Friday, 29 July 2011

Bihar News, Latest News from Bihar, News of Bihar, Biharprabha News

Bihar News, Latest News from Bihar, News of Bihar, Biharprabha News

Anna Hazare to draft bill for Bihar’s Lokayukta

Posted: 29 Jul 2011 05:58 AM PDT

The Anna Hazare team is ready with its draft bill to set up an anti-corruption bill in Bihar,following a request from the chief minister Nitish Kumar,
“When we met Kumar to seek support for our Jan Lokpal bill on June 30, he had requested us to draft a lokayukta bill for Bihar. We have completed the work,” said Arvind Kejriwal, a member of the Hazare team on the joint drafting panel for the lokpal bill.

Bihar is among the 11 states, which so far does not have a lokayukta, but Kumar is keen to have one soon. “He has called us for discussion in the first week of August to finalise the draft so that he can place it before the state cabinet,” said Kejriwal.

Kejriwal’s colleague, lawyer Prashant Bhushan said the importance of their team having drafted the bill was that it retains most of the provisions of the their version of the lokpal bill at the national level. “It has been drafted keeping in mind that in a federal structure, the powers of a state are different from that of the Centre."

According to Hazare’s team, their draft lokayukta bill provides for bringing the CM in its ambit. “There has been no clarity on this so far. Different states have adopted different stands on this issue,” said a member of India Against Corruption.

The draft bill also empowers the lokayukta to initiate a probe once it is convinced that the complaint is genuine. It has done away with the procedure to seek permission of higher officials before beginning an inquiry against any public servant.

The Hazare team hopes to convince the Kumar government to bring the state bureaucracy within the lokayukta’s ambit and not just a particular category of higher officials. “We expect some clarifications from the Nitish Kumar government, since this is for the first time that any state government will be accepting a civil society draft almost in totality,” a member said.

Kerala follows Bihar model in weeding out corruption

Posted: 29 Jul 2011 01:56 AM PDT

Kerala may become the second state in India after Bihar to bring in a law to make officials punishable for flawed services at the government offices, with the Congress-led state government giving the proposal serious consideration.
"The services that the citizens should get from the government should be provided in time and we are seriously considering the proposal to make it their legal right," Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told a meeting of the secretaries and district collectors held here yesterday.
According to the Right to Service Act of Bihar, it is mandatory for the state government and its agencies to extend services to people within the stipulated timeframe, failing which the officials concerned could be penalized.
The law covers 30 services including issuance of driving license, passport enquiries, banking services, farmer credit cards and ration card. It comes as an extension of India's powerful Right to Information Act. The public servants will be fined Rs250 for a day's delay or the maximum of Rs5,000.
"We have outlined our vision on the governance in the 100-day agenda of my government. The government's hallmark is transparency and speed. The citizens should get the services that they need today itself, not tomorrow. Every officer has the responsibility to implement the government's policy," said Chandy.
He also directed the officers to take a lenient approach to the people who vacate their land for infrastructure projects.
They should get the actual market value of the land, evict them only after paying compensation, provide the deserved with housing, ensure employment in the government and public sector u it's and consider them as the first beneficiary of the projects that they vacate their land for.
He reminded the officers that his government was completing its first 100 days on September 12 and all the promised that he made to citizens should be kept.

Nitish’s Facebook page hacked by unknown

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 11:56 PM PDT

The Facebook page of Mr. Nitish Kumar created by fans was hacked by an unknown invader who posted an objectionable message on it, police said on Tuesday. Police have begun investigations after lodging a case here. The Nitish Kumar fan page has 8,145 followers.

“The cyber crime cell of police is looking into the case as this is a case of cyber crime,” Inspector General Arvind Kumar Pandey said.

An aide in the chief minister’s office here said it was not an official page of Nitish Kumar on Facebook but was created by his fans three years ago. “This page has the biggest fan following of Nitish Kumar,” the aide said.

Bihar Cadre officers appointed as executive director of World Bank

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 11:51 PM PDT

Mr M N Prasad, presently Secretary to the Prime Minister, has been appointed as Executive Director of the World Bank in place of Mr Pulok Chatterji.

Mr Prasad is a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) of the 1972 batch (Bihar cadre).

His appointment will be for a period of three years with effect from the date of assumption of charge of the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier, an official press release said.

Mr Chatterji, an IAS officer of the 1974 batch (Uttar Pradesh cadre), is expected to be posted to the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has also approved the appointment of Mr Surajit Mitra, IAS (AM:77), presently in the cadre, as Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs vice Mr Vivek Mehrotra, IAS (HY:74) on his retirement on July 31, the release added.
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