BPSC Exam Prep

■  Monthly Current Affairs ■ CM Nitish Kumar announced one-third reservation for girl students in Engineering & Medical colleges of the state. •By this, Bihar will become the first state in the country to provide 33.3% quota to girls in the technical colleges .

 ■ Bihar has an  abundance of human resource and this requires the creation of large-scale and diversified employment opportunities within the state. In absence of it, a large contingent of the working population travels to other industrialized states of India and abroad to obtain gainful employment. Moreover, the persistence of the less-productive and less-diversified agricultural sector, small industrial base and petty services sector has adversely affected the employability and livelihood options of the working-age population in Bihar. Therefore the Government should frame policies and implement them to create employment opportunities in the state so that the livelihood conditions of the working-age population can be improved.   ■ Size of Labour Force and WorkForce: The following indicators are based on the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) , conducted by the National Statistical Office ( NSO ), from July 2018 to June 2019.

■ Bihar's climatic and topographical conditions make it favourable for the growth of allied sectors in the state.  The growing importance of allied sectors such as fisheries, animal husbandry and dairy farming in Bihar is largely due to its role in supporting livelihoods. As labour-intensive sectors, they employ a large segment of the population and help the poor rural households in earning supplementary income. The Department of Animal and Fisheries Resources has brought out a  Livestock Master Plan (LMP)  for the years 2018-19 to 2022-23 to augment production and marketing of milk, meat, eggs, and fish to meet their growing demand. ■ Fisheries

  ■   I n Bihar, the total water area stands at 3.52 lakh hectares , accounting for 3.8% of the total  geographical area .  Bihar is endowed with substantial ground and surface water resources. The river Ganga and its tributaries provide water resources to the state, for both agricultural and non-agricultural uses. On average, the state receives annual rainfall amounting to  1000 MMS , the bulk of which comes from the  southwest monsoon .  T his is not adequate to water the entire farming activities in the state. Therefore, a well-planned irrigation system is needed to assist in stabilizing production, improving yield and   cropping intensities .  ■   Gross Irrigated Area (GIA):

  ■  A griculture is the mainstay of economies such as Bihar, underpinning their food security,  employment, and rural development. About 74% of the workforce in Bihar depend on agricultural and allied activities for their livelihood.  Besides generating employment, it also provides raw material to industries,  augments food supply and assists in poverty alleviation. • In 2019-20, the overall contribution of the agricultural and allied sectors to state's GDP stood at 18.7% . ■  Land Use Pattern

■  Bihar Economy: An Overview On 19 th February 2021 Bihar’s Finance Minister Tarkishore Prasad tabled the 15 th Bihar Economic Survey on the floor of the Legislative Assembly. The first survey was presented in 2006-07 .   ■ Bihar Economy: