Day: September 20, 2019

BPSC member booked for seeking Rs 30L for DSP’s post

Source: deccanherald.com

The Vigilance Investigation Bureau (VIB) has booked a member of the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC), Ram Kishore Singh, for allegedly demanding Rs 30 lakh from a candidate who was to face the interview after clearing Mains examination.

Singh, who was a BJP MLC, before being appointed a member of the BPSC in 2014, resigned few hours before an FIR was registered against him and his associate Parmeshwar Rai.

Though Singh has denied the charge, the Vigilance sleuths have informed the court that they have his voice samples and call details records in which Singh and Rai could be heard dealing with a successful candidate. “Singh is heard asking the prospective candidate to hand over the amount to Rai, who was ‘his trusted aide’. The deal, which started with Rs 30 lakh, was eventually clinched for Rs 25 lakh in which Rs 24 lakh was to be given in advance and the rest Rs 1 lakh after the result (for DSP’s post) was declared,” said the source.

Before lodging an FIR against the two accused, the Vigilance officials sent the voice samples of Singh and Rai to Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh, which confirmed that the voice had matched.

Hours before he was booked, Singh resigned as BPSC member citing “personal reasons”. However, his resignation has not been accepted yet. “I have been framed by my own men who were not happy ever since I was appointed as BPSC member,” said Singh, whose tenure would have otherwise ended in 2020.

“The FIR has been forwarded to the Vigilance court,” said a senior official of the VIB.

Public Service Commission member booked on graft charge

Source: freepressjournal.in

Patna: A fresh recruitment scam involving deputy-collectors and deputy-SPs has surfaced with the state Vigilance Bureau registering an FIR against Ram Kishore Singh, a senior member of Bihar Public Service Commission, and his associate Parmeshwar Rai on Monday. Singh immediately resigned from the Commission citing “personal reasons”.

The FIR was registered following a complaint by one of the unsuccessful candidates who had appeared for an interview after qualifying in the 56-59 batches of competitive examinations conducted for recruitment of  deputy-collectors and deputy-SPs.

The Vigilance Bureau had put the telephones of both Rai and Singh on surveillance and collected the call detail records. The records with voice samples of the BPSC member were sent to Central Forensic Science Laboratory at Chandigarh.

The voice of Singh matched with the CDRs. After getting a positive report from the FSL, the FIR was registered. Singh was a member of the Bihar Vidhan Parishad on BJP ticket for six years before being appointed as a member of the Commission in 2014.

Mamata raises Assam NRC issue in a meeting with Amit Shah

Source: telegraphindia.com

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday told Union home minister Amit Shah that genuine Indians belonging to Bengali, Bihari, Gorkha and Assamese communities were excluded from the NRC in Assam and sought his intervention to ameliorate their miseries.

Banerjee told this to Shah in her first meeting with the home minister, who assumed office about three months ago.

“I have come to meet the home minister to discuss about the NRC in Assam and told him that many genuine Indians were excluded from the list. I have requested him to do the needful so that they can be included in the NRC as they are in distress,” she told reporters after the meeting with Shah.

The chief minister said that among those who were excluded from the National Register of Citizens include many Bengali, Bihari, Gorkhas and even Assamese.

“I have requested him to examine their cases and resolve the issues,” she said.

The final NRC, a list of Assam’s residents published on August 31, excluded the names of 19 lakh people.

“The home minister has assured me that he would look into it,” she said.

Asked whether there was any discussion on the implementation of the NRC in West Bengal, Banerjee said no such discussion has taken place but it was her stated position that such an initiative was not required in her state.

“Even Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said that the NRC was not required in his state,” she said.

The chief minister said she has come to New Delhi after she was given an appointment by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a meeting.

“Meeting the Prime Minister and the home minister is a constitutional obligation. Besides, we have international border issues with Bangladesh and Bhutan and state borders with Bihar and Jharkhand. We also have the sensitive ‘chicken’s neck’ (corridor connecting northeastern states with the rest of the country). So meeting with the home minister is in that context necessarily,” she said.

The chief minister said she has met the prime minister on Wednesday and raised the issue of renaming the state.

Banerjee also invited Modi to inaugurate a coal block in the state. The coal block is the second largest in the world, she said.

Carry out admissions through Chancellor Portal: Guv

Source: dailypioneer.com

Governor Droupadi Murmu on Thursday directed universities in State to carry out admission at undergraduate courses through Chancellor Portal. The Governor, who is also Chancellor of Universities at the meeting with VCs, registrars and financial advisors of state universities at Raj Bhavan, asked universities to carry out admission through Chancellor Portal from next academic session.

With admission through Chancellor Portal, colleges will have no say in selecting meritorious students who have scored better in his/her intermediate exam. Previously, colleges used to announce cut off. Better ranked colleges had cut off for admission in honours courses. However, now the minimum criteria of seeking admission will be fixed and colleges will have to adhere to whatever list is sent by the Chancellor Portal authorities.

The Governor also directed the VCs to carry out National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) of their universities and colleges and get better ranking. The Governor meanwhile expressed happiness over universities regularizing their academic calendar.

The VC said, “It is please to know that academic calendar of universities are regularized. The examination is held on time and the results are declared timely, which is beneficial for students for pursuing higher studies in other universities.” The Chancellor claimed that irregular academic calendar they have received from Bihar, before the bifurcation of State. Murmu, on the occasion, also expressed happiness that Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) is taking up promotion issue of teachers in a priority basis. She said that with JPSC taking up the promotion issue on priority basis, backlog in State universities will be cleared paving way for fresh appointments at educational institutions.

The Chancellor also directed VCs to complete the process of installing WiFi at educational institutions and in this connection they can take the help of National Informatics Centre (NIC) for regular inspection and monitoring. The Governor also directed universities to work in direction of ACP/MACP so that non-teaching staff are benefitted with salary and other benefits.

The Chancellor also asked for creation of posts at Tribal and regional language department of Ranchi University and Kolhan University. The Governor also assessed the progress in construction work of new buildings at Nilamber-Pitamber University Medininagar, Binod Bihari Mahto Koylanchal University (Dhnabad) and Jharkhand Raksha Shakti University (Ranchi).

Directions were also issued for making Shikshit Bharat Abhiyan or Unnat Bharat Abhiyan successful in State along with following directions of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) department successful.   The Chancellor also directed universities to appoint ad-hoc teachers at colleges so that shortage of teachers can be addressed. The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary KK Khandelwal, Principal Secretary- Higher, Technical Education & Skill Development, Shailesh Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary to Governor Satendra Singh, Building Construction Secretary Sunil Kumar, JPSC Secretary Ranendra Kumar among others.

VCs and other officials from Ranchi University, Vinoba Bhave University Hazaribag, Sido Kanhu Murmu University Dumka, Nilamber-Pitamber University Medininagar, Binod Bihari Mahto Koylanchal University (Dhnabad), Kolhan University (Chaibasa) and Jharkhand Raksha Shakti University (Ranchi) were also present at the meeting.

Patna’s new home delivery: pollution under control certificates

Source: downtoearth.org.in

Bihar’s transport department launched a mobile pollution testing van facility to deliver pollution under control (PUC) certificates on vehicle owners’ doorsteps.

After implementation of the new Motors Vehicles Act, penalty for violating PUC norms increased to Rs 10,000 and so did the footfall of certificate seekers at pollution testing centres. This prompted the department to launch the facility.

A trial of the mobile van facility was conducted at the Patna secretariat on September 18 and it will soon be completely functional with the launch of a toll-free number, said transport officials.

“We are in the process of launching a toll-free number. Once it starts functioning, the mobile van service will be operational too,” said Sanjay Agarwal, secretary, state transport department.

“Vehicle owners will then be able to call the van to their homes by dialling the toll-free number and get the PUC certificate issued on the spot within few minutes,” he added.

They will initially press 10 such vans into service in Patna and later expand it to other districts, said Agarwal.

Patna is the seventh-most polluted city in the world, according to a recent Greenpeace report. The annual level of particulate matter 2.5 in 2018 was 119.7 micrograms per cubic metre in Patna, added the 2018 World Air Quality Report, jointly prepared by IQAir AirVisual and Greenpeace.

The fear of the fine and inadequate number of pollution testing centres made vehicle owners opt for public transport.

“My PUC certificate has expired, so I have stopped rising my bike to work. I am commuting through public transport so I don’t have to pay a heavy penalty. Also, there are no pollution testing centres in and around my locality so I have failed to get the certificate renewed,” said Dilip Kumar Singh, who works in a private company in Patna.

There are around 500 such centres in Bihar, of which 98 are in Patna district, according to a report by the state transport department.

The department has also asked all petrol pumps and service centres of automobile companies to set up pollution testing centres soon. “Opening of these centres will not only curb air pollution but also provide job opportunities to youths,” said the transport secretary.

There are 2,550 outlets of various oil marketing companies in the state.

There’s also a plan to set up 150 more centres in the state in the next six months.

39 Mob Lynching Incidents Reported In Less Than 3 Months In Bihar: Police

Source: ndtv.com

PATNA: 

The police in Bihar have seen a rising number of lynching incidents in the recent months. According to data provided by the police headquarters, 14 people have been beaten to death, while 45 people have been injured in mob lynching incidents during the last two and a half months. During this time, 39 incidents of mob-lynching were registered in the state.

Bihar police headquarters is conducting awareness campaigns regarding such incidents in sensitive areas. Senior police officials have acknowledged that there have been no incidents of child abduction but people take to mob-lynching due to rumours. However, the police are sensitising people about such incidents along with a stern warning to those involved in the lynchings.

Locals in Madipur Chitragupta Nagar in Muzaffarpur thrashed two women on suspicion of child abduction. By the time the police reached the spot and saved them from the crowd, they had both suffered severe injuries.

In Samastipur district, a mentally-disabled woman was beaten up on a similar suspicion. Some people from the crowd saved her from the mob.

Such cases have been reported from Patna as well as other areas of the state too.

A man, identified as Shatrughan Sinha, a resident of Sitamarhi, was beaten to death on September 9 in West Champaran district.

On September 8, a 22-year-old man was beaten to death following rumours of child lifting.

The police have registered FIRs against 348 named accused and 4,000 unidentified people till now.

“Police is taking strict action against those involved in mob lynching incidents. We identify the accused from the video footage of the incidents and take action against them,” said Additional Director General (police headquarters) Jitendra Kumar .

Referring to the data, he said that since July this year, 278 people have been arrested in 39 incidents of lynching.

Mr Kumar said that the police have launched campaigns against mob lynching using audio clips and posters.

In setback for Congress, its former Jharkhand unit chief joins AAP

Source: livemint.com

New Delhi: The former chief of the Jharkhand unit of the Congress, Ajoy Kumar, joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday, in the first casualty for the Congress after a change in the top leadership. Kumar’s induction into AAP comes less than six weeks after he resigned from the top post of the Congress’ Jharkhand unit.

The move comes ahead of the assembly elections in Jharkhand scheduled later this year, and in Delhi, which is likely to take place in early 2020.

AAP is in power in Delhi, with party chief Arvind Kejriwal as the chief minister. They, however, do not have a significant presence in Jharkhand where the state’s politics is dominated by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition alliance of the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.

“Today I am joining AAP because of the political situation in the country. AAP is practising the politics of good governance and no corruption. There are a lot of people from Bihar and Jharkhand, from where I come, who have moved to Delhi and have benefitted from the government’s schemes in the areas of health and education. The money they save because of free water and electricity, they are able to use elsewhere,” Kumar said. “People of India who do not have any connection with politics have entered this area and are making people see how clean politics can be.”

Kumar joined the party in the presence of AAP leader and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, party chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj, and senior leader Durgesh Pathak.

“An important politician has joined AAP today. He has served the country as an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and a parliamentarian. We have known each other since the days of the India Against Corruption movement. He will work in other states as well as in Delhi where the AAP has a presence,” Sisodia said.

Kumar had resigned as the Jharkhand unit chief of the Congress last month amid a leadership crisis in the state unit. Kumar had alleged that many senior leaders were seeking “to grab political posts for personal benefit and have made attempts to bypass the systems that have been put in place to benefit the party”.

Separately, on Thursday, Delhi speaker Ram Niwas Goel disqualified legislator Alka Lamba from the assembly after she resigned from the party and joined the Congress.

Kumar has a medical degree and has served as an IPS officer in Bihar and Jharkhand. He was considered close to Rahul Gandhi and was handpicked to lead the party in Jharkhand.

As Sakshi complains about power cuts, MS Dhoni returns to Ranchi after army duty

Source: dnaindia.com

Lieutenant Colonel Mahendra Singh Dhoni reached his home town Ranchi for the first time after serving the army in Jammu and Kashmir after the World Cup.

Upon his return late in the evening, the wicketkeeper-batsman was spotted taking selfies with fans at the airport. 

He later drove back in his new Jeep Grand Cherokee along with wife Sakshi. It is the same vehicle which Sakshi had posted about saying, “Welcome home #red beast! your toy is finally hear missing you @Mahi really missing you”.

However, before his return, Sakshi took to social media about the electric shortage in her area.

She updated her Instagram status and showed that there is no festival nor bad weather, yet there was no electricity for the past 5 hours. 

Sakshi had also posted a picture of a part of the house in Simaria in her status on Instagram.

As for Dhoni’s cricket career, the player’s retirement has been the talk of the town with speculations keeping on rising with each passing day. He was not part of the West Indies tour by choice but is also not part of the South African series at home.