Mahatma Gandhi’s dream schools in Bihar set for revival

October 12th, 2009 PATNA - A poor community in Bihar's Vashali district are forced to eat rats for survival. Known as 'Mushars' or 'Bhuyans', the community in Sahdai block of Vaishali district is considered the lowest down the social strata.

September 10th, 2009 PATNA - Skipping classes could prove costly for teachers in Bihar. Concerned over the poor attendance in schools, the state government has decided to introduce technology to monitor the presence of teachers in government schools, official sources said here Thursday.

August 21st, 2009 PATNA - Salaries of teachers of government schools in Bihar will not be paid if they failed to ensure at least 75 percent attendance of their students, officials said Friday. Concerned over low attendance in government schools across the state, the Nitish Kumar government is planning to issue a circular to principals of the schools to ensure at least 75 percent attendance.

July 24th, 2009 PATNA - Five people, including the headmaster and two teachers, were arrested in Bihar's Nalanda district after a lizard was found in the mid-day meals served to school children, officials said Friday. In the last three weeks various such cases have been reported in the state.

May 25th, 2009 PATNA - The headmasters of four primary schools in Bihar's Darbhanga district were suspended for irregularities in the mid-day meal scheme for schoolchildren, officials said Monday. The headmasters were suspended Saturday after an enquiry found them guilty of corruption.

May 24th, 2009 PATNA - Having suffered a major jolt in the recently held elections, the Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav wants to revive his relations with the people of Bihar and revive his party's fortune. Addressing a meeting here on Sunday, Lalu said that he would spend time with the people over the next one year so as to revive his party.

May 19th, 2009 PATNA - While speculation mounted over whether Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad would continue in the union cabinet, a section of Congress workers here Tuesday took to the streets Tuesday to insist that it shouldn't be so. Disregarding the scorching heat, Congress workers marched with posters and banners to ask party president Sonia Gandhi to keep Lalu Prasad, railways minister in the outgoing cabinet, out of the new United Progressive Alliance government.

May 8th, 2009 PATNA - The Bihar unit of the Congress Friday urged the party's top leadership to keep Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Ram Vilas Paswan out if the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) comes back to power at the centre. 'Congress workers and leaders of the state are of the view that the party high command should keep both Lalu and Paswan out of the next government of the UPA because any working relationship with them will harm the party's revival prospects in Bihar,' president of the party's state unit Anil Kumar Sharma said.

May 8th, 2009 PATNA - The Bihar unit of the Congress Friday urged the party's top leadership to keep Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Ram Vilas Paswan out if the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) comes back to power at the centre. 'Congress workers and leaders of the state are of the view that the party high command should keep both Lalu and Paswan out of the next government of the UPA because any working relationship with them will harm the party's revival prospects in Bihar,' president of the party's state unit Anil Kumar Sharma said.

April 13th, 2009 PATNA - Television star Shekhar Suman, who was earlier named as the Congress candidate from Patna Sahib seat in Bihar, Monday formally joined the party here and launched an attack on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi calling him a 'bad guy of politics'. Shekhar refused to comment on Modi's remarks that Congress is a gudia (doll) party, saying, 'I react to only good people's comments, please.' Shekhar joined the party in the presence of Iqbal Singh, party-in-charge of Bihar, and hundreds of slogan shouting and cheering supporters.

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.

January 28th, 2009 PATNA - Gandhigiri might be the stuff of blockbuster movies and the way to holding peaceful protests by the new generation, but students who have done their masters degree in Gandhian thought from a Bihar university are finding few takers in the job market. Ajit Sinha and Priyaranjan Kumar, both unemployed, are angry and frustrated men in their late 20s after being jobless despite having masters degrees in Gandhian thought.

January 24th, 2009 PATNA - Girls studying in madrassas in Bihar will be provided free bicycles by the government, official sources said Sunday. About 4,000 madrassa-going girls, who are students of Fauqania (equivalent to Class 10), would get the cycles to enable them to reach the seminaries on their own, particularly in rural areas.

January 7th, 2009 PATNA - Over 100,000 fake certificates of various Indian universities have been found in a Bihar town, police said Thursday, even as the government cracks down on irregularities in the education system. Acting on a tip off, a police team raided five places in Biharsharif town in Nalanda district, 100 km from here, and unearthed the racket in fake certificates.

December 25th, 2008 PATNA - The Bihar government has sacked 15,000 teachers for having submitted fake degrees and certificates for recruitment in state-run schools, officials said Friday. 'The government issued the sack order Thursday and the services of 15,000 more teachers are likely to be terminated soon on the basis of ongoing inquiry into the fake certificates,' said an official in the human resource development department (HRD).