BIHAR

Bihar: Industries minister Shahnawaz Hussain launches 24×7 oxygen bank of BIA

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The stateindustries minister,Shahnawaz Hussain, launched the 24x7oxygenbank of theBihar Industries Association(BIA).

Addressing the virtual workshop on Oxygen Production and Promotion Policy 2021 organised by the BIA, he said his department has been working closely with thehealth departmentto meet the increased demand for oxygen due to the Covid-19 pandemic and to ensure an uninterrupted supply of oxygen at hospitals and the supply of liquid oxygen in the state.

The minister appreciated the BIA initiative to supply free oxygen to individuals for emergency purposes.BIA president Ram Lal Khetan said the oxygen will be supplied to individuals only when they deposit the security .

Boost for radio connectivity in remote areas as Bihar gets nine FM transmitters

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated 91FM transmittersacross the country.

The 100Watt capacity transmitters have been installed in 84 districts across 18 states, includingBiharand two Union Territories. The 100Watt capacity transmitters were inaugurated at nine places in the state, which are Banka, Buxar, Shiekhpura, Nawada, Katihar, Begusarai, Jamui, Lakhisarai and Sikandara (in Jamui district).

Nawada district also witnessed the inauguration of a 100W FM transmitter on the premises of Doordarshan kendra, adjacent to Nawada block headquarters.

Control room set up to advise MLAs on Covid

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In view of the raging coronavirus pandemic in the state, a control room has been set up in the legislative assembly to extend treatment and advisory facilities to present and former MLAs, as well as active and retired employees and officials of the assembly secretariat at the district level.

It has been established on the directive of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla during his digital interaction with the Speakers of all the assemblies held on April 19, Sinha said.

The control room will coordinate with the DMs concerned, their respective control rooms and the Health department to ensure that treatment facilities are provided to the present and former MLAs, assembly secretariat officials and employees, as well as their relatives, against the Covid-19 infection.

Drones to be used to check illegal liquor trade in Bihar

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Drones will now keep tabs on illegal brewing, smuggling ofliquorand those engaged in sourcing alcohol illegally in inaccessible areas such as diara, small hamlets, forests, remote and hilly areas of the state. To start with, a high-tech drone will be used from January next year to ensure strict implementation of liquor in the state.

The prohibition, excise and registration department on Saturday conducted a trial run of drones in Digha riverine area by engaging three agencies.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar opens bangle production unit run by JEEViKA workers

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Chief ministerNitish Kumar inaugurated a bangle manufacturing factory run by JEEViKA didis at Sabalpur village in Patna district on the occasion of the Day. The distinctive feature of these bangles is that they are made of the fragments of seized liquor bottles.

According to sources, the prohibition, excise and registration department provided Rs 1 crore to theBiharRural Livelihoods Promotion Society, also known as JEEViKA, for setting up the bangle manufacturing factory. The unit has been set up under the supervision of technical experts from Firozabad, which is known for the quality of its bangles.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar reiterates demand for caste census, says this is in national interest

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Biharchief ministerNitish Kumar reiterated his demand for a castecensus, saying it is in national interest and will facilitate development of the communities lagging in development.
Asked about the Centre’s affidavit in The Supreme Court that virtually ruled out census on the caste lines, he told reporters that it was “absolutely not correct” but added that the matter was not directly related to the issue of caste census.

In the national capital to attend Home ministerAmit Shah’s meeting with the chief ministers of naxal-affected states, the JD(U) leader also rejected arguments against caste census and asserted that the demand for it has been coming from not only Bihar but many states.

K Vinod Chandran is new chief justice of Patna HC

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Krishnan Vinod Chandran of the Kerala High Court has been appointed as the chief justice (CJ) of thePatnahigh court. Union ministry of law and justice.

The collegium had initially recommended the appointment of Justice Chandran as the chief justice of Gauhati High Court, but later it was recalled and he was instead proposed as the chief justice of the Patna high court.

Bihar records 10.9% growth rate, third highest in country

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Bihar recorded the third highest Growth rate of 10.98% at constant price (2011-12) in its gross state domestic product (GSDP) during the 2021-22 FY among all the states in the country. It has marked the return of the state’s economy to the ‘pre-Covid-19 years’, implying that the disruptions caused to the economy by the coronavirus pandemic in 2019-20 and 2020-21 have been nearly overcome.
This has been brought out by the 2022-23 Economic Survey Report (ESR) on the state’s economy tabled by state finance ministerVijay Kumar Choudharyin the assembly.

While the state’s GSDP at constant price was Rs 4.28 lakh crore and Rs6.75 lakh at current price in 2021-22, the resulting per capita income was Rs34,465 at constant price and Rs 54,383 at current price.

The ESR 2022-23 has also noted that the high growth rate that Bihar recorded — scoring even better than the national Average of 8.68% during the same fiscal year – was made possible by the fact that the state did not suffer natural disaster (floods and drought) in 2021-22.

The significance of the states performance on the recovery process from the coronavirus pandemic years could be gauged from the fact that the growth rate was 4.4% during 2019-20 and negative (-) 3.2 per cent during 2020-21 with minus growth rates recorded in 14 sectors.

While nine sectors recorded growth rate in two digits, one in three digits and five others on the higher side of the single digit, the growth rate in the (Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture and allied activities) was 9.6%, in the secondary (manufacturing) sector 3.8% and in the tertiary (Services) sector 13.3%, the report said. The share of the primary sector in the state’s economy was 21.2%, followed by 18.1% of the secondary and 60.7% of the tertiary sectors.

Bihar: Excessive use of pesticides leads to soil degradation, say experts

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The scientists and experts of the state have expressed concern over ever-degrading quality of the agricultural soil and its consequent adverse impact on food products and human Health.

Justifying the this years theme of the World Soil Day Soils: Where food begins, they have sought urgent measures to boost soil health and help produce crops replete with necessary nutrients. They point out that like human beings, soil needs a balanced and varied supply of nutrients in appropriate amounts to be healthy.

Jha further said 37 percent of the total land area in the country stands degraded mainly due to soil Salinization. InBihar, approximately 3.2 lakh hectare agricultural land has been degraded due to salinization. The salt-affected soils occupy a major area of Samastipur, Siwan, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Vaishali, Saran, East Champaran and West Champaran districts.

NITI Aayog report: Bihar second worst on health parameters

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Bihar has emerged as the second-worst performer, just above Uttar Pradesh, in terms of overall Health performance among the larger states in the fourth Health Index released by the. Kerala has emerged top among the 19 larger states.

Bihars index score was 31, a tad better than UPs 30.57. The maximum index score that a state/UT can achieve is 100 and Kerala scored 82.20.

However, in terms of incremental performance, Bihar was placed in the category of larger states which had shown positive results. Still, this was not significant in case of Bihar.
The fourth round of the Health Index has taken into account 2019-20 as the reference year and 2018-19 as the Base Year.

While maximum incremental performance was shown by UP with 5.52 points more than the base year, Bihars performance has increased by 0.76 points in reference year from the base year.

As per the report, the states showing 0.01 to 2.0-point improvement have been placed in the category of least improved, those less than 0 as not improved, those from 2.1 to 4 as moderately improved and those more than 4 as most improved. As per this categorisation, Bihar and four other states fall in the category of least improved.