Bihar Legislative Council Centennial Celebration in 2012

Bihar Legislative Council Chairperson Tarakant Jha on Wednesday said that the government would hold an year-long celebration in Bihar in 2012 to mark the 100th year of the foundation of the Council that was formed on March 22, 1912.Jha was speaking at an event held at the Council premises to bid farewell to the outgoing legislators.The event would invite former legislators, eminent politicians, and...

[ Read More ]

Bhupesh Bhandari: Jury still out on Bihar's reforms

In mid-December, Business Standard Hindi had held a roundtable discussion on industrial development in Bihar. The idea was to bring together representatives of the state government, academia and industry to brainstorm the subject. The problem was to find speakers from industry. Most large companies and business houses, we realised quickly, did not have Bihar on their radar screen. Apart from Hindustan Lever, no other blue-chip company has of late put money in the state. Trucks come laden with stuff from neighbours like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh...

[ Read More ]

Bihar cops thrash Jamia professor, brand him 'Naxal'

Associate professor at Jamia Millia Islamia, Rahul Ramagundam, was assaulted, abused and branded a Naxalite by Bihar police for daring to ask the cops why the hutments belonging to Musahars -- among the most backward of Scheduled Castes -- were being demolished.Ramagundam, who teaches at Dr K R Narayanan Centre for Dalit and Minorities Studies at JMI, was thrashed and abused and called a Naxalite by Khagaria police at Amausi village. His local companion was also manhandled and beaten up by lathi-wielding police constables and officers. The incident...

[ Read More ]

Youth from Bihar held for involvement in burglary

An 18-year-old teenager from Bihar has been detained at Vepery police station for his alleged involvement in burglaries at roadside temples. Police have recovered some gold and cash from him. They are on the look out for his accomplices.A police patrol nabbed Lakshman (18) from Patna in Choolai near Vepery. They inspected his belongings and found that he had a number of coins of small denominations. As he couldn’t tell them why he had so many coins, they decided to hold him for further questioning.Meanwhile, a temple official noticed the hundi...

[ Read More ]

511 patients died due to doctors' strikes in Bihar

Repeated strikes by Bihar doctors in the last four years have claimed the lives of 511 patients, but the state government has no plans to cancel the licences of agitating doctors despite a recommendation by the state human rights commission (SHRC).'The doctors have gone on strike nine times in the state during the last four years,' official sources said. The reasons ranged from demanding a hike in the stipend to protesting over a fight with patients' relatives.'I mentioned the number of deaths due to doctors strike in the state legislative council...

[ Read More ]

Bihar now under RSS agenda: RJD

The RJD today alleged that the RSS had now now brought Bihar under its agenda in its "cherished desire to make it their work place.""RSS has now shifted its attention to Bihar and brought it under its agenda... the RSS leaders now wish to attain their cherished desire of making the state its work place", RJD spokesman Shakeel Ahmed Khan told reporters.He made these comments in the wake of yesterday's congregation of RSS leaders, which was addressed by their chief Mohan Bhagwat at Gandhi Maidan here.Describing RSS as a "communal and fascist organisation",...

[ Read More ]

Bihar progeria victim dies without meeting Big B

Ikramul Khan, who was suffering from progeria, a disease that accelerates the ageing process, died in Bihar’s Saran district Friday with an unfulfilled wish of meeting Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan."My brother Ikramul died without fulfilling his last wish of meeting Amitabh Bachchan," Khan’s brother Ali Hussain, who is also suffering from progeria, told IANS.Khan, 22, was a resident of Dumri village in Saran district, about 80 km from Patna."We were living together and sharing with each other. Now I will have to live without him. I will miss...

[ Read More ]

Lalu calls Bihar bandh on Jan 28

RJD today called a 'Bihar bandh' on January 28 to protest against the state government's alleged failure in checking the price rise of essential commodities."The Nitish Kumar government is more responsible than the Centre for the price rise in the state and for that we have decided to observe a state-wide shutdown on January 28," party chief Lalu Prasad told reporters here.The government, he said, must inform the people about the result of its anti-hoarding drive and also the action taken against the black marketeers.He said the bandh would soon...

[ Read More ]

Nitish goes all out to promote Bihar's tourist spots

With a view to attract more tourists Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is all set to lay the foundation of a world class convention centre at Rajgir worth Rs 33 crore even as Opposition leaders have termed his holiday at the tourist place as a waste of money.Bihar Cabinet ministers arrived at the Rajgir hillock on Tuesday to conduct their weekly Cabinet meeting.Nitish himself came for the meeting in a helicopter. The state government gifted its employees a New Year gift and cleared the Sixth Pay Commission at the well-known tourist spot of Bihar."I...

[ Read More ]

Polio drops - a tool to bargain for basics in Bihar

By Richa SharmaSaharsa (Bihar), Dec 12 (IANS) For months, Bina Devi, 26, had been running from pillar to post to get a ration card. And then she realised that refusing polio drops for her children could help her get it in no time.Having realised the importance the government attaches to eradicating polio in Bihar - a polio endemic state - many people like her have begun to bargain for basic facilites by refusing polio drops to their children unless things get done.“I applied for a ration card in March this year but despite having all the required...

[ Read More ]

PU teachers up in arms against Bihar govt

The teaching community has not taken lying down the the humiliation meted out to the VC, pro-VC and other top brass of Patna University by the Nitish Kumar government. Only a couple of days back they were forced to return their salary of the month of November by human resources development department secretary, K K Pathak.The Joint Struggle Committee of Federation of University Teachers’ Association of Bihar (FUTAB) and Federation of University Services Teacers’ Association of Bihar (FUSTAB) have decided to call a meeting on December 14 to launch...

[ Read More ]

GRP personnel try to extort passengers in Bihar

The GRP personnel, who claimed that they opened fire to foil a robbery attempt on a train in Bihar critically injuring a vendor, actually tried to extort passengers in the early hours today, police said after a preliminary inquiry.Official reports had earlier said that the GRP personnel had fired trying to foil an attempt by robbers to loot passengers of Jamlpur-Kiul DMU train at Dhanuri railway station in Lakhisarai district.IG (Railway) S K Bardwaj, who rushed to the spot after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ordered state police chief to get the...

[ Read More ]

Bihar student murder: SI's role to be investigated

The special cell of Delhi Police has said they will investigate the role of the SI whose family has been arrested for murdering a 23-year-oldstudent from Bihar. "We are investigating the role of the SI before we arrive at final conclusions," said Alok Kumar, DCP, special cell.Twenty-three-year-old Shazia Urus from Betia in Bihar had come to Delhi to pursue a course in aviation. She was found dead by the Rajasthan police some time ago, though they could not establish her identity.It was at the Delhi police commissioner's direction that the special...

[ Read More ]

E-Literacy Program Launched in Bihar

With the BJP continuing to disrupt the Parliament over Congress MP Beni Prasad Verma’s derogatory remark on Vajpayee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took the lead Wednesday and offered an apology on behalf of the government.Addressing the Lok Sabha, the PM, who has yesterday night arrived from Russia, said, “I was not present in the house (yesterday), but I have learnt that some very undesirable development...

[ Read More ]

PM apologises for remark on Vajpayee

With the BJP continuing to disrupt the Parliament over Congress MP Beni Prasad Verma’s derogatory remark on Vajpayee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took the lead Wednesday and offered an apology on behalf of the government.Addressing the Lok Sabha, the PM, who has yesterday night arrived from Russia, said, “I was not present in the house (yesterday), but I have learnt that some very undesirable development took place.”“A member of our ruling coalition said something that was inappropriate; with regard to Vajpayee those words where used. I on behalf...

[ Read More ]

The Supreme Court Wednesday ordered the Bihar government to appoint 35,540 primary school teachers as per their seniority based on the year they secu

The Supreme Court Wednesday ordered the Bihar government to appoint 35,540 primary school teachers as per their seniority based on the year they secured their Bachelor of Education or Bachelor in Teaching degrees.A bench of Justice Altmas Kabir and Justice H.L. Dattu gave the order on a joint lawsuit by thousands of professionally qualified teachers of Bihar, who sought contempt to court proceedings against the state government for not keeping its word given to the apex court in 2007 for appointing them.The bench asked the government to appoint...

[ Read More ]

Bihar government ordered to appoint 35,540 trained teachers

The Supreme Court Wednesday ordered the Bihar government to appoint 35,540 primary school teachers as per their seniority based on the year they secured their Bachelor of Education or Bachelor in Teaching degrees.A bench of Justice Altmas Kabir and Justice H.L. Dattu gave the order on a joint lawsuit by thousands of professionally qualified teachers of Bihar, who sought contempt to court proceedings against the state government for not keeping its word given to the apex court in 2007 for appointing them.The bench asked the government to appoint...

[ Read More ]

Ludhiana violence sparks exodus of migrants

After Maharashtra, migrants from Bihar are feeling the heat in Punjab.Following the recent violence in Ludhiana, hundreds of labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (UP) have begun leaving the industrial hub of Punjab.Worried over the development, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has dispatched a team of senior officials comprising joint labour commissioner RP Mandal and deputy labour commissioner AV Singh to take stock of the situation. The officials have been camping in Ludhiana for the past two days, interacting with various groups of migrants...

[ Read More ]