Tag: Bihar

Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi attacks RJD for playing pseudo-politics.

Source – newindianexpress.com

PATNA: Bihar’s deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Friday made a scathing attack on main opposition party RJD for playing a kind of “pseudo-politics” in the name of backward castes. 

Terming the RJD a party of pseudo-politics, Modi said that it (RJD) had vehemently opposed the 10 per cent reservation given to the poor of the upper castes by Narendra Modi government as it had abolished the 3 per cent reservation given to the backward as well as the poor of the upper caste by (late) Karpoori Thakur in Bihar.

Speaking at the Karpoori Jayanti function, Modi said: “The people of Bihar will not forgive those, who opposed the reservation of the poor of the upper castes.”

Citing figures to substantiate his claims, Modi said the RJD had given only five tickets to the backward society out of its 100 seats in 2015 assembly elections.

“While the BJP had given 25 tickets in the same elections to the candidates belonging to different backward communities. It is in record to show how the RJD has always been misleading the backward society by its hollow political rhetorics and rituals,” he alleged.

He further attacked the RJD saying that only 3 out of 80 of RJD MLAs are from backward society whereas 12 out of 53 MLAs of BJP are from different backward society.

“Not only this, seven MPs of the NDA in the present Lok Sabha belong to the ultra-backwards society. These realities are on the record to show pseudo-politics being played by the RJD in the name of backward society,” he said.

He also lambasted the RJD for taking no step to ensure education add empowerment for girls during its 15 years of rules in the state.

“The NDA government has provided more than one crore bicycles amongst the school going girls under the cycle scheme whereas the RJD has provided a terror time to stop the girls from going schools,” he lamented, adding that the bicycle incentive by the NDA had encouraged a huge number of girls to pass the matriculation examination in 2019-20.

Bihar: Minor girl gang raped in coaching centre, director Md Zaved, two others held after locals accuse police inaction.

Source – opindia.com

A 14-year-old minor was allegedly kidnapped and raped by her coaching institute’s director Md Javed and two others on Wednesday in Bihar’s Siwan district.

Chainpur Bazar in the Siwan district remained tense on Thursday after angry locals protested by blocking roads, closing down shops, and disrupting traffic on Siwan-Siswan State Highway 89, as they protested police inaction in the case.

The victim, a student of class nine of a government school had gone missing from the coaching institute under Chainpur police outpost at 2 pm on Wednesday and was later found in an unconscious state in the institute’s toilet, five hours after her relatives lodged a missing complaint in Siwan Police station.- Ad –

When news of the incident spread, Superintendent of Police Abhinav Kumar, DSP Jitendra Pandey, Andar Division Randhir Kumar, Aashav police station Khurshid Alam reached the and inquired about the matter.

Police later conducted raids and detained Brilliant coaching centre’s director Md Javed, one teacher Miraj and another student named Md Arif for questioning after the minor girl’s relatives alleged that she was raped by the three of them.

“She was rushed to a local hospital, from where the doctor referred her to Siwan Sadar Hospital”, said Siwan SP Abhinav Kumar, furthering that a medical board was set up by the civil surgeon of the district to conduct her medical examination. Earlier, the victim’s statement was recorded before a judicial officer under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code,” he said.

SP Abhinav Kumar added: “The report of the medical examination is awaited and police do not have the girl’s statement that was recorded before a judicial officer. Under such circumstances how can action be initiated against the accused.”

While the police await her medical examination reports, the relatives of the girl have alleged that she was raped. They also accused the police of inaction. “The accused are being shielded by police for political reasons”, alleged the victim’s uncle. The girl is reportedly being treated in the ICU.

Meanwhile, independent MLA Karanjeet Singh alias Vyas Ji who visited the victim said that the issue is likely to snowball into a major political controversy as the girl and the accused belong to two different communities.

Siwan SDPO Jitendra Pandey said: “We have taken all precautionary measures to ward off any untoward incident”.

Siwan district in Bihar had witnessed a similar incident in 2018, in which a 4-year-old was brutally raped and strangulated on August 28, by one Mohammad Ziauddin, who had then confessed to the crime. A partly buried body of the girl with undergarments stuffed in her mouth was then recovered in the maize field.

Reportedly, the accused had lured her to the field where he stuffed her mouth so that her cries could not be heard.

Bihar teacher impresses Anand Mahindra, Shah Rukh Khan with her multiplication table learning technique.

Source – timesnownews.com

Patna: A video of a Bihar school teacher teaching the multiplication table to her students has caught the attention of industrialist Anand Mahindra and Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan.

Mahindra who frequently shares videos that he receives on his “WhatsApp wonder box” recently shared a video of a Bihar teacher informing her students about a clever hack to learn the multiplication table of number nine. “Whaaaat? I didn’t know about this clever shortcut. Wish she had been MY math teacher. I probably would have been a lot better at the subject! #whatsappwonderbox,” Mahindra wrote on Twitter.

The video shows the teacher demonstrating how students can learn the multiplication table of nine with the help of their hands.

The teacher in the video is Ruby Kumari who teaches at a school in Bounsi, Banka. The video was initially shared by Ruby on ‘Teachers of Bihar- the changemakers’, a Facebook group of the Bihar education project council.

The video has gone viral across social media platforms. It has been viewed more than 4.67 lakh times on Twitter alone. The video also prompted netizens to share their hacks.

“Can’t tell you how many of my life’s issues this one simple calculation has solved, wow!” Shah Rukh Khan wrote on Twitter.

Soon after the video went viral, Ruby thanked Mahindra and Shah Rukh for sharing the video. She said, “I thank superstar Shahrukh Khan and Anand Mahindraji for liking my video and sharing it. I am very happy that my innovation is being watched by people across India. I am thankful to the ‘Teachers of Bihar-the Changemakers’ for giving me the opportunity by sharing my video on their platform.”

She added that she would like all government school teachers to make learning fun through innovation and activity-based approach without the burden of heavy school bags.

Pawan Varma can go to any party he wants, says Nitish.

Source – thehindu.com

Two days after party leader Pawan Varma sent him a stinging two-page letter asking for his “ideological clarity on the electoral tie-up with the BJP for the coming Delhi elections”, JD(U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday broke his silence to say, “if he [Mr Varma] wants to go to some other party, he has my wishes”. 

Mr Varma later said he would continue to speak what he “believes good of the country and for the party”.

On December 21, Mr. Varma,said in his letter that he was “deeply perplexed” over the development of ties with the BJP beyond Bihar. He ‘reminded’ Mr. Kumar of his confession to him, on more than one occasion, about his “grave apprehensions” of the BJP-RSS combine. He also mentioned about the “private conversations” he had had with Mr. Kumar on ties with the BJP.

“He [Mr Varma] is a learned man for whom I’ve a lot of respect, even if he may not have the same for me. But this is not the way to share such things in public… it is surprising…he says I’ve told him certain things in private…what if I should tell you what he had told me?”, Mr Kumar told journalists. “if he wants to go to some other party which is his decision… he has my wishes”, Mr Kumar said while coming out of a function organised at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on the occasion of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary.

However, an hour later, Mr Varma responded to Mr. Kumar’s statement and told journalists that he would decide his next course of action after getting response to his letter from Mr. Kumar. “Awaiting reply of my letter to Nitish Kumar… will decide future course of action after that but I’ll continue to speak what I believe is right, what is good for the country and the party”, he said in Delhi. 

Though he was in Patna on Wednesday to participate in a function, Mr. Varma chose not to meet Mr. Kumar. 

Mr. Kumar said, “If he has any confusion he should have put it before me or at the party forum but there should not be any confusion in anyone’s mind about how the JD(U) as a party runs”.

Mr. Varma said in his letter, “In my first meeting with you in Patna in August 2012 you had spoken to me at length and with conviction on why Narendra Modi and his policies are inimical for the country… when you were leading the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ you had openly made a call for RSS Mukt Bharat. I remember your confession to me in private how the current leadership in BJP party has humiliated you. You maintained on more than one occasion, that the BJP is leading India into a ‘dangerous space’. 

Action likely

A JD(U) source told The Hindu that Mr. Kumar may take action against Mr. Varma and Prashant Kishor, who have of late been hammering him with tweets and letters, on January 27, when he would meet party leaders at his official residence, 1 Anne Marg.

State JD(U) chief Basistha Narayan Singh had said he would urge Mr. Kumar to take action against these party leaders.

BTSC Bihar Staff Nurse Counseling Schedule 2020 Announced @btsc.bih.nic.in/, Check Details here.

Source – jagranjosh.com

 Bihar Technical Service Commission (BTSC) has released the Counseling dates for Staff Nurse Posts on 22 January 2020 at its official website. All such candidates who have applied for the BTSC Staff Nurse Posts against advertisement no-02/2019 can download the Counseling Dates/Schedule through the official website of Bihar Technical Service Commission (BTSC)-btsc.bih.nic.in.

The BTSC Bihar Staff Nurse Counseling will be conducted in two phases. The first phase of Counseling will be conducted from 29 January 2020 to 24 February 2020.  The second phase of Counseling will be conducted from 21 April to 08 May 2020. The Counseling for the Staff Nurse posts will be conducted in two sittings from 10.30 a.m.to 1.30 p.m and from 2.30 p.m to 5.30 p.m. 

All candidates who have applied for BTSC Bihar Staff Nurse posts can download the Staff Nurse Counseling Schedule from the official website. They will have to appear on the venue mentioned in the notification with the required documents and Registration Number. 

You can also download the BTSC Bihar Staff Nurse Counseling Schedule 2020 from the direct link given below. 

It is to be noted that Bihar Technical Service Commission (BTSC) had earlier notified for the 9299 posts of Tutor/Teacher and Staff Nurse Grade ‘A’ against advertisement no-02/2019. 

How to Download BTSC Bihar Staff Nurse Counseling Schedule 2020

Visit the official website of Bihar Technical Service Commission (BTSC) i.e-http://btsc.bih.nic.in/.
Go to the Circulars/Notice section available on the home page. 
Click on the link regarding the BTSC Bihar Staff Nurse Counseling Schedule 2020.
A new PDF of the Counseling Schedule will be open on the screen. 
Candidates can download and take a printout of the same for future reference.

Candidates are advised to check the official website of Bihar Technical Service Commission (BTSC) for latest updates regarding the Staff Nurse Recruitment Process. For further latest update regarding the various Government jobs Notification/Exam Dates/Schedule /Admit Card/Result etc, you can also check the www.jagranjosh.com.

Bihar: A govt school that runs for one student.

Source – hindustantimes.com

Patna: The low student-teacher ratio has been a problem across the country. But in a village in Bihar’s Gaya there is a government school that has two teachers for one student. There is also a cook who prepares mid-day meals for the lone student.

Officials said it costs the government over Rs 59,000 monthly for the education of the lone student of class one, who studies in a one-storey school building with four classrooms and a kitchen. The government pays about Rs 58,000 to the two teachers and Rs 1,500 to the cook monthly.

Dharmaraj Paswan, the village head, said the people in the area where the school is located are more inclined towards sending their children for quality education to private schools. “…there are many options for private schools for the people. So they do not send their kids to the Mansabigha primary school,” he said.

The lone student, Jhanvi Kumari, said she gets all the attention from the two teachers and the cook, Gyanti Devi.

“Sometimes food for her is even brought from a nearby hotel, as preparing it for a student sometimes becomes a difficult task,” said one of the teachers, Priyanka Kumari.

She added that altogether nine students were enrolled in the school, but just one attends the classes. “She will also leave the school after some time,” she said. When asked about the syllabus and how her exams are conducted, Priyanka Kumari said, “We teach her to our best ability.”

“We will soon launch a drive to sensitize parents to send their kids to the school, which may increase the enrolment,” said district education officer Mustafa Hussain Mansuri

Khizarsarai block development officer Uday Kumar expressed surprise over the condition of the school. “I will inquire why the enrolment in the school is low,” he said.

Anti-CAA protests spread to 11 Bihar districts.

Source –

The ongoing protest at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh against Citizenship (Amendment) Act, National Register of Citizens and National Population Register has spread to at least 11 districts of Bihar.

Protesters, mostly women and girls, can be seen waving national flag, singing patriotic songs and reciting poems at dharnas in parks and open areas. In Patna alone, such protests are being held at three places for the past several days.

‘No party flags’

Politicians and social activists like Brinda Karat, Kanhaiya Kumar, Yogendra Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav and Shivanand Tiwari have addressed the protesters, explaining the implications of the CAA. “We don’t allow them to make political speeches here. They come to lend us support, nothing more,” said Omair Khan, who has been leading one such protest at Gaya’s Shanti Bagh.

“Leaders are welcome to lend us support, but no party flags are allowed,” said Mohd. Sarfaraj, who has been sitting on protest at Patna’s Subzibagh.

Phulwarisharif and Mangal Talab are the other two areas in Patna which have been seeing continuous anti-CAA-NRC-NPR protests. Hundreds of women of all ages and even small children can be seen sitting round-the-clock and raising slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government’s “anti-people” policies. Mothers holding babies in their arms discuss how CAA-NPR-NRC would impact their lives, while the men are mostly engaged in managing the crowd.

“We will not move from here till this law is withdrawn by the Modi government even if it takes months or years,” says a veiled Akbari Khatun, who has been coming to the protest site every day for the last 17 days.

Students at forefront

Similar protests are being held in Kishanganj, Katihar, Bettiah in West Champaran, Begusarai, Nalanda, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Gaya, Darbhanga and Madhubani districts. At some places like Bettiah, girl students from Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Milia Islamia have been leading the protests. “The CAA, NRC and NPR have put a question mark on our identity in our own country. Who are these people to ask us for our identity,” asked a young girl from Darbhanga.

“The day is not far when such protests will spread to all corners of the country and force the government to withdraw this law,” said Nafisa Parveen at Gaya.

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.