Bihar Current Affairs June 2022
■ Monthly Current Affairs
■ On 7 June 2022, Union Minister for Road Transport and
Highways Nitin Gadkari and CM Nitish Kumar inaugurated and laid foundation stones of 15 national highway projects worth ₹13,585 crores in Bihar. This also included superstructure
replacement of the eastern flank of Mahatma Gandhi Setu. Earlier on July 2020, the
western flank was inaugurated.
About Mahatma Gandhi Setu
The four-lane Mahatma Gandhi Setu at Patna on the Ganga River was constructed during year 1980s by the State Government of Bihar. Inaugurated in 1982 by then PM Indira Gandhi, was country’s longest river bridge with 5,750 meters till 2017.
MG setu underwent repairs from 1999 to 2016, when the Centre approved its reconstruction plan.
In June 2016, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the project to rehabilitate this Bridge in Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode.
The work began in June 2017 and the existing concrete superstructure of old bridge was replaced by new steel deck superstructure consisting of about 6600 metric steel. This is being constructed at a cost of ₹1742 crore.
MG Setu is of strategic importance, connecting North and South Bihar and being the lifeline of socio- economic growth for the state. International trade with Bhutan and Nepal is also carried out via this bridge. Now with this super structure replacement project, the time taken to cross Mahatma Gandhi Setu has been reduced from 2 to 3 hours to 5 to 10 minutes.
Other important projects were:
•2-lane with 4 bypasses on Chhapra
- Gopalganj section of NH-85 built
with ₹1,192 crores.
• On NH-227L, NH-227J and NH-527A, an 88.65km long road from
Umagaon to Bheja in Madhubani with a cost of ₹1614 crores. The route from
Umagaon will directly connect the religious places of Uchhaith Bhagbati and
Mahishi Tarapith.
• Six-lane 70Km highway between Aurangabad and Chordaha that
will improve the connectivity of Bihar with Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West
Bengal.
• A 124Km four-lane greenfield expressway connecting Munger
- Bhagalpur – Mirzachowki, that will facilitate the farmers of this region to
deliver their crops across the country. The upcoming two-lane road on NH-80 will
also help connectivity between Bihar, Sahibganj and Assam and connect with
the Inland Waterways Terminal reducing the logistics cost.
•Apart from this, traffic will be facilitated from Begusarai elevated flyover, Jayanagar bypass ROB and long jams of level crossings will be avoided. With the construction of Ara 4-lane road from Kayamnagar, the traffic for Ara will be smooth.
■ A team of scholars from the Bihar Heritage Development Society (BHDS) and the UK-based Cardiff University is painstakingly retracing the footsteps of the ancient Chinese Buddhist monk-cum-traveller Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang), to discover archaeological remains and antiquities in Bihar.
Prominent among the discoveries are a Buddhist stupa atop the Dungeshwari Hill in Gaya, sculptures and structures in Jehanabad, Nawada, Nalanda and Patna districts.
Dungeshwari Hills are located at a distance of about 12-15 kms from Gaya, along the Falgu river. The caves in Dungeshwari Hills are said to have protected Lord Buddha before he descended to Bodh gaya. One of the cave temples is dedicated to the Hindu goddess, Dungeshwari.
Recently, the Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC) has decided to spend ₹8.676 crore and ₹16.76 crore on building ropeways to Brahmyoni and Dungeshwari Hills in Gaya respectively.
■ On 1st June 2022, the third passenger train service, Mitali Express between India and Bangladesh was flagged off virtually by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and his Bangladeshi counterpart Mohammad Nurul Islam Sujan.
The train will run from New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal to Dhaka Cantonment railway station in Bangladesh, covering a distance of 595 kilometres (of which a 61 Km stretch is in India).
New Jalpaiguri (NJP) railway station comes under the Katihar railway Division of the Northeast Frontier Railway zone. The Border Security Force personnel will be on the train at Haldibari station and hand it over to Bangladesh at the Zero line.
■ On 2nd June 2022,
the Bihar cabinet gave nod for a headcount of all
castes in the state, for the Caste-based Survey which will be done on the state’s
own resources. The Bihar government will
spend ₹500 crores from
the Bihar State Contingency Fund and has set a deadline of February 2023.
At the state level, it'll be carried
out by the General Administration department. At the district level, District
Magistrate will be the nodal officer. Both of these will be in charge at the panchayat level and block level. During the Caste-based survey, efforts would also
be made to take a survey on an economic basis.
■ On 8th
June 2022, CM Nitish Kumar launched the Investors
Meet-cum-Bihar Textile and Leather Policy, 2022 at the Convention
Building in Patna.
Bihar Textile and Leather Policy, 2022
- 15% of the cost of capital investment for plant and machinery will be given, subject to a maximum of ₹10 crore
- ₹2 per unit electricity subsidy and a worker will also get a monthly grant of ₹5,000 for five years
- 30% transportation subsidy besides ₹10 lakh carriage (of raw and finished materials) subsidy annually for five years.
The department has an active investors handholding wing - Udyog Mitra, an investor facilitation cell and Udyog Samvad platform for direct dialogue between the industries department and the new/existing entrepreneurs.
People from the Scheduled Caste
community have been offered ₹5 lakh as government
help and another ₹5 lakh loan to set up any self-employment venture since 2020.
■ In Bihar the state archaeology,
a part of the art, culture and youth affairs department, which intends to
explore the remains of Patliputra buried
under the earth, has engaged the IIT- Roorkee,
to conduct the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey in Guljarbagh locality in Patna Sahib area in state
capital.
■ According to the CAG report tabled in Bihar assembly, Bihar has
recoded ₹29,827 crores Fiscal deficit in
the FY- 2020-21 which has increased by ₹15,103 crores compared to last year.
It’s the first time since
2004-05, that the state has suffered a revenue loss of more than ₹11,325 crores.
■ On June 28, 2022, Sabita Mahato
of the Chhapra district of Bihar has become the first woman cyclist in the world to
travel on the world's highest road Umling La.
■ In Bihar, the Transport
Department has issued rules for setting up of permanent
traffic parks in all the districts of
the State. Under this, the state's first
permanent traffic park will be built at Veer Kunwar
Singh Park in Patna in 4900 sq. ft.
■ Former Judge of Patna High
Court, Justice Indu Prabha Singh, passed
away. Justice Indu Prabha Singh was the first
lady judge of Patna High Court
and she holds the distinction of being the first woman judge to hold court at
Patna High Court and its Ranchi Bench.
Born in Muzaffarpur, she joined
the Bar at Patna High Court in 1971 and was appointed a Government Pleader in
1985. She was appointed to the bench on July 10, 1990, and served as a judge of
the Patna High Court for a total of 17 years until she demitted office in
September 2007.
■ Anju
Kumari from Arrah, has won two gold medals in
the National Open Masters Athletics Championship organized
by the Athletics Federation of India.
In this championship held in Vadodara (Gujarat), Anju won gold medals in
the 100m and 200m races.
■ Shubham
Kumar of Kaimur won the first medal for Bihar in wrestling at the Khelo
India Youth Games 2021 held in
Panchkula, Haryana. He won a bronze medal in
wrestling (Greco-Roman style) in the 80 kg category.
■ Bhola
Kumar of Jehanabad won the first
gold medal (in
weightlifting) for Bihar in the Khelo India Youth National Games 2021 held in Panchkula, Haryana.
■ In the Khelo India Youth National Games 2021, Bihar with 1 Gold and 1 Bronze stood
28th in the medals tally.
Haryana
stood first with 52 Gold, 39 Silver and 46 Bronze.
■ Janakavi Nagarjuna Memorial Award for
the year 2022 is given to Maithili poet-writer
Taranand Viyogi.
■ Bihar Special Task Force training centre is being built at Bodh Gaya, in which 200 jawans will be able to
take training at a time.
■ Pankaj
Tripathi received the Best Supporting Actor (Male)
in the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA)
Award 2022 held in Abu Dhabi for his
performance in the film Ludo.
The Best Actor (Male) award was
given to Vicky Kaushal for Sardar Udham
and Best Actor (Female) was given to Kriti Sanon
for Mimi. The Best Film title was given to Shershaah.
■ Under the ambitious Railway Station Redevelopment Programme of Indian Railways, a total of 12 stations falling
under the jurisdiction of East Central Railways (ECR)
have been selected for upgradation to World Class
Stations.
East Central Railway was
inaugurated on 8 September 1996 with headquarters at Hajipur, Bihar. It became operational on 1st October 2002 by carving out areas from Eastern and North Eastern Railway Zone
currently consists of the divisions viz. Dhanbad, Danapur, Pt. Deen Dayal
Upadhyaya of Eastern Railway and Sonpur and Samastipur of North Eastern
Railway.
■ On 24
June 2022, CM Nitish Kumar inaugurated three important road projects in the
state capital. These are as follows:
- The 7.4-km-long first phase of the JP Ganga Path from Digha to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH).
- The second phase of the Atal Path was built at the cost of ₹69.55 crore which connects vehicular traffic of R-block-Digha Atal Path with JP Setu on river Ganga and Ganga Path.
- And the Mithapur arm of Kabigahiya Rail OverBridge (ROB) was constructed at the cost of ₹23 crores.
The 20.5Km long JP Ganga Path from Digha to Didarganj,
considered as the Marine Drive of Patna,
is being built at the cost of ₹3,831 crores.
The foundation stone was laid by CM Nitish Kumar on 11th
October 2013, the birth anniversary of Jai Prakash Narayan. In the
second phase, the work up to Gai Ghat will be completed by December 2022; in
the third phase till Patna Ghat by April 2023 and in the fourth phase till
Didarganj Ghat by February 2024.
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