Yoga for inmates at 56 jails
The prison department in Bihar has signed an agreement with the Art of Living (AOL) to teach yoga to 48,000 inmates lodged in the state’s 56 jails. According to Jail IG Mithilesh Mishra, the initiative will start under the Prison SMART Programme. AOL will teach yoga free of cost to the inmates while the prison department will ensure spaces and other requirements for it. AOL sources said the exercise has already started in Buxar, Motihari, Patna, Siwan, Begusarai and Purnia jails.
Lonely male zebra gets a partner
A female zebra arrived at the Patna zoo to give company to a lonely male zebra. Official sources said that the female zebra is around five years old and has been brought under the exchange programme with Kolkata’s Alipore Zoo.
The lonely male zebra is a year older than her. The zebra was brought after giving a white tigress, six blackbucks and a pair of sambar deer to Kolkata from the Patna zoo. With the arrival of a female zebra, breeding of it species at the Patna zoo is expected soon.
Security main concern for Railway bosses
Bihar Director General of Police (DGP) Gupteshwar Panday has directed railways’ chief security commissioners to identify vulnerable spots and installations and conduct mock-drills to be ready in case of terror attacks. He stressed the importance of working with all security agencies in the state and the Railways in tandem to curb crime.
The chief spokesperson of ECR, headquartered at Hajipur in Bihar, Rajesh Kumar said the DGP asked the officials to ensure adequate deployment of forces to tackle miscreants and Maoists. Chief security commissioners of RPF of ECR Ravindra Verma, AN Mishra of Eastern Railway and AK Srivastava of NF railways attended the meeting.
Banana cultivation goes hi-tech
Agro scientists working at the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) have come up with a new bio-formulation to save the G-9 variety of banana from premature wilting. In Bihar, banana cultivation is carried out in more than six districts, including Hajipur in Vaishali and Bhagalpur. The research named ICAR-FUSICONT will help farmers eliminate a plant disease called ‘Panama wilting’. The disease has damaged standing crops in Katihar, Purnia, Bhagalpur, Vaishali and Naugachia district in particular besides other parts of the state. Two ICAAR scientists, Dr S Rajan and Dr T Damodaran, were behind the research.