Worry within RJD as Tejashwi Yadav stays away from action

Source: indianexpress.com

The meeting of RJD’s legislature party was cancelled on Saturday, reportedly because Leader of Opposition in Assembly Tejashwi Yadav was not going to attend it. This comes a day after former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi said on Friday that Tejashwi would attend the meeting on Saturday. On Friday, 66 of the party’s 81 MLAs attended the meeting.

Tejashwi has been mostly missing from the political scene after the Lok Sabha results in which the RJD drew a blank. He attended the just-concluded Assembly proceedings only for a couple of days, but did not take part in any debate. He also skipped the recent function of the RJD regarding its campaign to get new members.

He has, however, been active on Twitter. He recently criticised the state government for the deaths of children in Muzaffarpur and Vaishali because of the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome and over its handling of the flood situation.

A section of RJD leaders are concerned with Tejashwi’s “growing disinterest” in state politics. An RJD source said, “He wants to be in full control of the party but he is not being allowed to do so. He has been upset at his elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav’s intermittent acts of defiance. He is also unhappy with some senior leaders blaming him solely for the party’s defeat. He wants his family to set things in order before he takes over reins of the party with full interest.”

Tej Pratap, who has floated apolitical forum Lalu Rabri Morcha, has been constantly throwing a challenge to Tejashwi’s leadership. “Though Tej Pratap might not have much support beyond the youth wing leaders of the party, his actions can embarass the party,” said a senior RJD leader.

An RJD leader said the rout in the Lok Sabha polls has dampened the morale of the party. “Tejashwi is not being able to take senior leaders along and to inspire confidence in the workers at the grassroots. His current silence is harmful for the alliance too. Congress is already talking about going alone in the Assembly polls,” said the leader.

While Rabri Devi allayed apprehensions of any split in the party during the meeting on Friday, senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh spoke about how the alliance with RLSP, Vikasshil Insaan Party and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) did not benefit the RJD.

Party spokesperson Mrityunjay Tewari said, “The party meeting on Saturday had to be cancelled because of unavoidable reasons. Not much should be read into it.”

Inspired by AAP, Jharkhand govt starts Atal Mohalla Clinics across 17 districts

Source: indiatoday.in

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) may not see eye to eye but when it comes to policies, even the saffron party accepts and appreciates the ambitious health scheme of the Mohalla Clinics launched by the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi-NCR in 2015.

After Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, and Karnataka, the Jharkhand government, too, adopted the concept of the Mohalla Clinics. The concept was launched by the Jharkhand government in a ceremony on August 16 on the first death anniversary of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The Mohalla Clinic in Jharkhand has been renamed as Atal clinic.

The government has launched 25 clinics in 17 districts across the state. Chief Minister Raghubar Das was visibly pleased and said that this is the best way to pay tribute and rich homage to the departed leader on his death anniversary.

The clinic, which has already started operating, will facilitate the patients with consultancy, diagnostic tests, and dispensary. “When we were at the centre, at least 26 patients received consultancy and they were happy,” one of the doctors said.

Principal Secretary of the health department, Nitin Kulkarni had earlier said that the features of the clinic are more or less similar to the Mohalla Clinics operating in Delhi-NCR. The only hurdle is fewer doctors in Jharkhand. Jharkhand has a ratio of one doctor per 10,000 patients. While the WHO vision 2020 demands one doctor per 1,000 patients.

Chief minister Raghubar Das launches Atal clinic in Ranchi

Source : Telegraphindia.com

Chief minister Raghubar Das on Friday inaugurated an Atal clinic at Edalhatu in Morabadi that will offer free treatment and medicines to local residents.

The clinic was part of the 25 Atal clinics launched in 17 districts of Jharkhand on Friday, to mark the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Ranchi mayor Asha Lakra, Ranchi MP Sanjay Seth, state urban development minister C.P. Singh, deputy mayor Sanjeev Vijayvargiya, state health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkrani and urban development secretary Ajoy Kumar Singh were present at the inauguration of the Edalhatu clinic.

“This clinic is dedicated to our beloved former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. We have set a target to open as many as 100 Atal clinics across Jharkhand by September 25. In the 2019-20 budget, the government had promised to start clinics at the colony level,” the chief minister said in his address.

The CM directed civil surgeons of the districts to visit Atal clinics daily to ensure their proper functioning.

The clinic will operate from the RMC ward office. The government will appoint a doctor who will be available at the clinic from 6-10 in the morning and 6-8 in the evening.

The Atal clinic, which will function as a normal outdoor patients’ department, will offer free treatment and medicines for normal health problems.

The facility of vaccination will be available twice a week.

Pregnant women can seek free medical consultation at the clinic, which can also conduct tests for anaemia, tuberculosis and malaria.

State health secretary Kulkarni said Atal clinic would be opened in urban areas having a minimum population of 15,000 to 20,000 people who don’t have easy access to sadar and government hospitals and health centres.

“Local urban bodies will have to provide space for these clinics, which will be opened in accordance with the requirement. It is not necessary that every ward under the civic body will have a clinic,” Kulkarni said.

On the Ayushman Bharat scheme, the flagship scheme of the central government that was launched from Ranchi on September 23 last year, the CM said: “We had set a target to include 2.85 crore people belonging to 57 lakh families of Jharkhand under this scheme. So far, golden card has been issued to 40 lakh individuals. We have set a target to issue golden cards to the remaining 2.45 crore people by the end of September 23. The government has launched the drive from today (Friday).”

On the sidelines of the clinic launch, the chief minister handed over golden cards to some of the local residents.

Rain takes a 48-hour break in Jharkhand

Source: telegraphindia.com

Most parts of Jharkhand won’t have rain for the next 48 hours due to a weak monsoon trough, weathermen said on Thursday.

The axis of the monsoon trough at mean sea level was passing through Sri Ganganagar (Rajasthan), Narnaul (Haryana), northwest Madhya Pradesh and south Uttar Pradesh, stretching to Bankura (Bengal), Mizoram till Bangladesh.

Director of Ranchi Met Centre S.D. Kotal said rainfall had reduced due to the weakening of monsoon currents over Jharkhand. “The currents are expected to regain strength after the next 48 hours,” he said.

A bulletin issued by the Ranchi Met on Thursday afternoon indicated thunderstorm with lightning at a few places over Jharkhand on Sunday, August 18.

Met data revealed districts in northeastern parts including Pakur, Sahebganj, Godda and Deoghar had rain in the past 24 hours. Pakuria in Pakur recorded 85mm and Rajmahal in Sahebganj recorded 25mm. Pockets of Dhanbad and Bokaro districts and Jamshedpur recorded 10mm.

Against a normal of 676.1mm, Jharkhand has so far received 455.4 mm, a deficit of 33 per cent. Sahebganj is the only district with 11 per cent surplus. 

Cabinet gives nod to Bihar Sand Mining Policy 2019

Source: moneycontrol.com

The Bihar Cabinet has approved the revised sand mining policy as per which an applicant can get licence for a maximum of two sand blocks.

The Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on August 13 gave its nod to the draft proposal of Bihar Sand Mining Policy 2019 with a view to regulate sand mining, conserve environment, ensure availability of sand, Cabinet Secretariat Department, principal secretary, Sanjay Kumar told reporters here.

As per the draft policy, now a single person or a registered company, partnership firm or a cooperative society can obtain license for a maximum two sand blocks/ghats or 200 hectares of sand mining area, whichever is lower, the principal secretary said.

Any person now can get maximum of two sand blocks allotted provided such mining area is not spread over 200 hectares of mining area either in one district or any other district, he said adding that now the government has set a limit for getting sand blocks.

The draft policy has also treated rivers in district as a separate unit for allotment of sand blocks, the principal secretary said.

Altogether 19 decisions were taken in the cabinet meeting.

The cabinet also decided to reserve one per cent of quota for people performing well on national and international sporting events in the selection of constables in Bihar Police, he said.It also sanctioned a revised estimate of Rs 108 crore for providing piped drinking water in arsenic affected villages of Maner in Patna district, he said.

Jharkhand school lessons on bolt safety

Source: telegraphindia.com

ightning, which kills over 130 people in Jharkhand on an average every year, will be a part of the academic curriculum in over 2,000 government schools from the next session.

A proposal by the disaster management department to include lightning and related safety parameters in the syllabus has been accepted by the state executive committee, which, led by chief secretary D.K. Tiwari, coordinates and monitoring its many initiatives.

“The executive committee will hold a final discussion, primarily the nitty-gritty, at its meeting soon. After that the chief secretary will issue formal guidelines,” said Manish Kumar Tiwari, joint secretary, home, prisons and disaster management.

Sources said the executive committee meeting would have senior bureaucrats of various departments, including principal secretary of school education and literacy A. P. Singh, who will be a special invitee since the proposal deals with his domain.

“The meeting is scheduled to discuss threadbare details like contents of the proposed chapter on lightning and the subject under which the chapter would be included for teaching in classes 8, 9 and 10. The subject will be introduced from the 2020-21 academic session,” said an official.

The state disaster management department will also be sending directives to deputy commissioners of all 24 districts, asking them to disseminate information on lightning safety during assembly in schools.

“Deputy commissioners of Bokaro and Hazaribagh have already started talking about the dos and don’ts on lightning safety during assembly at state-owned primary, middle and high schools. We would like other districts to do the same,” said Tiwari.

The state disaster management authority, which functions under the department, is planning to launch its own GPS-based software project to prevent casualties arising out of lightning strikes.

Officials said the software, designed by Jharkhand Agency for Promotion of Information Technology (JAPIT), aims to issue alerts to people in lightning-prone areas based on inputs from Ranchi Met office.

“The software will automatically send text messages to smart phones in the area (the phones need to switch on their location service) asking users to take precautionary measures. Our motto is to curb casualties. We are planning to roll it out on Independence Day,” Tiwari said.

Ranchi to host 6km promotional on cycling

Source: telegraphindia.com

This Independence Day residents of the capital are being urged to be a part of “Cyclothon”, a rally to promote the use of the cycle given its credentials as a pollution-free, noise-free and environment friendly mode of commute.

“This is a promotional effort to increase awareness on the app-based public bicycle sharing system that has been introduced in the capital as a part of the Ranchi Smart City project. Cyclists will use promotional banners painted in the colours of the Indian flag, sporting slogans in Hindi to encourage people to opt for cycling,” said state urban development department spokesperson Amit Kumar.

According to a 2014 survey by the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), use of shared autos (diesel and battery operated) in Ranchi was at 28 per cent, while operation of buses constitutes a meagre 5 per cent of the share of public transport.

On an average, 800 people are using the app-based public bicycle sharing platform a day, said Shashi Ranjan, manager of Chartered Bike, the Ahmedabad-based firm that launched the initiative in Ranchi.

“Earlier, 1,500 people would use the bicycles a day. But due to the monsoon, usage has slipped to 800 per day. However, with more awareness people’s interest will increase,” he said, explaining the rational behind an event like Cyclothon.

At the event, cyclists will display Hindi slogans like, “Azadi pradushan se, azadi traffic jam se, sankalp le cycle chalane ka, desh ko swachh evam pradyushan mukt banana ka (Freedom from pollution, freedom from traffic jams, take the pledge to opt for cycle and make the country clean and pollution free).”

Ranjan said they were organising such an event for the first time. “So far, we have got confirmation from 15 cyclists. They will be provided with T-shirts and the banners. Since it is a promotional event, the rides will be free,” he said.

The Cyclothon, of 6km, will commence at 7am from Albert Ekka Square (on Main Road) and traverse through major intersections like Lalpur, Dangratoli, St Xavier’s College square, Iqra Masjid and culminate at Big Bazaar (opposite Ranchi Club).

The first phase of the app-based initiative was launched in March with 600 German-made cycles. As many as 60 docking stations were set up along two routes, namely, Kanke Road-Chandni Chowk-Suchana Bhawan-Main Road and Kokar-Lalpur-Circular Road-Kutchery Chowk-Morabadi.

Chartered Bike is ready to launch the second phase with 600 more bicycles and is currently carrying out a survey to set up more docking stations.

“The second phase will have cycles on routes between Karamtoli Chowk to Kokar via Booty More, Ratu Road to Project Bhawan via Shahjanand Chowk, Argora Chowk and Birsa Chowk, Birsa Chowk to Main Road and Shahjanand Chowk to Main Road via Kadru. We are ready with the bicycles and will soon start construction of docking stations after completing the survey,” said a company official.

Ranjan referred to the initial hiccups they faced when people began parked their motorbikes at docking stations, thereby defeating the very purpose of the cycle-sharing initiative.

“Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) had deputed guards to ensure that people do not park their bikes at our docking stations. But we would like more stringent measures to prevent illegal parking at our docking stations,” Ranjan noted.

The Chartered Bike app is available on both Android and iOS platforms. There is a subscription fee, Rs 35.40 a day, Rs 236 a month and Rs 1,180 a year. There is a nominal user charge of Rs 5, but the first 30 minutes are free.

Those who do not have access to smartphones can buy tickets and use the cycles.

PM Modi fulfilled Vallabhai Patel, Atal Behari Vajpayee’s dream: Goa CM Pramod Sawant

Source: newindianexpress.com

PANAJI: Efforts made by Deendayal Upadhyay, Vallabhbhai Patel, Atal Behari Vajyapee to fulfil the “Ek vidhan, Ek nishan, Ek pradhan” – one country, one constitution, one flag, one head – slogan have now come to fruition during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reign, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Thursday.

“There should be no issue in saying that the attempts of Deendayal Upadhyay, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Atal Bihari Vajyapee to fulfil ‘ek vidhan, ek nishan and ek pradhan’ have now been fulfilled,” Sawant said.

The slogan of “Ek desh, ek Vidhan, ek nishan and ek pradhan” – one country, one constitution, one flag, one head – was coined by the BJP ideologue Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee who died in 1953 in a Kashmir jail.

“In this country, if we have ever had ‘ek vidhan, ek nishan and ek pradhan’, it is on August 5, 2019, we have never had this privilege,” Sawant also said, while congratulating Modi for the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A.

“Since 2014, we have a Prime Minister who has given us a better present, and a future in the form of Narendra Modi. The country has achieved its rightful place in the world under his leadership. As a result of this, we have seen that he was once again elected with a full majority,” he said.

“And to pay back that faith, he has abrogated Article 370 and 35A, and for the first time India has received complete Independence. Kashmir has been fully integrated with India now. With the passing of the Triple Talak Bill, he has fulfilled and ensured that everyone has their rights,” Sawant also said.

Centre issues Ebola advisory, asks Bihar to remain alert

Source: hindustantimes.com

The Bihar health department has readied guidelines to issue an advisory asking medical colleges and district hospitals to identify isolation facility for Ebola virus disease (EVD).

This follows an advisory by the Centre on July 18 urging states to keep vigil for EVD after its cases were reported from Congo. On July 17, the World Health Organisation declared the situation of Ebola in Congo as public health emergency of international concern.

The letter from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), ministry of health and family welfare (MoH&FW), New Delhi, advised state surveillance officer to keep constant vigil and raise awareness level and knowledge of surveillance officers and healthcare providers on basic standard precautions to be followed during the care and treatment of the suspected patients.

It also asked states and union territories to identify an isolation facility in each district and medical college.

“While asking our healthcare officials to stay alert and also ready isolation wards in their respective facilities, we will ask all districts and medical colleges to immediately notify us if they come across any case of Ebola. We will urge our health officials to keep themselves abreast with the Centre’s instructions on safe handling of human remains of Ebola patients, hospital infection control guidelines, guidelines for sample collection, storage and transportation, guidelines for healthcare provider and guidelines for clinical case management, available on the MoH&FW website,” said executive director of Bihar’s State Health Society, Manoj Kumar.

He said though hospitals did not have separate beds for different diseases, it did have a limited number of beds in isolation ward to cater to infectious diseases.

“We will reiterate the need to keep in readiness isolation wards in district hospitals and medical colleges that can also be used to treat Ebola cases,” added Kumar.

Director, NCDC, Dr Sujeet K Singh, in his letter, said, “If any suspect is admitted to their health facility or seen by health provider, (they should) include the basic level of infection control — hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment to avoid direct contact with blood and body fluids, prevention of needle stick and injuries from other sharp instruments, and a set of environmental control.”

Cases of Ebola are being reported from Congo since 2018. So far, 2,522 cases (2,428 confirmed and 94 probable) and 1,698 (1,604 confirmed and 94 probable) deaths have been reported since August 2018 till July 16, this year from Congo with case fatality rate of 70%. 

Raghubar Das vows to make New Jharkhand

Source: telegraphindia.com

Chief minister Raghubar Das stressed his commitment to “New Jharkhand” after unfurling the Indian Tricolour at Morabadi grounds here on Thursday, the 73rd Independence Day.

Addressing around 5,000 people, including dignitaries, Das said: “Naya Jharkhand banana hai, yeh mera sankalp hai, yeh meri akansha hai (We have to make a New Jharkhand, that’s my promise and my dream).”

He urged people from all strata — farmers, workers, professionals, youths, craftspersons, mothers and sisters — to work for a happy and prosperous Jharkhand.

Das praised the Centre for removing Article 370 and 35A of the Constitution, and recalled late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s doctrine of Insaniyat, Jamhooriyat, Kashmiriyat (humanity, democracy and Kashmir’s legacy of amity).

But the bulk of his 30-minute speech was centred around the achievements of his government. This is the last Independence Day before Assembly polls later this year.

Das reeled off statistics to highlight how Jharkhand had grown under his governance. He said: “Growth rate in the last three years is 14.2 per cent and rate of increasing per capita income is 9.1 per cent. During the last five years growth in forestry has been 31.2 per cent, fisheries 15.9 per cent, and agriculture 19 per cent.”

He added: “Jharkhand is the first state to give Rs 5,000 per acre as grant to farmers and Rs 3,000 per month as pension to labourers of the unorganised sector. From next month, the government will start a pension for journalists.”

“So far, 2 lakh people have been helped by the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (Ayushman Bharat) in the state under which 57 lakh of 68 lakh families are covered. The government aims to give gold cards to all beneficiaries of this scheme by September 25. This apart, 100 mohalla clinics will be opened by September 25 for the urban poor.”

He spoke about big strides made in higher education, including new medical colleges in Dumka, Palamau and Hazaribagh, women’s colleges in 12 district, model colleges in 13 districts and 27 degree colleges and 13 polytechnic colleges.

Das also inspected the Independence Day parade in which platoons of the CRPF, CISF, Jharkhand Jaguar, JAP, NCC, Jharkhand Home Guard and Raksha Shakti Vishawvidyalaya participated.

Cops felicitated

In Jamshedpur, food minister Saryu Roy, who hoisted the national flag at Gopal Maidan, also felicitated Parsudih OC Animesh Gupta and Azadnagar OC Vishnu Rout for their good work. In Ranchi, SSP Anish Gupta gave a cash award of Rs 15,000 to Chutia OC Ravi Thakur for nabbing three snatchers wanted in 30 cases.