Sunday, July 31, 2011

For thy grace & mercy, O rain god!

http://http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=378312&catid=36

31 July 2011

For thy grace & mercy, O rain god!

Manoj Chaurasia
PATNA, 31 JULY: As Bihar faces drought for the third year in a row, women in rural areas have fallen back on an old time-tested ritual: they are ploughing fields, singing songs, and dancing at night to please the Rain God.

They believe the rituals will make the Rain God happy, and that he will then send showers for the parched and cracked fields, saving them from near starvation.According to reports, women in several villages in Buxur district are rigorously performing this old ritual in hope of rain.

Media reports say that groups of females go to plough the fields at night, dancing and singing all the way. Male members are strictly prohibited from entering the area while women are tilling the land. The female groups are being led by Rajvanshi Devi.

“We will continue our rituals until the rains lash our dry fields”, Rajvanshi Devi told local media. Another villager said, “The local farmers are quite upset as they anticipate yet another drought, and are therefore applying every trick to please Lord Indra (the Hindu Rain God)”. He said he was hopeful that the God would show mercy on the poor farmers and give good rains, which are essential for bumper crops.

Last year, farmers in another drought-hit Gaya District asked their unmarried daughters to plough the farmland naked as part of a similar ritual to embarrass the Rain God. The girls, assisted by elderly women, ploughed the fields after sunset yet this failed to move the deity.
July is the planting season for paddy crops, but the process has been hampered by the scarce rainfall.

The state economy is highly dependent on agriculture, and paddy is the main crop in Bihar.According to agricultural department statistics, the state received only 300 mm of rainfall between June and July. Normally, the state gets 400 mm. Paddy has been sown on only 5.89 lakh ha, significantly less than the target 35.50 lakh ha. Maize cultivation has also been badly hit.“

The erratic monsoon is badly delaying the planting of paddy seeding, which means a decreased yield”, said agriculture scientist Dr SS Singh. He has advised farmers to make alternative arrangement for paddy irrigation until the rains arrive.

Last year, all of Bihar's 38 districts suffered from drought according to the state government. In 2009, 26 districts were declared drought-affected, impacting 1.5 crore families across the state. The third consecutive drought this year is all set to break the backbone of farmers, leaving them starving.

Friday, July 29, 2011

CBI probe demanded






Manoj Chaurasia
PATNA, 28 JULY: A PIL was today filed in the Patna High Court, seeking a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the allotment of prime industrial land by the Bihar Industrial Area Development authority (BIADA) to relatives of ministers, legislators and bureaucrats. The PIL, filed by a former RJD legislator, Mr Satish Paswan, is likely to come up for hearing tomorrow.
In the PIL, the petitioner has pleaded that the court cancelled the allotment of land to influential persons alleging they were done by throwing the established norms to the winds. He also annexed several news clippings highlighting alleged irregularities in land allotment to influential persons.
The development comes two days after the chief secretary, Mr Anoop Mukherjee, gave a clean chit to the beneficiaries in question. Mr Mukherjee in his inquiry report said: “The allotments of industrial plots to persons concerned were made in keeping with the settled norms”. The chief secretary had conducted the probe on the directive of the chief minister after the Opposition caused a ruckus in the state Assembly alleging gross irregularities in allotment of industrial land.
The Opposition seems to be in no mood to let go the issue easily which, they believe, has the ingredients to expose the much-publicised “good governance” of the Nitish Kumar government and finally dethrone it. Even JD-U rebels have joined the Opposition’s demand for a CBI probe into the alleged land scam.
Yesterday RJD chief Mr Lalu Prasad, breaking his six month of self-imposed silence on Bihar affairs, declared a war against the “scam-ridden” government saying the Nitish Kumar government had lost the moral right to continue in power.

“I will unseat the government right in the middle of its five-year term,” said the RJD chief at a press conference, saying he would lead a protest march in Patna on 11 October to expose the rampant corruption in government and its failures on all fronts. He plans to visit every village and seek the support of the people in throwing out the “corrupt” government.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Media on Nitish hit-list

http://http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=377743&catid=36

July 26, 2011
Manoj Chaurasia / The Statesman

PATNA, 26 JULY: Bihar chief minister Mr Nitish Kumar, apparently ebullient after almost wiping out the entire Opposition in last year’s Assembly election, seems to have on his hit-list the media for “exposing” the failures and alleged irregularities being committed by the government in the Opposition-less Bihar.

That the government wants to “rein in” the vocal media became clear here yesterday when the Bihar chief secretary, Mr Anup Mukherjee, in his report to the chief minister, suggested initiating “legal action” against some media persons who reported the alleged land scam.

Outright denying any irregularities in the allotment of prime industrial land to the kin of the ministers, lawmakers and bureaucrats, the chief secretary said the allotments were made as per rules, and not under any political and administrative pressure.

The chief secretary had been asked by the chief minister to inquire into the alleged irregularities in land allotment to certain influential people in the government after a news channel broke the story and the Opposition lapped up the issue which led to frequent ruckus in the week-long Assembly session which concluded last week.

“In recent years, many industrialists have shown interest in Bihar but some news channels were trying to block the progress of the state by getting engaged in ‘smear campaign’ and ‘baseless reporting’. Their exposes smack of conspiracy and hence legal action needs to be taken against such media to frustrate their ulterior motive”, the chief secretary has mentioned in his 18-page probe report submitted to the chief minister yesterday.

To quote the chief secretary, “…Is prakar ke dushprachar se rajya ki pragati badhit karane ka asafal prayas kiya ja raha hai. Aise prayason ko rokane ke liye kargar vidhi sammat karvaii bhi honi chahiye”.

Not only that, a minister in the Nitish Kumar government has also filed a criminal case against a news channel which reported the land scam “scoop” now termed as “baseless” in the chief secretary’s probe report.

The case has been filed in the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Patna by the HRD minister and former advocate-general Mr PK Sahahi whose daughter was accused of getting land plot from the government allegedly cashing in on his father’s political stature.

Earlier, the JD-U member in the Rajya Sabha and party spokesman Mr Shivanand Tiwari had called for such action against the “irresponsible reporting” by the media at a formal Press conference.

The government looks to have hardened its posture towards the media after it widely reported this alleged land scam story and then CAG report which revealed government’s poor fund management and “under-assessment or loss of revenue of Rs 2,399.68 crore in various commercial departments in Bihar during 2009- 10”.


Modi slams Opp on land issue
Patna, 26 July: Bihar deputy chief minister Mr SK Modi today slammed the Opposition for raising an “unnecessary” controversy over allotment of land by the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority and said the report of chief secretary Mr Anup Mukherjee showed there was no irregularity.

“The Opposition is making a non-issue an issue. RJD, LJP, and Congress are raising unnecessary controversy over the allotment of land,” Mr Modi told reporters. p

Monday, July 25, 2011

Now, LJP Legislature Party merges with JD-U

The Opposition fighting for its space in Bihar suffered another jolt today when the three-member LJP Legislature Party in the State Legislative Council merged with the JD-U.

The merger was announced by the council chairman Tarakant Jha.

Earlier, the lone JMM member in the Bihar assembly had merged with the JD-U, taking its total tally to 115.

A couple of days back, a senior RJD leader Dr Shakeel Ahmad Khan had quit the party. He has not announced which party he is joining but he looks to be headed for the JD-U.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Bihar Opposition marches for CBI land scam probe

http://http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=377461&catid=36

23 July 2011 / The Statesman

Manoj Chaurasia / Patna:
Opposition parties in Bihar today marched in protest to Raj Bhavan, stepping up pressure on the Nitish Kumar government to start a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into an alleged land scam.

The scam involves the illegal allotment of prime industrial plots to relatives of ministers, legislators, bureaucrats, and close aides of government officials. The Opposition alleges that the irregularities in land allotment by the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) are as important as the 2G spectrum and the Adarsh Housing Society scandals, and therefore deserve to be thoroughly investigated by an independent agency.

Frustrated by the government’s failure to look into their demand, hundreds of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders walked from the historic Gandhi Maidan to Raj Bhawan. Carrying placards and party flags, the demonstrators passed through the streets of the state capital shouting the slogans “zamin chor, gaddi chod” and “sushasan ki khul gayi pol, afsar, neta malamal”. Later, they handed over a memorandum to the Raj Bhavan, demanding a CBI inquiry.

“The irregularities in the allotment of land by BIADA are similar to the 2G spectrum scam, as the allotment procedure for both was “first come, first served”, and only an independent agency like the CBI is able to reveal the truth. We will not settle for anything less than a CBI probe”, the state assembly leader of the Opposition, Mr Abdul Bari Sidiqqui, said.

He also took a potshot at the deputy chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Mr Sushil Kumar Modi, for calling the present time, a “golden period” for Bihar. “This is indeed a "golden period"...but only for the ruling party leaders and the corrupt”, he said.

The state RJD president Mr Ramchandra Purve alleged that in 2007, the Nitish Kumar government had tweaked the rules in order to allocate BIADA land to the relatives of influential ministers and bureaucrats. He drew parallels between the scandal and the 2G spectrum scam, into which the Supreme Court has ordered a CBI probe. “If the government is not involved in the scandal, why is the chief minister reluctant to order for a CBI probe?”, he asked.

A separate delegation from Congress, led by Chaudhary Mehboob Ali Kaisar also visited the Raj Bhavan and handed over a memorandum, demanding a CBI probe.

“We equate the land scandal with that of the Adarsh Housing Society, as we believe that a number of big fish are involved in the scam”, Mr Kaisar said. He added that the party had plans to hold demonstrations in New Delhi to press for their demand.According to reports, there were large-scale irregularities in the allotment of land meant for industrial units.

The beneficiaries include Urvashi Sahi, daughter of human resources development minister Mr Prashant Kumar Shahi; Rahmat Fatima, daughter of social welfare minister Mrs Perveen Amanullah and water resources department secretary Mr Afzal Amanullah; Rahul Sharma, son of Jehanabad JD-U MP Mr Jagdish Sharma; Saurabh Agrawal, son of BJP legislator Mr Ashok Agrawal; and a close relative of senior IAS officials Mrs N Vijay Laxami and IG Prison Mr Anand Kishore. According to reports, the daughters of the human resources development minister and the social welfare minister were allotted 87,120 sq ft of land each. Mr Agrawal’s son, meanwhile, was alloted more than 15 lakh sq ft to start his own business. sns

Land Scam

Bihar Opp further stepepd up pressures on the ruling NDA government by taking out a protest rally from historic Gandhi Maidan to the Raj Bhawan, seeking for a CBI probe into the alleged land scam.

Friday, July 22, 2011

RJD leader deserts party

http://http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=377398&catid=36

23 July 2011
RJD leader deserts party

Manoj Chaurasia / PATNA:

In a major setback to the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Dr Shakeel Ahmad Khan, who was one of the prominent Muslim faces of the party, today resigned from the party citing lack of internal discipline and the party’s failure to make its stand clear on issues of common concern. Dr Khan, who held many key portfolios in the RJD government like law and energy, had been with the party for the past two decades.

However, the RJD said Dr Khan had been expelled from the party for cosying up to the ruling NDA in Bihar. The RJD accused him of being a rank opportunist who could not live without power.

“There is no internal discipline in the party and the party is yet to clear its stand on issues of public concern like price rise”, Dr Khan told a Press conference here. He, however, did not say which party he was joining. Dr Khan, initially a CPI cadre, had joined the RJD soon after it came to power in 1990 and was made a minister.

Cop chops off villager's wrist in Bihar


http://http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=377399&catid=36
23 July 2011

Cop chops off villager’s wrist in Bihar

Manoj Chaurasia /PATNA:
Police are supposed to maintain law and order but in Bihar, they seem to be creating havoc for the ruling Nitish Kumar government. The men in khaki, who have been breaking laws with impunity, did it again, with a police officer being accused of chopping off the wrist of a man who had dared to rebuke him for using foul language in public.

There have been at least half-a-dozen incidents reported in recent months in which law enforcement officers have been caught killing innocent villagers in public, raping a woman inside a police station, and looting a mustard oil truck.

In the latest case, a policeman, it is alleged, chopped off the left wrist of a villager in the Purnia district of Bihar when the villager dared to ask the police officer to stop shouting abuse in public. The victim, Vishnu Deo, has been admitted to a government hospital for treatment of his dismembered wrist. Apparently, the accused police officer was involved in a dispute with local villagers over a piece of land, and was hurling insults at rivals in his village on Thursday. Mr Deo, overhearing the offensive discourse, came out of his house and asked the officer to stop. This angered the police officer so much that he attacked the villager with a sharp-edged axe, resulting in the dismemberment of his left hand.

Local television showed the dismembered limb in a plastic bag near the victim's bed at a local hospital, while the victim with his bandaged arm sobbed at the sight of it. Shocked family members have demanded compensation from the government, saying they now face starvation. Meanwhile, a case has been lodged with the Tikapatti police station. Local SP, Mr Amit Lodha has stated that he will arrest the accused soon, but that the most pressing question is who will now feed the family, since the lone breadwinner has lost his hand, and with it, his ability to work and earn.

This is not the first time that the inhuman face of the Bihar police force has been exposed. In March, this year, policemen at the Patkhauli police station in West Champaran district were involved in the gang rape of a woman from Uttar Pradesh. Although the government swiftly dismissed the accused jawan, Munna Miyan, from service and suspended two other constables for negligence of duty, the incident brought considerable embarrassment to the state administration. The female victim had been on her way to her parent's house in Gorakhpur after being thrown out of her marital home at Kushinagar in UP, when she met the accused policeman at the Bagaha railway station. He brought her to the police station, where she was raped by several officers.

On 8 March, five policemen were caught looting a mustard oil truck on the national highway by the Shivsagar police station in Rohtas district. The uniformed officers were seen joining villagers in filling up their buckets with mustard oil. The government suspended five of the jawans involved.

In June, a home guard jawan, Sunil Kumar Yadav was arrested and sent to jail following an incident in Forbesganj. Television footage showed the jawan jumping upon a man's face, who having been hit by police bullets was laying on the ground, and kicking him as the individual died. Human rights activists and civil society leaders severely criticised the action.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Nitish feels the heat as land scam row deepens

Manoj Chaurasia / The Statesman

PATNA/NEW DELHI, 20 JULY: Even as the Nitish Kumar government remains under fire for allotting prime industrial lands to the kin of ministers, legislators, MPs and bureaucrats, it created further ripples today by advising the protesting Opposition to first deposit money as investigation charges before going ahead with a demand for a CBI investigation into the alleged “land scam”.The bizarre advice has come from none other than the social welfare minister in the government Mrs Perveen Amanullah, one of the beneficiary ministers in the NDA government whose daughter was allotted land. The minister happens to be the wife of water resources department secretary, Mr Afzal Amanullah. “CBI jaanch mein paisa kharch hota hai. Jaanch mein yadi kuchchha nahin nikala to kya vipachha paisa degi (It requires a lot of money in investigation by the CBI, and whether the Opposition will bear the expenditures incurred on investigation by the CBI)?” Mrs Amanullah asked while talking to the reporters today. She added that the government was ready to order a CBI probe if the Opposition agreed to bear the cost of investigation. Meanwhile, the issue rocked the Bihar House for the second consecutive day today with the angry Opposition hell-bent on seeking a CBI probe into the alleged scandal to bring out the truth. As the House Assembly for the day, the shouting Opposition members trooped into the well of the House carrying placards in hands which read “Zamin chor, gaddi chor” (land looters quit the throne) and “Bihar Sarkar sharm karo, Zamin ghotala band karo” (Bihar government shame, shame; stop land loot). The Opposition also sought immediate resignation of chief minister for alleged irregularities in the allotment of land by the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority to the relatives of ministers, ruling party lawmakers and high-profile IAS officials holding plum posts under the present regime. Despite repeated requests by the Speaker Mr Udai Narayan Chaudhary, the agitating members did not relent and continued shouting at the top of their voice seeking for a CBI probe, leading to frequent adjournments. “If there was nothing wrong in the allotment of industrial lands to the family members of ruling alliance leaders and bureaucrats, why then the government is shying away from a CBI inquiry?” asked the leader of Opposition in the state Assembly and senior RJD leader, Mr Abdul Bari Siddiqui. He added the state government had been quite quick in ordering a CBI inquiry in many cases in the past but here it was refusing to do that which raises a big question mark over its intention.Paswan meets President, demands CBI probe into Bihar land scamAmid the alleged Bihar land scam involving relatives of ministers and bureaucrats of the Nitish Kumar government, a delegation of the Ram Vilas Paswan-headed LJP today met the President Mrs Pratibha Patil here, demanding a CBI inquiry into the scandal and even the dismissal of the JD(U)-BJP government there. In a three-page memorandum submitted to Mrs Patil, the LJP named several ministers and a senior IAS officer, whose kin were allegedly allotted the BIADA land by the Bihar government. Besides alleging a rise in crime and corruption in Bihar, the LJP also condemned the killing of four Muslim youths in a police firing in Forbesganj over a land dispute last month.