Dayamani Barla bihardays Ranchi: according to reports, Cultural Survival, an international NGO, recently recognized the work of the leader of several of such people’s movements in Jharkhand – tribal activist and journalist Dayamani Barla – awarding her the 2013 Ellen L. Lutz Indigenous Rights Award for protecting the rights of tribals. For this award, Ms. Barla was chosen from among 60 international nominees. Dayamani Barla, 48, a Munda adivasi has led people’s movements against displacement for over decade gained prominence when she travelled across villages in four... 

    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... 

  Kalahandi: from starvation to record produce! Bhubaneswar: Kalahandi for decades has stood for starvation and utter poverty. But the image needs to be modified now in the light of some new facts. Odisha’s Kalahandi district — once the cause of global embarrassment for India due to its high number of starvation deaths — today stands tall with a five-fold increase in its rice production since 1999, figures reveal. The agriculture ministry’s recent crop data ranks Kalahandi among the top 25 rice producing districts of India. The three-year average of its rice production ending 2010-11... 

  Skyfisher: the new player! Patna : For the first time, daily flights by a private operator will connect Varanasi to three cities in Bihar. The service, that will be run by SkyFisher Airways, will start either by the end of this month or the first week of June, officials said yesterday. The 12-seater aircraft would make to and fro flights connecting Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur and Varanasi in its first phase, they said. The plane will be able to accommodate only nine passengers and the rest three seats will be reserved, Vishal Kashyap, General Manager, SkyFisher Airways said. In the... 

  Peeking eyes: to end cricket mischief! New Delhi: Against the backdrop of allegations of spot-fixing during IPL matches, Union Minister Ajay Maken today said the BCCI – the national governing body for cricket in India – should come under the ambit of the RTI Act. “BCCI should agree to come under RTI. Any organisation entrusted with job of selecting a National Team can not call itself a Private Body!,” Maken, who till recently held the Sports portfolio, twitted. His Twitter account clarifies that the Union minister’s tweets are personal. Maken, who holds Housing... 

  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... 

  By Ratnakar Tripathy   Thinking Indian politics! Lazy is Sunday. Thus this! It remains a matter of debate whether Bihar will gain much from its impending special status. I will stay away from this debate as a sensible layman. But it does indicate two important things to me – a perception that all Bihar needs from the centre is a special package and Bihar will take care of itself rest of the time. This is no longer unique to Bihar. Several other states have turned inwards in the awareness that the centre is basically incapable of doing much for them. This is a sign of the changing... 

  By Sachidanand Singh Final act: pouring! I was still at the university, biding my time. Purely for form I had myself enrolled for some easy course. With little work pressure I had time to put my chemistry knowledge to practical use. Fine powder of charcoal, called “activated charcoal”, is known to absorb colour and odour from liquids. I decided to use activated charcoal to refine the country liquor which was then available for ten rupees a bottle. It came with a hideous colour and a powerful odour.  A quick trip to the labs, some skillful negotiation with the assistant there and I came... 

  Diamond polishing: shopfloor! Patna: according to reports, the state’s first diamond processing unit was inaugurated at the Patliputra Industrial Area here on Thursday by chief minister Nitish Kumar. The unit has been set up by a leading diamond and jewellery firm of the country, Shrenuj and Company. It is widely known that 30% of skilled workers in the diamond hub of Surat are said to belong to Bihar. This could well be a case of reverse migration – instead of Bihari labour heading for Surat, skilled Bihari labour heading back to Bihar to find employment!  The new unit currently... 

    The prize-winning master plan! Patna: In a major step towards realising the ambitious Nalanda International University, coming up in Rajgir in Bihar, an international jury has selected the architectural design of an Ahmedabad-based firm for the varsity. The design of Ahmedabad-based company Vastu Shilpa Consultants  was selected by a jury that comprised top architects from Singapore, China, Japan and India. Vice Chancellor Gopa Sabharwal, addressing the media here Thursday, said 79 proposals had been received and eight final entries were shortlisted. B.V Doshi, principal architect...