Category: Jharkhand

23-year-old is Chandrayaan-2’s Jharkhand connection

Source: telegraphindia.com

he Rs 978-crore Chandrayaan-2 mission to the Moon, which was successfully launched onboard the GSLV-MkIII-M1 rocket from the spaceport in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, on Monday, has a Jharkhand connection.

Ranchi boy Gaurav Vaibhav, 23, who passed his 12th from Jawahar Vindya Mandir Shyamali in 2011, is a flight dynamics scientist for the mission, which is intended to help India become the fourth country to soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon after the former Soviet Union and the US in 1966 and China in 2014.

Gaurav has been working with the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro’s) satellite centre in Bangalore since 2015 after completing his BTech in aerospace engineering from the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology in Kerala.

“Chandrayaan-2 is very important to me as it is my first interplanetary mission experience,” Gaurav told The Telegraph on Monday. “I learnt a lot, and felt the heat of being part of this historic mission. Being a flight dynamics scientist, I am involved in designing and planning of events to make the lander achieve the required landing site on the Moon. This kind of work requires a lot of numerical computations and analysis.”

Chandrayaan-2, made up of an orbiter and a lander with a rover, is expected to throw more light on the Moon. The Chandrayaan-1 orbiter, Isro had earlier said, had “conclusively discovered traces of water” on the Moon. The first mission had also discovered water ice in the Moon’s north polar region.

Gaurav has been part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission for the last one-and-half years.

“Within this timeframe, I had carried out the lander trajectory analysis and successfully completed the allotted activities,” he said.

Asked if anyone else from Jharkhand is part of the mission, Gaurav said: “Since many centres of Isro are involved, there could be (other) people from Jharkhand or Ranchi also but I would not know.”

He said there were lows, of at times stumbling on a problem, and highs — of achieving the solution.

“It has been really a fabulous learning experience for me. There were many challenges. Being the maiden lunar landing mission of India, soft landing on the required site is critical. All the subsystems are expected to perform; even one small system failure may lead to crash-landing. Since this landing phase will be of roughly just 20 minutes, recovery of any failure within that time isn’t possible,” he said. “Working together with so many subsystems in an integrated manner strengthened me technically from every aspect.”

Asked why the mission’s July 15 launch was cancelled, Gaurav said: “Cryogenic filling in the launch vehicle is done just four hours before the launch because it is highly inflammable.

On July 14, the required pressure could not develop during cryogenic filling because of an unexpected gap in a valve. Hence the mission was postponed till the problem was rectified. Fortunately it was observed at the right time and a major catastrophe was averted.”

Gaurav’s father Sudhir Upadhyay, under secretary in the state home department, who lives in Harmu Housing Colony, said he was proud of his son for being a part of the historic mission.

Over Ten Detained in Jharkhand in Lynching of Four Elderly Tribals

Source: thewire.in

Gumla: Over ten people were detained for allegedly lynching four elderly tribals, including two women, accusing them of practicing witchcraft in the Gumla district in Jharkhand, police said Monday.

Suna Oraon (65), Champa Oraon (79), Fagni Oraine (60) and Piro Oraine (74) were beaten to death by a group of ten masked men in Nagar-Siskari village on Saturday night, they said.

However, nobody in the village is willing to talk about the incident, police said.

“Over ten villagers have been taken into custody since Sunday for interrogation. Locals used to visit the deceased, who were suspected of performing witchcraft, with the belief that they could cure diseases,” SP Anjani Kumar Jha said.

He said the victims were not involved in any land dispute, which many experts believe becomes the reason behind accusing people of practicing witchcraft.

“Branding a person as ‘witch’ is one of the tactics to usurp his or her properties. Majority of the incidents occur in tribal areas as sorcery is widely practiced there,” said Premchand, chairman of Free Legal Air Committee, which works towards the eradication of witchcraft.

Jharkhand govt must engage with Khunti citizens, protestors demand

Source: downtoearth.org.in

Every tenth person in the sites of ‘Pathalgadi’ by tribal communities face sedition charges, alleged protestors in Jharkhand. The police have invoked draconian laws, including allegations of sedition, against 30,000 unnamed people, they claimed.

The tribal protestors demonstrated in front of the Raj Bhavan — the guvernatorial seat — in Ranchi on July 22, 2019.

Those at the receiving end are mostly from Khunti, Arki and Murhu blocks of Khunti district, where ‘Pathalgadi’ was at its peak in recent years.

“The brutal manner in which the Jharkhand government is dealing with the Pathalgadi movement is a gross overreaction to legitimate and nonviolent demands from local adivasis,” development economist Jean Dreze, who has been working in the region for several years, said. The tradition of self-government should be valued and celebrated, he added.

Residents of more than 100 villages have put up stone plaques at village entrances to claim the power granted to Gram Sabhas under the constitutional provisions of the Fifth Schedule and the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA).

The special provisions are to protect the local community in tribal areas and recognise the role of Gram Sabha in self rule as reported extensively by Down To Earth.

The movement, however, has not gone down well with the state government, which has come down hard on some locals (includign a few intellectuals) who advocated the movement. Twenty such persons, including journalists and writers, face police cases allegedly for raising the issue on public fora.

The tribal community as well as experts have pointed out that Pathalgadi originated in 2015-16, when the government tried to take away land. People protesting under the umbrella of Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, a network of activists and people’s organisations.

Some 1.5 million people of Jharkhand were displaced, 41 per cent of whom were tribals.

In the last few decades, there have been several alleged attempts to grab land in the name of development projects (Koel-Karo hydroelectricity dams, Arcelor-Mittal steel plant, etc) in Khunti.

Former Lok Sabha MP and Founder of Jharkhand Movement AK Roy Passes Away in Dhanbad

Source: news18.com

Dhanbad: Former Lok Sabha MP and founder of Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC), A K Roy passed away at a hospital here on Sunday.

Roy, a bachelor, was 90, party sources said. The veteran Left leader and chief patron of CITU Jharkhand state committee was admitted to the Central Hospital here on July 8 following age-related problems and he died of multi-organ failure, doctors said.

He was one of the founders of the Jharkhand movement.

The three-time MP from Dhanbad was also founder of Jharkhand’s regional party Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC).

Roy won the Dhanbad Lok Sabha seat in 1977, 1980 and 1989, besides representing Sindri seat in Bihar Assembly in 1967, 1969 and 1972.

Along with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) supremo Shibu Soren and former MP late Binod Bihari Mahto, Roy began

Jharkhand movement demanding a separate state from Bihar in 1971. Jharkhand became a separate state on November 15, 2000.

Roy was born in Sapura village, now in Bangladesh. His father Shivendra Chandra Roy was an advocate. He completed MSc in Chemistry from Calcutta University in 1959 and worked for two years in a private firm. Later, he joined PDIL Sindri In 1961.

He actively participated in Bihar Band agitation on August 9, 1966 and was arrested and sent to Jail. As he opposed the then government, the Projects and Development India Limited (PDIL) management dismissed him from job.

Roy entered trade union and started agitation in Sindri Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI) and against private colliery owners. In 1967 he contested on CPI (M) ticket from Sindri Assembly seat of Bihar and won.

But he resigned from CPI(M) and formed his Marxist Coordination Committee.

Roy was called a ‘political saint’ by his associates and followers as his bank account always showed ‘zero balance’ till he breathed his last.

Roy lived in the house of a party worker at Pathaldih area, 17 km away from Dhanbad, for the past one decade.

Earlier he lived in his party office at Temple Road at Purana Bazaar here. “He was the first MP in the country who opposed increase in perks and pension proposals in 1989 for MPs, though his proposal was defeated,” Anand Mahto, a former MCC MLA, said.

Jharkhand death: Kin point to lack of food, govt officials cite illness

Source: indianexpress.com

Jhingur Bhuyia, 42, died in Dorhagara village of Kanhachatta block of Jharkhand on Tuesday night. He left behind two children aged six and one, and wife Rubi Devi, who attributed his death to illness and lack of food.

Rubi Devi said her husband, who used to work as a daily wage labourer, was paralysed for a year, and the family did not have any income or a ration card. Her husband’s death, she said, was due to “his prolonged illness and lack of food at home, due to which he could not be fed well.”

She said she had borrowed Rs 100 from her neighbours to buy milk for her husband.

Denying that Bhuyia’s death was caused by hunger, Deputy Commissioner Jitendra Singh told reporters, “Prima facie, the death was due to illness.”

According to Singh: “Two months ago, Bhuyia had a paralytic attack on his face and could not eat solid food. The family had a ration card in his mother’s and sister-in-law’s name and his family got their share. There was a request by Bhuyia’s wife to add their names in the ration card, which has now been done. Our investigation says there was no food scarcity at home. This is not a case of death due to hunger.”

SDO Deepu Kumar, part of the inquiry team, told The Indian Express that the “actual cause of death” will be known after the post-mortem report. He added, “It is a baseless claim that the family did not have a ration card.” Bhuyia’s mother Maso Budhni (now deceased) had an Antyodaya Anna Yojna (AAY) card and his sister-in-law Basanti Devi has a ration card.

Rubi Devi said, “These cards are not in our name, and are being used by my brother-in-law who lives separately. They used to give me around 5-6 kg rice, which we could use for a few days. For the rest of the month, we had to often depend on other villagers.”

AAY households constitute the poorest of the poor and are entitled to 35 kg foodgrain a month.

Rubi Devi said she received her Aadhaar card a few months ago, but could not get a ration card from the local PDS dealer despite going to his shop several times. The PDS dealer could not be contacted. “Before his death, it was a struggle, I had to ask everyone for food. Many people helped…,” Rubi Devi said, sitting outside her kuccha house. “Our food comprised rice and potatoes. Rarely did we have pulses.”

She added, “We have a small piece of land, but due to lack of water, the produce is limited to one season. We will harvest corn in a few months. This is divided between the three brothers, and we don’t get much.”

She also said she was never offered any job under MGNREGA. The MGNREGA website states that Bhuyia had a job card made in his and his wife’s name in 2007, but does not have any work details.

When contacted, the panchayat’s Mukhiya Rajwanti Devi said the family never approached her for any job or problems. “The family should have told us so that I could have gone to higher officials,” she said.

According to the family members, Bhuiya was treated at an “ayurvedic centre” in Bishnugarh, more than 100 km away. Villagers said they did not trust the public health centres (PHC) as the doctors are usually not available. Less than 2 km from the village at Kanhachatti block area, an additional PHC is run with three Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANM). There is no doctor. ANM Sulekha Kumari said, “Doctors rarely visit this centre, few people come to us. Deliveries happen quite often, but we face problems because of water scarcity. We get water in buckets from neighbouring area for deliveries.”

On this, DC Singh said he would have to check, “It is a fact that there is shortage of doctors and vacancy of 130 doctors in Chatra,” he said. An additional PHC covers population of 20-30,000 and acts as a referral unit for health-sub centres.

No ease of business for this Jharkhand entrepreneur

Source: telegraphindia.com

A soft coke unit, whose foundation stone was laid by none other than chief minister Raghubar Das in December 2017 as a showpiece project borne out of the state’s first Global Investors’ Summit earlier in the year, is yet to have a power connection.

BL Soft Coke Industry, set up by Sastrinangar industrialist B.L. Agarwal at Kalyanpur, about 13km from here, by investing around Rs 65 lakh, has been running on power from diesel generator sets, leading to higher costs that has adversely impacted the SME’s bottomline.

Worst, a scrubber installed as per Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board guidelines to control emissions, hasn’t been functioning properly for want of a regular power connection.

“We had high hopes when we went to Bokaro in December 2017 during the state’s third ground breaking ceremony. Foundation stones were laid online of as many as 105 units with chief minister Raghubar Das presiding over the function amidst much fanfare. But till now, one of our basic requirements hasn’t been fulfilled,” said B.L Agarwal’s son, Gaurav, who runs the unit on behalf of his father.

Gaurav said they had approached officials of Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam (JBVNL) in Dhanbad more than 30 times ever since they had applied for an electricity connection on September 6, 2017. “But, we are yet to get a power connection. We are facing a lot of difficulties,” he said.

A year ago, Gaurav received a call from an official in the state government’s single window cell that is supposed to streamline permissions and clearances that entrepreneurs may require.

“I was asked if I was facing any difficulty. I told them about the delay in getting an electricity connection. But the issue is yet to be resolved,” he said.

Soft coke is a byproduct of coal with lesser ash content and moisture. BL Soft Coke Industry produces around 400 tonnes of soft coke per month for which it requires 30-40 litres of diesel to run generators and other factory equipment.

JBVNL junior engineer Chandan Kumar promised to resolve the issue in a day or two. “We have already completed all formalities for awarding a connection to BL Soft Coke Industry. There was an error in the company’s application form. Instead of applying for a 10HP (horse power) connection the factory applied for a 2KVA connection,” he said.

Gaurav admitted the error, but reasoned that it could not be the reason for such an inordinate delay. “The power connection could always have been given and the issue of load sorted out later. I can’t understand the reason for the delay when there is electricity in all the villages near my factory,” he said.

Jharkhand Industries and Trade Association general secretary Rajiv Sharma said the experience of BL Soft Coke shows how red tape is killing entrepreneurship. “JBVNL is earning a bad name for itself and for Jharkhand. The state government is framing policies for the convenience of businessmen with good intentions, but the benefit of the policies are not reaching the targeted people,” he rued.

BJP starts early preparation for polls in Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Haryana

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

New Delhi: After its massive victory in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP is eyeing to repeat the success in the assembly polls to be held later this year in three states. 

It has started preparation for the elections in Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Haryana. BJP working president JP Nadda has already started visiting the states to take stock of the preparation and further strategy of the party. 

Nadda visited Jharkhand on July 13-14, and held a meeting of the core group of the state BJP discussing the party’s preparation and candidates for the upcoming assembly elections. 

He is scheduled to visit Maharashtra on July 20-21. Other than meeting party leaders, Nadda would also visit BJP workers at a particular booth to motivate them before the elections. The central leadership has nominated a new president for Maharashtra, Chandrakant Patil, on Tuesday. 

Usually a new state president forms his own team. However, considering the assembly elections in less than six months, sources told ET that there would be no further change in the state committee. 

Meanwhile, BJP’s Maharashtra in-charge Saroj Pandey has already toured five districts. “I shall be visiting every district before elections,” Pandey told ET. 

While the BJP is preparing for elections, NDA partner Shiv Sena too has started campaigns projecting Aditya Thackrey as the next chief minister. 

But Pandey said the CM would be of the BJP and that “there is no second though about that”. The party has assigned private agencies to conduct four state-wise surveys to assess the mood of the people and select candidates. 

Nadda plans to also visit Haryana, but the dates have not been finalised. In the meantime, chief minister Manohar Lal would embark on a state-wide yatra beginning August 15. “We are focusing on the yatra of the chief minister,” Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala told ET. 

“Apart from that work has begun to connect with party workers at the booth level and all the party MLAs are working on the tasks assigned to them.” 

Drought fear looms large in Jharkhand as 14 districts face 40% rainfall deficit

Source: hindustantimes.com

With monsoon rains skipping Jharkhand in peak kharif sowing season, drought cloud is looming large over the state as merely 10.58% paddy sowing coverage was achieved so far.

Paddy sowing is yet to take place in 13 out of 24 districts of the state due to rain deficit. Of the 11 districts where sowing has started, five districts have recorded less than one percentage sowing till Monday, according to district-wise kharif coverage data of the state agriculture department.

The coverage of other kharif crops is also not encouraging. Maize sowing coverage till date is 38.91%, pulses 12.76%, oil seeds 25.81% and coarse cereals 8.50%, according to the data.

In first week, the monsoon rainfall had raised hope of farmers, but it started weakening after July 12. Due to good rainfall till July 10, rainfall deficit recorded from 52% on July 1 to 30% on July 11. However, the weak monsoon for last five days has again increased the crisis as the rainfall deficit was recorded at 38% on Tuesday.

“Barring two districts Ranchi and Simdega, rainfall was nil in 22 districts in past 24 hours due to inactive monsoon,” said SD Kotal, director at Ranchi’s centre of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). He, however, said monsoon became active over Jharkhand from Tuesday evening due to formation of a cyclonic circulation over Bay of Bengal

Light to moderate rainfall was expected in 50% area of Jharkhand mostly in parts of southern, north and northeast during next 24 hours, he said. “We are expecting good rainfall on Wednesday and Thursday due to the system, which would help improve rainfall deficit,” Kotal said. Jharkhand has received 227.4mm rainfall against the normal rainfall of 364.9mm, which means 38% deficit. Khunti district is facing highest 61% rain deficit, where the paddy sowing was recorded at 0.36% till Monday.

Out of 24, 14 districts have been facing over 40% rainfall deficit, which has largely impacted the paddy sowing activities.

An agriculture department official said the paddy sowing trend was almost similar to the previous year, which witnessed drought in 129 blocks out of 264. In 2018, sowing could not take place in 12 districts in the state till July 16.

Director research of Birsa Agricultural University (BAU), Dr DN Singh said that situation was grim.

“Farmers will have to change the pattern of paddy farming, as rainfall shortage has emerged as major trouble in state for last few years. Now, farmers will have to go for direct seeding instead of transplanting,” he said.

He said the ideal time for paddy sowing was July 15. “With delayed rainfall in monsoon season, the paddy sowing activity was extended to July 31. But, delayed sowing causes harvest loss due to age of the seed,” he said.

The state aims to sow paddy on 18 lakh hectares of land this kharif. However, BAU scientists find it a tough task due to delayed and deficit monsoon.

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Jharkhand to build shelter home for adult orphans

Source: telegraphindia.com

Jharkhand will be building a shelter home for orphans above 18 years to fulfil a provision in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act- 2015.

Named Place of Stay, the shelter will be meant for orphans who can no longer be accommodated in regular government shelters where children below 18 are accommodated and also for those who facing cases in a court of law.

“In Jharkhand, there are around 72 shelter homes for children, including 10 for children in conflict with the law where children up to 18 years stay. These shelter homes are run by the government as well as authorised NGOs. Currently, 3,223 children are living there. Now, we have planned to build a shelter home for persons above 18 years,” minister of women, child development and social security Louise Marandi told the media on Monday at Suchana Bhavan where she also highlighted the achievements and priorities of her department.

Special secretary D.K. Saxena, who was also present at the media interaction, explained that shelter homes were meant for children who were either orphaned or separated from their parents and family due to legal complications or circumstances beyond their control.

Shelter homes, he added, were also meant for children who had committed a crime.

“These are children who are in conflict with law. Such children, till they are 18, are kept at shelter homes. But technically once they attain adulthood they can’t be accommodated at shelter homes. Yet, we cannot leave such children unattended till their cases are disposed of,” he said, adding that Place of Safety was an institutional mechanism within the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act-2015.

“There is a provision in the act to set up a proper shelter home for adolescents. A proposal has been finalised and we are looking for a suitable location to construct a building,” Saxena said. Teenagers above 18, he added, would be accommodated at the Place of Stay till they are 21.

The women and child department suffered a crisis of credibility in July last year when a Ranchi shelter, Nirmal Hriday, managed by the Missionaries of Charity, was embroiled in a baby sale racket that had apparently been going on for long.

The racket, busted after a childless couple who paid for a baby, was later asked to return the child. The incident revealed that the department did not have any mechanism of monitoring the activities of the shelters.

Marandi said her department subsequently cancelled registration of 14 NGOs after finding out that they were running shelters without proper facilities in violation of rules.

“Besides rescue and rehabilitation of minors subjected to child labour and trafficking, we have set up integrated rehabilitation and resource centres in Delhi and in Ranchi. To provide temporary shelter to rescued girls and women we have also set up one-stop centres in every district. Earlier, we had one-stop centres in Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad,” she said.

The minister said that for empowerment of girls, aged between 14 and 24, the state government had launched a Rs 540 crore scheme called Tejashwini Yojana. The World Bank would provide 70 per cent of the funds. The remaining would be mobilised by the women and child department.

“We launched this programme in Dumka and Ramgarh district. It will be extended to other districts. As many as 50,000 girls have been chosen and we will ensure they are get education till class 10. They will also be given training so that they are employable,” the minister said.

The department, she added, planned to target seven lakh girls. “We have formed Tejashwini clubs where girls and women are taught about their rights and duties, besides creating awareness about education,” she said.