BIHAR

Apart from the appointment of assistant professors, the Bihar State University Service Commission will also carry out appointment of principals in colleges, who have been included as teachers under the Bihar State University Service Commission Act, 2017, through an amendment Bill which was passed by the Legislative Assembly along with six other Bills amid Oppositions walkout.

In April 2017, both the Houses of Bihar legislature had passed the Bihar State Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2017, and the Patna University (Amendment) Bill, 2017, to bring principals back into the TEACHING fold.

The amendments were significant, as the government had itself removed principals from the teaching cadre through the 2012 amendment to the two Acts.

The Bihar State Higher Education Council (Amendment) Bill, 2021, makes provision for reappointment of the vice chairman of the council.

The government had already reappointed the vice chairman prior to Assembly election through an ordinance, which the bill repeals.

Under the new bill, the vice chairman can hold office for a maximum of two terms of five years each.

The Bihar (Amendment) Bill, 2021, makes provision for constitution/reconstitution of the gram panchayat area even with Population less than 7,000.

The Bihar Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Bill, 2021, proposes to increase the Fiscal Deficit target and annual borrowing limit for the year 2020-21 by 2% over and above the limits prescribed earlier.

State finance ministerVijay Kumar Choudhary asked the BJP MLCs to help the state in getting funds for the centrally-sponsored schemes. Choudhary told the Upper House that for such schemes, the Union Government has given them only 36% of its total budgetary allotments in 2022-23, increasing the burden on the state.

Choudhary said the maximum part of the state’s funds was used in carrying out such schemes and projects started by the Centre. He accused the Centre of not giving the proper share. “Be it the name of these schemes or the ratio in which the Centre and state have to bear the burden, all are decided by the central government. However, because of the unavailability of funds from the Centre, the state has to bear the burden and it finds difficulty in implementing its own programmes,” said Choudhary, adding initially the maximum part was supposed to be borne by the Centre, but the ratio kept changing and the burden on the state increased.

Citing the example for 2022-23, Choudhary said the Centre had to give Rs46,019 crore for these schemes, but till February 24, the state had got Rs16,733 crore only, which was 36% of the total amount.

State industries ministerSyed Shahnawaz Hussainon Wednesday said the will soon come up with a new textile policy to promote manufacturing and trade in the sector.
Addressing the annual meeting of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, Shahnawaz said the textile sector inBiharhas immense potential. He also claimed that the state has received industrial Investment proposals worth Rs 40,000crore in the last one year and many big industrial units will be launched here in the next two months.

Even though India is the sixth largest economy in the world, it’s Human Development index rank is 131 out of 189 countries and territories. There has been improvement in the country in other sectors, but there has not been much advancement in healthcare. Due to this, the industries minister held a meeting with a group of doctors, a few days before the budget session and decided to increase the allocation of Health-sector”>Health sector in state budget from 3% to 6.79%.

Altogether 85 stations falling under the East Central RAILWAY (ECR) have been shortlisted by the Railway Board for their redevelopment plan under the Amrit Bharat station scheme. Work on these stations will start in the ensuing 2023-24 fiscal as per the directives laid down by the Board to further improve passengers amenities.

According to the East Central Railways chief public relations officer (CPRO) Birendra Kumar, the Board has selected 17 stations from each division of the ECR for their development.

Under the plan, station buildings will be given a facelift with provision for spacious entry points, circulating areas, green landscapes, platform sheds and supply of Safe drinking water on each platform of the station, he said.

The UnionBudgetdid not even touchBihars special package demand raised by deputy CM and BJP functionary Tarkishore Prasad at the pre-budget meeting of Union finance minister with state finance ministers held in Delhi on December 30.

The JD(U) of CMNitish Kumarhas been stressing on special category status for the state.
However, the Budget allows up to 4.5% of the GSDP. Bihar has been demanding an increased borrowings from financial institutions up to 4.5% of the GSDP.

Though there was nothing specific referring to Bihar, yet, the state would benefit from the projects like Expressway and cargo development under the PM Gati Shakti Yojana, as well as the thrust on solar power and allotment of Rs19,500 crore for it. Two such projects are in the pipeline at Pirpainty (Bhagalpur) and Kajra (Lakhisarai) in Bihar.

Deputy CM TarkishorePrasadhas pressed on Centre for special assistance to the state, besides relaxation in the rules to help it raise through market borrowings for carrying out developmental activities so as to sustain the high Growth rate that has been achieved over the last 15 years.

Prasad, who is also Bihars finance minister, made the two demands at the pre-budget consultative meet with the state finance ministers for the 2022-23 convened byUnionfinance ministerNirmala Sitharamanat Delhi on Thursday. Bihar, at present, is faced with severe financial crunch, specifically from the 2021-22 financial year, Prasad pleaded.

Prasad demanded that the Centre should relax the rules for the state underFiscal Responsibility and Budget Management(FRBM) Act to have Fiscal Deficit up to 5% against the mandatory 3%, and also remove the conditions that arrest the efforts to raise money through market borrowings from financial institutions.

Mentioning the NITI Aayog report in which Bihars performance has been put below national Average and also not satisfactory compared to other states, Prasad said the state, indeed, has remained backward despite high growth rate and achievements made in the development of roads, power and other infrastructural activities and needed special central assistance.

The deteriorating air quality in Bihar has become a cause for concern as the state is struggling in its efforts to improve the toxic air.

Begusarai, Siwan, Bettiah, Buxar and Motihari were the most polluted towns in the country on Monday with “severe” AQI of 457, 439, 434, 418 and 402, respectively, according to the daily bulletin released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Patna’s AQI has also reached the lower end of the “very poor” category at 364 on Monday. On Sunday, the pollution level in Patna was recorded at 351. The AQI of all the monitoring stations in different areas of the city was recorded in “very poor” zone, which can cause respiratory illnesses to the people on prolonged exposure. BIT-Mesra witnessed the maximum AQI of 394, closely followed by 378 at SK Memorial Hall, Planetarium (372), Eco Park (360), Patna City (351) and DRM office-Khagaul (332).

State Health minister Mangal Pandey on Tuesday said in thelegislative councilthat the government was concerned about the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and all the RT-PCR laboratories have been put on alert. He said the state chief secretary and additional chief secretary of health department have inspected the IGIMS laboratories where genome sequencing will be done to identify different variants of Covid-19.

Pandey had earlier said in the House that 91% of the eligible Population in Bihar have been given the first dose of Covid-19 Vaccines and 80% of those whose date for the second dose had arrived have got themselves inoculated.

The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG)’s next target is to pace up the cleanliness process in the tributaries of the Ganga in the next five years, Jal Shakti Secretary Pankaj Kumar said.

NMCG has cadres like ‘Ganga Prehri’ (Guardians of Ganga) and ‘Ganga Doot’. They are trained volunteers who work among the local communities to create public awareness as to how crucial the cleanliness of the river is to keep it alive.”

The upper portion of Ganga stem in Uttarakhand has already been cleaned. Now the work is going on in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. In the process we are also targeting ‘ghats’ of major cities for modernising them. This all would need a mass movement as rivers and their surroundings cannot be kept clean without help from the masses.