Month: September 2019

New traffic rules: Jharkhand will not impose fines before December

Source: livemint.com

RANCHI : Giving relief to motorists under the new Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, that came into force from this month, the Jharkhand government has decided to postpone its implementation for the next three months.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das, during a review meeting on Friday, directed the transport department to open facilitation centres across the state to enable people get their documents in order in the next three months.

The Jharkhand government has asked state residents to complete all their documents within three months while putting the provisions of the Act on hold for the period.

“Taking cognisance of people’s safety some amendments were made in the Motor Vehicle Act by Centre. However, taking note of the issues people are facing, we have decided to give three-month relief to people so that they can get their documents in order,” Jharkhand Transport Minister CP Singh told ANI.

The chief minister has asked people to abide by traffic rules and refrain from rash driving. In view of the heavy fine under the Motor Vehicles Act, several state governments have decided to put its implementation on hold. Gujarat and Uttarakhand have even announced a cut in penalties for traffic violations under the Act.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel had said that the Central government did not take the states into confidence before implementing the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019.

The new Motor Vehicles Act has enhanced the penalties for traffic violations and erring drivers. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had notified the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act 2019 last month and it was implemented in many states across the nation from September 1.

According to the new law, in case of dangerous driving, first-time offenders face imprisonment of six months to one year and/or fine of between ₹1,000 and ₹5,000. For drunken driving, a violator will have to face imprisonment up to six months and/or a fine of up to ₹10,000 in case of first time offense. For the second offense, there will be a prison term of up to 2 years and/or a fine of ₹15,000 will be levied.

For driving without licence, a motorist will have to pay a penalty of ₹5,000, an increase of 10 times from ₹500.

18 trafficked girls rescued from Bihar and Guwahati

Source: telegraphindia.com

Morigaon Police have rescued 18 persons, including three babies and 10 minors, in a joint operation with the CID, on Sunday, 13 from East Champaran district of Bihar and five from Guwahati.

Swapnaneel Deka, superintendent of police, Morigaon, said, “Two persons from Bihar — Dipak Kumar and Anil Kumar — from Piprakothi and Katua respectively, have been arrested in connection with this on Sunday from Bihar and brought to Assam along with the victims. Interrogation is going on.”

Based on a tip-off, the police conducted a raid in East Champaran district of Bihar and rescued 13 trafficked persons from there on Sunday.

The other five victims were rescued on Wednesday from Kamakhya railway station here. All of them were minors.

“Two local residents have also been arrested. They were associates of the two accused, Dipak and Anil and are also being questioned,” Deka said.

Eight victimsare from Morigaon, one each from Nagaon and Golaghat districts, while the remaining eight are yet to be identified.

Barpeta baby theft

Barpeta police on Saturday recovered a 15-day-old girl, Bilkish Prabin, who was stolen on Friday night.

A police source said, “Imam Ali, Obaidullah Hoque and Nurjahan were arrested in connection with the alleged kiddnapping case on Saturday from Hajo, Kamrup district. One is still absconding. We are interrogating the arrested persons and hope to arrest all of them soon.” The police got a tip-off that the kidnapper was planning to sell the baby to a couple at Hajo in Kamrup and a search operation led to the arrest of the trio. The baby was sleeping with her mother at their residence at Bahmura in Barpeta when she was kidnapped on Friday night.

Saved on bus

A minor girl from Assam was saved from being trafficked after a co-passenger from Bengal’s Raiganj heard a conversation between the teenager and her companion in a bus that aroused his suspicion and prompted him to act.

The 17-year-old girl has been handed over to NGO Childline in Raiganj, from where passenger Subhradeep Bhowmik hails, and police in North Dinajpur are trying to contact her family in Assam so that she can be sent home.

The girl has told the police that like her, the youth accompanying her was from Assam’s Rangiya and had promised to marry her.

“I feared my family would not accept the relationship. So, we eloped a few days back and reached Siliguri. From there, we took a bus to Raiganj. I did not have any idea where he was taking me,” said the girl.

“During the journey, I overheard snatches of their conversation, which roused my suspicion,” said Bhowmik.

As the bus reached Kishanganj, the youth hurriedly got off. “He did not return. The girl told me the youth had taken her cellphone and cash,” Bhowmik said.

Indian Railways largest waiting hall opens at Patna Junction! From digital screens to local art, see features

Source: financialexpress.com

New Indian Railways waiting hall at Patna Junction: Indian Railways continues to give a swanky makeover to stations across India under its station redevelopment and beautification initiative! Recently, the Patna Junction railway station in Bihar got a new waiting hall for better comfort of passengers. The waiting hall, set up over an area of 7,500 sq ft, has been provided with a seating capacity of over 300 passengers. In addition to this, as many as 200 more seats can be added at the hall. Interestingly, the newly opened waiting hall at Patna Junction station is said to be the largest waiting hall on the Indian Railways network. Also, many other passenger-friendly amenities and facilities have been provided in the waiting hall.

According to information shared by the East Central Railway zone, the new waiting hall has been equipped with 7 HD screens of 65″. The digital screens will display entertainment-related content as well as train information 24×7. The waiting hall has been beautified to promote local art with all the walls being covered in Madhubani painting in bright and attractive colours. The entire waiting hall is centrally air-conditioned. Moreover, additional fans have been provided as well. Also, the entire waiting hall is lighted with 100 per cent LED fixtures concealed in the ceiling.

Piyush Goyal-chaired Railway Ministry is effortlessly working towards beautification and redevelopment of stations across the country. Not only are the railway stations being beautified, but they are also being well equipped with various modern facilities. Some of the stations, which were renovated recently include New Delhi railway station, Kamakhya Junction, Asansol Junction, Mathura Junction, Haridwar Junction, Jaipur Junction, Lonavala, Adoni, Bellampalli, Sainagar Shirdi, Manduadih, Kurnool City railway station, etc.

Besides, Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC)- a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is also working to transform certain railway stations into airport-like hubs. Currently, development work is being carried out at Habibganj and Gandhi Nagar railway stations.

86 Tigers Rescued from Thailand’s “Tiger Temple” Reported to Have Died

source: buddhistdoor.net

Thai wildlife officials reported on Saturday that more than half of 147 tigers seized in 2016 from an infamous Buddhist temple in Thailand’s Kanchanaburi Province* have died from disease.

According to local media reports, Thai officials said that 54 of 85 rescued tigers had died at Khao Prathap Chang Wildlife Sanctuary, while 32 of 62 tigers had died at Khao Son Wildlife Sanctuary, both in neighboring Ratchaburi Province, over a three-year period since being moved to the sanctuaries, despite being receiving treatment from veterinarians. 

Officials said that the big cats may have died from the canine distemper virus, or from laryngeal paralysis, which causes an obstruction to the upper airway, as they had had exhibited symptoms before arriving at the sanctuaries. An unidentified source cited by the Thai PBS World news website source said that most of the confiscated tigers were captive-bred Siberian tigers and therefore lacked natural immunity, rendering them susceptible to diseases.

The director-general of Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thanya Netithammakun, said that officials were investigating the cause of the deaths and the results should be known by next week.

Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Yanasampanno, popularly known as the “Tiger Temple,” a Buddhist monastery to the west of the capital Bangkok, promoted itself as a wildlife sanctuary. The temple received its first tiger cub from local villagers in 1999, but it died soon afterward. The monastery subsequently received several tiger cubs to care for, which were allowed to breed. As the number of tigers living at the temple grew, the monastery became a popular tourist attraction, charging admission to visitors who could pay to have their photographs taken with the temple’s resident tigers and bottle feed their cubs as a means of raising funds to care for the animals.

Prakit Vongsrivattanakul, deputy director-general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, was quoted as saying that the big cats were particularly susceptible to the canine distemper virus. 

“When we took the tigers in, we noted that they had no immune system due to inbreeding,” he said. “We treated them as symptoms came up.” (Independent)

The Buddhist temple, founded in 1994, ran its tiger park for more than 10 years, despite concerns about alleged involvement in the illegal wildlife trade and the possible mistreatment of tigers for commercial gain voiced by animal welfare groups. Suspicions were confirmed when animals parts and carcasses were found. Since some tigers parts are commonly used in traditional Chinese remedies and command significant prices on the black market, some personnel at the temple were believed to be participating in a wildlife trafficking ring. The activities were exposed in an investigative report published by National Geographic.

In late May 2016, following a dramatic raid led by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, the authorities began an operation to seize and relocate the tigers housed at the monastery. Some of the confiscated tigers were found to have physical deformities allegedly caused by inbreeding. In addition to live tigers, officials reportedly found the frozen bodies of some 40 cubs, as well as body parts from other animals.

A day after the initial raid, another 30 tiger cub carcasses were found in containers with English-language labels, suggesting that they might have been destined for sale. The abbot’s secretary was subsequently stopped while attempting to leave the temple with two whole tiger skins, 10 tiger teeth, and some 1,000 amulets containing small pieces of tiger skin.

The Buddhist temple was closed to the public at the beginning of the raid. The monastery’s abbot, Phra Wisutthi Sarathera, known locally as Luang Ta Chan, and temple representatives has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Phra Wisutthi Sarathera was reported by the Khaosod English news website to have called on officials to return the remaining tigers to his care. 

“It’s karma for tigers. When the tigers were here, everyone took great care of them. No one intended to harm them, while villagers were able to make a living,” the monk said. “If the department can’t nurture them, then bring them back and I’ll take care of them at the temple. I also want to probe into the carcasses to ensure they don’t end up on the black market.” (Khaosod English)

According to a report in July this year by The Nation newspaper, the population of wild tigers living in Thailand has risen to some 250 individuals in 10 forest complexes across 31 sanctuaries nationwide, due in part to conservation efforts by the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary in Uthai Thani and Tak Provinces. World Animal Protection put the number of tigers living in captivity in Thailand at around 830, as of 2016.

Thailand is predominantly a Theravada Buddhist country, with 94.5 per cent of the kingdom’s population of 69 million identifying as Buddhists, according to census data for 2015. The next most prominent religion is Islam, representing 4.29 per cent.

Former inmate of Bihar shelter home raped by 4 men in moving car

Source: dailypioneer.com

A woman, who had been an inmate of the infamous Muzaffarpur shelter home, was allegedly raped by four men in a moving vehicle (car) in Bettiah town of West Champaran district, police said on Sunday.

The Muzaffarpur shelter home had hit the headlines in 2018 after a social audit report highlighted that over 30 girls were allegedly raped at the Government-aided shelter home, run by an NGO.

Bettiah town police station SHO Shashi Bhushan Thakur said the woman was admitted to a Government medical college on Saturday evening and a medical examination was conducted by a team of doctors on Sunday, he said.

It will be confirmed whether she was raped only after getting the medical examination report, he said.

The woman, in her police complaint lodged with the Bettah town police station on Saturday, alleged that four men forcibly took her inside their vehicle (car) while she was passing through the area where she lives on Friday evening, and raped her in a moving vehicle, police said.

The men then dumped the woman in her locality after raping her. All the four men had covered their faces with masks but she could remove the masks and identify them.

While all the four persons belonged to the same family, two of them were brothers, she said. Over 30 girls were allegedly raped at the shelter home run by Brajesh Thakur, the chief of a state-funded NGO.

The alleged sexual exploitation of the girls was first highlighted in an audit report submitted by TISS to the state’s social welfare department.

An FIR was lodged against 11 people, including Thakur, on May 31, 2018. The state government had on July 26, 2018 handed over the case to the CBI. On February 7, 2019, the Supreme Court ordered authorities to transfer the case from Bihar to a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Saket District Court complex in Delhi, which would conclude the trial within six months by holding preferably day-to-day hearing.

Two Bihar doctors, punished for operating patient’s gall bladder instead of leg, cry foul

Source: hindustantimes.com

Two government doctors in Bihar have been penalised for extricating a patient’s gall bladder instead of performing a surgery on her leg, eight years after the incident. Both the doctors indicted in a departmental inquiry said they would challenge the government order–issued on Friday– in court.

While one of the two doctors has since superannuated, the other is serving in the Bihar health services.

The government has deducted 10 per cent pension of Dr Nand Kishore Mishra, the then assistant professor of surgery at the Sri Krishna Medical College Hospital (SKMCH), Muzaffarpur and stopped three annual increments of Dr Krishna Kumar, the then senior resident of the department of anaesthesiology at the hospital, with retrospective effect, said principal secretary, health Sanjay Kumar.

Kumar said the administrative action will send a clear message to all healthcare providers in Bihar.

Sushila Devi, spouse of Shiv Narayan Prasad of Bahbal Bazar village in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district was to be operated for burn injury in her leg at the SKMCH on September 10, 2011, but the doctors ended up removing her gall bladder.

Dr Mishra said he neither treated Sushila Devi nor operated upon her and was penalised simply because the doctor who performed the surgery was in his unit. He called it a case of mistaken identity due to confusion created by the patient herself, and failure on part of the operation theatre staff and nurse to detect it.

“Dr HN Bharadwaj, the-then associate professor and also the head for SKMCH’s department of surgery and I were doing surgeries in two parallel operation theatres (OTs) on the fateful day. When the OT nurse called out the name of one Kiran Devi, this woman, identified as Sushila Devi, presented herself in front of the OT nurse. When the nurse asked the patient if she was Kiran Devi, she nodded her head in affirmative,” he said.

Asked why the patient had agreed to being identified by a different name, Dr Mishra said, “This may have been out of fear of her surgery getting deferred the third time. Even the anaesthetist claimed the patient nodded in affirmative when he asked her if she was Kiran Devi, who was originally scheduled to be operated for gall bladder stone. I was all this while operating upon another patient with common bile duct problem while another doctor operated upon Sushila Devi’s gall bladder believing her to be Kiran Devi. Since the doctor who did the surgery belonged to my unit, I was held guilty for a surgery I never did.”

Dr Mishra superannuated from the government service last year and claimed he has since not got any pension.

Dr Krishna Kumar, now an associate professor and head, department of anaesthesiology, SKMCH, too, felt he was not at fault.

“A senior resident of surgery department, who brought Sushila Devi to me, but with papers of Kiran Devi requested me to sedate her for surgery of the gall bladder. Even if the patient required surgery of the lower limb and not the gall bladder, my job was only to sedate the patient and ensure there was no complication arising out of anaesthesia. I did my job with sincerity and the patient recovered out of anesthesia and is absolutely hale and hearty. There were two surgeons who should have checked what surgery was to be performed. I am not at fault and will challenge the government order in court,” said Dr Kumar.

Interestingly, the doctor who is alleged to have performed the surgery, a senior resident then, has been let off after he denied having performed the surgery while deposing before the inquiry committee.

Kamla Kumari, the nurse, who called out the patient and brought her to the doctor, has already been penalised with stoppage of her four annual increments. She blamed the patient Sushila Devi for the case of mistaken identity.

Bihar auto driver fined Rs 1,000 for not wearing seat belt

Source: indiatoday.in

Though an auto doesn’t consist of a seat belt, still an auto driver here was imposed with a fine of Rs 1,000 for not wearing one while riding his auto, said a police official.

An auto driver on Saturday had to pay a minimum fine for not wearing a seat-belt while riding in Saraiya, Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

“The auto driver was asked to pay a minimum challan, which was, for not wearing a seat belt as he was an extremely poor man. So, he was asked to pay Rs 1,000 only. In order to impose the minimum penalty amount, he was imposed with the lowest challan amount. This was a mistake but it was done just to impose a minimum penalty on the driver,” said Ajay Kumar Station House Officer (SHO), Saraiya.

Traffic offenders in various states across the nation are consistently being slapped with huge fines since the new Motor Vehicles Act has enhanced the penalties for traffic violations.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had notified the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act 2019 last month and it was implemented in many states of India from September 1.

NGMA to unveil art show by Upendra Maharathi

Source: millenniumpost.in

National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, is celebrating the newly renovated Jaipur House with the unveiling of a historic exhibition of more than 1000 works of art, design, and woven objects of art by Chitracharya Upendra Maharathi. Known as an artist, architect designer and weaver par excellence, the show puts the spotlight on his prowess as a rare and unique genius.

The show of paintings, drawings, murals sculptures, woven cloths and chairs all point to the zenith of his creativity. His interest in Buddhism brought forth many designs that were inspired by Buddhist ideology. The installations in the retrospective have been designed by DG, NGMA Adwaita Gadanayak. The Exhibition has been curated by Adwaita Gadanayak and his team.

Maharathi was author of many books too, The Book on bamboo art, ‘Venushilpa’ was among his best works.

Following the tradition of ancient art of sculpture, he designed many noted buildings : Venuban Viharin Rajagriha, Sandarbh Vihar, Ananda Stupa, Prakrit and Jainology Institute at Vaishali, Nava Nalanda Maha Vihar at Nalanda.

Born in Narendrapur village of Puri district in Orissa, in May 1908, Maharathi studied from the Government College of Art, Kolkata, and came out as an artist cum architect.

In later years he came to Patna, Bihar. From 1933 to 1942 he advocated a literary-cultural revival as he worked in the publishing house ‘Pustak Bhandar’, in Laharyasari, Darbhanga. In 1942, he was appointed a special designer in the Department of Industry, Government of Bihar.

In 1954, he visited Japan to attend the UNESCO International conference as representative of India.

The upcoming exhibition will be inaugurated by Prahlad Singh Patel, Union minister of State for Culture and Tourism( IC) on September 17, 6.00 pm, at National Gallery of Modern art New Delhi.

Jharkhand cabinet sanctions creation of 79 posts of senior residents at RIMS

Source: hindustantimes.com

The state cabinet on Saturday sanctioned for creation of 79 posts of senior resident and tutor under medical teacher cadre in various departments of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi.

RIMS, an autonomous institution running a 1500-bedded hospital, has got permission from the medical council of India (MCI) to start post graduation and diploma courses in various departments. The institute has also staked its claim before the MCI to enhance MBBS seats to 250 from current 150.

In order to match the requirement of the teachers for 250 MBBS seats and PG courses, the cabinet sanctioned for the creation of the aforesaid 79 posts.

Taking a step forward to achieve the target of ‘housing for all by 2022’, the cabinet also accorded its nod to relax the norms for construction of buildings under the Prime Minister Urban Housing Scheme’s (PMUHS), Affordable Housing in Partnership.

“According to the decision, buildings up to ground plus six to eight storied can be constructed under the affordable housing in partnership. As per the current standard, building structures under this scheme can’t go above ground plus three,” an official said.

The cabinet also approved for fixation of prices of land that would be acquired by the government for laying underground water, gas and drainage pipelines. Besides, it approved for setting up of “Jharkhand Wing” of the NCC Directorate, Bihar and Jharkhand.

The cabinet also approved expenditure upto Rs 35 crore for fiscal 2019-20 under state’s scheme of three-year organic farming promotion and certification. The government has earmarked a total of Rs 100 crore for fiscals 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 under the scheme.

200-year-old records in Gaya help families trace their ancestors

Source: newsd.in

Gaya, Sep 15 (IANS) Want to perform the salvation rituals (pind-daan) for your ancestors in Bihar’s Gaya during Pitrupaksha (the Hindu month to remember the dead), but don’t know their name? Don’t worry. The priests (pandas) here can help you trace your ancestors back several generations, provided one of them has visited this town to perform the pind-daan of his forefathers.

The pandas keep a geneology record of all the people who come here to perform pind-daan. These ‘panda-pothis’ that go back 250 to 300 years are a reason why some times even foreigners of Indian origin and NRIs turn to these to trace their family history.

“The panda-pothis have a three-tier log system. Under the first, an alphabetical index of the village and region is maintained recording the address of people who visited Gaya from a village/region over more than 250 years and the date they performed the ritual,” said a panda.

The second is the ‘dastakhat’ log, which keeps a record of the signatures of visitors along with their name, their number and page number of the log which keeps other details. The third book contains information about the profession and the current work place of the visitors. This pothi also maintains updated information about where the visitors reside at present,” the panda added.

Gajadhar Lal Panda, President, Tirthvrat Sudharini Sabha told IANS that according to the villagers if details about a visitor’s ancestors are not available, then information is obtained from the current residence mentioned in the third pothi.

“The pothis are kept safe covered in chemical and wrapped in a red cloth. All the log books are kept in the sun before monsoon to keep them dry,” he said.

Representatives of the Gayapal or panda community have permanent set-ups in places around the Falgu river where people perform the pind-daan. They help people arriving in Gaya to perform pind-daan, track down descendants of the purohit who had helped their grandfather and great-grandfather perform the ritual for his forefathers.

Akhilesh Tiwari came from Rajwadih village in Jharkhand and met the descendants of the priest who helped his great-grandfather perform the pind-daan for his ancestors.