Incentives for industries have been rolled back and teachers have gone without salary for months as the state grapples with the after-effects of the ban
Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi tells Ajit Jain about tax lessons he learned in Canada
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Portfolios were on Tuesday allocated in the new Bihar cabinet headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who, predictably, retained the all-important home department which helps him keep direct control on the state police.
His career as a bureaucrat has been somewhat colourless, which suggests his current elevation is simply a matter of being at the right place at the right time.
"Best wishes to Nitish Kumar ji on being nominated as the chief minister. I hope he makes his priority positive issues such as aspirations of the people of Bihar, the NDA's promise of 19 lakh jobs-employment, education, health, livelihood, irrigation and justice rather than his ambition for the chair," Tejashwi wrote in a social media post.
'Tambrahms do not demand or take dowry. UP and Bihar Brahmin girls can marry here without dowry.'
The report prepared by ADR also stated that 81 per cent are crorepatis.
'With over 50 per cent of medical seats reserved for those who have the ability to pay a fee ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore for a five-year MBBS course and quotas in accordance with affirmative policies in government colleges, the band of seats available for the not-so-rich and non-OBCs is very narrow.'
Vicky Toppo is a young man who transforms into a woman each time he takes to the stage to dance to Bhojpuri or Bollywood songs. He tells Archana Masih about life as an entertainer in the interiors of Bihar's villages.
The Centre on Wednesday announced a raft of post-retirement employment possibilities for 'Agniveer' like priority in recruitment to the central armed police forces (CAPF) and Assam rifles but that failed to assuage the concerns of the opposition Congress which warned the 'transformative' 'Agnipath' scheme will reduce the operational effectiveness of the armed forces.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Datta granted four weeks to the Delhi government counsel to file a further status report in the matter and listed it for hearing on May 4.
Nobody bothered to articulate the upsides; instead, the four-year tour of duty and denial of life-long pensions got played up.
Job-seekers for government and related opportunities found that their future was at risk, points out Shreekant Sambrani.
Nepal witnessed political turbulence in 2022 that dramatically turned rivals into allies and throned former guerrilla leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' as the prime minister for a third time, as Kathmandu made efforts to balance ties with immediate neighbours India and China with high-profile talks and visits.
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.
'How are students supposed to learn a new language within a semester?'
'Over the years, India has taken great strides in many fields, especially in the context of science and technology. Yet even as external disarmament is necessary, inner disarmament is no less important'
Nitish Kumar will be the chief minister only till the time the BJP wishes, points out Ramesh Menon.
Modi noted that his interaction with Kovind, a long time BJP member before being appointed first as Bihar governor and then President, goes beyond his presidency.
From the point of view of qualification, Murmu is probably educationally the least qualified among India's recent Presidents. But then, with the BJP in command, she will be required to do little but sign on the dotted line.
Is it a divine, sacrosanct university, a holy cow, prohibiting human intervention?
A week after the midday meal tragedy in a Chhapra school, which killed 23 children, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, speaking for the first time after the horrific event, claimed there was a conspiracy behind the tragedy.
Two years after a midday meal took the lives of 23 children in Gandaman, Archana Masih sits down to have lunch at the same government school and discovers that much has changed and much remains the same.
'The central BJP leaders were determined to push Hindutva hard, and it failed.'
There are reasons for India to hang its head in shame," says Amartya Sen in an interview this week.
M I Khan finds out why the dreaded Mohammad Shahabuddin's widow wants to leave the north Bihar district where her husband's word was once law.
DD Freedish is the 'largest TV platform in India', going to 58 million homes, featuring 70-odd private channels. DD Freedish reaches about 278 million people, and is easily among the top five TV platforms in the world.
Prasad, who became chief minister of Bihar in 1990, had anointed his wife on the CM chair after he was sent to jail in 1997 over multi-crore fodder scam cases.
Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha said the "writing on the wall is clear" that the 'Mahagathbandhan' will be 'maha vijayi' (grandly victorious) as everyone can see the attraction and euphoria for the grand opposition alliance.
The votes for the state assembly polls will be counted on November 10. Prasad is in judicial custody in Jharkhand capital Ranchi after his conviction in fodder scam cases. He was recently granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court in the case related to Chaibasa treasury but could not come out of jail as his bail plea in another case of fraudulent withdrawals from Dumka treasury is being heard.
The number of poor people in India fell by about 415 million between 2005-06 and 2019-21, a "historic change" and a demonstration that the Sustainable Development Goal target of reducing at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty by 2030 is possible to achieve, even at a large scale, according to the UN.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday hailed the Union Budget as an "all-inclusive" document while the Opposition dismissed it as "anti-people" and mere rhetoric lacking the vision for creating jobs and taming inflation.
'Some people petitioned the adhikari (government official) and a electricity pole was unloaded here, but because we were not here at that time, some people from a neighbouring village took it to their village instead.' As Bihar goes to the polls, Rediff.com looks at the state through the stories of its people.
A total of 44 candidates have scored 100 percentile in the engineering entrance exam JEE-Main this year while 18 candidates have shared the top rank, ministry of education officials said on Tuesday at midnight.
'A drought is like a fire. It licks everything in its wake - crop, trees, animals, humans...' The plains of the Ganga in Bihar have a raw, unmatched, beauty, but also bear the anguish of its farmers.
The new cabinet, predictably, has a sizeable number of Yadavs and Muslims, though members of other sections of the society also find a place.
No one in Bihar will deny Nitish Kumar's contribution to governance, notes Aditi Phadnis.
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.
Although the Disaster Management Act for Covid containment measures, considered a hindrance in conducting the census, was withdrawn in March this year the Centre has not taken any further action on conducting the much-delayed population enumeration.
The addition of a million jobs as promised by Tejashwi Yadav would make a big impact. But the electorate needs to raise its expectations, notes Mahesh Vyas.
