Many of us might have heard this story and many of us know some of of the
protagonist in this great story (Nirmal, Prof. Piyush Sinha and Chanchal
Kumar ).

What is more interesting is the fact that many of us keep  getting similar
positive stories about Bihar being forwarded from non-bihari friends and
colleagues .. Bengali, Malayali, Tamil, Gujrati,Marathi and Punjabi and
others. We just need to manifest to our friends in a "positive and
assertive" manner that we are proud of being Bihari and are willing to give
back to Bihar. Others will also respect us.

On one hand while we have politicians and goons from some corners of India
venting their ire and frustration at Bihar and Biharis especially the poor
hardworking laborer or taxiwallas. At the same time, rest of India is hungry
for "positive stories" from Bihar. Lot of them even want to contribute to
Bihar. However one challenge many of them including some of us feel a lack
of is "receptacles" or "ground level" organizations  through which they can
channelize their efforts

As sometime back Naveen was citing that every class/society needs a whipping
boy or a bad boy. Unfortunately we biharis have become that. But we are in
illustrious company of Jews, Sikhs, Gujarati, Parsis, Kashmiri Pandits  and
many others. They all had to go through a bad phase. Some of them have
bounced back. Some like Kasmiri Pandits and Biharis are still going through
a bad phase. But, the good news is that our good days are coming.

Meanwhile we must continue to be paranoid about raising our Bihari voice in
whichever fora we can. In corporate world, in national budget, in media and
all over. Bihar as a name has great brand reach and name reacll
(unfortunately negative, these days) . We just need to reclaim it for
positive reasons.

Regarding the recent attack on bihari migrants, we need to form active and
vibrant "support groups" in whichever part of India  and world we are. Will
share some plan in this regard. Some of us at Onebihar, especially TVS had
discussed some plans in past. Maybe time to revive that. Ideas and
volunteers will be welcome.

Cheers
Atul
+1 203 987 4452 g

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Adri Guha
Date: Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 8:27 PM
Subject: Great story
To: Atul Kumar <atultech@...>


  http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080306/jsp/nation/story_8986554.jsp



*Adri Guha*

*Head of Manager Analysis*

*Advanced Portfolio Management (APM)*

*375 Park Avenue** *

*New York**, NY 10152*
+1 203 987 4452 Google
http://atultech.blogspot.com


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

Press Statement



Revisiting the flood plains of Bihar



A
Fact Finding Team comprising of ecologist, engineer, public health
researcher, social scientist, environmental scientist, and journalists
from different part of the country is visiting Kosi, Kamala, Bhutahi
Balan and Baghmati river in Bihar and Nepal. The visit is scheduled
from 1st March-8th March, 2008.



Kosi is a transboundary river between Nepal and India and is one of the largest
tributaries of the Ganga.



The
team aims to study the human relation with the river, unprecedented
ecological rupture in the region, emergence of a canal colony and its
impact in terms of diverse costs incurred.



Historically, two
rivers in Asia, Huang Ho river in China and Kosi river in Bihar are
known as the rivers of sorrow. The rivers were named so because these
rivers have caused widespread human suffering in the past.



Coincidentally,
the Fact Finding Team’s visit assumes significance in the backdrop of
Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar having received the report of yet
another technical committee headed by Nilendu Sanyal on 22 February,
2008 in Patna. The committee was formed in the wake of the last floods,
which ravaged major parts of the state for suggesting measures to check
recurring flood in Bihar.



This trend of examining the problem
with committees after committees began in 1936 and repeated in 1954
without acting on its recommendations. Sanyal had already submitted a
report in 1988 in this regard that too is gathering dust.



Not
surprisingly, the committee and the government are once again looking
for technological solutions to the problem. The team would examine the
current situation in the light of 207 recommendations for improving the
flood situation given by Rashtriya Barh Ayog (National Commission on
Floods).



The team would study how interfering with its flow
circuits has undermined natural drainage and examine the efficacy of
the solution to the problem of floods that is offered by the government
in the context of the ecological integrity of the rivers and a
dependent relationship between people and their rivers.



  This
week long visit to Kosi, Kamala, Bhutahi Balan and Baghmati river by
the fact finding team is significant since this river has moved
westwards by 160 km in the past 250 years and is crucial to
Interlinking of Rivers project. And of the Himalayan component, 6
river-link canals out of the 30 link canals in the Networking of Rivers
are directly related to Bihar. Two of these links are related to Kosi.




As per the National Water Development Agency’s plan, a Multi-Purpose
High Dam across river Kosi is proposed to be constructed near village,
Barahkshetra in Nepal. Besides the High Dam, a barrage across Kosi
river is also proposed below the Dam, to transfer water to Mechi river
through the Kosi-Mechi link canal.



  The team would witness,
study the current status of the river, flood dependent agrarian regime,
flood vulnerability, flood control measures, the agents of change who
have attempted to comprehend whether the ecosystem of Kosi is healthy,
is developing towards a healthy condition or is it falling apart since
it has reached its carrying capacity. The findings of the team and its
composition would be shared with media in due course.



For details contact after 9th March:



Dr Dinesh Kumar Mishra, 0919431303360, E-mail: dineshkmishra@...

Dr Sudhirendar Sharma, 09868384744, E-mail: sudhirendar@...

Gopal Krishna, 09818089660, E-mail: krishnagreen@...









       Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now, on
http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html/

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

*********************************************************
INDIACOMMONS... some links from, about, on India

*********************************************************
*********************************************************
********** part of the attempt to map the commons in asia
*********************************************************

OpenMED: OpenMED Archive [http://openmed.nic.in] was launched
in 2005 and since then they have over 1100 registered members
and it is being used by medical professionals to archive
their publications. It claims to be the only archive in the
world in the area of medical/biomedical sciences and the only
one that uses Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) for keywords.
The Indian Journal of Tuberculosis is available from December
1953 and again this is the first archive that has
publications from 1952! Says those involved with the archive,
"Please feel free to browse through the contents and add your
publications in the archive to enable access to health
information to all." Source: Naina Pandita, National
Informatics Centre, New Delhi Email: mint1_us@...
Received via: oadl@yahoogroups.com

* * *

MEDKNOW: Medknow Publications calls itself "the largest
publisher in India for academic and scientific biomedical
journals." It says it is a publishing house committed to the
improving the visibility and accessibility of the science
from the developing world. Medknow also says it "pioneers in
'fee-less-free' model of open access publishing and provides
immediate free access to the electronic editions of the
journals without charging the author or author's institution
for submission, processing or publication of the articles."
Currently Medknow, with over 40 print + online journals, is
"probably the largest open access publisher of print journals
in the world which does not charge author or author
institution for submission, processing or publication of
articles." Each journal published by Medknow has its
independent website. The websites use the OpenURL standard,
making it easy for libraries to link users as directly as
possible from citation to the full text of the article. The
open access policy has resulted in more than a half a million
article downloads in a month all the journals, according to
Medknow. Medknow has successfully put in place an original
electronic manuscript submission and peer review system
[http://www.journalonweb.com] for the first time in India.
This system has been in use since 2001 by authors and peers
across the globe and over 15,000 manuscripts have been
processed through it. Eliminating use of postal or hard copy
submissions, this online submission and processing of
articles has resulted in considerable decrease in the
submission to decision (turnaround) time. Most of the
journals published by Medknow are archived at multiple places
included OAI-compliant e-print repositories
[http://bioline.utsc.utoronto.ca/] and sites such as Bioline
International [http://www.bioline.org.br], thus, ensuring the
long term archiving and accessibility of the published
content.  http://www.medknow.com/

* * *

CREATIVE COMMONS INDIA SHORT FILM CONTEST: On the occasion of
the 60th anniversary of India's independence, Creative
Commons India organised a short film contest, on 'Better
governance through Right To Information'.
http://cc-india.org/index.php?q=node/27

* * *

ON OPEN ACCESS: Subbiah (Arun) Arunachalam
subbiah.arunachalam@... is one of the most prominent
campaigners for Open Access in India.

He outlines the strengths, for journals: Many leading
journals published in India are already open access. These
include the journals published by the Indian Academy of
Sciences [http://www.ias.ac.in/], the Indian National Science
Academy [http://www.insa.ac.in/], Indian Council of Medical
Research [http://www.icmr.nic.in/] and the Calicut Medical
College [http://www.cmc.edu.in/]. Besides, both National
Informatics Centre [http://home.nic.in] and MedKnow
[http://www.medknow.com/] publish open access journals on
behalf of about 75 societies.

Says he: "Thus India publishes about 100 OA journals.
Actually these are hybrid journals (print + electronic, with
the print version sold against a subscription). No Indian
journal charges a fee from the authors for publishing papers.
MedKnow [http://www.medknow.com/] model is win-win all the
way."

At the level of repositories: About thirty institutions have
set up their own interoperable institutional open access
repositories using open source software such as EPrints
[http://www.eprints.org/] and DSpace
[http://www.dspace.org/]. Indian Institute of Science
[http://www.iisc.ernet.in/] was the first to set up and the
IISc EPrints archive [http://eprints.iisc.ernet.in/] has over
8000 records. NIT Rourkela [http://www.nitrkl.ac.in/] is the
only Indian institution to have mandated open access for all
faculty and student research publications.

There are three subject-based central repositories one each
for library and information science (DRTC
http://drtc.isibang.ac.in/), medicine (NIC
http://openmed.nic.in/) and catalysis (IIT Madras,
http://www.iitm.ac.in/).

At the level of course ware: The NPTEL programme (National
Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning,
http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/), jointly mounted by IITs and IISc
is a world class open course ware programme. IIT and IISc
faculty prepare the course material and these are recorded in
real life teaching situations for transmission over the web
or as a video film or as both.

The National Knowledge Commission
[http://knowledgecommission.gov.in] has recommended mandating
open access to all publicly funded research and the
recommendation is now with the Prime Minister. The topic was
discussed both in the Libraries Working Group and in the Open
and Distance Education Working Group of NKC
[http://knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/documents/wg_ode.pdf]

Says Arunachalam: "Before laying down office of President,
INSA (Indian National Science Academy
http://www.insaindia.org), Dr R A Mashelkar, invited me to
address the Council of INSA on the pros and cons of open
access. My presentation was circulated to all Fellows of
INSA, but I am yet to hear from INSA about their plan of
action. Indian Academy of Sciences is planning to place all
papers by all Fellows, past and present, on an open access
archive."

But, he concedes, they are going about it rather slowly. A
number of workshops have been held on topics such as open
access, EPrints, DSpace, Digital Libraries, Open Course Ware,
etc. DSIR (Govt. of India's Department for Scientific &
Industrial Research. http://www.dsir.nic.in) has supported
some research and advocacy at IISc-NCSI.

* * *

           In India scientists working in government
           laboratories and performing research with
           taxpayers' money gift copyright to their papers to
           (often) foreign journal publishers (e.g. Elsevier,
           American Chemical Society). There are ways by which
           authors could retain certain rights. All they have
           to do is to add an addendum (readily available from
           Association of Research Libraries, Creative
           Commons, Science Commons, etc.) when they sign the
           agreement with the journal publisher.
           --S.Arunachalam, prominent votary of Open Access, India.

* * *

India joins Creative Commons camp of building sharable
knowledge: India's entry into the global Creative Commons
network that works to expand the range of creative work
available for others to build upon and share has been
welcomed by Joichi Ito, chair of the non-profit organisation.
Ito, chair of Creative Commons (CC), a 2001-founded
non-profit organisation, told IANS: 'India was probably the
most significant country we had left out (so far). It is
important (for us) from an IT perspective and from a growth
perspective. It is a large country, with a significant
intellectual community, and a potential economic power.'
http://www.nerve.in/news:25350031908

* * *

Creative Commons India
http://cc-india.org

* * *

Creative Commons-India's project head Shishir K Jha,
assistant professor at the IIT's Shailesh J. Mehta School of
Management, said the [Creative Commons] project would focus
on three specific areas in India. These are -- centres of
higher education like the seven IITs, regional technology
institutes and management and other institutions. "These are
increasingly taking recourse to creating video and web-based
courses such as the National Programme for Technology
Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) and distance education courses such
as C-DEEP and eGURU. And all would benefit from keeping
content sharable," Jha told IANS. Creative Commons-India also
plans to focus on non-profit and non-governmental
organisations and corporates keen on adopting easier-to-share
licences for the dissemination of their documents. Jha said
that there were many independent creative artistes working
with film, documentary, music and text who would like to
explore the possibilities of reaching out to a wider audience
with the use of Creative Commons licences.
http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/datamanagement/stories/168653.html

* * *

India At The Forefront Of Knowledge Commons Debate [3
September 2006] By Frederick Noronha for Intellectual
Property Watch: NEW DELHI - What do seeds have in common with
software? Or age-old medicines with copyright lawyers? And,
what's the link between ayurvedic medicines and techies
talking free software in Bangalore? Such issues are getting
closely enmeshed in a deepening debate on how knowledge is
shared or controlled in this new information-dominated
century. This is a debate of vital relevance for a country
that is making an increasingly visible global impact through
its brain power, and yet has among the most impressive
collections of traditional medicines and knowledge. Diverse
views surface on how such issues should be tackled, as was
strongly obvious at a 24-25 August 'knowledge symposiu' held
at New Delhi. The invite-only meet was organised by the open
source software firm Red Hat (India) and the Indian Institute
of Technology New Delhi. The event brought these diverse
strands together while focusing on what it said were
alternative ways of looking at sharing knowledge and concepts
like intellectual property. India has big stakes in this
debate. It is home to vast amounts of traditional knowledge -
traditional systems of medicine and healthcare, like Yoga,
Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha (both systems of medicine),
traditional agriculture, and more. But the planet's
second-most populous country also faces the dilemma of
getting global acceptability on intellectual property issues
as it integrates growingly with the global economy.
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=389

* * *

Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) Director Dr. V.
K. Gupta said at the conference: "TKDL deals with traditional
knowledge and the issue of patents. We're not focused on
getting patents, but on preventing its misappropriation."
"Knowledge from the fields of [Indian systems of medicine
like] Ayurveda or Siddha are very well documented. But the
problem is that of language. This knowledge is documented in
languages like Sanskrit, Hindi, Arabic, or Persian. Books
about them are not available at international patent offices.
So, there's no understanding [about how ancient this
knowledge really is]," said Gupta. Gupta pointed out that if
anything is pre-known, then existing intellectual property
rights (IPR) laws do not allow it to be patented. "A majority
of the patents [taken on Indian knowledge] is by expatriate
Indians or multinational corporations. There are about 2,000
patents which have been wrongly issued, in our view. Each
takes 11 years to fight. How do you resolve this problem?" he
asked. So TKDL's approach is to document traditional
knowledge. We've done it for around 70,000 formulations in
Ayurveda, and some more in the Unani and Siddha," he added.
TKD's team of a hundred persons have been working on this for
the past five years. http://tkdl.res.in/

* * *

India: 2,038,945 photos on Flickr.com
http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=india&m=text

* * *

India travel guide - Wikitravel
Open source travel guide to India, featuring up-to-date
information on attractions, hotels, restaurants, nightlife,
travel tips and more.
http://wikitravel.org/en/India

* * *

Home - FOSS.IN/2007
One of the world's largest FOSS events, held annually
in India. The event is highly focussed on FOSS development
and contribution.
http://foss.in/

* * *

List of Indian mailing lists
http://wikiwikiweb.de/MailingListsInIndia

* * *

List of Indian Free Software and Open Source groups
http://wikiwikiweb.de/LugsList

* * *

ENVIS Wetland Ecosystems
This work is licenced under Creative Commons Licence.
http://www.wetlandsofindia.org/

* * *

           Google has been sending GPS kits to India that
           enable locals to make more detailed maps of their
           area. After the data has been uploaded and then
           verified against other participant's data it
           becomes a part of the map. The process is very
           reminiscent of what Open Street Map, the community
           map-building project, has been doing. The biggest
           difference is that the data (to my knowledge) is
           owned by Google and is not freely available back to
           the community like it is with OSM.
           http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/08/google_uses_cro.html

* * *

Indian Journals.com says at
[http://poynder.blogspot.com/2006/05/why-india-needs-open-access.html]
that it currently have five open access journals: * Anil
Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and
Toxicology (Professor Anil Aggrawal) B) Fire Engineer
(Institution of Fire Engineers (India)) * Journal of
Neonatology (National Neonatology Forum) * Journal of
Research, SKUAST-J (Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural
Sciences and Technology-Jammu) and * The Journal of Bombay
Veterinary College (Bombay Veterinary College Alumni
Association). There is also a sixth journal freely available
from indianjournals.com today. The publishers have yet to
decide definitively how they would like to proceed in the
longer term, but currently their intention is to keep it
under open access. The journal in question is * Indian
Journal of Medical and Paediatric Oncology (Indian Society of
Medical and Paediatric Oncology).

* * *

Sukhdev Singh says: "Many of the Indian journals provide Free
Access to their online content. We also provide free access
to 38 Indian Biomedical Journals - http://medind.nic.in
However most of them do not differenciate between Free Access
and Open Access. According to various definitions - Open
Access goes beyond Free Access by also granting "distribution
rights" to the end user. Those who understand the difference
make it clear that they are Free Access only. Take for
example -- "Open access: To be or not to be"? an Editorial in
Indian Journal of Pharmacology - "IJP will continue to be a
Free Access journal and insist on copyright transfer. Readers
may make a few copies of any article for personal use and
distribute a limited number of copies for non-profit,
non-promotional academic activities (such as workshop or
lectures) without prior permission."
http://medind.nic.in/ibi/t05/i3/ibit05i3p139.pdf

Sukhdev Singh of NIC is connected with http://indmed.nic.in
and http://medind.nic.in and http://openmed.nic.in

* * *

Engineers India Org: Engineer Portal
India's own Engineer Portal for engineers. Come write for us
and get involved in the most ambitious online project ever in
India!
We will pay a token amount, though not much, but your
involvement is appreciated. The articles of this weblog are
licensed under a Creative Commons license.
http://engineersindia.org/

* * *
Jan Swasthya Abhiyan: People's Health Movement - India
The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan is the Indian circle of the
People's Health Movement, a worldwide movement to establish
health and equitable development as top priorities through
comprehensive primary health care and action on the social
determinants of health.
The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan coalition consists of  over 20
networks and 1000 organisations as well as a large number of
individuals that endorse the Indian People's Health Charter a
consensus document that arose out of the Jan Swasthya Sabha
held in December 2000 when concerned networks, organisations
and individuals met to discuss the Health for All Challenge.
This site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution
2.5 License.
http://phm-india.org/

* * *

Portal:India - Wikinews, the free news source
Location of Uttar Pradesh within India. Five bombs went off
nearly simutaneously in three Indian cities in the state of
Uttar Pradesh. ...
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/India

* * *

OPENITIS: Open Source, Open Standards, Open Minds.
User-posted content, unless source quoted, is licensed under
a Creative Commons Public Domain License.
http://www.openitis.com/openitis/index.php

* * *

           Design for India: Design is a powerful force that
           shapes culture and it is a professional activity
           that is beneficial for both community and business
           alike. This blog is for all those who are
           interested in exploring these wider manifestations
           of design as a critical human activity and would
           like to shape its application across all human
           cultural and economic activities. India needs
           design today across all 230 sectors of our economy.
           This blog is a space to explore and articulate some
           of the issues and perspectives that can contribute
           to a better understanding of these opportunities.
           This blog is managed by Prof. M P Ranjan, NID,
           Ahmedabad. You are invited to also look at the
           design education blog called "Design Concepts and
           Concerns" here for a contemporaneous documentation
           of the DCC courses at the NID, Ahmedabad.
           http://design-for-india.blogspot.com/ This work is
           licensed under a Creative Commons
           Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5
           India License.

* * *

India-related hits on the PLOS-Medicine
http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=advanced-search&row_start=1&l\
imit=10&order=score&search_fulltext=1&issn=1549-1676&jrn_issn=1549-1676&anywhere\
_type=any&anywhere=India&x=0&y=0#results

* * *

India links on CreativeCommons search:
http://search.creativecommons.org/?q=India&sourceid=Mozilla-search

* * *

13,000 copyright-free (non-commercial) photos from western
India and elsewhere.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/

*************************************************************
Compiled by FN/Frederick Noronha fred at bytesforall.org *
Copyleft / CreativeCommons attribution
*************************************************************

Aravind Pandey <aravindpandey@...> wrote:   Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2008
04:16:27 +0000 (GMT)
From: Aravind Pandey <aravindpandey@...>
Subject: Fwd: Published in the Dainik Jagran on 12th feb 2008, in Bihar:
Feedback needed
To: B <biharbhakti@...>



himanshu priyadarshi <hspriyadarshi@...> wrote:   Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008
13:42:54 -0800 (PST)
From: himanshu priyadarshi <hspriyadarshi@...>
Subject: Published in the Dainik Jagran on 12th feb 2008, in Bihar: Feedback
needed
To: goindiafoundation@...

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Himanshu Priyadarshi, BE(Environmental Engg.)
2 Canfield Avenue, #623,
White Plains,New York-10601
U.S.A
Cell:214-578-3200

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

Off late the vicious environment created in Maharashtra and rest of India by
Raj Thakrey and goons has created lot of noise but sadly not much debate in
the mainstream media besides sound bites on some TV Channels. Maybe because
the affected parties are poor laborers from poor parts of the country.
Rakeshjee , a close friend and senior wrote below article and thought the
group might wanna discuss this

*Attack on Migrants*

Attack on India's Pluralistic Fabric

*by Rakesh Srivastava*

Pluralism is the dominant principle of the Indian society. Plurality,
heterogeneity, or even conflict in values is regarded as characteristics of
the Indian system. That is the reason why the Indian civilization is
distinguished from other civilizations of the world given its continuity,
heterogeneity, and accommodating ethos. Since time immemorial, the Indian
civilization has played host to streams of migrant groups and communities
from across the world. The migrant groups and communities enriched the
Indian society with their respective traditions and behaviour patterns that
they had brought from their native lands. In the course of time, they lost
contact with their places of origin, underwent an extensive process of
indigenization, and helped build the nation that we know as India today.

But several critical factors have threatened the very fabric of this unique
pluralistic society from time to time. Communalism, casteism, religious
extremism, and what not! In the recent years, regionalism has been raising
its head again and is eating into the core of the pluralistic heart of the
Indian union. When the politicians start feeling insecure about their
acceptance amongst people, they raise the emotional issue of locals vs
outsiders. Delhi CM Sheela Dixit once suggested that North Indians
particularly those coming from Bihar and UP were burden on the national
capital. The Assam militants resorted to the killing of Bihari migrant
labourers. And now Raj Thackeray's ranting against the 'uttar bhartiya' in
Mumbai. All these acts of political desperation can only be termed as
politics at its most emotional, irrational, inarticulate, and
incomprehensible.

Raj Thackeray's assertion that "migrants come and ruin local culture" is
absolutely ridiculous. It is certain that, if asked, Raj Thackeray would not
be able to define 'local culture'. I would suggest Raj read the eminent
sociologist M N Srinivas to learn that the local culture at a given place
reflects local, regional and all-India patterns. While a lot in Pune's
culture will be the same as that of Nagpur, there will still be certain
things that will be different. Similarly, while Mumbai has an admirable
culture that is different from that of Delhi, there are lots of common
traits too between the two as both are within India. Culture, by its very
definition, is the amalgamation of various behaviour patterns that people
bring in from their native lands. A person in Delhi will tell you that his
native place is Bihar, a person in Patna will say that his native place is
Chapra, and a person in Chapra will say that his native place is Amnaur.

The above example will help one understand that any vibrant society is in a
constant state of migration – migration from a village to a town, migration
from one town to another, migration from one state to another, and migration
from one country to another. The cultural amalgamation resulting from this
migration process leads to better people-to-people understanding. This is
something that needs to be fostered, since in recent years, identity
politics is trying to endanger the accommodating society that India has been
for ages.

It is widely believed that migration is a burden on the local society. This
is a myth. On the contrary, migration is a two-way enrichment process.
International studies of immigrants clearly show their significant
contribution to host economies. While the migrants improve their lives with
the opportunities available in the host society, they also contribute to its
growth. They also generate thousands of jobs through their spending within
the host land.

Punjab is amongst the most developed states of India today. Could Punjab
have achieved the status of 'food granary' of India without the contribution
of migrant Bihari labourers? The contribution of Parsis to India's welfare
and its economic and social development is extraordinary. Tata and Godrej
are household names in India. Can anyone imagine Mumbai as the business
capital of India without the contribution of Gujaratis who have made Mumbai
their home?

Let us look further across the Atlantic. America is known as the land of
immigrants. The USA is the most developed country of the world because it is
a heterogeneous society of immigrants. If you analyse why America became
more powerful than the countries where its people came from, you will
realize that it is due to its assimilation of the immigrants into a liberal
democratic American society. While the American society correctly asks what
the immigrants have to offer to them, it also ensures that the immigrants
are able to live in peace and enjoy all services offered to America's
citizens. This assimilation and care for each other results in a liberal
culture in the society. The synergy generated by the people from different
background and different strengths has built America what it is today.

Raj Thackeray should understand this. He should know that a majority of the
migrants coming to Mumbai are engaged in production-related jobs. As per a
recent Times of India report, migrants, apart from working in industries,
are involved in providing 48 types of services in the city — ranging from
selling milk, vegetables and provisions to driving vehicles, working as
security guards and so on. While these are mostly low-paying jobs, their
contribution to maintaining the standard of life in this affluent city
cannot be discounted. The non-migrant population on the other hand, dominate
white-collared professional, technical, executive and managerial jobs,
including clerical and sales jobs, in various service-based industries.

But those who have nothing new to offer to their people, have taken recourse
to identity politics without realizing that it will ultimately harm their
own society. If militants in Assam are killing Bihari migrants, it's not
adding to the reputation of the state. Rather, it is creating an uncertain
atmosphere in the state where law of the land does not rule roost. And this
results in industrialists not looking towards Assam as a good place to
invest that would have generated jobs for lakhs of Assamese. So, ultimately,
it's the Assamese people who are suffering. The sooner the Assam
'nationalists' understand this, better for them.

These regional chauvinists should know that by indulging in violence, they
may get media coverage for few days, months, or at the most years, but their
kind of extremist politics will not survive long. One thing is certain, it
will never bring them to power. We have history as the witness. Even the
flag bearer of the extreme right politics in France, Le Pen of Front
National has changed track. Now he does not direct his ire against the
immigrants, he does it against the politicians who support the immigration.
Le Pen's message is not directly anti-immigrant. Certainly he sees what he
calls the flood of immigrants as the immediate reason for France's decline,
but for him it is not the immigrants' fault: they can't help wanting to come
to a great country. It is the fault of the politicians who have let them in.


In India too, the problem is the same. The development is not uniform across
the country. The myopic urban development policy of the central govt. has
created this mess. Some areas have developed a lot whereas others have
remained under darkness.

Hence, people from backward regions like UP and Bihar throng developed
cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore in search of opportunities. Given an
option, these immigrants would rather return to their home state if they are
developed as centres of employment and high economic growth. After all, no
one, not even poor labourers, want to live in poor living conditions of the
slums in these cities that rob them of their dignity. Migration can be
reduced if jobs are created nearer home.

It's nobody's case that Raj Thackeray's fulminations are mere incarnation of
our worst racist selves. We cannot deny that there is fire behind the smoke.
Maharshtra is not Punjab where poor Bihari labourers are invited to do jobs
that the Punjabis do not want to do themselves. So, we see no protest by any
political party in Punjab against the Bihari labourers. On the other hand,
there is widespread unemployment in Maharashtra. Raj Thackeray has
identified that there are lakhs of unemployed Marathis in the state who feel
let down by the politicians. The media too does not give voice to the
resentment of these people suffering from a feeling of victimization.
Sensing this as an opportunity, Raj Thackeray is trying to be the principal
electoral voice of these Maharashtrians who feel that they are suffering due
to the north-Indian immigrants. Most of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's new
recruits come from these sections of society.

However, Raj Thackeray is treading a path that is not going to succeed. His
exclusivist politics may fetch him limelight and he may become a household
name in India, but only for sometime. The Mumbai of the twenty-first century
is not the Mumbai of seventies when the original Thackeray first played the
politics of mumbaikars vs outsiders and achieved success. The socio-economic
profile of Mumbai has changed in forty years. Recent surveys show that the
majority of modern educated Maharashtrians do not approve the exclusivist
and intolerant agenda of Raj Thackeray. Raj may have acquired some fan
following after his recent rantings, but it will always be limited to that.
It will remain and create nuisance from time to time but it will not grow.

If Raj does not want to fade away in history as someone whose goons once
bashed up north-Indian taxi drivers in Mumbai, he should formulate an
inclusive political strategy for the development of Maharashtra, and that
means development of all those who live in Maharashtra – Marathis,
Gujaratis, South Indians, Parsis, Biharis and UPites. It would do him a lot
good if he reads the recent writings in Le Pen's diary. Then, as Le Pen did,
he would also realize that innocent citizens should not suffer due to the
follies of the state. If he is a true nationalist that he claims to be, he
should immediately ask his violent activists to stop venting their ire
against immigrants. He should channelise the anger of these unemployed youth
into pressurizing the govt. to have a proper urban development policy for
Mumbai and stop regularizing illegal slum colonies.

However, this is also an opportunity for the nation to ask itself certain
questions. Why are migrants in different parts of the country suffering at
the hands of marginal politicians and militants. Why does not the state deal
strongly with the perpetrators of violence against the vulnerable
immigrants? Can we allow political compulsions to overtake the respect for
law and national integrity? Can we afford to keep our focus of development
on the few cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore? Or should we target the
new areas of growth and opportunity – the tier two towns? Shouldn't the
country have a proper urban development policy which should include a
development-friendly national immigration policy?

Mumbai, Delhi, Patna and Bastar are all parts of the body and soul of India
that is Bharat. While Mumbai and Delhi grow, Patna and Bastar cannot be left
far behind. The Centre along with the govts. of the under-developed states
must up its ante and work together to create more job opportunities in the
states, sooner rather than later. But at the same time, migration and
migrants should not be seen as problems to be dealt with. They should rather
be looked upon as challenges and opportunities. The state govts. must
understand migration as part of the range of poor people's livelihood
options. Migrants are people trying to improve their lives and must be
treated accordingly. This country can be built into a great nation only with
the synergy generated by different people possessing different strengths. We
must not allow fringe elements like Raj Thackeray to attack
Non-Maharashtrians in Mumbai. The nation can no more afford a 'Non
Non-Maharashtrian manifesto' or 'Non Non-Assamese manifesto' the way it
witnessed a 'Non-Brahmin manifesto' in 1916 in Tamilnadu.

Cheers
Atul Kumar
Tristate, USA
+1 203 987 4452 g


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rakesh Srivastava
Date: Feb 16, 2008 10:35 AM
Subject: migrants
To: Atul Kumar

Here comes the article


Rakesh Srivastava


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

Very well said Surendra jee

We need not be aggressive but yes we must defend our brothers/sisters by all
means. I would say that we should be "assertive". We should not be hesitant
to celebrate our festivals like "chath" at all. At the same time we should
make all efforts to mix up / assimilate local culture and festivals as well.
Guess most progressive people and we biharis do as well,

As far as, Raj Thakrey and goons are concerned, they are best ignored and
"defended against". This whole series of incidents against biharis is giving
rise to emergence of bihari *sub*nationalism. Which is much needed. However
do not expect most of the well educated and well placed Biharis to
speak-up or stand-up and be counted.

Most of them will just prefer to watch silently over TV or read newspapers
and analyse for few weeks and then move on to their routine life. Some of
the political kind will try to get some mileage out of it (this side or that
side but their end goal is to benefit) . Those whose bread and butter is
affected or those whose life and honor is being threatened will either react
in self-defence or migrate to safer places. However some, especially the
young students will see this as a wake-up call and they will react by their
heart. We need to make sure that the reaction is on right track. We don't
resort to the level of "goondas" on road. We must prepare to defend and
support our people and at the same time, wake-up to the reality that there
is no place like home. We must try to give our best to our current place
(Maharashtra or Delhi or US) but at the same time should also retain our
connections with the homeland and continue to give back to our parent
society(bihar, jharkhand or india).

  For almost 2 months i have been hopping from city to city (Patna, Munger,
Rajgir, Nalanda, Tilaiya, Hazaribagh, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Mumbai, Pune,
Bangalore, Gurgaon, Delhi). If the socio-economic-political trends as
observed by a non-expert are to go by then we are already on the path of
socio-economic renaissiance. The dark days are over. Bihar is going through
a churn and transformation that will really shake up the world. In the few
weeks that I was in Patna, there were some or other othe trade-expo,
seminar, socio-economic event going on. Patna's calendar was very busy and
so was rest of bihar. National/International level sports events and
positive events going on.

We truly are living in very very interesting times and the outlook is very
positive. These attacks on Biharis are sad but hopefully yet another
incident reflecting the "awakening" of bihari subnationalism. As long as we
were willing to build the roads, work as maids and servants or IT/Management
Coolies then the local "netas" were okay with us. However as soon as we
started displaying some solidarity and display of our cultural heritage then
the world has problems. Very soon the IT and Management  "coolies" amongst
us will also start showing their Bihari Identity without any disrespect for
the local identity, the world will start respecting us. The display of
strength of IMA (Indian Medical Association) was one good example. Many more
such "skirmishes" will take place but in the end, we will emerge stronger.

Bihar is the most promising market for talent, mobile, pharma, tourism,
agribusiness, innovation and many other industries. Smart money of Sunil
Mittal, Ambani, Tata, Mahindra  and others are already benefiting from the
"market". Bihar-jharkhand is world's fastest growing mobile market, but soon
they will start jumping in many other sectors as well


To sum it up,
a) Let us remain assertive and not be aggressive. Losers like Thakrey will
lose steam soon.
b) Let us see the big picture and remain focussed on rebuilding Bihar2.0 and
giving our best to India and world
c) Bihar is an opportunity for the smart brains to see and insecure
societies/people to feel threatened
d) Let us remain connected to our roots
e) In whichever society we go we need to have strong local networks so that
we remain safe




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

On Feb 13, 2008 2:52 PM, surendra singh <ssingh_36@...> wrote:

>
> No need to be so aggresive !!!!  We need to be defensive. It is a natural
> reaction- it will happen time and again in Delhi and other metro cities
> also.
>
> We need change in our style - to be more graceful, need a change in our
> behaviour - like literate people.
>
> Image of Bihari was much more damaged due to Lalu and Lalooooooo
> style. Being in Delhi since 20 years  and visiting several cities have
> seen Biharis being humiliated everywhere mostly due to their Style.
>
> "Samrat Ashok, Chanykya, Morya, Balmiki, Arayabhatta jaise saput paida
> huye hon" we are proud to  say that - and also we are proud to take name
> of Dr. Rajendra Pd.,  Jai Prakash Babu, or even Sh. Karpuri Thakur- and now
> when a change is taking place in Bihar and Bihari Style in  the chief
> ministership of Mr. Nitish Kumar - we are really pround to say ourselves
> Bihari.
>
> Let the Bihar go on the path of progress - let the agitation against
> Bihari go in different cities. Soon a time will come when there will be job
> opportunities in Bihar and migrat labourers will prefer to come back to
> their native place  in Bihar to make an agricultural and industrial
> evolution. Then an ALAN  will be made- "Bihar vapas challo".
>
> Then only value of Bihari will be realised in every state, every cities
> and laboures will be welcome to visit their place.
>
> We are on the path of progress- all people of Bihar in INDIA & ABROAD need
> to think & help for
>
> prosperous of Bihar. Our future is bright and glorious.
>
>
> surendra singh
> 9811658735
>
>  ------------------------------
> To: biharbrains@yahoogroups.com
> From: pkmishra22@...
> Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 09:24:55 +0530
> Subject: [biharbrains] EK BIHARI SOU PER BHARI
>
>
>
> --- On *Tue, 12/2/08, pradip mishra <pkmishra22@...>* wrote:
>
> From: pradip mishra <pkmishra22@...>
> Subject: Re: [biharbrains] Jor se boliye - Ganpati bappa moriya...!!
> To: biharbrains@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Tuesday, 12 February, 2008, 3:25 PM
>
>     *SANT-SANT-SANT (PEACE-PEACE AND PEACE.)*
> Dosto
> Hamne Mahan SIKENDER ko Biswabijeta ban ne nahi diya to ye thakre kya hai,
> iski kya Aukat  hai. Rajniti chamkane ke liye liye wo bihari ko Gali deta
> hai. Bihari koi Gaali nahi Gourav hai. Bihari koi Bimari nahi " EK BIHARI
> SOU (Hundred) PER BHARI" ka nara yaad rakhna. Darta hai sala humlogon se.
> isi liye chillata hai ye.World ka koi aisa area nahi jahan per BIHARI ne
> apna NISAAN na chora ho. Hamari asmita bihari, hamara bajudd bihari, hamen
> Bihari hone ka GARV hai jahan per Samrat Ashok, Chanykya, Morya, Balmiki,
> Arayabhatta jaise saput paida huye hon wo GAALI kaise ho sakta hai, Jis
> Adhunik Bhartat ka Pahla RASTRAPATI diya ho, jahan se GAND?HI ne Aajadi ka
> pahla Bigul bajaya ,  Jiski sanskriti our sabhyata ka gaan sari duniyan
> kerti ho wo gaali kaise ho sakta hai. Jahan se ITIHAAS ka suraat hua ho, wo
> gaali kaise ho sakta hai. Hamein ek our ladayi ladna hoga, Apne aapse lana
> hoga ek UNITY mein lana hoga JAATI-PAATI se uper uthkar JEET hamari hogi
> saara BHARAT mera hai kisi ki gidarbhavki se hum nahi ddarne wale. Hum log
> SHER hai hai our SHER ki tarah jiyenge, Hmane her Area mein sabko pichhe
> chora hai, Aour BIJAY bhi hamri hogi. Bus Longon ko jagrit kijiye, her
> BHED-BHAV ko mitaker UNITY layiye fir dekhiye *" SATYAMEV JAYTE" kaise
> hoti hai.*
> **
> *Warm Regards*
> *P.K.MISHRA*
> *9817293276*
>
> ------------------------------
> Get the freedom to save as many mails as you wish. Click here to know
how.<http://in.rd.yahoo.com/tagline_mail_5/*http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mai\
l/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html/>
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>
> ------------------------------
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here.<http://in.rd.yahoo.com/tagline_mail_4/*http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/ma\
il/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html/>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> Detailed profiles 4 marriage! Only at Shaadi.com <http://shaadi.com/> Try
> it! <http://ss1.richmedia.in/recurl.asp?pid=107>
>
>
>



--


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

Hi!

I may not be an expert on American affairs but I am a human being. I
may not be a US citizen but I am a journalist. I may not be able to
properly document the extraordinary political and public opinion
failure that Bush's presidency has become; yet I cannot shrug my
shoulders and look away. I may not be a good statistician to record the
deep and lasting damage Bush has done to his Republican Party, yet I
cannot remain oddly detached, like my fellow journalists, when it comes
to Bush's decline.

My web log http://neerajbhushan.wordpress.com/  has the latest on it.
If interested, lets dissect Bush's two-term as American president.

Regards.

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

Dr. Ravi Shankar

Such emotional outbursts don't help our cause much. If you intend to pay a
"hafta" and settle the score then please go ahead. Why are you expecting
others to do that for you.

Many of us are doing things which we feel comfortable with or feel
effective. Different people will have different response and let us respect
that.

If you feel so humiliated that have to use words like napusanks, maugas etc
then why are you just writing mails, just "practice" the advice that you are
giving and prove your mardangi or biharipan.. But do something or else
please exercise restraint.

Such emotional outbursts and violence at Delhi Colleges, JNU and many other
places have hurt our own people. I feel Gandhigiri or more sobre response
might be  more effective especially against a non-entity like Raj Thakrery
and likes.

If you feel so negatively about current biharis and their bravery and their
cowardness then may you keep your bravery with yourself. We will be better
off with trying to rebuild our state economically rather than stooping down
to goons of Thakrey. Of course the locals need to be organized and be ready
for self-defence but your exhortation seem to be way too off the mark.

Are you in Bangalore then would love to chat up, am here till 11th. Can call
me on cell +91 9801 778587

Cheers
Atul


On Feb 6, 2008 2:45 PM, Dr. Ravi Shankar <ravish9@...> wrote:

>   Bravery and greatness of Biharis now exist only on papers and history
> text. Todays fact is that its most coward splitted community. What is
> happening to it is due to its own people at present and its own leaders at
> present.
>
> Any simple maratha or tamilian can go to any extent for his state, a third
> rate Thackray can bring fear in central governemtn and CM of Maharastra so
> that they dont arrest any of his men, Karunanidhi can clearly tell central
> government to pull out if interest of Tamil is not saved or Sethu Samudram,
> but here ..we Biharis the great intellectuals here ..being booted in every
> corner of country, killed many times in Assam and JK and beaten and
> humiliated openly and repeatedly in Maharastra, Punjab and Delhi ... prefer
> to write poetry from history to get good feel any desperate way, but never
> will to fight and unite, pressureize and go aggressive ...someone needs to
> get them viagra for their self respect and manhood.
>
> Our leaders today are doing the esiest jobs..shouting and giving just
> comments from home. Why do not Lalu Yadav openly threatens the central
> government to bring down the government if he is so much concerned about
> Bihar's self respect and Chhath Pooja? Why not he is stil supporting a
> government who is running due to him but same time does nothign for Bihar
> and Biharis? What Ramvilas Paswan is doing ? why not he is pulling out and
> what rest of Bihari politicians are doing at centre? why not they are
> threatening the government for collapse and show the power of Bihar to run
> India?
>
> What Nitish Kumar has done so far? Why Advani and BJP is so silent and our
> Bihari Babu Mr Shotgun Sinha is underground out of scene and giving
> apologotic statements to Raj Thackray like he is baap of Biharis and Biharis
> are surviving on the mercy of Thackrays? Mr Advani prefered to do Rath yatra
> instead of fighting for the real cause .. so much nonesense this chap is.
>
> What millions of Biharis are doing there to protect their basic rights in
> their own country? Sending flowers like napunsak Maugas ... having no gutts
> to rebutt heavily! no unity no show of Unity. Give supari and get this man
> killed. Collect chanda and get him finished so that the signal goes strong
> that we can't be strecthed beyond a limit and no one could utter anything
> against Biharis in future. Get this guys Thackray killed.
>
> The Sins of Shahbuddin, Anant Singh, Mukhtar Ansari, Shukla everyones of
> their type will be forgiven if he does this for motherland Bihar to protect
> its respect and its people....there is no fun in sucking blood of your own
> person who are being beaten everywhere and have to face all this for mere
> bread butter. release all these kind of politicians and goons from Bihar and
> ask them to get this Dog Raj Thackray finished. let them see what crime
> really means. let lau topple the government ...allt hese were sinners of
> Biahr but Bihar will forgive them today to great extent if they perform this
> duty.
> Otherwise keep on facing this till you die, and die with all humiliation
> you shared with rest of the Biharis.
>
>
> On 06/02/2008, Sudhir Kumar <ntexpert1@...> wrote:
> >
> >   Hi,
> >
> > Mumbai is on fire due to a stupid leader, and his supporters... It's
> > time to think over the entire episode, and take some solid steps, so that no
> > one else should be allowed to question our integrity in future...
> >
> > At Bhojpuria.com, we have collected a set of relevant articles (in
> > Bhojpuri), and all the news about the incident at the following link:
> >
> > http://www.bhojpuria.com/samachar/news.php?a=4977
> >
> > Where as the first article (Aag se topal rakh fir sunagal Mumbai me)
> > discusses the Raj Thackeray and his way of doing politics... you will learn
> > that he is doing all this, just to control himself from losing ground in
> > Politics.
> >
> > The second article (Aapne desh me ham paraya kaise? kahe?) talks about
> > this issue as well as Assam issue, where our people are sufferring since
> > long...
> >
> > and the third article(Aakhir kab jagi Bihar ke aatm-samman) is all about
> > Bihari proud... the article gives us enough reasons for us to be proud of
> > being a Bihari. Here is a line from the article  "Right from Gautam Budhdha,
> > to Bhagwan Mahaveer, to Guru Govind Singh... all were Biharis... and if you
> > think only our past was Glorious... even today in India, all the coins (and
> > all government documents including currency notes) still have Ashok
> > Chakra... and that Great Ashok was a Bihari itself..." do you need more
> > reasons like this.... go and read the article...
> >
> > At the end, we want you to come up with all questions/ suggestions, to
> > have our migrants people protected... no matter where ever they are...
> >
> > Any comment/ suggestions from you would be appretiated.
> >
> > Parnaam,
> > Sudhir Kumar
> > Bhojpuria.com
> > Phone: 9334 777 777
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> > Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try
> > it
now.<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51733/*http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8\
HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ>
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Dr. Ravi Shankar
>
>



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


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

Hi,

   Mumbai is on fire due to a stupid leader, and his supporters... It's time to
think over the entire episode, and take some solid steps, so that no one else
should be allowed to question our integrity in future...

   At Bhojpuria.com, we have collected a set of relevant articles (in Bhojpuri),
and all the news about the incident at the following link:

   http://www.bhojpuria.com/samachar/news.php?a=4977

   Where as the first article (Aag se topal rakh fir sunagal Mumbai me) discusses
the Raj Thackeray and his way of doing politics... you will learn that he is
doing all this, just to control himself from losing ground in Politics.

   The second article (Aapne desh me ham paraya kaise? kahe?) talks about this
issue as well as Assam issue, where our people are sufferring since long...

   and the third article(Aakhir kab jagi Bihar ke aatm-samman) is all about
Bihari proud... the article gives us enough reasons for us to be proud of being
a Bihari. Here is a line from the article  "Right from Gautam Budhdha, to
Bhagwan Mahaveer, to Guru Govind Singh... all were Biharis... and if you think
only our past was Glorious... even today in India, all the coins (and all
government documents including currency notes) still have Ashok Chakra... and
that Great Ashok was a Bihari itself..." do you need more reasons like this....
go and read the article...

   At the end, we want you to come up with all questions/ suggestions, to have
our migrants people protected... no matter where ever they are...

   Any comment/ suggestions from you would be appretiated.

   Parnaam,
   Sudhir Kumar
   Bhojpuria.com
   Phone: 9334 777 777




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

Dear Vagishji,
   I have not been getting any mail on my mail since long for about a year or so
inspite of my repeated requests.I donot know who deleted my mail from the
mailing list of the Bihar Chintan Group.I request you to resume my name and
oblige.
   Thanking you,
   Rm Nath Singh EX-Hindustan Times)
   ES10,Espace Nirvana Country
   Sector 50,Near South City II
   Gurgaon 122003 (9810362297)

vagish Jha <vagishkj@...> wrote:

Friends,
Since the attachment in the last mail did not open properly and did not reach
some of the friends I am attaching it once again. The attachment contains the
report of the meeting, proposal for Administrative and Financial reform in Bihar
and the Hindi font to see the report.
Sorry for resending it.
Vagish K Jha


---------------------------------
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    To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
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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


-
This is the SAJA E-mail Discussion List http://www.saja.org/lists
To switch to the articles only list, unsubscribe by sending a blank email to
leave-saja-disc-20122S@... and then send a note to
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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


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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


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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


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