Nitish Kumar's house, office to go green !

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will use solar energy for lighting up his residence and office, an official said Friday.


"It will set a model for others to follow Nitish Kumar's practical approach for eco-friendly measures," an official in chief minister's office said.

The chief ministers's house and office is on Anne Marg here.

Nitish Kumar has asked the thermal power system to be converted to a solar one. A solar power project will be launched soon, sources said.

"I will use solar energy at my house and office to popularize it and encourage people to go for solar energy," Nitish Kumar told a gathering Wednesday.

New and renewable energy sources have the potential to generate around 2,000 MW of power in the state, said state energy department Principal Secretary Ajay V. Nayak.

Bihar generates around 6 MW from biomass plants, around 4 KW from solar power plant at Patailiya village in Samastipur district and about 55 MW from hydro electric power plants.

Bihar has a daily power demand of nearly 2,200 MW. However, it receives only about 1,000 MW from outside.

NRI IT professionals move back to India

With declining wages abroad, an increasing number of non-resident Indian IT professionals are moving back to their home country, says a survey.
IT and IT-enabled firms in India hired 28 percent more non-resident Indian (NRI) professionals in the first quarter of 2011-12, according to the survey conduced by recruitment consulting firm MyHiringClub.com.

Among 11 surveyed industries, IT and IT-enabled services registered highest growth, with 28 percent increase year-on-year in the first quarter of the current fiscal. It is followed by pharma and healthcare, up by 20 percent, automobile and manufacturing, up by 18 percent, telecom, up by 14 percent, banking and financial services, up by 10 percent and FMCG, up by six percent.

"The high economic growth in India with many good opportunities has fuelled the NRI thought process to head back. In addition to that, many US companies are opening their offices in India and hiring more to target the growing market in Asia," Rajesh Kumar, CEO of MyHiringClub.com, said in the survey report.

He said an increasing number of high value NRI professional recruitment is likely to take place in the coming years as wage gaps have declined sharply.

"Increasing number of people are now returning because now the advantages of returning back to India outweigh the disadvantages by far," said Kumar.

The highest number of NRIs who returned home found jobs in Bangalore, followed by Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad.

The NRI professional hiring trend survey was conducted online between July 1-15. Senior human resource professionals and top management of 237 firms and 690 recruitment consultants participated in the survey.
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Bihar set for a normal monsoon this year

After facing two consecutive drought years, Bihar is set to get a normal monsoon this year -- a good news for the millions of farmers in the state.


"Going by the advance of monsoon this year, Bihar is likely to receive a total rainfall of 1,049.2 mm till Sep 30," Animesh Chandra, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) director in Patna, told IANS.

He said the short spells of rain which the state witnessed Tuesday, could be attributed to pre-monsoon activities.

"Monsoon is likely to hit Bihar between June 10-15. It is on time, a big relief for drought-hit farmers of the state," he said.

Abdus Sattar, agro-meteorologist at Rajendra Agriculture University in Samastipur district, said: "A normal monsoon after drought for two consecutive years will provide an opportunity to farmers of reaping handsome harvest of kharif paddy."

Last year, the Bihar government declared all the 38 districts in the state drought-hit due to rainfall deficit of nearly 22 percent. Inadequate rains had severely hit paddy sowing and transplantation in most districts barring Araria, East and West Champaran.

In 2009, the government declared 26 districts drought-hit.

According to state agriculture department officials, Bihar received just 682.6 mm of rainfall in 2010 and 871.3 mm in 2009. In a normal monsoon year, Bihar receives nearly 1,100 mm of rainfall.

The scanty rainfall in the past two years had an adverse impact on the rice cultivation in the state. Its production came down to 35.14 lakh metric tonnes in 2009-10 and 35 lakh metric tonnes in 2010-11. In a normal monsoon year, the state produces over 40 lakh metric tonnes of rice -- the main kharif crop cultivated in Bihar during the rainy season.