Bihar News, Latest News from Bihar, News of Bihar, Biharprabha News |
- Kapil Sibal unaffected by resentment of IITs and its Fraternity
- Actress Sapna in trouble after remarks against Mahesh Bhatt and Veena Malik
- Bihar’s Super 30 spreads its wings in South Korea
- Bihar jail First to auction Mobile Phones in India
- Founder of Kalinga University conferred Honorary degree in Taiwan
- Air India to sack 300 more Pilots on Strike
- V S Sampath assumes office as 18th Chief Election Commissioner of India
- IIT Kanpur Professors seek PM Intervention regarding new IITJEE
- Delhi bloggers meet offline to discuss issues, gadgets
- An Interview with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna
| Kapil Sibal unaffected by resentment of IITs and its Fraternity Posted: 11 Jun 2012 10:33 AM PDT
The ‘one nation, one test’ proposal was a unanimous decision of the IIT Council taken in accordance with the IIT Act passed by the Indian Parliament, he told reporters here when asked to comment on the controversy over the proposal, which has been opposed by IIT Kanpur among others. Arguing that the decision of the IIT Council is in tune with the international practices, Sibal asserted: “There is no intent to impact on the IIT system autonomy. The exam that is being contemplated is to be set by the IIT itself.” The HRD ministry had last month announced the decision to merge IIT Joint Entrance Exam (IIT-JEE) with the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) from 2013. However, IIT Kanpur Senate has passed a resolution rejecting the new format and decided to conduct its own entrance exam from next year. Sibal, who is leading a high-powered Indian delegation to co-chair the India-US higher education dialogue with US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said he would study IIT Kanpur’s decision on his return to India. “This has nothing to do with the government,” he said asserting it would have no impact on the quality of the education in IITs.  |
| Actress Sapna in trouble after remarks against Mahesh Bhatt and Veena Malik Posted: 11 Jun 2012 07:39 AM PDT
Sapna, who has acted in over 300 of B and C grade films, lodged the complaint through her manager in Amboli police station on Saturday . According to Sapna, while giving an interview to a local publication, she had said that Bhatt was a porn director and Malik, who was doing publicity stunts in Mumbai, should be sent back to Pakistan. She said that, “I want to show people like Mahesh Bhatt saab,Poonam Pandey, Veena Malik, Rozlyn Khanand Sunny Leone what real sex appeal is all about. Bhatt saab has imported a porn actress Sunny Leone for his film when I have been doing hot sex scenes for the last several year”. Poonam Pandey is all skin and bone. Veena Malik has been disowned and thrown out of her own country. What do these girls have. I have done 300 films and have a huge fan following. I am the Queen of Sex,” she said. “Most girls in the film industry are only good at bed work. They have no understanding of camera work, dance and acting. Girls like Poonam Pandey, Rozlyn Khan, Veena Malik and others who cannot act, are making money by circulating fake nude photographs in the media. Most girls are only capable of bed work,” she further added. Sapna is playing a lead role in upcoming film No 1 Dirty Heroine Sapna and is producing under her own banner SRK Productions.  |
| Bihar’s Super 30 spreads its wings in South Korea Posted: 11 Jun 2012 06:30 AM PDT
“Super 30, which provides free food, stay and coaching for nearly a year to selected students from poor backgrounds to crack IIT-JEE has now become popular in South Korea. Korean youth are getting increasingly interested in Super 30′s innovative and inspiring story,” Anand told IANS. Anand said Super 30 is quite popular in South Korea after several newspapers, magazines and television channels covered his inspiring life story and the impact of his Super 30. Thanks to Super 30, students from under-privileged families have cracked the highly competitive IIT-JEE, drawing worldwide attention. This year, the sons of a daily wage labourer, a security guard, a grocer, a marginal farmer and a truck mechanic were among the 27 students from Super 30 who cracked IIT-JEE. “Now a famous publishing company of South Korea, Amo Agency has expressed a desire to publish a book on Super 30. They had approached me in this connection,” Anand told IANS. The book will be published in the Korean language and will present the story of Anand’s struggle and that of his bunch of Super 30 students. Korean Radio has already broadcast the story of Anand and that of his Super 30 students several times. South Korean magazine, Cine21, recently described Anand to be as popular in India as film stars. Anand said that a South Korean TV channel has also planned to make a Korean language film about him and his Super 30. This is, however, not the first time any channel has shown interest in capturing Anand’s pioneering initiative and story of his own struggle on camera. Earlier, Discovery Chanel had made an hour-long documentary, while Al Jazeera, Japanese channel NHK, France 24 and various other channels also made short films on Super 30. One of the films on Anand also won the viewers’ choice award in the South Asian film festival in Los Angeles a couple of years ago. Japanese film star Norika Fujiwara had come to Patna to shoot a film on Super 30. Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan also acknowledged Anand’s contribution in the making of the film ‘Aarakshan’. Bachchan said the role he played in the film resembled Anand Kumar a lot. Film director Prakash Jha also admitted that he had invited Anand to Mumbai for teaching tips, and the video footage was later shown to Bachchan. Now, Bollywood director Anurag Basu is also making a film based on Anand kumar’s life. Having failed to pursue his dream of studying in Cambridge due to acute financial problems, Anand set up Super 30 about 10 years ago to help poor students. Super 30 provides free residential coaching to poor students. Under the programme, 263 students have so far made it to the IITs.  |
| Bihar jail First to auction Mobile Phones in India Posted: 11 Jun 2012 05:59 AM PDT It may sound awkward, but Bihar has become first state in India, where mobiles are auctioned in Jails. Beur Jail in Patna has become the first Jail in India which would auction some 500 Mobile Phones seized from inmates in recent months. “It is the first such initiative by any jail not only in Bihar but in the country,” jail superintendent Shivendra Priyadarshi said. Inspector General of Police (Prisons) Anand Kishore said: “The auction will take place with full transparency.” Priyadarshi said hundreds of mobile phones of different brands were seized from prisoners during raids this year alone. Dozens of criminals, including politicians and Maoists, are lodged in the Beur prison.  |
| Founder of Kalinga University conferred Honorary degree in Taiwan Posted: 11 Jun 2012 05:45 AM PDT Famous Social Entreprenuer from Orissa Dr. Achyuta Samanta has been conferred an Honorary Degree by an University in Taiwan. Achyuta Samanta is the Founder of of KIIT Group of Institutions which includes KIIT University and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences. Located in Bhubaneswar, KISS is home to more than 16,000 tribal children who receive free educational and vocational training. The National Formosa University of Taiwan , considered one of the best public universities of Taiwan, conferred the Degree of Doctorate (Honoris Causa) on Samanta at its annual convocation ceremony June 9. The university honour came in recognition to Samanta’s outstanding contribution towards the society and for his initiative to educate the underprivileged tribal children, Samanta’s office here said in a statement. Samanta is member of several important government committees in India, including the University Grants Commission (UGC). The National Formosa University confers the honour usually on world personalities, the release said. Samanta received a number of awards, created new records in the field of social entrepreneur. Dr. A. Samanta has been mentioned among top 15 social entrepreneurs of the world by Edge Foundation, Inc., USA .Dr. Achyuta Samanta, has earned a place in The Limca Book of Records as the youngest chancellor of any University in India. He has also been chargesheeted by CBI for Forging Documents at UGC to enable recognition of his medical college, KIMS.  |
| Air India to sack 300 more Pilots on Strike Posted: 11 Jun 2012 05:26 AM PDT
“The pilots are on an illegal strike since May. How long do they (pilots) expect us to wait for them to resume duty? If the situation remains the same, then the rest (300) of pilots may also be terminated. But this decision will be taken by the Air India management,” Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told IANS. “Not only has the illegal strike caused severe losses to the airline, but also wavered the trust of passengers from Air India. If they want to come back, then they are welcome.” When contacted, the striking aviators said they are studying the situation and are currently on the agitation. “We are looking at the situation. We all are together in this and our unity would not break. Our only demand right now is the reinstatement of our sacked colleagues and recognition of our union,” a senior committee member of the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) – the now de-recognised union – told IANS. Earlier, the Air India management had sacked 101 pilot-members of the IPG. Representing aviators of the erstwhile Air India, the IPG went on strike May 8 against the move to train their counterparts from Indian Airlines on the soon-to-be-inducted Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The airline on its part has given advertisements on its website for hiring of new pilots for a contractual period of five years. The advertisements call for both commanders and co-pilots, who can operate Boeing 777s, 747s and 737s. The applicants will have to go through an interview and flight simulator tests in Mumbai. The airline has set July 23, 2012, as the closure for hiring process. Air India expects to hire nearly 100 pilots, who will pool in with 90 more trainee pilots to meet the shortfall in the manpower. However, it will take Air India nearly four-five months to get the trainee pilots trained as well as give orientation to the new joinees. Currently, the fleet of Boeing’s ultra-long haul aircraft are being operated by executive pilots. Ajit Singh June 6 said that Air India will go ahead and hire new pilots to tackle the prolonged strike that has crippled the international operations of the national carrier. The 35-day long strike has severely hit Air India’s international operations, with the airline only operating 38 from the original 45 services. Among the seven axed international destinations are Hong Kong, Osaka, Seoul and Toronto. “Operations to northeast Asia have been hit badly, so have US and European services. Under the new scheme of things, we are trying to mitigate losses by operating to key destinations only,” an Air India official said. Earlier, the Air India management had sacked 101 pilot-members of the IPG. Representing aviators of the erstwhile Air India, the IPG went on strike May 8 against the move to train their counterparts from Indian Airlines on the soon-to-be-inducted Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The airline on its part has advertised on its website for hiring of new pilots for a contractual period of five years. The advertisements call for both commanders and co-pilots, who can operate Boeing 777s, 747s and 737s. The applicants will have to go through an interview and flight simulator tests in Mumbai. The airline has set July 23 as the closure for hiring process. Air India expects to hire nearly 100 pilots, who will pool in with 90 more trainee pilots to meet the shortfall in the manpower. However, it will take Air India nearly four-five months to get the trainee pilots trained as well as provide orientation to the new joinees. Currently, the fleet of Boeing’s ultra-long haul aircraft are being operated by executive pilots. Ajit Singh last week said that Air India will go ahead and hire new pilots to tackle the prolonged strike that has crippled the international operations of the national carrier.  |
| V S Sampath assumes office as 18th Chief Election Commissioner of India Posted: 11 Jun 2012 03:40 AM PDT V Sundaram Sampath has taken over the post as the 18th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of the Country Sampath joined the Election Commission of India as election commissioner in April 2009. He succeeds S.Y. Quraishi as the CEC. Talking to media persons about his priorities, Sampath said he would work towards electoral reforms.An announcement regarding the Presidential election schedule is due shortly,he added. An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1973 batch Andhra Cadre, Sampath has held important positions in the government of Andhra Pradesh and at the central government. He was an Election Commissioner from 21 April 2009 after serving for a year as the Secretary Energy and Power, Government of India. On 6 June 2012, President Pratibha Patil appointed Sampath to replace S. Y. Quraishi as the Chief Election Commissioner. He will serve until he reaches the retirement age of 65 on 16 January 2015. An EC or the CEC can remain in office for six years or till he is 65, whichever is earlier. The Centre stuck to convention and appointed the seniormost election commissioner in the EC as the CEC despite LK Advani’s suggestion for a collegium to choose the CEC. With Sampath’s appointment as CEC, H S Brahma is next in seniority in the EC. Brahma was appointed in August 2010 after Quraishi was appointed CEC in July 2010. The EC’s post lay vacant for about a month. With a series of state Assembly polls lined up for this year and 2013, the Election Commission under him would have its hands full.Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are slated for elections later this year. Next year, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will witness the election for new assemblies.
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| IIT Kanpur Professors seek PM Intervention regarding new IITJEE Posted: 11 Jun 2012 03:28 AM PDT
Informed sources at the premier institute told IANS Monday that a “letter is on its way” to the prime minister and confirmed that it has been written by a group of professors, known as the Faculty Forum. Pointing out that in matters like this the Academic Senate was supreme, professors Neeraj Mishra, Deepak Gupta and Y.N. Singh have urged the prime minister to intervene and postpone the contentious changes in the format of the Joint Entrance Examiantion (JEE)-2013. Any “unnecessary meddling” with the current format of entrance exams could seriously jeopardize the prestige and standing of the IITs “respected across the world”, the faculty members said and have cautioned that such steps would also bring the ministry and academicians on the brink of an unsavoury face-off. The Faculty Forum has opined that by doing away with the AIEEE, NIT, IIT-JEE and changing the exam format to a single CET, engineering aspirants would be burdened with pressure and tension. Urging the prime minister to use his “good offices” to thrash out the contentious issue at the earliest, IIT-Kanpur has also asked the prime minister to order cancellation of the proposed CET format that the HRD ministry is likely to implement. The IIT-Kanpur Friday last virtually revolted against the HRD ministry’s move for a common entrance test and announced that it would hold its own entrance test from 2013. Soon after Kanpur raised the banner of revolt, IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay also dropped enough hints that they too would go the Kanpur way. There is a growing sentiment against the CET proposal, many in the IIT faculty feel. The IIT-Kanpur is upset with the ministry’s decision to merge IIT Joint Entrance Exam (IIT-JEE) with the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) and the 210-member senate of IIT-Kanpur has passed a resolution rejecting the new format. In a resolution moved and voted by the senate, it was said that the recent “IIT Council proposal on admissions to IITs is academically and methodically unsound and in violation of the Institutes of Technology Act (1961) and IIT Kanpur Ordinances (Ordinance 3.2 (Admissions).” The Senate resolution had also authorized its chairman to constitute a committee with the help of the dean of academic affairs for conducting “JEE 2013 by IIT Kanpur”.  |
| Delhi bloggers meet offline to discuss issues, gadgets Posted: 11 Jun 2012 02:19 AM PDT The air was abuzz with tech talk as more than 250 bloggers came together Sunday for the IndiBlogger meet in the capital. They shared Twitter handles instead of visiting cards, clicked pictures with their smartphones and tablets, and blogged about the evening using their Blackberries. Social media websites like Twitter and Facebook were even more abuzz. “(It was) good to put faces on so many blogs I have read,” blogger Shivya Nath wrote on her Twitter page. “Delhi bloggers were eagerly awaiting an IndiBlogger meet to connect offline with those who they virtually interact with often,” said the organiser, Kathik D.R. Of IndiBlogger. “We wanted to make it worth the wait and as expected, the bloggers showed a great energy at the meet. It is always great to host Delhi bloggers, who come from diverse backgrounds and interests and yet make for a very strong community,” he added. “Bloggers rarely get a chance to know the people behind the blogs they read. IndiBlogger meets beautifully fill this gap and give us all the opportunity to know fellow bloggers better and share thoughts and ideas,” blogger Prateek Shah said. “Spice Mobiles acted as the best partner there could be, giving away so many free phones,” Shah, who won two, added. Blogging has been one of the most popular online activities, where a person, called a blogger, can create and post content online, which can be read by everyone on internet. The meet, hosted by renowned tech journalist Rajiv Makhni of NDTV, started with a discussion on the security mechanisms available in smartphones based on Google’s Android mobile platform. Bloggers of all shapes, sizes and ages came to take part in the meet. However, the biggest surprise was a boy who won a mobile phone for being a blogger at 7. The relevance of the discussion was evident as Google’s Android looks set to overtake Apple as the largest platform for smartphones in near future. However, the platform is considered vulnerable to online attacks by hackers or viruses. Later in the evening, blogger and magician Karan Singh presented a 20-minute magic act. During the break, the participants converged on Makhni with their tech queries, a large number of them asking for his verdict on superiority of the latest smartphones. The gadget guru voted in favour of Samsung’s Galaxy S-3 smartphone. IndiBlogger, one of the largest communities of bloggers in the country, hosted the event with Indian mobility company Spice Mobiles. The meet also provided the perfect opportunity to Spice for launching its new ‘Stellar’ range of Android smartphones, which the company labelled as serious competition for market leaders Samsung and HTC. Towards the end, the meet turned into a free-for-all quiz contest with the questions ranging from the inventor of the Walkman to gadgets used by James Bond. The people with correct answers won Spice smartphones as prizes.  |
| An Interview with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna Posted: 11 Jun 2012 01:20 AM PDT
“We believe in providing total transparency in all our operations. It’s a fact that in the last four-five years India has emerged as one of the big donors among developing countries for less developed and smaller countries,” Krishna told IANS in an interview. “We have worked out a system to ensure transparency and will not be found wanting,” he replied when asked about the oft-iterated allegations of funds diversion and delays in delivery of aid. The authorities in Bangladesh, for example, have often complained that the implementation of projects under the $1 billion line of credit provided by India over two years ago has been slow. But India has maintained that the nature and magnitude of those projects take time. “Till now, our aid budget has been small. However, it’s been growing for some time. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced $5 billion for Africa at the second India-Africa Forum Summit in Addis Ababa last year,” he said. Amid China’s aggressive diplomatic outreach in the developing world, India has scaled up aid and soft loans of over $11 billion to developing countries as part of its long-term strategy to push India’s strategic interests through economic diplomacy and soft power projection. The foreign aid, which India likes to call developmental assistance, includes $7.5 billion to Africa, $2 billion to Afghanistan, $1 billion to Afghanistan, $1 billion to Myanmar and substantial aid to neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. “It’s one of our key priorities to provide a structural framework for dispensing aid. All aid is now being channelised through the Development Partnership Administration (DPA),” Krishna said. The DPA was set up in January in a bid to enhance India’s soft power and economic diplomacy through swifter aid delivery. Krishna said the DPA’s strength will be doubled over the next six months in view of the need to fast-track commitments made by India to various countries. The DPA currently comprises around 20 officials who also include professionals from other countries and brings under one umbrella all aspects related to project implementation, ranging from monitoring implementation and auditing impact assessment. Experts from other ministries, including the railways, telecommunications, agriculture and human resource development, are being brought on deputation into the DPA’a fold. Experts also join from outside the government as consultants on a project-to-project basis. Although the DPA, a department of the external affairs ministry, was set up in January, it acquired traction only after the BRICS summit of emerging powers in March-end. The DPA is headed by P.S. Raghavan, additional secretary in the external affairs ministry. Underlining the need for probity, Krishna also stressed that he wants to keep the ministry’s operations and activities above board. “That’s why in all projects related to the ministry, we have an open tendering system so that we can get the best service provider for a particular project. These contracts are not done through nomination,” he said.  |
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