Death toll in Patna boat tragedy rises to 25, toll could go up

The death toll in the Patna boat tragedy rose to 25 with fears that it could rise still further because more than half a dozen are still missing. The boat was carrying 40 people from Sabalpur Diara en route to Gandhi Ghat in Patna and capsized.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 15 January 2017.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed grief over the tragedy and, announced an ex gratia from the PM's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased, and Rs 50,000 for those seriously injured in the incident.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has also announced an ex gratia to the next kin of deceased persons at the earliest. As per existing guidelines of Bihar government, an amount of Rs 4 lakh is paid as ex gratia to the kin of persons killed in any kind of disaster.
The chief minister has also ordered a high-level investigation into the mishap.


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Chief minister Nitish Kumar flags off new buses for Prakash Utsav pilgrims

Chief minister Nitish Kumar of Bihar flagged off 227 state-of-the-art buses, 12 ghats, and also laid the foundation stone for construction of an inter-state bus terminus. Out of the 227 buses, 75 have already arrived and the rest are on their way. These buses will be first plied on designated routes and circuits associated with the Prakash Utsav.
These 32-seat buses have been purchased by Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo) under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) at a cost of Rs 24.7 lakh each.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 25 December 2016.

As chief minister Nitish Kumar has said - visitors who come for the Prakash Utsav must carry back with them fond memories of Bihar. The new buses will provide free service to devotees on the routes and circuits of Prakash Utsav so that they don't face any problems with regard to transportation.
The buses are equipped with CCTV cameras, GPS, push-button alarms attached to passenger seats and doors that allow the bus to move only when they are properly closed.
The service will not be free forever and tickets will be charged after Prakash Utsav.


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Nearly 60% of the 500 tonne rock in Gaya has been chipped out - locals have yet to return

A piece of rock had shown signs of a downward slip during torrential rains in September and, after visiting the spot, chief minister Nitish Kumar urged the residents of the area to vacate the place for their safety. Subsequently, on his directive, the area was sealed and residents (67 families) shifted to temporary camp located on the Gaya College premises.
A decision was also taken to blast and dismantle the hanging rock.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 9 December 2016.

The first round of blast was engineered on November 27, 2016 under the supervision of rock scientists of the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR). To do this, deep holes of depth 1.6-1.7 metre wre dug at 72 locations in the 8 metre high rock piece to insert the detonators.
The second round of blasts to dismantle the hanging rock that threatened to wipe out residential areas in the southern part of Gaya town has now been conducted. With this, an estimated 60% of the 500 tonne rock has been chipped out.
The third blast may not happen because that could cause extensive damage to the concrete protective arrangement that is in place to hold the rock and check its downward slide.


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Bihar sees rise in sale of rasgullas after introduction of total prohibition in the state

While addressing a 'Chetna Sabha' as part of his 'Nischay Yatra', chief minister Nitish Kumar has revealed that introduction of total prohibition in the state has begun to yield positive results and one of these is the increase in sale of rasgullas.
This has increased by about 16 per cent in the past seven months ever since prohibition came into effect.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 11 November 2016.

In the course of talking on the virtues of prohibition, the CM indicated that post prohibition, there has been increase in sale of 'rasgullas' and other varieties of sweets like 'peda' 'paneer' and 'khoya' and people are becoming healthy.
Apart from increase in sale of 'rasgullas', there has also been an 11% spurt in the sale of milk in Bihar since the implementation of prohibition. Simultaneously, there has been a substantial drop in crime rate after banning all types of liquor including Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). Heinous crimes have reduced and murder cases have dropped by 36 per cent in between April 1 to October 31, this year when compared with the same period in 2015.


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Bickerings within the BJP surfaces via Shatrughan Sinha and Yashwant Sinha

Ever since taking over office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a trend for not only himself but also of how the government should run. But, the results are always not what he would have liked. Therefore, BJP parliamentarian Shatrughan Sinha made some taunting remarks over the fact that India still ranking a poor 130 in the world in ease of doing business.
Last year, India's rank was 131 - or, this year it has gone up only one place compared to last year. Shotgun, Lok Sabha member from Bihar, hoped that the "dashing dynamic PM" would find a solution.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 29 October 2016.

The BJP has been mentioning Narendra Modi's knack for business-friendly administration and keeps holding up Gujarat as proof. Therefore, Shatrughan Sinha, a former Union minister wants the dashing dynamic PM to look into the situation and provide necessary impetus for improvement.
He has also openly criticised his party during last year's Bihar elections while expressing support for rival Nitish Kumar. Continuing in the same vein, he aimed a barb at Modi's claims of a "56-inch chest" while showering praise on Nitish, the "popular CM of Bihar". This was with reference to the release of a kidnapped businessman. Shotgun praised Nitish Kumar for the brilliant success of his police department and its senior officers and made special mention of the police officer who had led the operation.
Shotgun said - the police officer may not have a 56 (inch) chest but his 32 (inch) waist was enough to take care of the goons.
Interestingly, Shatrughan's comments come close on the heels of another Sinha - BJP veteran and former Union minister Yashwant Sinha. He embarrassed the party by leading a team of civil liberty activists to Kashmir and meeting the separatists. Obviously, there are bickerings within BJP and that is gradually surfacing.


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Mamata Banerjee in Delhi to meet Kejriwal and Nitish Kumar and discuss Federal Front

Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal, has gone to Delhi on a three-day visit. In the curse of her visit, she is expected to met several Union ministers apart from Nitish Kumar and Arvind Kejriwal, chief ministers of Bihar and Delhi. Also on her agenda are one-on-one meetings with finance minister Arun Jaitley, home minister Rajnath Singh and several other central ministers.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 26 July 2016.

Mamata Banerjee is slated to host a dinner for Kejriwal and Nitish tomorrow. It is common knowledge that both of them are fierce critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies and had also attended Mamata's swearing-in in Calcutta on May 27.
It is understood that the Trinamul supremo was keen to discuss the proposed federal front of non-BJP parties with the two chief ministers Kejriwal and Nitish Kumar. Moreover, she also has plans to meet parliamentary leaders from the NCP, the DMK, the AIADMK, the Telugu Desam Party, the BSP, the SP, the National Conference and the BJD. A Trinamul Lok Sabha MP has also hinted that she could be meeting some Congress leaders also.
Incidentally, she skipped a dinner hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan while Prime Minister attended the event. However, she congratulated him on completing four years in office today and said in a statement - "We are proud to have you as India's first citizen."


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Knowledge of toppers in Bihar class 12 not upto the mark - to sit for exams again

Bihar education department is embarrassed - toppers of its class 12 exam apparently know very little about the subjects that they studied.An example is a 17-year-old who mispronounced 'political science' and called it prodigal science. She managed to score 88.8% in spite of the fact that she believes political science is a subject which deals with food.
A second example is of a boy who scored 485 marks out of 500 but who had no knowledge of the periodic table - he could not answer questions related to electron and proton.
This has been reported in news18.com dated 2 June 2016.

The board has now stayed the results of class 12 science and arts toppers and have decided to conduct their interviews while a special team will re-evaluate their answer sheets. Moreover, an embarrassed Bihar government has asked the 10 top scorers among the nearly 15 lakh students in Bihar to take another exam within the next week.
In the opinion of state Education Minister, it appears that either proxies had sat for the exam or the answer sheets submitted by the students were replaced at a later date. He admitted that there has been lapses.
Incidentally, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had boasted about a crackdown on cheating that had brought the pass percentage in this year's board exams down to 44. This year, examinations were conducted with strict vigil. In spite of that, the results indicate that undeserving students have not only passed but have topped the exams.


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Total prohibition in Bihar forces liquor giants to rethink their business strategies

Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, has announced total prohibition in his state - but, there is no ban on manufacturing of the products. The manufacturers can arrange to sell them outside the state. The implementation of total prohibition has compelled a number of liquor giants, who had set up breweries in the state, to rethink their business strategies which could end in wrapping up their business in the state.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 10 April 2016.

Understandably, some have openly expressed their disappointment on the method of implementation of prohibition and, others, while accepting it, have had to cut down on manufacturing and have begun to explore markets outside Bihar because, as per the new liquor policy, there are no restrictions in the manufacture of liquor in the state.
In the opinion of Danish beer giant Carlsberg, which has an operational brewery in Bihar since 2013, since it has made substantial in the state, such a decision would have an impact on the business. A systematic approach with focus on educating the consumers would have been a better option. The decision of the Bihar government has come as a disappointment especially for industries that are trying to set up their businesses here.
Carlsberg brewery had been set up at an initial investment of Rs 140 crore.
Similarly, the brewery of the UB Group, which started at Naubatpur (30-Km south of Patna) since May last year were apprehensive. The decision of total prohibition would translate into extra effort and more cost for a brewery to search for markets outside the state which will entail extra cost for the company in terms of transportation and permits. And - the prohibition could lead to unemployment and layoffs.


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