Satellite Studio launched at Edusat Hub in Bihar

Bihar Council of Science and Technology (BCST) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) jointly have launched a Live Satellite Studio at the Edusat hub in Bihar.

Located at Indira Gandhi Science Complex, this breakthrough Studio will let students of engineering colleges and polytechnics located across the state to benefit from the opportunity of attending the classes conducted by experienced teachers via live satellite studio.

The studio construction incurred the cost of around Rs1.5 crore for which Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) also contributed, said Bihar Council of Science and Technology (BCST) project director Jaiprakash Singh. He added that over 5,000 students of engineering colleges and polytechnics will receive benefits of live classes.

Currently, 7 engineering colleges and 14 polytechnics are picked from the state to begin with live classes for the students, Singh said, adding that the BCST has joined hands with BIT, Mesra, who will provide experts and top-notch faculty for undertaking morning classes scheduled from 9am to 1pm from Monday to Saturday. Each working day will have four live classes, each for 2 hours duration.

Through live classes now the teacher crisis problem in polytechnic and engineering colleges will get sorted since students will be able to directly interact with the teacher at the studio, even if they are not physically present to clarify students’ queries and problems in their respective classrooms, said the project director.

To obtain feedbacks and response, a 30 minutes demonstration for engineering students was held on the inaugural day.

Source: JJ

बिहार दशरथ मांझी के गांव से आमिर खान शुरू करेंगे 'सत्‍यमेव जयते'

बॉलीवुड अभिनेता आमिर खान 'सत्‍यमेव जयते' के अगले सीजन की तैयारी में जुटे हुए हैं. इस शो का पहला एपिसोड दशरथ मांझी को समर्पित है. दशरथ मांझी बिहार में 'माउंटेन मैन' के तौर पर मशहूर हैं. आमिर पहले एपिसोड की शूटिंग के लिए 22 फरवरी को बिहार में गया जिले के गहलौर गांव जाएंगे.
आमिर गहलौर गांव जाकर यह देखेंगे कि दशरथ मांझी ने किस तरह 22 सालों में पहाड़ का सीना चीर रास्ता बनाया था. आमिर दशरथ मांझी के परिवार वालों और गांव वालों से मुलाकात करेंगे. दशरथ मांझी ने 1960 से 1982 के दौरान सिर्फ छेनी, हथौड़ा और फावड़े की मदद से यह काम किया था. इससे गया के अतरी और वजीरगंज ब्‍लॉक की दूरी करीब 40 किलोमीटर कम हो गई थी.

गौरतलब है कि गांव में खराब मेडिकल सेवा के चलते दशरथ मांझी की पत्‍नी की मौत हो गई, जिसके बाद उन्होंने इस पहाड़ को काटकर गांव को शहर से जोड़ने का फैसला किया था. 22 सालों के अथक प्रयास से दशरथ मांझी ने अपने दम पर इसे पूरा कर दिया था. मांझी की 2007 में कैंसर की वजह से मौत हो गई थी.

इस प्रेरणादायी कहानी का जिक्र शो के पहले सीजन के दौरान आमिर के सामने हुआ था. उसी समय आमिर दशरथ मांझी के काम से खासे प्रभावित हुए थे. उन्होंने तय किया कि दूसरे सीजन के सफर की शुरुआत दशरथ मांझी के गांव से की जाएगी. गौरतलब है कि 'सत्यमेव जयते' के पहले सीजन में आमिर खान द्वारा उठाए गए मुद्दों ने देश की सामाजिक-राजनीतिक जगत को झकझोर कर रख दिया था.

इस बारे में आमिर खान कहते हैं, 'मेरा मानना है कि दशरथ मांझी की कहानी हमें काफी प्रेरणा देती है. उनका जीवन यह कहता है कि कैसे एक आदमी बिना किसी सहारे के बड़ी-से-बड़ी कामयाबी हासिल कर सकता है. दशरथ मांझी की उपलब्धि खुद के लिए नहीं समाज के लिए थी.

Bihar Staff Selection Commission announced recruitment to 9755 vacancies

Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC) announced recruitment for 9755 posts.  Candidates can apply online for the recruitment of 9755 posts of Amin, Circle Inspector, Female Health Worker (ANM) and Hostess vacancies.

Eligible candidates can apply from February 14, to March 22, 2014.

Vacancy details

Organization Name: Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC)

Total Number of vacancies: 9755 Posts

Name of the posts:

1. Amin: 721
2. Circle Inspector & Equivalent Grades: 127
3. Female Health Worker (A.N.M.): 3930
4. Hostess: 4977                                                                   

Eligibility:

Educational Qualifications:

1. For Amin posts: Intermediate/12th Class passed.
2. For Circle Inspector & Equivalent Grades Posts: Graduate Degree or its equivalent.
3. For Female Health Worker & Hostess Posts: Diploma in Nursing and Should be registered as 'A' Grade Nurse & Midwifery with a state Nursing council.

Age Limit:

1. Age relaxation is applicable as on August 1, 2013.
2. For AMIN Posts: Candidates age should be between 18 years to 37 years.
3. For Circle Inspector Posts: No age limitations for this vacancy.
4. For ANM and Hostess Posts: Candidates age should be between 21 years to 37 years.

Selection Process: Selections of candidates will be made on the basis of merit list issues for the selection.

Pay Scale:

1. For Amin Posts: Rs 5200 - 20,200 + Grade Pay of Rs 2000.
2. For Circle Inspector & Equivalent Grades: Rs 9300 - 34,800 + Grade Pay of Rs 4200.
3. For Female Health Worker: Rs 5200 - 20,200 + Grade Pay of Rs 2400.
4. For Hostess: Rs 9300 - Rs 34,800 + Grade Pay of Rs 4600.

How to apply:  

1. Log on to official website at www.online.bsscpatna.com or www.bssc.bih.nic.in.
2. Click on apply Online link.
3. Select the post you want to apply for.
4. Fill all the marked details and submit your application form.
5. Download SBI Bank challan form.
6. Make payment and revisit the website and select the Login link.
7. Fill all details including fee payment details, check once for errors and submit the online application.
8. Candidates will get message as Transaction ID Updated Successfully.
9. Take print out of application form and retain it for further use.

Application Fee:  General candidates have to pay Rs 375 while SC/ ST and other reserved category candidates will have to pay Rs 100 as application fee. Application fee should be paid through Bank Challan deposited into any branch of State Bank of India (SBI).

Important dates:

1. Starting date for submission of Online application: February 14, 2014
2. Last date for submission of Online application: February 22, 2014
3. Last date for payment of Fee: February 22, 2014

Source: IT

World's longest free Wi-Fi zone in Patna

If you have an internet-enabled device and you are anywhere on the stretch from NIT-Patna on Ashok Rajpath to Danapur, you can now access the internet free of cost.

Once known as a backward state, Bihar has made a strong bid for a mention on the world's infotech map as chief minister Nitish Kumar unveiled the 20km free Wi-Fi zone, the longest across the globe, at a function christened e-Bihar summit in Patna on Wednesday. Kumar also unveiled a 'city surveillance and dial 100' scheme under which at least 100 CCTV cameras installed in different localities of the state capital became operational. A state data centre has also been opened for storing of the 'data' collected by these cameras.

Speaking on the occasion, CM Kumar announced an IT City would be developed on a 200-acre plot at Rajgir. He also said the government has in principle approved an infotech building on a plot of one lakh sq ft and another on a plot of 5 lakh sq ft in Patna. Besides, an infotech park is coming up on the outskirts of the city.

Kumar asked the information technology department officials to hold roadshows in select cities across the country to spread awareness about the progress made by Bihar in the field of information technology. "Our state should now be the IT industry's fave destination," he said.

The state's free Wi-Fi zone is the longest in the world since China's 3.5km zone was treated as the longest so far. The 'city surveillance and dial 100' project is first of its kind in the country as it integrates the surveillance of the city, vehicle tracking and dial 100 control centre schemes. An automated number plate recognition system has been installed on 11 roads, which will automatically note the registration number of the vehicles entering and exiting the city. "It was with this surveillance system's help that the Patna police rescued the son of a city-based trader from Ara within 24 hours of his kidnapping recently," CM Kumar said.

IT minister Shahid Ali Khan said free Wi-Fi facility would be provided at all the tourist spots in the state. Principal secretary (IT) N K Sinha said Bihar might be a late entrant to this sector but "we are on the cusp of IT revolution". Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar and Beltron MD Atul Sinha were among those who also spoke at the e-Bihar event.

Source: TOI

No new taxes in Bihar budget

The state government on Monday presented Rs 1,16,886.16-crore budget for 2014-15 in the state assembly, which has a revenue surplus of Rs 10,174.03 crore. No new taxes have been proposed in it.

The budget was presented by water resources department minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary amid slogan shouting and protests by the main opposition BJP legislators, who were demanding that the budget be presented by CM Nitish Kumar as he holds the finance portfolio.

The budget projects a 14.8% increase in gross state domestic product (GSDP) during 2014-15 compared to 10.7% in 2012-13 and also claimed that the per capita income in 2012-13 increased to Rs 30,930 which is 41.2% of the national average, compared to Rs 25,074 in 2011-12 (37.2%).

Later on briefing the media, Choudhary said though it is a full budget, the brief session of the assembly has compelled the government to take a vote-on-account for four months. The third supplementary budget will be presented on Wednesday.

The lion's share of the budget goes to education department with an expenditure estimated at Rs 24,715.19 crore, which is Rs 6,434.41 crore higher than the previous year. The expenditure for health sector is estimated at Rs 4,805.73 crore, a jump of Rs 1,448.89 crore from last fiscal year's allocation, for road sector Rs 10,190.90 crore and Rs 7,387.66 crore for the welfare of SC/ST, minority, OBC and MBC, women and child.

The budget estimate of revenue receipts is over Rs 1,01,939 crore, of which state's share in central taxes is estimated to be Rs 41,775 crore and state's own taxes would be Rs 25,662 crore. The revenue surplus, which was Rs 4,821 crore in 2011-12, increased to Rs 5,001 crore in 2012-13.

A new addition to the budgetary allocation is Rs 32 crore for the supply of sanitary napkins to over three million girls of secondary and higher secondary schools. Choudhary said the scheme will create health awareness among the girls and inculcate a sense of hygiene among them.

The minister said due to better fiscal management, the non-plan expenditure has been down while plan expenditure has increased. The total non-plan expenditure in 2014-15 will be Rs 59,231 crore, which is only 11.58% higher from the last fiscal year, while plan expenditure will be Rs 57,655.12 crore (Rs 39,006.30 crore in 2013-14), an increase of about 48%. Of this, Rs 57,392.44 crore is from state plan and only Rs 262.68 crore from centre-sponsored schemes.

Explaining the revenue surplus, Choudhary said, "If revenue receipt is more than the revenue expenditure, the surplus amount is called revenue surplus. For the year 2014-15, revenue surplus is Rs 10,174.03 crore. This revenue surplus will be used for investment in physical infrastructure generating productive capital assets like roads, buildings, power, schools, health centres and irrigation facilities."

The minister said the fiscal deficit is the amount left by subtracting revenue receipts, recoveries of loans and advances and repayment of public debt from total expenditure. For the year 2014-15, estimated fiscal deficit is Rs 11,367.84 crore, which is 2.96% of the GSDP. This comes to 0.19% more than the last fiscal year's estimate, he said and added that it has been maintained within the statutory limit of 3% as per Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act.

"Bihar is one of those states which have taken fiscal responsibility seriously and implemented the FRBM Act in letter and spirit. A sinking fund making provisions for repayment of loans has been created since 2008-09. It will help the state in times of crisis to meet debt obligations. Till 2012-13, a sum of Rs 1,028.47 crore had been deposited into this fund. The total accumulated amount in the fund will stand at Rs 1,464.74 crore by March 31, 2014," said Choudhary.

Source: TOI

Bihar gets two premium trains

Bihar has got two premium trains - Patna-Mumbai AC (biweekly) and Patna-Bangalore AC (weekly) -- in the interim rail budget presented in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. However, three other AC premium trains - Kamakhya-New Delhi AC via Chhapra, Sealdah-Jodhpur AC via Mughalsarai and Katra-Howrah AC via Mughalsarai - announced in the budget would pass through Bihar. The Patna-Saharsa Intercity Express has been extended up to Murliganj.

According to a Railway Board official, railways has developed the concept of premium trains for elite passengers. The fare for premium trains would be charged on the pattern of airline services. While ticket booking in advance for these trains would cost normal fare as in Rajdhani Express, the same day ticket would cost with variables, he said, adding railways would thus earn impressive revenue.

UPSC aspirants' plea conceded, two more attempts for civil services exams

The UPA approved two additional attempts for all candidates from the current year, ostensibly to enable civil service aspirants to adjust to the new examination pattern.

The announcement said all categories of candidates would get two more attempts with effect from this year’s examination.

The move comes days after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi promised civil service aspirants that he would take up their grievances. Gandhi had also signalled his disapproval to the manner in which the UPA introduced changes in the Civil Service Examination without consulting the aspirants.

Earlier, minister of state for personnel V Narayanasamy told Parliament that the government had received representations seeking relaxation in the upper age limit and the number of attempts but firmly rejected the demand.'

Source: HT

Now, UIDAI to Enroll in Bihar, UP, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand

In a move that will facilitate faster roll-out of government's ambitious direct benefit transfer scheme in four most populous states, the Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority of India (CC UIDAI) on Tuesday allowed Nandan Nileknai-led UIDAI to do enrollments in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand.

So far, enrollment in these states was done by the Registrar General of India under the National Population Register project while UIDAI was enrolling in 18 states and Union territories.
But considering the slow progress in Aadhar enrollments in these politically-crucial states, the government has decided to allow UIDAI to do simultaneous enrollments here so that it could roll out DBTL programmes in these states as well.

As per the proposal, UIDAI will now enroll around 339 million people in these four states which is in addition to its mandate to issue Aadhaar cards to 600 million residents as per the original plan.

"The Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority of India (CC UIDAI) today approved reallocation of states for Aadhar enrollment. It was decided that enrollments by UIDAI in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand will start immediately," an official statement said, adding that the enhanced Aadhaar saturation level in these four highly populated states will enable rollout of DBTL schemes in these states as well. "An urgent need has been felt to increase the pace of Aadhaar enrollments in other states to enable a rapid rollout of DBTL," the statement said.
The UIDAI and Registrar General will work out modalities to ensure that there is no duplication in collection of biometrics.

UIDAI will commence enrollment immediately the financial cost of which will be borne by the finance ministry.

Government had been facing a major constraint in expanding its DBTL programmes due to lower levels of Aadhaar saturation in non-UIDAI states and Union territories. Besides, it is of the view that faster enrollments will help to optimally utilise the capacities that have been created by UIDAI for enrollments and back-end processing. At present, DBTL is in operation for 28 centrally-sponsored schemes in 121 districts.

So far, UIDAI has given Aadhaar numbers to around 561 million people while identification numbers generated through NPR is around 139 million.


Source: ET

Bihar first state to launch food security scheme

The National Food Security Act (NFSA), which guarantees foodgrains at nominal prices to the poor, was on Saturday launched in some districts of Bihar, making it the first state to do so.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who addressed a function marking the symbolic launch of the scheme, said 84% (6.90 crore) of the rural below poverty line (BPL) people and 74% (70 lakh) urban BPL population would be the beneficiaries of the scheme.

For now, it has been launched for Patna, Nalanda, Gopalganj and Purnia districts. The statewide launch would happen around February 20-21, when the Food Corporation of India would allocate the state food grains.

In an important development, Nitish promised that 40 lakh BPL families, which were left out in a survey that determines eligibility for food security scheme, will be entitled to subsidised foodgrains.

The beneficiaries would get 5 kg of foodgrains every month--- wheat at Rs. 2 per kg and rice at Rs. 3 per kg. Under NFSA, each beneficiary is a unit, unlike in targeted PDS, where the family is treated as a unit.
"Although 5 kg of foodgrains is not enough, it would spare some money for the poor to be spent on other nutrients," Kumar said.

A web portal of Bihar state food corporation was also launched to ensure transparency through GPS tracking and monitoring of vehicles carrying foodgrains from godowns to PDS dealers.

It would also help update stock position and lifting, besides providing a variety of other related information.

Nitish said the NFSA would put an additional annual burden of nearly Rs. 800 crore on the state government--- Rs. 400 crore on commissions to PDS dealers and Rs. 388 crore on doorstep delivery to PDS dealers.

"The Centre is just paying the cost of foodgrain meant for NFSA," he added.

Kumar hit out at the Centre for fixing the number of BPL families in Bihar at 65-70 lakh, while three surveys commissioned by the state government had put the number at 1.40 crore.

Source: HT

World Bank soon to have office in Bihar

The country director of World Bank, Onno Ruhl, said on Friday that his organization is thinking in terms of opening an office in Bihar as “I am infatuated with the state and wish to contribute to its development.”

Addressing a function of Innovation Forum she lauded the developmental initiatives of chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Surprisingly, she spoke in Hindi and appreciated the Jeevika scheme of the state government.

The chief minister, while speaking on the occasion, said the state government has set a target to constitute 10 lakh self help groups (SHGs) in Bihar by 2017. He said around two lakh such groups have already been formed.

Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS), an independent society set up by the state government and supported by World Bank, is running Jeevika with the objective of enhancing the social and economic empowerment of the rural poor in the state.

Nitish claimed that SHG women members have been successfully running public distribution system outlets.

He also awarded many Innovators who through water harvesting, mushroom cultivation and goat rearing have helped change the life of the people, especially in rural areas.