Bihar Assembly Elections second Phase -2015 schedule

(Phase 2, Date of Poll 16.10.2015 )

S. No.	Item	Number of Assembly Constituencies going on poll=32
1.	Total Electors	General Elector- 8596856 a)      Male –                 4576722 b)      Female-               4019878 c)      Others -                       256 Service Elector -                   16976 d)      Male –                       11501 e)      Female-                        5473 f)        Others:                            02   ------------------------------                Total  -               8613832
2	Total number of Candidates	456
3	Total Number of Female candidates	32
4	No. and Name of the Assembly Constituency with maximum No. of  Candidates	One AC (215-Kurtha of Arwal district)
5	No. & Name of the Assembly Constituency with  minimum number of Candidates	One AC (227- Imamganj (SC) of Gaya district)
6	No. & Name of the Assembly constituency where more than one women candidate	8 ACs (205-Bhabua, 211-Nokha, 218-Makhdumpur (SC), 220-Obra, 221-Nabinagar, 226-Sherghati, 228-Barachatti (SC) and 231-Tikari)
7	Party-wise list of candidates:	BJP	16
		BSP	32
		CPI	13
		CPM	02
		INC	06
		JD (U)	13
		NCP	06
		RJD	13
		LJP	03
		RLSP	06
		Registered Political Parties (other then recognized National and State)	200
		Independents	146
		Total	456
8	Largest Assembly constituency Electorate wise	208-Sasaram
9	Largest Assembly Constituency Area Wise	206- Chainpur
10	Smallest Assembly constituency Electorate wise	218- Makhdumper (SC)
11	Smallest Assembly constituency Area wise	230- Gaya Town
12	Number  of Total Polling Stations	9119
13	Number of EVMs to be used in the elections	Control Units -   9119 Ballot Units -   5624

Mid-Day Meal Rules, 2015

The Central Government notified ‘Mid Day Meal Rules, 2015’ on September 30^th, 2015. The National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA, 2013) contains provisions related to welfare schemes including Mid Day Meal Scheme. In accordance with the provisions of the Act, the Ministry of HRD has finalized the MDM Rules after consultation with the States and other related Central Ministries. The rules will be known as Mid Day Meal Rules, 2015 and will be in effect from the date of notification in the Gazette of India. The Rules inter alia provide for temporary utilization of other funds available with the school for MDM in case school exhausts MDM funds for any reason; Food Security Allowance to be paid to beneficiaries in case of non-supply of meals for specified reasons; and monthly testing of meals on a random basis by accredited Labs to check its quality. Further, the Rules also provide that concerned State Governments shall fix responsibility on the person or agency if meals are not provided on 3 consecutive school days or 5 days in a month. These rules and their effective compliance by implementing agencies in the States will ensure better regularity in serving mid day meals in schools and also improve quality of the meals as well as overall implementation of the Mid Day Meal Scheme in the country. The salient provisions of the rules are as under:

·        Entitlements of children: Every child within the age group of six to fourteen years studying in classes I to VIII who enroll and attend the school, shall be provided hot cooked meal having nutritional standards of 450 calories and 12 gm of protein for primary and 700 calories and 20 gm protein for upper primary free of charge every day except on school holidays. The place of serving meals to the children shall be school only.

·        Implementation of the Scheme: Every school shall have the facility for cooking meal in hygienic manner. Schools in urban area may use the facility of centralised kitchens for cooking meals wherever required in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Central Government and the meal shall be served to children at respective school only.

·        Responsibility of School Management Committee: The School Management Committee mandated under Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 shall also monitor implementation of the Mid-day meal Scheme and shall oversee quality of meals provided to the children, cleanliness of the  place of cooking  and maintenance of hygiene in implementation of mid day meal scheme.

·        Utilization of School Funds: The Headmaster or Headmistress  of the school shall be empowered to utilise any fund available in school for the purpose of continuation of Mid Day Meal Scheme in the school in case of temporary unavailability of food grains, cooking cost etc. in the school. The utilised fund shall be reimbursed to the school account immediately after receipt of mid day meal funds.

·        Testing of the meals by Accredited Labs to ensure nutritional standards: Hot cooked meal provided to children shall be evaluated and certified by the Government Food Research Laboratory or any laboratory accredited or recognized by law, so as to ensure that the meal meets with the nutritional standards and quality.

·        The Food and Drugs Administration Department of the State may collect samples to ensure the nutritive value and quality of the meals. The samples shall be collected at least once in a month from randomly selected schools or centralised kitchens and sent for examination to the accredited laboratories.

·        Food Security Allowance. -  If the Mid-Day Meal is not provided in school on any school day due to non-availability of food grains, cooking cost, fuel or absence of cook-cum-helper or any other reason, the State Government shall pay food security allowance by 15^th of the succeeding month in the manner provided herein below:-

(a)                Quantity of Food grains as per entitlement of the child; and

(b)               Cooking cost prevailing in the State.

Ø      In case of non-supply of meal by the Centralised Kitchen, the Food Security Allowance shall be realised from the Centralised Kitchen as stated above.

Ø      Provided that in case a child has not taken food on offer for whatever reasons, no claim of food security allowance shall lie with the State Government or Centralised Kitchens:

Ø      Provided further that no claim shall lie with State Government or Centralised Kitchen for reasons of quality of food grains and meal:

Ø      The State Government shall take action to fix responsibility on the person or agency in accordance with the procedure laid down, if mid day meal is not provided in school on school days continuously for three days or at least for five days in a month.

Ø      Wherever an agency of Central Government is involved, the State Government shall take up the matter with Central Government which shall resolve the matter within a month.        

Kharif Crop Sowing Crosses 1031 Lakh Hectares

           The total area sown under kharif crops as on 01^st   October, 2015 has reached to 1031.37 lakh hectares as compared to 1017.86 lakh hectare last year at this time.

             Rice has been sown/transplanted in 375.93 lakh hectares, pulses in 114.58 lakh hectare coarse, cereals in 183.16 lakh hectares, oilseeds in 184.64 lakh hectares, sugarcane in 48.84 lakh hectares and cotton in 116.41 lakh hectares.

             The details of the area covered so far and that covered during last year this time given as follows:

                                                                                                                              Lakh hectare 

Crop	Area sown in 2015-16	Area sown in 2014-15
Rice	375.93	375.21
Pulses	114.58	102.56
Coarse Cereals	183.16	178.44
Oilseeds	184.64	178.24
Sugarcane	48.84	48.74
Jute & Mesta	7.80	8.13
Cotton	116.41	126.55
Total	1031.37	1017.86

National Awards- Vayoshreshtha Samman

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee today presented National Awards “Vayoshreshtha Samman” to senior citizens in a function organized by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment Highlighting the role of the Older Persons in the society, Shri Mukherjee said that the International Day of Older Persons is an occasion to focus renewed attention on issues relating to the older people.  There is a need to sensitize various strata of the society towards the challenges being faced by the elderly people, he emphasized.

Category of National Award	Name of the Institution/individual
Best Institution for providing services to senior citizens and awareness generation	1.      Gram Vikas Parisha, Vill. Rangaloo, Jumarmur. 2.      Pravara Rural Hospital, Loni, Tahata.
Best District Panchayat in providing services and facilities to senior citizens.	1.      Zilla panchayat Dindori, Dindori, MP. 2.      Udupi Zilla Panchayath, Manipal, Karnataka.
Centenarian	1.      Shri uday Singh Maan, Lowa Kalan, Jhajjar, Haryana.
Iconic Mother	1.      Smt. Laduben alias Leelaben Chaabildas Gurjar, Thakkar-Bapa Colony, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Life Time Achievement	1.      Shri Yashwant Narayan Kadam, Vijaynagar Colony, Kolhapur, Maharashtra.

 

Bihar Assembly Elections -2015

(Phase 1, Date of Poll 12.10.2015 )

S. No.	Item	Number of Assembly Constituencies going on poll=49
1.	Total Electors	General Elector- 13555260 Male –                   7237253 Female-                6317602 Others -                       405 Service Elector -      17079 Male –                       11783 Female-                      5296 Others:                         00     ------------------------------  Total  -            13572339
2	Number Types of Assembly Constituencies	General : 40  SC :          8  ST:           1
3	Total number of Candidates	583
4	Total Number of Female candidates	54
5	Assembly Constituencies  having more than 16 candidates	03
6	Assembly Constituencies  having more than 32 candidates	Nil
7	No. and Name of the Assembly Constituency with maximum No. of  Candidates	135-Morwa & 137-Mohiuddinagar
8	No. & Name of the Assembly Constituency with  minimum number of Candidates	239-Warsaliganj
9	Party-wise list of candidates:	BJP	27
		BSP	41
		CPI	25
		CPM	12
		INC	08
		JD (U)	24
		NCP	06
		RJD	17
		LJP	13
		RLSP	06
		Registered Political Parties (other then recognised National and State)	210
		Independents	194
		Total	583
10	Largest Assembly constituency Electorate wise	168-Lakhisarai
11	Largest Assembly Constituency Area Wise	243- Chakai

12	Smallest Assembly constituency Electorate wise	170-Barbigha
13	Number of General, Expenditure, Police & Awareness Observers  deployed	General Observers -           49 Expenditure Observers  -   18  Police  Observers            -  10 Awareness Observers-        04
14	No. of  Polling Stations	13212
16	Number of EVMs to be used in the elections	Control Units -   13212 Ballot Units -   2402

Dredging Corporation of India gives Divedend for 2014-15 to Government of India

The Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCI) today gave dividend cheque of Rs. 6,17,93,100/- for 2014-15 to the Government of India. The cheque was handed over to Union Minister of Shipping and Road Transport & Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari by Shri Rajesh Tripathi, Chairman and Managing Director of the Corporation in New Delhi. Shri Rajive Kumar, Secretary, Shipping and other senior officers of the Ministry were present on the occasion.

The Profit after tax of the Company increased to Rs. 6240.84 lakh for the year as compared to Rs. 3754.67 lakh for the previous year registering a rise of 66%.

The Company has in the last three years acquired three Trailer Suction Hopper Dredgers of 5500 capacity each. The dredgers have joined the fleet and performing very well.

In continuation of the steps taken for capacity augmentation, the Company has proposals to purchase two more higher capacity dredgers in 12th Plan 2012-17.