LAHORE–Bihar Chief Minister Natesh Kumar has said that exchange of delegations between India and Pakistan is essential to promote relations between the two states for regional prosperity.
Talking to the media before leaving for his hometown on Friday, Kumar thanked the Punjab government for its hospitality and love the province extended to him during his stay. He said he was much impressed by the good governance end development projects of the Punjab government and now looked forward to the visit of Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif to Behar. Provincial Minister Ch Abdul Ghafoor saw off the guests. He also presented to Kumar photo album on the visit of the Indian Bihar delegation. A Ranger contingent also presented salute to the Indian guests.

Patna: In what is billed as a move to keep alive an age-old tradition, Muslims in a village in Bihar's Purnia district joined hands with Hindus to celebrate the Durga Puja. Only four Hindu families live in Saguuniya, a Muslim-dominated village about 400 km from here. But they celebrate Durga Puja with fanfare, thanks to the support of Muslims. "We are lucky that Durga Puja is celebrated in our village by Muslims. This is unheard of anywhere else," said Nitai Gopal Chandra Roy, a Bengali Hindu villager.

"Without Muslim support, we can't think of celebrating the festival in such a big way," he said. Another Bengali Hindu in the village, Dhanajay Roy, echoed him. "It is a beautiful experience. Muslims not only help us prepare for the festival but also join us to offer prasad and other rituals," he said. The Muslims helped Hindus decorate the Puja pandal.

PATNA: Time was opportune for the industrialization of Bihar to take off as the atmosphere required for investment in the state was already in place and only a few more things remained to be done, felt some of the top honchos of India Inc who huddled here on Saturday.

The occasion was the first meeting of the newly-constituted Bihar State Industrial Investment Advisory Council, chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar.
The focal point of discussion was power, and as Infosys and ICICI Bank chairman K V Kamath said, the corporate houses were ready to support the government in development of power sector. "We are ready to invest in power sector," HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh also said.

PATNA: Bihar on Thursday joined the select league of the country’s states where e-governance has become the operative norm to handle matters related to inter-state and other trade and business activities by their respective commercial taxes department(CTD), as its CTD also started the online issuance of statutory C-Form to conduct inter-state trade activities by traders in compliance with the statutory norm. Inaugurating the launch of the online issuance of statutory C-Form here, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, who also heads the CTD, said. “Most of our services have become online. The most satisfying part of the Bihar’s e-governance story in CTD is that we are the first in the eastern region, and also ahead of Uttar Pradesh.” Visit: www.biharcommercialtax.gov

PATNA: Once known for its bad roads and poor connectivity, Bihar has built a network of roads as part of infrastructure development programme during the past few years under various central and state schemes. Now, the road construction department (RCD) is working on an ambitious plan to provide a smooth passage from Nepal to Jharkhand through a four-lane road while the rural works department (RWD), responsible for rural roads, is working on plans to provide road linkage to all the habitats with a population of 250 by 2017.Talking about the state's own 'North-South corridor', RCD minister Nand Kishore Yadav said the state government has taken up this major initiative on its own. "This four-lane road will connect Nepal with Jharkhand. It will stretch in north Bihar from Bhitha Mor bordering Nepal to Rajauli in Nawada district in south Bihar, which borders Jharkhand," he said.

Under the project, a 21.5 km long road along the river Ganga would be constructed to ease traffic on capital city Patna's roads
Patna: The Bihar government has given its nod to ambitious 'Ganga Expressway' project to ease traffic on roads of Patna. The project estimated at a cost of Rs 2234.46 crore would be completed within three years.
The cabinet at its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar approved the ambitious project. Under the project 21.5 km long road along the river Ganga would be constructed from Digha in the west and to Deedarganj in the east. The cabinet approved the proposal for acquisition of 200 hectares of land for the project. Out of 222.17 hectares of land belonged to the government whereas 54.14 hectares are private property which wll have to be acquired. The cabinet also passed a Science and Technology Department's proposal for setting up an engineering college in Begusarai. The college would be named after Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, a noted Hindi poet. The government sanctioned Rs 85.49 crore for the construction of the building of the college.

PATNA: A six-lane state-of-the-art bridge over the river Ganga, parallel to the 30 years old Gandhi Setu, will be constructed. The Centre has agreed to issue no objection certificate (NOC) for the new bridge to connect north Bihar with state capital and its southern parts. It will cost around Rs 2,000 crore.

The agreement was finalized after chief minister Nitish Kumar’s meeting with Union minister for road transport and highways, C P Joshi, in New Delhi on Tuesday. The new bridge will connect Kachchi Dargah in Patna with Biddupur in Vaishali. It is to be constructed under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode and likely to be completed in five to six years time after the work starts.

The on-going development work in Bihar echoedin the recently concluded RIO+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Bihar's development path was discussed at various side events organized by civil society groups and stakeholders.
In fact, experts and civil society members participating the conference appreciated the change that has taken place in Bihar under the leadership of the chief minister Nitish Kumar during the last six years. Several developing countries including from Africa, Latin America and some of the under developed countries appreciated efforts done by the government in Bihar and demanded to have similar kind of just and inclusive growth in their respective countries. The two key issues - development with justice and alternative energy were one of the highlights of the discussion on Bihar.

Dhoni, who arrived in his hometown three days ago, cast his vote at a polling booth situated at the DAV school, Shyamali. According to his family, this was the first time he cast his vote after joining the national team eight years ago. Dhoni's brother Narendra Singh campaigned in favour of the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU). AJSU President and Deputy Chief Minister Sudesh Mahto is also a friend of Dhoni. An electorate of 4,02,181 will decide the fate of 29 candidates in the fray. The key contest is among the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) and the AJSU. The BJP and the AJSU are partners in the ruling alliance in the state. The Hatia seat fell vacant after Congress legislator Gopal Nath Sahdeo passed away in 2010. An election petition had held up the election so far.

RANCHI: Tribals living in remote forests of Jharkhand have resolved to throw out the timber mafia from the forests. Their efforts have resulted in an economic boom for them apart from conservation of the environment in their respective areas. A group of Munda tribals have formed a 30-member committee -- Jangal Bachao Samiti (JBS) -- in Murhu block of Khunti district, located about 60 kms from here. The primary job of the committee, which has 15 women members, is to chase anyone who damages trees at Kotna village. Mainly saal, kendu and other useful trees are found in the area. "Thanks to our vigilantism no one dares to harm the forests in our village," said Paulus Purty, JBS chief of the village. The JBS has so far nabbed over 50 people and handed them punishment in the past few years.

New Delhi: Marginalised Muslim craftswomen and weavers in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and in the capital are making an international connection with their work thanks to two projects by the Self-Employed Women`s Association (SEWA), one of the country`s oldest crafts and women`s empowerment organisations.

One project, "Ruaab: SEWA Artisans Producer Company", is empowering nearly 1,500 Muslim women in the eastern fringe of the capital with full-time jobs as embroiderers and designers to international brands like Zara, Gap Inc-Banana Republic, Monsoon, NEXT, Newlook and Vero Moda.

The women work both at the SEWA centres and out of their homes.

PATNA: Taking a giant step in its war against tobacco products in the state, Bihar government on Wednesday banned the sale of tobacco and nicotine-mixed gutkha and pan masala and their variants for one year. A notification to this effect was issued on Wednesday afternoon. With this decision taken on the eve of 'World No-Tobacco Day', Bihar has become the third state after Madhya Pradesh and Kerala to ban these products. Speaking about it, health secretary cum commissioner, Sanjay Kumar said, "The manufacture, storage, sale and distribution of gutkha and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine as ingredients have been prohibited for one year from the date of issue of order." It is based on the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India regulation no 2.3.4 to prohibit the addition of tobacco or nicotine in food, which was issued on August 1, 2011.

PATNA: With respect to Bihar turnaround story under CM Nitish Kumar, it is often maintained that the economy is largely construction-driven. It, incidentally, is also palpably reflected in the tale of gross capital formation (GCF) achieved in the last five fiscal years, beginning 2007-08.

It has been revealed by the recent analysis of state's budgetary transactions done by the government's own agency - Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES) of the planning and development department. DSE joint director Jitendra Kumar Sinha said that major components of government expenditure were compensation paid to employees, new constructions, purchase of goods and services, interest payment, current and capital transfer, and repayment of loans and advances to employees.

PATNA: Strongly pleading for a Padma award to Aamir Khan, state health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Monday said the state government was actively considering making the Bollywood actor the brand ambassador for the state government's campaign against female foeticide, to be launched in the state from May 30.

Inspired by Aamir's debut venture on television 'Satyameva Jayate', Choubey said people like Aamir should be given the highest award for raising socially-relevant issues in such a strong manner. "We have made Bhojpuri singer Manoj Tiwary and cancer specialist Dr J K Singh the brand ambassador for our cancer awareness programme," he said.