Global News Post: Bihar

INDIA: Devotees Offer 'Arghya' to Ascending Sun God

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<st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">PATNA</span></st1:city><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (NNN-PTI) -- Lakhs of devotees congregated
Tuesday at various ghats of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Ganga</st1:placename>
 <st1:placetype w:st="on">River</st1:placetype></st1:place>, including
Adalatganj Ghat which witnessed a stampede that left 17 dead last evening, to
offer prayers to the Sun God during the Chhath festival.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Seventeen
Chhath pilgrims, mostly women and children, died after a makeshift bridge caved
in at Adalatganj Ghat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Devotees
thronged the ghats carrying wooden baskets and took their usual place there
before the 'Vratis' (persons fasting to offer 'Arghya' to the Sun God)
descended in the water upto waist level and stood there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">At
the Adalatghat, the entire area was turned into a fortress by the authorities
and around 300 policemen and women, besides a BMP Gorkha battalion, were
deployed for smooth and peaceful conduct of Chhath festival this morning,
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amrit Raj said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Besides
deployment of elaborate security measures, the Adalatghat area was spruced up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">At
Adalatganj, the municipal and district authorities had worked on warfooting and
had the place cleaned up before the arrival of the devotees in the small
hours.  --NNN-PTI<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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INDIA: Devotees Offer 'Arghya' to Ascending Sun God

PATNA (NNN-PTI) -- Lakhs of devotees congregated Tuesday at various ghats of the Ganga River , including Adalatganj Ghat which witne...

INDIA: ADB Extends loan to Boost Investment for Agribusiness Infrastructure in Bihar and Develop Nation's Railway System

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">NEW DELHI (PIB) --- Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India have signed a $67.6 million loan that will help improve physical and institutional links to support agriculture in the state of Bihar and a US$ 150 million loan for 1st tranche of Railway Sector Investment Program aimed at improving rail freight services and passenger transport routes. So far as the Agribusiness Infrastructure loan of Bihar is concerned, it will help expand agricultural value chains and facilitate better linkages for small scale farmers with processors, agribusiness entrepreneurs, and service providers in Muzaffarpur and Patna-Nalanda regions of Bihar. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The loan is the first tranche of a $170 million multitranche financing facility under the Agribusiness Infrastructure Development Investment Program, which was approved by the ADB Board in September, 2010 to boost private sector investment in agribusiness infrastructure in selected regions of Bihar and Maharashtra. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The programme will build physical and institutional links along horticulture integrated value chains (IVCs), which include farmers, processors, agribusiness entrepreneurs, and service providers, a central goal of the Indian government. This will help farmers, traders and other value chain stakeholders to improve their products and processes, become competitive and adapt to changes in end markets. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Public-private partnerships (PPP) to design, build, finance and operate the integrated value chains are a key component of the project. Private investors will provide collection services, grading, packaging, storing, processing and cold-storage facilities to a range of high value chains. This will raise the value addition being done from agricultural activities, by reducing post-harvest wastes and integrating small landholders into the agribusiness value chains. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The programme would also enhance livelihoods by benefitting farmers, the landless poor and women through creation of additional employment opportunities along the integrated value chains and ancillary industries thereby raising their income, and improving off-farm income opportunities for the rural poor. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The signatories to the loan were  Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India; and  Hun Kim, Country Director for India, on behalf of ADB. The project agreement was signed by Dr. N. Vijaya Lakshmi, Secretary (Agriculture) on behalf of the State Government of Bihar. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Speaking on the occasion Rajamony said that the Agribusiness Infrastructure Development Investment Program fills gaps in agribusiness infrastructure value chains from farm gate to market. This innovative and integrated approach will promote a more inclusive agribusiness value chain and promote efficient and market-oriented farming among smallholder farmers. He said that the Program aims to leverage private sector investment and management into agri-business infrastructure through public-private partnership mode. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span dir="LTR"></span> Kim said that the pioneering nature of the investment program is the introduction of integrated value chains and application of public-private partnerships in the agribusiness sector. He said that this will help scale-up future models for agribusiness operations in India. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Department of Agriculture, Government of Bihar, is the executing agency of the project, which is expected to be implemented over a period of six years, completing in 2017. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This first tranche loan from the ordinary capital resources of ADB has a 25-year term, including a grace period of 5 years, commitment charges of 0.15% and interest rate in accordance with ADB’s LIBOR-based lending facility.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another loan to develop nation's Railway system will help India improve rail services along some of its busiest freight and passenger transport routes, providing double-track for about 840 kilometers of rail routes and electrifying about 640 kilometers. New signaling will also be installed. ADB will also support accounting reforms to improve operational and financial efficiency at Indian Railways. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The program will (i) reduce fuel consumption and enhance energy efficiency, (ii) reduce pollution, (iii) enhance railway safety, (iv) increase the line capacity, benefiting consumers and producers of goods and services, (v) improve staff productivity, and (vi) incorporate innovating financing modalities by pursuing carbon credits under UNFCCC. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The total cost of the Railway Sector Investment Program is US$ 1,144.6 million, out of which loan assistance from ADB is US$ 500 million (in four tranches) and GOI’s funding is US$ 644.6 million. This is the 1st tranche for a total US$ 343.4 million (ADB loan US$ 150 million + GOI share US$ 193.4 million). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The signatories to the loan were  Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India; and  Hun Kim, Country Director for India, on behalf of ADB. The project agreement was signed by Satish Agnihotri, Managing Director, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Speaking on the occasion, Joint Secretary, Venu Rajamony said that although railways make up a significant part of India’s transport sector, constraints on high density railway routes present a chronic challenge. This program should improve energy efficiency, safety, reliability, affordability, and environmental sustainability along key railway routes with heavy traffic, he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span dir="LTR"></span> Hum Kim, Country Director for India said that our goal is to get people and goods moving more quickly and easily throughout India. Better railways not only help promote environmentally sustainable growth, they build better links between states and open opportunities to more people, he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Indian Railways Vision 2020 highlights the need to remove infrastructure bottlenecks, design and deliver market-driven services, provide safe and reliable operations, and build capacity. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ADB will also provide a program linked technical assistance of US$ 300,000 to promote sustainable transport modes by monitoring carbon emission reductions from shifting bulk goods from road to rail. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ministry of Railways is the Executing Agency (EA) and Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) is the Implementing Agency (IA) for the program.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

INDIA: ADB Extends loan to Boost Investment for Agribusiness Infrastructure in Bihar and Develop Nation's Railway System

NEW DELHI (PIB) --- Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India have signed a $67.6 million loan that will help improve physic...

India: Government of India, Government of Bihar and World Bank Sign US$ 100 Million Agreement for Additional Financing for Rural Livelihoods Project

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Government of India, Government of Bihar and World Bank Sign US$ 100 Million Agreement for Additional Financing for Rural Livelihoods Project in Bihar – Expected to Directly Benefit 1.5 Million Households</span></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance,  Venu Rajamony, the Senior Country Officer, World Bank (India), Smt. Mandakini Kaul and the Principal Secretary, Department of Finance, Govt. of Bihar,  Rameshwar Singh signed the US$ 100 Million loan agreement for Rural Livelihoods Project in Bihar, in New Delhi on July 09, 2012.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Photo © PIB<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
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</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">NEW DELHI (PIB) --- The Government of India, the Government of Bihar and the World Bank today signed here an agreement for US$ 100 million additional credit to scale-up the ongoing Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project, named Jeevika (or `livelihood’ in Hindi). The Project is aimed at enhancing the social and economic empowerment of the rural poor in Bihar.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">The additional financing will help consolidate and expand the Project to cover all the blocks in the existing six districts covered under the Project. This will not only allow the Project to cover all the villages in the existing districts, but also provide a comprehensive district wide model for poverty alleviation in Bihar, a predominantly rural state with 89 percent of the population living in rural areas.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">The agreements for the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project were signed by . Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India;  Rameshwar Singh, Principal Secretary, Department of Finance, on behalf of the Government of Bihar;  Arvind Kumar Chaudhary, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), on behalf of the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project; and Mandakini Kaul, Senior Country Officer, World Bank (India) on behalf of the World Bank.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Later Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India said that the additional financing will directly benefit 1.5 million households. It will further help the Jeevika Project consolidate and deepen some of the key activities initiated in the parent project so that the learning from these interventions can be internalized and scaled up across the state under the Government of India’s National Rural Livelihoods Mission, he added.  Rajamony further said that the additional financing for this Project will also help scale up activities by converging with various ongoing schemes and programs of the Government of India (GOI) and Government of Bihar (GOB) in the areas of health, nutrition, social protection, rural employment, and agriculture.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">So far the Project has mobilized 515,000 poor women into 46,000 self-help groups (SHGs) and 3,500 village organizations. Of these, more than 90 percent belong to vulnerable groups such as scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward castes. These community organizations are managed by nearly 30,000 trained grassroots women leaders and 8,000 para-professionals, resource persons and functionaries trained in the areas of institutional capacity building, bookkeeping, providing linkage with commercial banks and livelihood support services.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Roberto Zagha, World Bank Country Director for India said that effective targeting of the poor, especially the most vulnerable groups, has been a major focus of the ongoing Project. He said that this additional financing will not only help expand the social mobilization strategy to newer blocks, but also deepen the social inclusion impact in the existing blocks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Parmesh Shah, the Project’s Task Team Leader and Lead Rural Development Specialist, World Bank said that the additional financing will help the project develop scalable models in key livelihood sectors such as agriculture, dairying, job creation for migrant youth and nonfarm employment and also ensure access to safety nets for the poor through convergence with government programs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">The Project has initiated a number of interventions on a pilot basis through convergence with other government programs and enabled access to public entitlements for the poor. These include access to social security pensions for nearly 29,000 households in partnership with the social welfare department and access to wage employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in partnership with the rural development department for nearly 5000 SHG women.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">The Project will be financed by a credit from the International Development Association (IDA) – the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm – that provides interest-free loans with 25 years to maturity and a grace period of five years.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">The focus will now be on consolidating and increasing investments in different livelihoods sectors such as agriculture, dairying, job creation for migrant youth and nonfarm sector employment; investments will be made in cross-sectoral delivery of services through convergence with various GOI/GOB development programs; partnerships with civil society, social entrepreneurs and private sector will be strengthened for innovative practices in social, financial and economic inclusion; and the monitoring and evaluation systems will be strengthened to capture change.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">These SHGs of the poor have so far cumulatively saved over US$ 5.5 million, and accessed US$ 22 million credit from commercial banks. A strong partnership has been built with mainstream financial institutions through signing of Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) with four commercial banks and three regional rural banks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">A recent independent evaluation of the impact of Jeevika on socio-economic outcomes based on a survey of 4,000 randomly selected households show that the Project has positively impacted the savings of project households with 58 percent more households starting regular savings. It has led to increased food security with a 27 percent reduction in the duration of food shortage and has increased ownership of assets like cows (by 59 percent) and bullocks (by 177 percent).</span></div></div>

India: Government of India, Government of Bihar and World Bank Sign US$ 100 Million Agreement for Additional Financing for Rural Livelihoods Project

Government of India, Government of Bihar and World Bank Sign US$ 100 Million Agreement for Additional Financing for Rural Livelihoods Proje...

India: Bihar CM Wants Probe into World Bank Report on Corruption

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">KOLKATA, India (NNN-Bernama) -- India's eastern state Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday demanded a high-level probe into a World Bank report highlighting corruption and fraud in national highway projects funded by the bank. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"It is a serious issue. There should be a high-level investigation into it," Xinhua news agency quoted the minister as saying. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kumar, who has declared a war on corruption in Bihar, said the central government must 'act fast to expose those who are held responsible, if the charges are true.' <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"The World Bank's revelation is something that affects all of us as fraud activities in national highway projects would have hit everyone," he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to a report by World Bank, private contractors had offered bribes to officials of the National Highway Authority of India to obtain contracts. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The World Bank's Institutional Integrity Unit has sought a thorough probe into the matter, reports said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The investigation is likely to further highlight concerns about corruption in development projects and increase pressure on outgoing President Robert Zoellick to tackle shortcomings in the bank's oversight of projects. -- NNN-BERNAMA<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

India: Bihar CM Wants Probe into World Bank Report on Corruption

KOLKATA, India (NNN-Bernama) -- India's eastern state Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday demanded a high-level probe into ...

India: Slum Areas to be Developed in 28 Cities of Bihar state

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>By Anjum Hasan Rana</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Urban Development and Housing Minister, Dr. Prem Kumar has recently informed the legislative council that, to make available all the facilities under urban development scheme, a work plan has been developed. Under the City Development Plan, a survey of the slum area in 28 cities has been completed. The survey has found a total of 1845 slum areas in the state and two slum areas each in every city have been selected for all round development. Even better tourism facilities are being provided. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">He said that a 20-year plan is being prepared for water supply to the cities and a scheme of Rs. 5.32 billion has been approved for water supply from the Ganga and constructing the treatment plant. He said that for the provision of sewerage, drainage and water supply in cities a detailed project report is being prepared. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Urban Development and Housing Minister said that for the development of the cities mapping will be done under global Information system.  </span>He said that the state will get a 200 million dollars loan for the financial years 2012-13 and 2013-14 from Asian Development Bank. He further said that a plan to develop the Bhagalpur town has been made with Rs 400 crore in the first phase. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div></div>

India: Slum Areas to be Developed in 28 Cities of Bihar state

By Anjum Hasan Rana The Urban Development and Housing Minister, Dr. Prem Kumar has recently informed the legislative council that, to make...

India: Maoist Posters against Nitish Kumar

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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">AURANGABAD</span></st1:city><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (NNN-PTI): Ahead of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s scheduled Seva Yatra has outlawed Maoists pasted posters in schools and government buildings asking the people to boycott his programmes in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Aurangabad</st1:city></st1:place> district. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The posters appeared in schools, community centres and government buildings under town police station late Wednesday night, police said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Earlier Maoists had burnt pressure rollers of a private construction firm engaged in road construction at Parta village in the district on December 26. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The road was being repaired for Kumar’s proposed visit to the district. Security measures have been tightened in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Aurangabad</st1:city></st1:place>. -NNN-PTI<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

India: Maoist Posters against Nitish Kumar

AURANGABAD (NNN-PTI): Ahead of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s scheduled Seva Yatra has outlawed Maoists pasted posters in schools an...

No Special Economic Zone in Bihar

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<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space">Anand Sharma, Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textiles informed the Rajya   Sabha (the upper house of Indian parliament) that, there is no proposal for special economic zone in the industrially backward Bihar state of eastern <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place>.   <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space">A SEZ may be set up either jointly or severally by the Central Government, State Govt. or any person for manufacture of goods or rendering services or for both or as a free trade warehousing zone.  Such proposals duly recommended by the concerned State Government are considered by the Board of Approval for SEZs.  No such proposal recommended by the Govt. of Bihar is pending with this Department.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"> In addition to seven Central Government Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and 12<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space">State/Private Sector SEZs set up prior to the enactment of SEZ Act, 2005; formal approval has been accorded to 582 proposals out of which 382 SEZs have been notified. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space">A total of 148 SEZs are already exporting.  A statement containing state-wise distribution of SEZs is annexed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space">As on 30th September, 2011, the total investment of Rs. 2, 77,259 crore approximately has been made in SEZs.  SEZs being set up under the SEZ Act, 2005 are primarily private investment driven.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space">Upto 10th December, 2011, upon the requests of the developers, the Board of Approval on SEZs has approved 39 cases of de-notification of SEZs subject to the refunded of duty benefits availed, if any, by the developer. Out of 39 cases, 23 relate to information technology/information technology enabled services, five are biotechnology and two each are engineering and textile industry and one each are power, apparel, handicraft, stainless steel & ancillary/downstream industry, agro, gems & jewellery and services SEZs. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space">Reasons given for these requests include economic meltdown, imposition of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) and Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) on SEZs etc. In all such cases, either the developers have not availed of duty benefits or the developers are willing to refund/ refunded benefits if availed. ---PIB<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

No Special Economic Zone in Bihar

Anand Sharma, Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textiles informed the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of Indian parliament) that, there i...

19 CHILDREN DIE OF SUSPECTED ENCEPHALITIS IN N INDIA

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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">  </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Encephalitis-Awareness-Ribbon-Mouse-Pad/dp/B002GBYVEM?ie=UTF8&tag=glob036-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Encephalitis Awareness Ribbon Mouse Pad" height="320" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B002GBYVEM&tag=glob036-20" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=glob036-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002GBYVEM" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />NEW DELHI (NNN-Bernama) -- Nineteen children have died of suspected encephalitis in Bihar, northern India, China's news agency Xinhua quoted the Indo-Asian News Service as reporting on Monday. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The children reported high fever, followed by bouts of unconsciousness and convulsions, said the report quoting hospital sources. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Nearly 50 children with suspected encephalitis have been admitted to hospital for treatment, most of them from rural areas, with more than a dozen children battling for life. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Suspected encephalitis hit the Gaya district of Bihar in 2009, 2007 and 2005 and killed dozens of children.--NNN-BERNAMA </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&tag=glob036-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=encephalitis" target="_blank">Search Amazon.com  for encephalitis</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=glob036-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div>

19 CHILDREN DIE OF SUSPECTED ENCEPHALITIS IN N INDIA

NEW DELHI (NNN-Bernama) -- Nineteen children have died of suspected encephalitis in Bihar, northern India, China's news agency Xinh...

Discussion with Nepal to Reduce Flood in Bihar

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ladies-Madhubani-Painting-Paper-Village/dp/B004UVSLGK?ie=UTF8&tag=glob036-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Ladies - Madhubani Painting on Hand Made Paper - Folk Painting from the Village of Madhubani (Bihar)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B004UVSLGK&tag=glob036-20" /></a><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=glob036-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B004UVSLGK" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />As per information provided by Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the Chief Minister of Bihar met the President of Nepal in New Delhi during the latter’s visit to India from January 27-February 5 2011. However, the details of discussion are not available.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Measures taken by the Government to protect Bihar from flood fury are as under: <o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bengal-Orissa-Sikkim-Provinical-Geographies/dp/1107600642?ie=UTF8&tag=glob036-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa Sikkim (Provinical Geographies of India)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1107600642&tag=glob036-20" /></a><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The schemes for flood and erosion control are planned, funded and executed by<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=glob036-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1107600642" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />the State Governments, as per their own priorities, out of their State plan funds which are made available to them through Planning Commission. In order to provide financial support to the State Governments, the Government of India also assisted the flood prone States in flood Management and anti-erosion works for critical reaches. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Railway-Crash-Jasidih-Bihar-Elizabeth/dp/B002HD6QYC?ie=UTF8&tag=glob036-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="1950 Railway Crash Jasidih Bihar Queen Elizabeth Ship" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B002HD6QYC&tag=glob036-20" /></a><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=glob036-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002HD6QYC" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />In, addition, the Government of India set Ganga Flood Control Commission (GFCC) in 1972 for preparation of comprehensive master plans for flood control measures in the Ganga basin states. Detailed Comprehensive Master Plans for all the 23 rive system constituting the Ganga basin had been prepared by GFCC and circulated to the concerned State Government for implementation. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">During XI Plan period, central assistance is being provided to all the flood affected states for river management, flood control and anti-erosion works under a state sector scheme, namely, “Flood Management Programme (FMP)”. During the 11th Five Year Plan, 41 schemes of Bihar, estimsted to cost Rs. 1233.62 crore have been included under FMP of Government of India. The total central assistance released to the Government of Bihar under the FMP during the 11th Plan (upto 31.7.2011) is Rs. 544.39 crore including Rs. 42.39 crore for spill over works of 10th Five Year Plan. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Government of India is also having continued dialogue with Nepal, on matters related to flood forecasting and construction of shortage dams to check floods in Bihar due to rivers flowing from Nepal. Government of India is also proving funds for construction of embankments to tie them up in high ground in Nepal along rivers Lalbakeya, Bagmati and Kamla, to prevent spill from these rivers in protected areas of Bihar. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Minister in the Ministry Of Water Resources and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal gave this information in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today. (PIB)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div></div>

Discussion with Nepal to Reduce Flood in Bihar

As per information provided by Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the Chief Minister of Bihar met the President of Nepal in New Delhi duri...