Bihar to make 40,000 prisoners literate

September 18th, 2009 PATNA - Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) celebrated its good show in state by-election on Thursday. The RJD-Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) won eight seats in the by-election for 18 legislative assembly seats, a major setback to ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U).

September 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - All women in the country would be literate in five years, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Tuesday while noting that female illiteracy and poor infrastructure were obstructing India's economic growth. The prime minister, who was launching the Rs.65 billion (over $1.3 billion) literacy mission 'Saakshar Bharat', said: In fact, many observers have seen infrastructure development in the economic sector and female literacy in the social sector as two very critical factors that impede Indias steady climb to a higher and sustainable level of growth and development.

September 8th, 2009 PATNA - Girls have outperformed boys in both the Class 10 and Class 12 level examinations conducted by the madrassas (Islamic seminaries) in Bihar, officials said Tuesday. "Like the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examination results, girls left the boys behind in the madrassa examinations this year," said Bihar Minority Welfare Minister Sahid Ali Khan, who declared the results of the Madrassa Education Board.

September 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Over 300 million Indians are still illiterate and about half of India's women cannot read or write but that would change in five years, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said while launching the Rs.65 billion literacy mission 'Saakshar Bharat' on International Literacy Day Tuesday. Emphasising that the country could not be "satisfied with status quo", the prime minister said: "The president of India, in her address to parliament earlier this year, had announced that the government will recast the National Literacy Mission to make every woman literate in the next five years.

August 15th, 2009 PATNA - Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar hoisted the national flag here on India's 63rd Independence Day Saturday and promised better infrastructure and more measures to curb corruption. Speaking at the Gandhi Maidan here, Nitish Kumar reiterated that he would make all efforts to make Bihar a developed state by providing education and healthcare facilities to all and improving road connectivity.

July 4th, 2009 RANCHI - Around 65 prisoners of Birsa Munda Central Jail here have been doing meditation and keeping silent for the past five days to get enlightenment, jail authorities said Saturday. The prisoners, including 35 women, began doing Vipasana Aasan June 30 and will continue to do so till July 10.

June 29th, 2009 PATNA - Debananda Konwar took oath as the Governor of Bihar at a ceremony at Raj Bhavan today. Acting Chief Justice of Bihar High Court Shiva Kirti Singh administered the oath of office and secrecy to Konwar.

June 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - President Pratibha Patil Thursday announced that the Manmohan Singh government would focus on passing the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill pending before parliament, while it was committed to making every woman in the country literate in the next five years. "The focus (of the new government) will be on making quality education a right through the enactment of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill now under consideration of parliament," the president said.

April 24th, 2009 PATNA - Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal- United leader Nitish Kumar on Friday said the RJD-LJP alliance would be uprooted from Bihar after general elections. "The RJD-LJP alliance would face a rout in the state in the general elections.

April 12th, 2009 PATNA - Janata Dal-United (JDU) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday blamed the Congress for starting criminalisation of politics in the country. "If there is criminalisation of politics in the country, it is because of the Congress since that party started this trend," Nitish Kumar told reporters here.

March 29th, 2009 PATNA - Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati kicked off her party's election campaign in Bihar Sunday. 'Please bring BSP to power at the centre to serve all, particularly the poor and weaker sections of the society,' Mayawati said in her address at a public meeting in Bhagalpur town, about 200 km from here.

March 1st, 2009 PATNA - Five new cases of polio have been detected in Bihar in the first two months of this year despite immunisation drive, an official in the state health department said Saturday. This is three less than in Uttar Pradesh, which has had the highest incidence of the infection during 2008, a Unicef official said.

February 14th, 2009 PATNA - Disillusioned at no response from NRIs to investing in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Sunday described the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas as a 'picnic'. 'It is nothing but a picnic.

February 14th, 2009 PATNA - The Department for International Development (DFID) of Britain plans to invest up to 150 million pounds in Bihar, a senior official of the British government said here Sunday. 'Over the next five years, the DFID is planning to invest up to 150 million pounds (approximately Rs.1,050 crore) in Bihar on strengthening governance, urban management and health service delivery including nutrition and water and sanitation,' DFID India deputy head Chris Chalmers said at a media workshop here.

January 15th, 2009 PATNA - Suspected Maoists Friday attacked a court in Bihar's Jamui district, leading to the escape of 10 under-trials including two Maoist activists, the police said. A group of armed Maoists attacked a police escort Friday evening in the Jamui court premises when over three dozen under-trial prisoners were being taken back to jail after hearing in the court, the police said.