Tag: patna

Bihar: Notre Dame Academy turns 60, governor graces diamond jubilee celebrations.

Source – indiatoday.in

he prestigious Notre Dame Academy, Patna, celebrated its diamond jubilee on Wednesday which was marked by a colourful event by the students of the school.

Bihar Governor Fagu Chauhan, who was the chief guest on the occasion, called for all the school to provide quality education and maintain highest level of transparency in admission of students.

“The purpose of education should not be just to prepare a youth to get a job. The purpose should be to prepare committed citizen to serve the nation,” said Fagu Chauhan, Governor of Bihar.

The guest of honour on this occasion was Patna Archbishop William D’Souza SJ. Patna Commissioner Sanjay Agarwal and District Magistrate Kumar Ravi also graced the occasion. Principal Sr. Mary Jessy, SND and Headmistress Sr. Tresa were present too.

Governor Fagu Chauhan, speaking during the event themed “Education for Transformation,” appreciated the effort made by the Notre Dame Academy to provide education to students from economically weaker section of the society by running Julie School for underprivileged children.

Principal Sr. Mary Jessy, on this occasion, presented a memorabilia to the Governor. Many teachers, sisters and former students were also felicitated by the principal during the event.

It may be mentioned that Notre Dame Academy has been ranked as the No.1 girls day school in Bihar for the fourth time by the Education World School rankings 2019-20.

Wearing Masks, RJD Legislators Protest Against Air Pollution in Patna.

Source – newsclick.in

Patna: The unbearable air pollution in Bihar’s capital city, Patna, resonated outside the Assembly premises, with Opposition RJD legislators staging a protest by wearing masks to express their anger over the “failure” of the Nitish Kumar-led National Democratic Alliance government.

On Thursday, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) members stood outside the main gate and shouted slogans against the government’s inaction on rising pollution.

The air quality in Patna has been in the “severe category” since the past three days — Monday to Wednesday. On Thursday, the air quality was in “very poor category”. The air quality index (AQI) was 390 on Thursday, according to the Bihar State Pollution Control Board’s website.

The AQI touched 430 at 12 p.m on Wednesday, the highest in recent months. The AQI was 404 on Monday and 419 on Tuesday.

The Opposition protest came ahead of a discussion on the state government’s much hyped programme “Jal Jeevan Aur Haryali” in the Assembly on Thursday, the last day of the five-day winter session.

Protesting Opposition members demanded an explanation from the government as to how Patna had become one of the highest polluted cities in the country. They also questioned Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Sushil Kumar Modi, for doing nothing in the past decade. Modi is in charge of the state’s Environment, Forest and Climate Change department .

“Modi is only interested in publicity and has been issuing useless and baseless statements. He has not done anything to tackle the rising air pollution in Patna and across the state,” RJD legislator Ramchander Purve told NewsClick after the protest.

Purve said the pollution situation had turned from bad to worse under Modi’s charge. “Only recently the government has woken up by launching the Jal Jeevan Aur Haryali programme”.

The “severe” air quality is set to affect thousands of people, including workers, rickshaw-pullers, autorickshaw drivers and the economically weaker sections, who spend most of their time outdoors to earn their livelihood.

On November 2 and 5, the AQI of Patna was recorded as 428 and 423, respectively, which is classified as “severe” as per the World Health Organisation.

According to experts, AQI level of severe category can be harmful as inhalation of toxic air containing pollutants like PM 2.5, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide is dangerous, and can pose serious problems for people suffering from lung, heart and other diseases.

Two months ago, the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) India, in partnership with the Centre for Environment and Energy Development (CEED) shared the findings from Air Quality Life Index (AQLI). According to the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago’s AQLI, residents of Patna could live about 7.7 years longer if the WHO’s PM 2.5 guidelines were met.

As per the findings, based on data from the real-time air quality monitoring station in Patna, in December 2018, witnessed the worst air pollution when 51% days saw air quality in the “severe” category. Out of the cities where AQI bulletin is issued by the Central Pollution Control Board, Patna remained the most polluted city of India in December last.

Congress rally in Patna stopped midway, cops use tear gas to disperse workers.

Source – hindustantimes.com

A protest by the Bihar Congress unit against the policies of Central government turned violent on Sunday as the protesters tried to breach the barricading in place to head towards the chief minister’s residence and Raj Bhavan and the police had to use water cannons and tear gas shells to disperse them.

The “Janvedna March”, led by party’s Bihar incharge Shaktisinh Gohil, started from state Congress headquarters at Sadaqat Ashram in Patna, Bihar, and as it reached Hartali Chowk, the Congress leaders tried to breach the barricading in place and head towards the restricted zone housing the chief minister and other the state assembly. The police tried to stop the protesting leaders from entering the restricted zone, which agitated the leaders and a tussle ensued. The police had to lob tear gas shells and fire water cannons to disperse the agitated workers, some of which were detained for a few hours.

According to Congress spokesperson Premchand Mishra, as soon as the party leaders and workers reached the Hartali More, the police started raining batons. “The police also used tear gas shells and water cannons to disperse the party workers.”

City Superintendent of Police, central, Vinay Tiwary said the police had to resort to mild lathicharge and use water cannons on Congress workers when they turned violent after being stopped at Hartali roundabout. “There was no administrative permission given for the rally,” he said, adding that the area where the rally was stopped fell in the high security region.

Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi later tweeted: “As there is a zero tolerance government on corruption at the centre and in Bihar, Congress is desperate and making all sorts of accusations against the central government policies. But people have rejected them,” he said.

Patna Air Turns ‘Severe’; Supreme Court Issues Notice to All States on Pollution.

Source – weather.com

In an unprecedented step, the Supreme Court issued a notice to all Indian states and Union Territories on Monday, seeking their response on why they should not be held accountable to pay compensation to people for not providing clean air.

Even on the day of the hearing on air pollution, November 25, two cities from the state of Bihar recorded the highest AQIs as reported in the Daily Air Quality Index (AQI) Bulletin by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Patna was the most polluted city in the country with ‘severe’ 24-hour average AQI of 404.

Are authorities neglecting environmental issues in cities?

In a three-hour hearing, a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra and comprising Deepak Gupta said: “The AQI is extremely poor in many cities and towns. We also need to know how they are managing garbage. It appears that these issues have lost priorities for the authorities.”

Pollution levels in the country, particularly in the northern half of the state, consistently rise during the post-monsoon season. While the air quality worsens in almost all the regions, some states and union territories have persistently recorded the poorest air quality since the past few years.

Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Punjab are some of the regions where unhealthy air has lately become the norm.

Eastern cities most polluted on Monday

Patna and Muzaffarpur were the most polluted cities on Monday with AQI values of 404 (severe) and 393 (very poor) respectively. They were followed by West Bengal’s Howrah (329) and Asansol (324).

While the entire Indo-Gangetic plain is often the most polluted region in the country mainly due to geographic and meteorological reasons, so far this season, northwestern cities from Delhi NCR and Haryana had remained the most polluted cities. On Monday, only cities from Bihar and West Bengal remained the most polluted with ‘very poor’ air quality.

Bhiwadi (Rajasthan), Lucknow and Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), Jorapokhar (Jharkhand), Vapi (Gujarat) and Narnaul (Haryana) occupied the rest of the spots on the list of top 10 most polluted cities.

Endangering right to life

Apart from air pollution levels, the bench also pointed out the emerging issue of unavailability of clean drinking water in many cities and towns. “Yamuna river has turned into sewage. River Ganga is also in the same condition. River water pollution is a major issue,” said the court.

SC observed that the right to life has been endangered by the states due to lack of response on most pressing issues.

“We have noted that every year, and year after year, the process is worsening…time has come to protect the right to life. Why should they (state administrations) not pay compensation on air pollution, not lifting garbage etc.? Time has come to rewind the state machinery,” said Justice Mishra.

Patna HC expresses concern over pendency of over 2 lakh liquor ban cases.

Source – indiatoday.in

Expressing concern over pendency of over 2 lakh prohibition-related cases, the Patna high court has asked the Bihar government to file its reply on tackling litigations arising out of enforcement of prohibition law in the state.

Complete prohibition was enforced by the state government in April 2016 under which manufacturing, storage, transportation, selling and consumption of all types of liquor are banned.

A division bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh on Thursday directed the state government to file a detailed reply as how it intends to deal with the pending cases arising out of liquor ban in the state.

The matter has been posted for hearing in the Chief Justice’s court on Friday.

The bench observed that it is the duty of the state government to ensure speedy hearing of such cases after enforcing the prohibition law.

It also wanted to know about appeals filed by the state government in the Supreme Court in the past three years, during which the prohibition law was under challenge.

“In how many such cases has the state government appealed the high court’s orders in the Supreme Court?” the bench asked advocate general Lalit Kishore.

The court passed the order while hearing a case arising out of an order passed by the single bench of Justice Anil Kumar Upadhyay on August 21, 2019.

The single bench had expressed concern over the pendency of over 2.07 lakh cases related to the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 in subordinate courts till July 8, 2019.

Around 1.67 lakh people were arrested and 52.02 lakh litres of liquor seized under the prohibition law in past three years, it had said.

The single bench had sought a detailed reply from the chief secretary as to what the government has done for quick disposal of prohibition-related cases.

Over 4500 people die of snakebites every year in Bihar.

Source – newindianexpress.com

PATNA: Bihar witnesses deaths of around 4,500 people every year due to snake bites, majority of them are from extremely poor backgrounds. Bihar stands as the third in the country with the largest number of deaths caused by snakebites in India.

Sharing this figure at a public awareness event organised at Asia’s longest-running sonepur fair on Sunday, Aditya Vaibhav, the  representative of ‘The Tricky Rescuer’, said : “ With a view to promoting awareness amongst Bihari masses on snakebites and post-bite response, a mass social campaign has been launched all over the state”.

Spelling out the objective of ‘The Tricky-Rescuer’, he said that it aims at saving snakes, as-well-as humans in case of conflicts by reducing the number of such occurrences.

Quoting figures of various research studies on the cases of snakebites, he said: “Five million snakebites occur globally each year, causing between 81,000 and 1.38 lakh deaths and nearly 4 lakh amputations and other permanent disabilities.

South Asia has the highest incidence of venomous snakebites in the world. Within the region, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka together constitute nearly 70% of global snakebite mortality”.

In Bihar, it is a sheer lack of prevention or a slew of post-snakebite steps; most of the victims die in state’s interiors than in urban landscapes. “Cobras, Kraits, Russell ’s viper and Saw Scale vipers are the commonly found venomous species of snakes, which bite the human-beings”.

He said: “Snakebites are exacerbated by ignorance. Let alone the illiterates, even most of those educated are unaware of crucial trivia. In a recent email survey that was conducted on 1,000 graduates, with equal participation of both males and females, in ten developing and developed countries it was found
that close of 870 individuals did not know what an antivenin is”.

Antivenin is the antiserum containing antibodies against specific chemicals, especially those in the venom of snakes, spiders, and scorpions.

JD(U) frets about BJP repeating Maharashtra drama after 2020 Bihar polls.

Source – theprint.in

Patna: The Janata Dal (United) is not warming up to its partner BJP’s alliance with Ajit Pawar in Maharashtra. Though Nitish Kumar’s party doesn’t have any stake in the western state, it is concerned about the post-poll scenario developing there because Bihar goes to the polls next year.

The JD(U), now the BJP’s biggest ally in Parliament, is concerned about the developments, spokesperson Pavan Varma told ThePrint. “Whether you see Ajit Pawar with the BJP or the Shiv Sena with the Congress, where is their ideology? Combinations are being made in Maharashtra in pursuit of power,” he said.

Varma said combinations which have been invited to form the government must prove their majority on the floor of the house as soon as possible, to “Prevent the unethical practice of horse trading”. He maintained that JD(U)-BJP alliance in Bihar is strong, but added that “it is confined to Bihar”.

JD(U)’s reaction stands in sharp contrast to the BJP’s other Bihar ally, the Lok Janshakti Party. Ram Vilas Paswan, the party founder and Union cabinet minister, was among the first to congratulate the swearing in of the BJP-Ajit Pawar government Saturday morning.

Echoes of 2005, eye on 2020

The developments in Maharashtra echo what happened in Bihar after the 2005 elections, which produced a hung assembly. The LJP was part of the Congress-led UPA at the time, and 15 of its MLAs “disappeared” and later surfaced in Jharkhand, in a bid to install an NDA government led by JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar. The move was torpedoed by then-governor Buta Singh, who recommended the dissolution of the newly-elected assembly on the grounds of “horse trading”.

BJP chief Amit Shah had announced that Nitish will be the leader of the NDA in the 2020 assembly polls, but after the Maharashtra developments, this has begun to look less assuring to the JD(U).

“Suppose the BJP gets more seats than JD(U) and, with the support of LJP, breaks away some RJD MLAs and stakes claim to form the government. This is the level the BJP is willing to go for power,” a senior JD(U) leader said on the condition of anonymity. “There is a clear possibility of the Maharashtra episode being repeated in Bihar.”

The seat-sharing formula between the BJP and its allies for the 2020 assembly polls is yet to be decided. But the BJP has made it clear that it expects Nitish Kumar to be generous and reciprocate its generosity from the 2019 Lok Sabha polls — the party dropped five sitting MPs to accommodate Nitish’s demand for an equal number of seats (17 each, with the LJP getting six).

There is talk of the BJP and the JD(U) contesting 100 to 110 seats each, leaving the rest to the LJP in the 243-member house.

The alleged BJP-RJD nexus

Bihar’s Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi made a statement comparing the Shiv Sena to the RJD, and calling it a party of goons. The RJD reacted by declaring that Modi faces an identity crisis and cannot make any statement without dragging in the RJD.

When RJD founder Lalu Prasad first came to power in 1990, it was with the support of the BJP. However, after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, the parties have been the two poles of “secular” and “communal” politics in the state. Their vote bank compulsions will not allow them to come together — the RJD has to protect its Muslim votes while the BJP wouldn’t want to antagonise its upper caste votes.

However, recently, there have been charges that Lalu’s son Tejashwi Yadav has been helping BJP indirectly by ruling out the possibility of the JD(U) and Nitish Kumar returning to the fold of the Mahagathbandhan. The perception, fuelled by former allies Jitan Ram Manjhi and Mukesh Sahani, is that Tejashwi is toeing the line due to the CBI and Enforcement Directorate cases against him and his family. This has weakened Nitish Kumar’s bargaining power against the BJP.

The senior JD(U) leader quoted above pointed out that though the BJP has been attacking the RJD over corruption since Lalu Prasad was convicted and jailed in the Rs 900 crore fodder scam, it pales in comparison to the magnitude of the scam allegedly committed by Ajit Pawar and other NCP leaders in Maharashtra.

“Corruption is not an issue which the BJP holds dear when it is after allies,” the leader said, stressing that Maharashtra episode has thrown the gates open to possibilities in Bihar.

What Bill Gates Said About Bihar’s Efforts To Fight Poverty, Diseases.

Source – ndtv.com

PATNA: Billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Sunday praised the Bihar government’s progress in fighting poverty and disease in the last 20 years. He said only a few places have been able to surpass the achievements made by the state.

The co-chair and trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who is on a visit to Bihar, said this at a meeting with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna.

“Over the past 20 years, few places have made more progress against poverty and disease than Bihar. Compared to her mother born two decades ago, a child born today in Bihar is twice more likely to reach her fifth birthday,” a press release quoted Bill Gates as saying.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is committed to working with the state government to ensure health and education for all children, the statement said.

The state government also announced its commitment for continued partnership with the foundation to find solutions to the state’s critical health and development goals.

“Now, we have to make sure that all children are able to grow up healthy and get a good education. And our foundation remains committed to working with the state government to make that happen,” the statement said.

Commenting on the interaction, Mr Kumar expressed happiness with the collaboration as it would help improve public health services.

“We are pleased with our collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve public health services, community level behaviour change, scaling up innovation across health, nutrition and agriculture. Bihar is keen to continue partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to further strengthen sustainable systems across departments like health, social welfare, agriculture, empowerment of women and rural development,” the chief minister said.

The discussion also focused on giving priorities to structural reforms in the health sector with a need to strengthen primary health care by building a robust, resilient and responsive health system in Bihar, the statement said.

Elaborating on the “impressive” progress made by Bihar, the statement mentioned decisive actions towards reforming the state health system through creation of a Public Health Management Cadre for delivering good quality clinical care and bringing more administrative and management capacity into public health.

Mr Gates was apprised of the chief minister’s flagship programme “Jal-Jivan-Hariyali”, an inter-departmental effort to combat the effects of climate change. The chief minister was accompanied by his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, health minister Mangal Pandey and key officials during the meeting.

‘Didn’t expect to hear it in Patna’: Bill Gates talks climate change with Nitish Kumar.

Source – hindustantimes.com

Philanthropist billionaire Bill Gates, who co-chairs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, on Sunday, said that global economies needed to change to get carbon emissions down to zero to rein in the challenges posed by climate change.

Gates was in conversation with Rishad Premji, chairman, Wipro Ltd., on a topic close to his heart: Technology for Social Inclusion as part of Mint Visionaries. Mint selected this theme since it resonates with the idea of new India.

Talking about his book on climate change which will be released next June, Gates said the idea that someday the rate of emissions will drop to zero is a very challenging one. “Most of the energy that we use comes from coal or natural gas or gasoline. By the time you get to zero, you will need to get rid of these sources of energy and move over to nuclear, renewable or hydro energy. The work on mitigation requires immense innovation. We have a lot of inventions that need to be made. We have to accelerate innovation to mitigate the risk of climate change, which won’t come if we don’t step in,” Gates said.

Referring to his interaction with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar earlier on Sunday Gates said, “I met the chief minister of Bihar, earlier in the day and he was talking about ways to reduce climate change. When I am in Seattle, in Washington DC or in Paris, climate change is the big topic but I did not expect to hear about it in Patna. Young people are waking up to climate change but unfortunately the people who will suffer the most due to the impact of climate change in growing economies will be the poorest—the farmers and the people in the lower end of the pyramid.”

“This is the first meeting I had with Nitish Kumar and I was impressed that he was saying that they had a problem with climate change. He was trying to get our advice and help on seeds and water supply and how to deal with climate change,” Gates said.

“We have a lot of inventions which need to be made for example the way we make cement and steel are extremely heavy emission activities and yet the world will build more buildings by around 2060 than exist today as the world urbanizes. We are going to use a lot of cement and steel so accelerating innovation is a must, “he emphasized.

Gates spoke of including every country in the need to reduce climate change. “Every country in the world has to participate in tackling climate change; even if you leave out low-income countries you have to include middle income countries since 60% of humanity lives there and a lot of the emissions are going to come from there not just the rich countries. Some people think it can be dealt with in 10 or 20 years. I wish that was true. We need to engage in a plan to sort out climate change.”

Asked about his wish for India, the billionaire said the country should look into malnutrition and get rid of it because it reduces the potential of children.

India: Bihar man loses wife in gambling match.

Source – gulfnews.com

Patna: A man in Bihar allegedly lost his wife in a gamble and then assaulted her when she refused to go with the ‘winner’.

The bizarre incident took place in Banka district of Bihar a few days back but came to light after the victim reported the matter to the police on Tuesday.

According to the complaint, the woman was asleep in her room on Monday night when her husband Binod Kumar Shah woke her up to inform that he had lost her to a villager after gambling and that she would have to go with the winner.

“He (husband) told me the winner would arrive at home the next morning and so you should get ready to go with him since I have lost you in the game,” the woman identified as Chanda Devi reportedly told the police.

The woman alleged her husband thrashed her badly when she refused to go the next morning.

The winner had reached her home to take her away as promised by her husband. The woman has now registered a case with the police, demanding action against her husband.

“We have registered the case and have begun investigation,” said a senior police official Kumar Sunny in charge of investigation.

The police official said she had asked the woman to come to the police station for further inquiry but she didn’t arrive. “We were informed the woman has left for her parent’s home,” the police official said.

Some time back in the same district a woman had herself lost a gamble and then happily went away with the winner. The woman from Teldiha village in Banka district had gambled away to a local villager Bambholi Yadav during the annual gambling fair during Diwali. Subsequently, the victor hugged her in full public view before taking her to his house where she stayed for two days.

She was finally rescued and sent to her husband after two days following intervention by fellow villagers. The woman who was an ace gambler had been winning cash every year during the gambling fair but that time she ended up losing the principal amount of Rs7,000 after initially winning some cash. Eventually, she placed herself on the bet after losing all cash and lost to the villager.