July 15, 2019 - meraapnabihar

MORE FLOODING RAINS TO LASH ARARIA, KISHANGANJ, BHAGALPUR, BEGUSARAI, SIWAN AND GAYA

Source: skymetweather.com

Moderate to heavy rains with one or two very heavy spells of Monsoon rains have been lashing the state of Bihar since the last two to three days. These rains have triggered some intense flooding in many districts of the state. The adjoining parts of Nepal too have been reeling under flooding rains for the last many days now. Also, these have resulted in swelling of many rivers.

Places right from Pashchim Champaran to Sitamarhi, including Araria, Kishanganj, Arwal, Aurangabad, Banka, Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Bhojpur, Buxar, Darbhanga, Gaya, Gopalganj, Jamui, Jehanabad, Kaimur (Bhabua), Katihar, Khagaria, and Siwan are experiencing flooding rains at present. Moreover, no relief is expected from such conditions for at least next two to three days. In fact, flooding may worsen in some areas due to continuous heavy downpour.

For the next 48 hours, we expect moderate to heavy with a few very heavy spells of rain and thundershower activities in many parts of Bihar. Thereafter, rains will slightly taper over the region. This is because, the present Trough will start shifting south, thus initiating good rains over the southern districts of Bihar. By this time, rains will reduce in other districts of the state, thus leading to a marginal relief from the flood-like situation.

Skymet has been continuously tracking the weather activities going on over and across the state and thus has been giving weather alerts on a constant basis in order to help the residents, escape this danger. And as more heavy rains are expected to lash the state, localitesare advised to take due precautions.

Alcohol-abused ‘Vidhwa Gaon’ in Ranchi tries to shed the infamous tag

Source: newindianexpress.com

RANCHI: Neera Tigga, in her mid-30s, is one of the many widows living in Brambe village, Ranchi, now popular as ‘Vidhwa Gaon’. In the 600 households in the village, under Mandar Block, there are more than 250 widows. All these women have lost their husbands to alcoholism.

Recently, students of the Central University of Jharkhand (CUJ), located adjacent to the village, while conducting a survey discovered that the village had a significant number of widows.

Later, they released the findings on social media and soon the village gained infamy as “Vidhwa Gaon”.

Officials blamed a weekly market for the deaths. Money earned by the men from the market is spent on drinking leading to the deaths.

“My husband Patric Tigga died two years ago after falling ill. Despite the family’s objections, he continued drinking and ultimately died,” said Neera Tigga, who now works as a daily wage labourer.

Saba Tigga’s story, too, is similar. Her husband, Michael, in his 40s, died after falling into a well. He was inebriated and was sitting on the edge of the well and fell into it. Rajmuni Mahli’s husband Mukesh died of a damaged liver because of excessive alcohol intake.

Bishun Devi’s husband died in an accident while returning home intoxicated.

“Now, I work as a daily wage labourer to earn for my three daughters and two sons,” said Bishun Devi.

Officials blamed the weekly local market, held three days a week.

“Brambe is a tribal-dominated village where they consume ‘haria’. People earn extra money from the market and it is spent on alcohol,” said Mandar Block Development Officer Vishnu Deo Kacchap. The country made liquor is also available in the market, which adds to the problem, he said. According to Kacchap, awareness is the only solution to the problem.

“The administration can only facilitate, but the initiative has to come from the villagers. We organised awareness campaigns but more such campaigns are needed and active participation of the villagers is essential,” said the BDO.

Villagers agreed that extra money earned from the market is one of the main reasons behind the deaths. They, however, said that they are unhappy with the new name given to the village.

“It’s upsetting when people call our village ‘Vidhwa Gaon’. We have initiated awareness campaigns and have succeeded in reducing the number of such deaths,” said Mukhia (village chief) Jaiwant Tigga.

The younger generation is now getting high using the cough syrup Corex and marijuana. Regular campaigns against the two are being conducted in the village, he added.

“People involved in selling liquor are being warned or strict action will be taken against them,” said the Mukhia.

“People here consume country liquor made out of Mahua. Urea is used to make it, which is injurious to health,” said Jaiwant. Due to the regular consumption of this liquor, most die early.

The widows are being now being rehabilitated by the Gram Panchayat by providing employment in cattle and goat farming.

Kerala, Bihar science scores skyrocket

Source: telegraphindia.com

lass XII science-stream results from the Kerala and Bihar boards have shown a far higher rise in scoring rates this year compared with any other board.

Critics have alleged these boards deliberately awarded inflated marks to help their students compete with their peers from elsewhere during college admissions. A spokesperson for the Bihar board, contacted by The Telegraph, denied the charge.

The top 20 percentile score — above which 20 per cent candidates have scored —- among general candidates has increased by 18 per cent from last year for science students of the Bihar School Examination Board.

It’s risen 10 per cent among science students of Kerala’s Board of Vocational Higher Secondary Education. Compared with the 2017 scores, the figure has risen 18.5 per cent in Kerala. (See chart)

However, the absolute top 20 percentile scores among the Kerala and Bihar students remain on the low side compared with those from the CBSE or Andhra board or those taking the ICSE.

But for most other boards, the top 20 percentile score has remained more or less the same as last year, according to the Joint Seat Allocation Authority.

The Authority manages admissions to graduate engineering courses in the IITs, NITs and other centrally funded technical institutions. School boards provide it with their top 20 percentile scores so it can decide the eligibility of candidates who have cracked the JEE Advanced.

General category candidates need to score over 75 per cent in their board exams or make it to the top 20 percentile from their category within their school board to be eligible for admission to these engineering courses.

An IIT Bombay teacher said the board-wise top 20 percentile data indicated that the Bihar and Kerala boards had either awarded marks liberally from the outset or resorted to “moderation”.

“This suggests a mismatch between what the students have learnt and the marks they received,” he said.

“Moderation” refers to the practice of awarding extra marks in a subject across the board, barring the very high scorers. Ostensibly a way of making up for difficult questions or a general fall in performance, it is often resorted to by school boards to artificially inflate their students’ marks, critics say.

The CBSE has been carrying out moderation in several subjects every year. The human resource development ministry had written to all the school boards in 2017 to stop the practice from 2018.

Bihar board spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Dwivedi said the results had improved because of several key initiatives adopted by board chairman Anand Kishore over the past two years. He denied any moderation by the board.

“The board focused on step-wise marking (awarding scores even for partial answers) and conducted an orientation programme. The number of objective-type questions is now 50 per cent of the total marks in all science subjects,” he said.

“Such questions accounted for 40 per cent marks in several science subjects till two years ago. Besides, more alternative questions were set. As a result, the scores improved.”

The topper from the science stream in Bihar secured 87 per cent marks last year, while this year’s topper secured 94 per cent.

A Delhi University official handing admissions said the boards appeared to be competing with each other in awarding high marks. The cut-off for admission to most colleges remains very high every year.

Green hope for Ranchi’s ‘dead river’

Source: telegraphindia.com

The state forest department on Sunday started planting trees along the banks of the Harmu rivulet in the capital to try and rejuvenate the water body that has been reduced to a dirty drain.

A part of the month-long Van Mahotsav-cum-Nadi Mahotsav inaugurated by chief minister Raghubar Das on July 7 near Jumar river, the rescue of Harmu rivulet was a stiff challenge, said people present at the site, as it was clogged by wastes from houses around it.

“The river is dead and looks even worse than a drain,” said Justice S.N. Pathak of Jharkhand High Court who was the chief guest on the occasion. He added that “oxygen or Coramine (the popular former trade name of nikethamide, a stimulant which mainly affects the respiratory cycle) can’t bring the dead back to life”, but also appreciated the forest department’s efforts to green the area. “Trees give us oxygen to survive,” the judge said.

State’s principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) Sanjay Kumar, who was present with over a 100 others comprising forest officials, NCC cadets and citizens, said he hoped that planting saplings would help improve the condition of the rivulet and its surroundings.

“About 6,000 saplings will be planted along a 2km stretch by the side of Harmu rivulet within the capital,” Ranchi divisional forest officer (DFO) Saba Alam Ansari said. “We will plant trees wherever space is available,” he said without going into the open secret of encroachment in the area. He added that as the area was beside a road in the city, they were planning on flowering trees such as gulmohar, peltophorum (copperpod or yellow flame tree) and night jasmine, saplings of which would be protected by cattle-guard and wire fencing.

“As per this year’s plan, 45,000 saplings will be planted alongside the 15km stretch beside the Subernarekha river and 15,000 saplings alongside the 5km stretch beside Jumar river,” Ansari added.

PCCF Kumar had earlier told the media that 8.26 lakh saplings would be planted on a total of 274km of banks along 44 rivers across the state during the Vanmahotsav-cum-Nadi Mahotsav that began on July 7 and will continue till August 6. The department had planted about 9 lakh saplings along the banks of 24 rivers in as many districts of Jharkhand last year of which about 80 per cent survived, he had added.

Scores of Harmu residents turned up at the planting event. “Harmu rivulet may be in bad shape but trees are the need of the hour and I will do my bit,” said Md Gafoor who stays nearby. “I’ll take a few saplings from the forest department to plant on the small plot that I own.”

Rains in North Bengal, Bihar continue to wreak havoc

Source: timesnownews.com

Kolkata/Patna: Incessant rains in North Bengal and Bihar continue to wreak havoc with several areas in both the states reported to be inundated. However, what’s more worrying is the fact that the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a warning of “heavy to very heavy” rainfall in both the states in the next couple of days.

While sub-Himalayan districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar and Alipurduar in West Bengal are bearing the brunt of these continuous rains, people living near the banks of Koshi, Gandak, Budhi Gandak, Ganga and Bagmati in Bihar have started to flee from their homes.

According to the IMD, Northern Bihar received a record rainfall during the last 24 hours with East Champaran reporting 214.92 mm rain, Sitamarhi 154.55 mm and Muzaffarpur 125.15 mm. Whereas in West Bengal, Alipurduars recorded 150 mm rainfall, followed by Coochbehar at 110 mm, Siliguri at 105 mm, Kalimpong 60 mm and Darjeeling at 30 mm in the same period.

In West Bengal, a 40-year-old man Bimal Sil has reportedly died after slipping into an open gutter while walking through a flooded street in Jalpaiguri district. As per the state weatherman, Jalpaiguri, Malda, North Dinajpur, and South Dinajpur will receive heavy rain in the next couple of days.

Meanwhile in Bihar, given the rising level of water in rivers – all engineers in the north Bihar district have been directed to be ready with the necessary equipment and boulders to face any situation and protect the embankments – reported IANS.

In 2008, lakhs of people were rendered homeless after Kosi river breached embankments and caused one of the worst floods in Bihar in the state’s history.

As for the national capital, private weather forecasting agency has said that Delhi will receive below-normal rainfall this year. “The national capital may receive less than normal rainfall this year. The area may get light showers on July 15 and 16. Monsoon is likely to remain weak over Delhi, Punjab and Haryana,” vice president of Skymet Weather Mahesh Palwat said.

Guru Purnima 2019: Know the Date, Pooja Timings and Significance

Source: oneindia.com

New Delhi, July 14: Guru Purnima 2019, also known as Vyasa Purnima, is celebrated on full moon day or Purnima of the Shukla Paksh or the waxing moon in the Ashadha month of the Hindu calendar.

As the name denotes, the day is dedicated to gurus or teachers. On Guru Purnima, the students worship their gurus or teachers, by offering puja and paying respect to them.

Guru Purnima commemorates the birth anniversary of Ved Vyasa, the author and a character in the epic Mahabharata. The day is also believed to be the day when Gautam Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh.

On this auspicious day, students pay respect to their favourite gurus by sending them wishes, messages and quotes.

Guru Purnima 2019:

Date The word ‘Guru’ is derived from Sanskrit and means ‘remover of darkness’. The festival this year falls on July 16.

Guru Purnima 2019 Tithi:

The Guru Purnima Tithi will begin at 01:48 am on Tuesday, July 16, and will end at 03:07 am on July 17. Interestingly, July 17 will also the mark the partial Lunar Eclipse 2019 or Chandra Grahan 2019 in India.

History of Guru Purnima 2019

Buddhists celebrate Guru Purnima in honour of Lord Buddha, who gave his first sermon on this day. After five weeks of achieving enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, Buddha went from Bodhgaya to Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh where he gave the sermon on the full moon day.

Poverty index: how Jharkhand reduced its poor the fastest

Source: indianexpress.com

LAST WEEK, the UN Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative released the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report for 2019, which found that Jharkhand has made the fastest improvement among Indian states in reducing poverty (The Indian Express, July 13). Across India, the number of people living in multidimensional poverty has gone down from 690.55 million in 2005-06 to 369.55 million in 2015-16 — a reduction of 271 million people in a decade.

Jharkhand reduced the incidence of multidimensional poverty from 74.9 per cent to 46.5 per cent between 2005-06 and 2015-16. The accompanying graph shows how its index, second only to Bihar’s in 2005-06, has shown the steepest decline among the poorest states. Jharkhand, however, remains one of the poorest states in the country. Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh together accounted for 196 million MPI poor people — more than half of all multidimensionally poor in India.

The global MPI factors in a person’s deprivations across 10 indicators in health, education, and standard of living — nutrition, child mortality, years of schooling, school attendance; access to cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water; electricity and housing; and assets. For India, the MPI has reduced from 0.283 to 0.123 in a decade. Of 10 selected countries, India and Cambodia reduced their MPI values the fastest. While the proportion of the population living in multidimensional poverty in India has halved from 55.1 per cent to 27.9 per cent in a decade, the intensity of deprivation has fallen less sharply, from 51.1 per cent to 43.9 per cent, the report said.

UPSC: Pattern change over the years

Source: telanganatoday.com

Sriram, an aspirant for the Civil Services who successfully qualified for selection to the Indian Police Service (IPS) by securing the 150th rank in the merit list, was shocked when he did not find his number in the list of qualified aspirants at the prelims in the following year. After having prepared for the examination for three years he had cleared all the hurdles and secured a position in the IPS. He had appeared at the examination again to improve his rank and join the Indian Administrative Services (IAS). However, he could not clear even the first hurdle.

There are many other aspirants who share the same feelings. The Civil Services examination is conducted in three stages i.e. Preliminary, Main and Interview. The Preliminary examination, which is the first stage, is an objective type paper with multiple choice questions.

Aspirants often underestimate the importance of the Preliminary, and qualifying in it is taken for granted. However, the sheer magnitude of the competition where only 11,000 candidates qualify out of the five lakh who appear indicates the nature of the Preliminary. Also with negative marking in place the difference between success and failure could be a mere 0.33 per cent.

The Preliminary was introduced to `keep non-serious aspirants out and reduce the number of aspirants to a manageable number’ on the recommendations of the Kothari Committee in 1979. When it was introduced, it comprised an optional paper for 300 marks and a General Studies paper for 150 marks. The Satish Chandra Committee of 1989, appointed to review the examination, upheld the pattern but recommended negative marking to reduce the ‘chance element’ negative marking was introduced in 2007. The Alagh Committee of 2000, suggested a revised format for the Preliminary with an optional paper for 300 marks and a CSAT paper for 200 marks. The Second Administrative Reforms committee recommended common papers at the Preliminary. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) appointed the Khanna Committee in 2009, which recommended a revised format of the Preliminary with two papers i.e. CSAT and General Studies Paper. This was implemented from 2011. This pattern of equal weightage to aptitude and general studies gave an unfair advantage to urban students and there were wide spread protests all over India mainly from the Hindi speaking areas.

The government responded to the protests by making the Aptitude paper which had questions on quantitative aptitude and English comprehension as a qualifying paper. Aspirants who had suffered due to the CSAT model were compensated by increasing the age limit and the number of attempts by two years. Also, all aspirants of the year 2011 were given another attempt.

With all these changes, the Preliminary today has two papers i.e. the General Studies paper with 100 questions from various areas and the aptitude paper with 80 questions. While an aspirant has to score minimum qualifying mark of 67/200 in the aptitude paper, his/her success is determined by the marks scored in the General Studies paper.

It is this change that has resulted in a lack of `cause’ and `effect’ relationship. The UPSC has the unenviable task of reducing the number of aspirants out of the marks scored in the General Studies paper which has only 100 questions. Towards this aim it has been making the questions as unpredictable as possible. Such an uncertain exam is grossly unfair and dampens the spirit of the aspirant.

The Preliminary has become a jealous gatekeeper and many prospective aspirants are likely to move away from the examination. Such an exam in the long run is going to affect the quality of administration. Students have been protesting in Delhi for the last five years and demanding compensation in the form of at least an extra attempt. One of the demands has been to change the format of preliminary to reduce the uncertainty.

From 1979 to 2010, there were no protests as the exam had a cause and effect relationship. If you work hard and you were sure you would pass the examination – The uncertainty began with the changes and has reached a peak after 2015.

The UPSC has realised that it is time to make changes. It is reported that the vision document released by UPSC has recommended to the government that the CSAT paper should be deleted from the scheme of examination.

While it is not known whether an alternative paper has been recommended, it would be ideal if another paper on General Studies is introduced with diverse areas and predictability with reference to the number of questions from each area.

This paper could also have 100 questions and could replace CSAT. This will lead to the much needed uncertainty reduction and encourage qualified and meritorious youth to choose a career in the Civil Services, instead of opting for the private sector.

Abki baar 65 paar: Jharkhand CM on forthcoming assembly elections

Source: indiatoday.in

Raghubar Das, who is on the verge of becoming the first chief minister to complete a five-year term in once politically-volatile Jharkhand, has set the BJP’s target for the assembly polls due later this year – “Abki baar 65 paar”.

In the 2014 assembly elections, the BJP had won 42 of the 81 seats. The BJP and its allies clinched 12 of the 14 seats in this year’s Lok Sabha elections.

“Abki baar painsath (65) paar (This time we will cross 65 seats). There is not an iota of doubt in people giving an absolute mandate to us. We will win by a thumping majority as the message of development under the leadership of Prime Minister Narenda Modi has percolated down to the masses,” Jharkhand Chief Minister Das told PTI in an interview.

“Due to the solid foundation of development works, a BJP worker remains ever ready for elections. Whether in Jharkhand or other parts in the country, people have seen and accepted the politics of development under Prime Minister Modi,” he said.

Claiming that the opposition ‘mahagathbandhan’ will come a cropper in the ensuing polls, Das said people of the state including the exploited, the downtrodden, the poor and the Dalits have seen development work and have “outrightly rejected the ‘power-hungry’ coalition formed with selfish ulterior motives”.

The ‘mahagathbandhan’ managed to bag just two Lok Sabha seats this year — JMM and Congress bagging one seat each — while the rest of the alliance Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) failed to win any.

“Jharkhand citizens have shown the mirror to ‘mahagathbandhan’ in the Lok Sabha elections. They were stumped by NDA’s politics of development. This time too they will be given a befitting reply,” Das said.

He is set to become the first ever chief minister of Jharkhand to complete a full-term after its bifurcation from Bihar on November 15, 2000.

“I have complete faith that the double engine government (at the Centre and state) has taken people to the path of development. Now development is reaching to villagers in far-flung areas. Basic necessities like electricity and water have reached inaccessible areas. Youths are getting employment,” he claimed.

Each sector whether infrastructure, agriculture, women empowerment or skill development among the youth, is progressing fast, he said.

Elaborating on the welfare schemes, Das said his government has launched the ‘Mukhyamantri Sukanya Yojna’ under which girls from 26 lakh poor families will be benefited.

He said girls belonging to families whose annual income is up to Rs 72,000 will benefit from the scheme six times since birth till they attain the age of 18.

Likewise he said, there are several schemes benefiting hundreds of the poor in the state, adding his government has coined a slogan for girls: “Pehle padhai, fir vidai” (Education first, marriage later).

“For the welfare of farmers, we have started ‘Mukhyamantri Krishi Ashirwad Yojana’ where farmers with an acre of land will get Rs 5,000 and farmers having five acres will get Rs 25,000.

“There would be 35 lakh beneficiaries and the scheme will entail and expenditure of Rs 3,000 crore,” he said.