Sunday Editorial You want someone better than Nitish? Three tales from the ground! By Ratnakar Tripathy I Bihar: cutting through the mist! I hate writing on politics as practiced and articulated by politicians but I love it when ordinary people share their political wisdom with me, at times even imposing it when I am not in the mood. Recently when I was in my village, I received a long patronizing lecture on Bihar politics from my host. He felt he owed the long sermon to someone educated who ought to know better. Being a Brahmin, he began with a rant against Nitish, who is from the Kurmi caste,... 

Accounts of Panchayati Raj to go online: at block and district levels!   Patna: according to recent reports, Bihar now has plans to make accounts of panchayati raj institutions available online and a beginning will be made from the district and the block levels –with panchayat samitis at the block-level, and zilla parishads, at the district-level. Implementation of the plan is already under way and around 120 candidates have been trained to handle the software required for the e-panchayat scheme. The trained personnel will function as master trainers for the block-level personnel to... 

Right to Public Service (RTPS) Act a big ‘hit’ in Bihar: 30,000 applications on the first day Patna: according to newspaper reports, the Right to Public Service (RTPS) Act on its very first day got the Bihar government above 28,500 applications. To use popular lingo, the RTPS is clearly a big ‘hit’ with the citizens. More important, it is also something that people were eagerly awaiting. The applications from the districts are not included in the above figure. In the coming days, the statistic on the type of applications and their relative numbers would provide one more vital index... 

RTI goes Hi-tech: now Information Commission to deal with complaints through video conferencing Patna: according to the latest news reports from TV channels The Bihar State Information Commission (SIC) has launched a video conferencing system for quicker hearing and disposal of complaints related to the Right to Information (RTI) Act. State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) A.K. Choudhary said the SIC will help dispose complaints against principal information officers for denying information under the RTI Act to people. As this system comes into place, complaints from all over the state... 

Beltron Telecom and Bilcare Technologies tie up over e-security solutions Patna/Pune: according to latest reports, Beltron Telecom, a Government undertaking of Bihar has signed an MoU with Bilcare Technologies, – a research and technology company focusing on creating next-generation anti-counterfeiting, security and brand protection solutions. The purpose of this tie up is to provide solutions for a secured e-governance in the state and non-Governmental projects taken up by Beltron Telecom in Bihar, Jharkhand and the North East. The tie up will allow Beltron Telecom to use Bilcare’s... 

‘Come to Bihar’: a government scheme making land data available on web! Patna: according to the latest reports, the industries department of Bihar is planning to ensure easy access to information on land available for sale on the web. This is being done under a government scheme named ‘Come to Bihar’ — an initiative to create a database of plots that landowners want to sell off. According to the industries department principal secretary C.K. Mishra “The information would be available either on a dedicated website or a link would be added to the existing website of the Bihar Industrial...