National Institute of Design to overhaul Patna museum

Government of Bihar has approached National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad to overhaul Patna museum. Department of culture and youth, Bihar has approached NID to take up the project. Two faculty members Anil Sinha, senior faculty in graphic design and co-ordinator of NID's design consulting services and Mihir Bholey, faculty of interdisciplinary design studies, recently visited Patna to conduct a two-day workshop with historians, archaeologists, academicians, architects, museologists and senior bureaucrats.

Bihar government approached the institute for this project soon after NID designed a logo for Bihar Tourism. "I had visited the museum and done a detailed study of the building, its spaces and the display currently given to things. The workshop covered all aspects of current condition of the museum, right from the entrance and window ticket to the use of natural and artificial lights and porches," said Sinha.

"The presentation was divided into two distinct parts. I covered design part of the museum and Bholey covered the communication aspect. In the workshop, there was a lot of criticism about the condition of things in the museum and authorities took it well," added Sinha. Their recommendations included arranging artefacts in a story form.link

Bhojpuri superstar Manoj Tiwari's nephew held for murder

Superstar of Bhojpuri cinema Manoj Tiwari's nephew Rakesh Tiwari was arrested for allegedly killing a woman in Bihar's Kaimur district, police said Monday.

Rakesh, accused of killing young married woman Punam Devi, was arrested late Sunday night, a police officer said.

Rakesh allegedly killed Punam after she refused his overtures. "Some villagers told police that Punam was against the relationship. This angered Rakesh and he killed her," the officer added.

Punam was found dead on Sep 24 in her parents' house in Kaimur district. Rakesh had denied his involvement in the murder case. link

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar orders probe into police high-handedness

Following allegations of high-handed attitude of police at a village in Buxar district, a probe was today ordered by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

A complaint was made to the Inspector General of Police ( Patna Zone) seeking legal action against policemen who allegedly assaulted residents of Mukundpur village yesterday when they went to arrest a man named in an FIR for atrocities on a woman, official sources said.

Angry villagers had attacked the policemen, injuring two, leading to retaliation by the authorities, the sources said.link

Security alert for Durga Puja in Bihar

High security alert has been sounded in Bihar ahead of Durga puja to ensure peace and harmony in communally sensitive areas of the state.

Patrolling has been intensified in communally sensitive areas. Two companies of Rapid Action Force (RAF) have taken position in Patna and Bhagalpur, Additional Director General of Police (headquarters) Neelmani told reporters.

In more communally-sensitive areas, the RAF would stage flag march once in a day to instill confidence among the people, while extra security arrangements have been made to protect all vital installations, including properties of the Railways and Centre.

Besides, patrolling has also been intensified in communally-sensitive pockets in Patna, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Madhubani and West Champaran districts.

Static deployment of Bihar Military Police and district armed police personnel has been made in vulnerable areas to prevent any untoward incident, he said.link

Nitish orders probe into rumours about mehendi and milk

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said vested interests were behind spread of rumours of skin rashes after applying 'mehendi' and contamination of milk supplied by a state-run diary firm and asked the police to go into the matter.

"The rumours have been fanned by vested interests to spike the festive spirit on the occasion of Eid....The milk pouches have been found contamination-free," Kumar said adding that it seemed to be part of a bigger conspiracy.

The Chief Minister has asked the ADG (headquarters) Neelmani to thoroughly investigate it and bring the guilty to book.

With rumours about supply of contaminated milk, angry residents had yesterday destroyed hundreds of pouches of milk manufactured by a state-run dairy firm.link

Unpaid teachers will not celebrate Eid or Dussehra

Over 10,000 teachers of colleges and universities in Bihar will not celebrate Eid or Dussehra festival this year as they have not been paid even a paisa for the last four months. Even as the government has sanctioned necessary funds for payment of salaries to the college and university staff, the payment is unlikely to be made before the festivities since most universities have already been closed for Puja vacation.

Taking strong exception to the inordinate delay in payment of monthly salaries to the teachers, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Federation of University (Service) Teachers' Associations of Bihar (Fustab) and Federation of University Teachers' Associations of Bihar (Futab), at its meeting held here on Friday under the joint presidentship of Ram Jatan Sinha and K B Sinha, demanded immediate release of funds to the universities. The government is trying its best to humiliate the teachers by issuing all sorts of "dictates" and compelling them to starve by withholding payment of their salaries, the JAC said.

Instead of following the dictates of the HRD with regard to their daily attendance, the college and university teachers would act as per the provisions of the university Acts and statutes. Teachers have already been discharging their duties efficiently and the university authorities are competent enough to catch hold of the "shirkers", observed the JAC.

JAC conveners Dilip Chaudhary and Sanjay Kumar Singh warned the state government that the teachers would court arrest before the state legislature if their demands were not conceded by it soon. link

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