Month: June 2019

Will Nitish Kumar go down as the ‘Kushasan Babu’ of Bihar?

Source:- nationalheraldindia.com

He was hailed as ‘Sushasan Babu’ or a good administrator not too long ago. But nothing seems to be working for him as lawlessness and a rush of deaths of children in Muzaffarpur expose his govt

Nitish Kumar is one of the greatest hoaxes going around in Indian politics. He turns ‘secular’ when it suits him. The very next day you might find him sleeping with the BJP without batting an eyelid. He even does not mind stabbing a political partner in the back if it suits him to survive in power. He did it with Laloo Prasad Yadav twice and even ditched Narendra Modi once. He is a survivor whose politics revolves around surviving in power.

When it suited Nitish to take on Laloo Prasad, he marketed himself as Susashan babu or a good administrator. Bihar was then sick and tired of the Laloo-Rabri misrule. It was a period when kidnappings and pot-holed roads of Bihar were making national headlines. The upper-caste establishment, both in Patna as well as Delhi, too, wanted to get rid of Laloo Prasad who had turned too big for his boots for the system.

Fodder scam came handy for the system to replace Laloo. Yet someone was needed to fill Laloo’s vacuum. Nitish was ready to play ball with anti-Laloo forces. But he needed a label to market himself that he did with media-support which sold him as Susashan babu. Nitish who had lambasted BJP for the Babri mosque demolition both inside and outside the Parliament jumped to form an alliance with saffron forces in Bihar to come to power in 2005. Ambitious Nitish was now Bihar chief minister taking on Laloo Prasad who was his one-time close friend as well as political comrade in arms.

It suited both the establishment and the media to project Nitish as an excellent administrator, rather as Bihari messaiah, who put Bihar back onto rails after Laloo’s mayhem in the state. Nitish, to be fair to him, did manage to improve Bihar roads. He also succeeded in putting down kidnappings that had instilled a sense of insecurity among Biharis during Laloo and Rabri Devi’s rule. Nitish Kumar was now hailed as the Susasan Babu not only in Patna but Delhi as well.

Nitish had smooth sailing both in Bihar and outside. He was happy with his alliance with the BJP in Bihar. But politics took a major shift with the rise of Narendra Modi in national politics in 2014. Modi took the country by storm and came to power with a comfortable majority to form the government in Delhi. It was the period when the Congress and its allies were down in the dumps. The Anna Hazare movement had destroyed the ‘secular’ camp’s credibility across the country.

Nitish now sensed a vacuum hitting the anti-Modi secular camp. He now started distancing himself from Modi and the BJP. Ambitious Nitish even started projecting himself as the ‘secular’ national alternative to Modi. He was now rubbing shoulders with the likes of Rahul Gandhi and Sita Ram Yechuri in Delhi while he had already tied up with one-time ‘corrupt’ Laloo to continue in power in Bihar.

But Modi being a much smarter political player than the likes of Nitish Kumar, the Prime Minister forced him to surrender to the BJP in Bihar and finally acknowledge Modi as a tall national leader. Of course, he ditched Laloo Yadav again. There was nothing strange about it as it comes naturally to him to ditch partners when they are down in the dump.

Political opportunism however comes with an expiry date. Because, as the saying goes, you can fool some people for some time but not all the people all the time. Nitish was neither a good administrator nor a principled politician ever. Look how the Bihar administration has crumbled with just one wave of Encephalitis that has turned Muzaffarpur into a killing field for poor children who are dying like rats.

Now even the media reports suggest that Muzaffarpur hospitals are a shame on modern health services. This breakdown of health services has not taken place overnight. It was all there when media marketed Nitish as Susahan Babu.

The only difference is that now Nitish has already served his utility of taking on Laloo and destroy him. Nitish neither has any vision to be a mass leader like Laloo Prasad Yadav nor does he seem to have much administrative skill.

He is essentially a rank opportunist who survives by switching sides whenever it suits him. But all shades of opportunists ultimately hit the dead end sooner or later. Nitish Kumar’s dead end seems to be nigh. Unfortunately, he may go down as Kusashan Babu rather than Sushasan Babu of Bihar

Abdullah Khan, author of ‘Patna Blues’, on his long struggle to become a writer

Source:-thehindu.com

omeone had once asked Abdullah Khan, the author of Patna Blues, which team he rooted for during an India-Pakistan cricket match. The thoughtless query is par for the course for most Muslims in the country. “I was born in a Muslim family, so I’m Muslim; I was born in India, so I am Indian. The two don’t have to be contradictory: I am both Muslim and Indian,” Khan remembers answering.

This is one of the many instances where the author and banker had been made to realise his status as a minority. I meet Khan at an al fresco café a few metres away from an Axis Bank branch in Mumbai where he works in the compliance department. We discuss his debut novel, Patna Blues, published last year, that had taken two laborious decades to finish. It’s the tale of Arif Khan, a young Bihari Muslim who dares to desire a Hindu woman. Running through this love story are strands of caste, discrimination and nationalism. Born in Pandari, a village near Motihari in Bihar, the author studied in an Urdu-medium school before encountering English at the age of seven. But he was so bewitched by the language that he took it upon himself to write a novel in English. Excerpts from an interview:

When did you first encounter stories?

I was always hungry for stories. If an aunt would visit, the first thing I would ask is if she knew any stories. If they didn’t have anything ready, they’d make something up with Sheikh Chilli, a fictional character who was a mischief-maker. When I was seven or eight, my father gifted me a Hindi Bal Bharti. I thought it was a text for the next academic year, but then he explained it was a book of stories.

What sparked the desire to become a writer?

I was helping my brother with an English assignment and I came across an excerpt from George Orwell’s Animal Farm. I started thinking that since such a great writer was born in my home town, I must follow in his footsteps. I must have been 21 then: I felt a great urge to be a writer.

How did Patna Blues happen?

It was the day Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things won the Booker Prize in 1997. The same day, I purchased a fancy spiral-bound notebook and a fountain pen. The first chapter was mostly inspired by Amit Chaudhuri’s writing style (chuckles). I was able to finish five to six chapters quickly. I got it typed for ₹25 per page and sent it to Mary Mount, an editor at Picador, by registered post, for ₹90. She wrote back saying, “You have fire in your writing, but it’s not ready for publication and you should work hard.”

Why did Patna Blues take so long to reach the bookshelves?

I stopped writing after getting a job in Bank of Baroda. After my wedding in 2002, my wife was dusting the house one day and she found my [manuscript] and the newspaper cuttings of old articles. And she almost blackmailed me to continue. I used to write long-hand with pen and paper and she would type it out. I then wrote to literary agent and author Noah Lukeman, who wrote back and told me about Joseph Conrad who didn’t know English till the age of 20. Lukeman said only those people are published who work hard and persevere. It was 2005 and I kept rewriting the first few chapters — I rewrote it 200 times. I would finish writing, then I would read something by a big writer and feel low. In 2009, I finished the first draft of the book. I sent it to [literary agent] Kanishka Gupta. The feedback I got was devastating. Finally, I signed a contract with Juggernaut in 2016. The book was published in September 2018.

There’s now news of Patna Blues being adapted into a web series…

A big Bollywood director called to tell me that he loved the book and wanted to make a web series for an international streaming platform. It’s in the works. The contract is such that I can’t talk about the details of the project — it’s under consideration.

You’ve also written for television and the big screen. How did that happen?

I’ve always been interested in films and I’ve also tried to get into acting — tried to become a hero when I was in college. In 2015-16, a well-known author posted on Facebook about a Channel V project, which was planning to adapt classics for Indian television — Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, etc. Mine was called Rehaan meets Jamila based on Romeo and Juliet. They liked three stories, one of which was mine. I started staying in touch with producers and directors. In a stroke of bad luck, the channel head left and the project was scrapped. Now, people get in touch with me. Earlier, I used to chase them.

What have you worked on so far?

I wrote a project for Shashanka Ghosh (director of Veere Di Wedding); I’ve worked on a spy thriller for Ekta Kapoor, but nothing worked out in the end. I wrote the story for the movie Viraam (2017), which my brother, Ziaullah Khan, directed. It was released in 400 to 500 theatres, but didn’t do very well.

What are you currently working on?

Right now, I’m working on a web series about an American ex-commando who’s half-Scottish and half-Indian. He falls in love with a Bihari journalist when she lands up in Goa. There are two-three other projects that are under consideration. And I’m working on my next book, Aslam, Orwell and a Porn Star. It’s about a man who was born in the same room as George Orwell in Motihari. But people are already objecting to the title.

Why?

I’m not really sure. There have been so many films made on courtesans, they’re human beings. I’m writing about their human side. I’m not writing pornography (laughs). It’s the truth of life, and they exist.


UPSC Result 2019: UPSC Declares NDA, NA Results at upsc.gov.in. Check via Direct Link

Source:-news18.com

UPSC Result NDA, NA 2019 | The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has declared the result of National Defence Academy (NDA) and Naval Academy (NA) written examination. The PDF versions of UPSC NDA Result 2019 were uploaded on the Commission’s official website upsc.gov.in. The UPSC Result 2019 can also be downloaded through the direct URL.

The UPSC conducted National Defence Academy (NDA) and Naval Academy (NA) written examination on April 21 for granting admission to selected candidates depending on their overall performance to Army, Navy and Air Force Wings of the National Defence Academy and Indian Naval Academy Course (INAC).

According to information available in the official press note of UPSC NDA, NA Result 2019, the scorecard of qualifying candidates will be uploaded on the Commission’s website within 15 days from the date of publication of final result. Further, it has mandated all the shortlisted candidates of UPSC NDA Result 2019, UPSC NA Result 2019 to complete registration process for subsequent interview round at Indian Army Recruiting website at joinindianarmynic.in within two weeks. Further communication regarding allotted selection centres and dates for interview will be provided to candidates on their registered email IDs.

UPSC 2019: Steps to download UPSC NDA, NA Result 2019

All candidates who took the entrance and are waiting for UPSC NDA Result 2019, UPSC NA Result 2019 can check their qualifying status through the Commission’s homepage. Steps are given below-

Step 1- Visit Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) official website upsc.gov.in

UPSC NDA/ NA results 2019

Step 2- On homepage, under what new section, you will get ‘UPSC NDA Result 2019, UPSC NA Result 2019’ link on it

Step 3- Click on it and you will be redirected to new window, here click on document tab

Step 4- A pdf file containing UPSC Result 2019 for NDA , UPSC NA Result 2019 will appear on the screen

Step 5- Check your roll number with Ctrl+ F key to know if you have passed the UPSC 2019 NDA, NA examination

Step 6- Take a print out for further reference.

Historical treasures of India in Bihar: Bodh Gaya, Nalanda, Pawapuri

Source:- connectedtoindia.com

The Mahabodhi Temple Complex or Bodh Gaya, in India’s Bihar state – which is also known as the place where Gautam Buddha attained enlightenment – is probably one of the top 100 places in the world to visit before you die.

For Buddhists, Bodh Gaya is one of the four main pilgrimage sites related to the life of Gautama Buddha. The three other sites are Kushinagar, Sarnath (both in Uttar Pradesh state), and Lumbini (in Nepal).

In 2002, Mahabodhi Temple became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and though the complex is well-maintained, the surrounding town is still under developed.

Next to the temple, to its western side, is the holy Bodhi tree, under which the Buddha is said to have meditated and reached enlightenment. In the Pali Canon, the site is called Bodhimanda and the monastery there the Bodhimanda Vihara. The tallest tower is 55 metres in height.

In approximately 250 BCE, about 200 years after Buddha attained enlightenment, Indian Emperor Asoka the Great who was one of the rulers of the Mauryan Empire – one of the world’s largest empires at its time – is said to have visited Bodh Gaya with the intention of establishing a monastery and shrine.

As part of the temple, he built the diamond throne, called the Vajrasana, attempting to mark the exact spot of Buddha’s enlightenment. Asoka is therefore considered the founder of the Mahabodhi Temple.

One of the interesting features of the sprawling complex is the Mucalinda Lake in the centre of which is a sculpture of Buddha seated under the hood of a cobra. It is said that when Buddha was spending his sixth week of enlightenment here, a cobra and other creatures protected him from severe thunderstorms.

Rajgir, the first capital of the kingdom of Magadha, a state that would eventually evolve into the Mauryan Empire, is not far from the temple and also a must visit. Its date of origin is unknown, although ceramics dating to about 1000 BC have been found in the city. This area was one of the favourite places for Gautama Buddha and the well known ‘Atanatiya’ conference was held atop the mountain called Vulture’s Peak.

Known for the Vishwa Shanti Stupa, located at a considerable height, one of the ‘adventurous’ aspects of the place is that you can take a ride in a cable car on a ropeway to ascend and descend. Rajgir is also famous for its hot water springs, locally known as Brahmakund, a sacred place for Hindus. The Vishwa Shanti Stupa, built in 1969, is one of the 80 peace pagodas in the world built to spread the message of peace and non-violence.

An ancient centre of higher learning – the Nalanda University – is also within travelling distance. The university founded by a King Sakraditya flourished between the fifth century CE and 1197 CE, supported by patronage from the Hindu Gupta rulers as well as Buddhist emperors.

An official guide at the place explained that the complex was built with red bricks and its ruins occupy an area of 14 hectares. At its peak, the university attracted scholars and students from as far away as Tibet, China, Greece and Persia and its architectural uniqueness lay in the way the spaces for learning, residence and meditation were clearly demarcated.

The university was ransacked and destroyed by an army under Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193. The great library of Nalanda University was so vast that it is reported to have burned for six months after the invaders set fire to it.

Opposite the ruins is a museum that houses various items of historical interest unearthed during the excavations and a little way ahead is the Xuan Zang Memorial Hall which has a beautiful tapestry covering two walls that provide an account of the traveller’s sojourn across India and other countries.

Xuan Zang primarily became famous for his 17-year overland journey to India, which is recorded in detail in the classic Chinese text ‘Great Tang Records on the Western Regions’. The place is immaculately maintained though of course the same cannot be said for any of the towns in Bihar where, for one thing, there is no traffic discipline and you are likely to be either mowed down by a truck or be rendered deaf with the drivers’ habit of sounding their horns at a high pitch and for long periods of time.

One of the other interesting sites is Pawapuri, a holy place for the Jain community located about 101 km from Patna, Bihar’s capital city. It is here that Mahavira attained nirvana or ‘moksha’ in around 5th century BCE. Mahavira, according to a temple priest there, was the last of the 24 ‘tirthankaras’ of the Jain faith and it was here that he was cremated.

There was a great rush to collect his ashes, with the result that so much soil was removed from the place of his cremation that a pond was created. Now, an exquisite marble temple in the middle of a lotus pond, the Jal Mandir, stands magnificently on a rectangular island.


What’s causing ‘brain fever’ in Indian state Bihar?

Source:- gulfnews.com

Muzaffarpur, India: The stench of urine, chlorine, vomit and death fill the main hospital in Muzaffarpur, the epicentre of a brain fever outbreak in India that has killed more than 100 children since June 1.

Doctors are not sure what the cause is, but one theory is that the culprit is a toxin found in lychees eaten by children of poor families who go to bed with empty stomachs.

One of the distraught parents crowding the chaotic corridors of the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) is Dilip Sahni, 25, a construction worker and father of three.

He brought his four-and-a-half-year-old daughter Muskan early in the morning, only 24 hours after she fell ill, to SKMCH. There almost 100 other children are being treated, many sharing beds.

“When her mother went in to wake her yesterday at 11 am, she was shocked to see her hands and legs tightened and her teeth sticking together,” Sahni told AFP.

“Her mother started screaming for help, and we rushed her to the Kejriwal hospital. At midnight the hospital doctors told us to take her to SKMCH,” he said.

“Early morning we shifted her here but her condition has been deteriorating,” Sahni said before breaking down.

Not long afterwards came the news that little Muskan had died.

The night before she had eaten bread, she did not have any lychees. It was 10 days ago she had the fruit.

– Dilip Sahni, father of Muskan

She was very likely just the latest victim in a health crisis blamed on Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in the dirt-poor, baking hot eastern state of Bihar.

The onset is lightning fast, its young victims quickly developing a high fever, seizures, and vomiting. All often, if treatment is not swift, leading to death.

A total of 128 have died so far.

“Obviously it is tough to make ends meet and raise three children. But I try my best. She was a healthy and playful child,” Sahni had said when he had brought his daughter in.

“The night before she had eaten bread, she did not have any lychees. It was 10 days ago she had the fruit,” he said.

‘Dying with worry’

As the hospital guards scream at parents not to crowd the wards, Raju Kumar, 35, a father of five, has just admitted his two-and-half-year-old son to the intensive care unit.

“I am dying with worry. So many dead bodies of little children I have seen standing here. I am just praying my son is saved somehow,” Kumar, a shopkeeper, told AFP.

“He fell unconscious suddenly the day before yesterday. We rushed him here immediately,” he says, holding his four-month-old baby in his arms.

Another being admitted is Krimta Kumari, a girl around nine years old sat on her father’s lap in a yellow T-shirt, visibly flushed with fever and unable to keep her eyes open or speak properly.

Just then, there is a power cut, leaving mothers in colourful saris and gold nose studs to try and cool their sick children in the sweltering hospital with hand-held fans.

Bihar, home to almost 100 million people, has also been hit by a heatwave, with temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) killing 184 people this summer – including 78 since Saturday.

Not only is Bihar poor, its healthcare system is in a dire state. For every 100,000 people there are fewer than two health workers, compared to the average for India of around nine, according to the Hindustan Times daily.

“We as doctors are trying our best to save the lives of as many children as possible,” said Srikant Prasad Bharti, an overworked junior paediatric doctor at the SKMCH.

“No one talks about how many sleepless nights we have been spending to look after the sick kids. No one is talking about the children who have been cured. It is easy to blame hospitals and doctors,” he complained.


This is not the first outbreak of AES in Bihar. But fatalities – until this year – had fallen sharply since 2014, when 355 children died. There were just 33 deaths last year, the Hindustan Times reported.

“This is happening because the children come from very poor socio-economic backgrounds. The parents couldn’t care less whether their children have taken their meals or not,” Bharti says.

“The children wander around in heat and eat rotten or unripe lychee and go to bed on empty stomachs. This leads to a sudden drop in blood sugar levels and leads to seizures and convulsions.”

Frequently asked questions

What is encephalitis?

Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain, caused by any one of a number of viruses.

Early symptoms can be similar to those of flu, with patients suffering from high temperatures or headaches. But symptoms can worsen within hours, and can include serious complications like seizures, paralysis and coma.

In Bihar, children were typically taken to hospital with fevers.

How could lychees cause sickness?

Researchers who conduced a study of 390 children who fell sick in 2014 in Muzaffarpur said that lychees contained hypoglycin A, an amino acid that can disrupt metabolism, lowering blood sugar levels. That can trigger hypoglycaemia, and in extreme cases, death.

The study by India’s National Centre for Disease Control and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, added that when the brain lacks glucose, it turns to other sources of energy, which are rapidly depleted, eventually pushing people into coma.

“The synergistic combination of (lychee) consumption, a missed evening meal, and other potential factors such as poor nutritional status, eating a greater number of litchis, and as yet unidentified genetic differences might be needed to produce this illness,” the researchers said in their study, which was published in the Lancet in 2017.

Retired virologist T. Jacob John also raised the possibility that encephalitis cases in Muzaffarpur could be associated with lychees in a 2014 study published by Indian science journal Current Science. Muzaffarpur is a major hub for growing lychees, which ripen at this time of year.


EXCLUSIVE: Will put heart, soul into fighting Bihar encephalitis outbreak, says Health Minister Harsh Vardhan

Source:-indiatoday.in

In an exclusive interview with Rajdeep Sardesai, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan admitted that a lot needs to be done to combat the encephalitis outbreak in Bihar. He, however, assured that he is personally monitoring the situation in the state even as the death toll from encephalitis deaths reached 128 in Muzaffarpur.

As the death toll in the encephalitis outbreak in Bihar continues to rise, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan admitted that many improvements need to be made to India’s health system.

In an exclusive interview with Rajdeep Sardesai, Harsh Vardhan said, “There is certainly a need for a lot of improvement in the health system of the country. In the past five years, we have been trying to do our best to systematically strengthen the system in the country but I think there is a lot to be done.”

The death toll due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) rose to 128 in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district on Wednesday. Amid growing criticism over governmental inaction, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had issued directions for immediately sending a high-level team to Muzaffarpur to set up a state-of-the-art multi-disciplinary research centre in the wake of these deaths.

Harsh Vardhan also said five virological labs will be set up in different districts in the state. The districts can be decided in consultation with the state government and can be funded through the National Health Mission (NHM), he said.

In one of the decisions taken during his visit, Vardhan instructed to set up a 100-bed paediatric ICU at SKMCH. Also, in the adjoining districts, 10-bed paediatric ICUs will be set up with support from the Centre, so that such cases can be given better and exclusive treatment and there is no unnecessary load on the facilities available at Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) in Muzaffarpur.

He had made similar suggestions when the Narendra Modi government first came to power in 2014.

When asked about why the Modi government failed to deliver on its 2014 promises, the health minister give a list of work that was in progress. “Let me tell you, super speciality building in the college will be ready by year-end. It will be dedicated to people of Muzaffarpur and those from adjoining districts. I myself visited the site this weekend. As far as the pediatric ICU is concerned, I had suggested there should be exclusive pediatric ICU separate from the main hospital setup but they created ICU within the hospital.”

WATCH FULL INTERVIEW WITH DR HARSH VARDHAN HERE:

Harsh Vardhan said his 2014 suggestions were not fully implemented as he was health minister for only four-five months then. The Union minister agreed things need to be improved further, “We need to ensure 100 per cent immunisation of children, we are proactively bringing many children into the net of immunisation but India being a large country we need to go ahead at a fast manner. You have seen the initial impact of Ayushmann Bharat. We have the ambitious plan to build 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres at primary level, out of which 18,000 have been created.”

However, Harsh Vardhan admitted that expenditure on health in India needs to increase. “There is an ambitious plan to increase the health budget to 2.5 per cent (from the current 1.5 per cent) of the total Union budget. Personally, as a doctor, I wish I could get much more,” said Harsh Vardhan.

The spread of encephalitis in Bihar has been attributed to malnutrition. Unripe litchi fruit contains a high concentration of the toxin called MCPG which triggers hypoglycemia if consumed by a child with a malnourished body. Therein lies the answer to the question: why only the poorest of the poor and mostly those living in Muzaffarpur and adjoining districts are suffering from the disease.

Harsh Vardhan said that the Modi government has diagnosed the problems in the system and hopes to eradicate them by 2022. “When we took over in 2014, under the leadership of PM Modi we tried to diagnose each and every problem in the country. A lot has been done and a lot needs to be done and we are very hopeful that in the new India that we are talking about in 2022, you will see a lot of perceptible and measurable changes in the country,” said Harsh Vardhan.

However, the minister was not able to give a clear answer on whether the NDA government in Bihar or CM Nitish Kumar should be held accountable for the encephalitis outbreak. “You have to appreciate that this disease has not been eradicated anywhere in the world. It is endemic to this part of the country. This is not happening only here,” he said.

When questioned on how the UP government had managed to control the encephalitis outbreak in the state but Bihar had failed, Harsh Vardhan said that he was doing his best to improve the situation and was monitoring it closely. “I can only tell you that we are trying to do our best. I have sent one of my joint secretaries there [to Muzaffarpur], have sent all possible help — paediatricians, virologists, epidemiologists. From our side, we have ensured that whatever gap exists is filled. I was only four-five days old in this ministry, but I sent a high-powered team there. Every day I am monitoring things on an hourly basis and the teams are reporting to me directly.”

Finally, when asked if he could give a guarantee that such a grim scenario would not be seen in Bihar next year, Harsh Vardhan said, “I can only give you one guarantee that Dr Harsh Vardhan will personally monitor the implementation of all the suggestions that he gave in 2019. I will do my best and I will put my heart and soul into it.”

BCG SEAsia head Vaishali Rastogi honoured with IIMA alumni award

Source:- consultancy.asia

The Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad has honoured six of its young alumni for 2019, including Vaishali Rastogi, head of BCG for Southeast Asia

Established in 1961 via the prompting of renowned Indian independence leader and the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA – one in network of twenty Indian Institutes of Management) is the nation’s leading provider of MBA programmes, ranked 7th last year in the Asia Pacific on the QS Global University charts.

A previous analysis from Livemint showed that by far away IIMA alumni made up the highest proportion of MBA-holding CEOs at BSE 500 companies, among them; Rajesh Gopinathan, the CEO and managing director of Indian-based global IT giant Tata Consultancy Services, who in 2014 was awarded by the IIMA with an inaugural Young Alumni Achiever’s Award. Joining him on that list; Vaishali Rastogi, head of BCG for Southeast Asia.

A 1997 IIMA master’s degree graduate, Rastogi has been named among a group of six as recipients of the 2019 Young Alumni Achiever’s Award, with the awards, now into their fifth edition, being open to alumni under the age of 45. Rastogi was joined in the corporate category by Warburg Pincus Managing Director Viraj Sawhney, and Sumit Jalan, Managing Director for Credit Suisse in India.

“It is an award that recognises excellence, but more than anything else, it is actually saying something about the motivation that drives these individuals,” commented IIMA Director Errol D’souza. “It is a journey from which everyone can learn. This sort of drive must have been inherent in them but we hope that some would have emerged at the institute and they continue to achieve more in the fields they are in.”

Joining Boston Consulting Group’s Mumbai office in 1997 (which is today headed by fellow IIMA graduate Alpesh Shah) as one of the strategy and management firm’s first cohort of consultants in the country, Rastogi has since established an impressive leadership resume, crossing to BCG’s Singapore office in 2000 and elected as the firm’s first female partner of Indian descent globally.

Since then, Rastogi has gone on to hold numerous leadership positions for BCG in the region, including as the current Asia-Pacific Marketing, Sales & Pricing practice leader and head of the firm’s Center for Customer Insight for Southeast Asia, ultimately rising to senior partner and head of BCG’s Southeast Asian practice – where she reports to recently elected Asia-Pacific chairman Neeraj Aggarwal, an IIMA graduate and 2016 Young Alumni Achiever’s awardee.

“Today I manage the whole of Southeast Asia,” said Rastogi on receiving her award. “I hope that it inspires the future leaders from IIMA to reach for the stars. I hope my journey will inspire women as well. I like mentoring women and see them grow… There is no ceiling except the one that you define in your own mind. If you can get over that, you can achieve whatever you want.”

Bihar: Death toll in AES outbreak climbs to 163; Muzaffarpur, Vaishali worst-hit districts

Source:-zeenews.india.com

The death toll in Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) outbreak in Bihar climbed to 163 lives on Friday, leaving the state in despair. 

Muzaffarpur: The death toll in Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) outbreak in Bihar climbed to 163 lives on Friday, leaving the state in despair. 

Muzaffarpur was the worst-affected district with 126 fatalities. Two more children, admitted to the district’s Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) died, earlier on Friday. 

In Vaishali’s Lalganj area, another child lost the battle to the viral disease, taking the death toll to 18. At least nine children with AES symptoms are admitted to the district’s Sadar Hospital and are receiving treatment in the special ward.

Another six children lost their lives in Begusarai district, five in Samastipur, two each in Motihari, Patna and Bettiah and one each in Bhagalpur and Gopalganj.

Taking cognizance of the alarming health situation prevailing in the state, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai announced that all 17 BJP MPs in Bihar will build a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in their districts. He took responsibility to get PICU constructed in Samastipur district. On June 19, the MoS issued Rs 25 lakh from Members of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) fund for the construction of the PICUs. 

On Tuesday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar visited Muzaffarpur and held a meeting with officials to review the situation, but refused to answer any questions on the health crisis.

The state health department deputed additional medical officers, child specialists and nurses from other districts to Muzaffarpur to help the health officials in the district.

AES is a viral disease which causes mild flu-like symptoms such as high fever, convulsions, and headache

Exit heatwave, get ready for rains

Source: telegraphindia.com

Jharkhand is likely to experience showers from Thursday with the monsoon expected to make its grand entry in the state sometime over the weekend, the weather office has indicated.

Ranchi Meteorological Centre officials said conditions for the advancement of the southwest monsoon had become favourable ever since the severe cyclonic storm Vayu had waned. This meant that over the next three to four days the monsoon would move into parts of Andhra Pradesh and remaining parts of Tamil Nadu, some more areas of Bay of Bengal, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim and Odisha.

“We expect monsoon to arrive in Jharkhand around June 22. If that happens monsoon would have a delayed its arrival this time in Jharkhand by 12 days,” explained S.D. Kotal, director of Ranchi Meteorological Centre, adding that as on Tuesday, the northern limit of monsoon (NLM) was passing through Mysore, Salem, Cuddalore, Alipurduar and Gangtok.

Kotal said the monsoon was expected to enter Jharkhand from somewhere between Sahebganj and Pakur and move towards central, southern and later north western parts of the state.

He also indicated that premonsoon showers would start over Jharkhand in the next 48 hours (June 20 onwards).

“Light rain and thunderstorms are likely at isolated places in the districts of western and southern Jharkhand in the next two days. After that both cloud and rainfall coverage area was expected to increase,” he explained.

The Ranchi Met office withdrew its heatwave alert on Tuesday, bringing to an end a weeklong spell of extreme discomfort that forced residents to stay indoors in the afternoons and prompted schools to extend summer vacations for primary students.

Weathermen said a trough at mean sea level was running from northeast Uttar Pradesh to north Bay of Bengal across Bihar, Jharkhand and Gangetic Bengal. A low pressure area was also likely to develop over north Bay of Bengal during the next three to four days.

On Tuesday, Capital Ranchi and its surrounding areas recorded a maximum temperature of around 37°C against Monday’s 37.3°C.

Palamau headquarters Daltonganj recorded around 40°C, three notches above normal. On Monday, Daltonganj had logged 41.4 °C. Jamshedpur, Chaibasa in West Singhbhum, Seraikela and several other places in the Kolhan region of southern Jharkhand recorded highs between 41° and 42°C, four notches above normal.

Met statistics revealed that several isolated places across Jharkhand, including Daltonganj and Garhwa, witnessed rain and thunder during the past 24 hours. Heatwave conditions also prevailed in isolated places in central and southern Jharkhand.

Jharkhand’s Land Bank: Injustice to Adivasis Continues

Source: newsclick.in

New Delhi: It was a sunny afternoon, with severe heatwave prevailing in the country. Perka village at Murhu development block in Khunti district of Jharkhand was deserted. The residents – who are mostly Munda Adivasis (tribes) with a population of 550 – were staying indoors to protect themselves from the heatwave. Few of them were seen resting on bare cots in a shaded place.

Majority of them did not know that the State Government has registered three plots of the village’s forest which cover approximately 1,214 acres, with the Land Bank (prepared by the state’s Department of Revenue and Land Reform). It is a part of the 21 lakh acres of ‘ghair mazurwa’ (uncultivated and common) land being acquired for a Land Bank across the state to woo industries. Ownership of the community on such lands (Jamabandi title) have been cancelled. The government claims that it is a big leap forward in development as it would help in facilitating land allocation to industrial units.

Interestingly, in 1932, the villagers were given the forest land for their use. This has been officially recorded in the land records in the Khatiyan Part – II. As per the provisions of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, the government authorities should have recognised the rights of the villagers on the village’s forest.

“I have land record papers of 1932, where we have been given the right to use the forest land. How can the government take away our forest land and enlist it in the Land Bank without the consent of our Gram Sabha (village council)?” asked Petrus Tiru, 55, expressing his shock over the development.

He was interrupted by a 50-year-old Santosh Soy who said, “It has been 20 years since we have been protecting our forests. We keep a watch round the clock to ensure that no one cuts trees. We also discuss how to protect and minimise the use of forests in our weekly Gram Sabha meetings.”

The Land Bank has been created with an aim to attract investments in the state by allocating land to corporates for establishing their industries. While launching ‘Momentum Jharkhand’ — an investment promotion campaign of his state — in Bengaluru on July 27, 2016, Chief Minister Raghubar Das had said, “Land acquisition has never been a challenge for us because we have a Land bank of 1,75,000 acres readily available for different industries to set up their businesses. Farmers are ready to give us land as we are paying a handsome price. We currently hold 40% of India’s natural mineral wealth and we are on the way to becoming the power hub of the country by 2019.”

However, the tribals allege foul play. They believe that the government is using a trick to grab their forest, community and religious land to hand over to corporations who exploit these resources in the name of development projects to make a profit.

Citing an example to strengthen this allegation, Gladson Dungdung – a Ranchi-based tribal rights activist and author – told NewsClick, “The state government acquired 42 acres of uncultivated land at Dambuli village in West Singhbhum district’s Manoharpur block and gave it to Vedanta. Now, the company is attempting to acquire the private land of Adivasis against their consent. They don’t have a way to reach the land they cultivate on.”

Why does the state government need a Land Bank after all?

Jharkhand has a long history of Adivasis’ struggle. The traditional dwellers have been fighting to protect their identity, autonomy, culture, languages, land, territory and natural resources for more than 300 years. The creation of Jharkhand – which was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on November 15, 2000 – as a new state in the political map of India, was one of the results of the struggle.

“After the formation of the state, the Adivasi struggle has been concentrated on anti-displacement movement. As many as 74 MoUs (memorandum of understanding) were signed by the successive governments one after another within a decade. Fortunately, none of the mega project was materialised. The Adivasis forced the Arcelor Mittal, Jindal Group and Tata Steel Ltd. to desert the proposed land for their dream steel projects,” said Dungdung.

Learning from the past, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government – which took over in 2014 – changed the land acquisition strategy. On December 31, 2014, the government through its Department of Revenue and Land Reform issued a circular to deputy commissioners of all the 24 districts, asking them to conduct a survey and prepare data of all kinds of land, except for private land, for the Land Bank. After the data was prepared, the department created a new website, where 2,097,003.81 acres of land was shown as government land in the Land Bank.

The website was launched on January, 5, 2016, by the Chief Minister. It was followed by the signing of 210 new MoUs with the corporate houses during the ‘Global Investors Summit’ held at Khelgaon, Ranchi on February 16, 2017.

“Now, the government has been attempting to acquire the common land, sacred groves and forest land without (free, prior and informed) consent of the communities. What is disturbing us is the fact that several plots of land that have been enlisted in the Land Bank, declaring them uncultivated or owned by the government, actually belonged to Gram Sabhas. Under the tag of the government land, three categories of land were acquired for the Land Bank – (a) common lands such playgrounds, village paths, land meant for grazing of animals; (b) sacred groves (Sarna, Deshavali and Jaherthan); (c) forest land, whose entitlements were supposed to be given to the Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers. In a nutshell, the government is ensuring corporates’ entry into tribals’ villages through the Land Bank,” he alleged.

The most surprising aspect of the Land Bank – he said – is that out of 2,097,003.81 acres of land registered in the Land Bank, 1,016,680.48 acres (which is 48.4% of the total land registered in the Land Bank) is forest land. “If we analyse the data of Land Bank at the district level, Chatra district tops the list with 92.3% of the forest land enlisted in the Land Bank. With 90.8%, Bokaro secures second place. Giridih stands third, with 72.8% of forest land listed in the Land Bank. However, in terms of area of the forest land, Giridih gets the first place with 329,539.12 acres of forest land out of the total 452,074.26 acres of land of the Land Bank. Simdega is at second position with 244,434.50 acres out of 358,450.52 acres and Gumla is at third place with 87,082.74 acres of forest land of 181,222.78 acres of land of the Land Bank,” Dungdung claimed.

Declaring it a “gross violation” of sections 4(1) of the Forest Rights Act 2006, which recognises and vests forest rights on Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers on forest land, Dungdung concluded, “The Act categorically mentions in the section 4(1) that no member of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dwellers shall be evicted or removed from forest land under his occupation till the recognition and verification procedure is complete. In fact, the forest rights are denied to the community by enlisting the forest land and community forests in the Land Bank, which also violates the Provisions of Panchayat (Extension) in Scheduled Area Act (PESA) 1996 that recognises the self-determination of the Adivasis and empowers the Gram Sabha to manage the natural resources. This is also a violation of the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Odisha Mining Corporation Vs Ministry of Forest and Environment and others (c) No. 180 of 2011, which clearly states that the Gram Sabha is the owner of the natural resources; therefore, the common land, sacred groves and forest and forest land of the villages cannot be acquired without the consent of the Gram Sabhas.”