Bihar to give 100 acres of land for AMU centre

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said that 100 acres of land would be alloted to Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) for establishment of an education centre in Bihar's Kishanganj district.

"We have decided to give 100 acres of land, free of cost, to AMU for opening its centre in Kishanganj district," Kumar said in a letter faxed to the university's vice-chancellor P K Abdul Azis.

"The AMU centre will be very helpful in imparting quality education to the student of minority community and will improve the educational atmosphere of the state," he said adding that the district is Muslim dominated with poor literacy figures.link

Teacher breaks student's hand

A 10-year-old girl broke her hand after being allegedly assaulted by her school teacher in Madanpur area of Aurangabad district, police said today.

Akhtari Praveen's mother has lodged an FIR against a teacher of Kasturba Gandhi Residential Girls School on September 14, Superintendent of Police Nishant Tiwari said.

"The teacher, incensed over Akhtari's failure to answer a couple of questions, beat her up and broke her hand," Tiwari said while quoting the police complaint.

"I have ordered supervision of the case by the deputy superintendent of police. Action will be taken based on the injury report and preliminary investigations," the SP added.link

BCECEB declares Bihar Polytechnic Entrance Exam 2009 result

The Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board (BCECEB) has declared the results for Bihar Polytechnic Entrance Exam 2009 (Second stage).

The Bihar Polytechnic Entrance Exam 2009 (Second stage) result is available at following link: results

The BCECEB has been constituted by the Government of Bihar to conduct Combined Competitive Entrance Examinations (BCECE) for admission in Graduate level Vocational Courses in Engineering, Medical and Agricultural streams available in the Universities, Colleges and Institutions of the State of Bihar as well as those situated outside Bihar against State Quota seats.

Over 500,000 pray to ancestors in Gaya

Over 500,000 Hindu devotees have come to Bihar’s Gaya town to perform the ‘pinda daan’ ritual for ancestors, officials said Thursday.

“Till date more than five lakh devotees have performed the pinda daan. It was more than what we expected in view of the drought in several states across India,” an official of the Gaya district administration told.

The district authorities said they had estimated that 400,000 devotees would come to Gaya to perform pinda daan during pitrupaksh, a fortnight-long ancestor worship period. But the numbers of devotees have crossed 50,000 already.

“Two days are still to go to offer pinda daan during the pitrupaksh period,” an official said.

Special facilities as well as tight security arrangements have been made for the devotees.

Magadh Commissioner Sanjeev Sinha said: “This time gathering of devotees was more than last year, it was a positive sign”.

Pinda daan was also offered for the king of pop Michael Jackson in Gaya by Suresh Narayan, even though he never met the singer.

“On Sunday I offered pinda daan for the salvation of Michael Jackson as a tribute to him,” said Narayan.

Hindus believe offering pinda daan ensures salvation for the souls of their ancestors.

“The soul keeps wandering till this ritual is performed by male descendants of the dead,” Murari Lal, a priest said.

Pinda daan is traditionally offered by Hindus, but historical records available with priests show that some Muslims also performed the ritual in the past.link

Higher interest rates on PF savings of teachers and staff of minority schools

Depositing provident fund of teachers and non-teaching staff of government-aided secondary schools in PPF accounts, instead of savings accounts, has been made mandatory.

This decision of the Bihar government on Wednesday will ensure higher interest rates on PF savings of teachers and staff of minority schools. The state cabinet also approved over Rs 27 crore as grant for the government-aided minority schools.

The tenure of the Bhagalpur riots commission has been extended till February 25, 2010. It was constituted on February 26, 2006 to probe the cases related to the infamous 1989 riots which had not been pursued by the previous regime. The state cabinet also extended the tenure of the judicial commission probing the police firing at Kahalgaon in January 2008.

Administrative approval has been given for construction of bridges over the Bagmati river at Belsand in Sitamarhi district and another bridge over the same river in Sheohar district. The estimated cost of the two bridges is about Rs 100 crore.

The cabinet also approved funds for preparing a feasibility report and detailed project report for four-laning Gaya-Rajgir-Nalanda NH 82 and Patna-Jehanabad-Gaya-Bodh Gaya NH 83. It also sanctioned over Rs 7.24 crore for DPR for the Bihar State Highway Project I and II.

In another important decision, the cabinet increased the annual income cap for entitlement to free legal aid from the Legal Aid Authority from Rs 25,000 per year to Rs 50,000 per year. It also sanctioned Rs 10 crore as establishment cost for IGIMS-Sheikhpura and allotted funds for the state farmers commission. link

Mithila masters

Painters Satyanarayan Lal Karn and Moti Karn — a husband-wife duo— are some of the few Mithila artists who stringently follow the 5000-year-old tradition of the dying art form. Gathering international acclaim for their work, they are National awardees with a passion for their art. Their work will be on display at the Jamaat Art Gallery from September 15 to October 7.

“We use natural elements to make our art. But we never buy flowers or pluck them; instead we pick them when they fall naturally. We grind these flowers, making natural paint that lasts a life time,” says Satyanarayan, who now teaches at Bal Bhavan in Delhi.

Moti adds, “We are against commercialising our art. That’s why we don’t use brushes or synthetic paint. We use thin broom sticks. Some Mithila painters are using sketch-pens and ink-pens to make quick money. We do not mind if filling in details takes us a month,” she says.

Mithila art, originated in Bihar and the themes painted are religious, social and nature. The work is intricate and usually passed down from mother to daughter.

Moti got trained in the art when she was 8 and realised she didn’t want to study. Her mother Karpudi Devi, an artist of repute, dissuaded her at first. “My mother is well known and had displayed her art in Japan. Eventually she allowed me to paint,” says Moti who has not stopped her son from painting though he prefers graphic designing.

Satyanarayan struggled to learn too. “Mithila art is woman dominated, so I secretly watched my mother, Jagdambad who has won a Padmashree. She realised I was keen to learn and disciplined me. At 10, I charged Rs 5,000 for my first painting. I overcharged because I didn’t want to sell, but when they still bought it I was pleased,” he recalls.

It’s been a long journey for the two. “It’s difficult because in India there’s a trend of Modern and Contemporary art, but traditional art is not given enough importance. It hurts when only Westerners promote and write about our art,” says Satyanarayan.

Struggle has its rewards too. Besides this solo exhibition and patronage from the Gandhi family, their dream to open an institute for Mithila painting in their village in Bihar is coming true. “Only when they live away from the city, will the next generation of painters realise what Mithila art is about,” they add.link

Five killed, seven injured in cylinder blast

Five members of a family, including two women, were today killed and seven others injured when a cooking gas cylinder exploded in a house in Bihar's Khagaria district.

The LPG cylinder exploded at the time of cooking in the house of Pappu Bhagat, head of Bandehra village, killing three persons on the spot, sources said.

Other two died of injuries on way to hospital here, the police said.

The dead persons included two women identified as Shyampyari Devi and Puja Devi.

The injured were admitted to a government hospital here where condition of two was stated to be critical, they said.link