BHAGALPUR: Planting of trees by families on birth of a girl child, the theme of Bihar's tableau in this year's Republic Day parade, has worked wonders for a village in Bhagalpur by improving the environment and providing financial security to girls.

The tradition in Dharhara village, about 40 km from here, was popularised by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who was so impressed by it that he decided to launch a welfare scheme "Pahli Kilkari Yojna" from there on Environment Day last year, official sources said.
According to the practise, a family plants a fruit bearing tree on the birth of a girl child. The fruits provide financial insurance for the girl as the family deposits the money by selling them in her name.

BIHARSHARIF: Having won much kudos and many awards from the state government for effective implementation of various development schemes, including Kanya Suraksha Yojana and Mukhya Mantri Pul Nirman Yojana, Nalanda DM Sanjay Kumar Agarwal is now set to receive a national award from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for "excellent implementation" of rural development schemes, especially Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) schemes, in the district in 2010-11. Nalanda, which happens to be the native district of chief minister Nitish Kumar, thus becomes the state's first district to receive the coveted award ever since it was instituted by the Union rural development department four years ago. The other five districts to be awarded this award this year are Sarguja (Chhattisgarh), Nanded (Maharashtra), Nicobar (Andaman & Nicobar), Vizianagaram (Andhra Pradesh) and Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu).

Biharsharif: The first all-woman police station in Bihar was inaugurated by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Nalanda district on Monday. The police station, set up at the district headquarters here, will deal with complaints from women on atrocities, family disputes and related matters. The women police will also arrange for counselling for couples facing marital discords and costs incurred for it will be borne by the complainants, Kumar said. The state government will set up 39 more all-women police stations across the state, he added. Sub-inspector Anju Kumari has been made the station house officer of the first all-woman police station and all cases related to atrocities and other crimes concerning women lodged at various police stations in the district would be transferred to it for investigation, district superintendent of police Jitendra Rana said.

PATNA: The state cabinet on Friday approved a proposal for construction of an international convention centre near Gandhi Maidan here and sanctioned Rs 274.2 crore for the project. The detailed project report (DPR) for the convention centre would be prepared by a selected consultant architect, which will get a consultancy fee of 1.8% of the project cost.
It also approved a proposal for registration of births and deaths by anganwadi sevikas working under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). The anganwadi sevikas will act as deputy registrar working under the registrar-cum-panchayat sevak for registration of births and deaths within 21 days. They will get Rs 20 for every registration. The directorate of statistics will give technical training to them for the purpose.

'Discover Bihar' roadshow travels from Hyderabad to Chennai. The goal is to present the better law and order conditions and boost tourism in Bihar. The change has attracted a lot of foreign investments in the state.In the Picture: Dr. D.K. Shukla, Managing Director of Bihar Tourism Development Corporation

Chennai, Jan 20: Discover Bihar – its rich culture, heritage and tourism. That’s the simple message that Dr. D.K. Shukla, Managing Director of Bihar Tourism Development Corporation was here to convey to travel agents. “In the past issues like security and lack of infrastructure were major concerns for tourists, but not today,” he told newspersons.

Six students from a school located in a remote village in Bihar’s Gopalganj district have cleared the prestigious International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) examination.
The school, founded by an IITian and situated in Chamanpura village which does not even have electricity, imparts education using latest technology. Generators are used to run the school’s computers and laptops. The Indian Express had carried a report, “In powerless Bihar, a school by innovation and skype (January 11, 2011)”, on the institution.

A student of the school secured 446th rank in the IMO. Among the successful students is the son of a daily wage earner from Aurangabad. The six students will now appear for IMO’s level 2 examination.

Patna: A huge scam has come up in the education department of Bihar wherein one third of the government school students in the state exist only on paper. Huge sums of money have been siphoned off to avail government benefits like free uniform, bicycle, mid-day meal and scholarships.

The scam, running into crore, has shown that 1/3 of Bihar's students do not exist. As many as 3,36,000 ghost students, from a total of 10,00,000, have been identified from nine districts of Bihar's primary and middle schools, and the figures could well swell above the two million mark.

"This matter has come to the light and I have asked for probe into it," said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Patna/ Lucknow: Beaten down to dust in Bihar, former union minister and a key player of dalit politics, Ramvilas Paswan is quite keen to take on the might of UP’s Chief Minister Mayawati. Mr. Paswan is not lone Bihari stalwart to fight election in UP. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and former chief minister Lalu Prasad are also keen to gain some ground in UP. Ramvilas Paswan is the chief LokJanshakti Party which intends to field 288 candidates in UP Assembly election. Though he wishes to tie up with the Congress and the RJD along with Left parties to dislodge Nitish Kumar government, he has decided to all alone in UP.

The assembly elections 2012 in UP will be held in 7 phases with the final vote counting on Tuesday, 03-06-2012.

Bodh Gaya: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday participated in the conclusion of the 10-day long Kalchakra prayers led by the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama. Besides the Dalai Lama and a host of Bihar Ministers including Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Chowdhary and Bihar Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chowdhary, the Chief Minister also enjoyed the company of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and popular Hollywood star of films like 'Americal Gigolo, 'An Officer and a Gentleman', and 'Pretty Woman', among many others, Richard Gere. The 62-year old actor turned to Buddhism in the late '70s. He is also a prominent voice in the movement for the freedom of Tibet from China.