Cold wave sweeps Bihar, rail and air services affected

Bihar is in the grip of cold wave-like situation with the minimum temperature plummeting sharply with foggy weather conditions disrupting rail and air services.

Meteorological office Director A K Sen said there has been sharp decline in the day temperatures over the past three-four days which has set in chilly weather condition throughout Bihar.

The condition will persist over the next couple of days with chilly winds sweeping through the plain regions of the state, he said.

Chapra remained the coldest place in Bihar with a minimum temperature of 6.2 degree celsius, while Patna, Gaya and Muzaffarpur recorded minimum temperature at 7.7, 6.7 and 9.1 degree celsius this morning, the Met office said.

A thick fog enveloped large parts of the state disrupting rail and air services with a number of trains, including the Delhi-Patna Rajdhani Express running late by several hours, Railways sources said.

Landing and take off of commercial flights at Patna airport were affected due to poor visibility, airport director Arvind Dube said.

The state government has made arrangements for bonfires at public places like bus stands, street corners and night shelters, Disaster Management Minister Renu Kumari said.

It has sanctioned Rs 28 lakh for bonfires and related arrangements for the poor people, she said.

The big districts have been given Rs two lakh each and the smaller districts Rs 50,000 each, she said.

All schools in Patna district have been closed down till January one next due to the cold conditions.

East Champaran becoming hub of flower trade

 With farmers shifting to flower cultivation in a big way, East Champaran, from where Mahatama Gandhi tested the potential of satyagraha against British rule, is fast emerging as a hub of the flower trade.

According to an estimate the flower trade in the district, about 100 km from the state capital, is valued at Rs five crore annually at present.

More than 500 farmers, big and small, have left cultivation of paddy and sugarcane and shifted to cultivation of flowers.

Vast tracts of land in Motihari, Madhuban, Pakridayal and Chakia blocks could be seen blossoming with flowers. Rajnigandha, Lilly and Chandramauli are the popular varieties of flowers grown here.

Lalbabu Chaurasia, owner of Ravi flowers centre and who is in the trade for last 32 years, told that over 500 farmers of the district have shifted to flower cultivation and are reaping rich commercial gain.

Since the district is on border with Nepal, sending the flowers to international markets through Nepal earns a handsome profit. Besides, flowers in bulk are sent to West Bengal, he said.

With flower trade gaining popularity, more than 25 shops selling flowers have come up in the heart of Motihari town which is popularly known as “Phool gaon” (flowers village).

Chaurasia said earlier the flower trade was marginal with some in neighbouring districts of Muzaffarpur, Sheohar and Gorakhpur.

“But, the trade has picked up in last 3-4 years making it a profitable business for hundreds of farmers,” another farmer Sanjay Pandey said.

Shivendra Kumar, another farmer, said with the trade becoming profitable workers from neighbouring West Bengal were also flocking here to ean Rs 10,000-12,000 per month.

District Horticulture Officer Dharamvir Panday said the government was promoting cultivation of flowers by giving almost 90 per cent subsidy on cultivation of gladius.

The government has set up poly houses at four places in the district to train farmers in floriculture, he added.

Farmers are shifting to flower cultivation in East Champaran where Mahatama Gandhi tested the potential of satyagraha, emerging as hub of flower trade

Six pilgrims killed in mishap in Bihar

Gopalganj: Six pilgrims on way to take a holy dip on the occasion of Kartik Purnima were killed while another was injured in a mishap between a jeep and a tractor trolley in Bihar's Gopalganj district.

The mishap took place when the jeep carrying a group of pilgrims to Gandak River collided head-on with a tractor trolley.

The six pilgrims were killed on the spot and efforts are on to ascertain the identity of the victims.

Bihar to pay MGNREGA wages through banks

 "We have directed all district magistrates to make wage payments only through public sector banks to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)," Rural Development Secretary Amrit Lal Meena told IANS.

Meena said officials had been asked to open bank accounts for all job card holders.

"This new system will be effective into from Feb 1, 2013," he said.

Rural Development Minister Nitish Mishra has said the new system of wage payment through banks was an effort to make the process more transparent and check corruption.

Last week, Delhi’ based Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) said a performance audit of MGNREGA in Bihar found that 73 percent of the Rs.8,189 crore scheme funds, spent in the state's 38 districts in six years (2006−12), were embezzled by the implementing authorities.

The jobs scheme aims at enhancing the livelihood security of villagers by guaranteeing 100 days of wage’ employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

Suprem Court raps Bihar govt for not enforcing 1977 teachers' notification

The Supreme Court has come down heavily on Bihar government for not implementing its 1977 notification that provided "promotional avenues" to secondary school teachers like other government employees.

"The attitude of the state government in this matter has caused unnecessary anxiety to a large number of teachers. The state government must realise that in a country where there is so much illiteracy and where there are a large number of first generation students, the role of the primary and secondary teachers is very important.

"They have to be treated honourably and given appropriate pay and chances of promotion. It is certainly not expected of the state government to drag them to the court in litigation for years altogether," a bench of justices Surinder Singh Nijjar and H L Gokhale said while allowing the plea of Bihar State Government Secondary School Teachers Association (BSGSSTA).

The teachers' body had moved the apex court seeking a direction to implement the 35-year-old notification which provided that their cadre be merged with grade-II officers of Bihar Education Service Association to provide "promotional avenues" to them also.

Justice Nijjar, writing the judgement, took strong exception to the fact that state government changed stands, delayed implementation of notification and pursued three rounds of litigations from high court to the Supreme Court.

The court also expressed its displeasure over the fact that a single judge and the division bench of the Patna High Court heard the matter afresh in third round of litigation, when it had already been decided by the Supreme Court.

"We do not expect such an approach from the state government and least from the high court," it said.

The apex court also ticked off the Patna High Court for ignoring the fact that the apex court had already heard and decided the matter.

"The hierarchy of the courts requires the high courts also to accept the decision of this Court, and its interpretation of the orders issued by the executive. Any departure therefrom will lead only to indiscipline and anarchy," the bench said, in its 42-page judgement.

"The high courts cannot ignore Article 141 of the Constitution which clearly states that the law declared by this Court is binding on all courts within the territory of

India," it added.

"In the same vein we may state that when the judgement of a Court is confirmed by the higher court, the judicial discipline requires that Court to accept that judgement and it should not in collateral proceedings write a judgement contrary to the confirmed judgement."

Disposing of the appeals of teachers' body, it said, "We do record our strong displeasure for the manner in which the State of Bihar kept on changing its stand from time to time. This is not expected from the state government."

The court, however, said the chances of promotion for secondary teachers are "very less" and there was "serious stagnation" as far as subordinate teachers were concerned.

The teachers' body had raised the question of promotional avenues for them on the lines of Bihar Civil Services and Bihar Engineering Service and sought implementation of the notification.

The government-appointed committee, in its report, had said, "Education department may get the posts of engineers included in the cadre of the PWD and obtain their services on deputation basis...The remaining posts should be included in general cadre and manned by officers of Bihar Educational Service as far as practicable."

The report was accepted and a notification was issued on April 11, 1977, but, it was not implemented and that led to litigations in the high court and Supreme Court.

In one of the proceedings, the government said there was no proposal to merge sub-ordinate teachers into Bihar Education Service Class-II.

Ending first round of litigation, the apex court, in 2001, had asked the government to implement its notification.

Another round of litigation started in the high court and ended with the apex court issuing the similar direction.

However, in the third round, Bihar Education Service Class-II moved the high court alleging that teachers' group cannot be treated at par with them for promotion purposes.

The high court set aside the notification, leading the affected teachers' body to move the apex court again.

The apex court allowed the plea of teachers' body and rapped the government and criticised the high court for hearing the case after it had decided the issue.

MSMEs in Bihar needsupport from all corners

About 95% of the industries in Bihar fall under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) category, of which, according to a recent RBI report, only 5% were exposed to banks.

Difficulty in obtaining capital, inadequate and unreliable power supply, zero access to modern technology, dearth of latest information and lack of market and infrastructure were outlined as the major reasons for the dismal growth of MSMEs in the state, at a conference for "Facilitating Finance for MSMEs in Bihar".

"MSME sector is at a very nascent stage in Bihar and needs much more aid than just finance", said, Satyajit Singh, CEO, Shakti Sudha Makhana, at the meeting of entrepreneurs and bankers of the state. He suggested the formation of a task force of stakeholders of MSMEs under the government that would address the reasons of sickness in the sector and recommend solutions for its development in a time-bound manner.

Minister of industry and disaster management, Bihar, Renu Kumari Kushwaha, who was the chief guest on the occasion, assured the delegates of the state government's help and said, "These conferences enable us to deliberate various aspects of MSMEs. However, it's time to take such coffee-table assemblage to villages and districts so that the actual stakeholders are be able to benefit from it."

The minister lambasted the financial institutions who assure of help at such platforms but get into "technicalities and formalities" when entrepreneurs approach them to seek finance. Kushwaha said, "We have also sent a proposal (to the Centre) for establishment of an institute in the state that would be a skill development and training centre for food processing industries."

Also present on the occasion was RBI general manager C S Azad, who informed the participants about the customer-friendly "Application Tracking System" by the Union government, where loan applications and their status tracking could be done online and the banks would have to give reasons if they decline finance. "However, only a few banks have started it and it is still in pipeline at most banks," said Azad. He added that RBI had altered the definition of "sickness" on November 1 to recognize sick MSME units early and take necessary action to revive them.

MSME Development Institute director Pradeep Kumar said, "Credit-Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS) and Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) are two schemes of the government where bank loans up to Rs 1 crore are given without any collateral. However, even bankers are not quite aware about the schemes." He added that awareness programmes for bankers would be held in four districts, including Patna, Bhojpur and Bhagalpur.

The daylong conference was organized by the PHD Chamber of Commerce of Industries (PHDand Central Bank of India. Also present at the conference were Debjit Talapatra, director (states), PHDCCI, Pushpa Chopra, president, Bihar Mahila Udyog, K P S Keshri, president, BIA, A K Mallik, director, department of industry, Bihar and S C Singh, zonal manager, Central Bank of India.

Bihar 7th on list of tourist arrivals among 10 state

Bihar ranked seventh among 10 states of the country in receiving the highest number of foreign tourists last year. The states ahead of it in the list include Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal. Buddhist sites like the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya, the ruins of ancient Nalanda University and the Stupa at Vaishali, which yielded Lord Buddha’s relic, have remained hot favourites among tourists, particuarly from the Buddhist countries.

Besides, the recently launched cruise tourism in river Ganga, too, has also attracted a number of foreign tourists from Germany, UK and France.

Enthused by the trend, tourism minister Sunil Kumar Pintu said, “Take a look at the footfall of foreign tourists in the state. A ministry of tourism report says, one out of six foreign tourists is heading towards Bihar to visit our historical sites. It also says, that the state received more holidayers from abroad than Goa, which is considered the hotspot among foreigners due to its beaches.”

The minister said, that the number of foreign tourists in the state was expected to cross 10 lakh this year. “More than 8.4 lakh foreign tourists have already visited different historical sites of the state between January and August this year and more are expected in the coming tourism season, which will start from October. In 2011, the total number of international tourists coming here was pitched at 8.78 lakh.” he added.

Pintu said, the latest report showed a more than ten-fold increase in the number of foreign tourists in the last one decade. “Not just that. We have started taking steps to attract more foreign as well domestic tourists. A road show on Bihar tourism was conducted during an international meet at Mauritius last month. And, we have also participated in the ongoing four-day world travel market (WTM), 2012, in London,” he said. Pintu said, out of nine pavilions booked by India tourism, one has been allotted to Bihar tourism to showcase its rich historical background for the benefit of foreigners.