Bihar News

Slamming Bihar and Jharkhand for non-payment of salaries to employees of Irrigation Corporations of the states, the Supreme Court on Friday said the employees were treated as "guinea pigs" and directed the governments to pay the dues from Jan-1995 till Sept-2004. The differences arising out of Bihar bifurcation resulted in the non-payment of salaries, driving employees to brink of starvation.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who is undergoing a five-year jail term in the fodder scam case, moved the Supreme Court seeking bail on Monday after the Jharkhand high court had dismissed his bail plea. The apex court will hear the bail plea on November-29. Lalu's Parliament membership was taken away after being convicted in the fodder scam case.

Three women teachers and 93 schoolgirls from Carmel School, Dhanbad and Digwadih in Jharkhand were molested on a train from Patna to Dhanbad on Saturday night. The group's reserved seats on the Ganga Damodar Express had been claimed by a group of men, who soon began molesting the girls. The teachers who tried to stop the men were also assaulted.

Over 10,000 contractual school teachers in Bihar failed a competency test to check their knowledge of English, Mathematics, Hindi and General Knowledge for up to Class 5. The failed teachers will take a second test, but those who fail again will lose their jobs as per government norms. Bihar has been conducting such eligibility tests for school teachers since 2008.

Five Government Railway Police (GRP) officials, including a sub-inspector, were suspended late on Monday for not helping a group of 93 school girls who were harassed by some youths on a train in Patna. The girls were sexually harassed and manhandled by a group of youths claiming to be examinees, after they (girls) asked them to vacate their seats.

A road over bridge (ROB) in Muzaffarpur (Bihar) collapsed on Wednesday and fell on a goods train passing under it leaving about 24 people injured. The injured were mainly pedestrians and occupants of two auto rickshaws. Four bogies of the goods train were badly damaged after being rammed by the collapsed portion of ROB, believed to be 40 years old.

Armed Maoists on Saturday shot dead three GRP jawans and injured two others, besides looting five rifles from them in Sahebganj-Patna Inter-City Express in Bihar's Munger district, police said. The incident took place in the running train near a tunnel between Jamalpur and Ashikpur railway stations on Saturday evening, Jamalpur's railway superintendent of police Amitabh Kumar Das said.

Seven policemen were killed when their vehicle was blown up in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in the Naxal-dominated district of Aurangabad on Tuesday. The police party was returning to the Tandwa police station from a meeting on crime when the IED went off, said DGP Abhayanand. Reportedly, all the policemen hailed from the poor sections of society.

Following complaints of rampant littering and a dirty environment, Bihar's tourist destination Rajgir has been declared a polythene free zone from Dec-2. All hotels, shops, and street vendors have been ordered to stop using polybags of more than 40 micron thickness. Rajgir is the second most visited tourist place in the Buddhist circuit in the state after Bodh Gaya.

A Patna court has awarded life imprisonment to former Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Vijay Krishna for the murder of Janata Dal United leader Satyendra Singh in 2009. Besides Krishna, who is currently a RJD General Secretary, his son Chanakya Singh and two others were also convicted in the murder case. Among them, Chanakya is already in jail in the case.

Centre's Joint Intelligence Committee has accused the Bihar government of being soft towards the banned CPI (Maoists), and not taking effective steps to control the Red terror. It says that despite substantive decline in Maoists violence in India, Bihar has registered an increase of 41% in killings in Maoists-sponsored violence this year compared to last year.

Speaking at a 'Sankalp' Rally in Purnia (Bihar), CM Nitish Kumar on Sunday said, "Our special status demand is not an alm from the Centre, but our right....We will not sit at rest till our rightful demand is met". Kumar added that the party will be holding 'Sankalp' rallies in various districts to raise the demand for special status.

One person was killed and at least seven injured when an SUV, part of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav convoy which was going to Patna from Ranchi, met an accident in Koderma valley, 170km from Ranchi, on Tuesday evening. While police said that Lalu and other leaders were totally safe, the reasons behind the accidents are not clear yet.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has stoked a controversy after he refused to cover his bare head inside a gurudwara on Thursday evening, citing poor health as a reason. The Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee after the visit of Nitish had expressed its anger at the incident claiming that the CM had disrespected their "Guru".

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Sunday visited the relief camps of riot victims in Muzaffarnagar. Lalu praised the Congress vice-president saying, "Kejriwal and Modi are nothing in front of Rahul. Rahul Gandhi is Rahul Gandhi. It is you, who give them publicity. What have they done so far?". Lalu also announced his party would tie up with Congress for LS polls.

Annoyed by the poor sound and sitting arrangements at a cultural programme in Sasaram (Bihar), a fourious mob made an abortive attempt to burn alive Bihar cabinet minister, Vinay Bihari, in the presence of district officials. The minister was there to inaugurate the programme, organized by the administration as part of Navaratra celebrations.

Five women were allegedly gang-raped at gun-point by three men in Bihar's bhojpur district, police said Friday. The victims, all rag-pickers, said the men took them to an isolated place and tied them with ropes. The three then took turns to rape them. A case has been registered and two accused have been arrested so far, SP Rajesh Kumar said.

Ex-Bihar CM and JDU leader Nitish Kumar staged a day-long 'dharna' (sit-in) in Patna on Monday, demanding the central government to give special status category to Bihar. Attacking PM Narendra Modi during dharna, Nitish said, Modi had said in rallies that his party (BJP) will give special status to Bihar but now he has forgotten the people of Bihar.

With more than 30 dengue cases reported in Bihar till Friday, the state government has issued an alert. In view of the rising number of cases in the past few days, concerned officials have been directed to take preventive measures. The Patna Medical College and Hospital has set up a special ward, with 30 beds, for dengue patients.

Senior JD(U) and former Bihar CM, Nitish Kumar, will hold 'Sampark Yatra' across Bihar from Nov 13, where he will address 32 public meetings in as many districts. The 16-day Yatra will be held from Nov 13 to Nov 29. JD(U) state President said that the Yatra aims to activate the party at the grassroot level, energise and strengthen it.