From Mandi to market! Ahmadabad: Seven IIM-A students are set to replicate the “Amul model” in the agri-belt of Bihar as part of their summer internship during which they will work for Bihar’s rural livelihood initiative Jeevika for eight weeks. “As in ‘Amul model’ where dairy farmers go and provide milk to collection centres, we have proposed common procurement centres at the village level where farmers can give their for agricultural produce. They can then be stocked at a district procurement centre, which will have a cold storage facility run by... 

  Law rules oftener: Bihar Patna: truly, custodial deaths must be an important measure of a society’s law and order record – for the simple reason that a citizen is most vulnerable when in police custody, often seen as equivalent to a sentence on its own. The Bihar cop seems to have turned somewhat economical with misdemeanour – a piece of good news for the state. Bihar has improved its position from eighth to thirteenth in the number of police custodial deaths recorded in the country between 2005 and 2010. According to the latest report compiled by the National Human Rights Commission... 

  Dalit icons: a street artist’s display Chennai: Four states account for nearly half of the country’s dalit population, reveals the 2011 census. Uttar Pradesh stands first with 20.5% of the total scheduled caste (SC) population, followed by West Bengal with 10.7%, says the data released by the Union census directorate on Tuesday. Bihar with 8.2% and Tamil Nadu with 7.2 % come third and fourth. Dalits form around 16.6% of India’s population. The 2011 census recorded nearly 20.14 crore people belonging to various scheduled castes in the country. As per the 2001 census, the... 

  New born Tiger babies Patna, May 1: Valmikinagar Tiger Reserve in Bihar has reasons to cheer. According to latest reports, a tigress gave birth to three cubs in Bihar’s only tiger reserve — the second such development in the area in one-and-half years, an official said Wednesday. “It is a positive development for us as a tigress has given birth to three cubs in Muradpur forest range in the (Valmiki) tiger reserve,” said Santosh Tiwari, director-cum-conservator of the Valmiki Tiger Reserve in West Champaran district. He said reserve officials would maintain a strict... 

  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... 

    Man, woman: crucial ratio! New Delhi: Haryana has turned out to have the worst male-female ratio among all states while Kerala fares the best. According to the 2011 Census, the number of females per 1000 males in Haryana in 2011 stands at 879 followed by Jammu and Kashmir (889 female) and Punjab (895 females). The other two worst-performing states in terms of skewed sex ration are Uttar Pradesh (912 females) and Bihar (918 females). Five top performing states in terms of sex ratio were Kerala (1,084 females), Tamil Nadu (996), Andhra Pradesh (993), Chhattisgarh (991), Odisha (979). The... 

     By Mohammad Sajjad Akhtar Payami [ 1931-2013] The news of sad demise of Akhtar Payami on 8 April 2013 in Karachi brought a different kind of memory to the people of Bihar. Karachi people remembered this Bihari muhajir as a towering journalist associated with the Morning News and Dawn. His protégé and colleagues in these newspapers remember him as their mentor with expertise in toning down the stories to avert the state repression as Payami had worked during the days of strict censorship under the Bhutto regime. Payami’s colleagues admire him for his vast knowledge about the ideologies... 

    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... 

    Modi vs Nitish: masks vs models! Patna/Ahmadabad: what is the Gujarat model of development? To put it simply, provide infrastructure, incentives and land to the investor in a resource rich state and wait for the positive results to follow. As for the people, let them find their place in the economic scheme of things. If and when they happen to come in the way of the development juggernaut, just push them under. Does this amount to a model or a vision is the question, since every state is trying to do exactly the same to the best of its ability. But the question is – is Bihar’s development... 

  Uncovering unpleasant truths: means transfer! Chandigarh: The Haryana government Thursday transferred for the second time in six months senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka —- the man who stirred a political storm alleging irregularities in land deals involving UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra and private realty giant DLF. Khemka, at present Managing Director, Haryana Seeds Development Corporation (HSDC), has been posted as Secretary, Haryana Archives relieving Vikas Yadav of the charge. This is the 44th transfer posting of Khemka in his 22-year career. While no...