scanty rainfall has affected millions of farmers in Bihar as transplanting of paddy seedlings has been badly hit. The state has seen a deficit of 43 percent rainfall so far in this monsoon season.
The state government admitted that a drought-like situation was prevailing in 32 of the state's 38 districts and has set up a crisis management team, headed by Chief Secretary Anup Mukherjee, for measures to tackle the situation.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has called an all-party meeting here Sunday to discuss the issue. The government is considering declaring some worst affected districts drought-hit.link
Farm labourers Inderdeo Mahto and his wife Kari Devi, both in their 60s and residents of Khushalpur village in Gaya district, allegedly consumed poison Saturday after going without food for days as they found no work since early July, villagers claimed.
'They were left in the lurch, no one helped them and hunger forced them to commit suicide,' Manoj Prasad, a villager, said.
'Mahto and his wife used to work as farm labourers to earn their livelihood but for over a month, there was no work available because of the drought like situation and people were reluctant to hire them for other jobs due to their age. He was not supported by his two sons, both of whom live separately and also work as labourers,' Suresh Singh, another resident of the village, said.
Village council head Rambha Devi also told Sunday that the couple died due to poverty and hunger.
The names of the couple reportedly did not figure in the list of those below poverty line (BPL). Villagers said the couple had requested authorities to add their names to the list but this was not done. However, both of Mahto's sons figure in the list.
Block Development Officer (BDO) Shivnarain Singh said the couple died of cancer but was unable to explain how the deaths occurred at the same time.
Police have recovered the bodies and sent them for post mortem. A case has been filed.
Scanty rainfall has affected millions of farmers in Bihar as transplanting of paddy seedlings has been badly hit. The state has seen a deficit of 43 percent rainfall so far in this monsoon season.
The state government admitted that a drought-like situation was prevailing in 32 of the state's 38 districts and has set up a crisis management team, headed by Chief Secretary Anup Mukherjee, for measures to tackle the situation.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has called an all-party meeting here Sunday to discuss the issue. The government is considering declaring some worst affected districts drought-hit.link
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