1,06,421 women have been extended benefit of Janani Suraksha Yojana launched in the state for promoting institutional delivery.

Thanks to the importance given to forests and wildlife, a congenial atmosphere has been generated in the state for forest conservation.

The Madhya Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday witnessed protest by members of entire Opposition showing electronic lamps.

To enlist State in the tourism map of the world, Madhya Pradesh Eco-tourism Development Board (MPEDB) is working on about fifty new eco-tourism projects across the state.

In 1947 when India got freedom from the alien British rulers the population of the country was much less than 30 crores and the agricultural production of the grains was only 3 crore metric tones, qui

Health and Family Welfare Minister Ambumani Ramadoss informed the Lok Sabha the other day that 69.5 per cent of children in the age group of six to 59 months are suffering from anaemia of which 63 per

The Indo-US nuclear deal is in focus these days. The Government must call Left's bluff and the Right's circumlocution. The Left is more worried about China's interests than that of India and the Right is opposing the deal for the sake of opposition. In fact the Right when in power carried out protracted negotiations with the US State Department to hammer out an agreement but now it is opposing the Deal because it sits in the opposition. Issues of national interest must be backed by bipartisan consensus. If the Left and the Right have their own agendas, let them pursue them but the Government must not let this opportunity pass even if it risks early elections. India is not a small country that will be gobbled by the US. India merits attention on its own. Welcome to Indian films in Pakistan According to a report, Pakistan is planning to lift 1965 ban on Bollywood films. This will gladden the hearts of the Pakistanis as the Bollywood movies and stars are extremely popular in Pakistan and come what may, beg, borrow or steal, Pakistanis must see the Indian movies. Pirated copies of the latest Bollywood movies reach Pakistan via Dubai days before they are released in India. While the Pakistani picture halls comply with the government ban and refrain from screening of the Bollywood movies, come evening, every home in Pakistan turns into a picture hall amidst much merrymaking and feasting. In the days Indian television was telecasting the Ramayana and Mahabharta on the TV, the Government of Pakistan was alarmed by the fact that the people from far-flung areas were flying to Lahore to watch the episodes because the TV antennas in those days did not carry the signals to their respective cities. In Lahore, life used to come to a standstill when the episodes were broadcast. The Pakistani ban on Bollywood films didn't work as far as the people of Pakistan were concerned. If the ban on the showing of Bollywood movies in Pakistan goes as proposed, it will help better understanding between the people of two countries united by racial, linguistic and cultural bonds. It will be the harbinger of a new era of relationship between the erstwhile hostile neighbours. I'm sure both the people of India and Pakistan will welcome the policy change. RJ Khurana

Rivers are facing crisis of their existence. Though trees are being axed but they are not being planted in the same proportion. Small rivers are continuously disappearing and big rivers' water assets is decreasing. Rivers are getting polluted and water animals are decreasing continuously. Tributaries, which are the main source of big rivers, are also facing extinction. Amidst these concerns a three-day international Nadi convention was organised at Bandrabhan where the thinkers considered over these issues. On the concluding day, Governor Dr Balram Jakhar said that progress at the cost of harm to nature is not proper. If our ecology system is not safe then the whole creation including human beings would also meet with end. Trees are necessary for rivers and water. The Nadi Mahotsava came out with an 8-point declaration with emphasis on protection and conservation of rivers. The first point of declaration lays emphasis on making the basin as base for researches. Maximum flood level should be left for river, this suggestion has also been given in the declaration. The declaration says that Nadi Janpad would be constituted at national level and to develop banking system of the rivers. Under this provision, each river should have its own account and a balance sheet should be prepared for expenditure on the river. The delegates in the convention reiterated on deepening river basins. Work should be done on small rivers of the state. The participants emphasised on storing of rain water through various means. Special efforts would be required to make the water sources of Narmada, Betwa and other big rivers clean. Apart from optimum exploitation of nature there is also need to pay attention towards its conservation.

India has an ambitious plan, the vision 2020, to become one of the most developed and advanced countries of the world. For achievement of Vision 2020, India needs to have development at the rate of 10pc. The country will need a large quantum of energy to run its enormous infrastructures. The present conventional source of energy from the fossil fuel is insufficient to fulfil the future demand of the country. The deposits of the fossil fuel are limited, that too would be consumed in the next 50 years. The fissile element uranium would only be the future source of energy. Uranium is a radioactive fissile element which was named after the planet Uranus by its discoverer Klaproth in the year 1789. In the year 1901, Sir Thomas Holland reported the presence of uranium in Gaya dist and Singhbhumi in Bihar. Unfortunately India has very little deposit of uranium. Nevertheless there is a huge deposit of thorium in Travancore in the seacoast of Kerala. At present thorium cannot be used as nuclear fuel as it requires some scientific processing, hectic researches are going on by the scientists but no dependable method to use thorium has been evolved up till now. It will take many years to develop some process to use thorium as an atomic fuel. But, sooner or later, thorium will become missile element like uranium. India requires uranium and the latest advanced technology in nuclear science which only the US and other advanced countries of the nuclear club can provide. America, on the other hand, has its own post-cold war global foreign policy in which India stands as its natural allay in their assessment. India is going to be the global player in the world economy, next after China and the US. China has a plan to surpass the US in future economic and political scenario and posing a threat to the unipolar status of the super power America. The future nuclear fuel demand of India and the future foreign policy of the US has made the nuclear deal imperative for both big democracies of the world. In this process India and US signed 123 agreement which is a part of the nuclear deal. India needs to have a safeguard agreement with the nuclear watchdog - the IAEA on specific safeguards which is very essential because of the sensibility of the n-deal in order to prevent nuke proliferation. RK Gupta

I will stop the migration of Bihari labourers. In future, nobody will go to other states at least to fulfill the requirement of bread and butter: CM - report of Satish K Singh Now, every road of Bihar goes towards development. In every sector process of transformation is going on. Face of Bihar is changing rapidly. Citizens of Bihar are presently daring to think about daydream. You just look at some of the latest developments which are spreading its wings all over Bihar. The Nitish govt is going to provide over 24,000 dwellings to the urban poor in the ten towns of the state soon. The basic services for urban poor (BSUP) scheme under JNNURM envisages provision of 14,592 dwelling units with amenities, including light and clean environment for the urban poor. The units will be constructed in cooperation with the Centre, the state govt and Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC). Urban Development Minister Ashwini Kumar Chaubey on Feb 11 launched the first phase of the project at Mundichak in Bhagalpur. The project will be launched at Jagdeopath in Patna soon. Hudco will construct 12,596 units at an estimated cost of Rs 313 crore in Patna agglomeration area including Patna, Phulwarisharif, Danapur and Khagaul. Another 2000 housing units will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 54 crore at Bodh Gaya. Raj Bhavan will soon adopt 1000 children of Musahar community in Bhojpur and Bhagalpur dist for imparting education to them in the nearest schools and colleges besides providing them food and clothes. These children will be educated under the supervision of the universities located in those areas localities while some NGOs would extend help in different forms. People of Bihar irrespective of age and profession would soon get an opportunity to express their innovative ideas and highlight researches at five day festival to be organized in Patna University. Aimed at developing a: Discovery Park: in the state, the creativity festival would be open to all-from school teachers, professionals of organized and unorganized sectors, farmers, technicians and scientists who want to bring to light their works and ideas in different fields. Cultural programme between Bihar and Mauritius has ended recently. PM of Mauritius Navin Ramgoolam had come to Bihar for this purpose. Basically he belongs to Bihar. Now, Navin is also ready to invest a lot of money for the development of industries in Bihar. A few days ago, NRIs meet was organised at Shri Krishna Memorial Hall, Patna. A number of NRIs want to invest in Bihar. Recently, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said, I will stop the migration of Biharis labours. In future, nobody will go to other states at least to fulfill the requirement of bread and butter. The 40-year-old Lok Sabha member from Madhepura, Pappu Yadav symbolized money and brute muscle power got life term for Ajit Sarkar murder case. The special court awarded the same sentence to a former MLA from Govindganj in East Champaran district, Rajan Tiwari and history-sheeter Anil Yadav for the killing in Purnea. With the signing of an agreement between the NTPC and BSEB on Feb 14 for the Bihar Bijli Company, Nabinagar, the process for establishment of 1980 MW thermal power plant in Aurangabad district has begun. The bipartite agreement for the super project with an estimated cost of 9,000 crore was signed in the presence of CM Nitish Kumar and NTPC Chairman-Cum-MD T Sankarlingam and energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav. Announcement of opening of new Medical, Engineering, Agriculture and ITI colleges/institutes are signs of change in Bihar. Opening of new ordnance factory at Rajgir in Nalanda district, renovation of sugar mills in north Bihar and renovation of all closed industries are also indications of transformation taking place in Bihar. Perhaps due to this, the Bihar govt's thrust on reforms and good governance has been appreciated by the World Bank and ADB, which promised the CM to extend financial assistance in terms of loans and grants in the sectors of road construction, power, Panchayati Raj institutions and tourism. The state govt has sought assistance for construction of Panchayat Bhavans in all 8712 gram panchayats to strengthen the panchayati raj instiutions. The govt also asked for monetary support from the JVIC to build an expressway between Patna, Gaya and also develop tourist spots coming under the Buddhist circuit. In this connection Nitish has demanded enough funds from the Centre for the all-round development of Bihar. With a view to link 10,000 inaccessible villages with roads in the state by March 2009, the government has strengthened the Rural Development Department by transferring under it several circles and divisions from other depts. In fact Bihar has a vast reservoir of talent and there was need for their exposure. If this pace of reforms is carried in the near future too, undoubtedly Bihar will be richest state of the country once again.