BIHAR

The king Janak, the ruler of Mithila kingdom, requested an artist to create paintings that would commemorate the events of his daughter Sitas wedding to Prince Rama.

The artists creations were so capti – vating that they inspired Women in the region to start painting their own versions of the artwork on the walls and floors of their homes during festivals, ceremonies, and special events. And thus, Madhubani or Mithila art was born, as per the legend.
Madhubani art has also found its way onto the international stage, with countries like Japan, France, Germany, and the United States being particularly interested in the art form.

Tokio Hasegawa, a lover of Mad – hubani art, founded the Mithila Museum in Tokamachi, Japan, in 1982, which exhibits around 2,000Madhubani paintingsof different themes and styles.

The farm labour crunch has hit harvesting season as migrants are making their way back to their native states again fearing another lockdown in the Tricity. Again, factory owners and farmers are grappling with labour crunch.

The exodus this time is said to be driven by fear of being trapped in place due to another lockdown and panchayat in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Industrialists are also facing shortage of labour and finding it expensive to hire workers and helpers. Industrialists in Derabassi said they are getting helpers at the cost of skilled labour.

The monsoonrainfallin Bihar is expected to be normal or below normal, as per the long-range forecast (LRF) issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

As per the Patna Meteorological Centre, rainfall during the monsoon months of June, July, August and September is likely to be either normal or less than normal of the long period Average.
Last year, Bihar faced 31% deficient rainfall in the monsoon season, which was the lowest since 2012.

According to the forecast, La Nina (periodic cooling of sea-surface temperatures) is currently neutral in the equatorial Pacific, but El Nino (above-average sea-surface temperatures) conditions are likely to develop during the monsoon season.

Seven cities fromBiharhave figured among the 50 most polluted cities in the world, as per the latest 5th annual world air quality report released by Swiss air tracking firm IQAir.

Patna, Darbhanga, Gaya, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Chhapra and Hajipur in Bihar are among the 50 most polluted cities, as per the IQAir report, which has ranked India as the world’s eighth most polluted country in 2022.

With an annual Average concentration of particulate matter less than 2.5 microns measured at 90.3 micrograms per cubic metre (g/m3), Darbhanga ranked sixth most polluted city in the world, while Patna was tenth with the annual PM2.5 level measured at 88.8 g/m3.
Incidentally, all seven cities from Bihar in the IQAir’s report had PM2.5 levels more than 10 times higher than the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s prescribed annual safe limit of 5 g/m3.
The IQAir stated in a press statement issued from Switzerland on Tuesday that data from more than 30,000 air quality monitoring stations across 7,323 locations in 131 countries, territories and regions was analysed by its air quality scientists for the report.

Union steel minister Ram Chandra Prasad Singh invited global investors as well as NRI businessmen hailing fromBiharto invest in the steel sector of India during theBihar InvestorsMeet in Dubai.

The minister is leading a delegation in Dubai to showcase and discuss with investors the business opportunities available in the Indian steel sector.
At the event, the delegation showcased a roadmap for investments in the state across several sectors such as Food Processing, Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture, IT and Education.

The meeting between the Indian delegation and leading investors will prove beneficial for both the countries.

The event was attended by over 50 prominent businessman from Bihar or who have interest in doing business in the state.

Despite prolonged closure during the pandemic, enrolment of children in 6-14 age group in the government schools inBiharhas increased by 4.1% from 78.1% in 2018 to 82.2% in 2022, according to the Annual Status of https://exam.pscnotes.com/Education“>Education Report (ASER) 2022.

When compared to other states, the reading ability of Class VIII students, who can read the Class II text, in Bihar remained steady at 69.7% in 2022, up from 69.5% in 2018. The Percentage of Class V students who know division has increased slightly from 29.9% in 2018 to 35.6% in 2022. While Bihar leads the way with 58% of Class VIII pupils who can do division.Manipurcomes second with 53.7% in this category.

The report also indicated that Class VIII enrolment in Bihar has increased dramatically over time, with more girls enrolling than boys. The percentage of students of both government and private schools who took paid tuition classes increased significantly from 61.6% in 2018 to 71.7% in 2022. It included 71.6% of pupils in government schools and 72.4% of students in private schools.

The report was based on a survey of 6,99,597 children from over 19,060 villages in 616 districts, covering 374,554 households.

Although 92.4% of schools still do not have computers for students, this figure has decreased from 96.6% in 2018.

Electricity connection in 92.5% of schools is up from 69.5% in 2018. Physical education classes have also been allocated weekly in 70.7% of upper primary schools and 49.0% of primary classes. There were no such provisions earlier.

State information technology (IT) department is working on a road map for the next two years to generate new EMPLOYMENT opportunities in this field.

Various projects of the department were reviewed at the meeting. The minister enquired about updated status of the projects being run by the department and Beltron.

The has decided to issue an ordinance next week, amending relevant sections of theBihar Municipality Act, 2007 to facilitate direct election of mayor and deputy mayor of municipal corporations as well as heads and their deputies in otherUrban Local Bodies(ULBs), sources said.

The state cabinet approved the proposal last Wednesday and the governor has also given his Consent. Accordingly, the legal cell has started the process to give shape to the ordinance in the right earnest. In all Probability, the ordinance will be issued next week, a top source in the urban development and housing department said.

The ordinance is purported to amend the twoArticlesof the existing Act Article 23(1) and Article 25 and pave way to fill the posts of the heads and deputy heads of ULBs through direct election. It is also in practice in other states likeMadhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, UP andUttarakhand. TheULBElections will not be held on the party lines.

Earlier, the elected councillors of the wards of various ULBs used to select their heads and deputy heads and mayor and deputy mayor in the case of Municipal Corporation. Under Article 25, a group comprising one-third of the total number of councillors in a ULB used to serve a notice to arbitrarily seek removal of the head of the ULB concerned.