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   Aravind Pandey
   Bihar Bhakti Aandolan
   http://asia.groups.yahoo.com/group/bihaarbhakti


  Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

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

"Do you write the news with these hands?" his assailants shouted before
cutting off the journalist's hand;
When would UNI stand on its legs;
New Look Indian Express arriving in April 2008;
National Herald closing down;
Is Times of India a banana newspaper?

Read All This In My Web Log http://neerajbhushan.wordpress.com/

Cheers!!!
Neeraj Bhushan

Friends


After a wonderful conclusion of our Scientific Foresight
2007<http://picasaweb.google.com/atultech/SF2007>at Patna's SK
Memorial Hall from 22-24 Dec, we have been receiving requests
from management students and professors to also have a management event.

The lesson we learnt from SciFore07 was that all it needs is One Person with
a dream/vision and couple of believers in him to execute any project of any
scale. Scientific Foresight 2007 was a dream project by Ramraj Pandey with a
humble start in 2005 and see where it has come in such a short time frame.
He "manifested" his dream of putting Bihar back on the front of Science &
Technology radar in world and we are already making huge strides. In many
meetings where we were together he articulated his vision on how the future
belongs to those societies which are strong in Knowledge and Economy.
Science & Technology is a key ingredient of emerging as a powerhouse in the
Knowledge and Economic domain. We plan to start preparing for the next event
from now and the success of the event can best be see by many other similar
events cropping up on Calendar. We had a good event by Bihar Brains and DST
at PMCH (with Swedish Scientist), Ajay Thakur jee of DST has promised to
arrange a monthly Speaker event and most recently we heard about the Science
Congress plans by our very own BiharBrains and others. We must support one
or all of these initiatives. We deserve many more such initiatives and
hopefully others will also come up with similar events, career seminars,
books, projects.

Now here comes a Management Summit. The skills and ingenuity of Indian
Scientists has already been well established in the Global Economy. Right
from our success in the IT/ITeS sector to Manufacturing to Biotech to Tata's
Nano the world has NOTICED US for science & engineering. Indian engineers
have made up proud globally.

However the rise of India in the management world is still a story in
making.   We have had our share of success stories from

*Entrepreneurial groups* like Ambani, Mittal,Tata,BioCon,Infosys,Wipro,
Genpact
*Management Gurus* like, CK Prahlad, Ram Charan, V
*Management Leaders* like  Rajat Gupta, Ajay Banga, Indra Nooyi, Victor
Menzes, Tiger

but we are still not in the mainstream. India is poised to start
contributing to world as "Jagat Guru" and "Management" is a key part of
that. Bihar also will a key part of the story.

To trigger the scientific renaissance in Bihar we had SciFOre and now to
trigger the Management/Entrepreneurial Renaissance we will have a Management
Event in Patna, Bihar.

Feedback, Comments, Ideas Please. To those who are interesting in being a
part of this, please mail to me at atul@... or call me at +91 980
177 8587. Am in Delhi till 27th evening and in Bangalore from 27th till 11th
Feb. Will fly back from Delhi on 15th Feb

Cheers
Atul
+91 980 177 8587 Airtel
http://atultech.blogspot.com


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

http://www.igovernment.in/site/bihar-goes-high-on-e-gov-agenda/

Bihar goes high on e-Gov agenda
Shubhendu
January 21, 2008 | e-Gov and News. |

Patna: The technology bug has finally bitten the Bihar government,
with the state government working on six major e-Governance
initiatives worth Rs 160 crore with Tata Consultancy services (TCS).

It all started with the computerisation of offices of state
government. The government considers it as a first step towards
e-Governance. This has helped citizens to get their work done more
efficiently without any hassles.

Giving details of the initiatives, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil
Kumar Modi said that these six initiatives include Comprehensive
Treasury Management Information System (CTMIS), Value Added Tax
Management Information System (VATMIS), citizen centric portal (Bihar
online), Integrated Workflow and Document Management System (IWDMS),
BRAIN- data centre and Bihar State Wide Area Network (Bihar-SWAN).

While the state government is looking at initiating the pilot phase of
all the six projects in February, it expects to formally launche these
in April this year.

The IWDMS would be operational in eight state government offices and
secretariat in the first phase while Bihar SWAN will be implemented in
four phases and would cover all the 38 districts.

The infrastructure will help the state government extend services like
data communication, video conferencing, voice conferencing and e-mail
to all the blocks in these districts, he said.

While the state government is spending Rs 125 crore on the SWAN
project, it has already set-up a data center at a cost of Rs 19 crore.

Bihar Online- the citizen centric portal would help citizens to get
their birth, death and caste certificates in time efficient manner.
Also it would help them in other citizen services.
—iGovernment Bureau

--
Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490
Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/

Campaign for real beauty : watch this film. Talk to your daughter
before the beauty industry does ::
http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/home.asp

Read Kiran Bedi reacting emotionally to the blog post. Please visit
http://neerajbhushan.wordpress.com/

Thanks and regards.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: naiyar azam <naiyar_jmi2005@...>
Date: 7 Jan 2008 21:45
Subject: [DevelopmentCommUnicationInSouthAsia] A girls news channel in Bihar
To: DevelopmentCommUnicationInSouthAsia@yahoogroups.com


Abhay Mohan Jha

Sunday, January 6, 2008 (Chand-Kewari, Muzaffarpur)

A team of four girls in a village in Muzaffarpur in Bihar have started
a small revolution, launching their own television channel,
highlighting issues like deep-rooted superstition and lack of
development. Most importantly, giving voice to women in an area where
they are the most powerless.

Appan Samachar, weekly news capsule in Hindi and Bhojpuri. An
initiative by four village girls, aged between 15 and 20, who prefer
to call it a television channel instead.

Local problems are the story ideas at brainstorming news meetings and
the girls go out on shoots.

The reports are shown on portable TV sets through VCDs at weekly village haats.

Ever since the venture began two months ago, the girls have
highlighted many issues, ranging from prevalence of superstition to
exposing inadequacies in development.

And, they are making an impact.

''Due to the work being done by these girls, considering it
immediate, we implement those (development) work, immediately,'' said
Vinod Sah, Head, Chand-Kewari Panchayat.

Chand-Kewari, like any other remote village has its share of problems.
It does not even have electricity, proper roads and superstition runs
deep.

''We felt the need to compile our village problems and report them,''
said Anita, reporter, Appan Samachar.

''Those opposing this are now supporting us, they agree that a channel
is running even our village and girls are running it,'' said Khushboo,
reporter, Appan Samachar.

Despite 50 per cent reservation for women in village panchayats,
gender inequality is rampant in these remote villages where women
remain voiceless.

It is here that the budding journalists have succeeded in highlighting
the problems rural women face.

Santosh Sharma, a former journalist turned social worker has extended
all possible support to the girls.

''Half the village  population which could not speak in front of men
folk till yesterday. Appan Samachar girls have made these women
speak,'' said Santosh Sarang, former journalist.

This fabulous foursome, all-girls team of Appan News Channel is
heralding a media movement from below. It is a surge from within where
information is new found power and news broadcasting promises to
become an agent of change.

--
Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490
Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/

Check out newsrack.in (a very good tool to keep track of news, by
keywords). Thanks to Dr Subbu Shastry:
http://newsrack.in/Browse.do?owner=fredericknoronha&issue=Bihar&catID=1
--
Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490
Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/

Dear Nobaites,

   Apollo International School (another Netarhat-philosophy based experiment) is
conducting
    Apollo Scholars' Aptitude Test (ASAT)
   at Anugraha Shatabdi Bhawan, A.N. COLLEGE, Patna
   on Saturday, January 12, 2008
   for Classes V to IX at 9.30 a.m.
   & for class XI at 2.30 p.m.

   All eligible chlidren are cordially invited. We are considering scholarships
to exceptionally brilliant students.

   It shall be delight to meet all friends   at the venue with the team of
teachers & Apolloites.
    May visit www.apollointernationalschool.com
   Bajrang (1961-67)


Lt. Col. (Retd.) Bajrang Bihari Singh
Head Administration
   Apollo International School
   & Raunaq Public School
   Raunaq Education Foundation C/O Apollo Tyres
   Mobile: 91-9729057707
   e-mail:bajrangsin@...



---------------------------------
Looking for last minute shopping deals?  Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.

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

Wishing you a very happy new year. Cheers!!!

Neeraj Bhushan
http://neerajbhushan.wordpress.com/

Greeting from KVT


   Dear friend i wish u a peaceful,glorious,healthy,memorable and prosperous NEW
YEAR 2008 !

   With warm wishes
   Prabhat Kumar
   Kissan Vikas Trust
   PATNA
   09334330432


---------------------------------
Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.

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

Dear Friends,
        BIHAR BHAKTI AANDOLAN                       wishes you a very
        HAPPY NEW YEAR

                with a Plenty of Peace and Prosperity.







   Aravind Pandey
   Bihar Bhakti Aandolan
   http://asia.groups.yahoo.com/group/bihaarbhakti


  Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

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

A community news programme run by village women has been making waves
in the northern Indian state of Bihar. Ever since its launch earlier
this month, Appan Samachar (Our News), as the programme is aptly
called, has become popular in over a dozen villages in Muzaffarpur
district.
The programme is shown once a fortnight. Sometimes it is shown on a
projector, other times on hired video players and a large TV set.

The centre of operations is a gloomy room at the remote Ramlila Gachi
village on the crime-ridden banks of the Gandak river.


The asbestos roofed room has one table, two chairs, an old portable
television and lots of wires on the floor.

Next door is a village 'clinic' manned by a doctor who claims to
treat both humans and animals. The village has had no electricity for
the last four years, and has never had cable television and land
phones. Cell phone network reached Ramlila Gachi just a year ago.

The nearest hospital is 62km away, and the nearest police station is
20km away. Villagers stock illegal firearms at home to defend
themselves against the marauding dacoits and kidnappers.


Boondocks

In this bleak lawless boondocks of one of India's poorest states,
three young girls and a newly-wed woman cycle around to gather news
for their programme.

Carrying a low range Sony Handycam, a tripod and a microphone with
the channel logo, they bump along on the dusty narrow village tracks
to talk to people and shoot their stories.

Khusboo Kumari is barely 15, but she reads and anchors her 45-minute
news programme at breakneck speed.
Anita Kumari is a little older and she has already made a name for
herself in the area with her telegenic personality.

"I choose to do stories on water, electricity problems, farmers'
woes, and women issues. We then telecast them in the village market
so that everyone can watch and think," she says.

Similarly, young camerawoman Ruby Kumari and script-writer Ruma Devi,
who got married recently, go along with their duties professionally.

"We sit down daily to look around for issues that affect directly the
villagers. Then we work on them from every angle and then put them on
air," they say.

The unique programme is the brainchild of a local social activist,
Santosh Sarang.

"I have also been a journalist for five years and I had a curiosity
for the electronic medium. So I tried to make people from remote
areas aware about their own problems through this channel", he says.

Mr Sarang says the women decide what is going to go up on the
channel - they choose stories, subjects, shoot and edit.

'Maximum impact'

The first edition of this fortnightly news programme was broadcast on
a projector and featured such issues as witchcraft, empowerment of
women, poverty and farm problems.

For their second edition, Appan Samachar chose to do stories on
education for the girl child.

Since the village has no electricity or cable, Appan Samachar hires a
generator to supply the power for the projector and other equipment.
"Soon we will put out programmes every week. We generally put the
show on display at bi-weekly local bazaar in the evening where there
is more village crowd for its maximum impact and reach," says Mr
Sarang.

What about the security of the brave girls working on the programmes?

"We usually request villagers to accompany the girls and have also
warned them not to venture out after dusk", he says.

The villagers are excited with the prospect of their faces being
displayed and voices heard by one and all in the area.

"Yes, we are very happy as they raise the issue we grapple with daily
in our life. We hope it will be shown more frequently and the voices
could be heard by the government people also", said Lalbabu Patel, a
local villager.

Most of the other villages in the area echo the same sentiment.



Neeraj Bhushan
http://neerajbhushan.wordpress.com/

A 12-year-old boy from India's poorest and most lawless state, Bihar,
is celebrating being named India smartest kid after winning a
nationally televised quiz.

Subham Prakhar won the title of "India's Child Genius" after several
rounds of stiff competition between some 16,000 schoolchildren.

Both of his parents are currently unemployed and Subham had to depend
on generous relatives and the internet to gain access to the books he
needed to prepare for the competition.

Besides a glass trophy, an Encyclopaedia Britannica CD-rom and a pair
of gold and silver pens, Shubham won a cash prize of one million
rupees ($22,200).

Murders and kidnaps

Shubham Prakhar lives in the northern district of Muzaffarpur in
Bihar - a state where police estimate that a murder takes place every
four hours, a woman is raped every six hours, and kidnappings are a
daily occurrence.

Muzaffarpur is considered to be the crime capital of the state.

He is an eighth-grade student in an area where kidnappings of
schoolchildren for ransom is routine.

"We wish to send our only child to some other schools in Delhi as the
situation here is frightening and not conducive," say his parents,
Kumar Nawin and Archana Kumari.

"But we can't do it as money has always been a problem."

The couple started a computer institute but were forced to wind it up
in 1998 "as it failed to bring profit".

Rent provided by tenants has allowed them to keep living in the
ancestral home in Muzaffarpur while they devote their time to their
only son.

They got him his first computer when he was in the first grade
and "since then he has been operating it like a true professional",
says his mother, who trained as a computer engineer in Ukraine.

Beating the odds

Shubham had won every competition he entered before applying to take
part in India's most prestigious and popular brain game show.

He struggled hard to download the application form in a town in which
the internet connection trips every few minutes and there are
frequent power cuts.

"I've never stood second in life and that's how I wanted to be," he
says.

But he faced an uphill task in his latest challenge.

Contestants were required to be in the age group of 10-13, with an
overall average of at least 80% in school tests and examinations over
the past two academic years.

The top percentile of applicants from four regional zones were
invited for a written entry test.

Among 16,000 students Shubham topped the written test by "a
substantial margin", says competition host Siddhartha Basu.

Telephone interviews and more tests helped organisers whittle the 320
contestants down to 60.

Just 18 contestants took part in the final, which was televised
nationally on the Star World television channel last week.

"It was a 10-month-long process running in 27 episodes to choose
India's first child genius," says Mr Basu.

Family support

Shubham's family say living in a small town like Muzaffarpur has its
limitations.

"But we managed through somehow with all our family effort," says his
grandmother, Jayanti Devi, an economics professor.

Shubham prepared for up to 12 hours a day during his holidays, and
five or six hours while at school.

"I read 70 books, including classics, between April and August - but
not a single question was asked on them in the final," he says.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and the Charles Dickens
classics, A Tale of two cities and David Copperfield, were among his
favourite reads.

"I like stories written in [the classical style], but these days good
classics are difficult to find."

Shubham's teachers say he is an extraordinary talent who is the pride
of their school.

"Shubham is just an amazing blend of genius and talent. If everything
goes right in future he will be a real treasure for India," says
Manish Kumar, who has been teaching him for the past three years.

A fan of Bollywood stars Shahrukh Khan and Preity Zinta, Shubham also
loves to play and watch cricket along with other boys his age.

He dreams of becoming a professor of computer or mechanical
engineering to "serve his state and country".

"I'm just proud of my home state - which of course has recently
earned a bad name for some wrong reasons - but I'd love to do
something for it," promises Shubham.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sree Sreenivasan <ss221@...>
Date: 11 Dec 2007 09:26
Subject: [saja-disc] REQUEST: Journalist needs assistance in Bihar
To: SAJA DISC <saja-disc@...>




From SAJA E-mail Lists @ http://www.saja.org

If you know someone who can help Gaiutra, please do (and CC
saja@... for our records). Many thanks.

From: "Bahadur, Gaiutra" <gaiutra_bahadur@...>

Dear Sree,

I'm going to be in Bihar and Calcutta in mid-January doing research on a
book about my great-grandmother, who left India for the Caribbean in
1903. She was from Bhurahupur, a village of about 8,000 people that sits
along the Ganges in Chapra, about five hours by car from Patna. I'm
hoping to spend some time in the village getting to know it and the
people there and need the help of a fixer and an interpreter (hopefully
Bhojpuri-speaking). Do you any local journalists in Bihar who could be a
starting point and a guide? I'd be grateful for any help.

Warm regards,
Gaiutra Bahadur
2008 Nieman Fellow
Harvard University
Walter Lippmann House
One Francis Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
http://nieman.harvard.edu
(617) 661-1898


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--
Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490
12000+ downloadable, sharable hi-res photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/
PLEASE READ, a story on what's possible when there's a marriage between the
Right to Information and media:
The Indian Navy's deadly aircraft (The Mint)
http://www.livemint.com/2007/11/26013747/The-Indian-Navy8217s-deadly.html


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

The current issue (issue no. 580, December 2007_ of seminar is on
Bihar. It is titled 'THE PARADOX THAT IS BIHAR : a symposium on the
state's efforts at overcoming a troubled legacy. ' It has a number of
interesting articles:

#

EXILED BETWEEN HOME AND MEMORY
Ashwani Kumar, Associate Professor, Center for Study of Social
Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Tata Institute of Social Sciences,
Mumbai
#

DEPARTURE AND ARRIVAL
Sankarshan Thakur, Executive Editor, 'Tehelka', Delhi
#

REVIVING CULTURE
Prabhakara Jha, formerly, Assistant Professor for Cultural Studies and
Comparative Literature, University of Minnesota Graduate School,
Minneapolis
#

INTERVIEW
Jeetendra Verma, Patna based social activist and writer in
conversation with Phalhari Suryavanshi Das, head priest of the Mahavir
temple, Patna
#

MISSION POSSIBLE
Nikhil Kumar, Member of Parliament (LS), Patna
#

CHANGE FROM THE MIDDLE?
Prabhat P. Ghosh, Director, Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI), Patna
#

CAN BIHAR INDUSTRIALIZE?
Chirashree Das Gupta, Assistant Professor, Asian Development Research
Institute (ADRI), Patna
#

CENTRALLY PLANNED INEQUALITY
Mohan Guruswamy, Chairman, Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPAS), Delhi
#

ENSURING QUALITY WITH EQUITY
Vinay K. Kantha, teaches mathematics at Patna University and works in
the field of education and human rights; currently, President, PUCL,
Bihar state unit, Patna
#

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITY
Vandita Mishra, Senior Editor, 'The Indian Express', Delhi
#

NOTES
Urbanism and Sub-national Identity by Shaibal Gupta, Member-Secretary,
Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI), Patna; Children Are Our
Present by Daisy Narain, Department of History, Patna University,
Patna
#

BOOKS
Reviewed by Ratnakar Tripathy, Aditya Nigam, Jeemol Unni, Surinder S.
Jodhka and Ajay K. Mehra
#

IN MEMORIAM
Daya Krishna 1924-2007
#
BACKPAGE

The website of the journal is www.seminar-india.com but it does not
give you the link to the full article.
Rajesh K Jha

Dear friends

In the upcoming SciTech Fest ( Scientific Foresight 2007) in Patna from Dec
22-24 this year we are looking to invite entrepreneurs especially SME (
Small & Medium Enterprises) on one forum. We are hoping to have them form a
network, exhibit their products, ideas, seek funding, recruit etc etc.

We also have a session on entrepreneurship as well where they can hear from
experts and can get ideas on how to scale up, seek funding, ramp up, market,
build a team etc etc

If you know of someone then do pass on the message and give our contact
details

Cheers
Atul
+1 203 987 4452 g
http;//scifore.blogspot.com <http://scifore.blogspot.com>
atul@...


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

 
Bihar Floods of 2007 – 3

Dinesh Kumar Mishra

Central Water Commission CWC is an apex body of India to look after the
irrigation and flood control in the country. Any trivial matter regarding these
two issues cannot move any further without the nod of this institution. Ask CWC
which year Bihar was hit by the worst floods in the history, the answer would be
2004. This is because, according to CWC, 2004 was the year when 4.99 million
hectares (MH) of land in Bihar was inundated. This information must have been
given to CWC by Government of Bihar GoB. In fact, 2004 flood of Bihar was
limited to 20 districts of North Bihar (Siwan and Saran faced no floods in
2004). Area of North Bihar is around 5.4 MH and the combined area of Siwan and
Saran is 0.486 MH. Subtract this area from the area of North Bihar to get a
figure of 4.914 MH implying that the flooded area of North Bihar was more than
the actual area of the region. When this anomaly was reported in the press, the
flood hit area of the state slumped down overnight to 2.772 MH in the reports
prepared by Disaster Management Department of the State. GoB, however, took
precaution in retaining the flood affected area as 4.99 MH when it submitted a
memorandum to the Prime Minister for assistance to combat the losses that year.
Even Prime Minister’s Office did not notice the fallacy in reporting and so did
Ministry of Water Resources and the CWC. One wonders that in future if a
relationship is drawn between the rainfall, highest flood levels of the rivers
and the area affected due to floods in Bihar, will it not lead to erroneous
conclusion? The answer is - who bothers? That is the seriousness with which data
are handled by these august institutions.

GoB took another precaution. It has ceased to disclose the district wise flood
affected area ever since to avoid any criticism. Even this year (2007), the
flood affected population of Sitamarhi district is indicated as 27.86 lakhs
whereas the population of the district according to 2001 census is only 26.83
lakhs although the official website of GoB suggests a population figure of only
20,13,796 persons. One should not be surprised if the GoB stops giving the flood
affected population now onwards. However, accepting the credibility of whatever
data and information is available, let us take a look at various devastating
floods in the State in past.

1954 Floods        Talk to any elderly person in North Bihar and he would tell
you something about the devastation caused in the floods of 1954.This flood was
limited to North Bihar only with an affected area of 2.46 MH and a population of
7.61 million (out of 18.393 million). This flood affected 8119 villages (out of
21,107 villages) of North Bihar leading to the loss of standing crops over 15.96
lakh hectares. Some 1,79,451 houses were destroyed and 63 persons lost their
lives in this flood. 1944 cattle had also perished in the floods this year. The
flood loss was valued at Rs 50 Crores.

This was the year when the first Flood Policy of the country came into being and
the proposal to dam the Kosi at Barahkshetra in Nepal was dropped in favour of
embankments along the river citing the reason that the proposed dam would be a
safety hazard for the people living in downstream areas. After this all the
major rivers of Bihar were embanked and the process continues still. The flood
prone area of Bihar in 1954 was 2.5 MH and the state had only 160 kilometers of
embankments along its rivers.

1974 Floods 	 The impact of this year’s flood was felt south of the Ganga also
in the districts of Munger and Santhal Parganas and had a spread area of 3.182
MH. It had hit a population of 16.39 million and crops over 1.751 MH were lost.
5,16,353 houses were destroyed in this flood that killed 80 persons and 288
cattle. The total losses were put at Rs. 354.59 Crores.
Following the floods, the GoB appointed a committee to look into the flood
damages and suggest means to combat floods under the Chairmanship of Kanwar
Sain, former Chairman of CWC. This committee reiterated the idea of construction
the Barahkshetra Dam on the Kosi and said that the embankments could only be a
temporary solution to the flood problem of the state. Till 1974, there were 2192
kilometers long embankments within the state and it was claimed that they were
providing protection to 1.5 MH of land. The flood prone area of the state,
however, had shot up to 4.3 MH by this time.

1987 Floods This was the worst recorded flood of the 20th Century, the records
set by that flood have not been broken so far (2007 included). This flood had
not only mauled North Bihar, its impact was felt in South Bihar as well as
Jharkhand (it was a part of Bihar those days) also. An area of 4.668 million
area of present day Bihar and a population of 282.38 lakhs was hit by this
year’s flood that had engulfed 23,852 villages and destroyed crops over an area
of 2.51MH. It further destroyed 16,82,059 houses killing 1373 persons. The state
had deployed 58 army boats, 14,304 boats in North Bihar, 1366 boats in south
Bihar and pressed in services of 13 helicopters for rescue and relief
operations. The rains that started on the 11th August continued almost non-stop
till 19th August and no food packets could be dropped in Madhubani, Darbhanga,
Samastipur and Khagaria for about 3 weeks. Blocks like Alauli and Beldaur
remained marooned till the end of October. The floods repeated five times in
days to come and Jhanjharpur (Madhubani) was inundated even after Diwali.

There were 3,321 kilometers long embankments in the state by 1987 that were
expected to protect    2.873 MH of land against flooding. There were 104
breaches in these embankments and the flood prone area of the state had gone up
to 6.461 MH. A committee under the Chairmanship of Naresh Chandra was appointed
to look into the causes and remedy of floods in the state. The Report is
gathering dust somewhere in the Central Water Commission.

2004 Floods  This year’s flood was spread over 20 districts of North Bihar with
an area over 2.772 MH ( 4.99 mh according to CWC) and a flood-hit population of
2.13 Crores. This flood had engulfed 9346 villages. destroyed crops over an area
of 1.399 MH and swept away 9, 29,773 houses killing 885 persons. Desparate
attempts were made to paint 2004 flood as the worst ever flood in living memory
and duping the PM was a part of it.

By this time the undivided Bihar had an embankment length of 3465 kilometers. 24
kilometers went to Jharkhand and another 11 kilometers was swept away. Remaining
3430 kilometers long embankments are still there with Bihar while the flood
prone area of the state has gone up to 6.88 MH. Government of India had
appointed another Task Force to look into the flood problem of the state and
suggest remedy. This report, too, says that the flood affected area of Bihar in
2004 was 4.99 MH. One should not be expecting anything worthwhile from the
report which is based on wrong footings. Obviously, constituting committees and
Task Forces etc is just an extension of floods that provides post retirement
employment to administrators and technocrats.

2007 Floods Much has been written earlier and it is not intended to repeat it
here but it must be said here that whenever a phrase ‘worst ever flood’ is used,
caution must be exercised. It suits all concerned, except the victims, if the
worst ever flood strikes an area. Should miseries be marketed? Marketing
managers could muster a statement from United Nations that Bihar was hit by
worst ever flood this year which, it was constrained to modify later saying it
meant South East Asia and not Bihar. GoB has diluted its wordings and does not
call it worst ever floods in living memory. Will Central Water Commission modify
its information?

Dinesh Kumar Mishra
Convener – Barh Mukti Abhiyan
Road No: 6B Rajiv Nagar
Patna 800024
Bihar, India
Mob: 9431303360
E-mail: dkmishra108@...
2nd December 2007


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

 
Bihar Floods of 2007 – 3

Dinesh Kumar Mishra

Central Water Commission CWC is an apex body of India to look after the
irrigation and flood control in the country. Any trivial matter regarding these
two issues cannot move any further without the nod of this institution. Ask CWC
which year Bihar was hit by the worst floods in the history, the answer would be
2004. This is because, according to CWC, 2004 was the year when 4.99 million
hectares (MH) of land in Bihar was inundated. This information must have been
given to CWC by Government of Bihar GoB. In fact, 2004 flood of Bihar was
limited to 20 districts of North Bihar (Siwan and Saran faced no floods in
2004). Area of North Bihar is around 5.4 MH and the combined area of Siwan and
Saran is 0.486 MH. Subtract this area from the area of North Bihar to get a
figure of 4.914 MH implying that the flooded area of North Bihar was more than
the actual area of the region. When this anomaly was reported in the press, the
flood hit area of the state slumped down overnight to 2.772 MH in the reports
prepared by Disaster Management Department of the State. GoB, however, took
precaution in retaining the flood affected area as 4.99 MH when it submitted a
memorandum to the Prime Minister for assistance to combat the losses that year.
Even Prime Minister’s Office did not notice the fallacy in reporting and so did
Ministry of Water Resources and the CWC. One wonders that in future if a
relationship is drawn between the rainfall, highest flood levels of the rivers
and the area affected due to floods in Bihar, will it not lead to erroneous
conclusion? The answer is - who bothers? That is the seriousness with which data
are handled by these august institutions.

GoB took another precaution. It has ceased to disclose the district wise flood
affected area ever since to avoid any criticism. Even this year (2007), the
flood affected population of Sitamarhi district is indicated as 27.86 lakhs
whereas the population of the district according to 2001 census is only 26.83
lakhs although the official website of GoB suggests a population figure of only
20,13,796 persons. One should not be surprised if the GoB stops giving the flood
affected population now onwards. However, accepting the credibility of whatever
data and information is available, let us take a look at various devastating
floods in the State in past.

1954 Floods        Talk to any elderly person in North Bihar and he would tell
you something about the devastation caused in the floods of 1954.This flood was
limited to North Bihar only with an affected area of 2.46 MH and a population of
7.61 million (out of 18.393 million). This flood affected 8119 villages (out of
21,107 villages) of North Bihar leading to the loss of standing crops over 15.96
lakh hectares. Some 1,79,451 houses were destroyed and 63 persons lost their
lives in this flood. 1944 cattle had also perished in the floods this year. The
flood loss was valued at Rs 50 Crores.

This was the year when the first Flood Policy of the country came into being and
the proposal to dam the Kosi at Barahkshetra in Nepal was dropped in favour of
embankments along the river citing the reason that the proposed dam would be a
safety hazard for the people living in downstream areas. After this all the
major rivers of Bihar were embanked and the process continues still. The flood
prone area of Bihar in 1954 was 2.5 MH and the state had only 160 kilometers of
embankments along its rivers.

1974 Floods 	 The impact of this year’s flood was felt south of the Ganga also
in the districts of Munger and Santhal Parganas and had a spread area of 3.182
MH. It had hit a population of 16.39 million and crops over 1.751 MH were lost.
5,16,353 houses were destroyed in this flood that killed 80 persons and 288
cattle. The total losses were put at Rs. 354.59 Crores.
Following the floods, the GoB appointed a committee to look into the flood
damages and suggest means to combat floods under the Chairmanship of Kanwar
Sain, former Chairman of CWC. This committee reiterated the idea of construction
the Barahkshetra Dam on the Kosi and said that the embankments could only be a
temporary solution to the flood problem of the state. Till 1974, there were 2192
kilometers long embankments within the state and it was claimed that they were
providing protection to 1.5 MH of land. The flood prone area of the state,
however, had shot up to 4.3 MH by this time.

1987 Floods This was the worst recorded flood of the 20th Century, the records
set by that flood have not been broken so far (2007 included). This flood had
not only mauled North Bihar, its impact was felt in South Bihar as well as
Jharkhand (it was a part of Bihar those days) also. An area of 4.668 million
area of present day Bihar and a population of 282.38 lakhs was hit by this
year’s flood that had engulfed 23,852 villages and destroyed crops over an area
of 2.51MH. It further destroyed 16,82,059 houses killing 1373 persons. The state
had deployed 58 army boats, 14,304 boats in North Bihar, 1366 boats in south
Bihar and pressed in services of 13 helicopters for rescue and relief
operations. The rains that started on the 11th August continued almost non-stop
till 19th August and no food packets could be dropped in Madhubani, Darbhanga,
Samastipur and Khagaria for about 3 weeks. Blocks like Alauli and Beldaur
remained marooned till the end of October. The floods repeated five times in
days to come and Jhanjharpur (Madhubani) was inundated even after Diwali.

There were 3,321 kilometers long embankments in the state by 1987 that were
expected to protect    2.873 MH of land against flooding. There were 104
breaches in these embankments and the flood prone area of the state had gone up
to 6.461 MH. A committee under the Chairmanship of Naresh Chandra was appointed
to look into the causes and remedy of floods in the state. The Report is
gathering dust somewhere in the Central Water Commission.

2004 Floods  This year’s flood was spread over 20 districts of North Bihar with
an area over 2.772 MH ( 4.99 mh according to CWC) and a flood-hit population of
2.13 Crores. This flood had engulfed 9346 villages. destroyed crops over an area
of 1.399 MH and swept away 9, 29,773 houses killing 885 persons. Desparate
attempts were made to paint 2004 flood as the worst ever flood in living memory
and duping the PM was a part of it.

By this time the undivided Bihar had an embankment length of 3465 kilometers. 24
kilometers went to Jharkhand and another 11 kilometers was swept away. Remaining
3430 kilometers long embankments are still there with Bihar while the flood
prone area of the state has gone up to 6.88 MH. Government of India had
appointed another Task Force to look into the flood problem of the state and
suggest remedy. This report, too, says that the flood affected area of Bihar in
2004 was 4.99 MH. One should not be expecting anything worthwhile from the
report which is based on wrong footings. Obviously, constituting committees and
Task Forces etc is just an extension of floods that provides post retirement
employment to administrators and technocrats.

2007 Floods Much has been written earlier and it is not intended to repeat it
here but it must be said here that whenever a phrase ‘worst ever flood’ is used,
caution must be exercised. It suits all concerned, except the victims, if the
worst ever flood strikes an area. Should miseries be marketed? Marketing
managers could muster a statement from United Nations that Bihar was hit by
worst ever flood this year which, it was constrained to modify later saying it
meant South East Asia and not Bihar. GoB has diluted its wordings and does not
call it worst ever floods in living memory. Will Central Water Commission modify
its information?

Dinesh Kumar Mishra
Convener – Barh Mukti Abhiyan
Road No: 6B Rajiv Nagar
Patna 800024
Bihar, India
Mob: 9431303360
E-mail: dkmishra108@...
2nd December 2007


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

hi!

have you visited my weblog today? if not, please accept my invite and
visit

http://neerajbhushan.wordpress.com/

i would appreciate if you post your comments as well.

thanks and regards

neeraj bhushan

 
Bihar Floods of 2007 – 2
Dinesh Kumar Mishra

This year’s flood in North Bihar broke many previous records.  Continuous rains
between 1st July to 2nd August in Bihar plains, Terai area of Nepal and the
lower Himalayas brought life to a standstill for a very long time, the impact of
which is felt still. It rained three to four times more than the average for
weeks together and districts like Samastipur, West Champaran and Khagaria was
virtually cut off from rest of the world for a considerable period.  Elderly
people of the area suggest that they had never seen so much of rain in their
life nor had they experienced such a prolonged stagnation of rainwater.

Surprisingly, with so much of rains and rainy days and the accompanying losses
due to floods, no major river of North Bihar touched the recorded highest flood
level HFL. The memorandum sent by the Government of Bihar GoB to the Government
of India GoI for seeking assistance for flood relief confirms this fact. The HFL
of the Bagmati at Sonakhan is recorded as 70.77 meters but it could reach only
69.75 meters this year. The Burhi Gandak, which remained stagnated above the
danger level for weeks together this year, did not touch its record level of
46.35 meters at Rosera. The Kamla-Balan could touch 53.60 meters level at
Jhanjharpur Rail Bridge against the HFL of 54.34 meters. The Bhutahi Balan,
which played havoc in and around Phulparas in the Madhubani district many times
this year, did not touch the record level of 72.10 meters at Ekamma siphon and
flowed to a maximum level of 70.30 meters. The Lalbakeya attained a level of
72.42 meters at Gowabari against the HFL of 72.84 meters.    The Ganga has an
HFL of 50.27 meters at Gandhighat but the observed maximum this year was only
48.15 meters. The Punpun flowed 80 centimeters below the HFL of 53.91 meters at
Sripalpur. The Kosi, at Basua, was seen to be flowing at 48.01 meters against
the HFL of 48.76 meters. The Gandak followed the suit and its level did not
exceed 95.80 meters against an HFL of 96.85 meters at Khadda.

If the maximum level of all these rivers was much below the HFL, one would
expect that the damages caused by the floods would be less but that was not to
happen. The obvious explanation that comes to one’s mind for this anomaly is
that there were large number of breaches in the embankments, canals, roads and
railway lines that led to moderation of flood and its levels and drainage
congestion prevented the moderated floodwaters from escaping. The result was
prolonged stagnation of water and nearly 25 million flood victims watched
helplessly their dwellings and crops being washed away.

Water Resources Department WRD of GoB has constructed 3430 kilometers long
embankments along Bihar rivers through which it intends to protect its 29 out of
69 lakh hectare of flood prone area. These structures, on which the GoB had so
much faith as a barrier between the people and the river, breached at 32 places
before a call of help was given to the GoI on the 28th August through the
memorandum. There were 7 breaches in the Bagmati embankments, 14 in the
Kamla-Balan embankments, 5 in the Burhi Gandak, 3 in the Masan embankments and
one each in the Bhutahi Balan, Khiroi and the Kosi (Badla-Nagarpara). Any lay
person in the flood hit area of Bihar can tell that the embankment looses its
meaning downstream of the breach point. He can also tell that the bed level of
the river within the embankments has risen quite high leading to its reduced
water carrying capacity and waterlogging in the protected countryside. The
people living within the two embankments of the river are always at the mercy of
God as the Government does not recognize their existence.

What is left of the newly constructed embankments on the Bagmati between
Runnisaidpur and Dharampur will be known only after the stock is taken once
normalcy is restored but efforts are on to redo these embankments. This Rs 792
Crores project was started early this year to embank the hitherto untouched
middle portion of the river. Some 10 kilometers length of the same was
constructed before the rains and whatever was constructed, got washed away in
floods.

The GoB is reported to have sanctioned a sum of Rs. 78 Crores to raise and
strengthen the Kamla-Balan embankments. Kamla-Balan embankments have a history
typical to embanking technology. The river was embanked between Jainagar to
Jhanjharpur in Madhubani district of Bihar during 1956-60. These were further
extended up to Darjia in 1962 and since 1965 flood season, these embankments are
faithfully breaching every year. At times, people cut these embankments to drain
the stagnated water outside the embankments. In the floods of 1966, there was
turmoil in Bihar Vidhan Sabha over massive breaches in these embankments.
Members like Suraj Narain Singh, Harishchandra Jha and Baidyanath Mehta snubbed
the Government over the performance of the embankments and even suggested that
either the embankments should be removed or the people should be shot dead.
Central Water Commission sent a senior engineer, Moti Ram, on a request made by
GoB and he suggested, along with many other things, raising and strengthening of
the Kamla embankments. This suggestion came just within three years of
completion of the embankment. Nobody asked GoB or the Central Water Commission
why weak and low height embankments were constructed in the first place? Since
then a caravan of veteran engineers is passing over these embankments making
similar suggestions and sometimes the embankments are raised.  The river and the
embankments, however, refuse to obey them. WRD of GoB has asked for Rs. 522
Crores to repair such embankments in the state.

This is not a huge sum as compared to the total demand of Rs. 8,000 Crores but
it would have been better if WRD had done some introspection of its working
before making the demand. In 1998, the present Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar
was staging a sit-in strike in Darbhanga and his grievance was that the
embankments had breached at 125 points in the state causing immense hardship to
the people. WRD of Bihar refuted these charges saying that the embankments had
breached only at 7-8 places and an equal number have been cut by the anti-social
elements and all other breaches are there in the Zamindari and Maharaji
embankments for the maintenance of which the WRD is not responsible. The press
release of the WRD  also said that it was responsible only for the flood
protected area of 29 lakh hectares in the state and the remaining area over
which no protection measures have been taken up, the department cannot be held
responsible. He is in power at the moment and if the WRD admits that its
embankments have breached at 32 points (as against 8 in 1998) and none of these
breaches are Zamindari or Maharaji embankments, it is hoped that the Deputy
Chief Minister would remind WRD of its obligations to the people. It is obvious
that when an embankment breaches, it surely was meant to protect some land out
of those 29 lakh hectares. The GoB should also explain to the flood victims what
plans it has to protect the remaining 40 lakh hectares of land of Bihar?

WRD suggest in the memorandum that efforts should be made for the Indo-Nepal
Cooperation over the flood issue. This is something that is being said for the
past 70 years without any success and it is difficult to make out any meaning of
such an assurance.   Flood forecasting, afforestation, capacity building and
establishment of a Flood Management Institute at Patna has been proposed in the
memorandum along with a National Disaster Response Institute in Patna has also
been proposed in the request. A totally irrelevant proposal to desilt Bihar
Rivers has been also made. It must be reminded here that the proposal to desilt
heavily silt laden rivers like the one debauching into the Gangetic plains from
Himalayas has been rejected to the extent of ridicule in the Report of the
Rashtriya Barh Ayog (1980).That a proposal should come from Bihar is even more
astonishing since it had desilted Eastern Kosi Main Canal a couple of years ago.
There are hillocks of sand on either side of the canal and most of the slopes of
the canal is eroding back into the canal with passage of time. The problem is
not in desilting the river if one has the resources, the problem is where to
dump the excavated material. The memorandum is curiously silent over the issue.

Similar is the situation with the Dept. of Road Construction. Some 782
kilometers length of roads in the state have almost collapsed with 54 breaches
in them. The department has sought for a sum of Rs. 1586 Crores from the Center
to bring back the roads in motor able shape. Breach in the road means that the
rain water is looking for an opening at that point to pass through, which the
department intends to plug solidly. Condition of the rural road is even worse. A
length of 3194 kilometers of such roads has been hit by floods with 829 breaches
in them and its 1353 bridges and culverts need repairs / replacement. There is a
demand of Rs. 512 Crores to meet this requirement. Such demands will never
diminish if the state continues to ignore the drainage of water.

However, this year’s flood has opened the flood gates of placing additional
demands. Vital departments of the state from which people had expectations to
protect them against floods are themselves queuing up for relief. One is
reminded of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir whom anybody could access for alimony. A
villager went to meet him for help and found the emperor praying to the almighty
for help. The villager came back without meeting the emperor saying that he
should not be expecting anything from a person who himself was begging. Sooner
the people of Bihar realize this , the better it is.


Dinesh Kumar Mishra
Convener – Barh Mukti Abhiyan
Road No: 6B, Rajiv Nagar
Patna 800024
Bihar - India
Mob; 09431303360
E-mail: dkmishra108@...
25th November 2007


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

Hi! (about my weblog) http://neerajbhushan.wordpress.com/

I am a journalist based in India's capital New Delhi. I travel
extensively to collect first hand news and views and report with
objective approach regarding the prevailing customs, beliefs,
traditions, caste factor and of course my passion - politics.

Politics interests me in particular as it affects everything else in
life. I have studied Political Science, History, Law, Public
Relations, Journalism and Computers.

I have worked for major Indian newspapers and news agencies including
Times of India, Hindustan Times and Press Trust of India. I have also
interviewed several personalities and closely followed developments
in India and abroad. Interaction with people from all lifestyles has
helped me establish close associations with political leaders and top
personalities.

May I now invite you to click on my newly-created weblog. Please
visit regularly and post comments. Thanks and Regards and Have a
Great Day. Cheers!!!

http://neerajbhushan.wordpress.com/

Friends .. can we all start updating Wikipedia Entry on Bihar ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:People_from_Bihar


Cheers
Atul, The Connector
+1 203 987 4452 g
http://scifore.blogspot.com


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

In past many of us have received complaints about Multiple sites,
mis-communication etc etc .. well this is a problem faced by many more
groups and thought will share my reply here. Also wanted to check with
"silent members" here. If you are upset with me then feel free to write to
me on personal mail. THIS BACKWARD OUTDATED TECHNOLOGY that yahoo is doesn't
allow us to have more focussed discussions .. so please move to better
platforms if you don't want SPAM or TOO MUCH of IRRELEVANT MAILS

By the way .. those of you who keep wondering that WHAT CAN I DO for Bihar
.. i am not RICH or am not FAMOUS or am not the CM or PM then please stop
making excuses ..

One Vivekanand could inspire MILLIONS for centuries , One GANDHI could
create a freedom movement, One NETAJI could inspire MILLIONS,.One Steve JOBS
could create APPLE (with partnerships), TWO young folks could create GOOGLE
.. have many more such examples ..

100 determined people can change the face of world. All they need is an army
of supporters who believe in them .. do you want to make a start NOW ..

then please share WHAT is it that you have always LOVED to DO or WANTED to
do (not what you thought you CAN DO) ..

and we can share ideas on HOW to do that

Cheers
Atul

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Atul <atultech@...>
Date: Nov 23, 2007 10:17 AM
Subject: Re: [My Linkedin Power Forum] Errors Amplified (Multiple Sites.
Multiple Mis-communications)
To: MyLinkedinPowerForum@yahoogroups.com

I can share some best practices from Mission Possible. We are organizing
world's best sci-tech fest in India this December, *
http://scifore.blogspot.com* <http://scifore.blogspot.com> using concepts of
Web2.0 +  Org3.0 + Event3.0. Let me know if anyone is interested in covering
the event or attending or sponsoring or speaking or partnering

Some of the tools we are using are

Facebook for non-intrusive updates
Phone call for urgent updates
Gmail for important updates
Personal Visit for really important
Linkedin for professional update
Google Talk for quick chat n update
Skype or Gizmo for Con-calls
Collectivex for Intranet
Scribd for doc management

Yahoo/Hotmail/aol for Spam ridden mails

Cheers
Atul
The Connector
+1 203 987 4452 g
http://atultech.blogspot.com
Can Do, Will Do. Right Here Right Now
*With you* Without You. Inspite of You


Below are some links that you might want to explore in case are having
Sunday evening Blues or are preparing for Manic Mondays

Me http://atultech.blogspot.com

SciTech Blog http://scifore.blogspot.com
SciTech Website http://www.scientificforesight.org
SciTech Extranet http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23986435005

*Mission Possible
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7849535497
http://picasaweb.google.com/atultech/MissionPossible02
http://groups.google.com/group/TeamPossible

Bihar Society
*http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5571251938
Friends of Bihar 2.0 http://bihar.collectivex.com

*IIM Alumni Society*
IIM Alumni Blog <http://iim-alumni.blogspot.com/>
IIM Alumni Intranet <http://iim-alumni.collectivex.com/>
IIM Alumni Society on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6911427889>
IIM Alumni Society on Linkedin<http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/36556/6E5FF2691A0D>

Website & Society Registration in progress .. volunteers needed !!!

Cheers
Atul


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

Dear all, This is also a good suggestion, however adopting an area might be a
concern for me. Better we can identify one sector (chile education or medical
facility or any others things) and implement for whole flood affected area. In
my opinion, donations came for whole flooded area and we should not concentrate
one area. I traveled to some area and found that people do not have to do
anything. My Rs. 1000 donation to a villager bring him back to normal life as he
started a small tea stall and started selling few things with small budget. He
buy daily from wholesale market and and sell in village at his doorsteps.
However identifying real needy person a difficult work as my another rs 500
donation got waste as he spend this to his personal need and among friends.Best
regards, Ranjeet KumarAmerican Express Bank Ltd.GurgaonEmail :
ranjeet@...

http://ss1.richmedia.in/recurl.asp?pid=186

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

Dear all, This is also a good suggestion, however adopting an area might be a
concern for me. Better we can identify one sector (chile education or medical
facility or any others things) and implement for whole flood affected area. In
my opinion, donations came for whole flooded area and we should not concentrate
one area. I traveled to some area and found that people do not have to do
anything. My Rs. 1000 donation to a villager bring him back to normal life as he
started a small tea stall and started selling few things with small budget. He
buy daily from wholesale market and and sell in village at his doorsteps.
However identifying real needy person a difficult work as my another rs 500
donation got waste as he spend this to his personal need and among friends.Best
regards, Ranjeet KumarAmerican Express Bank Ltd.GurgaonEmail :
ranjeet@...

http://ss1.richmedia.in/recurl.asp?pid=186

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

Dear Pioneer Team and Amarnath jee

Have been a big fan of the Pioneer for 15 years started ever since your
first edition in New Delhi when i was a +2 student at Modern School. Looks
like Good things / newspapers only get better with time like Good Wine (of
which I have no understanding)

Thanks for this wonderful report. Am hoping that rest of the media (many of
whom are "sold" to enemies of "freedom", "democracy", "india", "bihar") also
gets this message loud and clear. Bihar is bouncing back and not only the
govt changed but WE the people of Bihar are also changing and changing very
very fast (ELECTRON SPEED)

Also  wanted to check if you cover any of the social-cultural-economic
events in Bihar also? This Decemeber some of us are planning to take an
entourage to world's best Sci Tech Fest in Patna .. do let us know if
Pioneer wants to partner. We have near ZERO BUDGET ... we are following
concepts of Wikinomics, Open Source, Web2.0, Org3.0, Event 3.0 etc to create
an event with minimal overhead so that the world can STAND UP and take note.


Website: http://www.scientificforesight.org/
Blog: http://scifore.blogspot.com/
Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23986435005


We will conduct a tour of historical places like Nalanda, Vaishali, Rajgir,
Bodh Gaya, Pawapuri after the event on day of X'mas, We will also invite
some of our  guests like Mehmood Khan of Unilever, Jessica Wallack, Manjeet
Kripalani of Business Week, Liz Ryan of Business Week to Midnight at St.
Joseph's Cathedral  in Patna. We didn't take years or any professionals or
budget .. events are happening with the concept of  "Universe" is our team.
Time is on our side and NO FORCE in this WORLD can STOP A PERSON/IDEAS or
SOCIETY whose time has come. NOW IS THE TIME

Come join us or we will follow Ravindra Nath Thakur's advice .. EKLA CHALO
RE

Cheers
Atul
The Connector
+1 203 987 4452 GC
http://atultech.blogspot.com


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

 
   Bihar Floods of 2007– 1
Dinesh Kumar Mishra

There is good news from the relief front from Bihar this year and that is
definitely a healthy sign for future. It is there because for many years in the
past, the relief scene used to be chaotic and 2004 flood relief scandal was the
logical end of the goings on in relief distribution. A slight change for the
better is greeted with cheers from all quarters. Providing relief is a state
subject and the Central Government helps the states in some ways in managing
relief to the flood victims. Twelfth Finance Commission has revised the
standards set for relief under Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) and recommended it to
be effective from June this year (2007). It is intended to glance through the
relief operations in Bihar in the backdrop of standards and recommendations set
by the Government.

Government of Bihar submitted a memorandum for assistance to the Central
Government on 28th August 2007. By that time 9939 villages in 225 blocks of 20
districts with a population of 20.4 million was hit by floods. GoB anticipated
that by the time the floods are over, some 25 million people would be hit by the
current floods. Some 515 persons were killed in the floods (projected 600),
512,000 houses were destroyed (projected 6 lakhs) and standing crops over 16.4
lakh hectares was submerged till then. Besides, there was an extensive damage to
National and State Highways, breaches in embankments, damage to health
infrastructure, industries, fisheries, energy and cattle. GoB had put its losses
at Rs 8000 Crores and requested the Government of India GoI for immediate help.
Of the requested amount, over half the demand (Rs. 4,130 Crores) was from the
Disaster Management Department (DMD) of the state to cover the costs of food
assistance ( @ one quintal wheat/ rice for estimated 6 lakh families), house
rebuilding grant, distribution of polythene sheets, emergency cooked food and
deployment of helicopters etc. The other departments of the state have put their
demands separately.

At the time of writing this article (23rd November 07) the floods have hit
12,610 villages spread over 22 districts affecting a population of 24.8 million.
Standing crops over 16.63 lakh hectares has been hit by flood that has affected
16.13 lakh animals killing 1006 of them. Over 730,421 houses have been destroyed
and 960 persons have lost their lives in this year’s flood according to the
information received so far. Obviously, the damage is much more than what was
anticipated on the 28th August and the memorandum that was sent to the GoI will
have to be revised.

Before analyzing the quantum of relief that has gone into the flood hit area of
Bihar this year, let us glance through the provisions of CRF. The general
recommendations suggest that a flood victim would be entitled to,
A compensation of Rs. One lakh to the next of kin for every deceased person
subject to certification by a competent authority.
Compensation packages for fully damaged pucca house- Rs 25,000/-, Fully damaged
kachcha house – Rs. 10,000/-, Severely damaged pucca house Rs 5,000/-, Severely
damaged Kachcha house – Rs 2,500/-, Partially damaged pucca and kachcha house –
Rs 1,500/-, Hut- Rs 2,000/-
Compensation of Rs 35,000/- to any person injuring his eyes / limbs with damage
between 40 to 75 per cent. Beyond that the compensation would be Rs 50,000/-
Compensation for grievous Injury with hospitalization up to one week -  Rs.
2,500/-. For hospitalization of more than a week, the compensation would be Rs.
7,500/-
Lost clothing and utensils Rs 1,000/- per family.
Immediate sustenance – Rs. 20/- per adult per day and Rs. 15/ per child per day
for 15 days. This can be extended to 30 days in case of extreme situation.
Rs 2/- per day per infant for additional nutrition as per ICDS norms for a
maximum period of 30 days.
De-silting of agricultural land with minimum sand casting depth of  3 inches -
Rs. 6,000/- per hectare for small and marginal farmers.
Renovation of Fish Farm – Rs 6,000/-
Land lost due to changing course of rivers Rs. 15,000/- per hectare subject to
establishing the ownership.
An agricultural input subsidy of Rs. 2,000/- for small and marginal farmers in
rain fed areas and Rs. 4,000/- per hectare in assured irrigation areas. Rs.
6,000/- agriculture input subsidy for perennial crop. These benefits are also
available to other farmers with a ceiling of one hectare.
Subsidy for cattle lost as under (a) Milch Cattle like buffalo, cow and camel Rs
10,000/-, (b) Draught Animal like Camel, horse or bullock Rs 10,000/-, (c) Calf/
Donkey and Pony – Rs. 5,000/- and (d) Sheep / Goats Rs. 1,000/-, Birds – Rs 30/
per bird.
Fishermen loosing their traditional craft, Partly – Rs 2,500/- +net; Fully Rs
7,500/- +Net.
Besides, there are various other provisions that a flood victim is entitled to.
Similar assistance is available for other artisans like weavers etc subject to
certification from the competent authority.

Let us glance through what has been done on the relief front in Bihar till date
(22nd November 2007). Grains (38,86,896 Qtls) have been distributed so far while
the flood hit families would be around 50 lakhs. If the floods hit the people in
the month of July and it was expected from the Government that it would feed the
flood victims for about a month, it is obvious that the grains did not reach all
and also it never reached them in time. Many families must have been forced to
arrange food for themselves. Despite this, one must appreciate the effort of the
Government because reaching grains to so many people was, probably, never done
in past. It has asked Rs. 945 Crores from the Center under this head. GoB had
further asked the Center a sum of Rs 60 Crore for ex-gratia payment to those
families who had lost their family members (projected 600) in this flood. GoB
has paid additional Rs 50,000/- to every such family from the Chief Minister’s
Relief Fund which is a welcome deviation from the past.

The Government suggests that it has distributed 3,77,707 numbers of polythene
sheets to the flood victims till date and it had written to the Center for
providing this material to 40 per cent of the flood hit families, which
according to its own submission should have been around 2 million. Assuming that
all the NGOs put together might have distributed another 75,000 sheets (it is an
ambitious estimate), those given polythene sheets may not number more than 4.5
lakhs. This number is less than 10 per cent of the affected families and it
implies that nearly 1.5 million families must have braved floods under open sky
amidst heavy rains that continued almost till the middle of September.

For emergency expenses (Rs 20/- per adult and Rs 15/- per child) that a person
is entitled for, GoB has so far paid Rs. 84.05 Crores against a demand of Rs.
1105 Crores made to the Center. This is just about 8 per cent of the
requirement. Further, the GoB had asked for resources for rebuilding 4.8 lakh
houses ( assuming 80 per cent houses of the six lakh damaged houses  are kachcha
and belong to poor) but the number of damaged houses has gone up from an
estimated number of 6 lakhs to over 7.3 lakhs. GoB had proposed that the sum of
Rs 10,000/- that was to be given to each family under this head be coupled with
the provision of Rs 25,000/- available under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) and
rebuild better houses for Rs 35,000/- which would be better suited to bear
floods in future. Unfortunately, the state has provisions for building only
60,000 houses under IAY. This would mean that nearly 5.84 lakh houses will be
left uncared for. GoB proposes to tap resources from other departments to reduce
the burden. Only time will tell how many houses are finally constructed. It must
also be noted that all such houses cannot be built in North Bihar alone as the
poor live in South Bihar too.

As far as CRF is concerned, there are no unlimited funds available with it. In
the past five years Bihar has received only Rs.123.66 Crores in 2000-01, Rs.
129.84 in 2001-02, Rs. 136.33 Crores in 2002-03, Rs. 143.15 Crores in 2003-04
and Rs. 150.30 Crores in 2004-05. GoB is supposed to add 25 per cent more to
this sum to claim the Central assistance. One can well imagine the gap that
exists between the available small funds to the tune of Rs. 150 Crores against a
demand of Rs. 8,000 Crores. Some money may be available through the channels of
National Calamity Contingencies Fund (NCCF) but that too is drop in the ocean.
The rest will have to be borne by the state Government or by the affected family
itself. GoB asserts that it has spent all the money that it had with it (Rs. 850
Crores) to meet the flood disaster this year and it has further spent a sum of
Rs. 250 Crores from other sources and has no money left to do any relief any
more unless some help pours in from outside. The Chief Minister has requested
the Center to allocate funds for that but such requests have a history of
getting ignored.

Dinesh Kumar Mishra
Convener – Barh Mukti Abhiyan
Road No: 6B Rajiv Nagar
Patna 800024
Bihar
Mob: 9431303360
E-mail: mishradk@...
23rd November 2007





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Dear all members,

I am pleased to inform you that we have got another 500 ID space (each
Id will have 5GB) today.

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Please forward this all your friend and family members and spread the
awareness about this.


Best regards,

Ranjeet





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

Dear all members,



I am pleased to inform you that we have got another 500 ID space (each
Id will have 5GB) today.

Due to the constrain of space there were problem in creating more ID on
www.bihari.in <http://www.bihari.in/>





So one who missed the train please go and create the ID of your choice
before that got blocked by someone.. For creating email id visit to
www.bihari.in <http://www.bihari.in/>

If you face any difficulty please write me at ranjeet@...
<mailto:ranjeet@...>  or ranjeet@...
<mailto:ranjeet@...>  or simply admin@...
<mailto:admin@...>


Please forward this all your friend and family members and spread the
awareness about this.


Best regards,

Ranjeet



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

Please bear with yet another mail, in my new role as Sponsorship, Media &
PR. In future would recommend visiting our blog for live update (
http://scifore.blogspot.com)*

Latest status update on guests,  speakers / panelists*

    1. Mehmood Khan, Global Head of Innovation Process for Unilever -
    Confirmed for 24th
    2. Jessica Wallack, Strategic Advisor & Research Affiliate, *Celit -
    Confirmed for 22nd
    *
    3. Liz Ryan, Columnist at BusinessWeek, Career Coach, AskLizRyan -
    tentative confirmation
    4. APJ Kalam secy has still not confirmed his availability
    5. Mark Benioff of Salesforce.com ... will approach this weekend after
    revised Press Release / Package etc ... am in touch informally
    6. Ambani, Mittal, Tata and likes have not been approached yet since
    they are local and focus has been on international attendees till now
    7. Sunil Wadhwani of iGate, Joshua of Google etc approached
    8. Ron Somers will be approached for a small informal team rom US to
    visit Bihar during the event
    9. Names, Ideas, Leads will be appreciated ..


*Sponsorship*

    1. No money has hit bank account yet and so far personal contributions
    from Ramraj and few others have underwritten the costs
    2. Manjeet Kriplani of Business Week has offered to send a check in
    personal capacity since Business Week might not be in a position to be a
    part for this event we will politely deny since we would rather have as one
    of our panelist)
    3. Saroj boss, Naveen, Vivek, Ramraj and lotz of others are in touch
    with various companies
    4. We will approach GE, Genpact, TCS, Infosys, Cognizant, Wipro,
    Google, Apple, Cisco, Mittal etc soon and many more
    5. Team in Patna led by Chandan jee and Lakshmi of LN Mishra will
    spread out to reach local sponsors soon
    6. Google, Ciscos, GE, Genpact, Alchem, Panacea, Bristol Meyers, DRL,
    TCS look like most likely candidates for lead sponsorship
    7. Names, Ideas, Leads will be appreciated ..
    8.

*Media & PR*

    1. On Monday or Tuesday, after Mayank/Chandan and team finalize Press
    Release and Convenor Ramraj approves, I will release a press-release
    globally via PR Newswire which will get us global coverage ( $500 budget)
    2. Bihar Times, PatnaDaily, TOI, Rediff, HT, etc are likely print
    media partners in India
    3. Nature, National Geographic, Scientific American type magazines etc
    will be approached soon
    4. NYT, WSJ, US News, Economist, FT etc will also be approached as
    soon as press release is issued
    5. Blog needs update .. any volunteers (http://scifore.blogspot.com)
    6. Names, Ideas, Leads, Contributions will be appreciated ..

* Partnerships for Outreach*

    1. Tie, SAJA, IIM Alumni, Dept of Science & Technology, Asia Society,
    US-India Business Council, Brasil-India US Councile etc under discussion
    2. Dept of Tourism informed and discussions in progress
    3. IBEF, CII etc will be approached soon
    4. IIT, BIT, IIIT, IIM, XLRI, ISB, Yale, Harvard, Columbia  etc alumni
    bodies will be approached soon
    5. Names, Ideas, Leads will be appreciated ..
    6.


*Event Logistics*

    1. St. Joseph's Patna will invite panelists for X'Mas Mass at the
    cathedral
    2. Toursism Trip for guests (international and select local) to
    Nalanda, Rajgir, Pawapuri etc will be arranged
    3. DST (Ajay Thakur jee) will arrange a dinner for attendees
    4. Hotels like Kautilya, Chanakya will be booked ( Sponsorship will
    decide the numbers and venues) and Bihar Govt will be given an opportunity
    to host the guests or get paid on a cost-basis
    5. Chandan is arranging the video, camera, webcast etc etc for the
    event
    6. Posters, Banners will be pasted all over venue, Patna and rest of
    India
    7. Patna Airport authorities will be approached to "create" ..
    Resurgent Bihar feel (like WEF at Davos)
    8. Gandhi Maidan will have some big screens if possible
    9. Chandan is working on gifts, t-shirt, books etc for the event
    10. Team from US and India might come for Video Footage so that a
    documentary can be prepared
    11. Met my classmate, Prashant Kumar, Regional Director of
    Communication Planning, Universal McCann Asia-Pacific who has some cool
    ideas on how to do branding etc and will be roped in as advisory
    12. Names, Ideas, Leads, Contributions will be appreciated ..


More later and excuse any spelling/factual mistakes etc as just woke up. Do
write to Ramraj (Convenor), Chandan, Ajit, Vivek, Bibhuti, Samir, Ajay
jee,Atul. Sci Fore Team will take collective decision on all matters but
Ramraj as convenor will exercise his veto power on all or any of above
details. If you don't like anything please speak-up. Don't remain silent.
Silence is or will be interpreted as "Yes" or "I don't care" or "I want to
pretend that am  too big or too busy"

Do write to Ramraj (Convenor), me, Chandan, Ajit, Vivek, Bibhuti, Samir,
Ajay jee, Mayank, Saroj, Vishwajit, Sweta, Sanjay or all of us. Team of
student volunteers from Patna will take over much of responsibility from us
after Chath

Kartik: are you listening .. do reach us as need your help asap


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