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.
Read more: http://goo.gl/4WoI0

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.

Inclusive, Sustained Growth for Bihar: Ahluwalia

On the first day of the 2-day meeting of five Chief Ministers in Patna on Monday, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairperson Planning Commission, assured Bihar of due consideration of the state's interest in the 12th Five Year Plan.

"PPP has been very successful in Bihar but more such projects needed to be implemented," Ahluwalia said adding issues like Public Private Partnership (PPP) and cash subsidy would be given prominent consideration in the preliminary papers prior to the finalization of the 12th Five Year Plan.

The Commission would strive for 'faster and inclusive growth and sustainability' for all states in the draft papers, he said.

Once again refusing to discuss the issue of Bihar's demand for special status, Ahluwalia said that this was not the right platform for this topic that, he said, belonged to another forum.

Talking to the reporters, the Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson said that the final draft of the plan would be completed after holding similar meetings with other zones.

Later, the dignitaries were escorted to Hotel Maurya for a cultural show and a sumptuous continental dinner that included items from Pasta to Litti and Chokha and specialties from a number of states.

Sources: http://goo.gl/R6WEW

Bihar coming up with new industries !!

Three of the units, which are directly being set up by the companies, are coming up in Hajipur. The other unit, being set up in Muzaffarpur, is a joint venture with a local company getting the franchise of a reputed brand.

The units will generate employment of over 1,000 people.

Britannia is setting up its biscuit-making unit at Hajipur, around 25km north of Patna. The unit is likely to be operational by September this year.

It will have the capacity to produce 50,000 metric tonnes of biscuits every year and the company would invest about Rs 55 crore under this project. It would provide employment to 330 people.

Bansal biscuits, the makers of the Anmol brand of biscuits, too are setting up their unit in Hajipur. Biscuits made in this unit are likely to hit the local market in March this year. This unit would have the capacity to make 12,600 metric tonnes of biscuit per annum and would provide employment to 117 people. The company is investing about Rs 23 crore.

Another unit that is coming up in the same city is that of Sona Biscuits, the makers of the Sobisco brand. The company is investing over Rs 24 crore for setting up its unit which, after completion, would have the capacity to produce 15,000 metric tonnes of biscuit per annum. This unit is likely to become functional by March this year and it would provide employment to 219 people.

The fourth unit is coming up at Muzaffarpur, around 80km north of Patna, and this is being set up under the private-private partnership model. One Lavanya Finvest Private Limited has taken the franchise to produce the popular ParleG brand at this unit.

The setting up of this unit would attract an investment of about Rs 25 crore. The unit, which is likely to start production by the end of this year, would have the capacity to produce 36,000 metric tonnes of biscuits per annum. This unit would provide employment to 434 persons.

The Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) has provided land for all these projects. “We processed the proposals at a very quick pace as the state government is determined to ensure that investors coming to the state face no hassles,” a highly placed source in BIADA told The Telegraph.

The source said work at all these projects are going on at the desired pace and going by the progress made so far, biscuit production in all these units would start this year itself.

The BIADA official also said that those engaged in these projects have also promised to provide a backward linkage, which would ensure that the major raw materials are supplied by local players. “Particularly those having flour mills would be benefited by these upcoming units as flour is the major raw material used in biscuit making,” said the official.

Terming the coming of outside players to Bihar a positive development, CII Bihar State Council chairman Satyajit Singh said, “Bihar is moving in the right direction in the sense that investors have started showing interest in the state. Though the beginning is modest in terms of volume of investment, such beginnings pave the way for bigger investments.”

Singh said the advent of established players would benefit local players also as they would have the opportunity to learn and develop their own brands in future.

Bihar Chamber of Commerce president O.P. Sah said: “In the past five years investors were watching the developments taking place in the state and now that the same government has come to power, they have started investing in Bihar.”

Read more: http://goo.gl/rn0CL

Why companies want to enter into Bihar

In the fifth edition of ‘Samriddhi’, organised by Business Standard, the Bihar government and the business people of the state came together to make the land of Lord Buddha, the high seat of learning in the past, one of the most developed in the country in the next few years.
Bihar is poised to be the next biggest attraction for industries in the country.

With a growth rate of above 10 per cent, today major national and international companies are making a beeline to enter Bihar.

Local entrepreneurs and the state government are also more than happy to welcome them to the state.
Speaking about the law and order situation in the state, he said: “When we took the reins of the state, our first priority was the basic law and order situation. We took out the fear from the mind of the common man. There was never a drought of money in Bihar. There were businesses and people used to earn good also,” said Nitish Kumar.
“However, lack of security and poor law and order situation was a problem. Businessmen migrated from the state. We tackled this problem and provided them proper security.

Now, they can spend money at their will. You will find numerous expensive cars on the roads of Bihar.
Earlier, buying Maruti 800 was such a big problem. Today, nobody who has money thinks twice before buying a Toyota SUV. The situation has changed.

Now people want to come back to Bihar. Investors are searching for new avenues to invest here.”

The chief minister also said: “We have also started to invest heavily on roads. No nation and state can develop without good network of roads.
Everybody needs a good road. Good network of roads ensure fast human development.

Children can go to school and patients can get better treatment. Farmers can get better money for their produce and traders can quickly send their goods to the market.
The situation of roads is improving in the state. What was earlier a ride on the humps of a camel, now is as smooth as silk.”
“We even invested more than Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) on development of national highways. This is not the domain of the state government, but still we did it. We wanted an improved standard of living for our people. So we did it,” said Kumar.
He said: “Today, people are talking about the development of Bihar. We do not want to take the credit. We just did and are doing our work. Actual work was done by the people of Bihar who voted for us. People of Bihar should be congratulated for the change. We are doing what we have been chosen to do.”
The business community of the state fully backed their leader for his development agenda.

The business community is firmly standing behind the state government in its development agenda. We are ready to put all our efforts in the development of Bihar. What makes a state or nation developed?
Good government and clear path of development. Today Bihar has both of them.

So, nobody can stop it now,” said Bihar Chamber of Commerce President O P Sah.

On the other hand, ex-president of Bihar Industries Association K P Jhunjhunwala said: “A few years back A P J Abdul Kalam visited the state.
During his visit he gave the idea of Vision 2015. He called upon us to make Bihar a developed state by 2015.
For that, he emphasised on three sectors — agriculture and agro industries, tourism and human resource development. I, too, think these three sectors will open up new avenues of growth for Bihar.”

However, C K Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Industries Department, thinks the SME sector is going to be the key for the development of the state.
He said: “We have to focus on what we have. Take the example of the food processing sector. We have almost infinite possibilities in this sector. Even today, almost 60 per cent of the population of the state is dependent on agriculture.

We are the largest producer of vegetables and second largest producer of fruits. If this sector grows, there is a good possibility that development can reach to the last person in the state.”
Jeevandas Narayan does not fully back the comments of Mishra. The chief general manager (Bihar-Jharkhand) of State Bank of India said: “Nobody can deny the role of SMEs in development, but we have to focus on big companies too. We have to make them invest in Bihar. They will bring the real economic development with them. They will invest heavily and it can provide hundreds of thousands of jobs. They can bring in many of their supporting units and competitors too. So, it is essential for Bihar to attract the big guns.”
One of the B-schools in the state, IIBM’s managing director U K Singh emphasised the need for development of Information Technology in Bihar.
He said: “Our boys are making it big in the world of information technology. To attract the big companies, we have to attract our kids to Bihar. Only then IT/ITeS companies will come to Bihar.”

“We are ready for this sector. We are developing an IT Park in Bihta, near Patna. Infosys is going to open up an incubation centre in that park. However, discussions are still on in this sector. So, I cannot divulge anything more about it,” said Mishra.
Everybody in the panel demanded more support from the central government for the development of Bihar.
Sah said: “We desperately need electricity. Right now we are getting not more than 800-900 Mw from the central pool, which is much less than our requirement of 3,500 Mw. For faster development, we also need special category state status from the central government. Only then big money would start to follow.”
Nitish Kumar lambasted the Centre for not providing adequate support in the development of Bihar.
Read more:- Why companies want to enter into Bihar

Super 30 founder to share dais with Blair, others !!

Anand Kumar, the founder of Bihar's famous Super 30 coaching centre, will share the dais with former British prime minister Tony Blair, Nobel winner Albert Fert and other global greats at a conference in the UAE next week.

"I will share the platform with Tony Blair, Albert Fert, Irina Bokova, Raila Odinga and others in the last week of March in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)," Kumar told IANS Friday.

He has been invited by the UAE's Higher Colleges of Technology, which is organising the mega conference of students, Education Without Borders, March 28-31.

The event will feature a host of dignitaries and 3,700 student delegates from 129 countries. Besides Kumar, Blair and physicist Fert, Unesco head Irina Bokova and Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga are among the other speakers.

Kumar will speak on his experiences and how education could be the biggest tool for social change. His Super 30 has helped many students from underprivileged sections of society enter the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

"I am happy that people want to listen to me for inspiration. I will keep trying to do something in future that would inspire people to do better," he added.

Kumar, who started the Ramanujam School of Mathematics in 1992, founded the Super 30 in 2002.

In the last eight years, the novel initiative has helped 212 students clear the IIT entrance test. During the last three years, all the 30 students of the institute made it to the IITs, drawing worldwide attention.

Most of the successful candidates have come from the most underprivileged sections of society. They are provided free food, lodging and free coaching.

The students have to pass a competitive test to get into Super 30 and then commit themselves to a year of 16-hour study each day, Kumar said.

Last year Anand shared his experience with Hollywood producer and director James Cameron at a conference in the township of Lavasa in Maharashtra.

Source: Super 30 founder to share dais with Blair, others !!