Tag: Nitish Kumar

Farmers burning stubble in fields will be deprived of government facilities: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Source: newindianexpress.com

PATNA: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday expressed concern over the rising trend of farmers in Bihar setting agricultural residue on fire and warned the cultivators burning stubble in fields will be deprived of the facilities provided by the state government.

Underscoring the adverse impact of stubble burning on the environment, he instructed agriculture department officials to launch a campaign to end the practise.

“Farmers burning stubble (crop residue) in their fields will be deprived of facilities being given by the state government,” Kumar said while inuagurating a two-day international conference on “Crop Residue Management” here.

The event was organised jointly by the state’s agriculture department and Bihar Agriculture University, Sabour (Bhagalpur).

The state government is providing every possible help to the farmers in the state, he said adding power is supplied to them at a rate of 75 paise per unit.

In addition, the state is giving Rs 60 as subsidy on every litre of diesel.

Earlier, the practice of stubble burning was prevalent in Delhi and Punjab causing bad impact on Delhi’s environment, he said while adding that the custom has now gained prevalence in some parts of the state.

“Farmers need to be convinced that stubble burning not only has its adverse impact on productivity but also has its effect on environment. Farmers need to be convinced that the proper use of stubble will increase their income too,” the CM said.

Kisan Salahkars (agriculture advisors) and representatives from agricultural institutions should convince the farmers about the ill-effects of burning stubble/crop residue and create awareness among them against it, he said.

Kumar cited the rainfall figures to highlight the impact of the climate change Bihar has witnessed in past few years.

Earlier, the state used to witness an average rainfall between 1200-1500 mm which has came down to 750 mm last year, he said.

The average rainfall of the past 30 years, barring this year, is 1027 mm out of which 900 mm was recorded in the past 13 years.

He asked officials to show “short film” to the farmers incorporating valuable suggestions given by the agriculture scientists and experts at the conference.

Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, state Agriculture minister Prem Kumar, farm scientist Dr Mangla Rai, Dr Eric Hutner of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACAIR) and Bihar agriculture department secretary N Sarvan Kumar also addressed the conference.

Prominent among those who participated in the event included- Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agriculture University, Pusa (Samastipur) Vice Chancellor Dr R C Srivastava, his counterpart in Bihar Agriculture University, Sabour (Bhagalpur) Ajay Kumar Singh, CM’s Principal Secretary Chanchal Kumar and Bihar State Pollution Control Board Chairman Dr Ashok Ghosh.

Giriraj Singh To Replace Nitish Kumar In Bihar After Assembly Polls? His Reply Shocks Everyone

Source: newsnation.in

It is being long speculated that Union minister and the firebrand leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Giriraj Singh is likely to replace Nitish Kumar as Chief Minister, if the Saffron party outscores JDU in Bihar Assembly polls. However, putting all the speculations to the bed, Giriraj Singh on Tuesday asserted that his political innings may “come to an end” with the completion of the second term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

It is to be noted that that the clarification from Giriraj Singh comes in reply to the reporters’ queries about him being a probable chief ministerial candidate after the assembly polls in Bihar next year. The BJP leader said, “I am one of those party workers who entered public life to fulfil the dream of integration of Kashmir pursuing which Syama Prasad Mukherjee had sacrificed his life. PM Narendra Modi has achieved that.” 

“I did not enter politics to acquire positions of power. So now I see my political innings nearing its end. It may come to an end with the completion of Modi’s ongoing tenure, Giriraj Singh added.  

It is worth mentioning here that Assembly elections in Bihar for all 243 seats will be held in October 2020. The term of current assembly, which was elected in 2015, will culminate on November 29, 2020.  

Giriraj Singh is currently serving as the Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries in Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government. In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Giriraj Singh defeated CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar from the Begusarai parliamentary constituency.

RJD’s Raghuvansh Singh Joins Issue with Tejashwi Over ‘No Entry’ for Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Source: news18.com

Patna: Fissures within the opposition RJD in Bihar came to the fore on Sunday when one of its founding members sought to join issue with the heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav over his proclamation of “no entry” for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar into the multi-party Grand Alliance.

Former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, one of the national vice-presidents of the RJD, spoke disapprovingly of the remark made by Yadav jailed founding president Lalu Prasad’s younger son at a meeting of the party’s minority cell here last week.

“It does not sound like a political comment. And where does the question of no entry arise when we have not yet received a request for entry, in the first place,” Singh told reporters, when asked about the stance adopted by Yadav, who has been declared the party’s chief ministerial candidate for next assembly polls.

He also remarked wryly that “people tend to initially disagree with every idea that I propose. They tend to concur six months afterwards.

Notably, Singh has been advocating Kumar’s return to the Grand Alliance – which the latter walked out of in 2017 since the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year in which the five-party formation managed to win just one out of a total number of 40 seats in the state.

The RJD, which was floated by Lalu Prasad in 1997, contested 19 seats but drew a blank in the Lok Sabha elections its worst-ever performance since inception.

The poll debacle led to question marks being raised over the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav, who spearheaded the campaign for the Grand Alliance which comprises, besides the RJD, the Congress, former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP, former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM and Bollywood set designer-turned-politician Mukesh Sahni’s VIP.

Allies like Manjhi have revolted, threatening to go it alone in the assembly elections due next year. Tejashwi Yadav, 29, went into a sulk after the Lok Sabha polls, refusing to attend party meetings and assembly session despite being the leader of the Opposition. He has shown signs of recovery from the shock with renewed interest

in political activities for the past few weeks.

He had made his political debut in the 2015 assembly polls which was followed by his appointment as Deputy Chief Minister at a tender age. His name, however, cropped up in a money laundering case relating to alleged irregular land deal under his father’s watch, when he was the Railway Minister from 2004 to 2009.

Nitish Kumar resigned as chief minister after the RJD refused to heed demands that the young leader step down. He formed a new government with the BJP, which promptly came up with an offer of support.

Kumar had made a made a veiled attack on Tejashwi Yadav a day after the latter made the “no entry” remark. “Some of their leaders come up with an idea. Somebody

else rises up and says no, it is not needed. Little do they realise that nobody is giving them any importance,” Kumar had said at the JD(U)’s state council meeting, without mentioning Yadav or his party by name.

He had also asserted that the NDA in Bihar, which also includes BJP and Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP, will win “more than 200” seats in the 243-strong state assembly.

‘Ploy by Companies to Pressure Govt to Lower Taxes’: Bihar Minister Says There’s No Economic Slowdown

Source: news18.com

Patna: The country is not facing economic slowdown and big companies are trying pressurise the government to lower tax rates by showing a decline in manufacturing, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi claimed on Wednesday. His comment invited immediate ridicule from the opposition RJD.

Modi, who also holds the finance portfolio in the Nitish Kumar government, cited the example of Parle G biscuits and said its demand had, in fact, increased in Bihar.

He doubted the claim of its manufacturers that a fall in demand of the company’s biscuits could have been caused by developed states opting for expensive pastries instead of the cheap confectionary with a higher tax rate. But it did not appear to be so.

Parle, the manufacturers of Parle G biscuits had recently warned of a massive lay-off following a slump in production which they blamed on a fall in demand caused by an increase in prices.

The rise in prices, it said, is due to a rise in the cost of production resulting from higher tax rates payable for confectionery items under GST, which came into force two years ago.

There is no mandi (economic slowdown). All these reports one gets to see in the media about automobiles and other sectors suffering is actually a ploy by lobbies in the corporate world to put pressure on the government for lowering tax rates, the senior BJP leader said at a programme organized by a news channel in Ranchi.

Sushil Modi was heavily trolled on Twitter by opposition RJD for his comments. Veteran RJD leader Shivanand Tiwary charged him with “trying to wish away a financial crisis that is too stark”.

“Of late, Sushil Kumar Modi has begun sounding like the French monarch who said if people did not have bread, they should eat cakes,” Tiwary told PTI here.

The phrase is commonly attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette supposedly uttered during one of the famines that occurred in France in 1789 during the reign of her husband

King Louis XVI ahead of the French Revolution.

Recently, he (Sushil Modi) said that the decline in automobiles was because people did not like to buy vehicles during the Pitri Paksha which in fact began only last week and continues for only a fortnight,” Tiwary, who was a member of the Rabri Devi cabinet, said.

“Before that he had scandalized all by claiming that economic slowdown was some sort of a seasonal phenomenon which occurred during monsoons and automatically got rectified later on. It all displays his utter ignorance about financial matters, though he is the minister in charge of the department, the RJD national vice-president said.

He said, the recent report by an international media house has stated that investors are withdrawing capital from the country and there are no fresh investments. Noted economists have time and again pointed out that the unimpressive GDP growth rate of five per cent too might be an exaggerated figure as it does not take into account the huge unorganized sector which is yet to recover from the impact of demonetization, Tiwary said.

Our Deputy CM seems to be in the same frame of mind as last year when he had hoped for less crime during a religious festival by cajoling criminals with folded hands to give up their activities for the period, he quipped.

At the inauguration of the Pitri Paksh fair at Gaya in 2018, Sushil Modi had urged those involved in anti-social activities to refrain from indulging in crimes during the fortnight-long congregation as visitors came from far and wide and they might return with a bad image of Bihar in mind. The deputy chief minister had invited severe ridicule from political opponents for it.

With new poll symbol, Nitish to fight BJP in Jharkhand

Source: deccanherald.com

Nitish Kumar may be an ally of the BJP in Bihar but he will be contesting against the BJP Government in Jharkhand headed by Raghuvar Das during the Assembly elections in November this year.

The Election Commission has, however, allotted a new poll symbol to the JD(U) after the party’s existing symbol ‘arrow’ created confusion with the election symbol of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). The JMM has ‘bow and arrow’ as its symbol.

Ever since Nitish decided to contest on all the 81 Assembly seats in neighbouring Jharkhand on its own, the JMM approached the EC to freeze the JD(U) symbol ‘arrow’ as it might confuse the voters in tribal-dominated State. After much deliberations, the EC recently allotted ‘farmer driving a tractor’ symbol to the JD(U).

Nitish earlier this month sounded the poll bugle in Ranchi where he came down heavily on the BJP Government in the State. “It’s around 19 years since Jharkhand was formed after bifurcating Bihar in November 2000. And the mineral-rich tribal State has witnessed virtually no development in the last two decades. On the other hand, ever since I took over the reins of Bihar in 2005, the State’s growth rate has increased by leaps and bounds,” said Nitish lashing out at his Jharkhand counterpart, although he refrained from taking his name.

It’s not only the JMM but Shiv Sena too, which had protested a similar election symbol of the JD(U). The Maharashtra-based party Shiv Sena too has ‘bow and arrow’ as its symbol and it protested to the EC when it came to know that the JD(U) would field its candidates during October 2019 Assembly polls in Maharashtra. “The EC has allotted ‘diesel pump’ as the election symbol to the JD(U) for Maharashtra Assembly polls,” said a ruling party source here in the state capital.

Ever since the JD(U) performed well in Arunachal Pradesh during the May 2019 elections (when it won seven Assembly seats in the N-E State), Nitish, who is also the national president of the JD(U), is in expansion mode of his outfit, aiming to get it a status of national party.

Nitish Kumar is captain of NDA in Bihar, says Sushil Modi

Source: thehindu.com

Days after party MLC Sanjay Paswan’s statement that Nitish Kumar should quit his post of Bihar Chief Minister and enter national politics, senior leader of Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday tweeted to say, “Nitish Kumar is the captain of NDA in Bihar and will remain its captain in next assembly elections in 2020 also.”

Earlier, State BJP MLC Sanjay Paswan had urged Nitish Kumar to relinquish his post for the BJP, at least for one term.

“Nitish Kumar is the captain of NDA in Bihar and will remain its captain in next assembly elections in 2020 also…when captain is hitting 4 & 6 defeating rivals by inning where is the question of any change,” tweeted Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi. Mr. Modi is a senior BJP leader in Bihar and considered close to Mr. Kumar.

Mr. Sanjay Paswan had on August 9 created upheaval in the State’s ruling NDA alliance by saying, “Nitish Kumar should now step down from the post of Chief Minister for BJP…we trusted him for 15-long years and he should now reciprocate the same for the BJP for at least one term.”

Mr. Paswan had further said that, “When people are supporting PM Modi government on all issues like abrogation of Article 370, Ram Mandir, Triple Talaq and NRC, why should Nitish Kumar not relinquish his post for the BJP for one term in Bihar?” He also added, “He [Nitish Kumar] has been the Chief Minister of the State for long 15 years and now the BJP should get chance for the development of the state with the PM Modi model.”

Party sources told The Hindu that Sanjay Paswan might not have made such comment about Nitish Kumar without having a “green signal” from the top party leadership in Delhi.

Supporters of another Bihar BJP leader and MP from Begusarai, Giriraj Singh, have performed prayers to see him as the chief minister of Bihar. However, Mr. Singh, who is also a Minister in the Modi Cabinet, later explained that his supporters might have said this “in over-excitement out respect for him”.

The Janata Dal-United (JD-U), though, reacted sharply to Sanjay Paswan’s comment. “Only Nitish Kumar will be the face of the NDA in the next Assembly elections in the State and it has been accepted even by the top BJP leaders,” said party leader and spokesperson Nikhil Mandal, while another party leader and chief spokesperson Sanjay Singh asked Mr. Paswan, “Where were you during the 2015 Assembly poll when the people of Bihar had voted for Nitish Kumar and not the BJP?”

Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav, though, dared the CM to “contradict” what the BJP leaders were saying. “Has the CM guts to contradict what BJP leaders are saying? Is it not true that honourable Nitish Kumar got votes in the name of PM Modi without releasing his party’s manifesto and got 16 of his party leaders elected as MPs on the BJP manifesto [in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll]…Is it not true that he has been supporting the BJP on every Bill?…Then how come he is different?” tweeted Mr. Yadav.

Recently, projecting Mr. Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate for the Assembly poll next year, the JD(U) released its revised party slogan “Kyon kare vichar, jab hain hi Nitish Kumar (why should we mull over, when there is Nitish Kumar)”. Earlier, the slogan was “kyon kare vichar, thike to hain Nitish Kumar (why should we mull over, when it’s okay to have Nitish Kumar) but they revised it when the media raised questions over the word “thike” (just okay).

Bodh Gaya to be Developed as Next Tourist Destination: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Source: india.com

New Delhi: Amongst the 16 tourist destinations in the country, Bihar government’s tourism department has prepared an elaborate plan to develop Bodh Gaya as one of the iconic travel destinations.

The State tourism department on Monday held talks with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar while showcasing a detailed presentation on the action plan to promote tourism and the developmental vision for accommodating tourists in the district.


As per a Times of India report, the CM subsequently addressed a meeting with the tourism department at ‘Sankalp’ hall in his residence in Patna and recounted that the government was already taking concrete steps to promote tourism in Bodh Gaya.

The government is setting up a Mahabodhi Culture Centre with an auditorium to accommodate up to 2000 people as a part of the tourism goal. He also directed the tourism department to fix a date to visit Bodh Gaya for a better understanding of the vision.

Further, the CM said that the state government was also working on a plan to link Bodh Gaya, Rajgir and Vaishali, the three important places where Lord Buddha visited and stayed. “We are also working to provide all facilities to Buddhist monks and tourists visiting Bodh Gaya from other places,” he added.

CM Kumar has also asked the tourism officials to work on promoting agroforestry produces as a part of the marketing strategy as well as educate farmers on promoting crop cycle.

The Principal Secretary of tourism department Deepak Kumar Singh earlier informed that a total of 846.83 lakh saplings have been planted in the state from 2012 to 2019.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar hints at pay hike for agitating Bihar teachers but only on a condition

Source: hindustantimes.com

In the face of an agitation by teachers seeking salary hike on the Teachers’ Day, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar gave them a stern message as well as hope of a salary hike in the near future.

Kumar asked the teachers to shoulder their main responsibility of teaching with sincerity first, as it was only his government that would do something for them, like in the past. “Don’t worry, we will do whatever is to be done, not others, who are these days joining your dharna. If you deserve, we will be happy to do it for you,” Nitish said, while taking a subtle dig at the opposition parties supporting the agitation.

Reminding them of a reversal at the hands of the Supreme Court earlier this year after a long legal battle and teachers’ condition prior to 2005, when Shiksha Mitras were appointed for a meagre Rs 1500, Kumar said he was not worried about demands raised by the teachers or his criticism, as it was their democratic right, but hoped that they never lose sight of their main role.

He also indirectly hit out at the opposition for allegedly fanning the stir after having called them “incompetent” earlier and also having blamed them for “destroying education”. “I always said that the teachers are competent. I have always stood by the teachers. I respect the teachers. And all I can assure you on the Teachers’ day is that in the future also, only we will do something, not those giving lip service,” Nitish said.

Ahead of the 2015 assembly polls, Bihar government had announced a new pay-scale for the school teachers following their long agitation.

On the occasion, he also launched the “Unnayan Bihar” programme, modelled on the lines of highly successful ‘Unnayan Banka’ project, for class 9-12 in all secondary and higher secondary schools run by the State. The programme involves use of information technology as supplement to classroom teaching to make learning more interesting and receptive.

Kumar said that from April 2020, all the panchayats in the State would have a secondary school starting with Class 9 and equipped to run the ‘Unnayan Bihar’ programme. “In the field of education, Bihar has done a lot with over 99% enrollment, major drop in the gender gap and a slew of other initiatives including huge infrastructure development, but the quality of education remained a concern. It is a global concern and that is why teachers’ role becomes important,” he added.

Kumar said that an intervention by the government will come at an “appropriate” time if the teachers did their job with “sincerity”. “All I expect from you is that you should shoulder your responsibility sincerely, as my commitment is to people. You raise your demands, but at the same time you also teach. Only demand will not do, certainly not if it is at the cost of teaching,” he added.

He also asked chief secretary Deepak Kumar to see what could be done for the teachers, hinting that another pay hike for teachers was under government’s consideration.

“When my government came to power, we had to make large-scale recruitment. We did so with a fixed pay of Rs 4000-7000, but later increased it and in 2015 put teachers on a pay-scale. In 2017, we also announced 7th pay commission benefits. Still, if I have to face criticism, I humbly take it in my stride. But be sure, only we will do it again,” he said.

The CM also honoured 20 teachers from across the state on the occasion. Despite protests by the teachers, all of the awardees turned up to receive the honour.

The awardees welcomed the CM’s speech, especially the hint to increase their salaries, some of the teachers, however, lamented the absence of any acclaimed teacher or eminent academician on the dais on the Teacher’s Day.

‘Poster War’ Over Nitish Kumar Being “Just Fine”, And Bihar “Sick”

Source: ndtv.com

PATNA: A “poster war” erupted in Bihar on Tuesday as the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal countered a recent slogan by the ruling Janata Dal-United that claimed Nitish Kumar was doing “just fine” as the chief minister, and there was no need for a leadership change ahead of the assembly polls next year.

“Kyon na karen vichaar, Bihar hai bimaar (why not think for a change when Bihar is sick) screamed a poster put up by the RJD at its state headquarters on the Birchand Patel Marg in Patna. The party also came out with several verses on social media, alleging that the state was in a bad shape under Nitish Kumar and there was an urgent need for leadership change.

The RJD’s poster came up a day after people noticed that the JDU had, at its own headquarters right across the road, put up two gigantic banners proclaiming “Kyon karen vichaar, theeke to hain Nitish Kumar”. 

Roughly translated, it means “Where’s the need to think (about political alternatives) when Nitish Kumar is doing just fine”.

The slogan was the latest in a series of catchy one-liners the JDU has come up with to capture public imagination and eyeballs.

Two such older posters with slogans — Bihar mein bahar hai Nitish Kumar hai (Bihar blooms, the state wants only Nitish Kumar) and Sachcha hai, achha hai, chalo Nitish ke saath chalo (he is good, he is honest, let us go with Nitish) — can be still found inside the JDU office premises.

The move is being seen as an attempt by the JDU, a party without much organizational depth which banks heavily on the charisma of Nitish Kumar, also its national president, to suggest that despite the growing clout of ally BJP, the party still saw Mr Kumar as the NDA’s best bet in the state.

However, senior BJP leader C P Thakur, a former state party chief and a colleague of Mr Kumar in the erstwhile Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, had a different take on the slogan.

“I do not know why the JDU has used the expression ‘theeke hai‘ for Nitish Kumar. It gives an impression that he has been just okay when his performance as chief minister has been truly commendable. The party has a right to coin its own slogans, but it could have come up with something better,” CP Thakur told reporters in Patna.

JDU sources said on condition of anonymity that the slogan was coined by a senior office-bearer of the party who does not have “much aptitude for political strategy”.

It was unlike the 2015 assembly polls when Prashant Kishor, now the party’s national vice-president, had got his team to come up with “Bihar mein bahar hai, Nitish Kumar hai” which, rendered to acclaimed composer Sneha Khanwalkars tune, had worked wonders for the party when it had hit a rough patch, he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, a senior BJP leader known to be close to Nitish Kumar, reminded on Twitter assembly elections in the state are more than a year away. 

“This is not the time when the NDA would like to be in the poll mode…… there is neither any doubt nor any infighting over the issue of leadership in our camp.”

Sushil Modi had, in a rare gesture, said in the state assembly during the Monsoon session last month that the ruling coalition would contest the assembly polls under Nitish Kumar’s leadership.

Several hardliners in the BJP have shown the inclination for asserting the party’s supremacy in Bihar after its phenomenal growth under the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combine. 

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar bats for the girl child

Source: indiatoday.in

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has a clear message to those who get happy only when a son is born in the family. “Beti Paida hone par bhi khush hoyiye (Be happy also when a daughter is born in the family). The government is here to take care,” he said.

Indeed, Nitish Kumar is willing to walk the talk. “The government will provide a grant of Rs 2,000 at the birth a girl child in the family. Another Rs 1,000 would be provided once the girl’s Aadhaar registration is done. It will be followed by another incentive of Rs 2,000 after completion of all immunisation procedures of the girl. This is in accordance with Mukhya Mantri Kanya Utthan Yojana (Chief minister’s scheme for development of girls),” said the Chief Minister.

The scheme, a brainchild of Nitish Kumar, is applicable to all irrespective of caste, family income or religion. In addition to this, the girls clearing intermediate examination (+2) and who are not married would get a one-time incentive of Rs 10,000 from the government.

Another Rs 10,000 will be provided as incentive to a girl if she acquires a graduation degree. Nitish Kumar’s total package announced for a girl child in Bihar is Rs 25,000. This is in addition to the raise in the government’s allotments for uniforms, cycles and sanitary napkins.

Though Nitish Kumar’s government has already approved the proposals in an earlier Cabinet decision, the Chief Minister once again drove the message across recently on the occasion of Independence Day celebrations.

Although the Chief Minister did not mention the falling sex ratio of Bihar, it is surely a cause of concern for the state. The jarring irony is that while Bihar has highest birth rate (26.4 for state against India’s average of 16.8 in urban regions to 21.8 in rural regions), the state has a declining sex ratio. Bihar’s sex ratio has gone down from 910 per 1000 males in 2011, to 900 now.

It is even worse in urban Bihar where only 865 girls are per 1,000 males. Proportionately speaking, Bihar has fewer girls than what it had a decade ago. It leads to another shocking observation: more girls are allowed to born in villages, and not in cities of Bihar, where ironically, the educated and elites stay.