BIHAR

Deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who holds the charge of Health department, on Wednesday announced that his department will initiate a special programme and carry out one lakh freecataract operationsby the end of this financial year. He made this announcement atPatna Medical Collegeand Hospital where he had gone to inaugurate a cath lab with high-end machines.

Through online mode, he also inauguratedThalassemia Day Care Unitset up at Bhagalpur and Gaya hospitals. While inspecting the cath lab at PMCH, Tejashwi said it will provide better facilities to heart patients, who will get free treatment and tests done. H also asked the doctors and other healthcare workers present on the occasion to give the best treatment to patients, both in terms of medical and behaviour wise.

State health department additional chief secretary Pratyaya Amrit said the cath lab will help heart patients, whose numbers have increased. He said the department was focussing on changes across the medical colleges and hospitals and new technology and equipment will be added everywhere.

While pitching strongly for special category status toBihar, CMNitish Kumar virtually expressed displeasure with deputy CM Renu Devi, who is from the alliance partner BJP.

Nitish, taking a cue from the report with regard to Bihar, also said: It is clear from the Niti Aayog report that Bihar needs more Money and fund for its development. With the special status, the State Government will have to spend less money as its share in the centrally sponsored schemes. I will keep placing the demand strongly.

Incidentally, in the last four months, Niti Aayog in its reports issued since September has rated Bihar poorly on the parameters of development defined by it. Last month, the Niti Aayog had put Bihar at the bottom among all other states in Sustainable Development goals (SDG) targets aimed at improving the standard of living of households.

The is busy making elaborate arrangements for providing healthcare facilities on theKanwariyapath in Shrawan beginning on July 14 to carry Ganga water from Sultanganj to Deoghar and other places to worship LordShiva.
Health minister Mangal Pandey said the department will provide all the required facilities to the devotees undertaking the pilgrimage to Deoghar.

Streams of devotees undertake the kanwar yatra during Shrawan month. Larger health camps with beds, ambulances and medicines were being set up at Banka,Bhagalpurand Munger enroute to Deoghar in Jharkhand for the devotees.

The government has also directed to provide raincoats to all doctors, paramedics and other staff being deputed on duty in health camps or temporary hospitals, he said.

The state where proper Nutrition has always been an issue has found a solution to it in the form of fortified grains.Atal Incubation Centre, run byBiharVidyapeeth, has come up with this solution.Bihar VidyapeethpresidentVijoy Prakashsaid many such innovative experiments were being done by the institution for the benefit of people of the state.

According to experts, fortifying means adding in nutrients that dont occur naturally in the food. Most refined grains are enriched and many enriched grains also are fortified with other VITAMINS and Minerals, such as folic acid and iron.

The announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi almost six years ago regarding establishment of a central university at the historic site ofVikramshila Universityin Bhagalpur is yet to take shape. The central government had also allocated Rs 500 crore for the purpose.

The committee constituted by theUnion HRD ministrymore than 18 months ago for selecting the final site for the proposed university submitted its report to the Centre recently.

The Centre had asked Bihar to provide 500 acres of land for setting up the university. The , however, expressed its inability in procuring this much land in Bhagalpur and offered 200 acres for the purpose as most of the lands are agricultural and fertile. The central government accepted the proposal and asked the state to provide two to three alternative locations.
The state government in December 2018 furnished the details of three locations in Kahalgaon circle of Bhagalpur district.

The entire project is being monitored by the Union HRD ministry and the state government has been providing all the required facilities to the Centre. Moreover, the allocated fund of Rs 500 crore has not been received by the state till date.

BiharIndustries Association (BIA) conducted a session on Krishi se Samriddhi at its auditorium.

Secretary (Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture)Sanjay KumarAgarwal, who was the chief guest, said agriculture is the backbone of Bihar. The government is determined to establish a robust foundation for the state’s economy through agriculture. By implementing effective strategies, we can increase paddy productivity fourfold and maize productivity by threefold, said Agarwal.
He also underlined the pressing need for improved , particularly in areas such as storage and cold storage. He revealed that around 15 districts in the state lack even a single cold Storage Facility. He called for meticulous planning to rectify these deficiencies and stressed the significance of public-private partnerships in fostering agricultural development. The government’s ethanol policy will play a pivotal role in enhancing the production of corn and rice in our state, said Arun Agarwal, president of BIA.

EntrepreneurRajesh KumarAgarwal said Bihar ranks 4th in vegetables production and 8th in producing fruits in the country.

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has notified Patna-Bettiah road as National Highway 139W, setting the state for construction of a high-quality four-lane road between the two towns that would reduce the distance between them to 167 kilometres from the current 200-odd km and travel time to around 2.5 hours from the current five hours, officials familiar with the matter said.

The NHAI is also likely to build a four-lane bridge over the river Ganga, parallel to JP Setu, which would also ease traffic load on the proposed outer ring road in the state capital. The road construction department (RCD) has already submitted the detailed project report (DPR) for the proposed bridge, estimated to cost 1,900 crore.

TheCentral University of South Bihar(CUSB), which has joined the elite group of higher Education institutions to be accredited with the highest A++ grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), is all for reaching the top echelon of the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF), said its vice-chancellor K N Singh.

The VC said the university wants to serve as a role model for all other universities in the state by providing them with the necessary feedback on academics and Governance. The award of A++ grade to CUSB will certainly change the peoples perception about the quality of education in Bihar, he said.

Established under the Central Universities Act, 2009 the university started functioning on a very modest scale from a rented accommodation in Patna. Later, it shifted to its own campus at Gaya and started making all-round progress with the support of its faculty members. It was accredited with A grade in its first cycle of assessment in 2017. It could achieve the highest grade only due to its sustained efforts and innovative approach.

Now, CUSB is in line with the topmost nine universities of the country, includingJawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi,Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai,Jawaharlal NehruCentre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, S R M Institute of Science and Technology, Nadu, all of which have been accredited with A++ grade.

Former CM and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi has not been ceasing to surprise CM Nitish Kumar and the NDA government, as on Friday he demanded that the government pay Rs 5,000 as unemployed allowance to unemployed youths in the state.

Manjhi said his demand was in tune with his party’s poll manifesto for the assembly . The HAM(S), along with Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), is a smaller constituent in the four-party NDA combine that includes JD(U) of Nitish and also the BJP.