Sunday, 3 April 2011

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

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


Doctors urged to adopt a village in Bihar

Posted: 03 Apr 2011 07:07 PM PDT

PATNA: Health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubeyon Saturday assured the doctors that the proposed Medical Professional Protection Act is in final stage and it would be moved in the state assembly in its next session.

Addressing the inaugural session of 41st foundation day of Nalanda Medical College (NMC) on the college premises, Choubey said the proposed act was to be introduced in the recently-concluded budget session of the state assembly. “But it could not be moved in the house as it was still in the drafting stage ,” he said.

The dynamic assured career progression (DACP) scheme for the medical professionals would soon be presented before the state cabinet for its approval, the health minister said.

The minister, however, urged the doctors to adopt a village and make it healthy. The doctors present on the occasion clapped and promised the minister to fulfil his wish. The minister asked NMC principal Dr Geeta Singh to take steps in this regard.

Choubey also assured to fulfil the demands of the college, which included an auditorium, hostels for boys and girls, increase in number of buses to ferry the medical students from the medical college to the hospital.

Earlier, welcoming the guests, NMC principal Dr Geeta Singh placed the demands of the college before the health minister. She stressed the need for construction of hostels for boys and girls as the number of seats in the college had increased. She also demanded construction of an auditorium, an additional lecture hall and increase in number of buses for the students. Others who spoke on the occasion included principal secretary, health, Amarjeet Sinha.

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MS Dhoni to become Dr. Dhoni

Posted: 03 Apr 2011 06:19 AM PDT

RANCHI: The Jharkhand government on Sunday said that it would confer an honorary doctorate degree on local boy and Indian cricket captainMahendra Singh Dhoni – who is yet to complete his graduation but who led his team to a fantasticWorld Cup victory in Mumbai. 

“We will soon initiate the process to awardhonorary doctorate degree to Dhoni,” said Baijnath Ram, human resource development (HRD) minister of Jharkhand.

The state HRD minister announced before the World Cup that a doctorate degree would be awarded to Dhoni if India win the tournament.

Dhoni, 29, is doing his graduation from St Xavier’s College in Ranchi. He has been unable to complete the course due to his tight schedule.

Jharkhand earlier gifted a 4,000 sq feet plot and a Rs 11 lakh car to Dhoni when India won the T20 World Cup in 2007.

Celebrations continued in Ranchi for the second day after India beat Sri Lanka in the World Cup final in Mumbai on Saturday. People thronged to Dhoni’s house situated at Harmu Housing Colony of Ranchi to congratulate his family members.

Dhoni’s parents however preferred not to speak to mediapersons. The entire city seemed to be in a celebration mood and there was praise all round for Dhoni.

Soon after Dhoni hit the winning runs in the final match in Mumbai Saturday, children, youth and elderly came onto streets to celebrate the Indian victory.

“Dhoni tune kar dala” (Dhoni you did it) and “Jharkhand ka Lal, India ko dila diya World Cup” (son of Jharkhand has won the World Cup for India) were some of the slogans shouted by people in Ranchi.

Not only Ranchi but the entire Jharkhand witnessed Diwali-like celebrations till late in the night.

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Patna- Delhi route to be setup as high-speed coridoor

Posted: 03 Apr 2011 06:08 AM PDT

PATNA: Although introduction of Bullet trains onIndian Railway tracks is still a dream, the high-speed corridors have finally been identified by the Railway Board for pre-feasibility studies.

The governments of respective states through which the project would pass, have also agreed to share the cost of the project.

According to a Railway Board official, railway minister Mamata Banerjee has given her nod to this ambitious project conceptualized long back. Railways has identified six corridors for conducting pre-feasibility tests for running high-speed trains. They are Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna (991 km), Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar (450 km), Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad (650 km), Hyderabad-Darnakal-Vijaywada-Chennai (644 km), Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam (649 km) and Howrah-Haldia (135 km), he said.

Under the plan, railways intends to run some trains at the speed of 160 km to 200 km per hour while a few pairs of trains would have restriction to run at the speed of 160 km to 180 km per hour in different zones of railways due to track condition.

The high-speed train corridors have become the need of the hour for railways to face competition with air services. The railways is keen to provide fast running trains to people on the pattern of European countries. The high-speed corridors would thus fulfil the needs of railways at a time when it is facing tough competition with air and road transport services, said the Railway Board official.

According to him, the Patna-New Delhi route seems to be the most viable for converting it into a high-speed corridor. Tracks of superfine quality have replaced the old tracks all along the route. However, signalling system is yet to be improved on this particular route, he said.

According to sources, a high-level team comprising Railway Board officials has already held meetings with different state governments in connection with the survey work of the project’s pre-feasibility.

In Bihar, Railways intends to carry out the pre-feasibility test at a cost of about Rs 15 crore, sources said, adding the total area falling under Bihar is about 200 km while the rest falls under the jurisdiction of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi state government. Introduction of high-speed trains would yield revenue to the railways as well-off passengers would prefer to travel by these trains. Railways must get uninterrupted power supply to run high-speed trains. IIT, Kharagpur, has been working on this project to make the dream project of railways a reality, sources said.

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Diwali in Ranchi after majestic win of the worldcup

Posted: 03 Apr 2011 06:07 AM PDT

RANCHI: Thousands of sports lovers took to the streets in Team India Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s home town Ranchi to celebrate the World Cup victory over Sri Lanka. 

Crackers boomed after Dhoni hit the winning six, as over 2000 people gathered at a ground near Captain M S Dhoni’s residence at Harmu to watch the tense battle between bat and ball on a giant screen.

Fans danced to the tune of drums and cheered with the fall of each rival wicket and with each boundary hit by Team India’s batsmen.

Cheers became louder after Dhoni completed 6000 runs in one day cricket and then reaching to his half century; enlivening the fans who initially fell silent after openers Virendra Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar returned pavillion quickly.

“For the first time the two Asian countries have fought for the World Cup with India winning. This night will never to be forgotten,” said Raj Kumar, who stays in the neighbourhood of Dhoni.

“It is a proud moment for Dhoni, who had won both the T20 World Cup and the 50 overs quadrennial event toda…I was not born when India won World Cup in 1983,” said Rajesh Sen.

“Now Ranchi is a proud city boasting winners — starting from late hockey legend Jaipal Singh who captained India to Olympic gold medal in the 1930s and Dhoni leading India to T20 and 50 overs World Cup victories,” said Vinod Kumar, a keen sports lover.

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Student sets up BPO in Muzaffarpur

Posted: 03 Apr 2011 01:03 AM PDT

Hitesh Kumar Kyal quit his study, albeit temporarily, to support his family back home in Howrah, Kolkata. He was a first-year BA (Political Science) student at St Xavier’s College, Kolkata. Five years later, Kyal, 23, is able to provide jobs to youngsters like him at his business process outsourcing (BPO) firm in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.

Even after resuming his studies and pursuing MBA from a management school in Gurgaon, Kyal stayed out of the campus recruitment process. Having the burden of repaying his education loan of R10 lakh, it was an adventurous step for him. But according to Kyal, he was guided by his conviction to set up his own business.

"Some people defer their plans and objectives. But I believe if you want to achieve something, why not today?" he said. Kyal, along with his business partner Raj Kumar Chetan, started his firm Frugal. Frugal employs young graduates from rural areas and processes businesses of several banking, telecom and insurance companies. Kyal said the company is expected to employ 5,000 people in a few years.

Muzaffarpur was chosen after much research. "We discovered that the city produces 70,000 graduates every year. It produces the right quantum of talent but offers little opportunities," said Kyal.

He said his company can prove to be a turning point for the rapidly-growing economy of Bihar, similar to the case of software giant Infosys in Bangalore.

"We are foraying into Bihar at the right time. It was right time that made DLF popular in Gurgaon. Who knows, Frugal could be the next big thing in Muzaffarpur,” said Kyal.

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Bihar posts decline in decadal growth rate

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 07:58 PM PDT

Uttar Pradesh and Bihar — Hindi heartland states that account for 25 % of India's 121-crore population — have posted a decline in their decadal growth rate of population, as India witnesses its steepest decline in decadal growth rate since independence.

Significantly, the decadal rates of population growth in the two states had increased in the last census despite a high base. India registered a 17.64 % decadal growth rate in the 2011 census — a 3.9 percentage point decline over the figure of 21.54% in 2001. The two populous states too showed similar trends.

UP's population grew by 20.1% from 2001 to 2011, more than 5 percentage points lower than its decadal growth of 25.9% in the previous decade. The 2001 figure was a marginal increase over the previous decade.

Bihar's decadal growth rate of population from 2001 to 2011 was 25.1 %, about 3 percentage points lower than the 28.6%  between 1991 and 2001.

The 2001 figure was, however, 5 percentage points higher than the 1991 census figure of 23.38%, which showed that up to 10 years back, population of Bihar was increasing at a higher pace than before.

UP is home to 16% of India's population and Bihar 9%. "It is a good sign. If we keep increasing our population, how will we provide employment?" said economist Ashish Bose.

JNU economist Praveen Jha, however, adds that the spurt in Bihar's population in the previous decade was surprising.

Rajasthan's decadal growth of population has declined from 28.4% to 21.4% from the last census to this one, and MP's corresponding figure has also gone down from 24.3% to 20.3%.

The southern states still fare better than the Hindi heartland. The decadal growth rates are 15.7% for Karnataka, 11.1% for AP, 15.6% for Tamil Nadu and 4.9% for Kerala, overall much healthier than the north.

The Kerala figure — the second lowest in India — is a decline from 9.4% in 2001, but, Tamil Nadu has posted a rise in its decadal population growth from 11.7 % in the 1991-2001 decade.

 

 

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Saturday, 2 April 2011

Bihar posts decline in decadal growth rate

Saturday , April 02 2011 Inbox Edition


  • Bihar posts decline in decadal growth rate
    Uttar Pradesh and Bihar -- Hindi heartland states that account for 25 % of India's 121-crore population -- have posted a decline in their decadal growth rate of population, as India witnesses its steepest decline in decadal growth rate since independence. Significantly, the decadal rates of population growth in the two states had increased in [...] View More
  • Railways keen in launching phone booking
    PATNA: Railway ticket booking through cellphones is picking up fast these days, particularly in the metros. On an average about 800 to 1,000 tickets are being booked through cellphones daily in the metros. Cellphone savvy people, particularly from metropolitan cities, have been using this new system without any hassle. The new system has almost ended [...] View More
  • Indians are World Champion again
    MUMBAI: An inspired India on Saturday night regained the coveted World Cup after 28 years as they suppressed Sri Lanka with a six-wicket victory in a nerve-wrecking final to script a glorious new chapter in their cricketing history. Chasing 275 for a historic win, the Indians held their nerves as they rode on Gautam Gambhir’s [...] View More
  • Bihar provides 11 percent of Army personnels
    PATNA: Army personnel have reasons to feel proud of their Bihari roots as Bihar accounts for about 11 percent of the total Army personnel strength. Talking to TOI, Bihar Ex-Servicemen League president Col (retd) V K Singh said that Bihar had lost a large size of cantonment after its bifurcation from West Bengal and later [...] View More
  • The Mahavir Mandir Trust to open Sant Kabir Heart Hospital at Muzaffarpur
    PATNA: The Mahavir Mandir Trust will open Sant Kabir Heart Hospital at Muzaffarpur at a cost of Rs 5 crore and install six life-size statues depicting the birth of Sita opposite Sitamarhi railway station at a cost of Rs 15 lakh. These and other decisions were made in the trust s annual budget of over Rs 55.14 [...] View More

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

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


Railways keen in launching phone booking

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 05:58 PM PDT

PATNA: Railway ticket booking through cellphones is picking up fast these days, particularly in the metros. On an average about 800 to 1,000 tickets are being booked through cellphones daily in the metros.

Cellphone savvy people, particularly from metropolitan cities, have been using this new system without any hassle. The new system has almost ended travails of the long wait in the queue to procure railway computerized journey tickets. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation ( IRCTC ) Ltd has taken the lead in introducing this system.

According to a Railway Board official, the newly developed ultra modrn system has not been introduced in Bihar and adjoining states. The railways is keen to create awareness about this new facility among passengers of the East Central Railway (ECR). he said.

Under this system, people booking railway tickets, however, need to have Java-enabled handsets to access internet services. This facility will enable people to book their journey tickets in advance. Delivery of the tickets could be had through couriers. But those having their own mail ID could get the booked tickets online also, sources said.

Since the use of cellphone has become common these days, people would find it convenient to book their journey tickets well in advance even from remote places. Besides, they could also seek information related to berth availability and journey plan through cellphones. The IRCTC has provided the facility of using credit cards and cash cards for booking tickets through cellphones, a Board official said.

According to sources, the IRCTC had introduced this system way back in 2003. But it could not click due to some technical reasons. Earlier, this system was brought into service through cellphones on voice mail and SMS only. But, it could not evoke good response from passengers using cellphones. Thus, the railways has decided to introduce the new system based on Java-enabled handsets as well as on all those sets having internet facilities, sources said.

A Board official admitted that the railways seems to be keen to ensure availability of railway journey tickets at doorsteps of the people across the country without charging any additional cost. The Board had approved this new cell system in December last year after getting mandatory clearance from the RBI, he said.

 

 

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Indians are World Champion again

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 01:37 PM PDT

MUMBAI: An inspired India on Saturday night regained the coveted World Cup after 28 years as they suppressed Sri Lanka with a six-wicket victory in a nerve-wrecking final to script a glorious new chapter in their cricketing history.

Chasing 275 for a historic win, the Indians held their nerves as they rode on Gautam Gambhir’s 97 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s unbeaten 91 to overhaul the target with 10 balls to spare and send the cricket-crazy nation into a frenzy.

The vociferous, jam-packed crowd at the Wankhede stadium erupted in wild celebrations as Dhoni hit the winning six runs to give India their biggest cricketing moment and crown themselves the ODI world champions, in addition to being the number one Test team.

The World Cup title triumph, coming as it did after more than two decades, was doubly special for Sachin Tendulkar since it was the only silverware missing from his collection. 

It was also a fitting farewell to coach Gary Kirsten, for whom it was the last day in office as the Indian coach.

It was a momentous Saturday night marked by high emotion and poignant scenes as India, for long the game’s financial power, stamped their supremacy on the field as well, eight years after Sourav Ganguly’s team had made an abortive attempt to scale the pinnacle.

The players, many of them with tears in their eyes, rushed to the ground to hug each other as Dhoni finished it off in style by hitting a six, as fire crackers lit up the evening sky to mark the moment.

The highlight of the Lankan innings was Mahela Jayawardene’s rollicking 103 as Sri Lanka capitalised on the batting powerplay to post a decent 274 for six.

Electing to bat after winning the toss, Jayawardene used his vast experience to good effect and anchored the Lankan innings together.

The islanders, desperate to regain the coveted cup after nearly 15 years, lost wickets at regular intervals against the Indians, who were spurred on by a vociferous jam-packed crowd.

The Indian bowlers were disciplined in the first half of the innings but conceded as many as 63 runs in the batting powerplay to undo all the good work.

Apart from Jayawardene’s 88-ball knock, captain Kumar Sangakkara (48) Tillakaratne Dilshan (33) and Nuwan Kulasekara (32) were the other notable performers. 

The Indian innings began on a disastrous note as the destructive Virender Sehwag was dismissed in the very second ball of the innings with paceman Lasith Malinga scalping the prized wicket.

Sehwag was hit on the pads by an incoming delivery by Malinga as he went for a flick. Umpire Aleem Dar ruled him out before he asked for review but television replays showed that the ball would have hit the stumps.

Tendulkar, playing in what probably is his last World Cup game, entertained his home crowd with a couple of delightful boundaries while Gambhir also looked for runs at the other end.

The Indians suffered a huge jolt went Malinga struck again by dismissing the champion batsman as he snicked an away-going delivery and captain Sangakkara latched on to a low catch. A hushed silence descended on the Wankhede stadium as he started his walk back to the pavilion.

Gambhir drove Kulasekara for a boundary in the extra cover region to notch up 4000 ODI runs while Virat Kohli also pulled the bowler to the boundary in the same over. 

Gambhir was lucky to get a reprieve in spinner Suraj Randiv’s first over when Kulasekara dropped him at the long off region.

The third-wicket pair of Gambhir and Kohli put on 83 runs before Dilshan broke the partnership by taking a brilliant acrobatic return catch.

The out-of-form Dhoni came ahead of Yuvraj to keep the left-right combination going and was immediately given two ‘lives’ by the Lankans — first Sangakkara messing up a stumping chance off Muralitharan and then Dilshan dropping a return catch as he collided with non-striker Gambhir.

Dhoni, however, made the most of the Sri Lankan lapses to rediscover his form which had deserted him in the mega event.

Dhoni and Gambhir scored at a brisk pace to keep India in the hunt.

The pair stitched 109 runs for the fourth wicket before Gambhir paid the price for a horrendous stroke, just three runs short of what would have been a well-deserved century.

Gambhir made room to cut the ball but missed it completely to see his stumps dislodged.

Earlier, both the Indian new ball bowlers bowled a tidy line and length and did not allow the Sri Lankan openers to get off to a flying start while the fielding was also sharp.

Pace spearhead Zaheer’s first three overs were maidens and that put some pressure on the two Lankan openers who were not being able to capitalise on the powerplay overs.

Dilshan broke the stranglehold by hitting the first boundary of the innings in the 5th over by pulling Sreesanth to the square leg fence.

In the same over, he produced a delightful cut to the point for his second boundary.

Tharanga looked completely out of sorts at the other end as he found it difficult to find the gaps as Zaheer bowled a searching length right through his opening spell.

Zaheer drew first blood in his fourth over by evicting Tharanga with an outgoing delivery and Virender Sehwag holding on to diving catch at first slip much to the delight of a capacity crowd at the stadium. Tharanga scored just two runs off 20 balls.

The Lankans could manage just 31 runs in the first ten overs, their lowest in the tournament. That was largely because of Zaheer’s excellent first spell of 5-3-6-1.

Dilshan and Sangakkara put on 43 runs for the second wicket before Harbhajan Singh struck for his team by getting rid of Dilshan (33), who scored 500 runs in the tournament.

Dilshan went for a sweep but the ball hit his gloves and lobbed onto his stumps to trigger off wild celebrations in the galleries.

Sangakkara and Jayawardene then took upon themselves the task of rebuilding the innings and the duo scored at a decent pace to steer the team to a comfortable position.

Yuvraj Singh, who had a dream tournament with both the bat and the ball, was introduced into the attack in the 22nd over but the two experienced batsmen were not really troubled by his left arm spin.

It was Yuvraj who finally broke the 62-run third wicket partnership which was assuming dangerous proportions by dismissing Sangakkara who tried to cut a wide ball outside the off stump but only succeeded in edging the ball to Dhoni behind the stump. His knock of 48 came off 67 balls and contained five boundaries.

It was left to the well-settled Jayawardene to hold the innings together and he found an able ally in Thilan Samaraweera to take the Sri Lankan total close to the 180 mark.

Yuvraj was again instrumental in breaking the fourth- wicket partnership by accounting for Samaraweera. Umpire Simon Taufel turned down the leg before appeal but the Indians went for the referral and television replays showed that the ball would have hit the stumps.

New batsman Chamara Kapugedera did not survive long as he offered a simple catch to Suresh Raina at extra cover off a slower delivery from Zaheer, leaving the visitors in a spot of bother at 182 for five.

Jayawardene and Nuwan Kulasekara then teamed up ensure that Sri Lanka had a competitive total on the board as they went about accumulating runs in the batting powerplay, which was taken in the last five overs.

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Munaf Patel.

Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Mahela Jayawardene, Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Kapugedera, Suraj Randiv, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan.

Umpires: Simon Taufel (AUS) and Aleem Dar (PAK)
TV umpire: Ian Gould (ENG)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)

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Bihar provides 11 percent of Army personnels

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 10:55 PM PDT

PATNA: Army personnel have reasons to feel proud of their Bihari roots as Bihar accounts for about 11 percent of the total Army personnel strength.

Talking to TOI, Bihar Ex-Servicemen League president Col (retd) V K Singh said that Bihar had lost a large size of cantonment after its bifurcation from West Bengal and later due to creation of Jharkhand. While about 20,000 troops went to the Barrackpore Cantonment in West Bengal, it lost two training centres located at Ramgargh to Jharkhand. About 7,500 troops went to the Ramgargh Cantonment after creation of Jharkhand, he said, adding even the main canteen service is still located in Jharkhand.

 

Col (retd) Singh said that the Army from Bihar has to go to Jharkhand to purchase two or four wheelers. Besides, the League members have been paying state tax on each item of defence being transported to Danapur Cantonment from Jharkhand. He said that about 1.5 lakh personnel are in defence service from Bihar.

According to the League president , the number of Army personnel from Bihar has increased from 3.5 per cent to 11 per cent now as the Centre has fixed the quota of recruitment in Army population-wise from each state. As a result, the number of ex-servicemen has also gone high in Bihar as most of them preferred to settle in Bihar after their superannuation. That apart, about 12,000 ex-servicemen have been employed as Special Auxiliary Police (SAP) in Bihar, he said.

Lauding the state government decision to build Zila Kalyan Karyalaya (district welfare office) in six districts of the state at an estimated cost of Rs 1 crore, Singh said that there is an immediate need to increase the number of Army canteens and polyclinics to cater to the needs of Army personnel.

About six lakh ex-servicemen are currently located in Punjab. The number of canteens is about 100 there as there are six large cantonments in Punjab. In Punjab, there is a state minister to take care of ex-servicemen s needs and welfare. Bihar too needs to have a separate minister to look after the welfare of ex-servicemen, he said.

 

 

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Friday, 1 April 2011

The Mahavir Mandir Trust to open Sant Kabir Heart Hospital at Muzaffarpur

Friday , April 01 2011 Inbox Edition


  • The Mahavir Mandir Trust to open Sant Kabir Heart Hospital at Muzaffarpur
    PATNA: The Mahavir Mandir Trust will open Sant Kabir Heart Hospital at Muzaffarpur at a cost of Rs 5 crore and install six life-size statues depicting the birth of Sita opposite Sitamarhi railway station at a cost of Rs 15 lakh. These and other decisions were made in the trust s annual budget of over Rs 55.14 [...] View More
  • George Orwell's birthplace faces ownership dispute
    MOTIHARI: The birthplace of famous British author, George Orwell, is in the eye of a storm. While Brajnandan Rai, a schoolteacher in Motihari town, claims that the house had been registered in his name, Prakash Asthana, chairman of Motihari Nagar Parisad, said a probe revealed that the building in Mascot Locality where Orwell was born is [...] View More
  • Bihar schools uses Wifi,Skype for learning
    Remember Nalanda? The University was center of higher learning and one of the world's first residential universities. Well, a lot has changed in Bihar since then and the change has mostly been for bad (or worse). But entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs and Chandrakant Singh, a M.Tech from IIT Bombay has started 'Chaitanya Gurukul Trust' that is [...] View More
  • Bihar to setup Internet Ministry-First ever in the World
    Bihar is on a growth path and has recently been on an early adopter curve - the state earlier announced using 'Android' Phones to monitor road construction from district headquarters and now the state plans to create a new cabinet position for an Internet Minister. While the exact role of Internet Ministry is not yet known, [...] View More
  • US business houses heading to Bihar
    Guess where US businesses are turning to now for new opportunities in India: to Bihar, the new turnaround success story, and, depending on the outcome of the coming elections, West Bengal. “We would like to meet Nitish Kumar who has just won a sweeping mandate in favour of progress,” Ron Somers, president of the United [...] View More

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

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


The Mahavir Mandir Trust to open Sant Kabir Heart Hospital at Muzaffarpur

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 05:51 PM PDT

PATNA: The Mahavir Mandir Trust will open Sant Kabir Heart Hospital at Muzaffarpur at a cost of Rs 5 crore and install six life-size statues depicting the birth of Sita opposite Sitamarhi railway station at a cost of Rs 15 lakh.

These and other decisions were made in the trust s annual budget of over Rs 55.14 crore which was passed for the temple and four hospitals run under its aegis. Trust secretary Kishore Kunal said this is the second highest budget of a temple in north India, next to Vaishno Devi shrine. Ironically, the famous Deoghar temple, which was earlier the biggest pilgrim centre of Bihar, now in Jharkhand, never touched even Rs 40 lakh per annum.

The budget was passed at a meeting chaired by Justice (retd) B N Agrawal. It will construct a separate building for its Netralaya on a plot in Kadamkuan, which was earlier illegally occupied by the men of Asaram Bapu, at a cost of Rs 5 crore, said Kunal on Thursday.

Kunal said the trust has earmarked Rs 50 lakh for the treatment of cancer patients and special care will be taken of all cancer patients up to the age of 18. In addition, Rs 20 lakh will be spent on the treatment of patients suffering from other diseases.

The trust has sanctioned Rs 2 lakh for Shravan Kumar awards for those who serve their parents with devotion, Rs 1.50 crore for Mahavir Vatsalya Aspatal for establishing an ICU for heart patients and Rs 3 lakh for the uplift of downtrodden sections of the society.

The budget for Cancer Sansthan has been pegged at Rs 27.77 crore, of Arogya Sansthan at |Rs 6.82 crore and of Vatsalya Aspatal at Rs 5.20 crore. The Cancer Sansthan will also get a grant of Rs 5 crore from Bihar government, which will be spent on additional advanced accessories of the linear accelerator machine installed in the hospital at a cost of Rs 8 crore recently.

Regarding the income of the trust, Kunal said Rs 1.40 crore is expected from offerings, Rs 1.15 crore from rituals, Rs 2.35 crore from Naivedyam (laddoos), Rs 10 lakh from kheer and Rs 20 lakh from donations.

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George Orwell’s birthplace faces ownership dispute

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 07:53 AM PDT

MOTIHARI: The birthplace of famous British author, George Orwell, is in the eye of a storm. While Brajnandan Rai, a schoolteacher in Motihari town, claims that the house had been registered in his name, Prakash Asthana, chairman of Motihari Nagar Parisad, said a probe revealed that the building in Mascot Locality where Orwell was born is registered with the parishad in the name of the hostel superintendent of Gopal Sah High School since 1970.

Asthana said Rai is a teacher in Gopalsah High School and his holding no. 336 is actually that of his residence at Gandhinagar locality.

Nagar parishad executive officer Rajendra Mandal said he would examine under what circumstances the holding number of the house where Orwell was born was allotted to the schoolteacher.

Orwell, whose book Animal Farm’ made him stand out among the great novelists, was born in Motihari on June 25, 1903. His father R W Blair was deputy magistrate in-charge of a British-owned opium warehouse. Orwell was taken to England in 1904 by his mother Ida Mabel Blair for proper education.

After 108 years of George Orwell’s birth, the Bihar government declared his birthplace as a protected site and heritage centre under the Bihar Ancient Monument (Protection) Act, 1976. Chief minister Nitish Kumar had allocated Rs 29 lakh for the construction of a fence around the protected site spread over 2.48 acres at Mascot locality. Fencing work around the decrepit tiled house in which Orwell was born has already been completed.

The house located on a 2.48 acre land was leased out by the state government to Gopal Sah High School for hundred years. The lease period has already expired. Thereafter, the government took possession of the land and handed it over to PWD, Motihari, for its godown. Despite this, Rai who teaches English at Gopal Sah High School, has been occupying the house for the last 15 years.

Rai said he had not been asked by anyone to vacate the house though the BDO, SDO and DM have visited this site many times. The district magistrate was not available for comment.

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Bihar schools uses Wifi,Skype for learning

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 05:48 AM PDT

Remember Nalanda? The University was center of higher learning and one of the world's first residential universities. Well, a lot has changed in Bihar since then and the change has mostly been for bad (or worse).

But entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs and Chandrakant Singh, a M.Tech from IIT Bombay has started 'Chaitanya Gurukul Trust' that is unique in many ways.

Present in Chamanpura village (where there is no electricity), the school has 45 rooms across 2 Wi-Fi enabled floors, 4 volleyball courts, 4 badminton courts and a cricket pitch (swimming pool is under construction) – i.e. a world class infrastructure.

Chaitanya SchoolChaitanya School

Since the village still doesn't have electricity, the computers are run on power generators and teachers are selected from different parts of the state. Remote teachers use Skype for teaching and basic tuition fee is Rs 300 for Class I and increases by Rs 100 for every class upward.

Why do this?

One of the Objectives of the school is

To provide world class quality education in Bihar to prevent brain-drain from and at the same time stop the out flow of money from Bihar to different states.

Chandrakant Singh started thinking about this when MNS stared their anti-Bihar campaign in Mumbai

"I was greatly disturbed, and wanted to arrest the migration of students from Bihar, in my small way.

The first instinct was to get in touch with the principal of the primary government school in Chamanpura with an offer to fund six students who would pass a scholarship test. But the principal never conducted the test.

Singh then sought the advice of Surya Narayan, dean of IIT, Bombay, who suggested that he make a business plan for a revenue-generating, self-sustaining model instead of taking the charity route. Singh then wrote a 100-page plan — a blueprint for a Rs 30-crore campus that would be completed over 10 years, including a school, an engineering college and an R&D centre. He e-mailed the plan to 3,000 friends, eight of whom agreed to fund it. With these eight and himself, Singh formed the Chaitnaya Gurukul Trust.

Inspiring and daring!

The point to be noted here is that Chandrakant Singh wrote a business plan for the entire setup and didn't live on charity – that's what makes the cut.

 

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Bihar to setup Internet Ministry-First ever in the World

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 12:48 AM PDT

Bihar is on a growth path and has recently been on an early adopter curve – the state earlier announced using 'Android' Phones to monitor road construction from district headquarters and now the state plans to create a new cabinet position for an Internet Minister.

While the exact role of Internet Ministry is not yet known, it is expected that the position will be located in Nalanda district, the erstwhile center of higher learning.

In a press conference, a state official suggested that the plans for creating an exclusive ministry is in place and details would be made public after a final approval from the governor of Bihar. He did mention that the ministry's work would mostly revolve around getting Bihar up on the broadband connectivity map of the world.

Sharing an aspirational target of getting 100% boradband connectivity in all villages of Bihar by end this year, he said that, the state cannot depend on central govt.'s plans which keep getting delayed. The Internet ministry will be also looking at strict regulation of ISPs servicing in the state and would have a centralized mechanism to check any service disruption. He suggested that regulations around possible penalties on breaching SLA would also be put in place with a fine upto 3X of subscription amount.

One other important thing mentioned was that the broadband definition would be chnaged for ISPs in Bihar from 256Kbps to 2Mbps.

Hope this movement from Bihar inspires the other states as well. What's your opinion?

 

 

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