Red mayhem: Railway stations set on fire, mobile towers blown, PS raided during 24-hr bandh

MAOIST CAUSED DESTRUCTION DURING THE 24-HOUR SHUTDOWN
NAXALS PROTESTING ARREST OF A TOP RANKING LEADER

June 16, 2011, Patna: Angry Naxals on Thursday set afire a railway station, raided a police station, blew up six mobile phone towers and also blasted a portion of railway tracks during the 24-hour shutdown in Bihar to protest the arrest of a top ranking leader who was instrumental in the merger of two dreaded Maoist outfits, the Maoist Communist Centre and the People’s War Group and also edited organisation’s mouthpiece Lal Chingari (Red Spark).

Jagdish Yadav, a politburo member considered holding number 8 position within the organisation, was arrested by the police from a doctor’s clinic in south Bihar’s Gaya district on Sunday evening while he was getting treated for skin disorders and asthma.

Police said the agitated rebels stormed Nadaul railway station in Jehanabad district, close to the capital city of Bihar, and set it afire by sprinkling inflammable in the wee hours after holding hostages the railway staffs on duty.

Reports said the fire destroyed the official files, furniture as well as electronic gadgets, leading to disruption of railway traffic on the busy Patna-Gaya section of the East-Central railway for hours.

Six mobile phone towers blown up

The rebels went more aggressive in nearby Gaya district where they blew up six mobile phone towers at different places by pouring petrol and using dynamites which have badly destroyed the telecommunication networks.

The heavily-armed rebels also attacked a police station at Kothi in the same district but the alert policemen faced them boldly and finally chased them away. No one, though, was injured from either side.

Railway tracks

Maoists also blasted a portion of railway tracks in Gaya district which further disrupted rail communication for some hours.

Maoists have called for a 24-hour shutdown in Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh states to protest the arrest of their leader Jagdish Yadav having many aliases, such as Jagdish Master, Akhileshji, Prabhatji, Bhupeshji and Satisji.

Medical care

The police also arrested the doctor providing medical care to the dreaded Maoist who had constantly evaded arrests for the past over 40 years.

This was the second successive setback for the Maoists in the past one month. Earlier on April 29, the police had arrested three top Maoist leaders identified as Pulendu Shekhar Mukherjee aka Shahebda, Varanasi Subhramanium alias Sukant and Vijay Kumar Arya alias Jaspalji, all members of the central committee, from Barsoi village in eastern Bihar’s Katihar district.

Wait for money ends; now transfer cash at the speed of SMS

PILOT EXPERIMENT BETWEEN BIHAR & PUNJAB POST OFFICES

NO PAPER WORK INVOLVED

June 1, 2011, Patna: In a unique experiment, the union department of posts would offer mobile money order service (MMOS) from today. As a pilot experiment, ten post offices each from Bihar and Punjab has been selected. MoS for Information Technology Gurdas Kamat is scheduled to inaugurate the service via videoconferencing today from New Delhi. The service would be extended to other states in phased manner.

The technology adopted for MMOS is simple. The customer will have to visit his nearest post office and furnish cell number, name, address and other information of the sender and receiver. Once the customer deposits the amount to be sent, a coded SMS is immediately sent by the postal department to sender and receiver.

The recipient can now collect the money from nearest post office by furnishing the received code and identity proof. A customer can transfer Rs 5,000 at a time on payment of 5 per cent service charge.

To start with, the service would be available in Patna's GPO and Bankipore, Patna City, Gulzarbagh, Kadamkuan, Patna secretariat, Danapur, Lohia Nagar, Mahendru and Rajendra Nagar post offices.

The apparent reason behind priority to Bihar and Punjab for the launch of MMOS is the fact that Punjab sends the highest number of money orders while Bihar receives the highest number of money orders in the country every year.

Bihar to constitute advisory ‘Bal Parishad’; Xth toppers on the board

'BICYCLE GIRL' TOPS 10TH EXAM

May 29, 2011, Patna: In an attempt to streamline feedback mechanism on education reforms, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday  instructed authorities to constitute a ‘Bal Parishad’. 

Shalini Kumari with CM (Pic courtsey: Mangnificent Bihar)



The proposed 'Parishad' will comprise the first and second toppers of the matriculation exam over past 5-years. This is probably the first time any Indian state has come out with such innovative idea. Earlier Nitish government has implemented ‘Hunar’, 50 per cent reservation for women, Bicycle for girls & special incentives to the first class holders in Xth board.

These innovations are bearing fruits which was reflected in Shalini Kumari emerging as joint topper of Xth board exam. Commenting on this result, CM today said that the bicycle scheme has given much needed impetus to girls’ education in the state. The CM congratulated Shalini and gave her Rs. 15,000 and a laptop.

The CM also expressed concern for drop-out rate in the schools and instructed authorities to check the trend.