RTI a tool in hands of aam-admi to fight red-tapism

To own a house was the dream of 70-year-old rickshaw puller Mazloom Nadaf which he nurtured throughout his life.

For once, he felt his wish will be realised when he was given Rs 25,000 for a house under Indira Awaas Yozna but little did he know that getting the money from Block Development Officer would be a tough task.

Nadaf, hailing from Madhubani district in Bihar, claims that he was asked to pay a bribe of Rs 5,000 to get the due amount under the scheme.

Four years ago, the Right to Information Act came into being and Nadaf utilised it to the fullest, an NGO that helps educate people on the RTI Act said.

Not only did he get the substantial amount without paying any bribe within 10 days of filing an application, but he also became one of the first persons from Bihar to reap the benefits of the Act.

Later, the remaining portion was also sent to him with which he managed to fulfil his dream of buying a house.

On the eve of the Act completing four years, many a common man like him find themselves empowered.

"Nadaf was the first RTI applicant from Bihar and today many have followed his footsteps. Most of the time you will find Nadaf transporting people who have problems, in his rickshaw. He carries them to some RTI activist," said Ashok Kumar Singh, a member of the NGO.

Manish Sisodiya, an RTI activist in Delhi said, "This is the power of RTI - even an ordinary rickshawala becomes as powerful as the member of Parliament."

In another case, villagers filed different RTI applications and have successfully brought eight villages under the count of the Census.

"Bhawanipur, Bichiya, Naibarti Tadiya, Kailash Nagar Dhakia, Dilshad Nagar, Gokulpur, Mehboobnagar and Kautarniya Ghat were never under the count of the Census. All development work was denied with the excuse that it was not in the map. People were devoid of school, clean drinking water, toilet and all development schemes of the government," Sisodia said.

"People living in this area were considered encroacher of land by the government. We had bright students in this area who got selected in Shastastra Seema Bal but were denied jobs as they did not have a residence proof. They could vote but they did not have a voter I-card," he said.

Finally, these eight villages are recognised and all come under the count of the Census, he said.

"It's a very difficult question. The point here is that it has started having an impact. So to say that it has delivered is going a little far. What I can say that it has started making a major impact on government's functioning," Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah said when asked whether the Act has delivered on the expectations of the common man.

Magadh University 2009 PG Results

Magadh University, Bihar has declared Under Graduate (UG) and Post Graduate (PG) Results For Academic Year 2009.

Magadh University is today one of the largest universities of Bihar and India. The University has developed horizontally and vertically having 24 post Graduate Departments, 44 Constituent and 85 affiliated Colleges, altogether with above 2 lakh students and 2 thousand teachers. Prof. B.N.Pandey, an academician of excellence is the Vice – Chancellor. The university expands over an area comprising of Gaya, Jehanabad, Patna, Nalanda, Nawada and Aurangabad districts. The areas of Bhojpur, Buxar and Rohtas and Kaimur districts have been separated under a new University – Veer Kunwar Singh University, with its headquarters at Ara in October 1992. The headquarters of this university is established at Gaya, about 2.5 Km away from the world famed heritage site of Mahabodhi Mahavihara or the Great Temple.

The Gaya – Dobhi National Highway No. 83 passes by and gives it passage to east – west connections with other urban centres of the country. It is 16 Km from Gaya, linked with Railways communication getting linkages with Delhi – Kolkata and also from Patna – the Capital city of the state. The recently built up International Airport will further facilitate its academic importance to countries like Thailand, Srilanka, Myanmar, Colombia, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, China, Singapore and others. Naturally, the University is fortunate to have this background to remain developing in coming days.

Results on Magadh University Website – http://magadhuniversity.ac.in

One dead, 50 injured in Bihar train accident

A passenger was killed and at least 50 injured when the Amritsar-Katihar Amarpali Express express train derailed in Bihar, police said Thursday.

The engine and seven bogies of the train derailed late Wednesday between the Pasraha and Gauchari railway stations near Naugachia.

Railway sources said the accident took place because the track had caved in following incessant rain for 24 hours.

The dead passenger was identified as Puran Singh of Purnia district.

Train services on the Barauni-Katihar divison were paralysed due to the accident.

Additional Director General of Police Neelmani said the Government Railway Police escort party rescued the driver and dozens of passengers from the derailed bogies.

Railway officials and a medical relief team have reached the site of the accident.link

Human rights violation cases very high in Bihar jails

A prisoner dies almost every second day in Bihar owing to very pathetic living conditions and alarming health facilities prevailing in jails, according to an official report.

According to an official report, a total of 175 prisoners died in various jails of Bihar last year, followed by 180 in 2007 and 164 in 2006 while the number of custodial death cases in 2005 was 205. This year, 56 prisoners have died till April.

“The allegations of tortures to the prisoners are not correct. In fact, the poor health facilities could be largely blamed for this”, said IG (Jails), Bihar, Shiv Kumar.

“The number of prisoners in Bihar jails has gone up alarmingly in recent years but in the same ratio, the number of doctors and para-medical staffs has not increased and this is the problem “, the IG said.

According to the jail officials, a total of about 1400 prisoners in the age-group of 65-70 are currently suffering from serious health ailments.

As per report, a total of about 44,000 prisoners are currently lodged in total 54 jails of Bihar.

Of the total prisoners, over 30,000 are Hindus, 6851 are Muslims, 115 Sikhs and 132 Christians.

Of them, 91 have been sentenced to hanging, 6765 have been awarded life imprisonment while 1828 have given imprisonment for 10 or more than 10 years.link

Bihar win National Sub-Junior Kabaddi competition

For the first time in the 21-year history of the National Sub-Junior Kabaddi competition, the Bihar team emerged as the winner of the tournament beating out the Delhi team with a score of 40-28 at the Moinul Haque stadium in Patna on Sunday.

Bihar's girl team, however, despite excellent display of skill, strategy, and agility, lost to Delhi 19-8.

Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan earned the third place in the boys category while Manipur and Haryana were placed third in the girl's category.

Bhawesh Kumar of Bihar and Delhi's Rakhi were adjudged the best players in the boys and girls categories respectively.

Earlier, Bihar's boys defeated Uttar Pradesh 41-23 in the semi-finals to reach the final where it met with Delhi that defeated Rajasthan 17-15 in the semi.

Bihar's girls team, on the other hand defeated Manipur 16-13 in the semifinals where it met with Delhi that earlier defeated Haryana 39-15 to reach the final round.

Governor Debananda Konwar and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Patna Central Shatrughan Sinha gave away the prizes to the first and second place winners.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar to open NREGA call centre on Oct 14

Bihar is set to become probably the first state in India to have a call centre for entertaining queries regarding National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) schemes and complaints regarding denial of benefits under the Act.

The Act guarantees 100 days of assured employment to people willing to work in the countryside.

Once operational, the call centre can be approached on the toll-free number, 1800-345-22-44. "The call centre would become operational from October 14 when chief minister Nitish Kumar would dedicate it to public," rural development department principal secretary Vijay Prakash told.

The call centre is being set up by the same agency which has been roped in by the state government for making biometric cards for NREGA beneficiaries under its ambitious e-Shakti project.

Prakash said anyone willing to get general information like making of a job card, work, wages etc could make a call to the call centre. Complaints pertaining to the problems facing the NREGA beneficiaries would also be received and forwarded to the official concerned for quick action.

"The complainant would be given a complaint number using which s/he can seek information about the follow-up action," Prakash said.

With the ultimate goal being providing biometric cards to all the NREGA beneficiaries, the call centre would be equipped with more features once these cards are distributed among the beneficiaries.

"In the next phase, the call centre could also be used by those looking for jobs under NREGA and the caller would have to give details of the job card number to get information about the jobs available under ongoing NREGA schemes," Prakash said.

Incidentally, details of six lakh NREGA beneficiaries have already been collected which would be used for making the biometric cards. "We expect to deliver the cards to many of these beneficiaries by next month," Prakash said.

He said efforts are also being made to ensure wage payment through these biometric cards. The new system entails payment to NREGA beneficiaries at the work site itself. The payment would be made by `bank correspondents' after verifying the beneficiary's biometric card. link

Maoists threaten to kill Bihar Chief Minister

The banned CPI (Maoist) has threatened to kill Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar if two of their top leaders were not released from jail, official sources said today.

'Dabloo', a naxalite leader, in an sms from the mobile phone number -- 09308670993 -- to a reporter of a private TV channel, claimed that there was a plan to kill the chief minister, State Home Department Principal Secretary Amir Subhani said.

The message demanded the release of naxalite leaders 'Raviji' and Diren Singh.

"Director General of Police Anand Shankar and IGP (Operations) S K Bhardwaj are probing the issue," Subhani said.

"We have tightened the security for the CM," he said.link