Some predict that the litchi production could be down by 30-40 percent due to inclement weather conditions.

“Till last week, we were hopeful of bumper production of litchi, but no more now. This year, litchi production will be down by 30 to 40 percent due to squalls coupled with hailstorms,” said Surender Singh, a litchi grower from Muzaffarpur district.

Another farmer, Bholanath Jha, told IANS that the litchi production this year would be significantly less than that of the last year, mainly because of hot weather and hailstorms which damaged the crop in many areas.

“I was upbeat about good crop early this month. But unpredictable weather damaged more than 50 percent of litchi crops,” he claimed.

There are others who are worried about irrigation of the juicy fruit crop. India is the world’s second largest litchi producer, and Bihar accounts for more than 74 per cent of the total production in the country.

“Litchi plants need to be watered at least three to four times a day. It is a difficult task in view of lack of irrigation facilities. Hot weather has made the situation worse,” said Satendra Kumar Sharma, another litchi grower in the region.

Scientists, too, are fretting over impending loss to the crop. “Litchi production could fall due to an extreme hot weather,” said Dr Vishalnath, director of Muzaffarpur-based National Litchi Research Centre. He, however, refused to give forecast on the possible losses.

Last year, Muzaffarpur had recorded bumper litchi crop due to favourable climate, he said.

According to officials at the centre, 35 degree Celcius is an ideal temeperature for litchi but for last few days, the temperature is hovering around 40 degree Celsius.

“Temperature is five degree Celcius higher that the optimum temperature. It is a bad sign for litchi growers,” they said.

Dr S.K. Purve, another scientist, said the litchi growers have been asked to take care of the crop and nurse the plant stems.

Litchi orchards are spread over Muzaffarpur and neighbouring districts. According to statistics available with the state agriculture department, litchi is cultivated in approximately 25,000 hectares in north Bihar. Every year, the region produces about 90,700 metric tonnes of litchi.

Government is also spending over Rs 100 crores for the setting up of 75 Bed Hospitals in 21 subdivisions of the state, of which hospitals had been constructed in 13 subdivisions.

The construction of hospital building has been completed in ten districts – Buxar, Kaimur, Banka, Kishanganj, Jamui, Sheikhpura, Supaul, Araria, Lakhisarai and Khagaria. In Khagaria, a new 100-bed hospital has already been inaugurated.

Health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey recently said that it had been decided in 2010-11 to upgrade 15 referral hospitals into subdivisional hospitals, of which 10 hospitals in Kaimur, Munger, Saran, Katihar, East Champaran, Nalanda, Gaya, Purnia and Madhepura districts had already been completed.

Patna 
Kamaldah (Patna City) : In the area called Kamaldah (Gulzarbagh, Patna) is a high mound of brick ruins on which two Jain temples stand. There is mausoleum of Jain saint Sthoolhdbhadra and the temple of Sudarshan Swami.

Muzaffarpur 
Kund Gram : As per Jain tradition Lord Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankar, was born at Kundagrama and Vaniyagrama was his residence. Both the places was either part of or near to Vaishali. While the modern village of Bania can be taken as representing the site of ancient Vaniagrama. The location of Kundagrama is identified with the modern village of Vasokund, about 2 kms northeast of the gadh mound.

Nalanda 
Kundalpur : A beautiful Jaisalmer stone temple is situated close to the ruins of ancient Nalanda University at Kundalpur. This houses statues of Lord Mahavira, Adinath Swami and Gautam Gandharva. This place is believed to be the birthplace of Gautam Gandharva, the first disciple of Lord Mahavira. An ancient Jain temple could also be here.

Jalmandir : Pawapuri,which is also known as Apapapuri, the sinless town, is a very sacred Jain pilgrimage. As per Jain Mythology and belief, Lord Mahavira, the greatest propounder of Jainism, attained Nirvana at Pawapuri. Hundred of thousands of his disciples and devotees took away the ashes after his cremation here. The rush was so great that even the soils of the area were taken away and it became a tank. Later on, a beautiful temple of white marble was constructed in the center of the tank to commemorate the Lord’s Nirvana. This temple is known as the Jalmandir.

Samosaran  : A beautiful temple honor the place where Lord Mahavira sat to teach his disciples. The temple is constructed of white marble, rising by low steps into several concentric terraces with a beehive shaped shrine on the top containing the footprints of Lord Mahavira.

Maniyar Math  : This monument occupies a prominent position inside the valley, situated on the way to the Son Bhandar Caves, almost in the center of the ancient inner city enclosure. Legend is that Srenika or Bimbisara had 32 wives to each of which he daily gave new ornaments, and threw the old ones into a well, which is still shown. This covers a modern small Jain temple as well.

Sone Bhandar : There are two rock-cut caves, adjacent to each other, excavated on the southern face of the Vaibhara hill, facing the western portion of the valley. Of them the western one is locally called as Son-Bhandar (Gold Treasury). As per Local belief, the piece of rock within this space is an ancient wedge blocking up the passage to the treasury of gold in the body of the hill. It consists of a rock-cut chamber and its front part has been fallen. Inside the southern wall of the cave there are six small figures of Jaina Tirthankaras carved in relief and representing Padmaprabha, Parshvanatha and Mahavira.

Nawada 
Gonava Jee : Gonava village is situated at around one kilometer north of Nawada on Patna-Ranchi road. This is a pilgrimage site for the Jains of both sects. The Digambar Jain temple is just by the side of main road while the Shwetambar Jain temple is behind it. . The temple is famous and known as place of Nirvana of Lord Mahavira’s 1st disciple, Gautam Gandharva.

Bhojpur 
Bisram : This place is in town called “Arrah” where there are another 45 Jain temples. Lord Mahavira, the 24th Jain Tirthankara, took rest here for some time during his wanderings, hence this place is called Bisram (rest). Jains from every part of the country visit Bisram throughout the year. There is a Jain temple here containing an idol of Lord Mahavira.

Masadh : This village is located at around 9-kms southwest of “Arrah” town. An ancient Jain temple dedicated to Parshwanath is situated here and contains eight images, some of them dates back to ancient time. The temple was completed in the year 1819 A.D. while some of the eight images date back to 1386 A.D. as per archaeological records.

Banka 
Mandar Hill : It is about around 48-kms south of the Bhagalpur town. The hill is about 700-ft high that consists of a huge mass of granite overgrown near the summit with low jungle. This hill is believed to be extremely sacred as per the Hindu mythology. The Skand Purana associates Mandar or Sumeru with the famous epic or Puranic story of the Amrita-Manthana or the churning of the ocean. The story goes that the Gods and the Demons (Devas and Asuras) with a view to secure amrita (the divine liquor), which is believed to confer immortality, used this Mandara or Sumeru Mountain as the churning stick or rod. The great mythical serpent, Vasuki, was used as the rope. Due to this mythical association, the hill had assumed considerable religious significance and had been a place of pilgrimage ever since. Two Jain temples are situated on the summit of the hill. Large number of Jain pilgrims comes here to worship Lord Vasupujyanatha.

Bhagalpur 
Champanagar : A western suburb of the Bhagalpur town is at present known as Champanagar. In the Kalpa-Sutra this is mentioned as one of the places where the last Tirthankara Mahavira stayed for three rainy seasons in the course of his religious wanderings. According to the prevalent Jain tradition it is believed that Jain Tirthankara Vasupujya was born at Champanagar or Champapuri. There are two Jain temples of considerable size, both entirely built at the expense of the family of Jagat Seth, a supporter. At the nearby hamlet of Kabirpur there is another Jain temple with the footprints or padukas (footwear) of the 24 Jain Tirthankaras with an inscription dated V.S. 1694 or 1637 A.D.

Jamui

Lachhaur : This is one of jain pilgrimage sites, situated about 8-kms west of Simaria and 7-kms south of Sikandra. It has s a large number of Jain temples and dharmshala built in 1874 by Rai Dhanpat Singh Bahadur of Murshidabad, for the benefit of Jain pilgrims, who visit some places in the adjacent hills. The nearest are about 5-kms of Lachhaur and are marked Muth Boodhroop and Muth Purusnath. These are two small shrines picturesquely situated in the valley between two parallel ranges of hills. In each of these shrines one can find a small statue of Mahavira, one of them dates back to Sambat 1505, and the other appears to be the older one. The temples themselves, however, are of recent date. Some Jains hold Lachhaur to be the birthplace of Mahavir Swami.

Kundghat : It is around 6-kms from Lachhaur. There is a temple of Kundeshwari Devi, which is considered sacred by the Jains

It will have an hypermarket, flagship retails store of all key national & international brands, restaurants, food court, fun zone for kids, banquets and multiplex to provide a complete outing experience to families.

The salient Features of the mall include
1. Ground + 2 floors of retail space (75,000 sq ft approx), this will include hypermarket, and flagship stores.
2. 3rd Floor (25,000 sq ft approx) will have a food court, stand along restaurants and a fun zone for kids. Additionally restaurants will connect to banquet space on 4th and 5th floor.
3. 4th and 5th Floor has a 3 Screen multiplex.
4. Lower and Upper Basement floors will provide over 45,000 sq ft of basement parking space, this is over and above around 30,000 sq ft of surface parking.
5. To support easy access and circulation the mall will have 8 fast lifts and 6 escalators.
6. The mall is centrally air-conditioned to ensure all weather shopping experience and have 100% power back up with redundancy.
7. Wi-Fi on all the floors
8. Centralized Security System with Video Surveillance.
9. Adequate parking lots and Automatic power backups

If you are a business and wish to book space, you can mail to info@st-marketing.co.in

Apart from it another two new malls are being planned in Bihar, one of them would be located at Patna.

The target is to increase the Size and Output of Litchi in North Bihar, which produces 90 % Litchis in the country.

The joint body has started 48 Farm Schools in 12 blocks of Muzaffarpur to train a number of Litchi farmers and disseminate the cultivation knowhow. Each course at these Farm Schools is divided into 6 units followed by Practical Demonstrations which would be organized in Feb. They are provided a booklet summarizing the important points taught in Lectures.

In another development, this body has imported Special Grade Litchi samples from Thailand and Vietnam which would also be made available to the farmers.

As per a report published in a leading Hindi Daily from Bihar, these cities would be provided with
1. Smooth Road Connectivity
2. 24 hours Power
3. Multi- Speciality Hospitals
4. Shopping Complexes
5. Industrial Areas
6. Integrated Office Spaces.
7. Proper Sewarage System

Presently Patna is the only city in Bihar where all these facilities are fully available. Incidentally, Bihar is the only state in Eastern region where no city other than the capital city is fully developed.
The Government has planned to make Patna a metropolitan/mega city while other cities would be semi-metropolies. Patna has been granted metropolitan status 2 years back. In June 2009, the World Bank ranked Patna as second place in India, after Delhi, in terms of the ease of starting a business. It has also been ranked 21st fastest growing city in the World and 5th in India

“One is tempted to view “Celebrate Your Life” as yet another self-help manual, but it forms a core of knowledge which is eminently suitable for use in a classroom environment as well.” added the Oxford professor.

Dr. Birbal Jha founded British Lingua in 1993 with a mission to help students develop communication skills in English, develop their personality, and qualify for a better career.Since then thousands of students have graduated from this institution. BAP Pvt Ltd, which is the company running British Lingua, has set up teaching centres in Delhi, Patna and many small, non-metropolitan cities so that students even with a rural background can benefit from its courses.Today British Lingua has total 10 branches – two in Delhi, three in Patna, one in Darbhanga, one in Muzaffarpur, one in Dehri-On-Sone, one in Giridih and one in Budaun.

“We a request the people to be cautious and report anything suspicious to the nearest police station immediately,” Patna DIG, Vineet Vinayak said.

Government has also made a dedicated team of Women Police Personnel to deal with eve-teasing and other such women-harassing activities.
Any incidents of Eve-Teasing can be reported to 9470001390 .

Three companies of plain clothed force, with each company having 200 personnel, will keep an eye on eve-teasers. Another helpline number 9470001389 can also be used for the purpose.

Additionally, steps have also been taken to prevent chain snatching. Patna police will deploy 50 police bikers.

The Patna police have also requisitioned Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel for deployment at sensitive places. “There are quite a few sensitive areas in the city. We will deploy RAF personnel at all such places,” the senior cop said. Apart from security, all Organizing Committees have been issues guidelines under which No loudspeaker should be played after 10pm.

Ambulances on demand has been made at all prominent pandals and strategic locations and hospitals, mainly PMCH, have been kept on alert.Firefighters have also been asked to remain ready to control any cuch incident. Anti-riot vehicle, Vajra, will also be kept ready.

NTPC, which has an installed power generation capacity of over 34,000 MW, plans to scale up this capacity to a whopping 1,28,000 MW by 2032.

It has two units each of 195 MW under NTPC Kanti Bijlee Utpadan Nigam Limited, a subsidiary of NTPC

Shri A.K. Singhal, Director ( Finance) NTPC with the officials of consortium of four banks -State Bank of India, Canara Bank, India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd and United Bank of India on the occasion of Kanti Bijlee Utpadan Nigam Limited a subsidiary of NTPC Limited achieving financial closure for Stage-II of Muzaffarpur Thermal Power Project consisting of two units of 195 MW each. A loan agreement for Rs. 2341 Crore in this regard was signed in New Delhi.

In Nalanda, the swollen Lokayan has submerged the western side of Hilsa block area. Telephone and mobile links are snapped while water has entered thousands of buildings, including schools. Standing crops on hundreds of acres have been destroyed.

In Bhojpur people have heaved sigh of relief with the Sone and Ganga receding. In Begusarai also, the Ganga showed receding trend. However, about 20,000 people of four panchayats in Balia subdivision have also been affected by the floods.