From the humble boxing ring of Dighwara village comes the amazing story of girl boxers who have started a revolution of sorts in Bihar's rural hinterland.
Poll arithmetic and ground reports give an edge to Lalu Prasad's RJD over Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United in the coming Lok Sabha polls. Mayank Mishra reports
Sarmesh Kumar is the first in his family, that comes from the community of rat eaters, to go to college. Archana Masih/Rediff.com met the young man and traveled to his village -- which Bill Gates visited a few years ago -- as Rediff.com looks at Bihar through the stories of its people.
'His image may have gone down a little because he is talking about poverty and underdeveloped states. That is not the way to sell yourself nationally,' Bihar's best known economist and social scientist Dr Shaibal Gupta tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih.
'How are students supposed to learn a new language within a semester?'
There is nothing of the level of Yes Minister, House Of Cards, Madam Secretary or Veep but there are at least 10 Hindi series and an OTT-released film or two, to whet the viewer's appetite for power-mongering, corruption and intrigue.
Yadav, 31, apparently referring to the age of the 69-year-old chief minister and said that he has got tired due to which he gives up when faced with a difficult situation -- be it the coronavirus pandemic or Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) outbreak in Muzaffarpur.
Afrid Afroz, 21, who was adjudged best cadet at the NDA's 144th course, will join the Indian Air Force and hopes to be a fighter pilot.
The principal bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal headed by Justice Rajendra Menon also asked the Indian Air Force to change their rules and conditions for granting permission to air warriors for applying for grade A services exams outside the force.
From the Yadav-dominated Madhepura to the Brahmin-dominated Darbhanga and Bhumihar-dominated Begusarai -- three of the seven parliamentary constituencies in Bihar -- that go to vote on April 30 are crucial for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as it will be a test of his 'development model'.
'I will try and make my panchayat a model one in Bihar.'
Union minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday appealed to the youths protesting against the Agnipath scheme to shun violence and come forward for talks, asserting that the government is ready to look into their grievances with an 'open mind' and make changes 'if required'.
The AIADMK is convinced that the BJP will remain an electoral burden for a long time to come, beginning the Lok Sabha polls next year, reveals N Sathiya Moorthy.
There are serious entrepreneurs with some innovative ideas, like the young women from Bangalore who run a business selling packaged flowers for poojas, or the enthusiastic duo who want to popularise Darjeeling tea, the couple who hope to revive traditional sari weaves, or the earnest young man who has created a smart watch for children that allows parents to track their kids and communicate with them, observes Deepa Gahlot.
A 14-member council of ministers was sworn in Patna by Governor Phagu Chauhan on Monday and the BJP bagged seven berths.
Kumar said after the meeting that all parties from Bihar spoke in one voice on the need for a caste-based census, and asserted that statistics about different castes will help in formulating development schemes effectively as many of them have not benefitted so far in line with their actual population.
What is the lure of a government job? The answer is India's worst kept secret: Job security. And among the many government jobs desperately sought after is in the armed forces. Which is why the riots by aspiring armed forces job seekers against the government's Agnipath scheme should not really be surprising, points out Harishchandra.
The plenary session in Chhattisgarh's Nava Raipur will start from February 24 and is expected to be attended by around 15,000 delegates.
A constitutional amendment bill to restore the powers of the states to make their own OBC lists was passed by Parliament on Wednesday, with the opposition and treasury benches joining hands in the Rajya Sabha to approve the legislation.
'The decision to supply free food grains is not an economically sound decision because the government will find it very difficult in future to charge anything for food grains.'
The new cabinet, predictably, has a sizeable number of Yadavs and Muslims, though members of other sections of the society also find a place.
'Nitish Kumar was not happy about promoting R C P Singh as Union minister.'
Modi also lauded party workers in the state, saying each of them is a champion
Shut for nearly a year due to the pandemic, schools reopened in Bihar on March 1. Rediff.com's Archana Masih spoke to 10-11 year olds about their year away from school and what it feels like to be back.
The range will make way for rallies in Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning shooter Shreyasi Singh's life as she gears up for the electoral battle in Bihar, aiming to restore an average Bihari's faith in the state so that there is an end to the "exodus".
The new chief minister, if from the Congress, will have little or no time for political administration, to ensure that he does not lose the voter's goodwill even before the Lok Sabha polls. He can count only on one thing. That the BJP may not want to upset him too early lest an early failure should become an added problem for the party in all the polls to follow, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Faced with a problem of suitable brides, Thamizhnadu Brahmin Association to cast net in UP and Bihar.
All eyes will be on the opening fixture between defending champions Saurashtra and record 41-time champions Mumbai in Ahmedabad with Rahane and Pujara on either side, aiming to make the big scores that have deserted them at the Test level for a while.
He accused Modi of reducing the cabinet to a 'rubber stamp', 'betraying' backward classes and giving Bihar only 'jumlas'.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Thursday.
Their families are poor and do not know what IIT is but their sons dream of IIT and working for ISRO and NASA one day. One man is helping them towards their dream. As Bihar goes to the polls, Archana Masih salutes its greatest success story.
The educated, respectable and established Muslims voices, that were on the modernising side on the Shah Bano issue, are fighting on the opposite side now, mostly because they worry about Narendra Modi, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'Why do the English-speaking class feel they are the only ones who are efficient in work?' 'My own mother was from a village and she was more efficient than me. She used to handle crises better than me.' 'We will have to come out of our elite perception of governance.'
Rajiv Ranjan, the Janata Dal-United legislator from Islampur assembly seat in Nalanda district, speaks to rediff.com's M I Khan about the circumstances that led to his suspension.
As violent protests against the new recruitment scheme Agnipath raged across several states, the government on Thursday issued a clarification, asserting that not only the new model will bring in new capabilities to the armed forces but will also open up avenues for youth in the private sector as well as help them in becoming entrepreneurs with the aid of the financial package.
Online teaching may not be popular with many, but it is here to stay, for sure. The sooner we accept this, the better, notes Abhijit Masih.
Prabhat Kumar from Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir explains how his wife Ranjana supported him and kept his family together in difficult times.
'I told them I am a Muslim, you are Sikh, you are Hindu, but we have one country to save.'
'...Market-linked debentures, high-value insurance, exemptions from capital gains by investment in real estate, etc.' 'So, there are a number of measures directed at collecting a fair share from higher income individuals.'
