Bihar State PCS

• 18 Jun 2022

Amendment in Bihar Sand Mining Policy, 2019

Why in News?

On June 17, 2022, the State of Bihar has made significant amendments to the Bihar Sand Mining Policy, 2019 under the Department of Mines and Geology.

Key Points

• DM will make settlement of all the identified sand ghats of the state for the next 5 years through e-auction-cum-tender. The settlement fee of sand ghats has been increased by 50 percent as compared to last year.
• The secured deposits and security amount in the endowment of sand ghats have been increased from 10 percent to 25 percent.
• It is known that the secured deposit was only 25 percent earlier, which was increased to 10 percent in the last few days. Now it has been increased to 25 percent again.
• The tender of the settlement holders will be valid only after paying this amount.
• This will also help in curbing illegal mining and facilitating construction activities to generate revenue to the Government along with sand availability.
• Recently, the Supreme Court had directed to prepare a mineral survey report of all the districts and had asked for an endowment of sand ghats in the districts on the basis of the report. The department then prepared the report of all the districts, which has a complete blueprint of other matters ranging from the availability of sand.
• Under the amendment, environmental clearance and other statutory clearances have to be taken only by sand miners. The mining plan will also have to be made by them themselves. Earlier, this work was done at the level of the government.

Upgradation of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas in Bihar

Why in News?

After getting the consent of the central government recently, the Bihar Education Department has prepared an action plan to upgrade 534 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas to plus-two.

Key Points

• A total of 634 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) have been run so far in the State of Bihar to provide quality education to girls belonging to disadvantaged groups. Out of these, there are 534 schools which have education for girls from classes 6 to 8. All these schools operating from class 6 to 8 will be upgraded to plus-two.
• This will provide education to the girl child belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward classes, disadvantaged groups with poverty line and minority sections, not only from class 6 to 12, but also professional courses.
• At present, there are 5,726 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) operating across the country.
• A total of 50,963 girls from disadvantaged groups enrolled in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas are kept in hostels to provide quality education to them.
• An education department official said smart classrooms, ICT labs and vocational training centers will be set up in all Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas.
• The Education Department has prepared a report on these schools and submitted it to the Central Government so that the Department of School Education and Literacy takes immediate steps to make them operational at the earliest.
• It is known that the Central Government had launched the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Scheme in the year 2006-07 to promote the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. In these schools, 75percent seats will be reserved for girls belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes and Minorities, while the remaining 25percent seats are reserved for girls from below poverty line families.