Manjhi’s HAM breaks alliance, to go solo in Bihar, Jharkhand state polls.

Source – business-standard.com

Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) president Jitan Ram Manjhi on Friday announced that his party will be contesting on its own in 2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly elections.

Manjhi, who had served as Bihar chief minister from May 2014 to February 2015, announced to fight alone citing that its ally Congress and the RJD are not taking him into confidence while making any decisions.

“Congress and the RJD are not hearing our demands. We have told them to make the coordination committee during the Lok Sabha election so that decisions can be taken with the consent of all the parties. But both RJD and NCP are taking decisions independently and are imposing on us, which is why we thought it is better to leave the alliance,” he said while speaking to media in Patna.

Taking about the future coarse of action, Manjhi also informed that his party will fight Jharkhand polls independently.

Earlier, Manjhi had also rejected the possibility of joining the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), alleging that the BJP was involved in communal politics.

NCP and HAM contested the Lok Sabha elections in coalition with RJD, Congress and some other parties but could not win even a single seat in Bihar.

Bihar floods: How Delhi, Kolkata, and Dhaka betrayed Patna.

Source – hindustantimes.com

The 2019 monsoon season, which continued till late September, has been disastrous for Bihar. There has been large-scale inundation, leading to loss of lives and property and displacement. Moreover, in the last four months, the Bihar government has spent nearly ~130 million to provide relief to those affected by floods, which were caused by torrential rains in Nepal in mid-July, and flooding in the basins of the Kamla, Bagmati, Gandak, and Kosi rivers that originate in the neighbouring country. The state has urged the Centre to provide ~2,700 crore as compensation.

If Bihar has to get out of this annual cycle of flooding and destruction, the state has to reclaim its riparian rights over the Ganga. One of the key reasons why the destruction could be contained somewhat in the September round of flooding was the timely decision taken by the Bihar government of requesting the release of 19 lakh cusec of water via the Farakka Barrage across the Ganga in West Bengal. The discharge through the barrage, which was built in 1962, was increased to decongest the floodwaters in the Ganga and save the riverine areas along the river in Bihar.

The Farakka Barrage has been a controversial project since inception. The first landmark publication against the Nehruvian penchant for large dams was authored in 1961 by the then superintending engineer of the West Bengal government, Kapil Bhattacharya. He warned that the construction of the barrage would lead to heavy flooding and siltation in Malda and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal, and to floods in Bihar. Bhattacharya was hounded for criticising the project, which was originally conceived by the British in 1853 to “flush out silt from the approach channel” to their key trading port, Calcutta. After Independence, the Centre and the Bengal governments pursued the project, disregarding criticisms.

At that time, there were three key arguments against the building of the barrage. First, the designed discharge of 27 lakh cusec was way below what’s needed during floods; second, it will increase siltation in Ganga owing to reduced flow during the lean months; and, third, that the barrage would reduce water flow into Padma (East Pakistan).

All three apprehensions have been proved right in the later years.

Either due to deft diplomacy by the Bangladesh government or the weakness of the HD Deve Gowda-led government, in the 1996 (lean season) water-sharing treaty between India and Bangladesh, Dhaka was able to wrest the desired discharge from Delhi. Bihar, a key stakeholder, was neither included as a participant in the negotiations, nor was its protest on the treaty’s provisions ever considered. Moreover, both the Indian and Bengal governments could never work out any alternative for the much-hyped 40,000 cusecs of discharge throughout the year into the Hoogly channel, which was, allegedly, required to keep the Kolkata port operational.

So, who has been bearing the brunt of these commissions and omissions? Bihar. While the state suffers from annual flooding, a series of dams and barrages over the Ganga, and its tributaries in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, are denying Bihar its due share of the river’s water.

To honour the Indo-Bangladesh treaty’s commitment of ensuring 1,500 cusec of discharge at Farakka, Bihar has to provide this from the state’s other rivers. This means Bihar only gets 400 cusecs of water from the Ganga during the lean months (January to May). This low water volume and the resultant placid flow year after year have dried up the river’s channels, leaving enormous silt deposits in its lower reaches. The gradually ascending river beds abet inundation during the high volume flooding periods because the choked discharge at Farakka restricts free flow. It is a double whammy for Bihar.

It defies logic how the Central Water Commission (CWC) has persisted with its stand on the issue despite several submissions by the Bihar government and expert group estimations pointing to the need for a rethink on Ganga water sharing and decommissioning of the Farakka barrage.

Repeated submissions by the Bihar government for a review of international and inter-state water-sharing arrangement, and optimising the Farakka barrage’s discharge capacity to meet the changed hydrology of the river, have been systematically downplayed by CWC. The momentum generated by two high-level expert meetings in Patna and Delhi in 2017 has not produced anything productive. Reviving the discourse has become imperative once again.

The annual agony of flooding is a demonic drain on the national resources and not just that of Bihar. Given its political and diplomatic clout, the National Democratic Alliance is best poised to redeem Bihar and its 130 million people from this scourge.

After Prolonged Patna Water-logging, Bihar Govt Shifts Senior Officials from Currents Posts

Source: news18.com

Patna: The Bihar government has removed Principal Secretary of Urban Development department Chaitanya Prasad and Patna Divisional Commissioner Anand Kishor from their positions apparently in the wake of prolonged water-logging here triggered by incessant rain in September end.

Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCO) Managing Director Amarendra Prasad Singh has also been shifted to another post, according to a General Administration Department notification issued Tuesday evening.

Axe has fallen on the senior officials after the government had cracked whip on several middle level officials of the Patna Municipal Corporation and BUIDCO, responsible for upholding civic facilities in the capital city.

They were punished for lapses in discharge of their duties in dealing with the accumulation of water in several localities after heavy downpours for three days starting September 27 in Patna.

Water-logging continued for over a week in promiment localities like Rajendranagar, Kankarbagh and Patliputra colony, when boats of NDRF and SDRF were seen rescuing citizens from their inundated houses, had drawn national outrage.

The visual of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi being rescued from his flooded house in Rajendranagar with other family members was seen with awe across the country. The issue had also resulted in some hot exchange of words between the ruling NDA partners- JD(U) and the BJP.

Chaitanya Prasad has been shifted to Science and Technology department as its principal secretary. Prasad, a 1989 batch IAS officer, will continue to hold additional charge of the Parliamentary Affairs department, the notification said.

Patna divisional commissioner Anand Kishor has been made Secretary in the urban development department. He will also hold additional charge of Managing Director of the Patna Metro

Rail Corporation.

According to the notification, 2002 batch IAS officer Sanjay Agarwal, currently Transport Secretary, has been given additional charge of Patna divisional commissioner till further order.

He had earlier served as Patna District Magistrate. BUIDCO MD Amarendra Prasad Singh has been transferred and made Administrator, Bihar State Road Transport Corporation, Patna while Chandrashekhar Singh, presently working as Additional Secretary in the CM Secretariat, will replace him in BUIDCO.

Choked drainage system after heavy rain in September end had caused massive water logging in many areas of the state capital.

The government had on Monday placed officials under suspension, withheld payment of their salaries and issued show-cause notices for lapses in discharge of their duties when the state capital was reeling under worst-ever water logging in three decades.

Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar had said the action followed a review meeting of the top government officials. The new transfer order also saw change in position of some other IAS officers.

Dr Dipak Prasad, currently Advisor, Bihar State Planning Board, has been made principal secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat department.

Science and Technology department’s principal secretary Harjot Kaur Bamhara will be principal secretary-cum commissioner in the Mines and Geology department.

Pradeep Kumar Jha has been made Director, Information and Public Relations department till further order. Jha will continue to hold additional charge as Special Secretary of Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED), it added.

After 33% Salary Hike, Bihar Lawmakers to Get Plush Bungalows at Govt Rate Ahead of Assembly Polls

Source: news18.com

Patna: As a pre-poll gift, the Bihar lawmakers will be entitled to purchase residential plots of two kathas each at a rate fixed by the state government. The Bihar State Cooperative Federation and Bihar Land Development Bank will be the nodal bodies to make available the required land in Ashiananagar area of the state capital to the Swablambi Grih Nirman Sahyog Samiti headed by state Parliamentary Affairs minister Shrawan Kumar. Bihar cooperative minister Rana Randhir is its secretary and BJP legislator Sachindra Kumar is its treasurer.

The former and present legislators having no house in Patna will be eligible for becoming members of the new legislators’ cooperative. There is a virtual scramble among the former and present legislators to fill the membership forms. “So far, 100 members have filled their membership forms. The other formalities will begin after registration of the cooperative society,” said Shrawan Kumar.

The rush among the lawmakers to get a house in Patna emanates from the fact that many of them are not sure to return to the state assembly in the changed political scenario after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Many of them may not be repeated as candidates by their respective political parties.

A residential colony of legislators of Bihar already exists near the veterinary college which is home to veteran leaders like Radhanandan Jha, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, Ram Vilas Paswan, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Abdul Bari SIddiqui, Nand Kishore Yadav and others. But several plots in this cooperative were sold to other legislators, exchanged and put on rent in utter violation of the cooperative society’s rules.

The state government has recently constructed swanky duplex bungalows for sitting legislators with state-of-the-art facilities at an estimated cost of nearly Rs 600 crore. There are, at present, 318 lawmakers, including 243 members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) and 75 members of the legislative council (MLCs) in Bihar.

The plush government bungalows would be allotted according to constituency numbers of the members. Many legislators, who used to stay outside on rent ever since the old residential flats were demolished, would be given possession by December this year.

There was a windfall for legislators in November last year when the Nitish Kumar government had approved 33 per cent hike in their salary and substantial increase in their allowances, making their salary structure no less attractive than the industry’s Chief Executive Officers (CEOs).

At present, the Bihar lawmakers are entitled for a basic salary of Rs 40,000 per month, besides constituency allowance of Rs 50,000, stationary of Rs 10,000 and Rs 30,000 per month for keeping private secretaries. They are also entitled to travel coupons worth Rs 3 lakh per year and vehicle loan up to Rs 15 lakh.

The government had also enhanced the pension amount of former lawmakers. Former legislators with one year tenure in the legislature get monthly pension of Rs 35,000. Their pension amount increases at Rs 3,000 per month for every additional year served as legislators.

The salary and perks of the Bihar legislators were increased before this in 2014 when Jitan Ram Manjhi was the chief minister. The then government had also hiked the monthly salary of the chief minister and all its ministers. The government also decided to provide lifetime facilities of eight private staff to all former chief ministers benefitting all the former chief ministers, including Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi and Jagannath Mishra.

The legislators continue to get monetary benefits despite the fact that quite many of them own huge assets running into several crores. According to a report by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), altogether 162 out of 243 MLAs of Bihar are crorepati. Of them, 14 have assets over Rs 10 crore.

No ‘regular’ chemist to check quality of potable water supplied to Bihar homes

Source: hindustantimes.com

The Bihar government does not have any regular chemist to test quality of water being supplied to homes under “har ghar nal ka jal”, one of the seven flagship schemes of the state government.

In 2004, the state government had appointed as many as 29 chemists to test quality of supply water in various districts through the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC). But they still continue to work on temporary basis and thereby being denied suitable pay scales and other benefits.

As per rules, the state should have at least one chemist in each of its 38 districts and 75 sub-divisions.

The matter came to the light when Janata Dal (United) member Sanjeev Shyam Singh raised the matter in the legislative council during the question hour and sought the government’s reply on whether it was considering regularising their services and had any plan to equip the water testing labs across the state with qualified technical persons and infrastructure.

The issue assumes considerable significance as the public health and engineering department (PHED) had set up as many as 93 water testing labs in the districts and sub-divisions to ensure supply of safe water in arsenic and fluoride infested areas. Consumption of arsenic and fluoride laced water causes many diseases, including cancer.

In his reply, PHED minister Binod Narayan Jha said the government was looking to regularise the service of chemists appointed through the BPSC. He said chemists could not be appointed as they were appointed as temporary staff under the planned allocation. Later, their posts were transferred under the non-plan section.

Countering the reply, the JD(U) member said it was ironical that the government was treating technical staff appointed by BPSC as casual and denying them appropriate wages under a design by vested interests in the department.

Singh also alleged that the PHED could not develop any reliable set of manpower to ensure supply of tested water despite the Central government’s protocol, stipulated a few years ago, to raise a separate cadre for water testing staff. “As quality testing staff are on temporary basis, engineers, who are dealing in supply, generally held sway in the decision making,” Singh pointed out, adding that the rules framed for better management of human resources in 2016 also contained many discrepancies.

Intervening in the matter, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi the government would look into the issues and correct it as BPSC was not the body to appoint temporary staff. “There might be some mistakes in the past that led to such discrepancies,” he said.

HC rebukes Bihar Govt for victimising IAS officer for acting against transport mafia

Source: dailypioneer.com

The Delhi High Court rebuked the Bihar Government on Tuesday for ‘humiliating, harassing and victimising’ an IAS officer who took a tough stand against the transport mafia despite threats to his life.

The court directed the central government to initiate inter-cadre transfer of the 2013-batch IAS officer Jitendra Gupta forthwith and issue the order to shift him out of Bihar cadre, completing the process within four weeks.

It also ordered the state to pay Rs 5 lakh to the officer as compensation within four weeks along with other dues, saying the court cannot undo the harm done to him but the amount awarded would apply some balm to his wounds.

A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jyoti Singh said if the court failed to protect a man who had the nerve to stand up against the mafia and the state machinery, they would be doing great disservice to the system and setting a bad precedent, where no officer would gather courage take on the wrongdoers.

Gupta, who was represented through senior advocate Sachin Datta and lawyer Sourabh Ahuja, had sought transfer to Haryana alleging threat to his life for acting tough against the transport mafia there.

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) had earlier directed the Centre to consider the case of the officer for inter-state deputation to Haryana or for central government deputation.

It had directed the state government not to withhold its consent for the inter-state deputation or central deputation of the officer and communicate it to the Centre.

The state government challenged the CAT order before the high court. It claimed that the tribunal failed to understand the mala fide intention of the officer for seeking cadre transfer which was to avoid a criminal case.

The high court dismissed the state government’s appeal against the CAT order.

In 2016, Gupta was arrested in a corruption case and was sent to jail. He was later granted bail and the FIR was quashed following Patna High Court’s order.

In Tuesday’s verdict, the bench said the resistance of the State government to let go of the officer on an inter-cadre transfer bewildered it.

Bihar mother-daughter tonsuring case: Arrest warrent issued for 5 accused

Source: hindustantimes.com

A local court in Vaishali issued an arrest warrant against five people for assaulting and tonsuring a 48-year-old woman and her 19-year-old daughter in Bihari village on June 26. The women were assaulted and ‘punished’ by a local councillor, after they protested against his attempt to rape the daughter. A video of the incident had become viral on social media and the police had arrested the councillor and four others for their alleged involvement.

Dr Rajulben L Desai, member of the National Commission for Women (NCW) , who visited the victims, asked the Bihar government to provide adequate compensation and free legal aid to help the women get justice. Rachna Raj, secretary of the district legal service authority (DLSA), also met the victims and provided them with a legal advisor.

Vaishali SP MS Dhillon said that a plea for the arrest of five accused, identified as Md Manjur Ansari, Md Kalim, Md Ishtewar, Md Javed and Md Padua, was submitted in the court of additional chief judicial magistrate Alok Kumar Mishra on Saturday, following which the court issued an arrest warrant against them, after a hearing on Tuesday.

Read | 2 women assaulted, tonsured for resisting rape bid by councillor in Bihar

Two of the accused,ward councillor Mohammad Khurshid and barber Dasrath Thakur, were arrested immediately after the incident and are already in judicial custody.

“The court has issued an arrest warrant against the five named accused. Now, we will go ahead with the due procedure,” said Sanjay Kumar, SHO of Bhagwanpur police station. He said that a case has been registered against seven people under section 376 (punishment for rape), 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences), 354b (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC.

The police informed that the victims recorded their statements before the court of second class judicial magistrate, Vandana, under sections of 167 CrPC. In her statement, the middle-aged woman revealed that all the accused forcibly entered their house and tried to rape her daughter. When she protested, the accused persons abused and beat up the victims. The women approached some of their fellow villagers, who took them to the police station.

The Bihar state women’s commission has also sought strong action against the accused. Dilmani Mishra, the commission’s chairman, said that the incident was highly condemnable.

“I have talked to eyewitnesses, the police and visited the spot where the incident occurred. I will send a report to the NCW,” said Desai.

‘Nation Responsible for Dying Kids in Bihar, Time For Child Survival Policy That Fixes Accountability’

Source: news18.com

New Delhi: With over 100 children dead due to Encephalitis in Bihar since June 2019, the biggest question that remains to be answered is who is to be held responsible?

“Children, obviously, cannot be held responsible for either ‘bringing’ or ‘allowing’ their death. So, there are two parties that could be held responsible – the State (including public health care system) and parents/guardians,” says Ali Mehdi, senior fellow of Health Policy Initiative at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).

“By State, with a capital S, I do not exclusively mean the present state or Central government, but we as a nation. Present governments in state and Centre should accept their shares of responsibility, but we as a nation are primarily responsible for the pattern of child deaths in the country,” he adds.

Every year, Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) or Chamki fever returns to haunt one of India’s poorest and most malnourished states, Bihar, leaving hundreds of children dead and others with permanent neurological damage.

From litchi to heat wave, various factors have been pointed out as the cause behind the deaths. However, one thing that gets consistently overlooked is the fact that it is a collective failure.

“Even if the role of the State was limited to tackling the shortfall in parental capability to save their children, most child deaths would still be the responsibility of the State since most parents would have done their best, as they deem fit, to keep their children alive,” says Mehdi.

“Every preventable child death is unjust, and the State is responsible for it… it is a collective failure,” he adds.

The recent AES outbreak also brought back to spotlight the public healthcare system in Bihar, which is struggling with poor infrastructure, shortage of manpower and administrative failure.

The situation is so bad that National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) was forced to send a notice to the Union Health Ministry and Bihar government over the rising number of children dying due to AES.

But can the public health care system be blamed for this medical crisis? “With efficient and equitable health systems and doctors, especially at the primary health care level, many deaths could have been prevented.

However, the challenges which surround it are reflective of the challenges of ‘structural’ causes,” says Mehdi, adding that blaming the medical system alone would be ‘unfair’ as it’s a ‘systemic failure’ of the Indian State.

Going by the magnitude of the AES outbreak, which returns every year during summers, there’s a desperate need for concrete steps to save children from this deadly disease.

“Given the endemic nature of child mortality in India – it has been the world’s largest contributor to child deaths since 1953 – it is high time for India to have a National Child Survival Policy with clearly delineated responsibilities,” Mehdi stresses.

He believes that there is a need to fix responsibility for child survival in the constitution for things to change in “any major way”.

“A ‘New India’ has to shed its world leader status in backwardness. And that has to begin with the humble acknowledgment of the challenge itself – nationalist chest-thumping isn’t going to help save lives or reduce poverty in the country,” Mehdi adds.

Every child deserves to lead a reasonably long, healthy and productive life to be able to realise their full potential, and for that, “shots of vaccinations would not be enough – children deserve a shot of justice to survive.”

“The Central and state governments have to stand up and assume responsibility for children’s survival and development up to a particular age at least. This should be included in the Constitution and a national policy be developed,”Mehdi says.

He goes on to add that people should be allowed to take the governments to court over harm to their own / children’s health and survival due to defined structural factors, such as air pollution, lack of sanitation and inadequate nutrition.

In addition to framing clear national policy for child survival, Mehdi says Indian health care system needs an urgent overhaul.

Some of the changes Mehdi recommends include developing ‘public health cadre to address social determinants of health’ (The Mudaliar Committee of 1959 recommended an ‘All India Medical Service cadre along the lines of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS)), ‘sustainable financing’ mechanisms to address child deaths and malnutrition, more ASHA / ANM level workers to tackle the problem at the local level, as well as a strong regulatory mechanism for private health services and price control on medicines.

In the end, shifting the blame on the state vs central government won’t serve the purpose unless “we as citizens, as a nation have to stand up and own responsibility.”