With the sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in Bihar, the number of flyers to other cities from Patna has dipped by 63% in the last two weeks. But the number of passengers flying to Patna has increased by 36.7%.
As per the data shared by Authority of India-Patna, the city airport had 9,133 footfalls on Monday, of which 6,777 arrived and 2,356 departed to other states. Almost two weeks ago on April 5, 11,762 passengers travelled to and from Patna airport, including 6,451 departures and 5,311 arrivals.
S P Singla Constructions Pvt Ltd has emerged the lowest bidder for construction of a proposed six-laneSherpur-Dighwara bridgeon the Ganga river parallel to JP Setu in Patna.
The firm has quoted an estimated outlay of Rs 3,012 crore for construction of the 14.5km-long bridge. The estimated cost quoted by the government in the bidding process was Rs 4,994 crore with an additional 18% GST.
The bridge is targeted to be completed over a period of four years. Once completed, it will drastically shorten the travel time between Sherpur in Maner block in Patna district and Dighwara in Saran district.
WhileBiharhas over 67% ofkala-azar casesin the country, but all the blocks of state achieved the target of its elimination in 2022, for the first time ever. However, in order to be declared kala-azar free, the state has to maintain this target for three consecutive years.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation country lead (neglected tropical diseases),Bhupendra Tripathi, praised the states efforts in achieving this target. Explaining the concept behind becoming kala-azar free, Tripathi said if any block has less than one case per 10,000 of its Population, then it is said to have achieved the elimination target. However, validation is done after three years.
In Bihar, Isuapur in Saran and Goriakothi in Siwan were the two blocks in the category of endemic. However, by the end of 2022, both managed to reduce the number of kala-azar cases as per the standard set.
Even though Bihar has managed to reduce the numbers and come out of the category of endemic, it has the highest cases of kala-azar as well as the deaths due to it in the country.
As per the data shared by the National Centre for Vector-borne Diseases Control, there were 547 cases of kala-azar in Bihar till December 2022, out of total 810 cases across the country. Also, out of total 39 kala-azar deaths reported in 2022, maximum 26 were in Bihar.
But, states own journey shows tremendous improvement. For instance, it had 7,615 cases in 2014, which came down to 3424 in 2018 and to 547 in 2022.
A separate link will be created on the state Health societys website, where heads of the schools will have to upload the micro planning for the vaccination of children in their respective institutions.
Preparation in this regard is going on, especially keeping in mind the vaccination of children above 12 years, which is supposed to start from March.
State health Society additional executive director Animesh KumarParasaron said the data hosting work was going on and once completed, each school head will give the micro planning for vaccination in their schools.
Even as Bihar was officially declared an open defecation-free state a couple of years back, the behaviour of most rural people towards proper sanitation is yet to change. The has, consequently, decided to begin an awareness campaign after the ongoing panchayat Elections as part of which the villagers will be told about the advantages of using toilets and maintaining cleanliness.
State rural development departments principal secretary Arvind Kumar Chaudhary told this newspaper, As sufficient number of toilets have been made available in almost all the villages under the Lohiya Swachh Bihar Abhiyan launched by the government, concerted efforts are being made to ensure their use by the people. An intensive campaign in this regard will be launched in different parts of the state after the elections are over and new panchayat committees constituted, he said.
He further pointed out that the government organised weeklong awareness campaigns at the village level every month to motivate the people to use toilets. However, they were temporarily stopped due to the panchayat elections.
Altogether 43 new centres are to be set up in the state to impart three months training in spinning and weaving -khadi and silk yarn to Women and girls to make them economically self-reliant.
The minister said more khadi malls like the one at Patna would come up in Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur and Gaya to make khadi products more popular and create job opportunities in the state. He said the industries department would lay emphasis on promoting the traditional industries such as khadi and handloom in the state as well. The demand of trained workers in khadi and handloom sectors will be higher in the days to come, he asserted.
Shahnawaz said the industries department is contemplating setting up exhibition-cum-sale centres of khadi and handloom products at the RAILWAY stations outside the state to benefit the workers associated with the traditional industries.
The Bihar State Khadi Gramodyog Board has already been sanctioned Rs1 crore for the purpose. In addition, Rs1.25 crore has been sanctioned for imparting training to women and girls during 2021-22 fiscal, Hussain said.
In a setback to theBihar government, theSupreme Court refused to allow it to continue with thecaste surveyin the state which was stayed by the Patna in an interim order and asked the state to wait for the next hearing on July 3 in the HC.
At the outset of hearing, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka andRajesh Bindalsaid that there are many issues involved in the case including the issue of privacy and the HC should first decide the case and expressed its reluctance in interfering with the HC order.
Bihars , excise and registration minister Sunil Kumar on Monday said that more than 80% people, especially Women, who took part in a survey, have supported the state governments decision of liquor ban.
A survey on the impact of prohibition was carried out by theChanakya National Law University. As per the survey report, more than 80% people, especially women, supported the state governments decision to ban liquor.
A two-day national seminar on Raising Agricultural Productivity and Farmers Income in Bihar concluded on Saturday with a call for adoption of an agro-centric model of development.
Addressing the participants, chief secretary Tripurari Sharan and development commissionerAmir Subhanipleaded for a multi-dimensional approach for raising the states agricultural productivity.
Despite the Covid challenges, enrolment of children in 6-14 age group in the government schools in Bihar has increased by 3.6% in the last one year, according to the 16th edition ofAnnual Status of Education Reportreleased.
The number of children enrolled in government schools increased from 76.9% in 2020 to 80.5% in 2021, compared to 2.8% rise in the last three years since 2018. The report also revealed that more children from the rural background took admission in the government schools, compared to private schools, between 2018 and 2021.
The report was based on a survey conducted in the rural areas of 581 districts across 25 states and 3 union territories between September and October this year. It covered 76,706 households, 75,234 children in 5-16 age group besides teachers and staff of 7,300 government schools.
Significantly, the proportion of both boys and girls enrolled in government schools across all grades increased from 2020 to 2021. The Percentage of girls enrolled went up from 80.9% in 2020 to 82.9% in 2021 while the boys enrolment increased from 73.2% in 2020 to 78.2% this year.
As per the report, the availability of smartphones to the enrolled kids also increased from 27.2% in 2018 to 54.4% in 2021. However, only 11.8% kids have access to studies all the time while 34.4% used the device for limited periods for education purpose. A large section of almost 53.8% enrolled kids still have no electronic devices for studies.