Tag: state-government

Jharkhand polls: Apex trade body fields candidate from Ranchi.

Source – newindianexpress.com

RANCHI: Amidst political ripples, former Federation of Jharkhand Commerce and Industries (FJCCI) president Pawan Sharma filed his nomination from the Ranchi Assembly seat on Monday.

Though FJCCI officials denied any role in Sharma’s candidature, the decision was said to be taken during a state-level meeting of the apex trade body on Monday to field its candidate from Ranchi and Godda to give a befitting reply to the state government’s alleged apathy towards its cause.

The FJCCI had put up at least eight hoardings in Ranchi in August this year with a slogan ‘Vyaparion Ki Marmik Pukar, Ab To Sudh Lo Sarkar’ to highlight their plight, which they claimed was due to government’s apathy and polices. 

Sharma was accompanied by hundreds of traders, including several former FJCCI presidents and working committee members while filing his nomination. 

In a press release, the FJCCI said it is entitled to field candidates in elections as it is not a registered political party.

Sharma, however, claimed to have the support of traders along with the common man of Ranchi. 

“Looking at state government’s apathy towards the common people, I had to take this decision and have the full support of the business community as well as the common people of Ranchi,” said Sharma. 

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.

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.

Bihar Spent Rs 67,000 Crore on Children from 2013-18, Says Deputy CM Sushil Modi.

Source – news18.com

Patna: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday said the state government has spent Rs 67,101 crore on children between 2013-14 and 2017-18 out of Rs 80,972 crore earmarked in the state’s budget for them.

The state government has earmarked Rs 20,889 crore in the current fiscal for spending on child development, Sushil Modi, who also holds the finance portfolio, said while releasing a Standard Operating Procedure for preparing ‘child budget’, on the occasion of Children’s Day on Thursday.

“After Kerala and Assam, Bihar is the third state to prepare a budget for the welfare and development of children through eight departments,” he said.

The deputy chief minister said eight more departments would be included in the ‘child budget’, which forms part of the main budget.

“The infant mortality rate in the state has come down to the national average of 35 from 65 in 2005-06 when the NDA government held the reins of the state for the first time,” Sushil Modi said.

He said the percentage of children immunised has gone up to 84 per cent from a mere 32.8 per cent, adding that the government is making sustained efforts to achieve cent percent immunisation.

According to the 2011 census, there are 4.98 crore people in the state within the age-group of 0-18, which constitutes 48 per cent of Bihar’s population, he said.

Schemes like mid-day meal, free school uniforms, scholarship, separate toilets for girls and boys had a positive impact on the development of the children, he added.