Eight companies have submitted quotations for the Rs.2,234.46 crore project, said an official of the Bihar State Road Development Corporation Ltd.

Bihar Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav told IANS here that the government would select the company by June.

“We hope to start construction work by next year and the project would be completed by 2016,” he said.

Last year, the union finance ministry and the Planning Commission cleared the project.

In the first phase, the driveway will connect Digha and Didarganj, a stretch of 21 km, and in the second phase, it will go to Fatuha, a distance of 18 km. About seven km of the road will run on an elevated platform.

Indira Gandhi, then prime minister, had first proposed such a driveway in Patna, said a retired engineer associated with construction of the Mahatma Gandhi Setu here.

He was identified as a good prospective husband for Ruby Devi, whose father found a simple way of bypassing the dowry demands

Santosh was kidnapped from his village, forced to undergo the marriage rites, and locked in a room with his bride.  It has been 14 years. Ruby and Santosh are happy together, and have two children.

Such forcible marriages are common in Bihar, says Santosh Kumar, and they are known as Pakadwah Byaah  (Groom Kidnapping)

The pressure of providing a lavish wedding and meeting the demands of the groom’s family have led the families of some girls to take drastic measures.

Groom kidnapping, colloquially known as Pakaruah shaadi or Jabaria shaadi, is a phenomenon common in parts of Bihar, and eastern Uttar Pradesh states in India, wherein eligible bachelors are abducted by the bride’s family and later forcefully married, to avoid heavy dowry costs. Considering the traditional regard for the marriage sacrament, most such marriages are not annulled. Additionally, the groom may suffer criminal charges under Indian dowry law, and end up fighting lengthy legal battles.

The practice started becoming noticeable towards the late 20th century, as dowry costs became prohibitive and organized gangs came forward to carry out the abductions.In 2009,1224 kidnappings for marriage were reported in Bihar, carried out on behalf of the families of the brides.

A FIR was lodged by resident Rakesh Kumar Singh on April 21. The FIR alleges Nirmal Baba made a false promise of fame and fortune to him and, in return, forced him to pay Rs 1,000 in three instalments between January and March 2011.

The Baba allegedly also asked Singh to send him the counterfoils of the deposit forms through which he deposited Rs 300 twice and Rs 400 once in the Baba’s account with Punjab National Bank. While he couriered the counterfoils to the Baba’s Delhi address, he has preserved the courier receipt, the FIR said.

According to Araria SP Shivdeep Lande, police investigated the case and found the accusation prima facie true following which he directed the investigating officer to move the court and seek the warrant of arrest. He has constituted a police team led by DSP Vikas Kumar which will now need the DIG’s nod to leave the headquarters and arrest the accused.

Satyam Kumar of Bakhorapur village in Bhojpur district qualified from the Mumbai zone with an all-India rank of 8,137.

“I am happy to crack IIT-JEE but I will not join IIT this year because of my poor rank. I will attempt next year for a good rank,” Kumar told IANS over telephone Saturday.

Kumar said he was keen to develop a software company on the lines of Facebook.

Kumar’s father, Sidhnath Singh, a farmer, is proud of him.

“It is a matter of pride that my son is the youngest to qualify for IIT-JEE,” he said.

Kumar is still awaiting his class 12 results.

According to the father, Kumar passed the Class 10 board exam from Modern School in Kota, Rajasthan.

He said his son was intelligent since early childhood.

“He used to impress everyone with his talent even when he was barely five years old.” This is why, the father said, he sent the boy to Kota for higher education.

“The entire village celebrated his success bursting firecrackers and consuming sweets,” Singh said.

This year, 27 of the 30 students from Bihar’s Super 30 cracked the Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination.

Shailesh Kumar and Biswajit Bahera are among the successful 27 students.

Biswajit Bahera, whose father works as a security guard in Kolkata, said he had never dreamt of cracking the prestigious exam. “My father is a security guard in Kolkata. As I gave him the news, he was extremely happy, though he does not quite understand what it would mean,” Bahera told IANS, adding his stay at the Super 30 hostel and the coaching by Anand Kumar and his team filled him with a lot of confidence.

Shailesh’s father is a marginal farmer with less than two bigha land for agriculture, his main source of livelihood.

Behra was full of gratitude for Super 30. “If Super 30 had not provided me with facilities, it was beyond my reach to crack the IIT-JEE,” he said.

“At Super 30, it is only education that matters. Even in the hostel, the peer group helps. We sit, eat and sleep together solving problems. When Anand Kumar teaches, it is like music. As most of the students are from poor background, they all put in all their effort, which leads to healthy competition,” Shailesh told IANS.

Ashish Ranjan, whose father is a truck mechanic, said his family and everyone in his village are in a celebratory mood. “As soon as I told my father about my success on the mobile, he was extremely happy. But he often said ITI, instead of IIT. He is a truck mechanic. He did not have enough money, but I read about Super 30 and came here to take the entrance test. Once I qualified and stayed at Super 30, I felt I could do it,” Ashish said.

Sonu Kumar Rudra, son of a daily wage labourer, said his father and relatives were disbelieving at first when he told them he had cracked IIT-JEE. “I am lucky that I was selected by Super 30′s Anand Kumar,” Sonu said.

Sumit Kumar Gupta was on cloud nine after seeing his result. “I got to know of Super 30 through a newspaper. I came to Patna and took the test. Luckily I made it to Super 30 and that changed the course for me. Else, with the meagre income from my father’s grocers’ shop I would not have been able to continue my studies. At Super 30, there was no botheration, as I did not have to pay anything. Plus there was quality teaching,” Sumit told IANS.

Sumit recalled how two of his brothers could not continue their studies due to financial hardship. “I want to go for UPSC after my B.Tech. I have seen how Anand sir is making a difference to so many poor students, who don’t even have proper schooling. His style of teaching is distinct. I also want to do something for the society,” he added.

The institute selects talented students from poor families and provides them with free coaching, food and accommodation.

According to Anand, “Hard work, proper guidance and supervision are the secrets of our success.”

Students from poor families have to pass a competitive test to get into Super 30 and then commit themselves to a year of 16 hours a day study routine. Coaching, food and accommodation are free for the students. Anand Kumar said the institute is supported by income generated from his Ramanujam School of Mathematics, which has students who can afford to pay fees.

In 2003, the first year of the institute, 18 students made it to the IITs. The number rose to 22 in 2004 and to 26 in 2005. In 2007 and 2006, 28 students made it through IIT-JEE. In 2008, for the first time all 30 students cracked the exam, as well as the following year.

The success story of Super 30 was telecast by the Discovery Channel two years ago.

Three years ago, Norika Fujiwara, a former Japanese beauty queen and actress, made a documentary film on Super 30 for its innovative and successful attempt to send poor children to India’s top engineering colleges.

“It is again good news that this year, 27 out of the 30 students made it to the IIT-JEE… it has underlined how with proper opportunity, students from poor families can also reach the prestigious IIT,” Super 30′s founder-director Anand Kumar told IANS.

The successful candidates include the wards of a truck mechanic, a farmer, a daily-wage labourer and vendors.

“All of them have managed to successfully chase their IIT-JEE dreams at Super 30 with their commitment and hard work,” he said.

Last year, 24 students of the institute had cleared the IIT-JEE.

Super 30, which helps economically backward students crack the IIT-JEE, was selected by Time magazine in the list of The Best of Asia 2010.

Students from poor families have to pass a competitive test to get into Super 30 and then commit themselves to a year of 16 hours a day study routine. Coaching, food and accommodation are free for the students. Anand Kumar said the institute is supported by income generated from his Ramanujam School of Mathematics, which has students who can afford to pay fees.

In 2003, the first year of the institute, 18 students made it to IITs. In 2008, for the first time, all 30 students of the centre cracked the exam, a feat which was repeated in 2009 and 2010.

Super 30 is a highly ambitious and innovative educational program running under the banner of “Ramanujan School of Mathematics”. It hunts for 30 meritorious talents from among the economically backward sections of the society and shapes them for India’s most prestigious institution – the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).

In the last seven years, it has produced hundreds IITians from extremely poor background. During this program students are provided absolutely free coaching, lodging and food. Super 30 targets students from extremely poor families. They have all seen the change with sheer disbelief in their eyes that their children are now going to be top
technocrats.

Under this Facility, the mobile phones of the voters will be registered in the voters list. The voters will be informed about their number in the voters list and their polling centres so that they exercise their franchise using their mobile phones.

This will make it convenient for voters to exercise their franchise from their homes, and would be a boon to voters residing outside their Hometowns.

Sirohi also emphasised on preservation of the voters list in a scientific manner in the backdrop of the apex court direction recently and also to issue identity cards to all eligible voters. A website will be developed to preserve the voter lists and information related to the voters so as to encourage them to exercise their franchise, the SEC said.

“The polls across the state were peaceful except for a few reports of minor violence and clashes in Patna, Bhagalpur, Gaya and Muzaffarpur districts,” a police official said.

Some anti-social elements fired at a polling booth in Patna, he added.

Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Ravinder Kumar said that 886 people were arrested for efforts to hamper smooth voting.

“The polls concluded peacefully as there are no reports of major violence,” he said.

Despite the hot weather, people queued up at polling stations as voting began at 7 a.m. “Till 4 p.m., an estimated over 50 percent voting was recorded,” said an official of the state election office.

Over five million people were eligible to decide the fate of hundreds of candidates for the 2,864 wards in urban civic agencies spread over 37 districts. Half the seats were reserved for women. The results would be out May 19.

Chidambaram was replying to a calling attention motion on the need to include Bhojpuri, the native tongue of Bihar, in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution to accord it the official language status.

“Hum sabke bhawna samjhat bani (I understand the sentiments of all of you),” Chidambaram said during his reply to stunned silence from the members.

But after a moment for it to sink in, the house erupted into surprised elation and thumping of desks by the members.

Chidambaram promised to expedite the process of considering the reports of two committees with regard to Bhojpuri and for a quick decision thereafter.

This brought in appreciation from Meira Kumar, who said it is a matter of great joy that Chidambaram, whom she has never heard even speak in Hindi, addressed the house in Bhojpuri.

Kumar expressed the hope that the home minister will return to the house soon with the “happy news” of Bhojpuri being accorded official language status.

Speaking after inaugurating a tailoring training centre at the ITI premise in Digha set up by Raymond Ltd, Kumar urged its managing director Gautam Singhania, who was present, to set up a garment unit on land identifies for it.

He said that the state has the resources in the garment sector at a number of places like Bhagalpur, Supaul and other districts being producers of mulberry silk and silk yarn.

“It will give a boost to the silk producers if private investors set up garment units in the state and use local yarn for largescale production, the chief minister said