The conservation plan comes in the wake of the Bihar government’s move to develop Vikramshila’s ruins as a tourist destination like Nalanda, situated around 90 km from the state capital.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has roped in the National Culture Fund (NCF) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to conserve its excavated ruins with an initial investment of Rs.2 crore.

Vikramshila University was set up by the Pala dynasty (750-1174 A.D) king Dharmapala in the late 8th or early 9th century. The site is located near Antichak village in Kahalgaon sub-division of Bhagalpur district, about 150 km from Patna.

“The conservation work would begin from February in a phase-wise manner,” ASI Patna circle’s Superintending Archaeologist Sanjay K. Manjul told IANS in Patna.

He said the initial investment will be Rs.2 crore, though the total cost of the mega conservation and development plan is yet to be worked out.

“NTPC has agreed to fund the conservation work through NCF. A memorandum of understanding has been finalised for it,” he said.

NTPC, under its corporate social responsibility scheme, decided to fund the conservation work. Officials of the three agencies visited the site last December.

Last year, the ASI decided to launch a mega plan for conservation of the university ruins.

Manjul said the conservation, which has been neglected for decades, will help preserve the legacy for future generations.

According to ASI officials here, conservation of 52 shells or reading room-like structures adjoining the main stupa and a major portion of the excavated structure will be taken up.

The ancient Vikramshila University was intended to complement the existing world-class universities at Nalanda and Takshila. It lasted four centuries before being destroyed during an attack on local kingdoms by Bakhtiyar Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate.

As per the ASI, the remains at Antichak were excavated by B.P. Sinha of Patna University during 1960-69. The antiquities found at Vikramashila comprise terracotta objects, including a large number of plaques representing Buddhist and Brahmanical deities, animal and bird figurines and some symbolic representations, as also a large number of stone images of gods and goddesses.

A few small bronze statues of Buddhist deities like the Buddha, Maitreya, Vajrapani, Avalokitesvara and Manjusri too have been found. The bulk of antiquities comprise stone, iron, copper, silver and bronze objects, including a few silver and copper coins.

Members of the Vikramshila Nagarik Samiti said after more than three and a half decades of excavation by the ASI, no work has been done at the site on the pattern of Nalanda.

The Samiti has been demanding that Vikramshila be included in the state’s Buddhist tourist circuit for its development.

The ancient university at Nalanda was a seat of higher learning in the fifth century. The university was home to over 10,000 students, including from abroad, and nearly 2,000 teachers.

Courtesy: IANS

As on date, there are six engineering colleges for boys and one for girls in public sector and nine others in the private sector in the state. Besides the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Patna, and the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Patna, there is also an extension centre of the Birla Institute of Technology (BIT) running in the state.

The overall annual intake of these technical institutes offering engineering education to students in Bihar is merely 4,559, even as several thousands of students take admission in engineering colleges outside the state every year. By one estimate, the state would need around 300 engineering colleges, be it in public or private sectors, to be in position to absorb students seeking engineering education. As one science and technology department official put it, Karnataka has 400 such colleges. “Thousands of Bihari students take admission there,” the official added.

Indeed, as far back as 2005, during the build-up to the end of anti-Lalu-Rabri rule in the state, the craze for engineering education among school students of Bihar and their consequential migration to engineering institutes outside Bihar was high on the agenda of political parties, rooting for change in the then political dispensation in the state. These political parties used to also point to voters that the migration of students for studies has been accounting for the flow of Rs 3,000 crore annually from the state to be spent on the maintenance of students!

Six years on, the things have hardly changed, and in fact, the volume of money drain from the state ought to have increased in multiples, given the increase in fees and cost of living in big and small towns, as well as metros, in other states where the institutes are located. “It is true that a lot of students are still going out for education in engineering colleges. At present, we are not in a position to do much, but something concrete is being done. The process has started,” said science and technology department director Bhagwan Singh, adding: “We are not sitting idle on the matter.”

As it is, the seventh engineering college of the state government would start its first session this year from July at Chhapra, while the process to create infrastructure for three new engineering colleges — one each at Madhepura, Begusarai and Sitamarhi — has started, Singh added.

Incidentally, against the sanctioned intake of 1,390 students in the existing government engineering colleges of Bihar as many as 1,450 students are getting admission. Similarly, in the nine engineering colleges in the private sector, against the official annual intake of 2,444 students, the number of students is 2,404.

Courtesy: TNN

According to the notification issued by the department, Mumtaz Alam was given the post of chairman for the tenure of three year. He was given the responsibility just 6 days after Hassan Waris, Director of Bihar State Council for Educational Research and Training (BSCERT) was given additional charge of the chairmanship on 29th December, 2011.

The members of the board include Hasan Waris, Director of BSCERT, Maulana Ahmad Raza Khan, Director of Idara Tahqiqat-e-Arabi & Farsi, Maulana Qasim, Principal of Madarsa Shamshul Hoda, Mohammad Irshadullah, Chairman of Bihar Sunni Waqf Board, Bablu Masoomi, Chaiman of Bihar Shia Waqf Board, Dr. Daud Ali, JD-U MLA and Saba Zafar, BJP MLA. Other members include JDU-MLC, Israeel Raean, Hafiz Nasiruddin Qasmi from Sheohar district, Zahidur Rahman and Mojahid Alam from Kishanganj district and Maulana Qamar Saqib from Sitamarhi.

The post of the chairman of Bihar Madarsa Board fell vacant on 2nd October, 2011 after previous chairman Maulana Ejaz Ahmad completed his tenure. This was putting hurdle for the madarsa teachers of the state as their salaries were not being paid. Therefore, they were demanding the government to appoint a chairman at earliest. On 29th Dec. 2011, Hasan Waris was given additional responsibility of the chairmanship but the concerned people were demanding a full-time chairman of the board. On 4th Jan. 2012, the government accepted their demand and appointed Mumtaz Alam as chairman who assumed office on 5th Jan.

Courtesy: TCN

30th December 2011 would be remembered for decades in Kishanganj and the educational field of Bihar. It is also a memorable day for AMU vice chancellor Dr. PK Abdul Azis as he was quite eager to get the land issue cleared before his retirement.

There were many agitations for the land acquisition for this campus in and out of Bihar. Last October thousands of demonstrators blocking railway and road transport.

The Kishanganj Campus of AMU has to face stiff resistance from forces like the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) the student wing of BJP which is the alliance partner of Nitish Kumar led Bihar government.

It is expected that the session would start from next July though it would take ten years to build the needed infrastructure there. The AMU VC has requested the state government to provide a building on rent to start the session.

AMU VC Dr. Azis says that they hope to start some courses by July 2012. Mr. Azis says this Campus of AMU is more ambitious. AMU is expected to spend Rs. 1300 crores and Rs. 100 crores in Murshidabad and Mallepuram Campus respectivle towards build up of the infrastructure. It is expected that similar amount would be spent in Kishanganj opening the doors of jobs for locals.

Mr. Azis promises that the Kishanganj centre would be a state of the art centre for higher education with international facilities and tech support.

The district magistrate of Kishanganj Sandeep Kumar R Pudukalkatti and AMU registrarDr. Abdul Jalil signed the land transfer agreement. Though AMU required 250 acres of land, it got 224.02 acres I ub Mauza Chakala and Gobindpur villages under Kishanganj circle. Earlier the government was providing land in three different blocks but the AMU authorities insisted to provide a single and contiguous block of land which finally it got though it is minus 26 acres.

The deal was signed in the presence of energy minister and in charge of Kishanganj district Vijendra Prasad Yadav as the HRD minister Mr. PK Sahi was away who had quite a bad spat with the AMU authorities. Although the principal secretary Mr. Anjani Kumar Singh was present on this occasion.

DM, Kishanganj Sandeep Kumar informed that now the expert committee of AMU would have send the detailed project report to Union HRD ministry and a detailed finance report to finance ministry. AMU would also seek the President cum Visitor’s nod to launch the academic session.

Courtesy:  NVONews

The Transfer of documents along with the certificate for delivery of possession was initiated by Revenue and Land Reforms Department, Government of Bihar. The Principal Secretary, Human Resource Department, Government of Bihar, Patna was the authority to undertake the delivery of possession and Mr. Sandeep Kumar, R. Pudakalkatti, District Magistrate and Collector respectively of Kishanganj, Bihar; had delivered the possession as per the authorization of Bihar government.

The land falls under the Kishanganj circle, Mauza Chakla, Khata no. 384 and Mauza Govindpur, Khata No. 40, together totaling 224.02 acres. The land has been transferred over to the Registrar, Aligarh Muslim University by the District Magistrate and Collector of Kishanganj District, free from any encumbrances for setting up a Centre of the Aligarh Muslim University.

The Minister Incharge of Kishanganj and Araria districts, Mr. Brijendra Prasad Yadav; Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Energy, Registration and Excise, Mr. Anjani Kumar Singh; Principal Secretary, Human Resource Development Department, Government of Bihar, Mr. Brijesh Mahrotra; Commissioner, Purnea, Mr. Rahman Balyavi, representing the Government of Bihar, were present during the transfer ceremony along with Prof. P. K. Abdul Azis, Vice Chancellor, Aligarh Muslim University; Prof. V. K. Abdul Jaleel, Registrar, AMU; Mrs. Yasmeen Jalal Beg, Finance Officer and Member in charge, Property; Prof. H. S. A. Yahya, OSD, Nodal Office for AMU Centres; Prof. N. A. K. Durrani, Media Advisor; Prof. Javaid Akhtar, former Dean, Faculty of Management Studies and Research and Prof. Ekram Husain, Principal, Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology, representing Aligarh Muslim University.

The Minister, Mr. Brijendra Prasad Yadav has assured all possible support in providing the necessary infrastructure required including the construction of a 30 meter wide road, 30 KV electricity substation dedicated to AMU Centre as well as water supplies to the campus will be provided. Besides he assured to build a fence to make the land encumbrance-free.

Prof. P. K. Abdul Azis, Vice Chancellor, Aligarh Muslim University assured that AMU Kishanganj matter will be put on fast track and within a couple of days a consultant will be appointed with instruction to submit DFR and DPR within a month’s time so that the University can submit a suitable proposal for funding of the project and for getting approval from the Visitor under Section 12(2) of the AMU Act 1981. In the meantime, the matter will be brought before the Academic Council, Executive Council and University Court for undertaking necessary amendments. He said that the project for the Kishanganj centre will be prepared similar to that of the AMU Malappuram Centre and Murshidabad Centre in terms of facilities and long-term plans and the AMU Kishanganj Centre will be a state-of-the-art centre of higher education with world class facilities and technological support.

The Vice Chancellor also assured that if the State government provides temporary accommodation, the University hopes to launch some of its programme in the next academic session itself.

The visiting AMU team inspected the land along with the District Revenue Officer. AMU Vice Chancellor, Prof. P. K. Abdul Azis observed that before fencing the land, all temporary settlements should be shifted taking in to consideration all humanitarian principles, while evacuating. Prof. Azis said that if necessary, around 2-3 acres can be parted away from the land given to AMU in order to resolve the temporary settlement issue in an amicable way. The district officials said that the land transfer has been made after the decision of the state cabinet.

Prof. Azis expressed gratitude to the people who organized a movement for the identification and transfer of land for the AMU Kishanganj Centre and congratulated them telling that their dream had finally come true.

Maulana Asrarul Haq Qasmi, Member of Parliament from Kishanganj, was present for the meeting, he expressed extreme happiness for the helps provided by the State government, Central government and the initiative taken by AMU Vice Chancellor, as his dream of bringing a modern education centre to Kishanganj has come true now. He hoped that in the near and distant future it is going to change the fate and face of this underdeveloped region of the country.

Mr. Akhtarul Iman, MLA, who played an active role in the identification of the land, and a number of distinguished people of the area were all present for the programme.

Courtesy: TCN

The Nitish Kumar government will appoint 34,540 trained teachers in government schools in February.

After years of excruciating wait, Rani Kumari will finally land a permanent job in February when the Nitish Kumar government appoints 34,540 trained teachers on regular pay scale in keeping with the Supreme Court’s directive.

But her joy will be short-lived. She will retire just a month later, on March 2, when she turns 60, the retirement age for school teachers in Bihar. On March 5, another recruit, Dani Mahto, will also retire because of the same reason.

Rani and Dani are among many 59-year-old job aspirants who will superannuate within months of joining the service as government teachers. There are others too, who will retire before completing one year in service – including Sushila Devi (who will retire on March 12), Kashinath Yadav (April 6), Tarika Devi (April 10), among others.

But they should still consider themselves lucky. The Bihar education department officials say nearly 600 aspirants, who would turn 60 before January 31, 2012 – the cut-off date set by the SC – would not get jobs at all. The SC had told the state government not to consider cases of persons who would turn 60 by January 31 next year.

The education department has now posted on its website, the list of the 34,540 candidates, including 4,827 Urdu teachers and 1,113 physical training instructors, who will get the appointments soon.

The appointments follow a prolonged legal battle between the job seekers and the state government which began in 2003, when the RJD was in power. The erstwhile government had advertised vacancies for 34,540 primary teachers but proceeded to appoint untrained teachers. Though there were 1.23 lakh applicants, around 29,000 candidates were rejected by the Staff Selection Commission after scrutiny.

The trained teachers challenged the eligibility criterion in the Patna High Court, which subsequently asked the state government to appoint only trained B.Ed teachers. The government appealed against the ruling in the SC. In 2007, the Nitish Kumar government promised in the SC that it would absorb all the trained teachers as more vacancies were available.

But when it started appointing the teachers on a contractual basis on a consolidated salary, the trained teachers moved the SC and demanded that they be appointed on a permanent basis with the prescribed pay scale. The SC again ruled in their favour.

The Bihar government last week conducted the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) to select suitable candidates for the job. But it is going ahead with the appointment of trained teachers, howsoever aged, first.

Courtesy: India Today

No more analogies, antonyms

In the Verbal Reasoning section of the new format there is less reliance on vocabulary out of context. At the end of the day, memorising vocabulary out of context isn’t going to help in your MBA programme. You will be reading passages, trying to understand the author’s main thesis and conflicting points of view. Now you will be doing a lot of Reading Comprehension types of tasks and if you get better at Reading Comprehension, that’s going to help you in the educational arena and beyond.

The best place to start is on our website. Here test-takers will find sample questions for the Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Analytical Writing sections of the test, free downloadable software that gives students a simulated test-taking experience, and a Mathematics review to prepare them for the Quantitative Reasoning section.

Scoring is more reflective

It used to be 200-800 in 10-point increments for both Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning. So if A scored 620 in Verbal and B scored 600, 620 sounds a lot higher than 600 but its really only two score points and not a significant real-world difference between the two. The new score scale will go from 130-170 in one point increments. Now A’s score would 162 and B is 164. We think the new score scales will minimise misinterpretations of such small score differences. Analytical Writing will be scored from 0-6.

Preparation strategy

This will depend on the amount of time a candidate has available, and as well as personal preferences for how to prepare. At a minimum, it is important to know what to expect.

Before taking a practice GRE revised General Test, visit takethegre.com and become familiar with the content of the Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Analytical Writing sections of the test.
Take a practice test by using the free software offered by GRE. The software provides a timed test that demonstrates the new design features, including the ability to move back and forth and change answers within a section, as well as the new on-screen calculator.
The questions in the Verbal Reasoning and QR sections have a variety of formats. Some require candidates to select a single answer choice; others require candidates to select one or more answer choices, and yet others require test-takers to enter a numeric answer. When answering a question, candidates should make sure they understand what response is required.
The computer-based GRE revised General Test has a “mark and review” feature that enables test-takers to keep track of questions they would like to revisit during the time provided to work on a section and identify questions they may have skipped. Candidates can view a complete list of the questions in the section, and see an indicator of whether they answered or marked questions for review. Test-takers should budget their time so they can use the “mark and review” feature as an added check before completing a section.
Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning scores will be determined by the number of questions answered correctly. To maximise scores on these sections, it is best to answer every question. Points are not subtracted for incorrect answers, so it’s better to guess than to leave an answer blank.
Most of the Quantitative Reasoning questions don’t require difficult computations, so test-takers should not use the calculator just because it’s available. They should use it for calculations that are more time-consuming, such as long division, square roots and addition, subtraction or multiplication of numbers that have several digits.
During the Analytical Writing section candidates should be careful to budget their time. Within the 30-minute time limit for each task, allow sufficient time to think about the issue, plan a response and compose an essay.
Save a few minutes at the end of each timed Analytical Writing task to check for obvious errors. Although an occasional typographical, spelling or grammatical error will not affect a score, severe and persistent errors will detract from the overall effectiveness of a candidate’s writing and lower the score. So errors have to be avoided at all costs
There is a 10-minute break following the third section and a one-minute break between the other test sections. Candidates should use this time to replenish scratch paper. Section timing will not stop if candidates take an unscheduled break, so proceed with the test without interruption once it begins.

Courtesy: Yahoo

On Wednesday (October 12, 2011), the country witnessed the rise of a ‘Modern Aligarh Movement’ from Kishanganj, the north-eastern district of Bihar. The anti Bihar Government movement (agitation) organized for the establishment of AMU Special Centre in Kishanganj was joined by 3 to 4 lakh people. In response to Bihar government’s negligent attitude towards the matter, the protestors blocked the Kolkata – Guwahati rail route and National Highway No 31. Only after the nationwide media coverage and complaints of the travelers, the Bihar Government had shown some grace and promised to resolve the issue within one month through its representative, and the dharna ended midnight.

One of India’s most economically and educationally deprived district of India, Kishanganj is inhabited by peace loving simple people. Since the independence of India, the district of Kishanganj has hardly seen any type of development. Even people struggle for the basic necessities like proper road communication, electricity and health and sanitation. While India is developing at fact pace in metros and big cities, the residents of Kishanganj even today feel themselves in pre-independence era.

After the dark 15 year rule of Lalu Prasad Yadav, along with rest of Bihar the common people of this area also had some hope of development with the change of governance. Nitish Kumar, termed as ‘Vikas Purush’ (Development Man) succeeded in hitting the headlines of global media with stories of development in Bihar, and the NDA rule had been appreciated time and again. However, both the Nitish led NDA government and media forgot the dark side of Bihar’s development. Still the mass migration for education and employment were happening at a large scale, which brought forth the truth of self-proclaimed good governance of NDA in Bihar.

During the rule of NDA (Ist) in Bihar, on the guidelines of Union Ministry of HRD and approval of President of India, the Vice Chancellor of AMU (Aligarh Muslim University) had sent a proposal letter to Chief Minister of Bihar on November 26, 2008 to open a Special Centre in the state. In his proposal the Vice Chancellor of AMU Prof P.K.Abdul Azis has asked the Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to provide 250-300 acres of land free of cost for the centre and also mentioned some essentials as per University norms like 30 metre wide road connecting the campus with nearest state highway or national highway, and uninterrupted electricity and drinking water. Once Bihar Government would provide the land, the rest of the expanses like constructing the buildings inside the campus would be borne by the University and Central Government.

Logically, the Bihar Government should have accepted the proposal with high enthusiasm to improve the literacy rate in the state. Since, Bihar didn’t have any Central University till date, so this was other reason to welcome such mega project. The proposal of AMU was to offer education from school level to college level including professional courses. Besides providing education to the people of Bihar and other parts of India, the proposal of massive AMU campus was directing towards employment generation from low level caretaking staff to higher level. However, Bihar government didn’t send any reply to AMU VC on the proposal till September 2009. After that the AMU VC visited Kishanganj twice but the land transfer issue couldn’t be resolved because of Bihar Government careless attitude and internal politics.

Common people of Bihar were following all the development on the issue for past 3 years. When nothing happened to materialize the proposed AMU Special Centre in Kishanganj, a declaration to protest against the Bihar Government was taken in September 12, 2011 under the banner of Kishanganj Education Movement for AMU Centre supported by many committees including Delhi based AMU Centre Co-ordination Committee. A memorandum addressed to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar was submitted before District Magistrate Kishanganj to resolve the land transfer issue for the establishment of AMU Centre Kishanganj within 15 days. The activists for AMU Centre had clearly mentioned in the memorandum, if the government doesn’t resolve the issue and massive demonstration would happen in Kishanganj from October 12, 2011 onwards.

Meanwhile, apart from making illogical and baseless statements against the Central Government and AMU VC Prof Azis, the Bihar Government didn’t give any attention to the memorandum clearly mentioning the massive protest. The activists for AMU Special Centre Kishanganj organized awareness programmes in many parts of Seemanchal and requested people to gather in district headquarters of Kishanganj on October 12, 2011. The Delhi based AMU Centre Co-ordination Committee organized a National Conference on AMU Centre at India Islamic Cultural Centre on September 30, 2011 to provide the global attention to the matter.

Bihar Government has continued its apathetic attitude towards the proposed AMU Special Centre that resulted in grand dharn at Kishanganj on October 12, 2011. Around 3 – 4 lakh people from different parts of Bihar gathered in Kishanganj and blocked the Kolkata – Guwahati rail route and NH 31. The dharna went for full day and it was extended for indefinite period in the evening as the Bihar Government’s had not given any response. Around 10 pm, the national electronic media had flushed the news ticker with the tagline ‘Breaking News, more than 20 trains stuck on Guwahati route, protestors demand for AMU Centre in Kishanganj’. The news spread across the nation in a short while after 11 pm, and finally the leaders of the protest at around 11.30 pm announced that the Resident Commissioner of Purnia Division on behalf of Bihar Government has promised to resolve the issue within one month. The gathering of around 50,000 celebrated the historic moment of ‘AMU Movement’, and agreed to end the Dharna.

The one day dharna at Kishanganj had paralised the rail and road routes connecting north-east with rest of the country. Often referred to as the ‘Chicken Neck’, Kishanganj encompasses an important geographical and political place in India’s map. Still the people residing in the district and its nearby areas are facing several issues and deprived of basic amenities. Now it is the duty of Nitish Kumar to resolve the issue on immediate basis and provide the required land to AMU administration for establishment of a Special Centre. If Nitish Kumar fails to meet his promise, the activists are committed to intensify the protest and bring their voice to state capital Bihar and national capital New Delhi for their rights.

Courtesy: TCN

Addressing a press conference, Prof. Azis explained that the decision taken by the University functionaries to establish a Centre of AMU is a firm commitment made to the people of Bihar and very specially to the people of Kishanganj District and nearby areas.

Reacting to the allegations leveled by the Bihar Government, AMU Vice Chancellor said that the Secretary, Department of Human Resource Development, Bihar Government informed the University that the Government of Bihar has allocated 243.76 acres of land on payment of Rs. Ten as a token salami and Re. One as annual rent for 30 years lease with the option of renewal. This official communication of Bihar Government did not indicate that the land offered to AMU was in three pieces. The University, however, expressed its willingness to take over the land if an area of 250-300 acres of land, contiguous to plot number one and inclusive of it, with direct access to the State Highway is allocated.

AMU Vice Chancellor, Prof. Azis felt that despite the Chief Minister expressed desire, of the Bihar bureaucracy never responded ‘promptly to University’s request regarding AMU Centre in Kishanganj’.

Prof. Azis urged the Bihar Chief Minister to identify the contiguous piece of land and the land should be transferred to AMU without any type of lease.

Prof. Azis also denied the allegations of the Bihar Government and stated that the land provided to AMU in both the places are contiguous. The West Bengal had handed over a single plot of 299.64 acres divided by the Farakka Canal but will be in one piece and the Government of Kerala had handed over a plot of 335.99 acres of land free of cost for AMU Centres. If the Government of Bihar was fast enough to respond promptly to our request, AMU would also have been able to start its Kishanganj Centre along with Murshidabad and Malappuram.

He urged the Bihar Chief Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar to hand over 250-300 acres of land so that AMU can proceed further on the matter. The procedure to get the approval of the Visitor under Section 12 (C) of the AMU Act would be initiated only after getting the land in the name of AMU, as was done in the case of Murshidabad and Malappuram.

Lande said he swung into action though Patliputra SHO feigned ignorance about the incident. asI, then, myself rushed to the institute to know the truth,a? the SP said and added on reaching the institute, Amresh was found crying. He narrated the episode to the SP and alleged that he was being ragged by one Nitish Kumar and four other students of sixth semester. An FIR was lodged in this connection against Nitish and four others, Lande said, adding they were not found on the institute premises at that time.

Courtesy: TNN