Married and settled: at Class III Patna: corruption is indeed an arena where the Indians from all parts of the country show their innovative best. You may well imagine officials at all levels neglecting their work, their feet up on the table and staring at the blank walls, waiting for ideas, till the eureka moment arrives. Or else, you may imagine them in a huddle, in a heated debate over the ‘right way’, the ‘foolproof way’ to beat the system. All that remains to be done then is to decide on a close circle of beneficiaries as accomplices so the matter doesn’t come... 

  As in Mumbai, so in Patna! Patna: Another male bastion is set to be stormed. The streets of Patna, considered till recently to be most vulnerable and quite unsafe for women, will soon have autorickshaws being run by girls/women. A select group of girls, for the first time in Patna’s chequered history, has volunteered to learn driving skills. After a one-month rigorous training, these girls would ferry passengers in autorickshaws. Neha Sharma is studying law, but is keen to learn autorickshaw driving. Clad in a track suit, she reaches the Bihar Veterinary College ground eve­ry Sunday to... 

  Call this distribution? Patna: The state government has decided to roll out Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model to trim high transmission and distribution (T&D) losses. It is planning to privatise energy distribution network in more than a dozen towns of the state. “We are very serious about this,” said Sanjeev Paundrik, Principal Secretary of the Energy Department, “and therefore we are taking every possible step in this regard. In next two years, we would have more than adequate power. However, high T&D losses are still a matter of concern.” He said that... 

  The Ponzi financial model! New Delhi: Amid lakhs of investors believed to have been defrauded by Ponzi schemes in West Bengal, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman U.K. Sinha on Wednesday said the regulator is working hard to ensure that small investors’ savings are not put to risk. “Within the powers given to us, SEBI is working extremely hard to ensure that savings of small investors are not put to risk,” Mr. Sinha said. He, however, said that SEBI has some legal limitations and he would not be able to comment on specific issues concerning specific companies as there... 

    Women police for women! Patna: Each of 823 regular police stations in Bihar and 100-odd government railway police (GRP) stations will soon have an exclusive desk to register complaints related to women. IG (CID-weaker sections) Arvind Pandey has directed all SPs, including those of the GRP, to set up the women’s desk within a fortnight. The direction has been issued to facilitate the implementation of recent changes in the criminal laws at the centre, following the hue and cry over the recent Delhi gang rape case. Pursuant to the amendment, all SPs (superintendents of police) in Bihar... 

  Bangalore: Free wireless internet services are expected to commence in the commercial heart of India’s technology capital starting next month. Mahatma Gandhi Road and Brigade Road, two of the best-known shopping destinations, will have free Wi-Fi access as part of a plan to make Bangalore the first city to have such a service available at public spots. The idea is the brainchild of a government-appointed panel headed by Mohandas Pai, a former director at Infosys. The pilot service will be available for at least six months, after which the Information and Communication Technology (ICT)... 

  Jagadish Shettar : in a queue of givers! Banagalore: In the past five years, the BJP has doled out several goodies to mutts — totaling over Rs 500 crore. The party may be expecting sweet returns in the forthcoming elections but the mutt heads are singing a different tune: that of being apolitical. The largesse has come under severe criticism from the opposition, but the beneficiaries defend the largesse and dispute the claim that government money is intended to create a vote-bank among devotees. “What’s wrong in the government giving money to mutts? But the government should... 

    Surya Namaskar: either or!! Patna: It would appear that the criteria for Indianness and plain Indian citizenship are becoming more and more stringent these days. Bihar BJP may be credited with adding a fresh clause to the pre-requisites for being Indian – you must do Surya Namaskar. The reasons oscillate between health and Indianness quite freely of course. While everyone wants better health, it is the imposition of a specific healthy practice that hurts the minorities and others, who may want to forgo the draconian health requirements. And anyway, why not make ‘sheershsan’... 

Road repair: by private firms! Patna: For the better upkeep of the roads, the state government has approved its new road maintenance policy. Under this policy, the upkeep of the road would rest on the contractors for the period of five to nine years. The state government gave its nod to the ambitious policy earlier this week. The principal secretary of the Cabinet Department, Brajesh Mehrotra told the press, “Under this new policy, the state government has changed its entire mechanism of road maintenance. Under this new policy, the state government proposes a performance based maintenance. The... 

    Patna: Tallest Gandhi Patna: altogether at 72 feet, the world’s tallest figure of Gandhi was unveiled in Patna in Bihar yesterday. Bapu’s figure is seen standing affectionately with two children on either side in the bronze statue constructed at the Gandhi Maidan, the very heart of Patna. Funded by the state government, the Rs. 10 crore statue, inclusive of a 30-feet-high pedestal, has been built by Delhi-based sculptor Ramsutar and Sons. With this, the Parliament statue in New Delhi where the ‘Father of the Nation’ is in a meditating pose, becomes the second tallest...