Day: September 11, 2019

Bihar: 2 members of Viveka Pahalwan’s gang filmed brandishing AK-47, arrested

Source: indiatoday.in

Two members of the dreaded Viveka Pahalwan gang in Bihar were arrested after they were caught on camera brandishing two AK-47 rifles a few days back.

Both members, Vicky and Chandan, were arrested from Mokama in rural Patna days after a video of them wielding the assault rifles went viral.

Police had earlier registered an FIR against both the henchmen of muscleman Viveka Pahalwan, who is considered as the biggest rival of Anant Singh, who is an independent MLA from Mokama.

Local police had been carrying out searches in Mokama and in neighbouring areas to trace the duo over the past few days.

However, the police team led by ASP Lipi Singh finally managed to trace Vicky and Chandan having tea at the local railway station, following which they were arrested.

Several reports suggested that Viveka Pahalwan claimed that the AK-47s wielded by his henchmen were not real but made of plastic.

Authorities have taken both the henchmen to an undisclosed location and are interrogating them regarding the whereabouts of the AK-47 seen in the viral video.

The fresh arrest of the henchmen could help in tightening the noose around local gangsters operating in the Barh-Mokama area in rural Patna.

Bodh Gaya to be Developed as Next Tourist Destination: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Source: india.com

New Delhi: Amongst the 16 tourist destinations in the country, Bihar government’s tourism department has prepared an elaborate plan to develop Bodh Gaya as one of the iconic travel destinations.

The State tourism department on Monday held talks with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar while showcasing a detailed presentation on the action plan to promote tourism and the developmental vision for accommodating tourists in the district.


As per a Times of India report, the CM subsequently addressed a meeting with the tourism department at ‘Sankalp’ hall in his residence in Patna and recounted that the government was already taking concrete steps to promote tourism in Bodh Gaya.

The government is setting up a Mahabodhi Culture Centre with an auditorium to accommodate up to 2000 people as a part of the tourism goal. He also directed the tourism department to fix a date to visit Bodh Gaya for a better understanding of the vision.

Further, the CM said that the state government was also working on a plan to link Bodh Gaya, Rajgir and Vaishali, the three important places where Lord Buddha visited and stayed. “We are also working to provide all facilities to Buddhist monks and tourists visiting Bodh Gaya from other places,” he added.

CM Kumar has also asked the tourism officials to work on promoting agroforestry produces as a part of the marketing strategy as well as educate farmers on promoting crop cycle.

The Principal Secretary of tourism department Deepak Kumar Singh earlier informed that a total of 846.83 lakh saplings have been planted in the state from 2012 to 2019.

JMB operative arrested in Chennai, more inroads into Burdhwan, Bodhgaya blast cases

Source: oneindia.com

Chennai, Sep 10: A terrorist suspected to be associated with the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh has been arrested from Chennai.

The arrest comes in the wake of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) making several arrests from in connection with the Bodhgaya and Burdwan blasts case from South India.

The arrest was made on the basis of the investigation of Habibur Rehman, a close aide of Jahidul Islam arrested by the NIA last year from Ramanagara near Bengaluru. The sleuths of the NIA are currently questioning Rehman and during the interrogation, it came to light that he had travelled to several places across the country.

He told the NIA during interrogation that he had travelled to Bengal, Bengaluru, Kerala and Chennai. During the interrogation of Islam to the NIA had learnt that he had travelled to several places across the country and the agency suspects that it was to strengthen the activities of the Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

Rehman according to the NIA landed in Bengaluru in 2015. He then took up a job with a contractor in K R Puram. However, following an NIA crackdown which led to arrests in Maharashtra, he moved out of Bengaluru. The case of Islam too is similar. He was residing in Bengaluru and following the crackdown, he moved to Ramanagara, the NIA has learnt.

NIA officials tell OneIndia that these persons had a free run all these years. They would mingle with the local population and take shelter. They were so convincing that their contractor for whom they worked had no idea about their activities. The NIA is now trying to ascertain, where these persons had transported the bombs that they had prepared. It may be recalled that hours after Habibur’s arrest, two bombs were found in a drain at Ramanagara.

Rehman was a close associate of senior JMB leader Jahidul Islam alias Kausar. He was also associated with other JMB leaders like Rahamatullah and Moulana Yusuf. He was an active member of JMB, Bolpur Module in West Bengal. He had attended a number of training camps conducted by JMB.

Bihar: Family Of Four Dies Of Asphyxiation Inside Septic Tank

Source: thewire.in

Muzaffarpur: Four persons of a family died of asphyxiation inside a newly-constructed septic tank at a village in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district on Tuesday, an official said.

The incident occurred at Madhuban Kanti village under Bara Bharti panchayat of Minapur block this morning when a man, who went to remove the scaffolding of the newly-built septic tank, fell into it accidentally, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (East) Kundan Kumar said.

He died of suffocation after inhaling toxic gas. Another three persons of the family, who rushed to save the first one, entered the tank and also died of asphyxiation, Kumar added.

The deceased were identified as Madhusudan Sahni, Kaushal Kumar, Dharmendra Sahni and Veer Kumar Sahni, he said adding that all of them could be in the age group of 30-35. The bodies were sent to Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital here for postmortem.

Minapur Circle officer Gyan Prasad Srivastava announced that an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh would be paid to the next of kin of those died in the incident.

Maize crops falling victim to fall armyworm in Bihar

Source: downtoearth.org.in

Maize crops are falling prey to the deadly Fall Armyworm (FAW) in Bihar, India’s third-largest corn producer.

There are officials reports of FAW attacks on maize crops from the districts of Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Saran and Sheohar, an official of the state agriculture department said. “But unconfirmed reports also suggest presence of FAW in other maize-growing districts of north Bihar,” he added.

FAW was first detected by entomologists C M Kalleshwara Swamy and Sharanabasappa in maize fields at the University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shimoga, in Karnataka last year. It is an invasive and polyphagous (feeding on many foods) pest. It can attack cereals and forage grasses.

The deadly pest has since spread across many states in the country.

Last year, FAW was detected at a few places in Bihar, but maize crops were not infected. This year though, things are different.

Thousands of maize-growing farmers in Muzaffarpur and neighbouring districts are worried about the latest attacks of FAW.

“We have never faced anything like it in the past,” Narender Yadav, a marginal maize-growing farmer from Guaridih village in Muzaffarpur’s Gaighat block, said.

“This is something new and harmful. I don’t know how to protect my crops,” Yadav, who lost his crop to FAW last week, said.

“We have information that FAW has damaged maize crops on nearly 60 hectares (ha) so far in two panchayats of Gaighat,” Muzaffarpur District Agriculture Officer Krishna Kumar Verma, said.

There were also reports of FAW damaging maize crops in some villages under the Bochaha and Minapur block. “I have directed agriculture officers in these blocks to collect information,” Verma said.

According to him, a team of experts including agriculture scientists from Patna had visited Gaighat last week after the pest attack to study the worm and suggest measures to tackle it.

“Soon after the presence of FAW was reported, we informed the state agriculture director and issued an advisory on how to manage the pest,” RN Singh, associate director of Bihar Agriculture University at Sabour in Bhagalpur district, said.

“We have already taken measures and advised farmers to use insecticides on their maize crops,” Adesh Titarmare, state agriculture director, said.

However, there is no official confirmation of FAW presence in the Kosi-Seemanchal region of north-eastern Bihar, which accounts for nearly 65 per cent of its total maize production. The districts included in the region are Araria, Madhepura, Saharsa, Supaul, Purnea, Kishanganj and Katihar.

According to official numbers, Bihar has a high maize productivity of 3,904 kg/ha, which is more than the national average of 2,889 kg/ha. Bihar has witnessed a visible growth in maize production in the past decade.

The state produced 1.36 million tonnes of the crop in 2005-06. This increased to 3.85 million tonnes in 2016-17, as the high-yielding maize of Rabi season has been replacing winter wheat and paddy in the state.

PM Modi to launch farmers’ pension scheme in Ranchi on Sept 12

Source: avenuemail.in

Ranchi, Sep 10 (IANS) Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would launch three national level and two state level schemes from here on September 12.

“The Prime Minister will launch three national and two state level schemes here on September 12. The first scheme is Kisan Mandhan Yojna, under which farmers will get Rs 3,000 pension; the second is laying the foundation stone for 462 Eklavya schools exclusively for quality education; the third is a pension scheme for small shopkeepers,” the Chief Minister said in a press conference here on Tuesday.

Das said that under the farmer’s scheme, more than one lakh farmers have been registered in the state. As per the available data, Jharkhand is fifth largest state in terms of farmers pension registration. Farmers between the age of 18 and 40 years will get the benefits of the pension scheme after turning 60, Das said.

“Similarly, small shopkeepers between the age of 18 and 40 years will be eligible to get pension after turning 60. The small shopkeepers registered with the government will get Rs 3,000 pension per month. Of the 462 Eklavya schools, 69 will be set up in Jharkhand for providing quality education to the tribal children.

“The Prime Minister will also inaugurate the two state level schemes. First, the inauguration of the state Assembly building and the second is a multi-modal terminal at Sahebganj,” said the Chief Minister.

Jharkhand is set to get it’s own Assembly building, which has been constructed on a 39-acre land costing Rs 465 crore. It will have a sitting capacity of 162 legislators.

Modi will also lay the foundation stone for the new Secretariat which will be constructed at a cost of Rs 1,238 crore on 68 acres of land.

The Prime Minister will also dedicate to the nation India’s second riverine multi-modal terminal in Sahibganj built at a cost of Rs 290 crore in a record time of about two years.

Modi had himself laid the foundation stone for the IWAI’s Sahibganj multi-modal terminal (MMT) in April, 2017. It is the second of the three multi-modal terminals being constructed on river Ganga under the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP). In November 2018, the Prime Minister had inaugurated the MMT at Varanasi.

The MMT at Sahibganj will open up the industries of Jharkhand and Bihar to the global market and provide Indo-Nepal cargo connectivity through waterways route.

Jharkhand’s development talking point in country: CM

Source: dailypioneer.com

Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Tuesday said that the development works in Jharkhand have become a matter of discussion across the country. Speaking at a conclave organised by a media house here on Tuesday the CM said that today Jharkhand is known for development works unlike earlier when scams and irregularities were discussed about the State.

“Work has been done in every sector in Jharkhand. Till now people keep giving slogans and promises. However, the Government does not follow slogans and promises.  Government operates with policy and intent. Our government started formulating policies as soon as it came to power. Started working on it by making policy. The result of this is that today there is talk of development of Jharkhand in the whole country,” he said.

“It is a State full of possibilities. There is potential, power and resource. Despite this, the State has not been able to develop due to political instability for 14 years.

The aspirations of the people of the State were not being fulfilled. In 2014, on the call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the people of Jharkhand formed an absolute majority Government here.  In the last four and a half years, the stable Government of the State has tried to fulfill the aspirations of the people,” he added.

The CM said that there is great potential for farming in Jharkhand. But due to the previous Governments at the Center, farmers continued to remain indebted. “The Modi government worried about the farmers.

He started the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi. In this, farmers are getting an annual assistance of Rs 6,000. Similarly, the State Government has launched the Chief Minister Krishi Aashirwad Yojana.

Under this, farmers of the State are getting Rs 5,000 to 25,000 annually. Due to this, farmers are not forced to become indebted to anyone for minor tasks. Das said that the State government is promoting medium, small and small scale industries. “It employs more and more people. Similarly, a lot of work has been done in the textile sector in Jharkhand. Many big companies are setting up production units in Jharkhand. This has given employment to our girls in large numbers.

Earlier these girls used to migrate to other states for 5-7 thousand rupees, now they are getting employment at home. The State Government is also focused on food processing. The Government is also providing employment and self-employment opportunities through skill development.

In Jharkhand, Limca Book has awarded the Government for employing the maximum number of people in a single day.

All the public interest policies of the Central Government have been fully implemented in Jharkhand,” said the CM. The CM said that after the coming of Modi ji’s Government at the Center, politics of casteism and communalism has ended in the country. People are with the politics of development.

The poor and middle families in the country have the opportunity to live with dignity. In response to a question on the CNT-SPT case, he said that those who misled the tribals and grabbed their land are violating the CNT-SPT the most.

Congress-NCP to fight 123-125 seats each, leave 41 for allies: Prithviraj Chavan

Source: freepressjournal.in

Mumbai: The Congress and NCP will fight about 123-125 seats each and leave 41 constituencies for smaller allies in the upcoming state polls, former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said on Tuesday.

He added that seats may be swapped based on consensus between the two major opposition parties. “Talks are on the with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (of Prakash Ambedkar), Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, Samajwadi Party. If alliance talks work out, 41 seats would be allocated to smaller allies,” he said.

Chavan, however, stressed that the VBA’s demand that the Congress severe ties with the NCP cannot be accepted. With a steady inflow of leaders from various parties into the BJP, Chavan accused the ruling dispensation of misusing power to finish off the opposition.

“Political parties are at the heart of parliamentary democracy, but now this is under threat. There is an attempt to take the country towards one-party rule which the country briefly experienced during Emergency,” he alleged.

Against the backdrop of the arrest of former Union minister P Chidambaram and ex-Karnakata minister DK Shivakumar, Chavan said the BJP was trying to terrorise opposition leaders to force them to join it.

Speaking about the induction of Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Jaydutt Kshirsagar and Avinash Mahatekar into the Fadnavis cabinet, Chavan said 91st Constitutional amendment, made during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2003, had clarified that even if an MLA quits the Assembly and joins another party, he cannot be made a minister.

“We have filed a petition in High Court challenging appointment of three such ministers. The judgement is likely tomorrow,” he said.