Bihar's staff, pensioners' dearness allowance up 10%

In what appeared to be a festival gift toBihar government employees and pensioners, the state cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal to increase their dearness allowance (DA) by 10%, thereby making it on a par with central government employees - with effect from July this year.

The state employees will thus get 90% DA which will calculate to an additional financial burden of Rs 850 crore annually.

State cabinet secretary Brajesh Mehrotra told reporters soon after the two-hour cabinet meeting that the cabinet also approved the revised proposal of the building construction department to build an international convention centre and civilization gate near the Gandhi Maidan at an estimated cost of Rs 490 crore. The convention centre, Gyan Bhavan, will have a seating capacity of 5,000 people. The construction work will start next month after the demolition of some existing bungalows of district judge and civil surgeon, he said and added the estimated cost of the project was earlier Rs 274.2 crore.

The cabinet also approved the public holiday list of Bihar government and its affiliated offices for the year 2014. It OK'd 11 holidays in government offices (barring three holidays on Sundays) under its executive orders, including the birth anniversary of Kabir. It also approved 17 holidays under the NI Act (barring two holidays on Sundays).

The cabinet sanctioned Rs 2.4 crore as a grant for the salary payment of the employees of various language academies for the current financial year. The Bhojpuri Academy will get Rs 39 lakh, Maithili Rs 30 lakh, Magahi Rs 25 lakh, Hindi Granth Academy Rs 80 lakh, Bangla Rs 8 lakh and Sanskrit Rs 22 lakh.

The cabinet also sanctioned a revised amount of Rs 9,215 crore as against the existing Rs 8,364 crore to the Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Limited and its subsidiary companies for undertaking projects under special plan of the Backward Region Grants Fund (BRGF).

The cabinet also approved the extension of the term of the judicial commission probing the police firing in Madhubani (October 12, 2012) till April 17, 2014. The term of the commission expires on October 18 this year. The cabinet also extended the term of the judicial inquiry commission on Kosi floods till March 31, 2014. The term of this commission expired on October 1, 2013. The cabinet also approved the home department's proposal to create additional posts to assist the judicial inquiry commission probing Bagaha police firing.

The cabinet also approved the creation of a new women's industrial training institute at Forbesganj in Araria district.

In order to increase the production of wheat as per the agriculture road map, the cabinet approved a sum of Rs 30.34 crore under the state plan. Under the national agriculture development scheme, the cabinet approved Rs 86.8 crore for initiating work under the Green Revolution sub-plan project.

The cabinet also approved a grant of Rs 15 lakh to Bihar Sangeet Natak Academy for its establishment cost in the current financial year. The Bihar Lalit Kala Academy will get Rs 17 lakh as its establishment cost.

Source: TOI

Bihar teacher develops technique to predict earthquakes

Even as seismologists across the world are busy finding a suitable model for predicting earthquakes to minimize the loss of life and property, a school teacher of Motihari in Bihar has developed a time-tested model for forecasting the time, place and magnitude of quakes. He has already forecast more than a dozen earthquakes including Tuesday's earthquake in Pakistan with almost 90 % accuracy.

Predicting earthquakes is a passion for Umesh Verma, a science teacher of M J K Girls' School, Motihari. His numerical models have attracted the attention of some NASA scientists who are taking interest in his work.

Verma, who is currently doing research in seismology from Patna University, told TOI here on Wednesday that several tools like radon emission, groundwater rise, electrical resistivity decrease, piezometric effect on sediments and geomagnetic changes are being utilized by the geoscientists in earthquake prediction. The technique developed by him known as TEC (total electron count)-MMC (multiple magnetic component)-OLR (outgoing long wave radiation) method, is being considered the most advanced method of prediction. This technique was published recently in the International Journal of Science and Engineering, France. His work has also been published by the Journal of Basha Research Corporation, Malaysia, International Journal of Earth Science and Engineering, Hyderabad and the Journal of the Society for Photonics Institution of Engineers, USA.

The Bihar school teacher has also been working on astrogeophysical modeling, an indigenous technique which has, of late, revolutionized the earthquake prediction concept. Elaborating the technique, Verma said, "Solar eclipse and its gravitational pull on the globe is a probable cause of earthquake. During the eclipse, the joint pull of the Sun and the Moon on a certain point at certain crustal depth plays an important role in generation of the quake".

Verma is in regular touch with the leading seismologists of the world, including physicist F T Friedmann from NASA, geophysicist Dimitar Ozunov from New York, seismologist P Hollis Watts from Australia and Sergery Pullinet from Academy of Science, Russia all of whom have appreciated his techniques of earthquake prediction. He claims to have achieved more than 80% success in his efforts so far.

Verma pointed out, "An earthquake of magnitude 6 was likely to hit Indo-Nepal and Pakistan region on November 2. Prior to that an earthquake of magnitude 6-7 would hit Australia-New Zealand region on October 7. Other probable quakes are South America-Mexico (October 15), Japan-Burma (October 23), Japan-China (November 25) and Australia-New Zealand (December 3).

Source: TOI