Category: Bihar

Yogi Adityanath asks authorities to be on guards after brain fever deaths in Bihar

Source: indiatoday.in

Amid several deaths in Bihar due to brain fever, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday asked state health authorities to be on guards against any such eventuality.

Yogi Adityanath cautioned the authorities during a meeting to review the functioning of the state’s medical, health and family welfare departments at Lok Bhavan in Lucknow.

“Keeping in view of 35 deaths in neighbouring Bihar due to encephalitis, there should be proper planning and we need to be prepared for any such disaster,” said the chief minister.

Yogi Adityanath also wanted all doctors and hospital staffers in the state to treat patients with dignity and asked chief medical officers to visit their respective hospital wards regularly and meet the patents.

Chief medical officers should interact with every patient admitted to the hospital and regularly visit the patient wards, Yogi Adityanath said.

“We have to be committed towards every citizen of the state for his or her better treatment without discrimination,” Yogi Adityanath said.

“For a better treatment of patients, the Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) should depute a doctor as a nodal officer in every hospital and make them responsible for monitoring every issue related to the hospital and patients,” Yogi Adityanath added.

Yogi Adityanath also instructed officials to reduce the response time to calls for ambulance service on telephone number 108 and review the health-related government schemes every fortnight.

“During the last two years, 250 life support ambulances were made available to save the lives of people. Mobile medical vans are also working in the remote areas for the same,” the chief minister pointed out.

The chief minister also expressed satisfaction over the improvement of medical facilities in the state’s hospital over the last two years during his tenure.

“Everyone plays a vital role and we all should work in a team to get the best result. Twenty-five years ago, district hospitals were operated very well but there has been a continuous decline in the health facilities,” Yogi Adityanath said.

“For the past two years, we have, however, tried to correct the system. Earlier we saw that medicines were not available in hospitals, but for the past two years there has been a major positive change,” Yogi Adityanath added.

The chief minister also emphasised upon the need of regular scrutiny of the functioning of hospitals and community health centres.

“The CMOs and other officers of the Health Department of every district should go to the field and examine the functioning of hospitals and community centres,” Yogi Adityanath said.

Yogi Adityanath also asked authorities to keep an eye over the supply of medicines to hospitals so that its availability in never disrupted.

New policy set to redraw Bihar’s sand mine map

Source: hindustantimes.com

The state government is drafting the Bihar State Sand Mining Policy 2019, a move required to incorporate the new rules of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change. The new policy will also be tailored after taking into account the problems faced by the state government while handling leased out sand ghats in the past five years.

The last time a Bihar sand mining policy was made was in 2013. After Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in 2000, the latter has been left with only a few commercially valuable minerals. Besides stone quarrying, royalty from sand mining gives the state government a handsome income. The state mines and geology department has set a target of earning Rs 900 crore in 2019.

Sand mining has been a controversial issue in Bihar. Illegal sand mining has led to major crimes and gang wars in the state.

On June 2, chief minister Nitish Kumar reshuffled the portfolio of various ministers, including mines and geology minister Vinod Kumar Singh, who was replaced by Brajkishore Bind. Sources said that the CM was taking an interest in vetting the new sand mining policy and suggesting changes in it.

Principal secretary, mines and geology department, Harjot Kaur Bamhrah, said that the last policy was of a five-year term, and so there was a need to draft a new policy. “The policy is in the draft stage and a presentation will be made to the higher authorities for vetting,” she said.

Sand ‘districts’ to be redrawn

Sources said that in the new sand mining policy, the mines and geology department, in order to drive up earnings, proposes to increase the number of sand mining units in Bihar. At present, out of 38 districts, the department has divided the state into 25 districts, according to mining units of sand.

“Districts such as Patna, Bhopur, and Saran are clubbed as one unit. Aurangabad and Rohtas are another unit. And Lakhisarai and Jamui are yet another unit. This has been done for mining purpose,” said a source.

However, under the new draft policy, there is a proposal to cut the sand mining ‘districts’ number to 15, but increase the sand mining sites within each unit. “Suppose a district has seven rivers, mining permission at each river will be given to different parties,” they added.

This would give an opportunity to small players to enter the river sand mining business and break the monopoly of big players, said the sources.

Normally, when a lessee gets sand mining licence for a district comprising many rivers, the mining company does not turn its attention to the small river(s) in the district, and gets busy with mining at the big river where the sand yield is more. “The smaller rivers are neglected in the districts, reducing the earnings of the department,” said sources, adding that allotment of more sites and to multiple mining companies would increase the earnings of the department.

Greener mining rules

The new sand mining policy would also incorporate the changes in environment laws, as proposed by the Centre. “The new policy will include the new guidelines of NGT and the union ministry of environment, forest and climate change. The guidelines of NGT are very exhaustive; work is on to incorporate them in the new draft policy,” said a source.

Principal secretary Bamhrah said that the presentation of the new policy would be made to the new mines and geology minister and later approved by the state cabinet. “Hopefully, the new sand mining policy will be in place in the next two months,” she said.

Bihari laborer Shahanbaz : A new victim of pellets in Kashmir

Source: siasat.com

SRINAGAR: Police showering pellets on Kashmiri protestors have consumed many lives, blinded many more and left thousands slowly losing their vision. Now pellet firing by armed forces in Kashmir has shattered hopes of a teenage migrant Bihari labourer.

Hailing from north Indian state of Bihar, Shahanbaj, has become the unlikeliest addition to the never-ending horror of pellets in Kashmir. The victim, Mohammad Shahanbaj, 17, a resident of Bihar, was caught in clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces in south Kashmir last week, resulting in pellet injuries to his eyes.

The victim has suffered “varying scale of damage” caused by the metallic balls in both his eyes which are going to be operated by doctors. The victim came to Kashmir earlier this month along with three others from his village and they were putting up in a rented room in Bellow village of the restive south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

On May 24, after finishing Friday prayers, Alam was buying ration for dinner when a violent protest erupted against the killing of Zakir Musa, the commander of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind militant group. Running for cover, Alam reached a nearby alleyway a few metres from his rented accommodation.

“I felt scared. I wanted to return to my dwelling,” he said, adding: “When the situation thawed, I stepped on the main road and a shower of pellets fired by security forces penetrated my face,” he told the Wire.

The rampant use of pellets as a crowd control weapon, especially since the 2016 mass uprising in the aftermath of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, has become a focus of public anger in Kashmir.

BPSC Civil Services 2018 Mains Exam to begin from July 12; Know Details here

Source: careers360.com

NEW DELHI, JUNE 10: Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) has announced the exam dates of Bihar Civil Services 2018 Mains on June 10, 2019. The mains exam will be held on July 12, 13, 14 & 16, 2019 paper-wise. BPSC Civil services mains exam will be conducted in the afternoon session (1 to 4 pm) across the different exam centres in Bihar.

Candidates who have qualified the preliminary exam are only eligible to appear for the mains exam. According to the exam pattern, BPSC Civil services mains exam will be conducted in offline mode for four papers – General Hindi (compulsory paper), General Studies 1, General Studies 2 and an optional paper. General Hindi consists of 100 marks which is qualifying in nature.

General Studies 1 & General Studies 2 carries 300 marks for individually whereas the total marks of optional paper is equivalent to total marks of honours papers in Graduation. Candidates are given 3 hours to answer each paper.

The examination authority BPSC will issue the admit card for the mains exam 7 days before the examination. To download the admit card, candidates will have to enter the user name and password in the login window.

BPSC conducts Civil Services exam for the recruitment of candidates to various posts like Revenue Officer, Block Panchayat Officer, Assistant Registrars in Cooperative Societies, Bihar Police. A total of 1,395 vacancies have been announced for Bihar Civil Services 64th Combined Competitive Exam.

Bihar: 14 kids die in Muzaffarpur due to Encephalitis, over dozen admitted to hospitals

Source: financialexpress.com

At least 14 children have died in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and over a dozen have been admitted to different city hospitals with high fever and other symptoms of the disease, news agency ANI reported. Sunil Shahi, Superintendent of Shri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH), Muzaffarpur, confirmed the death toll and number of children admitted to the hospital with symptoms of encephalitis this year.

“We have received 38 patients so far, most of them have a deficiency of glucose in their blood. The overall casualty till now is 14,” he said. Encephalitis is a viral infection which causes fever and headache. It causes a sudden loss in the level of sugar in the body and affects the life-supporting function in a minor’s body. This time, the outbreak has gone beyond the limits of Muzzaffarpur with many children being diagnosed with the syndrome in Vaishali, Sheohar as well as the East and West Champaran districts.

State Health minister Mangal Pandey said that all efforts are underway to bring the situation under control. “All arrangements have been made to check the outbreak of the disease,” he said.

Dr Gopal Sahni, head of Critical Care Unit at SKMCH said that the outbreak is mostly reported just ahead of the arrival of Monsoon when heat and the humidity rise. The humidity level has hovered around 50% in Muzaffarpur for the last few days while thge tempertaure stayed around the 40-degree mark.

Muzaffarpur Civil Surgeon Dr SP Singh said that a team of health department recently visited the SKMCH and held a high-level meeting with doctors on the outbreak.

The epidemic impacts children every year in the north Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh regions. According to UP government’s claim, 187 deaths were reported due to encephalitis in 2018 against 553 such deaths in 2017. In Bihar, it claimed over a dozen lives.

Gates Foundation to support Bihar beyond 2021, says health minister

Source: hindustantimes.com

Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), has accepted in principle to continue support to the Bihar government in the health sector beyond 2021, based on the government’s long-term plan for health system reforms.

This follows the request by Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey for extension of support. Pandey met Melida Gates on the sidelines of the Women Deliver 2019 conference at Vancouver in Canada, which ended on June 6.

The co-chair of the BMGF said that the foundation was committed to supporting the Bihar government beyond 2021 and emphasised that the state government should have long-term health system transformation plan in place.

“Based on the government’s plan, it would become clear as to what would be the nature of support the government needs and how best the BMGF can provide it,” said the minister quoting the co-chair.

Pandey, on behalf of chief minister Nitish Kumar, also extended an invitation to Bill and Melinda Gates to visit Bihar to see the changes that have taken place in the state’s health sector. “During the visit, the government would be happy to share the long-term transformation plan with the BMGF leadership, the minister told the co-chair,” he added.

Principal secretary, department of health, Sanjay Kumar was present at the discussion.

Pandey said that the health system transformation was a long-term process and owing to the government’s commitment to achieve Sustainable Development Goal by 2030, the Foundation should support the department of health beyond 2021 or at least till 2025.

The minister said that Melinda told the Bihar delegation that the ongoing project in the state was very close to her and Bill Gates’s heart. “Due to multiple competing priorities, they were not able to visit Bihar in the recent past. But through the Gates Foundation team in India they received regular updates,” he added.

JDU upbeat ahead of National Executive meet, Nitish Kumar may announce road map to achieve national party status

Source: indiatoday.in

The National Executive Meeting of the Janata Dal United (JDU) will be held on June 9 under the chairmanship of party chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Nitish Kumar is likely to announce JD(U)’s road map to expand base in other states at the meeting.

JD(U) National Secretary Ravinder Singh said that the membership of a party lasts for three years. The members were inducted on June 5, 2016, and now on June 9, a meeting will be held to induct the members for the next three years.

The state president of JD(U) in Bihar Vashishtha Narayan Singh has directed every MLA, MP, MLC, office bearers and national, state and village level officials of the party to initiate the process of induction into the party by June 8.

The meeting comes amid rumours flying high about the rift with National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of which JD(U) is an ally. However, JD(U) on Friday asserted that NDA in the state was “intact”, dismissing speculation of a rift within the alliance in the wake of the party’s decision to “stay out” of the Narendra Modi government.

Earlier, Nitish Kumar had declined to be part of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre in protest against the “symbolic representation” of one ministerial berth offered to it but refuted suggestions of any difference with its ally.

In the recent general elections, the NDA, comprising BJP, JD(U) and LJP, won 39 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, the best performance by any political formation in the last few decades. Nitish Kumar’s party bagged 16 seats.

The meeting also comes in the backdrop of series of comments from JD(U)’s opponents in Bihar.

Recently, RJD leader and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi said she would have no problem if Nitish Kumar joins grand alliance of the Opposition. Another Lalu Yadav loyalist, RJD’s Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has waived the white flag in front of the JDU leader.

RJD’s leader Tejashwi Yadav has also gone virtually silent on Nitish Kumar’s criticism on social media. Tejashwi Yadav had earlier tweeted personal comments against Nitish Kumar.

Since the Lok Sabha poll results, the Bihar leader of opposition has not tweeted against Nitish Kumar and has restricted himself to greetings and congratulatory messages.

Meanwhile, KC Tyagi, Secretary General of JD(U), told India Today TV that JD(U) would contest the Bihar Assembly elections in 2020 with NDA. “NDA is intact in Bihar and we will fight the 2020 elections together,” KC Tyagi said.

KC Tyagi further stated that RJD is a divided house and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD might come to Nitish Kumar-led party’s fold. “RJD is a divided house, don’t be surprised if the old guard of Lalu Yadav’s party come to our fold,” KC Tyagi said.

JD(U) not only increased it vote share but also dealt a major blow to its opponents in Bihar including RLSP’s Upendra Kushwaha and HUM’s Jeetan Ram Manjhi. Both — Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HUM) — fared miserably in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The NDA ally in Bihar increased its vote share from 17% in 2014 to 21% this time. India Today-Axis MyIndia post poll survey suggested that 27% Yadavs, 13% Muslim’s voted for NDA in Bihar.

Suspected outbreak of encephalitis claims lives of 21 children in Patna this year

Source: newindianexpress.com

PATNA: The outbreak of suspected encephalitis in North Bihar’s Muzaffarpur and its some adjoining districts included Vaishali has reportedly claimed the lives of around 21 children from January to May 9. As many as 18 children, diagnosed with the syndrome of encephalitis, have been admitted in Muzaffarpur based SKMCH and other private clinics.

The outbreak has gone beyond the Muzaffarpur and many children belonging to extremely poor families, have also been diagnosed with the syndrome of acute encephalitis  in neighbouring Vaishali, Sheohar, East and West Champaran districts. On Sunday alone, 4 new suspected cases of encephalitis diagnosed with four children were brought and admitted at SKMCH in Muzaffarpur.

“This time again after a gap of the last three years, the outbreak of syndrome of encephalitis has been reported. It occurs only when heat coupled with extreme humidity rises to an extreme level. It is contained as soon s Monsoon arrives”, Dr M Singh said, adding that sudden loss in the level of sugar in the body leads to collapse of life support functioning in the body of a minor.

Meanwhile, Reena Devi of Muzaffarpur said her 6-year-old son Raghu developed a symptom of high fever with breathing problem suddenly after returning from a nearby mango orchard in Motipur.

“Now, he has been admitted at SKMCH  under critical condition”, she said, adding that fearing further casualties in many remote areas of Muzaffarpur like Saraiya, Sherpur and others, many families have left the villages.

On Saturday, Prince Kumar of Vaishali and Chanda Kumari of Sheohar died while on Friday and other past few days, Madhu Kumari, Pawan Kumar, Sonu Kumar and many other minors had died in Muzaffarpur and other private clinics during treatments.

State health minister Mangal Panday claimed that all efforts are on to save the lives of children, who are being diagnosed with symptoms of encephalitis. Dr S K Shahi, superintendent of SKMCH, told the media that all arrangements have been made to check the outbreak of this disease.

He admitted that nearly 38 kids with symptoms of encephalitis were admitted between January and June this year. According to Muzaffarpur civil surgeon Dr SP Singh, a team of health department had recently visited the SKMCH and held a high-level meeting with doctors on the outbreak.

Patna’s Chanakya National Law University trains panchayat functionaries for faster dispute resolution

Source: hindustantimes.com

In a new initiative aimed at resolving the growing number of disputes at the village level by strengthening the justice delivery system at the grassroots level, Chanakya National Law University (CNLU), Patna, in collaboration with the department of panchayati raj, government of Bihar, has completed training of sarpanchs,up-sarpanchs, nyaya mitras, and gram katchari secretaries of Patna district.

Two-day trainings were held at the office of chair professor, panchayati raj, CNLU. About 1,000 members of gram katchari have been given training, both textual and practical, within three months. A moot court was also incorporated in the training programme under retired district judges and IAS officers.

The move is significant as it could help in lessening the mounting load of litigations in courts. As per the law, no court shall take cognisance of any case or suit that is cognisable by a bench of the gram katchari.

“We will start it in 14 other districts of Bihar with the help of the department of panchayati raj next month. Amrit Lal Meena, principal secretary, and Kuldeep Narayan, director of the department, have expressed their satisfaction over the successful completion of training programme of Patna district. Once trained, gram katcharis can bring about a perceptible change in local governance,” said SP Singh, chair professor.

“Bihar is the only state where chair professor has been estabconsent

lished by the department of panchayati raj. Ministry of panchayati Raj, government of India, has also shown an interest in establishing chair professor. I got a call from the ministry in this regard. The executive committee of CNLU has given its to start a PHD programme on various aspects of panchayati raj under the chair professor,” he added.

As per the Panchayati Raj Act, 2006, Bihar has set up gram katcharis in every panchayat for the purpose of discharging the mandated judicial functions.

The law stipulates that the state government shall, in the prescribed manner, make arrangements for training of the sarpanch, up-sarpanch, panches and nyaya mitras of the gram katchari.

Bihar has 8,392 gram katcharis and more than 33,000 personnel would be trained in phases. Chief minister Nitish Kumar had also earlier said that cases coming under the jurisdiction of gram katcharis should be transferred to them from police stations top reduce the load of litigations. Each gram katchari has five members. A sarpanch is a key figure and gram katchari is an important institution to entertain suits and cases on application of parties and police reports.

It has the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure,1908, to take evidence and to compel attendance of the parties, witnesses and such other persons as may be required and production of documents or instruments for disposal of such suits or cases.

The powers of village katcharis include clamping of Section 144 in their jurisdiction up to 15 days, beyond which it needs to be vetted by the SDO concerned. imposing fine up to Rs 1,000 and deal with land disputes, criminal trespass, public nuisance, eve teasing or family issues.


‘Bihar Suno Nahin Dekho’: How these women are trying to change perception about Bihar

Source: indiatvnews.com

The very mention of Bihar brings images of an under-developed society into the mind — when the state clearly has emerged as one of the fastest growing regions in India, clocking over 10 per cent annual growth for the past decade.

According to the Bihar Economic Survey, in 2016-17, the growth rate was 11.3 per cent, while the national average was 7 per cent.

Rapid growth in infrastructure, energy and communication sectors and public investment in roads played a major role in bringing the turnaround. Other important factor that contributed in the spurt of opportunities was the plethora of campaigners who worked tirelessly for changing the perception about Bihar.

Amongst the campaigners are two women — Yashi Malviya and Sukriti Yadav — who took it upon themselves to inform the world how beautiful Bihar can be.

The two women, both of them journalists, began a campaign through their website ‘Bihar Bytes’ and travelled to as many as 32 districts of Bihar. From their travel was born #biharsunonahidekho — capturing the essence of the state.

Under the hashtag, they ran video clips, photographs and stories about several unexplored places of Bihar — places that can be on the bucket lists of tourists — on the social media . 

“One fine day, we Googled Bihar and we were shocked to see that there were almost no good images of the state on the internet. Bihar was perceived in a negative light. And there on we took it upon us to work and improve the image of the state,” Yashi Malviya, co-founder at Bihat Bytes, said.

Speaking to India TV, Sukriti Yadav, co-founder at Bihar Bytes, said, “I have heard several people say there was no place to visit in Bihar. We visited a lot of places which were not promoted. Manjhar Kund, Tutla Bhawani waterfall, Rohtasgarh Fort, Panth Pakkar, Darbhanga Fort, Rajnagar Palace, and others were on our list. We collected relevant data about the places to spread the word through social media, our website and various travel and blogger meet-ups.”

Perhaps a start is made — to attract people from across the world and the Bihari diaspora to come to explore the state.  

The two campaigners now only hope that they bring a change in how Bihar is perceived in India and across the world.

“I have experienced a whole new world and a different side of Bihar which had been neglected. And I want everyone to visit those places. We have heard it enough that Bihar is a backward state. We believe that increase in tourism will give a boost to employment and economic growth of the state,” Sukriti signed off.