Bihar Archives - Page 6 of 37

Bihar Adopts Tariff of ₹4.15/kWh for Procuring 2 MW of Power from Floating Solar Projects.

Source –

The Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (BERC) has approved ₹4.15 (~$0.058)/kWh as the tariff to procure 2 MW of power from floating solar PV projects in Darbhanga.

Floating solar projects have great potential in a state like Bihar, where land acquisition is a challenge.

This tariff was proposed by the Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Limited (BSPHCL) and Bihar Renewable Energy Development Agency (BREDA). The Commission added that the procurement would meet the stipulated long-term RPO trajectory of the DISCOMs.

Earlier, a joint petition was filed by BSPHCL and BREDA for the approval of the tariff. The project is being set up in Darbhanga, and the power is to be purchased by the North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (NBPDCL) and the South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (SBPDCL).

The Commission has also directed the petitioners to draft the PPA in line with the guidelines for the tariff-based competitive bidding process for the procurement of power from grid-connected solar PV power projects issued by the Ministry of Power (MoP).

The tender for the projects was initially floated on August 22, 2019, and the last date for the submission of bids was September 12, 2019. As there were no bidders, the tender was extended eight times. Finally, four bidders submitted bids on the last bid date, which was October 27, 2019.

After the competitive bidding, the price of ₹4.15 (~$0.058)/kWh, as quoted by Avaada Energy Private Limited, was found to be the lowest price.

The petitioners had claimed that during the year 2019-20 and 2020-21, they would face a deficit of solar power, whereas, in the year 2021-22, they would have surplus solar power. However, in its supplementary submission, BSPHCL revised its calculation and said that the DISOMS would face a shortage of power in all the three years.

The petitioners had also submitted that apart from the Bihar Renewable Energy Policy 2017, the state of Bihar has also started Jal-Jeevan Hariyali Program, which includes promoting solar projects to be installed on rooftops, ground-mounted, and water bodies.

The Commission observed that BREDA had not taken adequate care while floating the tender as certain provisions of the RfP were not in line with the draft PPA. The two inconsistent points were:

As per the RfP, the developer should commission the project within 12 months of the effective date of the PPA. On the other hand, the PPA mentions that the developer should commission the project within 18 months.
There is a provision to encash performance guarantee and a reduction in the rate of tariff in the RfP. In case the project is delayed beyond 24 months from the effective date of the PPA, the PPA should be terminated, the document states. However, in the PPA, it is mentioned that the PPA will be terminated if the project is delayed beyond 30 months.

The Commission asked the petitioner to reexamine the draft PPA and ensure that there are no discrepancies from the guidelines.

The Commission also noted that the petitioners had claimed that the price discovered during competitive bidding was lower than the BERC’s FiT (feed-in-tariff) of ₹4.17 ($0.06)/kWh, but the Commission observed that these two could not be compared as the FiT for the FY 2019-20 is applicable only for ground-mounted projects and not floating solar PV projects.

Last year, the state Commission penalized the DISCOM for not fulfilling its RPO shortfall.

HIV-positive woman gang-raped in Bihar.

Source – hindustantimes.com

A young widow afflicted with HIV was gang-raped in a compartment of the Patna-Bhabua Intercity Express train on Monday night, police said on Tuesday.

Two men overpowered the woman around 11.50pm when the train was nearing its last stop, raped her and filmed the incident, police said, adding that both the accused were arrested and the woman sent for medical treatment.

Police said the 22-year-old woman from a village in Kaimur district boarded the train from Gaya where she had gone to get medicines at an anti-retroviral therapy centre. “The victim is undergoing treatment for HIV and was returning from Gaya when the incident took place in the train,” said Lallu Singh, SHO, GRP, Sasaram.

GRP (government railway police) officials said the arrested men were booked on charges of rape and filming the act under sections 376D and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and section 67A of the Information Technology Act.

The accused identified as Birendra Prakash Singh and Dipak Singh, both in their 30s and residents of Chaiti Muhalla of Kudra market in Kaimur district, boarded the train at Patna. They followed the woman after she boarded at Gaya and committed the crime when they found her alone in the compartment after the train left Kudra, police said.

“The accused were supposed to alight at the Kudra station but they chose to stay on the train to commit the crime. When the train left the Kudra station, the accused overpowered the widow and gang-raped her as the compartment was empty,” Singh said.

One of the accused was caught assaulting the victim by a GRP patrol team when the train reached its final stop at the Bhabua Road station during routine checking.

“When the train reached the station, a patrolling team noticed that the gates of one of the compartments were shut and its window shutters were down . It raised suspicion and some policemen entered the compartment. They found that a woman was being raped by one man, with another person filming the act. While one of the men was caught on the spot, the other managed to flee,” said another senior police officer.

The SHO said the other accused was nabbed on Tuesday afternoon after his identity was disclosed by his arrested accomplice.

Maoist waiting for train for south India in Jamui arrested by Bihar STF.

Source – hindustantimes.com

The special task force (STF) of the Bihar police arrested two persons including a hardcore cadre of the prescribed CPI (Maoist) from separate raids at Jamui and New Delhi, a police officer said Tuesday.

Acting on a tip-off, an STF team arrested a hard core Maoist Amrit Bhulla, a resident of Goli in Jamui. He was an active member of the gang led by Maoist Commander Sidhu Koda.

“Bhulla was wanted in connection with several criminal cases lodged against him at police stations in Jamui and neighboring state Jharkhand”, said a police officer, adding that police team arrested him near Jamui railway station when he tried to catch a train for South India.

In another incident, a wanted criminal Nityanand Singh was arrested from Bahadurgarh in New Delhi. He is wanted in around eight extortion and murder cases.

He had come under the police radar after he allegedly murdered a jewellery businessman named Sriman Narayan Gupta on December 29, 2019 in Barhara when he refused to pay extortion of Rs 1 lakh. Tracing his whereabouts, the Bihar police traced him to Delhi and approached the local police to seek assistance in nabbing the fugitive.

Earlier he demanded extortion of Rs 5 lakh from mobile shop owner Suraj Keshri, a trader of Saraiyabazar in Bhojpur district and threatened to eliminate him and his family if his demands were not met. Nityanand also fired on him but Keshri survived.

During interrogation, Nityanand said that he and his associate had planned to extort money from businessmen in Bhojpur and made a list of targets. They started calling them individually and also sent their henchmen to threaten them.

JP Nadda started career as Bihar Movement man.

Source – indiatoday.in

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader JP Nadda, who was elected as the national president of BJP on Monday, represents two different cultures – Bihari and Himachali. He spent his childhood in Bihar and learned the nuances of politics in his home state Himachal Pradesh.

JP Nadda belongs to Vijaypur village of Bilaspur district and was born on December 2,1960, in Patna.

He started his political career in 1975 as an activist of Bihar Movement (JP Movement). He later joined ABVP and contested student Central Association elections in Patna University and became secretary in 1977.

He earned his Bachelors degree from Patna University and was an active student leader between 1977 and 1979 in Ranchi.

JP Nadda started his first political agitation in 1985 as a student leader from his hometown Bilaspur. He migrated from Ranchi University to Himachal University, Shimla from where he earned his LLB degree.

He was also elected as ABVP president.

JP Nadda contested his first assembly elections in 1993 from Bilaspur Sadar assembly constituency and was leader of opposition in Himachal assembly between 1994 and 1998.

He won another assembly election in 1998 from Bilaspur and became Health minister of Himachal Pradesh. In 2007, he again contested the assembly election and became Forest and Environment minister.

However, Nadda had to resign in 2012 after he was asked to join the central leadership and was elected to the upper house of the Parliament in 2012. He became a Cabinet minister and was made Union Health Minister.

Ceding Ground in Delhi for Smooth Landing in Bihar: Explaining BJP’s Generosity Towards Nitish & Paswan.

Source – news18.com

The Bharatiya Janata Party has sought to firm up its alliance for the Bihar assembly polls scheduled later this year by accommodating two of its allies from the heartland state in its Delhi election plans.

The BJP, which is the main challenger to Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party in the national capital, has left two seats for Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and one for Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party. The JD(U) will contest from Sangam Vihar and Burari while the Seemapuri seat has been left for the LJP.

Both the regional parties had fielded candidates against the BJP in the Jharkhand assembly polls last year. There were also reports of the JD(U) extending help to BJP rebel candidate Saryu Roy who went on to defeat chief minister Raghubar Das in Jamshedpur.

In Jharkhand, the BJP also failed to firm up its alliance with its regional ally All Jharkhand Students Union, leading to a division of anti-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha votes. This was cited as one of the reasons for the BJP’s poor performance in the tribal-dominated state.

Some BJP allies have also been complaining of getting a short shrift from the NDA leader – both in states and the Centre. The saffron party under Narendra Modi has won clear majority in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, thus reducing its dependence on allies in running the government.

Shiv Sena, the oldest BJP ally, has already left the NDA to join hands with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra. Ties with the Shiromani Akali Dal have been strained over RSS’s attempts to expand Rashtriya Sikh Sangat – an affiliate formed to reach out to the Sikh community.

These moves have not gone down well with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee or SGPC, which coordinates with and is responsible for management of gurdwaras in the country. SAD feels RSS activities are impinging on SGPC activities that are inextricably entwined to the state’s polity.

Both Akali Dal and BJP’s Haryana ally Jannayak Janta Party have backed out of the Delhi polls. One constituency for which SAD had earlier staked claim, Harinagar, has been handed over to the BJP’s Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga. But elections in Punjab are some time away. And SAD, not BJP, has more at stake here.

However, the saffron party is taking no chances ahead of the Bihar polls. Having lost the JD(U) and consequently the elections to Lalu Prasad in 2015, it is extra cautious this time around. Nitish Kumar, on more than one occasion, has been announced as the NDA’s chief ministerial candidate.

Nitish had pulled a hard bargain ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to extract a few seats more for his party. As a mark of protest against disproportionate allocation of ministerial berths, his party did not join the Modi government.

The BJP, on the other hand, seems to be going the extra mile to accommodate Nitish Kumar and Paswan. Both in Bihar, and elsewhere.

Bihar CM, dy CM and others congratulate JP Nadda for becoming BJP president.

Source – newindianexpress.com

Congratulating JP Nadda on being elected as the national president of BJP replacing Amit Shah on Monday, Bihar BJP’s top leaders namely deputy CM Sushil K Modi and state chief Sanjay K Jaiswal said that the BJP would get yet another new height in the welkin of electoral success and people-oriented politics under JP Nadda’s party strategies.

JP Nadda has a deep connection with Patna where he had his schooling to college education from St Xavier high school to Patna College of Patna University.

“JP Nadda ji as national president of party will take the party to a new height of bright organisation excellence and set another benchmark in development-oriented and people-concerned politics”, Modi said.

He said that Nadda ji enjoys a sincere emotional and educational bond with Bihar because being born here with all grooming up.

Dr Nikhil Anand, spokesperson of BJP in Patna, also hailed the election of JP Nadda as the national president.

“His organisational skills and political strategies coupled with an innate quality of being a tough taskmaster and affable nature will encourage the n party to excel further in electoral success”, he said.

Besides the BJP leaders, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan also congratulated JP Nadda for his being elected as BJP national president.

2 dead in Darbhanga, Samastipur during Bihar govt’s programme.

Source – indiatoday.in

At least two people died in Bihar while taking part in a human chain organised by the state government on Sunday. While one person died in Darbhanga, another death was reported in Samastipur of Bihar.

The deceased have been identified as Mohd Daud and Reshma. It is suspected that Mohd Daud and Reshma, who were part of the human chain, died of heart attacks.

The human chain was organised to showcase the Bihar government’s environment conservation drive besides social reform measures like prohibition and campaigns against dowry and child marriage.

Mohd Daud was a 55-year-old government teacher who died while taking part in a human chain organised by the Nitish Kumar government, officials have said.

He died in Keoti police station area close to the Runway Chowk where he fell ill and collapsed. Daud was rushed to a hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Hospital sources said the deceased had suffered a cardiac arrest though it was not clear whether he was suffering from heart disease.

He taught at an Urdu medium secondary school and the district education officer has been instructed to look into the incident and take necessary action.

Bihar: People May Be Tired of Nitish, but a BJP CM Unlikely to Solve Problems.

Source – thewire.in

Last week, prominent Dalit BJP leader in Bihar Sanjay Paswan in an interview with the Indian Express claimed that people of Bihar are now “tired” of Nitish Kumar and need a chief minister from the BJP. “What I have gathered from my extensive tours in nearly 20 districts of the state is that people are now tired of Nitish Kumar. The state now needs a BJP CM, be it is Sushil Kumar Modi, Nityanand Rai, or anyone else,” Paswan, a and a Member of Legislative Council (MLC), told the newspaper.

BJP’s state spokesperson Nikhil Anand was quick to intervene, saying the remarks were Paswan’s personal views. Meanwhile, Janata Dal United (JDU) spokesperson and state information and public relations minister Neeraj Kumar said, “After Amit Shah made it clear that NDA would contest the elections under Nitish Kumar, there is no meaning in Paswan’s statement.” Indeed, on Thursday, while addressing a rally in Vaishali district of Bihar, Shah reiterated that the NDA will contest the next assembly election (due later this year) under the leadership of Kumar, adding the CM will be the face of the alliance.

However, it would be a mistake to believe that there is no substance in what Paswan actually claimed. It is a fact that the Bihar CM, unlike in previous elections, is facing an anti-incumbency sentiment. He is not as popular as he used to be a few years ago. In conversations with several observers of Bihar politics and visits to the state in recent years, I sensed growing resentment amongst people about Nitish Kumar’s rule. His image of Sushasan Babu (the Man of Good Governance) is no longer intact. This is something that he, his party and the BJP’s leadership are acutely aware of.

Signs of Kumar feeling under-confident can be also noticed in his party changing its slogan recently. It can be recalled that in 2015, ahead of the assembly elections, the JDU’s slogan was, “Bihar Mein Bahar Hai, Nitish Kumar Hai (Bihar is blooming, there is no alternative but Nitish Kumar)”. The slogan became very popular and played an important role in his return to power. However, in September last year, the slogan was changed to “Kyun Karen Vichar, Theek To Hain Nitish Kumar? (Why have second thoughts, what is wrong with Nitish Kumar’s rule?)”.

There is a marked difference in the tone and tenor of the slogans. The earlier slogan clearly indicated confidence, claiming there is no alternative to Nitish Kumar as far as the chief ministership of the state is concerned. The latest one, on the contrary, hints that Kumar and his party may be lacking confidence and acknowledges that people may be having second thoughts and that he is no longer invincible.

The BJP and other allies of the NDA also know this well and are hence trying to put pressure on him, albeit indirectly. Last year, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Ram Vilas Paswan also hinted that Nitish will be the face of the alliance, unless the BJP decides to bring in a different captain. Hence, the latest statement by the BJP leader should be seen in that context.

Reasons for Nitish’s declining popularity

There are several reasons for Kumar’s decreasing popularity. In recent years, several cases of misgovernance have surfaced. This includes, to name a few, Srijan scam, Muzaffarpur shelter home case, death of more than 100 children due to encephalitis, rise in crime in recent years and massive floods in several parts of the state, including the capital. These events have shattered Brand Nitish, the image of a leader who rescued Bihar from the “dark ages” and provided much needed good governance.

As with anywhere else, the media plays an important role in shaping a politician’s image. Local media and journalists played a crucial role in both portraying Nitish as popular and abled leader over the years and also now holding him responsible for the aforementioned events. However, in recent years, unlike his previous regimes, Nitish does have a similar level of control over local media. There was a time when “journalists in Patna often refer to Nitish as Bihar’s editor-in-chief instead of Chief Minister”. As per a report, nobody wanted to annoy the state’s ‘editor-in-chief’ even if the truth flew in their face and hence stories of alleged misrule in the state went unreported.

Assuming that people are really tired of Nitish Kumar, the question then is if a Sushil Kumar Modi or Nityanand Rai – or any other BJP leader for that matter – can provide a pro-people government? The answer is: a state government headed by a BJP leader is unlikely to be any different from the current one. There are two main reasons for this. The foremost reason is, barring a few years, the BJP has been an integral part of the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in the state since 2005. Sushil Modi is perhaps the longest serving deputy CM of Bihar. Unlike parties like LJP, the saffron party has been a prime partner of the Bihar government and cannot absolve itself from the ‘misrule’ of the Nitish government.

The Jharkhand experience

Moreover, even if the BJP is voted to power with a clear mandate or have an upper hand in the government, there is no guarantee that it will act differently. Clues can be found in the way the BJP ruled in Jharkhand, where the party recently suffered a bad defeat due to its ‘anti-people policies’. During the 2014 assembly elections, the party argued that the people of Jharkhand are disillusioned by lawlessness, corruption and bad governance first during the regime of Madhu Koda and then Hemant Soren. If the BJP is given a clear mandate, it will bring development to the state, the party said. The people did so, voting in the BJP-led alliance. But the way the government functioned, forced the voters to unseat the BJP five years later.

Under Raghubar Das, anti-Adivasi and pro-corporate policies were brought in Jharkhand. Those who tried to protest and resist the policies were branded ‘anti-national’, charged with sedition and jailed. Incidents of mob lynching also increased in the state. Death due to hunger became a common phenomenon. Apart from tribals, Dalits and minorities, other sections of society also suffered. All this irked a large number of voters. So much so that five-time MLA and sitting CM Das lost his traditional seat. Moreover, Das’s former cabinet colleague levelled serious charges of corruption against him.

Today, the situation in Bihar is not very different from Jharkhand in 2014. While it would be a mistake to think people are not tired of Nitish Kumar, the bigger mistake would be to think that a BJP regime will solve the problems the state faces. That’s because the party and its leadership have been part of the problem equally. Denying that is nothing but cheating the people of Bihar.

Bihar STET 2019 admit card to release today, exam on Jan 28, here’s how to download.

Source – hindustantimes.com

Bihar STET 2019 admit card: Bihar Secondary Teacher’s Eligibility Test (BSTET) 2019 admit card will be released today on the official website of Bihar Board. BSTET will be conducted on January 28, 2020. Candidates who have registered the exam will be able to download their admit card online.

Candidates can download their admit cards online at bsebstet2019.in.

The BSTET will be conducted in two shifts. Paper 1 will be conducted in morning shift from 10 am to 12:30 pm while the paper 2 will be conducted in evening shift from 2 pm to 4:30 pm. Candidates should report at the centre one hour before the commencement of exam.

Moreover, it has been stated that candidates wearing shoes, sacks and wrist watch will not be allowed to enter the exam hall. Candidates are advised to wear slippers at the exam centre.

There are a total of 25270 vacancies for teachers of class 9 and 10 while 12065 vacancies are there for teachers of class 11 and 12.

How to download BSTET admit card 2019:

Visit the official website at bsebstet2019.in

Click on the link that reads STET admit card

Your admit card will be displayed on screen

Download and take its print out.

Depressed Bihar man kills mother, wife, 3 minor daughters.

Source – outlookindia.com

Munger (Bihar), Jan 17 (IANS) A man in Bihar”s Munger district has killed his own mother, wife and three minor daughters as he was suffering from depression after some documents of a shop that he owned went missing. The man also attempted suicide by jumping from the roof after killing the five, the police said on Friday.

According to the police, the incident took place in the Haveli Kharagpur police station area of Munger district. The police, however, have arrested the accused person who received minor injuries.

“Bharat Kumar Kesari, a resident of Kanhaiya Tola Mohalla of Haveli Kharagpur, strangled five people to death in his own house and also tried to commit suicide by jumping down from the roof,” the police said.

The accused owned a shop and some papers of it went missing following which he was in a state of depression. On Friday, Kesari strangled the sleeping mother Savitri Devi, 90, wife Asha Devi, 40, and daughters Shivani Kesari, 16, Simran Kesari, 14, and Sonam Kesari, 11, the police said.

Thereafter, the accused tried to kill himself by jumping from the roof of the house. He, however, received minor injuries and is being treated at Kharagpur Hospital, the police added.

A police officer said that the accused has been arrested and the bodies have been sent for post-mortem. The police is investigating into the matter.