World's Longest Free Wi-Fi Zone In Capital of BIHAR India,will be Functional within a month.

Once known as a backward state, Bihar has made a strong bid for a mention on the world's infotech map 

The 20km-long Wi-Fi zone in the city will be functional within a month. Starting from NIT and crossing through Ashok Raj Path, Frazer Road, Dak Bungalow crossing, Bailey Road, Saguna Mor to Danapur, the radius of Wi-Fi connectivity will be 300m on both sides of the roads.

Beltron MD Atul Sinha said that on Wednesday, during the inaugural function of the e-Bihar summit, only a demonstration model in one-km radius of Maurya Hotel was unveiled, but within a month the entire zone, the longest in the world, will be operational.

"All preparations for this have been made. Altogether 70 wireless access points will be installed on electric poles. The distance between two points will be 300 meters," Sinha told TOI on Thursday on the sidelines of the e-Bihar summit. CM Nitish Kumar had inaugurated the summit on Wednesday.

Principal secretary, IT department, N K Sinha said all academic institutions from NIT up to Gandhi Maidan, which come within the 300 metre radius, will be covered by this facility.

The CM, in his written speech which he did not read out and which was circulated in the concluding session on Thursday, promised to establish an Angel Venture Fund to provide financial assistance to young IT entrepreneurs. Beltron MD Sinha said that funds will be granted after the Angel Venture Fund's officials are convinced of the viability of entrepreneurs' projects. The scheme has been approved by the state cabinet, he added.

The CM said in his address, "... A world-class IT park having an area of 1 lakh sqft is being built in the central business district of Patna near Dak Bungalow area. This will come up in about two years. Another IT park having an area of 5 lakh sqft is also coming up in Bandar Bagicha area, which will be ready in next 3-4 years. In this way, Patna will become a cluster of IT industries. Small and medium and a few big IT units can come up in this area."

The CM further stated, "In the second phase, it is also planned to develop an IT park on a 25-acre plot adjacent to IIT-Patna at Bihta. There is also a proposal to establish an Innovation Centre at IIT-Patna." He said his government has implemented many IT projects and they are running successfully.

source:TOI

The two-day national-level Information and Technology (IT) meet, “e-Bihar — an emerging IT destination”, started in Patna

Delegates watch 3D movies at the IT meet at hotel Maurya on Wednesday. Picture by Jai Prakash

The event brought to the fore several IT investments lined up for the state. Companies from San Diego to Bangalore are choosing Patna and Bihta as the destinations for their future ventures. Here’s how the IT image is being created for brand Bihar

THREE CHEERS

3D and special effects development centre

Company: San Diego-based Legend 3D with local partner UNO Digital Pvt. Ltd.

Proposal: 1,500-seat full-fledged 3D imaging and animation development centre near the under-construction premises of IIT-Patna in Bihta. It would be a residential facility with the provision for schools, hospitals, etc.

Project cost: Rs 135 crore

Status: A formal proposal to be submitted with the State Investment Promotion Board within a week

Perks: Generate employment and create a pool of technically skilled manpower in the animation sector

Brand image: The centre would act as an anchor for graphics animation development industry in Bihar. The state would be promoted as the centre for multimedia development in India

Why Bihar: Our company has a presence in Bihar for the past 14 years as we are working in exclusive partnership with UNO Digital here. In 2000, when we were looking for an outsourcing centre for our operations from San Diego for 2D to 3D conversions and gaming animations among others, we had received a proposal from the company. Our experience till date with this collaboration has been highly satisfactory. The products from Patna have always been of high quality and always on time. Skilled manpower at low cost is obviously an alluring factor here

Barry Sandrew, founder and president, Legend3D

Support needed from state:

We expect to get free land at the proposed IT park in Bihta for setting up the facility

Mrinal Singh, UNO Digital Pvt. Ltd

TAB TRIUMPH

Low-cost tablet development centre

Company: Bangalore-based Stamp Computers Pvt. Ltd

Proposal: To set up manufacturing facility of low-cost tablets in Bihar with a production capacity of 1 lakh tablets every month. The expected turnover is around Rs 300 crore every year

Project cost: Rs 25 crore one-time investment from government and Rs 75 crore working capital to be contributed by Stamp Computers

Status: Proposal awaits government nod

Perks: Provide employment to around 400 people

Brand image: The unit would make Bihar the centre-stage for embedded computing technology development in the country. Embedded computers are used in almost all gadgets, right from mobile phones, cars, tablets, music players among others

Why Bihar: It is basically a noble idea to develop a low-cost tablet for illiterate population. The Bihar government had initially floated the idea

S.K. Sinha, director, Stamp Computers

Support needed from state:

We need equity funding from the Bihar government to the tune of around 20-40 per cent of the total capital required for setting up the unit. The state government can do the same in the form of seed funding amounting to around Rs 25 crore. We would provide working capital to the tune of around Rs 75 crore. Land and building are also required

S.K. Sinha

BPO BOON

Multinational call centre

Company: Essar Group’s Aegis Limited

Proposal: A 300-seat call centre in Patna

Status: Cabinet gave approval to the project on Tuesday

Perks: Facility would provide employment to educated youths

Brand image: Presence of multinational BPOs like Aegis in Patna can act as a catalyst in getting more BPO firms in setting up their facilities in the state

Why Bihar:

Availability of space, which has been allocated at Biscomaun Bhavan on free lease initially for three years

Availability of large pool of educated youths apt for the BPO industry

Vinod Nair, assistant vice-president, AGC Network Limited

Support needed from state:

SOFTWARE SUPPORT

Development center

Company: Srishti Software Applications Pvt. Ltd, a Bangalore-based provider of Healthcare Management Information System

Proposal: A 100-seat software development center

Status: Approval given by state cabinet on Tuesday

Perks: Employment for trained youths in software development

Brand image: Software development firms would take into consideration the experience of Srishti Software in deciding to come to Bihar

Why Bihar:

Ajay Shankar Sharma, the chief executive officer of Srishti Software hails from Muzaffarpur

Support needed from state:

Space at Biscomaun Bhavan on free lease initially for three years

source:The Telegraph

Numerous Firms Have Planned to Open Shops In BIHAR.From IT data security giants like US-based SafeNet Inc. to Intel and Educomp,

Software giants are ready for soft landing, at last. 

The two-day national-level IT meet, “e-Bihar: an emerging IT destination”, seems to have succeeded in bringing in investments to the state by multinational companies operating in varied fields of the software industry.

SafeNet has already associated itself with the ambitious Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) in Bihar. It would provide security to critical data related to crimes and criminals from police stations across the state. The project is likely to be launched within the next three-four months.

Braj Bhushan, regional manager (India), government business, SafeNet, expressed his willingness to open a regional resource centre of the firm in Patna as well. “SafeNet is the global leader in data security and we provide our services even to the US Federal security agencies. Lately, the Bihar government has been doing various e-governance projects, including e-Shakti under the MGNREGA, electronic payment gateways, electronic city surveillance and data centres among others. Considering the vast business opportunities here and our operations in neighbouring states as well, we are open to the idea of starting a regional office in Patna,” said Braj.

Several top-notch IT companies operating in the education sector, including Intel and Educomp, are also mulling their entry in Bihar.

“Intel Education Initiative is mulling to set up an e-learning centre in Bihar. Intel is already in talks with BIT and IIT Patna to start Intel Education programmes at the two institutes. A Microsoft delegate also expressed to make some venture here in the near future. Educomp Solutions has also proposed to set up a 150-seat content development centre in Patna, for which they have asked for free space from the state government. We have asked all the companies, who have shown interest in setting up their units here to give a detailed proposal to us and we would act accordingly,” said Atul Sinha, managing director, Bihar State Electronic Development Corporation Limited (Beltron), an undertaking of the state IT department.

Srinivas Tadigadapa, director (enterprise solutions), Intel South Asia, said on Thursday: “We provide e-learning kits to educational institutions to promote innovations in multi-core curriculum. We are in talks with IIT and BIT Patna for beginning similar programmes under our e-learning initiatives.”

Shantanu Prakash, managing director, Educomp Solutions, also lauded the gradual awakening of the IT industry in Bihar. “The state has an IT-friendly policy and there is abundance of skilled talents as well. With the kind of support extended by the state government to the IT industry, I believe firms would definitely consider the possibilities here,” As he said.

Sanjay Nayak, CEO and MD, Tejas Networks, Bangalore, speaking during the concluding day of the IT meet on Thursday, said: “The state government should create incubation centres and other entrepreneurship support mechanism to promote IT in Bihar. There are immense possibilities of e-commerce and telecom in rural areas and the government should create sufficient market access for the entrepreneurs.”

P.K. Sinha, treasurer, Bihar IT Association, suggested the delegates to set up small ventures initially. “Big companies are at times apprehensive of taking risks in setting up units at new destinations and the employment generation is also considerably low as they mostly come with tie-ups with local companies,” said Sinha.

source:the teleghraph

As per The state's Economic Survey Report for 2013-14,Bihar growth rate 12% in the last 7 fiscal Year.

Bihar's average annual growth rate has been 12% in the last seven fiscal years, one of the highest among all Indian states, on the back of high growth rate achieved in the agriculture and allied sectors. Besides, advancement has also been made in healthcare and education. 

The state's Economic Survey Report for 2013-14, which was tabled in the assembly on Friday, has concluded this. The summary of the report said, "During 1990-91 to 2005-06, the state's income at constant prices grew at an annual rate of 5.7%." It said after that the economy witnessed a turnaround and grew at an annual rate of 12%. "The rate of growth achieved by the economy during 2006-13 is not only much higher, but also one of the highest among all Indian states." 

The report has taken 1999-2006 as the cut-off period to highlight spectacular Bihar turnaround story achieved under CM Nitish Kumar. 

With the state's per capita income at Rs 30,930 in 2012-13, the "ratio of state's per capita income to all-India figure increased to 41.18 % in 2012-13, from over 37.18 % in 2011-12, thus narrowing the gap in a big way", the report said. 

Matching with the overall boost in the economy, the tax revenue of the state increased substantially from Rs 23,865 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 48,153 crore in 2012-13. Besides, the state's own tax revenue receipts increased from 6,172 crore to Rs 16,253 crore during the same period. The growth in per capita expenditure on social services has been from Rs 1,263 in 2008-09 to Rs 2,172 in 2012-13. 

Maintaining that 90% people still directly or indirectly depend on agriculture and allied activities, the report has noted the rate of growth in this sector has been 5-9% during 2006-13, compared to only 3% during 1999-2006.

Further, while agriculture road map provided the broad strategic approach for achieving growth in the agriculture and allied sectors, paddy productivity reached 200kg/hectare in recent years.

The industrial sector is on its recovery path, as its annual growth rate now stands at 17.1% after slumping to 9.5% in 2011-12.

source :TOI

Doctors coming BIHAR,admitted they were Prejudiced.

Generally national-level conferences prove to be an excellent platform for exchange of knowledge, but the AICOG conference held in Bihar after 25 years proved to be a platform for image building for Bihar.All India Congress of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Patna under the aegis of Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India. AICOG is a great opportunity for Obstetricians and Gynaecologists all around the world to share the most updated information in different fields of this speciality.

Most of the national and international delegates who attended the conference accepted they had inhibitions about coming to Bihar, but as they left the state, they admitted they were prejudiced.

Dr Riddhi Shukla (Ahmedabad), like many others, said her husband and friends had warned against going to Bihar. "However, after reaching here, I found they were completely wrong. It is as safe as any other state. I could not roam around much, but my experience has so far been fantastic and I am going to tell the same to other colleagues in my hometown."

Dr Minati Rath, New Delhi, said she had a great time in Bihar. "The other day they had served chura-dahi. After moving to Delhi from Odisha, my home state, I missed it for a long time. "

Dr Nozer K Sheriar, Mumbai, an officer-bearer of the Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Societies of India, said, "I visited Bihar in 2004 too. It is a completely transformed place now. I just wish that health becomes a priority for the state government and politics does not hamper development," said Dr Sheriar.

Dr Uday Thannawala, who had come from Navi Mumbai, said he had come to Bihar in early 2005. "After we settled down in a hotel, I thought we would roam around the city in evening, but I was advised against it," said Dr Uday, adding, "I do not know whether it is safe now or not." When this reporter said he needs to roam around to do the reality check, he said, "You are probably the first girl to say that Bihar is safe!"

Many of his colleagues refused to come just because it was organized in Bihar, said Dr Pratik Tambe of Mumbai and added they had missed some real good exchange of knowledge.

International delegates also appreciated Bihar's hospitality. Dr Koki Agarwal, Washington DC, said, "As a part of Jhpiego project, I used to work in Bihar earlier too. But before its "transformation", it was very difficult to work here. However, now many bottlenecks have been removed, though many more still need to be done." She was very particular about garbage in the city. "It is appalling to see garbage scattered almost everywhere in the city. It is an invitation to a host of health problems and diarrhoea, pneumonia and dengue," she warned.

source:TOI