After an assurance from the Bihar government of a hike in stipend, protesting junior doctors of the Patna Medical College and Hospital here Monday night withdrew their five-day long strike that has claimed the lives of 38 patients.
Speaking to newspersons after his meeting with Health Minister Nand Kishore Yadav, the Junior Doctors Association (JDA) president Rajiv Babu Prajapati said the association has withdrawn its agitation following an assurance from the government to address their demands as soon as possible.
The JDA has asked all the junior doctors to resume their duties.
The five-day-old strike by junior doctors in the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) here has claimed the lives of at least 38 patients.
The state government Monday served notices to the medicos and asked them to return to work or face action, an official said.
A day after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed his anger at the doctors' strike that has paralysed health services in the PMCH, Health Secretary C.K. Mishra served notices on doctors asking them to report back on duty.
More than 400 junior doctors went on an indefinite strike, first demanding a hike in stipend and then payment of salary instead of stipend.
The strike has badly hit emergency, outdoor and surgery services of the hospital.link
Monday 31 August 2009
Sold for Rs 500, he is now a wonder on stage
Gaja is nine years old. At the AHA! International Theatre Festival for Children, he wowed the audience with his bulti-jumping and drum stick tricks.
Little does anyone know he was sold for Rs 500 by his parents from Bihar to a factory owner in Bangalore four years ago. Now, the stage is his world.
Gaja and his friends belong to a troupe called Gondwana Band. They come from different streets of Bangalore and have worked as child labourers at homes or in factories. Having been rehabilitated by Bornfree Arts School, Jayanagar, these kids now learn dance, drama, music, sculpture, photography, film-making and architecture, apart from going to a regular school.
The children have performed at more than 1,000 venues by now. The programmes range from mimes to playing musical instruments. They have teachers who are popular artistes, like Yana Lewis, who coaches them regularly. The money from these arts sustain the 40 children.
The band is also a project of Bornfree Arts School. Children who somehow escape from their torturous life are rehabilitated. "It is usually spread by word of mouth. Children who are now with us tell others they know about the organization. They act as child liberators," said school founder John Devaraj.
When children come here, many are addicted to drugs or tobacco. The rigorous practice of these art forms kick their old habits away. The children are set into the mood by volunteers, who are artistes themselves. "They see us work and try to imitate us. That is the first step," John, an engineer, said. And then the taste develops. "Art is inherent in every human being. It is just a matter of triggering it," he said.
The organization was formed five years ago by John, when he realized the power of art in transforming people. "I do not want to run this as an NGO but want to make it a movement, whereby people realize that child labour is a crime," he said.
Many of them want to find their families and go back, but they know the task is not easy. "They sometimes get emotional when they see other children with parents. But they are tough. They have learnt how to live. Nothing can deter them now," John said.
The children had recently been to Pakistan on a cycle rally to spread the message of love and peace. They bicycled to Lahore from Bangalore and talked to their counterparts.link
Little does anyone know he was sold for Rs 500 by his parents from Bihar to a factory owner in Bangalore four years ago. Now, the stage is his world.
Gaja and his friends belong to a troupe called Gondwana Band. They come from different streets of Bangalore and have worked as child labourers at homes or in factories. Having been rehabilitated by Bornfree Arts School, Jayanagar, these kids now learn dance, drama, music, sculpture, photography, film-making and architecture, apart from going to a regular school.
The children have performed at more than 1,000 venues by now. The programmes range from mimes to playing musical instruments. They have teachers who are popular artistes, like Yana Lewis, who coaches them regularly. The money from these arts sustain the 40 children.
The band is also a project of Bornfree Arts School. Children who somehow escape from their torturous life are rehabilitated. "It is usually spread by word of mouth. Children who are now with us tell others they know about the organization. They act as child liberators," said school founder John Devaraj.
When children come here, many are addicted to drugs or tobacco. The rigorous practice of these art forms kick their old habits away. The children are set into the mood by volunteers, who are artistes themselves. "They see us work and try to imitate us. That is the first step," John, an engineer, said. And then the taste develops. "Art is inherent in every human being. It is just a matter of triggering it," he said.
The organization was formed five years ago by John, when he realized the power of art in transforming people. "I do not want to run this as an NGO but want to make it a movement, whereby people realize that child labour is a crime," he said.
Many of them want to find their families and go back, but they know the task is not easy. "They sometimes get emotional when they see other children with parents. But they are tough. They have learnt how to live. Nothing can deter them now," John said.
The children had recently been to Pakistan on a cycle rally to spread the message of love and peace. They bicycled to Lahore from Bangalore and talked to their counterparts.link
Minor refuses to clean toilets, beaten
11-year-old girl was beaten by her teacher after she refused to clean the toilets of her school in Rohtas district of Bihar, police said Monday. Chita, a Class 6 student of a government school at Huka in Rohtas, about 150 km from here, was beaten by her lady teacher Saturday.
“Chita told me and her mother that the headmaster and a teacher ordered her along with two other students to clean the toilets but when she refused citing her bad health, she was beaten with a stick by the teacher,” her father Sunil Kumar said.
“Frightened Chita fell ill after being beaten for no fault. She was admitted to a local health centre for treatment,” he said.
“After I lodged a complaint and demanded action against the school teacher, the education officer assured me of action,” Kumar added.
School headmaster Surajdeo Singh said that in the absence of a sweeper in the school, the responsibility to clean the school toilets was shared by students. Singh, however, denied that Chita was beaten after she refused to clean the toilets.
“I will take action against the teacher if she was found guilty,” Singh said.
Deputy village body head Nand Kumar also expressed his unhappiness and demanded action against the teacher. “It was a serious matter, action should be taken by authorities,” he said.link
“Chita told me and her mother that the headmaster and a teacher ordered her along with two other students to clean the toilets but when she refused citing her bad health, she was beaten with a stick by the teacher,” her father Sunil Kumar said.
“Frightened Chita fell ill after being beaten for no fault. She was admitted to a local health centre for treatment,” he said.
“After I lodged a complaint and demanded action against the school teacher, the education officer assured me of action,” Kumar added.
School headmaster Surajdeo Singh said that in the absence of a sweeper in the school, the responsibility to clean the school toilets was shared by students. Singh, however, denied that Chita was beaten after she refused to clean the toilets.
“I will take action against the teacher if she was found guilty,” Singh said.
Deputy village body head Nand Kumar also expressed his unhappiness and demanded action against the teacher. “It was a serious matter, action should be taken by authorities,” he said.link
Friday 28 August 2009
Class X Board Exams will not become optional in Bihar
Bihar has said no to the Union HRD ministry about doing away with the class X exams. It will also not wind up its Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) as scrapping of the state board would go against the federal structure of the country.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to do away with the class X examination for various reasons, including de-stressing students.
“For the children of poor parents in Bihar, class X exams are important. It gives them a sense of pride and students seek jobs at various levels,” BSEB chairman AKP Yadav said, adding: “Besides, the high expectations of parents from their children, not the class X exams, are responsible for the suicides of students. Parents are putting them in various kinds of stress.”
As a matter of fact, Yadav’s assertion was not the isolated case at the two-day meet of the Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE) held in Delhi, beginning August 24.
“There was consensus and unanimity among the state school boards on several issues, including holding of class X exams and continuation of state boards,” Yadav said. “CBSE can issue guidelines, establish link among boards, make policies, discuss and frame common syllabus and set standards,” he pointed out.
Further, state boards, barring that of Haryana and Kerala, were unanimous in rejecting the grade system and clearly stated that the word fail should not be mentioned on the result sheet as that puts further stress on students, Yadav argued, adding that the introduction of the grading system would create problems for students and host institutions going for admisison to pursue higher studies.
“Grading will not be of any help if the number of admission seekers increases. The host institution will have to adopt some kind of selection process,” Yadav said, adding: “It was decided to have a unanimity of opinion even in the university system on the usefulness of grades.”
He said there was consensus regarding adoption of science and mathematics syllabus of CBSE, but BSEB has already adopted them. It was agreed that the state boards could decide their own syllabus in social sciences and literature, Yadav added.
BSEB, meanwhile, has decided to abolish the system of supplementary exams from next year for students who fail in matriculation. Instead, the compartmental system of CBSE would be in force. “The matter is awaiting the stamp of the CM,” Yadav said. As many as 53,000 students will take the supplementary exams this year. link
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to do away with the class X examination for various reasons, including de-stressing students.
“For the children of poor parents in Bihar, class X exams are important. It gives them a sense of pride and students seek jobs at various levels,” BSEB chairman AKP Yadav said, adding: “Besides, the high expectations of parents from their children, not the class X exams, are responsible for the suicides of students. Parents are putting them in various kinds of stress.”
As a matter of fact, Yadav’s assertion was not the isolated case at the two-day meet of the Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE) held in Delhi, beginning August 24.
“There was consensus and unanimity among the state school boards on several issues, including holding of class X exams and continuation of state boards,” Yadav said. “CBSE can issue guidelines, establish link among boards, make policies, discuss and frame common syllabus and set standards,” he pointed out.
Further, state boards, barring that of Haryana and Kerala, were unanimous in rejecting the grade system and clearly stated that the word fail should not be mentioned on the result sheet as that puts further stress on students, Yadav argued, adding that the introduction of the grading system would create problems for students and host institutions going for admisison to pursue higher studies.
“Grading will not be of any help if the number of admission seekers increases. The host institution will have to adopt some kind of selection process,” Yadav said, adding: “It was decided to have a unanimity of opinion even in the university system on the usefulness of grades.”
He said there was consensus regarding adoption of science and mathematics syllabus of CBSE, but BSEB has already adopted them. It was agreed that the state boards could decide their own syllabus in social sciences and literature, Yadav added.
BSEB, meanwhile, has decided to abolish the system of supplementary exams from next year for students who fail in matriculation. Instead, the compartmental system of CBSE would be in force. “The matter is awaiting the stamp of the CM,” Yadav said. As many as 53,000 students will take the supplementary exams this year. link
Bihar Foundation's global meet meet in Janaury 2010
The next global meet of Bihar Foundation, formed by the state government to attract investments from Bihari NRIs and those living outside the state, will be held in the last week of January, 2010.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting chaired by deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi. The meeting also decided that a Bihar minister or a senior bureaucrat will interact with Bihari NRIs and those living outside their state through internet and will apprise them of the steps taken for development of the state. Suggestions would also be sought from them in this regard.
The meeting decided to open more chambers of the foundation outside Bihar and abroad. The chambers will be opened in Kolkata and Banaglore soon. There is a move to open chambers in Mumbai, Jaipur and Bhopal and also in the UK, the USA, Russia, Australia, Canada, Mauritius and Gulf countries.
At a seminar organised by an undertaking of the Union ministry for urban development, Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies-Lucknow, Modi stressed the need to take into account local needs before preparing a government plan.link
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting chaired by deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi. The meeting also decided that a Bihar minister or a senior bureaucrat will interact with Bihari NRIs and those living outside their state through internet and will apprise them of the steps taken for development of the state. Suggestions would also be sought from them in this regard.
The meeting decided to open more chambers of the foundation outside Bihar and abroad. The chambers will be opened in Kolkata and Banaglore soon. There is a move to open chambers in Mumbai, Jaipur and Bhopal and also in the UK, the USA, Russia, Australia, Canada, Mauritius and Gulf countries.
At a seminar organised by an undertaking of the Union ministry for urban development, Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies-Lucknow, Modi stressed the need to take into account local needs before preparing a government plan.link
Patna police to go hi-tech
With Spurt in crime, the city police in Patna, is all set to go hi-tech, thanks to initiative taken by police head quarters in this regard. Police Patrol cars will now carry GPS. Only a few weeks ago, police officers from IG to Dy SP and many SHO of the state capital were reshuffled after a bizarre incident, in which one girl was stripped in a public place on a busy exhibition road round. It earned lot of criticism for the police and national media, both electronic and print, got flooded with news related to police apathy and non-competence.
The young IPS Manu Maharaj was made city SP and crackdown has been unleashed on the criminals bring the morale of criminals down to a considerable level. Now herculean task with the top cop of the city is to keep constant watch on the movement of patrol cars, which is said to be 100 odd in number, so that the police personnel performs up to the expectations. IG PN Roy, who is also an expert in disaster management and has undergone trainings in countries like USA has chalked out plans to install Global Positioning System (GPS) on all the patrolling cars of the city in first phase.
It has been seen in the recent times that Police patrol cars remained conspicuously absent from the site of crime and could only be located when the criminals left the place of occurrence (PO). The arrangement has already been done that at least one police patrol should touch one particular place within 10-15 minutes. But due to absence of any device, the police parties on the patrol cars could easily lie about their locations at the time of commitment of crimes. Now with the installation of GPS, this problem can be checked and no police patrol can lie about its location. The SP or any other senior police official can locate the particular police parties.
If this experiment gets successfully implemented, it will certainly enhance the mobility of the police patrol parties and also help, in a better way, to keep watch on the movement of police patrol cars. At present the city police use primitive method of wireless as the sole method of communication which is far from satisfaction. There are several electronic devices easily available in the market which can intercept and leak the messages. Naxalites are using this methodology on large scale and thus they easily track the movement of police force. The leakage of wireless messages are said to be major cause of attacks on police by Naxalites.
The use of GPS will certainly improve the efficiency and communication network of the police, provided it is implemented religiously. While Nitish Kumar, the CM, has been relentlessly trying to improve the police force to bring the house in order, there are large numbers of elements in the police department itself who leave no stone unturned to thwart the reform process. The official website of the police department still carries the name of DN Gautam as DGP, whereas he has retired few weeks ago. Such is the apathy and irresponsibility of the senior police officers. Hopefully this innovation would go un-sabotaged and is implemented in letter and spirit. If it happens so will improve efficiency of the city police and help improve law and order, bring down crime rate and un-choke the traffic of the city.link
The young IPS Manu Maharaj was made city SP and crackdown has been unleashed on the criminals bring the morale of criminals down to a considerable level. Now herculean task with the top cop of the city is to keep constant watch on the movement of patrol cars, which is said to be 100 odd in number, so that the police personnel performs up to the expectations. IG PN Roy, who is also an expert in disaster management and has undergone trainings in countries like USA has chalked out plans to install Global Positioning System (GPS) on all the patrolling cars of the city in first phase.
It has been seen in the recent times that Police patrol cars remained conspicuously absent from the site of crime and could only be located when the criminals left the place of occurrence (PO). The arrangement has already been done that at least one police patrol should touch one particular place within 10-15 minutes. But due to absence of any device, the police parties on the patrol cars could easily lie about their locations at the time of commitment of crimes. Now with the installation of GPS, this problem can be checked and no police patrol can lie about its location. The SP or any other senior police official can locate the particular police parties.
If this experiment gets successfully implemented, it will certainly enhance the mobility of the police patrol parties and also help, in a better way, to keep watch on the movement of police patrol cars. At present the city police use primitive method of wireless as the sole method of communication which is far from satisfaction. There are several electronic devices easily available in the market which can intercept and leak the messages. Naxalites are using this methodology on large scale and thus they easily track the movement of police force. The leakage of wireless messages are said to be major cause of attacks on police by Naxalites.
The use of GPS will certainly improve the efficiency and communication network of the police, provided it is implemented religiously. While Nitish Kumar, the CM, has been relentlessly trying to improve the police force to bring the house in order, there are large numbers of elements in the police department itself who leave no stone unturned to thwart the reform process. The official website of the police department still carries the name of DN Gautam as DGP, whereas he has retired few weeks ago. Such is the apathy and irresponsibility of the senior police officers. Hopefully this innovation would go un-sabotaged and is implemented in letter and spirit. If it happens so will improve efficiency of the city police and help improve law and order, bring down crime rate and un-choke the traffic of the city.link
Bihar government demands commission to define BPL families
Finding holes in the computation method of the Centre for calculating the number of BPL families, Bihar government today demanded setting up of a commission to fix the criteria to define the people living below poverty line.
"Centre's criteria with regard to computation of below poverty line (BPL) families is not correct and has many shortcomings which need a relook," Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi claimed.
He demanded setting up of a commission to fix the criteria to define the people living below poverty line saying "the Centre's criteria is marks based, which in most cases have adversely affected the poor itself".
Modi, who also holds Finance portfolio, said the state government has identified 1.50 lakh families living below the poverty line whereas Centre's figure stood at 60 lakh.link
"Centre's criteria with regard to computation of below poverty line (BPL) families is not correct and has many shortcomings which need a relook," Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi claimed.
He demanded setting up of a commission to fix the criteria to define the people living below poverty line saying "the Centre's criteria is marks based, which in most cases have adversely affected the poor itself".
Modi, who also holds Finance portfolio, said the state government has identified 1.50 lakh families living below the poverty line whereas Centre's figure stood at 60 lakh.link
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