Fodder scam: Lalu Prasad jailed for 5 years, loses Lok Sabha seat

RJD chief and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad has been sentenced to five years in jail and fined Rs 25 lakh in a fodder case RC 20 A/96 by a special CBI court on Thursday in Ranchi. With the sentencing Lalu has also been disqualified from Parliament and has lost his Lok Sabha seat. Another former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra has been sentenced to four years in jail. On Monday, special CBI judge Pravas Kumar K Singh held Lalu and 44 others guilty in the fodder scam case, RC 20 A/96. Lalu has been convicted of corruption, criminal conspiracy and cheating. The other politicians who have been convicted are Janata Dal United MP Jagdish Sharma, former legislators RK Rana, Dhruv Bhagat and Vidya Sagar Nishad after 17 years.

The sentencing also renders Lalu ineligible for contesting elections for at least six years as per a recent Supreme Court order. Lalu was arrested and sent to Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi a few minutes after the verdict on Monday. His only hope - an ordinance and Bill to shield convicted legislators - was withdrawn by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday. As per a recent Supreme Court judgement a legislator convicted in a case where the minimum sentence is two years in jail will lose his/her seat immediately. Lalu was one of the 45 people facing charges in the RC 20 A/96 case and had been charged with fraudulent withdrawing Rs 37.7 crore on fake fodder bills from Chaibasa treasury in the 1990s. Chaibasa was then part of undivided Bihar and is now in Jharkhand. There were a total of 56 accused in the case. But during the trial, seven accused died, two turned approver, one admitted to the crime and one was discharged. Lalu and Jagannath are accused in a total of five fodder scam cases. Lalu quit as Bihar chief minister on July 25, 1997 when his name figured in the CBI investigations in the scam, which surfaced in 1996. After stepping down, he rather surprising pulled his wife Rabri Devi out of the "chowka" (kitchen) and made her the chief minister and continued to rule through proxy.

Source: IBN

World's largest Hindu temple to come up in Bihar

The world's largest Hindu temple, with a towering height of 405 feet and a hall with a seating capacity for 20,000, is to be built in Bihar, an official said Wednesday. The construction of the temple is to start after Durga Puja in Bihar's West Champaran district, said an official of the trust that is undertaking the ambitious project. 

The proposed Virat Ramayan Mandir, at Janki Nagar near Kesaria in West Champaran district, about 125 km from here, will stand almost double the height of world-famous 12th century Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia, which is 215 feet high. The compelx will comprise of 18 temples with high spires, and its Shiv temple would have the largest Shivling in the world, another distinction. "The construction work will start after Durga Puja this month," Acharya Kishore Kunal, secretary of Patna-based cash-rich Mahavir Mandir Trust, said. Virat Ramayan Mandir will stand almost double the height of Angkor Wat temple. Kunal, a retired IPS officer and the man behind the mega project, said work of earth filling at the 190 acre site is going on since last month. He said the temple would have a whopping seating capacity of 20,000 in the hall facing the main temple, which will have the idols of Ram, Sita, Luv and Kush. According to him, no temple in the world has such a huge seating capacity. The temple is to be built at a cost of over Rs.500 crore. He said earlier the temple was named `Virat Angkor Wat Ram Mandir' but later its name was changed following objection by some people in Cambodia. Angkor Wat was built during Hindu king Suryavarman's rule and is today a Unesco World Heritage site. "The funds for the temple will be donated by devotees, particularly common people across the country," Kunal said.

Source: oneIndia

Bihar's football crazy girls

Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Zidane, Kaka and David Beckham are unlikely icons among girls in a remote village in the dirt-poor Indian state of Bihar.

The girls of Barauni village in Begusarai district eat, drink and sleep football and stay up all night to catch their favourite teams at the World Cup on television.

"How can we miss it? We get a chance only once in four years," says Mausam Kumari, who is rooting for Germany.

The girls of Barauni are not only mad about football, they also play the game with a lot of passion - three girls from the village have played in the national women's team, and seven others have been in the state team.

In a near-lawless district - over 100 people have died in political killings in one village alone - the achievements of Barauni's football girls have gone largely unnoticed.

The girls here are so mad about the game that they have a village football club, which even became the women's club champions in India four years ago.

Bihar's state football team is ranked fourth in India.

Disciplined

The laurels of the girls of Barauni have contributed to the state's impressive performance.

One of them is Anu Kumari, daughter of a poor farmer, who has played for the under-17 women's Indian squad seven times in a row and recently travelled to Malaysia and China for the national team.


Shilu's farmer father, Rajkumar Singh, is happy with her success


Mausam Kumari, who is the captain for the village football club, is confident that if the girls of Barauni are given better facilities to train, they can beat any women's team in the world.

"We just, eat, sleep and breathe football," she says.

The state government does not seem to be even aware of the champion girls of Barauni - only a local politician has contributed 3,000 rupees ($65) to the club.

Unlike many other Indian states, none of the girls who have played for the state have been given jobs by the government.

Why do the girls of Barauni excel in football?

"They are more disciplined and they show greater energy to excel. The boys here play football too but they are inconsistent and undisciplined," says coach Sanjiv Kumar Singh.

It also helps that Barauni has a tradition of sports - the village even has a playing ground and a new six-acre stadium is being built.

Parents also encourage their daughters to play football.

"Initially, I had a lot of doubts. But today I feel proud of being father to my two national football playing daughters, Shilu and Neelum," says Rajkumar Singh, even as he grazes his buffaloes and earns about 2000 rupees ($43) a month.

Villagers say girls like Preti are more dedicated than boys


With eight primary schools, two middle schools, one high school and a college, Barauni takes its education seriously too.

It is also rare for a village in Bihar to receive an electricity supply for up to 20 hours a day, as Barauni does thanks to nearby factories.

"But it is basically the spirit of sports that binds this village together," says Bhola Singh, secretary of the women's football club.

Others say that sports has helped the villagers to bury their caste differences in a state which is infamous for its intense caste politics.

So much so that now the villagers are planning to rename their village as Barauni Khelgaon (Barauni sports village). The champion football girls of Barauni can definitely take credit for the new moniker.

Source: BBC