Dear All,The attachment may interest you.Dinesh Mishra

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A cop, a poet and a singer
Radhika D Srivastava
[ 26 Jan, 2007 0232hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]


PATNA: Policing and poetry are like chalk and cheese, isn't it? Yet
there are few who chase criminals while in uniform and pen poems while
in civvies. And so successful are they that their lyrics turn into
famous movie songs.

M K Singh is one among those few. A native of Rohtas district in
Bihar, this 1987-batch West Bengal cadre IPS officer is also a poet
and a singer. Currently on deputation as regional passport officer for
West Bengal, Sikkim and Tripura, Singh also heads the branch
secretariat of MEA for eastern and north-eastern states.

The officer admits his profession does not ordinarily inspire poetry.
"But it depends on how a policeman views what he sees. I have seen the
most tragic of situations which have stirred my depth. Similarly, I
have met the most depraved human beings whose extreme inhumanity have
amazed me," he says.

With his childhood interest in folk music, poetry and literature,
Singh began to see the larger picture. His collection of Hindi poems
titled 'Kirchey', meaning bits and pieces, has been inspired by what
he has observed in his journey through life. "As SP of some of the
most troubled districts and also as the deputy commissioner (traffic)
in Kolkata, I have had the best and worst of life. And even if a poem
of mine speaks about the good things, there is an underlying larger
meaning to it that a discerning reader would be able to perceive," he
says.

'Kirchey' will be released in Kolkata on January 28 by Bihar
litterateur Arun Kamal.

Singh says while his profession inspired him to turn to poetry, his
poetry rescued him from the typical 'policeman pessimism'. Echoing
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle in the song 'I am a rock' where they sang
"I have my books and my poetry to protect me...," Singh says, "There
are policemen who over the years are stripped of emotions and turn
into hardcore cynics. But my poetry and music have shielded me."

Singh's first album 'Aye Babua', which has Bhojpuri songs written and
sung by him, won him the 'Kalakar Award' in 2003. Thereafter came
another album 'Ruk Ja Sajanwa' which was so well received that Bengali
filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh's music director Debjyoti Mishra approached
Singh with an offer to sing in Aishwarya Rai-starrer 'Choker Bali'.
Singh wrote and sang 'Ram ke bhajanwa' for the film.

More songs for movies and TV serials followed. He has also performed
solo in different countries.

Though Singh is a proud police officer today, he says had it not been
for his middle-class sensibilities and family pressure to take up a
career that is well-established, he would perhaps not have joined the
IPS. And despite being a Bihari to the core and in love with Bhojpuri
music, Singh says living in Kolkata has helped him tremendously. "I
have met hugely talented people here who have helped me finetune my
music and poetry," he says.

Bihar `sweet` destination for investors now
Ajay Modi / New Delhi
business Standard, Jan. 27, 2007
Bihar has bagged investments worth Rs 4,500 crore in greenfield sugar
plants ever since the Nitish Kumar government announced a new sugar
policy for the state in early 2006.

The state recently received two more investment proposals. The first
unit has been proposed around Patna by Rollocon Engineering at an
investment of about Rs 230 crore.

The unit will have a crushing capacity of 5000 tonnes crushed daily
(tcd) along with a cogeneration facility of producing 28 megawatt (Mw)
of energy from bagasse. It will also have a distillery with a capacity
to produce 30 kilolitres of ethanol a day.

The second unit has been proposed around Muzaffarpur by a member of
the state Legislative Assembly at an investment of about Rs 172 crore.
This will be a cooperative unit with a capacity of 5000 tcd and a
cogeneration facility to produce 25 Mw of energy. The unit will also
have a distillery to produce 45 kilolitres of ethanol a day.

Both proposals have been cleared by the state Cabinet and the units
are expected to become operational in the 2008-09 sugar season
(October-September).

Bihar had a flourishing sugar industry some decades back, but the
deteriorating law and order situation saw many companies pulling out
of the state. But Nitish Kumar has been trying to attract sugar
companies to the state ever since he came to power.

Already the state government has received greenfield sugar
manufacturing proposals from leading companies like Dhampur Sugar and
Rajshree Sugar.

If all the proposed investments in sugar sector materialise, the
crushing capacity in Bihar would go up from the present 44,500 tcd to
1,33,000 tcd by 2008-09 season,

The state government is also working towards training farmers in cane
cultivation, ensuring better irrigation facilities for cane and
thereby raising the area and productivity of sugarcane.

Currently, the state has only 2.3 lakh hectares under cane cultivation
and the yield is 56 tonnes a hectare.

An Indore artist blends shades of modernity into Madhubani paintings
ANI, Jan 27, 2007

Indore, Jan 27: Sixty-two-year old Shubha Prakash Vaid has claimed to
have given a new face to Bihar's traditional Madhubani paintings by
fusing it with modern art.

Vaid, who was inspired by her father-in-law, to become a professional
artist, feels that the identity of an artist gets established through
a style unique to him or her.

"There is no major difference. The medium of the artist is common and
the unique style of the artist acts as his identification. So,
everyone's style is different. I also thought of developing my own
style which will identify me," said Vaid.

Vaid, has held various exhibitions across the country and trains some
200 students at her institute.

Her students believe their hard work will pay off in the future.

"Here, I started from the basics and I can understand what importance
it has in the future. We have learnt the minute details of art, and
now understand the hard work that goes into becoming an artist," said
Puja Sachdev, one of her students.

Madhubani paintings find their origin in the interiors of Bihar. The
art is practiced mainly by women, and depicts day-to-day experiences.
Hindu gods and goddesses also find expression through this art.

--- ANI

Nitish making hollow promises: Lalu
[ 27 Jan, 2007 2101hrs ISTPTI ]


KESARIA: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Saturday accused Bihar Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar of neglecting the state, particularly the poor,
saying the NDA government was not being able to spend even the funds
provided by the centre for development.

"The entire state, particularly the poor, are being neglected by the
Nitish Kumar government. The poor were treated with respect under the
RJD rule, but now nobody cares for them," he said addressing a public
meeting here before flagging off the Vikas March led by Union Rural
Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh in support of various
demands including development of monuments on the Buddhist circuit.

The other demands are: reopening of closed sugar mills, greater power
to Panchayati Raj institutions, rectification of the below poverty
line list and effective implementation of the National Rural
Employment Guarantee Programme.

"Nitish Kumar had claimed he would set law and order right within
three months of coming to power and is now seeking time till year
2015. He is only making hollow promises," he said.

Charging the state government with failing to spend even the central
funds meant for Bihar's development, Lalu alleged that the Chief
Minister was claiming credit for development work undertaken in the
state by the Centre.

The Railway Minister deplored the killing of migrants, particularly
Biharis in Assam, and disfavoured creation of special economic zones
on cultivable land.

He also charged the state government with neglecting historical sites
related to Buddha and Mahavira.

Bihar issues coupons for BPL familes
Deccan Herald, Patna, Jan.27, 2007
The Bihar Government has launched an ambitious scheme for those living
below poverty line (BPL) wherein the beneficiary would be allotted
coupons to avail of kerosene and foodgrain from ration shops.

"Earlier, BPL families were given ration cards. But after receiving
numerous complaints of irregularities and malpractice at PDS shops, we
decided to introduce BPL coupons instead, wherein each such family
will have to submit coupons to avail of wheat, rice and kerosene,"
said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Explaining the rationale behind the move, Nitish said, "To check
black-marketing, we have made it mandatory that the next lot of
foodgrain and kerosene be allotted to the PDS dealer only when he
submits coupons of the previous month."

Under the scheme, every BPL family will be issued 36 coupons each.
"Twelve coupons each are being issued for kerosene, wheat and rice
respectively for one year," a senior official in the CM's Secretariat
told Deccan Herald on Saturday. The scheme got underway with the chief
minister distributing 340 coupons to BPL families at Danapur.

CM launches projects worth Rs 587 crore
[ 29 Jan, 2007 0200hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]


ARARIA: CM Nitish Kumar on Sunday launched a slew of development
projects worth over Rs 587 crore in Araria district, which,
incidentally, is one of the most backward districts of the state. The
projects include a 100-bed hospital and three power sub-centres.

Addressing a public meeting at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Stadium
here, the CM said that development and peace are pre-requisites to
prosperity.

Bihar is poised to become the most developed state of the country by
2015, he added. The Araria unit of the JD(U) had organised the
meeting.

"We are second to none in terms of talent and manpower,"Nitish said
and added that these two plus points need to be utilised to the
fullest for ensuring a prosperous Bihar.

He said infrastructure like roads, bridges, electricity, education and
health form the core of the state's priorities.
"We are working on all these priority areas simultaneously,"he added.

The CM said that the state government has already allocated a sum of
Rs 700 crore for the bridge and road construction project.

By the end of this fiscal, an additional sum of Rs 3,000 crore would
be spent on roads alone, he added.

The government also proposes schemes to promote education in the state
to bring about an overall change in the state, the CM said.

Fund for construction of dwellings under the Indira Awas Yojna is now
being directly credited to the savings bank account of the
beneficiaries, he said.

Two businessmen from Bihar killed in Assam

DNA, Mumbai, Monday, January 29, 2007  22:10 IST

GUWAHATI: Two Bihari businessmen were shot dead by ULFA insurgents at
a remote village in Assam's Tinsukia district on Monday evening, in a
chilling reminder of the massacre by the banned outfit of 70 people,
mostly Hindi-speaking migrants, earlier this month.

The ULFA cadres went to Chapakhowathe village under Panchsmile outpost
of Sadiya outpost at 6:00 pm and shot dead 65-year-old Sambhu Prasad
and 45-year-old Sriprasad Bairagi, sources said.

Eyewitnesses said the militants fired six to eight rounds killing the
two on the spot.

Seventy people, mostly Bihari migrants, were killed by ULFA between
January five and eight in different districts.

Meanwhile, a crude bomb exploded near a BSNL tower at Duponigaon in
Sibsagar district this evening.

Additional Superintendent of Police Deepak Chowdhury said the army and
the police checked the area and found a crater near the boundary wall
of the tower.

Bihar workers flock to Pollachi

Staff Reporter
Hindu, January 30, 2007

POLLACHI: Taking its cue from the foundry units of Coimbatore and the
knitwear industry at Tirupur, the coir industry at Pollachi has
started hiring workers from such far-away places as Bihar and Orissa.

With the sudden spurt in demand for coir fibre in China, and in the
domestic market, the coir industry here hopes for a revival of its
fortune after a long time.

Fibre-extraction units

The defunct fibre-extraction units are being revived and the existing
units are working round the clock.

Sudhakar, 24, of Jothi Coir Industry, who has been exporting brown
fibre to China during the last couple of months, says that but for the
arrival of workers from Bihar and Orissa, the units could not operate
round the clock. "Normally, labourers from this area do not work in
night shifts. Most of the workers have shifted to knitwear units at
Tirupur. But Bihar workers stay here and prefer working in night
shifts too."

Nearly 500 workers from Bihar and Orissa stay in and around Pollachi.

In a way, they help the industry overcome the labour shortage and the
entrepreneurs meet the deadline, Mr. Sudhakar says.

As the fibre extraction units being modernised with the installation
of conveyor belts to feed coconut husks, the industry is gradually
becoming a machinery-dependent one than labour-intensive. "We do not
go to Bihar to employ them. Instead, they come here through their
relatives and friends who work here. The coir units offer them
shelter, food and other facilities," says Mr. Sudhakar.

He procures fibre here, bales them at Aruppukottai, Theni and Dindigul
and exports 15 tonnes a day.

Blaming the Coir Board for not supporting the industry, Mr. Sudhakar
says he has to take the fibre to nearby towns for baling, for the lack
of facility here.

"A couple of big units have imported pressing [baling] machinery that
makes 100-kg bales, which are easy to export. But the charges are
higher. The Government should establish the facility to help small
players."

Export boom

C.M. Hariraj of Coir-On cautions the "greedy" to concentrate more on
the quality to sustain the export boom. "Certainly there is a sudden
spurt, and people at all levels are growing.

For the boom to sustain for a few more years, the exporters should
ensure quality. There should not be moisture and dust in fibre." If
the importers find the quality not up to the mark, he says, they will
shift to other countries.

Bihar govt makes RTI accessible
[ 30 Jan, 2007 0206hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]


PATNA: Bihar on Monday became the first state in the country to open a
call centre for facilitating use of the Right to Information (RTI) by
people.

Aptly christened 'Jankari', the call centre was inaugurated by CM
Nitish Kumar in presence of RTI activist and Magsaysay Award winner
Arvind Kejriwal. Speaking on the occasion, Kumar said RTI would prove
a milestone in taming corruption and red tapism, and help government
tone up administration. "It will help in bringing Ramrajya in real
sense of the term," he said.

Since a large chunk of rural population is unable to read and write,
the call centre would prove a boon for them as it would virtually
write application on behalf of the complainants. A sum of Rs 10 as
fees (under the RTI provisions) would automatically be charged in the
caller's telephone bill. The call centre's number is 155331.

On their part, the government officers would have to explain the
lapses coming to light through calls to the call centre. "Officers
would have to be responsive and responsible otherwise severe action
could be initiated under the RTI Act. Officers now can't escape," the
chief minister said.

As a first caller to "Jankari", the chief minister sought information
about the target fixed for construction of houses under the Indira
Awas Yojana during the current financial year and also the money
sanctioned for it. The chief minister was allotted a registration
number by the call centre. Future queries pertaining to the progress
of his information demand would be entertained on furnishing this
registration number.

Kejriwal lauded the chief minister for opening the call centre in
record two months' time and hoped other states would take lessons from
Bihar.

Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi said RTI instrument would help in bringing
sushasan . Information commissioner Justice Shashank Kumar Singh said
the government should hold special camps at district and block levels
to apprise people of the importance of RTI and how can it be
exercised.

Now chill on a chic Patna rickshaw
Prabhakar Kumar
CNN-IBN
Posted Friday , January 26, 2007 at 08:35


Patna: Bihar's capital, Patna may not have the best roads, but it now
boasts of rickshaws that have made commuting in the city comfortable.

And none other than the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar himself was seen
enjoying a cycle-rickshaw ride and promoting their cause.

There are about 100 branded rickshaws that have just hit Patna's roads
and there will be another 1,000 more that roll in another six months.

And you have to take a ride to believe what all it offers. The branded
rickshaws have a newspaper, music system, mineral water, fresh juices,
and even first aid box.

The special rickshaw is the brainchild of Irfan Alam, a graduate of
IIM, Ahmedabad.

Instead of going for a lucrative job in private sector, Irfan decided
to come back to his home state and bail out poor rickshaw pullers out
of their misery.

Under the project titled Sammaan, both the rickshaw pullers and the
passengers will get full insurance coverage.

"The aim was to give help to the poorest section of society, the
rickshaw puller his lost pride," says Irfan

And thanks to Irfan's efforts that both the rickshawpullers and users
are enjoying the ride.

"There are many facilities available to us including accident
insurance," says a rickshaw puller, Anil Mishra.

A commuter, Jitendra Kumar Singh, says, "There's accident insurance
and even the fares are low."

But it's not just the common man who is making full use of the branded
rickshaw. Even for politicians it's an opportunity worth taking full
advantage of.

"Rickshaw pullers work very hard for us. It's important to think about
them and today we have made a beginning," says Nitish Kumar.

So, the next time, you are in Patna don't miss the very special ride.

SEZs? CM not to burn his fingers
Abhay Singh
[ 30 Jan, 2007 0241hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]


PATNA: While the UPA and PM Manmohan Singh have been treading
cautiously on the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the
country apparently in view of its political fallout, Bihar CM Nitish
Kumar also said here on Monday he does not wish to burn his fingers,
and in fact, is opposed to the creation of any SEZ in Bihar.

"The important question is whether or not it is going to benefit the
people of the country or the state concerned," Nitish said, adding
there are whole lot of issues which need to be thrashed out.
"Personally, it does not appeal to me and my government," he added.

According to him, the green signal to the creation of SEZ, which would
be accompanied by plethora of exemptions and "other related matters",
would end up creating a "separate territory within the country".

"Will the SEZ bring additional investment, or will it just see
shifting of investment from one area to another?" Nitish asked.
Echoing the line of JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, he said the Prime
Minister should convene an all- party meeting on the issue.

Alternatively, he said, "a particular area could be developed, like
for information technology" or other industries, and land could be
acquired for the same, but it would be different from what is being
envisaged for the SEZ. He said his government would also help in
acquiring land for the proposed sugar industries pertaining to which
15 projects of the investors have already been sanctioned. But SEZ, to
start with, would hit the farmers most, he said.

He said talks regarding SEZ had been started in the state in the past
and there was also a plan to acquire land in and around Bihta, 35 km
away from Patna, but the farmers opposed the government's move saying
they would be deprived of their arable land. Subsequently, the
officials surveyed the sandy stretch for the purpose, and the idea was
finally dropped.

"We have to think how best to compensate the farmers for the
establishment of any industry," Nitish said, adding his government is
in the process of framing a Land Acquisition Policy so that the
farmers whose lands are acquired get "adequate compensation".

Moreover, farmers volunteering to give land for an industry would get
better compensation, he said.

According to him, 70 per cent of the state's population is dependent
on agriculture. "For the state's progress, it is necessary that
dependence on agriculture is decreased. Other sectors have to be
opened up to create more job opportunities and to increase
wealth-creation activities," Nitish said.

National disgrace
Pioneer, Janurary 08, 2007
Rahul Ramagundam

The OBCs want Dalits to remain trapped in a time warp; if the latter
dare to emulate those well off, they are in serious trouble, says
Rahul Ramagundam

Just around the time Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was describing
atrocities against Dalits as a 'national disgrace' in a meeting with
the State Chief Ministers last month, up in Bihar's Sitamarhi district
the phrase was being enacted in gory detail. It was a bloody morning
as Sudis, an intermediary caste, attacked the Musahars, a Dalit
community that owns no resources but is primarily wage-workers.

On the morning of December 10, a mob of Sudi caste men and women, and
even some children, armed with brick, lathis, and fury attacked a
hamlet of 60 mud houses belonging to Musahars in the Lachmania tola of
village Kanahuli in Sonbarsa block of Sitamarhi district of Bihar.

The attacking mob beat up Sukhari Manjhi (50), his wife, Sanichiri,
and sons Tejan and Vinod Manjhi. The mob broke in the thatched huts,
ransacked the belongings, smashed the cooking utensils, the only
possessions in Musahar households, and did not even spare the tethered
cattle.

Sukhari's head was hit repeatedly with lathis. His head bled and his
already weak body has further weakened, giving rise to the possibility
of his death in the near future. Sanichiri, Sukhari's old wife, jumped
in to save her daughter-in-law and bore the brunt of the Sudi caste
men wielding lathis. Her lower part has been hit so badly that her
movement has become restricted. Their son, Tejan, has severe head
injuries; another son, Vinod, is in jail.

And, here begins the tale of response from the administration. On the
same day, both parties filed FIRs against each other and the police
sportingly and impartially put similar sections against each other.
The police inspector Sita Ram Choudhary himself wrote the complaint of
Musahars and got thumb impression of a bleeding Sukhari on the paper.
Rest of the Musahar people who had accompanied Sukhari to the police
station were asked to leave.

Mr Choudhary also arrested one member from each party; Vinod Manjhi
from Musahars and one from Sudi. On December 12, Vinod Manjhi got bail
from the CJM court at Dumra but as no one from his village possess any
legally sanctioned property papers, so no one from Musahar toli could
come to fill the bail bond. Hence, Vinod Manjhi, despite having
received bail languishes in the jail.

This brings us to the undercurrents of the conflict. The Musahars, a
Scheduled Caste, live in the 60-odd mud and thatch huts in what is
called Musahar toli. None of the 60 households have any farmland in
their name. Everyone of the Musahar toli till very recently was
completely dependent for livelihood and bare minimum existence on Sudi
castemen, a middle caste, who possess all the land in the village.

Sudis are farmers and Musahars work on their fields for wages. The
wages are given in kind and, sometimes in cash, which amounts to Rs
25-30 per day. But now some young Musahar men have begun to visit the
greener pastures in Punjab, where they can draw a daily wages of Rs
100. Young men from some 20 Musahar families in Musahar toil are
working in Punjab.

The economics of migration however is just enough to free the Musahar
from feudal relationship that they are bonded in with Sudi farmers.
The earning of a migrant labourer does not in anyway help build family
asset, concrete house or buy a piece of land, the only way by which
the cycle of poverty could be snapped.

As the income isn't enough to build asset, whatever little surplus
amount that is available, is used in buying consumer durables like TV,
radio or cycle. Of the 60 families in Lachmania village's Musahar
toli, nine have a cycle, four have a battery-run b/w television set,
and some 10 families have a calf or few goats.

Almost all the 60 families are variously dependent over the Sudi caste
men for livelihood. They work on their fields for wages. They also
take some cattle on pausia, a kind of arrangement with the owner of
the animal in which a Musahar nurtures a calf till it matures into cow
or buffalo. It is then that the gain is divided in an equation by
which at first a fixed sum is deducted for the owner of the cattle as
cost of the calf, and then the remaining amount is sub-divided into
two equals, one each for the Musahar care-giver and the owner of the
cattle. Some 50 Musahar families are having this arrangement with the
owner of the cattle.

It is this economic dependency over the Sudis that make the Musahars
vulnerable, which is relished by the former. This dependency however
is being loosened with the arrival of Punjab option to the Musahars,
which is resented by the Sudis. The loosening of the dependency is
simultaneously accompanied by loosening of tongue as well. The
ever-subdued Musahars are now not only opening their mouth against
their former masters and 'life-givers' but also demanding equality in
personal relationships.

This is unpalatable to the Sudis. 'By love, you can ask anything and
get', says one Sudis of the village. 'But these Musahars not only are
snatching things but also indulge in verbal duel with us.' The Sudis
wants Musahars to remain what they were: Fearful, submissive, and a
species very similar to the rat they consume.

On December 10, some Musahars did run away leaving their home and
hearth to the marauding mob of the Sudis. Those who could not were
beaten up. But, more importantly, the only families that fell prey to
the Sudis were those who had earned some resources by working in
Punjab. Sanichiri and Sukhari Manjhi's son Vinod, who has earned some
money in Punjab, is presently lodged in jail because there is no one
to stand surety in Musahar toil as nobody owns any legally sanctioned
property paper.

Although his hut, too, is made of mud and thatch, he has a battery-run
TV, a cycle, and a buffalo-calf. It is this that is resented by the
Sudis, who imagine him equalling their status. So he needs to be
taught a lesson and hence the thrashing, smashing of utensils, attack
on even bare minimum resources, and not even sparing the calf. It is
not the person but it is his increasing independence and augmenting
resources that is the threat.

"The so called national English media of India is genetically incapable to
report anything positive from Bihar."

   "Mercifully, we have the internet and the blogs and web sites like Patna Daily
and Bihar Times which can fill the void that the national media does not want to
fill."

Global Meet at Patna, some impressions

I am a native of Patna. I was born and brought up there, having done my
schooling at the best that the state could offer. It was in 1982 that
after doing my Intermediate Science (equivalent to the present day 12th)
from B N College that I took the train to Varanasi to do my engineering.
For the first few months, I would run back to Patna at least once a
month just to be at home.

   Later, as I got into a job and started living farther and farther from Patna,
the visits became less and less. It was not just the distance, but it was also
the psychological thing. Two of my friends had their dad kidnapped for ransom.
People of my father's generation who had left the best of positions abroad to be
in Patna for the sheer love of the city started to migrate one by one.

   On the personal front, my wife lost her father in an unfortunate air crash in
2000 and the connection with Patna on the in laws side of my family
became tenuous. So we quietly started to wind up, leaving just the house
where my parents stay. My brother and I started to insist that my
parents stay with us more and more. Our dear house at Patna where I grew
up and which would be teaming with relatives with difficulty in even
finding a place to sleep, became deserted. Thus, though being a native
of Patna, the visits to my beloved city became rather infrequent over
the last decade or so.

Fed with the continued usual stories of `the lawless state',
`the state of darkness', and the like, my expectations from my
visit to the Global Meet were rather modest. The expectation was first
raised when I heard that Lord Meghnad Desai would be one of the
speakers. Then I received the list of topics that were slated to be
discussed and finally the news that the President of India himself would
be coming for the meet.

Pre meet events

I was rather disappointed when I heard the schedule would be rehashed
due to the Presidential visit. Many of the seminars that were on the
agenda would perhaps be cancelled, I thought. The spirit was further
dampened by the rather prominent headlines about the kidnapping of two
school children at Mokameh on the eve of the meet. So it was with mixed
feelings that I went to Hotel Maurya Patna to pick up my registration
kit.

   As I was holding the registration bag which I must say was of a
good conference quality, a person gently told me that we were all
invited for a lunch at the CM's residence. With remarkable agility
and showing the native Bihari `jugad', a disappointment had
quickly been turned into an opportunity. We had a wonderful pre event
networking meet that would be the envy of the best event managers of the
world. The welcome was done by the CM himself with all his humility. The
mild afternoon sun of December in Patna on the lawns of the CM residence
proved to be the perfect setting.

I must say the chief minister or whoever looks after his household has
excellent taste. The infamous khatal is gone. In its place I saw wonderfully
maintained lawns with the famous Patna doob. There is a beautiful permanent
chatri in a corner which must presumably be used for outdoor meetings. The décor
is simple and the furnishings are understated. There is absolutely nothing gaudy
there.

Over tasteful food including varities of native Bihari items like the
Bihiya Puri, I bumped into the Dy CM and the Roads and Tourism minister
and had rather useful interactions with them, but more about that later.

I also had a short meeting with Ravi Verma, a remarkable first
generation Silicon Valley entrepreneur who is running an offshore
software development centre at Katihar for the last few years. When
asked by Nitish Kumar about how his call centre business was doing; Ravi
said something which is a good insight into the Bihari psyche. He said
that what he runs is a software dev centre and not a call centre. The
reason is that while a call centre employee has to have a less
inquisitive but cool head, Biharis are rather hotheaded with high IQ
– characteristics more suitable for running a software development
centre. And I thought, it is precisely the lack of this type of
appreciation of the Bihari psyche by our Delhi based planners that is
perhaps the root cause of the under development of Bihar.

Inauguration by the President

We came back from the CM's residence and took a walk in the evening
sun to the dome shaped SK Memorial across the historic Gandhi Maidan.
For those not from Patna, Gandhi Maidan is the grounds from which many
agitations were launched for India's independence struggle. This was
also the main public meeting ground during the JP movement of seventies.
The grass of the Maidan, the children playing cricket and the bamboos
kept there to prepare the temporary structure for the republic day
parade transported me three decades back when I as a child would come to
Gandhi Maidan to play from my school across the road. The Gandhi Statue
put up recently is a bit of an eyesore, but thank god, rest of the
things have not been allowed to change with time.

Security arrangements by the Patna Police at the entrance of the SK
Memorial hall was effective, efficient and non obstructive. In spite of
my long association with Patna, this was my first visit inside the hall.
I must say I found it rather depressing. The building from outside is a
rather impressive dome shaped structure. But inside, partly because of
the inadequate lighting, partly the dull green colour of the roof and
partly the tasteless chairs, the feeling it generates is not positive.

Mercifully, the program itself managed to lift up our spirit. As we
waited for the President to arrive, a remarkably well made video on the
history of Bihar was played. The President's speech itself was very
well thought out and equally well received by an appreciative audience.
My respect for the President went up a few notches by the affection,
warmth and deep insight the President has for Bihar.

What transpired where I was sitting was no less remarkable. An old
couple, Muslim by dress, were standing in the aisle, unable to get a
seat in the jam packed hall. Two young chaps who had taken their vantage
position in the hall having arrived at least an hour before the start of
the function, and decidedly not Muslims, promptly got up and gave up
their seats. Here was live evidence of courtesy that Biharis have always
displayed but never given due recognition.

Coverage in Media

There was good coverage of the meet in the local media. All the local
newspapers, Hindi and English as well as the local TV channels gave wide
coverage to the event. The local portals, Bihar Times and others, were
also pretty comprehensive in their coverage. After all, it is not
everyday that the President of India inaugurates a meet like this in
Bihar. For that matter, that such a meet is being organised in Bihar is
itself a newsworthy item. Then there were a series of dignitaries like
Lord Meghnad Desai present on the occasion. However, the coverage in the
national media was rather conspicuous by its absence.

Unfortunately, busy as the national media is with the Big Brother
episode, it deemed it fit to ignore the meet. It made me wonder what the
coverage would have been if something had gone wrong at the meet. I
could not help but think that the so called national English media of
India is genetically incapable to report anything positive from Bihar.
Middle classes like us have always looked for approval from the national
English media and they have also not disappointed by taking up causes
like the Tandoor and Jessica Lal murders. In the case of Bihar, however,
we would have to seek strength for our action by seeking approval
elsewhere. Mercifully, we have the internet and the blogs and web sites
like Patna Daily and Bihar Times which can fill the void that the
national media does not want to fill.

Business Proceedings – Day One

The business proceedings of the Global meet started the next morning
with a plenary. The book "Gauravshali Bihar" produced by the One
Bihar team was released by the Dy CM. This was my first occasion to
share the dais with such high dignitaries. One Bihar team member Naveen
Sharma made a scintillating presentation on Bihari sub nationalism as a
foil to casteism. This was followed by a panel discussion on the social
and economic issues where several eminent speakers spoke.

The CM made an unscheduled visit to the venue. A remarkable talk was
delivered by Lord Meghnad Desai in a session chaired by VM Vyas. He
stressed the need for inclusive growth. It is rather unfortunate, he
felt, that the political system has not aligned quickly enough to the
needs of the civil society and therefore they seem to be pulling in
different directions leading to the slowing of the growth.

A series of break out sessions were organised in the second half.
Remarkably, not one was on the hackneyed triple issues of casteism,
criminalisation of politics and land reforms. New grounds were sought to
be broken over topics such as Brand Building for Bihar, Cultivating
Entrepreneurship, Tourism Industry in Bihar and many other similar ones.
Discussions ranged from what went wrong to destroy the sugar industry of
Bihar and how it can be revived; what can be done to kickstart tourism
for the Buddhist and Jain circuits; why no big airport at Gaya, what
could be the ten priorities for quick economic growth in Bihar, why the
golden quadrilateral highways do not serve the cities of Bihar, why only
three bridges over Ganga in Bihar while there are eight in Delhi on
Yamuna, what are the psychological reasons for the backwardness of
Bihar, how sub nationalism can subsume the ills of casteism, and so on.

Of particular mention are two sessions: one on Entrepreneurship in
Bihar and the other on Tourism in Bihar. In the entrepreneurship
session, the myth that Biharis are not entrepreneurs was sought to be
broken. We had the presence of the remarkable grass root innovator,
Raghav Mahto who built a community radio centre at Mansoorpur in Bihar
with virtually no capital and started earning a living for himself while
propagating socially useful messages on his community radio.
Unfortunately, he was let down by the system as what he was doing was
declared illegal by the mandarins of the Information and Broadcasting
ministry at Delhi.

   Some NGOs have sought to lobby to get the legislation
changed and hopefully Raghav would be back being a job creator soon. I
made a short presentation on the GI of Patna Rice and how that can be
used to get better realisation for the farmers of Bihar, but perhaps my
presentation style was not suited for the occasion or the time allotted
to me was very limited. Either way, I did not manage to make much of an
impact except to one person from a UN agency. Another remarkable
presentation was by Irfan, the rickshaw entrepreneur. He has developed a
model to rickshaws to rickshaw pullers so that they get life insurance
besides education for their children for the same money that they are
giving to their rickshaw owners today, and yet Irfan will make a profit
on his venture. I can only say god speed to his venture.

   On tourism, the potential of Gaya as a tourist hub was presented by
Naveen. It is remarkable how Gaya compares with Jerusalem. Both the
places have religious importance for three religions : Judaism,
Christianity and Islam for Jerusalem as much Buddhism, Hinduism and
Jainism has for Gaya. The income levels of the religion holders were
compared to arrive at the tourism potential of Gaya.

   In the session on brand building of Bihar, journalists were grilled on
being too negative in their portrayal of Bihar. Pushed to the wall, a
Patna based journalist of a national media, in a moment of remarkable
candour, admitted that they are specially encouraged by their editorial
bosses to only present negative news from Bihar. If they send positive
news, it just does find a place in print. This is indeed food for
thought for many of us.

Business Proceedings – Day Two

The concluding day had a plenary session chaired by the CM. He
mentioned about the difficulties he faces because the system had totally
broken down. In remarkably frank speech, he also mentioned that no
society is free from crime; but the important thing is how we deal with
it as a civil society. He made a brief mention of the various
achievement of his government - innovative steps like involving well
trained retired employees of the army and the CBI in dealing with law
and order, highly improved conviction rate of the criminals and the fact
that criminals do not enjoy the patronage of the political classes any
more. Remarkably, there is Rs 27,000 crore of private investment already
committed in Bihar since the new government has taken over. The state
government has put the details on a web site and can be accessed by
anyone interested. Nitish Kumar pointedly delivered a short speech
saying he is here to listen, not to talk.

This was followed by a panel discussion by eminent economists: C
Rangarajan, Abhijit Sen, besides several others. Rangarajan made a
positive reference to the improved utilisation of funds by Bihar.
Abhijit Sen mentioned about the focus of the state government on primary
education which is much better than any other Indian state government
and also the much better retention of education by the children of Bihar
compared to other states.

The last session I attended was a break out session by Prakash Jha who
is now donning the new avatar of an entrepreneur. The session was
chaired by Mr SP Sinha, the MD of Maurya hotel which was hosting the
seminar and is possibly one of the only public limited company from
Bihar. Prakash Jha talked at length about the challenges he is facing
as well as the opportunities and the rewards that beckons him to do what
he is doing. Remarkably, he is trying to build malls at places like
Bettiah and Samastipur besides Patna and Jamshedpur and is doing it as a
business proposition, not as charity. It is remarkable how much
potential is there for doing profitable business in Bihar. Indeed Bihar
does not need charity; it needs empathetic business oriented thinking.

My impressions:

So with that I come to describe my impressions of the current
environment in Bihar. To say the least, they are positive.

The Chief Minister

The politicians of Bihar in general are changing for the better. The CM
is a man of many qualities. Naveen pointed out to me that Nitish Kumar
has four qualities that one likes to see in a leader: Intelligence,
Vision, Integrity and capacity to work hard. I would say the good news
does not end here. I personally observed him on at least three
occassions saying that he has come to listen, not to talk and saw him
patiently listening. He comes across as a person with a lot of humility.
He does not believe in much sloganeering and playing to the gallery. He
appeared to be goal oriented and one can expect quick results from him.
In fact, in an unguarded moment when I happened to be around, he
described himself as a manager who relies on instinct to judge a
situation.

   Small details describe a person. He preferred to buy our book even
though the person at the stall was willing to give him for free. Since
he does not carry cash himself, he sent his PA later to pay us the cost
of the book.

Priority of the chief minister is very clear: Law and order,
infrastructure and primary education are the sectors which will get
direct govt funding and focus. For everything else, the govt would be a
facilitator. Absence of negative feeling towards commercial success was
remarkable. What is more, this was without loosing focus on working for
the poor.

Other Politicians:

The even better news is that Nitish is not the only politician with
good qualities. I had some interaction with two others: Sushil Modi, the
Dy CM and Nawal Kishore Yadav, the Road construction and Tourism
minister. I must say both managed to impress me.

Sushil Modi is another down to earth, simple man who has the good of
the state at his heart. A hardcore RSS man, he is married to a
Christian. He is a liberal person who to my mind can be trusted to work
for the good of the state. While I was sitting on the stage for the
launch of the book, he even helped me open the cover of the books when
he saw me struggling. It is these small details that describe the
character and mind set of the people.

I had a short discussion with Nawal Kishore Yadav at CMs residence when
I asked him why the Golden Quadrilateral and the East West corridor, the
two nationally acclaimed highways, even though passing from Bihar, would
be touching only Muzaffarpur and no other towns of Bihar or for that
matter even Jharkhand. His first reaction was defensive when he tried to
justify the alignment. Soon enough, he caught up with the point I was
making and started asking me questions about it.

   He shared his concern about how the central govt is only bothered about
international connectivity with Nepal and slogans like `From Gujarat to Assam'
while neglecting the interests of Bihar. He assured me that he will take
the interest of Bihar very strongly when he meets the central
authorities the next time and mentioned about the by pass from Dobhi
near Gaya which will connect Patna and Muzaffarpur. I was also very
impressed with the pride he is taking with the 3000 km of state road
that is being constructed outside of the central and the grameen vikas
schemes. I am sure if politicians start taking such professional pride
in their work, the day is not far when we can expect a much improved
state of affairs.

The Local People

People are itching for progress. In a manner of speaking, the genie of
development is out of the bag and it cannot be put back. As Prakash Jha
mentioned in his session, even the main opposition in Bihar is talking
profits of the railways and talking management to students. So the march
of progress is now irreversible.

The rancour that one earlier felt for the moneyed classes is waning.
People no more want to mistrust commercial success. One felt that the
earlier mentality that "Paisa hai to be-imaan hoga" is no more
as prevalent.

There is this attitude which I call the `raped women syndrome'
where a woman who has been raped seeks to blame herself for the fate
that befell her. Quite a few `samaj ke thekedaar' try to encourage that too,
blaming the dress of the women or her beauty or other such irrelevant things for
the crime that has been committed just as the national press blames Bihar for
anything and everything that goes wrong. This raped woman syndrome is
characterised by self flagellation. To me, such an attitude, which was ever so
present in the public psyche  of Bihar, is on the wane. Confidence of the local
people is palpable. The older attitude of self flagellation where one would
first try to find a fault in oneself if anything goes wrong is much reduced.

In my social interaction with the people outside the meet, I met quite
a few internet enabled people. A very large number of middle aged or
even older people are hooked to the internet. Knowledge about limewire,
advanced google search technique and other such net savvy practices was
very impressive.

Several good qualities of the old Bihar, respect for the elderly,
courtesy to women, non communal nature and ability to work harder than
others are very much retained.

Visible signs of progress

I saw surprisingly large number of women in jobs. It is no more only
the womenfolk of the poor families who are seen engaged in commerce and
jobs outside their homes. I saw women employees at the airport, hotels,
petrol stations, shops, banks, and many others. It may be noted that
women have always been present in large numbers in politics and
education. I also saw many women freely driving cars and two wheelers.

There are visible progress in better road signs, cleaner rods and
cleaner government offices. The airport is remarkably clean and it has
very courteous staff. I saw this kiosk at the airport which mentions
about the tourist spots of Bihar. This little piece of electronic
equipment with a touch screen was working well. The toilets were clean.
The book stall at the airport had good quality books that one would like
to see at an airport book stall.

So I board the flight back to Mumbai in a very positive mood. I write
my impressions during the rather long hopping flight delayed further due
to traffic congestions at Mumbai. I do hope the year which is still new
will usher a new dawn for Bihar, my beloved Bihar.

Jai Bihar

Jai Hind

     Posted by: "TV Sinha" tv_sinha@...   tv_sinha Fri Jan 26, 2007 6:45 am

Source:biharchintan@yahoogroups.com


---------------------------------
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Friends

I had a chance to meet Irfan at Patna. I must say I was thoroughly
impressed by this man who has worked out this scheme to help the poor
rickshaw pullers of Bihar. The best part is that it is not as a
charity, but as a business proposition. Using the benefit of organised
sectors like banking and insurance, he has worked otu a scheme which
will make it cheaper for the rickshaw puller to hire a rickshaw while
getting a more efficient rickshaw, and insurance cover as well as
school fee of his children free. All this while making a decent profit
for himself. Which means, he will be there earning a living while
running this scheme, not just launch the scheme and forced to run away
to earn his living

Have a look

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/now-chill-on-a-chic-patna-rickshaw/32110-3.html

Indeed Biahr is changing

Global Meet at Patna, some impressions

I am a native of Patna. I was born and brought up there, having done my
schooling at the best that the state could offer. It was in 1982 that
after doing my Intermediate Science (equivalent to the present day 12th)
from B N College that I took the train to Varanasi to do my engineering.
For the first few months, I would run back to Patna at least once a
month just to be at home. Later, as I got into a job and started living
farther and farther from Patna, the visits became less and less. It was
not just the distance, but it was also the psychological thing. Two of
my friends had their dad kidnapped for ransom. People of my father's
generation who had left the best of positions abroad to be in Patna for
the sheer love of the city started to migrate one by one. On the
personal front, my wife lost her father in an unfortunate air crash in
2000 and the connection with Patna on the in laws side of my family
became tenuous. So we quietly started to wind up, leaving just the house
where my parents stay. My brother and I started to insist that my
parents stay with us more and more. Our dear house at Patna where I grew
up and which would be teaming with relatives with difficulty in even
finding a place to sleep, became deserted. Thus, though being a native
of Patna, the visits to my beloved city became rather infrequent over
the last decade or so.



Fed with the continued usual stories of `the lawless state',
`the state of darkness', and the like, my expectations from my
visit to the Global Meet were rather modest. The expectation was first
raised when I heard that Lord Meghnad Desai would be one of the
speakers. Then I received the list of topics that were slated to be
discussed and finally the news that the President of India himself would
be coming for the meet.

Pre meet events

I was rather disappointed when I heard the schedule would be rehashed
due to the Presidential visit. Many of the seminars that were on the
agenda would perhaps be cancelled, I thought. The spirit was further
dampened by the rather prominent headlines about the kidnapping of two
school children at Mokameh on the eve of the meet. So it was with mixed
feelings that I went to Hotel Maurya Patna to pick up my registration
kit. As I was holding the registration bag which I must say was of a
good conference quality, a person gently told me that we were all
invited for a lunch at the CM's residence. With remarkable agility
and showing the native Bihari `jugad', a disappointment had
quickly been turned into an opportunity. We had a wonderful pre event
networking meet that would be the envy of the best event managers of the
world. The welcome was done by the CM himself with all his humility. The
mild afternoon sun of December in Patna on the lawns of the CM residence
proved to be the perfect setting.


I  must say the chief minister or whoever looks after his household has
excellent taste. The infamous khatal is gone. In its place I saw
wonderfully maintained lawns with the famous Patna
doob. There is a beautiful permanent chatri in a corner which must
presumably be used for outdoor meetings. The décor is simple and the
furnishings are understated. There is absolutely nothing gaudy there.



Over tasteful food including varities of native Bihari items like the
Bihiya Puri, I bumped into the Dy CM and the Roads and Tourism minister
and had rather useful interactions with them, but more about that later.


I also had a short meeting with Ravi Verma, a remarkable first
generation Silicon Valley entrepreneur who is running an offshore
software development centre at Katihar for the last few years. When
asked by Nitish Kumar about how his call centre business was doing; Ravi
said something which is a good insight into the Bihari psyche. He said
that what he runs is a software dev centre and not a call centre. The
reason is that while a call centre employee has to have a less
inquisitive but cool head,  Biharis are rather hotheaded with high IQ
– characteristics more suitable for running a software development
centre. And I thought, it is precisely the lack of this type of
appreciation of the Bihari psyche by our Delhi based planners that is
perhaps the root cause of the under development of Bihar.


Inauguration by the President

We came back from the CM's residence and took a walk in the evening
sun to the dome shaped SK Memorial across the historic Gandhi Maidan.
For those not from Patna, Gandhi Maidan is the grounds from which many
agitations were launched for India's independence struggle. This was
also the main public meeting ground during the JP movement of seventies.
The grass of the Maidan, the children playing cricket and the bamboos
kept there to prepare the temporary structure for the republic day
parade transported me three decades back when I as a child would come to
Gandhi Maidan to play from my school across the road. The Gandhi Statue
put up recently is a bit of an eyesore, but thank god, rest of the
things have not been allowed to change with time.

   Security arrangements by the Patna Police at the entrance of the SK
Memorial hall was effective, efficient and non obstructive. In spite of
my long association with Patna, this was my first visit inside the hall.
I must say I found it rather depressing. The building from outside is a
rather impressive dome shaped structure. But inside, partly because of
the inadequate lighting, partly the dull green colour of the roof and
partly the tasteless chairs, the feeling it generates is not positive.

   Mercifully, the program itself managed to lift up our spirit. As we
waited for the President to arrive, a remarkably well made video on the
history of Bihar was played. The President's speech itself was very
well thought out and equally well received by an appreciative audience.
My respect for the President went up a few notches by the affection,
warmth and deep insight the President has for Bihar.

   What transpired where I was sitting was no less remarkable. An old
couple, Muslim by dress, were standing in the aisle, unable to get a
seat in the jam packed hall. Two young chaps who had taken their vantage
position in the hall having arrived at least an hour before the start of
the function, and decidedly not Muslims, promptly got up and gave up
their seats. Here was live evidence of courtesy that Biharis have always
displayed but never given due recognition.


Coverage in Media

   There was good coverage of the meet in the local media. All the local
newspapers, Hindi and English as well as the local TV channels gave wide
coverage to the event. The local portals, Bihar Times and others, were
also pretty comprehensive in their coverage. After all, it is not
everyday that the President of India inaugurates a meet like this in
Bihar. For that matter, that such a meet is being organised in Bihar is
itself a newsworthy item. Then there were a series of dignitaries like
Lord Meghnad Desai present on the occasion. However, the coverage in the
national media was rather conspicuous by its absence.
Unfortunately, busy as the national media is with the Big Brother
episode, it deemed it fit to ignore the meet. It made me wonder what the
coverage would have been if something had gone wrong at the meet. I
could not help but think that the so called national English media of
India is genetically incapable to report anything positive from Bihar.
Middle classes like us have always looked for approval from the national
English media and they have also not disappointed by taking up causes
like the Tandoor and Jessica Lal murders. In the case of Bihar, however,
we would have to seek strength for our action by seeking approval
elsewhere. Mercifully, we have the internet and the blogs and web sites
like Patna Daily and Bihar Times which can fill the void that the
national media does not want to fill.


Business Proceedings – Day One


The business proceedings of the Global meet started the next morning
with a plenary. The book "Gauravshali Bihar" produced by the One
Bihar team was released by the Dy CM. This was my first occasion to
share the dais with such high dignitaries. One Bihar team member Naveen
Sharma made a scintillating presentation on Bihari sub nationalism as a
foil to casteism. This was followed by a panel discussion on the social
and economic issues where several eminent speakers spoke.

   The CM made an unscheduled visit to the venue. A remarkable talk was
delivered by Lord Meghnad Desai in a session chaired by VM Vyas. He
stressed the need for inclusive growth. It is rather unfortunate, he
felt, that the political system has not aligned quickly enough to the
needs of the civil society and therefore they seem to be pulling in
different directions leading to the slowing of the growth.

   A series of break out sessions were organised in the second half.
Remarkably, not one was on the hackneyed triple issues of casteism,
criminalisation of politics and land reforms. New grounds were sought to
be broken over topics such as Brand Building for Bihar, Cultivating
Entrepreneurship, Tourism Industry in Bihar and many other similar ones.
Discussions ranged from what went wrong to destroy the sugar industry of
Bihar and how it can be revived; what can be done to kickstart tourism
for the Buddhist and Jain circuits; why no big airport at Gaya, what
could be the ten priorities for quick economic growth in Bihar, why the
golden quadrilateral highways do not serve the cities of Bihar, why only
three bridges over Ganga in Bihar while there are eight in Delhi on
Yamuna, what are the psychological reasons for the backwardness of
Bihar, how sub nationalism can subsume the ills of casteism, and so on.

   Of particular mention are two sessions: one on Entrepreneurship in
Bihar and the other on Tourism in Bihar. In the entrepreneurship
session, the myth that Biharis are not entrepreneurs was sought to be
broken. We had the presence of the remarkable grass root innovator,
Raghav Mahto who built a community radio centre at Mansoorpur in Bihar
with virtually no capital and started earning a living for himself while
propagating socially useful messages on his community radio.
Unfortunately, he was let down by the system as what he was doing was
declared illegal by the mandarins of the Information and Broadcasting
ministry at Delhi. Some NGOs have sought to lobby to get the legislation
changed and hopefully Raghav would be back being a job creator soon. I
made a short presentation on the GI of Patna Rice and how that can be
used to get better realisation for the farmers of Bihar, but perhaps my
presentation style was not suited for the occasion or the time allotted
to me was very limited. Either way, I did not manage to make much of an
impact except to one person from a UN agency. Another remarkable
presentation was by Irfan, the rickshaw entrepreneur. He has developed a
model to rickshaws to rickshaw pullers so that they get life insurance
besides education for their children for the same money that they are
giving to their rickshaw owners today, and yet Irfan will make a profit
on his venture. I can only say god speed to his venture.
On tourism, the potential of Gaya as a tourist hub was presented by
Naveen. It is remarkable how Gaya compares with Jerusalem. Both the
places have religious importance for three religions : Judaism,
Christianity and Islam for Jerusalem as much Buddhism, Hinduism and
Jainism has for Gaya. The income levels of the religion holders were
compared to arrive at the tourism potential of Gaya.
   In the session on brand building of Bihar, journalists were grilled on
being too negative in their portrayal of Bihar. Pushed to the wall, a
Patna based journalist of a national media, in a moment of remarkable
candour, admitted that they are specially encouraged by their editorial
bosses to only present negative news from Bihar. If they send positive
news, it just does find a place in print. This is indeed food for
thought for many of us.




Business Proceedings – Day Two

   The concluding day had a plenary session chaired by the CM. He
mentioned about the difficulties he faces because the system had totally
broken down. In remarkably frank speech, he also mentioned that no
society is free from crime; but the important thing is how we deal with
it as a civil society. He made a brief mention of the various
achievement of his government -  innovative steps like involving well
trained retired employees of the army and the CBI in dealing with law
and order, highly improved conviction rate of the criminals and the fact
that criminals do not enjoy the patronage of the political classes any
more. Remarkably, there is Rs 27,000 crore of private investment already
committed in Bihar since the new government has taken over. The state
government has put the details on a web site and can be accessed by
anyone interested. Nitish Kumar pointedly delivered a short speech
saying he is here to listen, not to talk.

   This was followed by a panel discussion by eminent economists: C
Rangarajan, Abhijit Sen, besides several others. Rangarajan made a
positive reference to the improved utilisation of funds by Bihar.
Abhijit Sen mentioned about the focus of the state government on primary
education which is much better than any other Indian state government
and also the much better retention of education by the children of Bihar
compared to other states.

   The last session I attended was a break out session by Prakash Jha who
is now donning the new avatar of an entrepreneur. The session was
chaired by Mr SP Sinha, the MD of Maurya hotel which was hosting the
seminar and is possibly one of the only public limited company from
Bihar. Prakash Jha talked at length about the challenges he is facing
as well as the opportunities and the rewards that beckons him to do what
he is doing. Remarkably, he is trying to build malls at places like
Bettiah and Samastipur besides Patna and Jamshedpur and is doing it as a
business proposition, not as charity. It is remarkable how much
potential is there for doing profitable business in Bihar. Indeed Bihar
does not need charity; it needs empathetic business oriented thinking.

   My impressions:

   So with that I come to describe my impressions of the current
environment in Bihar. To say the least, they are positive.

   The Chief Minister

   The politicians of Bihar in general are changing for the better. The CM
is a man of many qualities. Naveen pointed out to me that Nitish Kumar
has four qualities that one likes to see in a leader: Intelligence,
Vision, Integrity and capacity to work hard. I would say the good news
does not end here. I personally observed him on at least three
occassions saying that he has come to listen, not to talk and saw him
patiently listening. He comes across as a person with a lot of humility.
He does not believe in much sloganeering and playing to the gallery. He
appeared to be goal oriented and one can expect quick results from him.
In fact, in an unguarded moment when I happened to be around, he
described himself as a manager who relies on instinct to judge a
situation.
   Small details describe a person. He preferred to buy our book even
though the person at the stall was willing to give him for free. Since
he does not carry cash himself, he sent his PA later to pay us the cost
of the book.


Priority of the chief minister is very clear: Law and order,
infrastructure and primary education are the sectors which will get
direct govt funding and focus. For everything else, the govt would be a
facilitator. Absence of negative feeling towards commercial success was
remarkable. What is more, this was without loosing focus on working for
the poor.


Other Politicians:

   The even better news is that Nitish is not the only politician with
good qualities. I had some interaction with two others: Sushil Modi, the
Dy CM and Nawal Kishore Yadav, the Road construction and Tourism
minister. I must say both managed to impress me.

   Sushil Modi is another down to earth, simple man who has the good of
the state at his heart. A hardcore RSS man, he is married to a
Christian. He is a liberal person who to my mind can be trusted to work
for the good of the state. While I was sitting on the stage for the
launch of the book, he even helped me open the cover of the books when
he saw me struggling. It is these small details that describe the
character and mind set of the people.

   I had a short discussion with Nawal Kishore Yadav at CMs residence when
I asked him why the Golden Quadrilateral and the East West corridor, the
two nationally acclaimed highways, even though passing from Bihar, would
be touching only Muzaffarpur and no other towns of Bihar or for that
matter even Jharkhand. His first reaction was defensive when he tried to
justify the alignment. Soon enough, he caught up with the point I was
making and started asking me questions about it. He shared his concern
about how the central govt is only bothered about international
connectivity with Nepal and slogans like `From Gujarat to Assam'
while neglecting the interests of Bihar. He assured me that he will take
the interest of Bihar very strongly when he meets the central
authorities the next time and mentioned about the by pass from Dobhi
near Gaya which will connect Patna and Muzaffarpur. I was also very
impressed with the pride he is taking with the 3000 km of state road
that is being constructed outside of the central and the grameen vikas
schemes. I am sure if politicians start taking such professional pride
in their work, the day is not far when we can expect a much improved
state of affairs.

   The Local People

   People are itching for progress. In a manner of speaking, the genie of
development is out of the bag and it cannot be put back. As Prakash Jha
mentioned in his session, even the main opposition in Bihar is talking
profits of the railways and talking management to students. So the march
of progress is now irreversible.

The rancour that one earlier felt for the moneyed classes is waning.
People no more want to mistrust commercial success. One felt that the
earlier mentality that "Paisa hai to be-imaan hoga" is no more
as prevalent.

   There is this attitude which I call the `raped women syndrome'
where a woman who has been raped seeks to blame herself for the fate
that befell her. Quite a few `samaj ke thekedaar' try to
encourage that too, blaming the dress of the women or her beauty or
other such irrelevant things for the crime that has been committed just
as the national press blames Bihar for anything and everything that goes
wrong. This raped woman syndrome is characterised by self flagellation.
To me, such an attitude, which was ever so present in the public psyche
of Bihar, is on the wane. Confidence of the local people is palpable.
The older attitude of self flagellation where one would first try to
find a fault in oneself if anything goes wrong is much reduced.

   In my social interaction with the people outside the meet, I met quite
a few internet enabled people. A very large number of middle aged or
even older people are hooked to the internet. Knowledge about limewire,
advanced google search technique and other such net savvy practices was
very impressive.

   Several good qualities of the old Bihar, respect for the elderly,
courtesy to women, non communal nature and ability to work harder than
others are very much retained.



Visible signs of progress

   I saw surprisingly large number of women in jobs. It is no more only
the womenfolk of the poor families who are seen engaged in commerce and
jobs outside their homes. I saw women employees at the airport, hotels,
petrol stations, shops, banks, and many others. It may be noted that
women have always been present in large numbers in politics and
education. I also saw many women freely driving cars and two wheelers.

   There are visible progress in better road signs, cleaner rods and
cleaner government offices.  The airport is remarkably clean and it has
very courteous staff. I saw this kiosk at the airport which mentions
about the tourist spots of Bihar. This little piece of electronic
equipment with a touch screen was working well. The toilets were clean.
The book stall at the airport had good quality books that one would like
to see at an airport book stall.

   So I board the flight back to Mumbai in a very positive mood. I write
my impressions during the rather long hopping flight delayed further due
to traffic congestions at Mumbai. I do hope the year which is still new
will usher a new dawn for Bihar, my beloved Bihar.

   Jai Bihar

Jai Hind



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi,

You may get all news related to the Global Meet for
Resurgent Bihar at:

http://www.bhojpuria.com/jump.php?page=events/globalmeet7.htm

With you, in the journey to make a better Bihar.

Parnaam,
Sudhir Kumar
http://www.bhojpuria.com
Phone: 9931182544, 9431111776






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Dear friends,
Please see the forwarded mail.
A memorial lecture has been organised in Delhi at
India International Centre on 24th Jan. at 6 pm in
memory of Sarita and Mahesh, who were killed in Gaya
district of Bihar on this date in 2004.
I request you to kindly attend the programme to pay
your respect to these two social workers who laid down
their lives for a people's cause.
Sincerely,
Pushpendra

Note: forwarded message attached.




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Teachers' recruitment slows down
Radhika D Srivastava
[ 7 Jan, 2007 0317hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]


PATNA: The deadlines have come and gone. And, despite the state
government's claim of a student-teacher ratio of 1:40 by January 1,
about 50 per cent of newly-created posts of teachers are still lying
vacant.

The state government had initiated a massive recruitment drive in
September last year to recruit 1.5 lakh teachers for its schools.
Another 60,000 were to be hired in the second phase.

Against the 1.5 lakh vacancies in the first phase, a staggering 50
lakh applications were received. But despite many rounds of progress
reviews, only about 65,000 teachers have been appointed so far.

State education minister Brishen Patel, however, told TOI: "It is a
massive exercise and there are bound to be problems in the initial
stages.

"The recruitment has been slow, but we are sure that we will meet our
target in the coming months." Patel also indicated that the education
department may club the vacancies of the first phase along with the
second phase.

"It is a learning process for us and we will be better prepared for
the second phase of recruitment," he said. Hiring of teachers in Bihar
has come after more than 10 years and is seen as a major milestone in
the present NDA government's regime.
  In fact, the recruitment drive to improve the student-teacher ratio
from the current 90:1 to a nationally recommended 40:1 is being
portrayed by the state government as a vital reform.

Patel said: "The recruitment has been done by the Panchayati Raj
institutions. We had totally decentralised the process so as to bring
in more transparency and people's participation."

"We have come to know that mukhiyas and other representatives at the
village and block levels were unable to comprehend the nuances of the
recruitment drive fully," he said, adding the main reason behind it
that at many places, after the merit lists were drawn up, some did not
turned up to collect their appointment letters.

As per the instructions, the authorities concerned should have invited
applicants next in the order of merit. But, this did not happen. He
said this was the reason several posts were not filled.

"But, we have sent our officials to all the districts to explain the
process to the local authorities concerned."

"We hope more recruitments will take place soon and more posts would
be filled up," the minister said. Speaking about the training of
newly-appointed teachers, Patel said: "We have entered into a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indira Gandhi National Open
University (IGNOU) for training the shiksha Mitras. We will spend Rs
4,000 for training of each teacher."

ULFA targets Bihar labourers, 48 dead
Kishalay Bhattacharjee
ndtv, Jan. 6, 2007

Saturday, January 6, 2007 (Guwahati):

Assam witnessed 24 hours of terror with suspected ULFA activists
killing at least 48 people in the Upper Assam districts of Tinsukia
and Dibrugarh.

The most horrific incident occurred in the Tinsukia district where men
dressed as security personnel segregated labourers from Bihar.

They then tied their hands, blindfolded them and carried out a mass execution.

A red alert has been declared in Assam following the horrific act of violence.

Indiscriminate killing

ULFA's 28th Battalion, the outfit's dreaded strike force, that
operates out of Myanmar is active in these areas.

Since September 24, 2006, when talks between the ULFA and the Centre
broke down, the outfit has targeted civilians indiscriminately,
killing more than 50.

But Friday was different as the targets were migrant labourers and
petty traders, mostly from Bihar.

"I heard gunshots and came out and saw a group of 7-8 boys shooting at
us. My wife and I got a gun shot as well," said Asok Shah.

"I was shutting my shop when a group of boys fired in the air. They
soon started firing at me and other people around me, added Sukhari
Thakur, a local barber.

In November 2003, the ULFA had targeted people from Bihar in the same
areas. Riots followed, leaving over 100 people dead.

Political reactions

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the incident, calling it an
act of cowardice.

Following an emergency meeting in the Capital, the government said the
ULFA is simply trying to polarise people by systematically targeting
migrant workers from nearby states.

President A P J Abdul Kalam termed the killing of innocent civilians
in Assam as "inhuman".

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was also quick to react to the killings.

"We have decided to send a team of ministers to assess the situation
in Assam. A red alert has been declared in Bihar. All trains to and
from Assam have been given additional security. A compensation of Rs 1
lakh will be given to the victims in Assam," he said.

Govt apathy

A delegation led by Minister of State for Home Shri Prakash Jaiswal
will visit upper Assam on Sunday.

The MHA has also alerted the state governments of Bihar and West
Bengal, fearing a possible backlash.

"Compensation will be given and the circumstances surrounding the
incident will be investigated to find out who is behind the incident.
According to our information, ULFA is involved. We will talk to the
government," said Sri Prakash Jaiswal, MoS, Home.

More than 100 people have been killed since September and the
government insists that it is doing its best.

While life goes on as usual in most parts of Assam, in several areas
death stalks every night. It has been a long war and while ULFA shows
no signs of fatigue, the government has no good answers.

India's lost children

All over Sitamarhi minors are seen doing odd jobs instead of studying,
which is in violation of the Child Labour Act, says Rahul Ramagundam
Pioneer, Jan. 2, 2007

Endemic", says Nalin Vimochan, a high ranking officer in Bihar's
Sitamarhi district, when asked to describe the state of child labour
there. The word is spoken a tad gleefully, and is starkly ironical
when used in an empty but spacious hall that is the office of the
district Total Literacy Mission (TLM) which he heads. One corner of
the hall is stacked with piles of printed learning materials meant for
neo-learners. These materials shall be sent to block offices from
where they shall be despatched to the respective panchayat offices,
and from there the books are supposed to reach in the hands of the
neo-learners.

The office hall is sparsely furnished and has an unkempt look. The
District Literacy Mission figures tell their own tale. Drawn out of
2001 census, these tell the tale of literacy rates in Sitamarhi's 17
blocks. Some of the figures are amazingly revealing. Five of the 17
administrative blocks in Sitamarhi have literacy rates of around 20
per cent.

Sitamarhi is the northern most district of Bihar bordering Nepal. It
has a high rate of migration of children in search of work. All over
Sitamarhi, children can be seen working in dhabas, hotels and
restaurants in violation of recent statutory promulgation against such
employment. In October, Union Government brought a law that prohibited
employment of minor children in hotels and eateries. Even the district
magistrate's official compound at Dumra, the district town, with
courts and other Government offices in vicinity have a massive number
of children employed in its tea and refreshment shops. These shops are
mostly frequented by the Government employees. It is an open violation
of law within the compound that houses law-enforcing agencies.

While about 12 per cent of its population belongs to Scheduled Castes,
a substantial chunk is Muslim. Some blocks like Sonebarsa have a
predominance of Muslims. Most Muslims, like resource-less SCs, are
Dalit, a new emerging demographical category that is gradually
becoming an important political construct. The migration of children
is more from these population groups. Children of both Dalit Hindus
and Muslims are leaving their rural hamlets in hordes at a very early
age, sometimes as early as five to work and get skilled through a rite
of passage that is brutal and a dehumanising experience.

Most of these children are employed in the urban zari industry located
mostly in Delhi, Mumbai and even, ironically, Bangalore, India's IT
hub. Poverty, lack of schooling, tempting offers by unscrupulous
contractors in an opportunity scarce region and a set tradition of
export of the child labour along with a lax law enforcing agencies
combine to make the child a commodity to be exploited.

Sitamarhi is a rural district with usual skewed distribution of land
that is common in Bihar. Most Dalits, both Muslims and Hindus, do not
have landed resources. It is also a district prone to annual flooding
and for four to six months some areas of the district remain
waterlogged. Most of those who own land cultivate sugarcane.

Mr Vimochan enumerates measures that could plug policy holes, which
facilitate continued instances of child labour. He suggests focused
programmes for economic uplift of poorest families in regions of the
district that have high instances of child labour migration. Second,
the poor schooling system needs urgent improvement as not just quality
but even access to school is a big challenge. Third, there should be
provisions for severe punishment against contractors who are caught
enticing children or those who employ children in their factories.
Fourth, some deterrence must also be applied against parents. Most
parents habitually send their children for work. Fifth, rehabilitation
package for rescued children is farcical.

The administration of the district from where an illegally employed
child is rescued and released by the police is statutorily required to
give a certificate but this is seldom done. The administration packs
the rescued child off to his home district under police protection but
is reluctant to give any certificate. It saves them from penalising an
employer to compensate the rescued child as per provisions of law.

The official version of Mr Vimochan is just that - a version. There
are other versions as well. "The zari work does not require child
labour," says Mohammed Saddam Hussain, 12. "It is so tedious that no
adult shall take it up if he is not trained early in childhood."

In Hussain's analysis, therefore, high instances of child labour in
zari workshops is not due to the poverty of families; it is a need of
the zari industry to catch young boys to turn them into unresisting,
submissive adult labour. These children are paid meagre wages. The
psychological and physical scar they receive is permanent.

Poverty is just a part of reason, mostly an excuse. More important is
the systematic exclusion in schooling that is mostly State-sponsored
in Bihar and an ideological construction that is practised with
uncommon conviction even among official hierarchy. For a district that
has 12 per cent of its total population as Dalit Hindus, there is just
one residential Harijan School.

The school itself is in dire need of renovation and upkeep. Walls are
peeling off its cement coverings, buildings are caving in, the
residential hostels are without windows and doors, the rooms are unlit
and unventilated, and yet, some 700 students of various ages stay and
study there. There is no dearth of poorer parents desiring their
children's education but access is limited. Take, for instance,
Muslims, even poorer ones, send their children to neighbouring
madarsas, which are rarely linked to mosques. They exist within the
settlements and it is crowded with enthusiastic children who study
alif, be, pe...the Urdu alphabets.

Even now, Sitamarhi, despite being the first district where the Bihar
Education Project began its journey in 1992, has not been able to
provide a school in each of its human habitation. Officially,
Sitamarhi has 1,466 habitations, of which only 900 have a primary
school.

The most farcical display of State's concern is within the endeavour
of TLM. While chairman of TLM is a political appointee and who has
been given escort vehicle and other perks at the grassroots level, the
volunteer teachers are supposed to teach without any monetary
compensation. It is no wonder the district is burdened with endemic
problem of child labour.

Nitish introduces five-day working week in Bihar

Press Trust of India

Patna, January 2, 2007

Bihar's NDA government introduced a five-day working week from Tuesday
with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar pledging to turn challenges into
opportunities as his New Year resolution.

Now state government employees would work between 9.30 am and 6 pm on
working days departing from the earlier practice of working six days
in a week between 10 am and 5 pm and would be off on Saturday and
Sunday, Chief Secretary AK Chaudhary said.

The state government had extended the period of working hours to make
up Saturday's loss of working hours, Chaudhary said, adding the new
system was introduced after the state cabinet gave its nod to a
proposal to this effect recently.

The state government was in advantage by revising the working hours,
official sources said.

Now the number of casual leave would stand reduced from 16 to 12 days,
the sources said.

"The year 2007 will be full of challenges and we will try our best to
serve the people who have given us the mandate," chief minister said,
adding "We have to work hard in our respective fields and will convert
challenges into opportunities."

Bihar Social Forum Council Meeting

   Bihar Social Forum Council meeting was held on December 27, 2006 in Kedar
Bhawan, Patna. The Meeting discussed and took decision on three main agenda:
   1)                 A report on Indian Social Forum held on 6-13 November 2006.
   2)                 Nairobi World Social Forum, and
   3)                 Future framework of Bihar Social Forum.

   54 representatives from 34 organisation participated in the daylong meeting.
On ISF-2006, participants felt that through Bihar sent a big delegation to Delhi
event of the ISF, they could not present a united and effective picture of
Bihar; they felt that Delhi event was also not well organized.
   Nitish Kumar Govt. is opening Bihar to the forces of globalization. It will
lead to regions consequences for the poor and the marginalized. Participants
felt that issue specific to Bihar should be high lighted at Nairobi through
folders and handbills.
   Main discussion was focused on future of Bihar Social Forum. A frame work was
circulated for discussion. The framework was adopted. Organizing three-day event
of Bihar Social Forum every year in December in cultural to the framework.
One-day event on one or two specific issue well be organized in March, June and
September. Organizational structure, fund etc. were also discussed and decided.
A complete shape will be given to the organization in the next meeting. UN
Mishra of Janshakti presided. Prabhat Kumar, Varsa (Ekta Parishad), G. Nawal
(AITUC), Prabha Sharma (Mahila Samaj), Alka Shrivastav (PSKS) convened the
meeting.



   Prsbhat Kumar
   Organizing Committee
   Bihar Social Forum.

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Dear friends,        AS THE NEW YEAR DAWNS MAY IT BRINGS PROMISES OF……  NEW
DREAMS TO FULFIL NEW GOALS TO REACH  NEW JOYS TO DISCOVER
   HAPPY NEW YEAR
   2007

   yours sincerely
   prabhat kumar

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 WISH YOU VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 2007.
Regards
Sanjay Kumar
Secretary
Deshkal Society



Deshkal Society
329 SFS Flats, Mukherjee Nagar
Delhi-110009
India
Email: desh13@...
Ph: 91-11-27654895
Fax: 91-11-27655336
URL: www.deshkalindia.com

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`Correct unequal distribution of medical colleges'

PATNA: The newly elected president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) Dr.
Ajay Kumar and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar joined hands in making common cause
over the discrimination in granting permission for opening new medical colleges
across the country.

The Chief Minister who attended the function, and felicitated the newly
installed chief, hoped that the IMA and the Medical Council of India would do
their best to take note of this discrimination and work to help States like
Bihar and others which were not permitted to open new medical colleges.

Read the whole story on URL:
http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/29/stories/2006122907911400.htm


Lt. Col. (Retd.) Bajrang Bihari Singh
Sec-5, Plot - 452
Vaishali, Ghaziabad
U.P.
Phone- 0120-2772949
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State has its own vision for fast growth
Faizan Ahmad
[ 26 Dec, 2006 0354hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]


PATNA: The state's approach paper to 11th Five Year Plan has two major
goals: Not to allow the future of Bihar to be a hostage of its past
and, secondly to prepare a roadmap for accelerated and inclusive
growth.

The paper has been prepared to achieve the goal of development,
creation of gainful employment opportunities, strengthening
infrastructure and enhancing human resource development. It expressed
the hoped that the contours of the policies outlined in the paper
would be a milestone in rapidly improving growth indices and making
Bihar a constructive partner in national growth initiative.

The 123-page document titled as 'Vision for Accelerated Inclusive
Growth' was released here on Monday by CM Nitish Kumar after it was
approved by the cabinet. It visualises a growth rate of 8.5 per cent
of GDP compared to an average of 5.6 per cent growth in 2001-02 to
2004-05.

An 8.5 per cent GDP growth would entail a proposed public outlay of Rs
58,310 crore with private outlays at Rs 1,08,283 crore, indicating a
total Plan outlay of Rs 1,66,593 crore.

The chief minister, who was flanked by deputy chairman State Planning
Board N K Singh, almost all cabinet members and top bureaucrats had a
commitment: "Dream to build a better Bihar, let the sun rise in Bihar
again."

The growth rate, according to the approach paper, involves agriculture
growth at five per cent which could grow at seven per cent, industry
at 11 per cent and services at 10 per cent.

As Nitish said, "The stress is on employment generation and human
resource development." The approach paper has assumed that with 8.5
per cent GDP, state government will completely wipe out unemployment
backlog and take care of the fresh accretion to the labour force.

"The Planning Commission has estimated that additional jobs are likely
to be created in the 11th Plan on the basis of elasticity of
employment is likely to be 49.37 lakh," the paper said.

A series of measures taken to catalyse private investment have
resulted in the State Investment Board already approving 66 proposals,
including 19 new sugar mill proposals, with investment of over Rs
26,000 crore. The paper has charted out plans for agriculture, water
resources, roads, power, urban sector, tourism, labour, education,
health, rural development and environment.

As Nitish said,"It is the first approach paper and Bihar is the only
state to prepare such a document. It aims at balanced growth and
inclusive progress."

Nitish said he has urged the Prime Minister for investment of Central
PSUs and opening a petro-chemical plant in Bihar. He said the demand
for special status to Bihar would continue.

He said, "Based on the targets determined for the country as a whole,
Bihar has projected its monitorable socio-economic targets. The
ambitious growth strategy in the 11th Plan is designed to achieve
these and improved governance as well as concerted measures to improve
infrastructure. Bihar has learnt from past experience and will not
allow the future to be a hostage of the past."

Govt ready to implement Act on disaster
Radhika D Srivastava
[ 24 Dec, 2006 0217hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]


PATNA: The Bihar government is ready to implement the Disaster
Management Act, 2005. It is learnt the cabinet will give its final nod
in January.

Based on the Act, the state will also bring in place a disaster
management policy.

Urban development secretary P K Basu spoke about the massive programme
unfolding in the districts of the state to equip communities with
disaster management skills. Already, a training for 50,000 villagers
in rescue and evacuation is on.

Basu also spoke about a disaster management authority that would be
created on the lines of the existing National Disaster Management
Authority which is co-sponsored by the UNDP. The state authority will
oversee all disaster management operations.

He said in 14 districts considered to be highly prone to disasters
such as earthquake, cyclone and floods, a programme to generate
awareness, training and capacity building as well as documentation had
begun.

Besides the training of villagers, 3,431 engineers and masons had also
been trained to construct earthquake-proof structures and retrofit
existing buildings.

Basu said, "We have also trained more than 4,000 panchayat samiti
members as part of our capacity building programme."

He said during the training of engineers and masons, they were
actually made to construct one-room earthquake-proof
lats in order to get hands-on training.

In order to generate awareness about disaster, hoarding and wall
paintings, with messages on what to do during an earthquake or flood,
have already come up on government buildings. Some of these exist in
Patna as well.

Besides, an emergency operation centre will soon come up in Patna.
Basu said, "We have acquired land just outside the Old Secretariat.
Hopefully construction would begin in January."

In terms of equipment, Bihar is also set to get a number of
sophisticated machines to cut steel and concrete.

Some of these machines would also be used for picking up sounds and
voices trapped under debris. Basu said, "The machines will be procured
with the support of UNDP. These equipment will be very helpful as
Bihar does not have sophisticated rescue equipment as of now."

To ensure that people at the district level would be able to handle
these machines, booklets on "how to operate an equipment" will be
published and distributed in the districts, Basu said.

With the state government's focus on disaster management, Patna
Regional Development Authority (PRDA) has made it mandatory for
builders of multi-storey buildings to incorporate earthquake-safety
features.

PRDA vice-chairman Sujata Chaturvedi said, "We are concentrating on
buildings more than 11 metres in height. But with time, all new
constructions would need to be earthquake proof."

For existing buildings, she said, "We will issue an advisory asking
owners to retrofit their buildings to make them earthquake-resistant."

Govt scheme boon for Bihar women
Ravi Tunna
ndtv.com

Saturday, December 23, 2006 (Motihari):

Despite the government's efforts, dowry deaths continue.

But the Bihar government's 50 per cent reservation scheme for women in
Panchayat and government schools has worked better than anticipated.

Ever since Abhilasha Kumari began working as a Panchayat teacher at a
district school in Champaran district, she's had reason to smile.

"Ever since I got this job, my family's respect for me has grown. And
there have been marriage proposals from boys' families," said
Abhilasha.

Good initiative

She's not the only one. An initiative of the Nitish Kumar government
to empower women in the state by reserving 50 per cent Panchayat jobs
has had an unexpected fallout.

The young teachers have suddenly become very eligible and young men
are now queuing up to marry them.

"Now my parents don't have to worry," said Premlata Kumari, teacher.

The locals say it's not really hopes of a fat dowry that's bringing
the marriage proposals, but the reassurance of a steady source of
income.

"Usually the girl's family has to worry a lot about dowry. But now
that will not be a problem," said a villager.

"Lots of important people come, they say they will marry for free,"
added another.

It's not just the reservation for women in the Panchayat. Women in the
Panchayat have gone ahead and employed even more women and as a result
far more women across the state are now not just empowered but also
very sought after.

New legislation on right to education emphasised by experts
newkerala.com

Patna, Dec 21: An expert committee set up to suggest ways for
improving quality of education in Bihar submitted its report to Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar today recommending bringing a new legislation on
right to education and greater role to panchayats in spreading
education at the grassroot level.

"If Bihar can give a lead by making a legislation on right to
education, it will be a major achievement," the committee said in its
report.

The 15-member committee, headed by noted academician Prof
Sachchidanand set up by the Nitish Kumar government in February and
assigned six months, suggested broader outlines of the right to
education bill.

The bill approved by experts suggested rights based approach to
elementary education, design of a common school system (CCS) based on
neighbourhood schools which includes private schools along with state
schools, transfer and control of school education to panchayati raj
institutions and coverage to include children below six years and
above 14 years within a timeframe.

After receiving the report, Kumar told reporters that the government
would go through the recommendations and shortlist "actionable points"
for implementation with its own resources.

He emphasised on CSS, for which the government has set up another
committee headed by former external affairs secretary Muchkund Dubey,
and said his government would take concrete steps towards realising
it.

--- PTI