Obama's special envoy hails Super 30
‘Super 30′, which provides free coaching to underprivileged Indian Institute of Technology aspirants, received praise from United States President Barack Obama’s special envoy Rashad Hussain, who termed it the “best” institute in the country.
“Super 30 is the best institute in India and an example of change, a dream which U.S. President Barack Obama harbours in the field of education, irrespective of caste and creed,” Mr. Obama’s special envoy to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference said here.
“In India wherever I have gone, I find it the best thing I have come across.”
After meeting students at the institute, the envoy, accompanied by officials of the U.S. Consulate in Kolkata, said he was overwhelmed by the academic atmosphere on the campus.
The institute, which was recently featured by Time magazine as “the best school in Asia,” has the distinction of all its 30 students making it to the prestigious IITs for the third consecutive year.
“This is a very good beginning. People irrespective of caste and creed are living like members of a community. And back in the U.S., I will discuss the experience of ‘Super 30′ and ‘Samman’ and explore if anything could be done there,” Mr. Hussain, an Indian-American whose father hailed from Bihar, said. Mr. Hussain visited the ‘Samman Foundation,’ which provides healthcare services to rickshaw pullers, their family members and the unorganised migrant labourers, on Saturday.
He assured the students at the institute, founded by mathematician Anand Kumar, that he would convey their invitation to Mr. Obama to visit them during his coming India visit.
The Obama administration was committed to bringing social harmony, just as it was maintained under the roof of ‘Super 30,’ he said.
Mr. Anand Kumar, who himself could not pursue higher studies abroad due to poverty, has been giving full scholarships, including travel and stay, to a select batch of 30 poor students since 2002.
Altogether 212 of the 240 ‘Super 30′ students have cleared one of the country’s toughest exams during the last eight years. Discovery Channel had also made an hour-long documentary on the institute.
Reference Link
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article559325.ece
Courtesy
The Hindu
Super 30's super record in IIT-JEE
Patna: All 30 students of Super 30, Bihar’s free coaching centre for poor students here, cracked the IIT-JEE this year. “All the 30 students have cleared the IIT Joint Entrance Examination,” director and founder Anand Kumar told journalists here on Wednesday.
“It is a matter of great pleasure as we have achieved it again,” he said. Since the inception of the centre in 2002, a total of 212 students had cleared the exam, considered one of the toughest examinations. Mr. Kumar said the students hailed from very poor families and committed themselves to a year of 16-hour study each day, after passing a competitive test to get into the centre. — PTI
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/27/stories/2010052757910100.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Bihar could serve as a role model: NYT
PATNA, India: Bihar is changing and it is now being acknowledged by the international media. An article published in New York Times (NYT) has termed Bihar as a state which could serve as a model.
Recalling that for decades Bihar was “something between a punch line and cautionary tale, the exact opposite of the high tech, rapidly growing, rising global power India has sought to become,” the article said that previously “criminals could count on police protection, not prosecution. Highway men ruled the shredded roads and kidnapping was one of the most profitable businesses”.
“The name captured everything that was wrong with the old India — a combustible mix of crime, corruption and caste politics in a state crucible that stifled economic growth,” it said.
However, after the turnaround when it notched an 11 per cent average growth rate for the last five years, the news was greeted as a sign that even India’s most intractable corners of backwardness and misery were being transformed, the article says.
Bihar’s turnaround illustrates how a handful of seemingly small changes can yields big results in India’s most impoverished and badly governed regions. It stressed that state governments are responsible for everything from schools to hospitals to policing to maintaining most roads. “Bihar is a textbook case of how leadership determines development,” it says.
The article has uncharitable things to say about Lalu Prasad who ran the state for 15 years `from beneath a banyan tree’.
“Under Mr Prasad’s watch, criminal syndicates kidnapped, extorted and robbed with impunity, protected by political leaders or in some cases led by politicians,” it says, adding Lalu’s government did little to improve the daily lives of Biharis. It talks about dismal road conditions, schools crumbling as teachers did not turn up for work and health centres left unstaffed.
Reference Link
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Bihar-could-serve-as-a-role-model-NYT/articleshow/5786048.cms
Courtesy
Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.
Bihar puts best foot forward
A fortnight-long exhibition to mark the State’s Foundation Day
Showcasing heritage: A Tikuli art product on display at
NEW DELHI, India: To commemorate Bihar’s Foundation Day, the State Government is for the first time organising a fortnight-long handloom and handicrafts exhibition-cum-fair that opened at Pragati Maidan here on Monday.
Housed in Hall No. 15 of the sprawling exhibition ground, “Bihar Utsav” has on view the State’s historical and cultural heritage, art and its developmental initiatives to attract domestic and foreign investment. A special cultural event will be organised at Hamsadhwani Theatre of Pragati Maidan in which noted singer Sharda Sinha, fondly known as ‘Bihari Kokila’, will regale music lovers.
Oldest surviving rock cave
On entering the hall, visitors will pass through the Barabar caves situated in Jehanabad district that is the oldest surviving rock cave in the country. The entry to the main hall is through a model of Bodhi temple that was erected by King Ashoka.
There are 42 stalls displaying Tikuli art, Mithila painting, Motihari terracotta products, Nepura silk from Nalanda, Siki products, stone-crafted elephants, jute jewellery and the famous handloom bed-sheets of Bihar Sharif.
“The modern State of Bihar was carved out of Bengal presidency on March 22, 1912. To mark this historical occasion and promote a sense of pride and belonging among the people, the Bihar Government has decided to celebrate the Foundation Day on March 22. Gala functions will be organised across the State. Cultural extravaganzas are being organised at panchayat level to involve people’s participation in large numbers,” said Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority managing director Anshuli Arya addressing a press conference here on Monday. Informing that the stall has been segregated into three parts, Ms. Arya said Bihar’s art and culture are being showcased in Section I, highlighting Bihar as the motherland of Lord Buddha and Mahavira, the arrival of Sufism, episodes from the life of Guru Gobind Singh and contribution of leaders from the State in the freedom struggle. Progress of contemporary Bihar is depicted in the second section. The last section has on sale the best of Bihari handicrafts, handlooms and books authored by famous writers, added Ms. Arya.
Resident Commissioner Alok Chaturvedi said that to encourage industrialists to invest in Bihar, the State Government is concentrating on infrastructure and repairing roads in cities and villages. “However, we are lagging behind in national highways as only one project from Patna to Muzaffarpur has been cleared. We have tackled the law and order problem in the State and are now trying to generate electricity so that industrials can set up units.”
For food connoisseurs, a cuisine corner has been set up at the Pragati Maidan exhibition by Hotel Maurya, Patna, which is preparing a wide assortment of authentic lip-smacking dishes made of sattu like litti and parathas apart from various curries, seekh kabab, keema, khichdi, kheer and halwa.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/23/stories/2010032356130200.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Bihar turning around, says World Bank
‘Improved law and order gave the vital impetus’
‘State Govt. has ushered in wide-ranging reforms’
‘Development expenditures have increased’
New Delhi: One of India’s poorest State Bihar has started turning around based on the all-inclusive reforms initiated by the State Government, including improved law and order and higher public expenditures, the World Bank has said.
“There are visible signs of a turnaround where the Bihar Government has been implementing wide-ranging reforms. State revenues and development expenditures have increased,” the multilateral lending agency said in a statement.
The World Bank said Bihar is home to some of the country’s poorest people, but a new reform effort by State Government along with the bank’s support, has helped it improve public finance management and better utilisation of proceeds.
It has improved in directing funds to get more children to schools, to immunize its people and to fight corruption.
The government is now able to spend money on hitherto underfunded public services, the World Bank said.
“Reducing poverty and accelerating growth in the State are likely to have national implications,” it said. Until 2007, economic growth in Bihar was much slower and its public services and infrastructure were among the worst in India.
“Pinpointing the roots of economic growth is complex, the faster growth experienced by Bihar after 2004 can be reasonably linked to improvements in the rule of law, more efficient and larger public expenditures, and better infrastructure,” the bank said. The bank cited various indicators across sectors to show the turnaround in Bihar.
“In almost three years time, by October 2008, the number of out-patients visiting a government hospital surged from some 39 per month to almost 4,500 per month,” it said adding the number of babies delivered in healthcare facilities shot up to 7,80,000 by 2008 from some 1,00,000 in 2006.
Further, enrolment in primary and upper primary schools rose, while the number of out-of-school children fell steeply.
The pupil-teacher ratio is expected to reach the national norm of 40:1 when newly hired teachers are placed in schools, it said.
On the anti-corruption front, the government has sought to promote greater transparency through various steps, including setting up of a Special Vigilance Unit to pursue cases against high-level civil servants.
“Two of the State’s major governance initiatives under the Right to Information law and service delivery have won national awards,” it said.
Besides, consumer spending has increased indicating improved conditions. The number of tourist arrivals in Bihar increased to 10.5 million in 2009 from 6.9 million in 2005, it said.
The number of motor vehicles in Bihar also rose by 239 per cent in 2007 alone, reflecting better infrastructure and heightened economic activity.
The number of mobile phones also rocketed from only one million in 2004 to 12 million in 2008.
World Bank also said some 1,900 km of National Highways and 3,500 km of district roads have been refurbished in the State. — PTI
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/15/stories/2010031559280300.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Indian school helping the brightest Muslims
In a congested part of Patna, capital of India’s Bihar state, stands a striking yellow building – a 100-year-old mansion that has clearly seen better days.
Inside it, in a small dark room, a young bearded cleric is reading out sermons from the Muslim holy scriptures to a group of boys seated cross-legged on the floor.
They are in their late teens, some are wearing skull caps and they all listen to him with rapt attention.
At first glance, this could be any of the region’s hundreds of Islamic seminaries or madrassas, where young Muslims receive religious instruction.
But this is no ordinary seminary.
After prayers, the boys head out to a classroom, pen and notebook in hand, where they listen with equal attention to a lecture on advanced mathematics.
This is the unusual setting for Rahmani 30 – a training institute which prepares talented but underprivileged young Muslims for entry into India’s best engineering colleges – the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT).
Only the top 2% make it through the stiff entrance exam.
Getting ahead
India’s large Muslim minority is consistently placed at the bottom of social and economic rankings.
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  I wanted to make something of my life, become someone  Irfan Alam, student
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Part of this has to do with education – most Muslims end up studying in madrassas, which means they have little chance of being employed in the private sector or government.
So the significance of Rahmani’s initiative is not lost on anyone.
It is the brainchild of a senior Bihar police officer, Abhyanand, who takes time off from his day job to teach the boys physics.
Rahmani was inspired by a similar school – the Super 30, where Abhyanand used to work and which is also aimed at poor children but not Muslims exclusively.
“In our country, any difficult examination is very fearful because a huge number of students take part but only a few get in,” Abhyanand says.
The advantage at Rahmani, he says, is the kind of students they get – mostly from poor backgrounds and determined to get ahead in life.
“They come from a rural background and that is their strength. They become competitive because, for them, it is a win or lose situation.
“If they don’t make it they don’t stand anywhere [socially and economically].”
Great chance
Irfan Alam, 15, the son of a barber who is preparing for the IIT exam due to be held in 2011, says it is a great opportunity.
“I wanted to make something of my life, become someone,” he says smiling shyly.
The school’s philosophy is inspired by the ideas of a madrassa
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“It’s the perfect platform. The teachers are amazing and the best part is that it’s completely free.”
It is a chance that few others where Irfan comes from will ever get.
His village is a good four hours drive north of Patna, with lush green wheat-fields, narrow dirt tracks and few proper buildings.
Most people here work as farm labour and a large number of the men are barbers by trade.
I meet Irfan’s father, Mohammad Shafiq, outside his modest, two-room hut made of mud and straw.
Now recuperating after an eye operation, he tells me how his son displayed flashes of brilliance as a child and soon outgrew his village school.
So he decided to send him away.
“Nobody studies here. Most of the teenagers waste their time or start drinking heavily.
“I can’t read and write myself and it was always my dream that my son should be educated and not become a barber like his father and grandfather.”
Back at Rahmani the classes are done but the studying continues late into the night.
Irfan sits with three of his friends inside his little dorm room, poring over textbooks and brainstorming.
In another room, one of the teachers uses a webcam to conduct a tutorial with students in another part of Bihar.
Cultural debate
It’s a fascinating mix of the traditional and the modern.
“The basic philosophy of a madrassa is that the boys live, eat and study together. There is no distinction between rich and poor – everybody is equal,” says Maulana Wali Rahmani, an influential cleric who heads this institute.
“There’s also a culture of open debate. It’s something I experienced myself while growing up in a madrassa. So we thought, why not channel these strengths in a whole new direction and see what we can achieve.”
To find out how spectacularly they have succeeded, you need to travel 1,000km (625 miles), to the national capital, Delhi.
It is a completely different world in the tree-lined, sprawling IIT campus.
Young men and women stroll into their classrooms, dressed in jeans and T-shirts, back-packs slung over their shoulders.
These are India’s brightest brains, many of whom will go on to work in the country’s top software companies or head to Silicon Valley.
Among them is a shy, earnest young man – Shadman Anwar, part of Rahmani’s inaugural batch of students last year, all 10 of whom made it through to the IITs.
“It’s been a dream come true, being here with all the other students. And I don’t feel as if I’m any different,” he says.
His is the kind of confidence that has helped raise expectations at Rahmani, whose administrators now want to establish 10 similar schools over the next couple of years.
India’s Muslim community is often said to have under-achieved, plagued by poverty, low education standards and a conservative outlook.
Now in one of India’s poorest states, a small initiative is trying to break the mould.
Reference Link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8550548.stm
Courtesy
CNN
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