Bihar News, Latest News from Bihar, News of Bihar, Biharprabha News |
- New TRAI Chairman takes over charge today
- Nitish lodges his complaint to Karnataka Chief Minister
- TRAI reluctant to lower the Reserve Spectrum Prices
- My successor is a Traitor says Yeddyurappa
- The Reason behind Air India Despair
- NRIs asked to build deposits in India
- 100 sessions of Parliament to be made mandatory every year
- Bihar’s Jugaad being showcased at Innovation Festival in Goa
- Army Chief Gen. V K Singh may join Team Anna after Retirement
- Highlights of the Episode 2 of Satyamev Jayate, The Aamir Khan show
| New TRAI Chairman takes over charge today Posted: 13 May 2012 04:51 PM PDT Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar will today take charge as the chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). His appointment has been approved by the government. Khullar will replace J.S. Sarma for a three-year term, sources privy to the development told IANS. The appointment comes at a critical time when TRAI’s recommendations on the spectrum auction is being criticised by telecom firms and analysts alike. The regulator has recommended, among other proposals, a reserve price of Rs.3,622 crore for 1 MHz pan-India spectrum, which is around 10 times higher than the price at which 2G licences were allocated in 2008 under then Telecom Minister A. Raja. The recommendation came in the wake of the Feb 2 Supreme Court order cancelling 122 telecom licences issued in 2008. The operators have also warned of a 100 percent hike in tariffs if the proposals are accepted. Khullar is a 1975 batch IAS officer and had worked closely with then finance minister Manmohan Singh during 1991-1993 as his private secretary. |
| Nitish lodges his complaint to Karnataka Chief Minister Posted: 13 May 2012 03:48 PM PDT Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has written to his Karnataka counterpart D.V. Sadanand Gowda protesting against the state police arresting an alleged member of the banned Indian Mujahideen from Bihar without previously informing the local police, an official said. The arrest was a “violation of the rule of law”, the letter said. “What has been done by the police officers of Karnataka is an example of the violation of the rule of law,” the letter said. “There should be no apprehension in the mind of any visiting police officer of any state about professional integrity and commitment of senior police officials available in Darbhanga,” it added. Kafil Akhtar was held May 6 from a Darbhanga village, 200 km from here, in connection with the blast at Bangalore’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Nitish Kumar said in the letter that the “inappropriate” behaviour of the Karnataka police could have led to serious issues of breach of law and order and even put the security of the visiting officers under threat. The Bihar Police has also lodged a protest about the incident with the Karnataka Police. Darbhanga Superintendent of Police Garima Malik had said they were not informed about the arrest and came to know about it from Akhtar’s family. |
| TRAI reluctant to lower the Reserve Spectrum Prices Posted: 13 May 2012 01:46 PM PDT The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has retained its recommendations on high reserve price for spectrum auction despite staunch criticism by the industry. “The reserve price for spectrum has been estimated on the basis of the perceived value of spectrum to the user,” TRAI said in a late night statement. “The last price of spectrum discovered through auction was that of the 3G spectrum in the 2100 MHz band in May 2010. After adjustment for price escalation for 1 year as well as for relative efficiency, 80 percent of the resultant value was recommended as the reserve prices for spectrum in the 1800 MHz band,” it added. TRAI was responding to the Department of Telecom (DoT’s) reference back on TRAI’s recommendations on “Auction of Spectrum” dated April 23, 2012. The regulator also said that the reserve prices have been finalized in the context of the recommendation to liberalise the spectrum which means essentially to remove technology restrictions to use of new access technologies within the same band or bands. This will enable the operators to choose any technology in the spectrum bands held by them. Eliminating constraints associated with spectrum usage is expected to greatly enhance the value of the spectrum to the operators. On possible implications of the proposals on tariff, TRAI said they would not have any adverse impact on the profitability of the wireless industry or the entry of new operators nor would do they adversely affect the affordability of the consumer. “The results indicate that mostly, the impact on tariff is less than 4 paise per minute and often much lower. This can be either absorbed by the service providers from the additional minutes that are generated or recovered through charges for different retail and wholesale services,” it added. The operators have warned of a 100 percent hike in tariffs if the proposals are accepted. The regulator has recommended, among other proposals, a reserve price of Rs.3,622 crore for 1 MHz pan-India spectrum, which is around 10 times higher than the price at which 2G licences were allocated in 2008 under then Telecom Minister A. Raja. |
| My successor is a Traitor says Yeddyurappa Posted: 13 May 2012 08:57 AM PDT The factional fight in Karnataka’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday plunged to a new low with former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa calling his successor D.V. Sadananda Gowda a “traitor” and comparing him to “the devil quoting the scripture”. Yeddyurappa, whose come back bid has been stymied with the Supreme Court ordering a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into corruption charges against him, also praised Congress president Sonia Gandhi and slammed his own party leadership. “Congress president Sonia Gandhi has a great quality. She defends her party leaders if allegations are levelled against them. But our party not only does not defend but does everything to use such developments to browbeat people,” he said at a public function here. Taking on Gowda directly for the first time, Yedyurappa said “a traitor who did not keep his promise is giving sermons. It is like the devil quoting the scriptures,” he added. Gowda had taken a dig at Yeddyurappa, without naming him at a function here Saturday. “In the past, people came to power to do good for the people. But these days, people in power do many wrong things but offer donations and gifts to God thinking that they will be forgiven,” he said. His reference was to Yeddyurappa, a staunch believer who very frequently visits temples and religious leaders, particularly those belonging to his Lingayat community. Yeddyurappa, BJP’s first chief minister in Karnataka, was forced to quit on mining bribery charges July 31 last year. He had handpicked Gowda to be his successor. Gowda took over Aug 4. But the two have fallen out as Yeddyurappa claims that Gowda had gone back on his promise to vacate the seat for him after six months. The two have been taking digs at each for several weeks now but Sunday was the first time that Yeddyurappa launched a direct attack on Gowda. The attack on Gowda and BJP national leaders and praise for Sonia Gandhi is seen in political circles here as part of the pressure games that Yeddyurappa has launched to prevent his marginalization in the party following the apex court order on the CBI probe. As part of the muscle-flexing on Saturday, he secured the resignation of at least seven ministers loyal to him and is hoping more ministers and legislators will hand over such letters to him to use them as a bargaining chip with the party’s national leaders. “Several ministers have given their resignations to me. They are angry with the chief minister because he has accused them of anti-party activity. I will take a decision on their resignation at an appropriate time,” Yeddyurappa told reporters here Sunday. Gowda will be in New Delhi later Sunday ostensibly to attend the function to mark the 60th anniversary of the first session of Parliament. He is expected to meet party leaders and urge them to take a firm decision on reining in Yeddyurappa and his supporters. |
| The Reason behind Air India Despair Posted: 13 May 2012 07:35 AM PDT Air India crisis has shocked the whole NAtion.Pilots refusing to fly while Management refusing to talks has disturbed the air traffic of India so much that people are now relying on Trains for any Business Class Travel needs. Air India is at war, with itself. There are two systems working side by side in the flag carrier and the current pilots’ agitation, if anything, exposes that. In 2007, the government had merged Air India (AI) and Indian Airlines (IA) to make one of the largest airlines in the world by fleet-size and manpower. Five years down the road, it has come not to be. Insiders today say that though they sit in the same offices and share a common brand name, the split is wide open, as two systems compete to run one airline. Not just pilots and the cabin crew, even managers and junior staff from both sides fight over allowances, pay scales and even holidays. On the surface, it looked like an issue with the pilots. But when contacted by IANS, even the cabin crew-in-charges, cargo managers and other functionaries voiced the same resentment over the merger.
“The company below the rank of DGM (deputy general manger) is not at all integrated. There are two systems of promotions, allowances and even foreign postings.” Another official with the airline’s cargo division said the problems started when the two systems collided. AI was following a system under which the department head has the discretionary power to promote and the promotions are time- bound, while IA had a strict Human Resources (HR) code of interviews and written tests. Another factor that has affected the morale of the employees is the executive pay scale in AI which is surprisingly lower than those of IA. “Some of us were overlooked and the discriminatory power was used to promote the other cadre. This left many saddened. After such harassment who would like to put in his best effort,” asked another official. “These are just initial problems. Once the Dharmadhikari report is implemented, I don’t know what criteria it has but if it comes with the rider that the pay scale would be criteria for seniority, promotions will be a major problem.” Not just that. In the pilots case, while a commander of AI gets Rs.8 lakh per month that of IC gets Rs.3 lakh per month. Even a bare minimum flying allowance of 80 hours is granted to AI pilots while it is only 72 hours given to IA pilots. “In this case there is also an issue of promotion. We don’t get to fly as much as our IC counterparts do, thereby reducing our flying hours and a chance to get to the higher grade,” said an agitating pilot. Both sides also play the blame game by stating that overseas assignments as station officers are restricted for IA officials as traditionally they only had three foreign branches. No one knows what the report by Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari submitted in January actually has suggested. Details are not available, but it is understood to have talked about the mess in the airline and has made recommendations on such critical issues like career progression, integration across various cadres, rationalisation of pay scale, allowances and incentives and overall restructuring of the entire staff of the erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh last week blamed the merger as the reason behind the current crisis, saying it should not have been done, or more due diligence should have been carried out the process was on. |
| NRIs asked to build deposits in India Posted: 13 May 2012 06:31 AM PDT Increasing internal demand and motivating expatriates to send home more remittances may solve the Indian economy’s problems due to a depreciating rupee, an industry lobby said Sunday. “At present, NRI deposits are between $52 and $55 billion, which needs to be pushed up to an ambitious level of $75-80 billion,” said Assocham (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) President Rajkumar Dhoot. “We will strongly recommend that high-level teams comprising of senior RBI officials, executive directors of banks and chairpersons and senior officials of the finance ministry do roadshows in areas such as the Middle East, South-East Asia and Europe where there is a concentration of Indian expatriates,” he said. According to a survey conducted by economists and bankers, he said, remittances from NRIs had to be mobilised like never before. While a handful of banks have increased interest rates on NRI deposits, these seem to be piecemeal efforts, which need to be intensified, the survey said. The rupee has touched an all-time low of moving closer to Rs.54 per dollar and the pressure on the Indian currency increases each time there is a percentage point drop in the BSE Sensex. Dhoot said the NRIs must be given assurances that given the global uncertainties investing back home makes better business sense. “NRIs should invest in India not only because of the motherland connection but also because India has a market of 1.20 billion people which will continue to grow,” he said. NRI deposits in the country can be raised by at least $10-15 billion in the short term by taking confidence-building measures and offering attractive interest rates, the survey said. “The outflows by the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are not the result of only the so-called policy paralysis, but mostly because of risk aversion by the global investors into the equity markets,” it added. Dhoot also said once the internal demand was generated, the FIIs would return to the Indian markets which would soon have attractive valuations again. On reviving internal demand, the survey said moderating interest rates would send a strong signal and boost consumer confidence. Also, the investment climate should be improved soon. |
| 100 sessions of Parliament to be made mandatory every year Posted: 13 May 2012 05:27 AM PDT Emphasising on the time lost by parliament due to disruptions, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury Sunday said 100 sittings per year should be made mandatory for MPs. “During the last two decades, we have never sat for more than 100 days in a year. We have lost a lot of time due to disruptions,” Yechury said during a special sitting to mark 60 years of parliament. “Introduce an amendment, if necessary, making 100 sittings mandatory in a year. The efficiency of the constitutional mechanism depends on the conduct of the parliamentarians,” the Rajya Sabha member said. “Unless the parliament sits for the required duration, vigilance over the government is not possible,” he added. Parliament is having a special sitting Sunday to mark 60 years of the Lok Sabha. |
| Bihar’s Jugaad being showcased at Innovation Festival in Goa Posted: 13 May 2012 05:26 AM PDT National Innovation Foundation is organizing daily ‘jugaad’ show for promoting its innovations at the Konkan Fruit Festival here in Goa. It showcases, seveveral innovations which include, Pressure Cooker Coffee Maker made in Bihar. “We track down innovators throughout rural areas. Our honeybee network is responsible for keeping an eye on rural innovations,” Udit Shah of NIF told IANS. The pressure cooker espresso machine costs between Rs.1,500 and Rs.2,500, depending on the quality of the pressure cooker used. Next to the espresso machine are three cycles lined up. Only to the naked eye they appear to have been mechanically mated either with a seaplane or a river-paddle boat. According to Shah, the cycle-innovations are still being honed into marketable products which will be up for sale. “They are flood bicycles. There have been many floods in India. We are developing these. One of the cycles is an innovation from Bihar, while the other is from Uttar Pradesh,” Udit said. While the Bihar innovation has sea plane like platforms alongside the wheels, the UP innovation has a paddle rotor in the rear (which whirs into action when you pedal the machine). The cycle is designed to stay afloat with the help of two fabricated plastic buoys. “When we select the idea, the credit of the core idea remains with the innovator. We only use science to make the innovations more perfect in order to make them marketable on a larger scale so that the innovator can make money,” Udit said. The NIF was founded under the aegis of the central ministry for science and technology in 2000, to help make India an inventive and creative society and a global leader in sustainable technologies without social and economic handicaps. Raghunath Mashelkar, a former head of the Council for Science and Industrial Research (CSIR), heads the governing board of NIF while some of the board members are entrepreneur Kishore Biyani and IITan Devang Khakar among other scientists, innovators and bureaucrats. Mansukhbhai Jagani from Gujarat has replaced his pair of bullocks with a 350 cc bullet motorcycle, which he kickstarts every day to plough his 1.25 acre groundnut farm. The bullet’s rear wheel has been replaced by a set of two smaller wheels joined by an axle, behind which the metal plough digs into the earth. |
| Army Chief Gen. V K Singh may join Team Anna after Retirement Posted: 13 May 2012 04:27 AM PDT Anna Hazare has welcomed Army Chief General V K Singh to join his Anti-Corruption Struggle after Retirement. However, he has left the decision of joining upon him. “I am personally not inclined to ask or request anyone to join our agitation against corruption but we have fought two wars – one against Pakistan and the other against Bangladesh during my service in the Army, now we have to fight the enemy within us”, he said. “And we need like minded people in our team and if interested, General V K Singh is welcome to join us after his retirement. It would be his choice”, Anna told reporters last evening when they asked him whether he would like to invite General Singh to join his team. “Anna’s invite to General V K is most appropriate. Imagine if ex-servicemen join Anna they can become a formidable voice against corruption”, Team Anna member Kiran Bedi tweeted today. Last month, Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal while extending support to Gen Singh had said that they were sure that the Army chief will take a decision on what he will do after retirement on May 31. The anti-corruption crusader is currently touring Maharashtra to campaign for a strong Lokayukta Act in the state. He also said that the government was unwilling to bring the Right to Information (RTI) Act into force, but had budged after several years of agitation and implemented it in Maharashtra in 2002, and it was later brought into force throughout the country. |
| Highlights of the Episode 2 of Satyamev Jayate, The Aamir Khan show Posted: 13 May 2012 03:27 AM PDT The second episode of Satyamev Jayate, focused on Child sexual abuse in India. For the episode, Khan had worked with NGO’s working with children abused sexually. It showcased two cases of persons; Cindrella Prakash and Harish Aiyer, who have gone through bad experiences in their past. The chief guest of the episode was Sridevi, who was invited to surprise Harish, who then applauded Harish's courage and determination and handed him a present for appreciation. She later went on to sign Khan’s letter to the Parliament of India lending his support to the Parliament for a strong bill for Child sexual abuse. The episode also included a workshop for children to create awareness about the subject amongst children and their parents.
Khan highlights that Child sexual abuse is more prevalent than most people realise, and often is carried out in the confines of the home, by someone the family knows and trusts. Watch it below.
Sexual abuse occurs with boys as much as with girls, and can leave lifelong scars on the individual. Watch How and why it happens ? Khan says that talking about sexual abuse is difficult, but parents must encourage their children to talk about anything that bothers them, and should also be receptive to non-verbal signals. For help, a child in distress or a concerned adult can call CHILDLINE at 1098, the 24-hour toll-free helpline. A special workshop for children - Parents must be alert, and can also help their children be aware through this workshop,which psychiatrists recommend be held at regular intervals. The Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Bill is in Parliament, and viewers can send their support for the speedy passing of this Bill into a strong law against child sexual abuse. See how can you can support this Bill. At the end, listen to this special Song sung by Ram Sampath raising the issue of Child abuse. |
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