In one of the first interventions of its kind in Bihar, Greenpeace, Bihar Times and Civil Society Groups of the state today asked political leadership to end the energy crisis by committing to a policy change for adoption of Decentralized Renewable Energy.

Saran Renewable Energy is bringing power to the people in Bihar
Tapash Talukdar

TEENAGERS IN Saran district of Bihar have found a new idol. Their elders may still want them to become an engineer or a civil servant, but they would rather turn entrepreneur and do something for their villages, just the way 32-year old Vivek Gupta did.

N. Gopal Raj

A simple and strictly local power generation system has proved that rural Indian communities are willing and able to pay for reliable electricity.

A technology that converts rice husk into electricity is gaining ground in Bihar. Some 100,000 households in the state already use electricity produced from biomass and their number is steadily growing.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday demanded an additional allocation of at least 300 Mega Watt power for the State from the Centre to tide over the drought like situation in wake of poor monsoon.

Pratim Ranjan Bose

Kolkata, June 28 The RPG Enterprises flagship CESC Ltd, Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and Mumbai-based Glodyne Technoserve Ltd are in the race to be franchise power distributor in Patna.

BHUBANESWAR: The unrelenting heatwave conditions have piled insurmountable suffering on the hapless citizens of Orissa. To heap more misery long power cuts and low voltage have become the order of the day.

The Nitish Kumar Government on Friday revised the Public Distribution System (PDS) and slashed the quota of foodgrain for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families from 35 to 25 kg and that of kerosene from f

Innovative farming: Mr. Choudhary of Vaishali district in Bihar with the harvested produce.

Adding to its list of firsts, the Bihar Government has called this year's budget a "gender budget'. The budget has been planned in a way to focus on schemes launched exclusively for the welfare of women, said Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who also holds the Finance portfolio, after presenting the state's budget on Monday. Since coming to power over two years ago, the Nitish Kumar Government has been focusing on women empowerment, and gender budget is being seen as yet another step in that direction. Bihar is the first state in the country to institute 50 per cent reservation for women in panchayat bodies. Other populist schemes like providing school uniforms and cycles to girl students and monetary help for marriage of girls from poor families have already been started. The highlight of the state budget this year, however, was the focus on the agriculture sector. Allocation for the sector was increased from Rs 133.45 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 191.34 crore in 2008-09, a raise of 43 per cent. The increased allocation is a reflection of the state's realisation that agriculture is the backbone of its economy. Another interesting aspect of the budget was an allocation of Rs 11 crore for more yoga training camps at district and sub-division-level hospitals of the state Government. Modi said that for six months, yoga training camps would be held at 27 district and 22 sub-divisional hospitals in the state. The state's budget, presented in the Assembly on Monday, was pegged at Rs 38,574 crore

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