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 Nitish Kumar led Bihar Government is denying CBI enquiry into the killings because it fears that such an enquiry will not only bring the truth behind the firing but also expose the corruption in Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA)” alleged Dr. Shakeel Ahmad, National Spokesperson of Congress Party, while addressing the protestors.

He said that the state government ignored the notice by Supreme Court regarding CBI inquiry which was issued after hearing a PIL.

He questioned the secular credibility of the Nitish Kumar by asking “On one hand, he refused to share dais with Narendra Modi and on the other hand he runs the government with Sushil Kumar Modi” he added.

Dr. Ahmad assured the victims that he and his party will be fighting until justice is delivered to them.

On June 3, 2011, four members of the Muslim community were brutally killed by Police in Bhajanpur village under Forbesganj block in Araria district of Bihar while they were protesting against blockade of their road by a company named Auro Sundaram International Private Limited.

Notably, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi was blamed that Bhajanpur Police firing was done on his direction as he has close relationship with BJP MLC Ashok Kumar Agrawal whose son Saurabh Kumar is a member of the board of directors of Auro Sundaram International Private Limited.

Criticizing Bihar Government, Congress leader and organizer of the protest, Dr. Shakeel Ahmad Khan said: “”When a non-Muslim businessman is killed here, the Police inspector is suspended but the killer of Muslims is given promotion. SP Garima Malik who ordered the Bhajanpur firing was made senior SP of Darbhanga instead of being suspended.”

He said that judicial inquiry into the incident is only a formality. “The inquiry commission is yet to take any important step but the victims have been terrorized in several ways” he added.

Speaking on the occasion, local MLA Afaq Alam alleged that Bihar Government is working on the direction of communal forces and Forbesganj firing has been an example for that.

On the occasion, several other people also put their views and expressed their feelings. The victims also narrated their horrible stories. Each of those victim’s families were given Rs. 25000/ by a well-wisher.

Courtesy: TCN

Kumar, who arrived here from New Delhi this afternoon, flew in a chopper to Aurangabad where he visited the Goh Circle and Block offices and went to Parta village under Amba police station where he offered prayers at a temple.

He stayed for an hour at archaeological site atKutumbagarh and directed the Divisional Commissioner K P Ramaiya to take immediate steps for development there.

Kumar also visited Mehfile Kalin to see weaving of carpets and inspected the Khadi Gramudyog centre at Obera.

He would camp in Aurangabad tomorrow and the day after.

Ahead of Bihar Chief Minister’s scheduled Seva Yatra today, Maoists had pasted posters in schools and government buildings asking the people to boycott his programmes in Aurangabad district.

The posters appeared in schools, community centres and government buildings under town police station late last night, police said.

Earlier Maoists had burnt road rollers of a private construction firm engaged in road construction at Parta village in the district on December 26.

The road was being repaired for Kumar’s proposed visit to the district.

Security measures have been tightened in Aurangabad.

Courtesy: PTI

 It also sanctioned another Rs 380 crore for the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) to purchase additional power, taking the total allocation for buying power to Rs 1100 crore, official sources said today.

The state would buy power from NTPC at the rate of Rs 180 crore per month, from December 2011 to March 2012.

The cabinet gave its consent to pay Rs 6.54 crore to the Bihar State Hydro-electric Power Corporation (BSHPC) as state’s share in the 7 MW minor hydro-electric project at Ararghat (Madhepura), they said, adding administrative approval for the project, estimated to cost Rs 65.44 crore, had already been secured and NABARD had approved Rs 58.89-crore loan for it.

Courtesy: Money Control

Apart from appointing the doctors, the government would recruit about 55,000 paramedic staff, 35,000 nurses and 10,000 swasthya mitras, Choubey said.

The health workers would be posted in additional primary health centre, primary health centres and district hospitals, he said.

The minister also announced that his department would take all possible measures to open a kidney transplant unit at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences here.

Choubey said super speciality departments in all the medical colleges would be strengthened.

In 2011, the state government made a significant achievement in making Bihar a polio-free state. “Not a single case of poliomyelitis has been reported in the state in the current year,” he said.

The minister said routine immunisation, which was 18.6 per cent in 2005, too had risen to 66.8 per cent this year.

Courtesy: PTI 

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.

“Coming from a Chief Minister who has been the flagbearer of change and progress in my home state, that’s the biggest endorsement I could have asked for,” says the director. “The last film Nitishji admitted to having watched was Raju Hirani’s 3 Idiots and he compared its positive energy to ours.”

The film’s mouthful of a title was what drew Nitish Kumar to the film, admits Praveen Kumar, saying that they had started with a more conventional Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai. The shooting title was Keshu The Truck Driver that changed to Na Woh Mili Na Ya Mila during the editing. “Jo Dooba So Paar — It’s Love In Bihar came much later from a Amir Khusrau couplet and seemed apt because the film is about learning to love fearlessly. Interestingly, when I went to IMPAA, I was told that a year ago, I had already registered,” reminisces the filmmaker.

The film’s financier and music composer, Manish J Tipu, are from Bihar, along with the director and lead actor Vinay Pathak. Yet, Praveen Kumar admits he was wary of shooting there, and a major chunk was filmed in Madhya Pradesh and Mumbai.

“But we needed to shoot the climax in Bodh Gaya and hence applied for the necessary permission. But since no one had heard of Praveen Kumar, security cover wasn’t provided for,” admits Praveen Kumar. “We shot in the middle of Gaya without a single policeman escorting us and without a single untoward incident. Full credit to Nitishji for this. He’s given us a New Bihar where love and not violence reigns. And our film reflects that Bihar.”

Courtesy: Hindustan Times

“By deciding to flag off Advani’s rath yatra, CM (Kumar’s) claim of being secular stands exposed thoroughly by now,” Paswan told reporters.

He alleged that Advani had embarked on a rath yatra on the issue of Ayodhya “and the country witnessed a series of communal violence in 90s.”

He accused Nitish Kumar government of playing “into hands of RSS.”

Paswan said taking lessons from past when the state allegedly witnessed communal flare-ups, the Chief Minister should not have allowed Advani to launch his rath yatra from Bihar.

He also castigated Kumar for rejecting the demand for ordering a CBI inquiry into the Forbesganj firing and not making available the compensation to the victims of the firing.

Paswan said his party would stage a sit-in demonstration on October 14 to protest against the problems facing the people of Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency.

In reply to a question, LJP president said he would campaign for RJD nominee for bypoll to the October 13 Daraunda assembly segment on October 11.

Courtesy: PTI