Patna, Oct 30 :The family and friends of Sushil Kumar, who became the first contestant to win Rs. 5 crore on "Kaun Banega Crorepati", are fearing his abduction. But the Bihar Police says the apprehension doesn't hold much ground.

In Motihari, Sushil's native town, there are rumours doing the rounds that fearing abduction, his family has been reluctant to disclose the date of his much-awaited arrival from Mumbai.

The hundreds of visitors at his house have been told by his family that due to security reasons nothing is certain about his arrival.

Patna, Oct 12 : Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani, who began his 38-day ''Jan Chetna Yatra'' from Bihar''s Sitabdiara village on Tuesday, reckons that the support for his yatra is the greatest achievement of his political career.

Addressing a rally here, Advani claimed that the overwhelming support was a sign that people were fed up with corruption.

Sitab Diara (Bihar), Oct 6 : Supporters and workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar’s Sitab Diara village have stepped up preparations for party veteran Lal Krishna Advani''s forthcoming ''Jan Chetna Yatra''.

"These preparations are going on for October 11. Advani''s Rath Yatra (chariot procession) will start from here and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will flag off the procession," said Bhola Singh, a contactor of the repairing and construction work.

Gaya (Bihar), Sep. 14 : Japanese encephalitis, a viral disease, claimed the lives of at least 22 children in Bihar''s Gaya district.

A large number of children were admitted to the city''s Magadh Medical College. The hospital reported that around 76 patients were admitted since August 23, 2011.

Talking to mediapersons, a relative of an encephalitis-infected patient said that her child was suffering from fever for the past many days.

She also said that the condition of the child was still critical.

The 5-day-old junior physicians strike in six administrative medical colleges as well as hospitals came to an end yesterday after RJD MLA Surendra Prasad Yadav, who was involved in the firing at a hospital in Gaya, surrendered before a court.

The disturbed physicians decided to end the strike after spokespersons of Junior Doctors' Association together with state BJP chief Dr C P Thakur and state IMA officials made an appeal to chief minister Nitish Kumar.

During a statewide blackout in Bihar, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan stated that the central administration should roll back the hike in fuel price.

Paswan said that the increase in price should be withdrawn in "people's interest".

The central administration terminated curbs on petroleum rating and increased the prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas in June 2010.

The LJP and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) imposed the statewide stir to protest the fuel price hike and growing costs.

According to officials, around 27 pupils of a school at Tajpur in Samastipur region of Bihar fell ill after taking a mid-day meal in which a lizard was later found.

A doctor at a hospital stated, "They are suffering from food poisoning. But after initial treatment, they are now out of danger."

The police functionaries said that around 27 pupils fell ill after consuming the meal served at a government school. The district administration has ordered a investigation into the incident.

With the changing face of Bihar as a tech-savvy state, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is coming forth as a hot favorite on cyberspace as his attempts to alter the image of the state are earning him lots of fans among the Gen Y.

Keen netizens have given voice to this new poise on different news portals, internet sites and social networking sites where one can discover numerous online communities that interestingly have come up within the last four and half years of Nitish Kumar's regime.

The majority of these sites have projected Mr. Kumar as the ''hero'' of Bihar.

According to officials, 12 kids have died of a mysterious illness in Bihar's Muzaffarpur region after they complained of symptoms like high fever and convulsion.

Mr. A. P. Singh, civil surgeon said, "A total of 12 children have died over the past few days. In the last 48 hours, four children have died of the mysterious disease. Dozens of children have been admitted to different hospitals for treatment."

The district government has sounded a high alert to check the spread of the strange illness.

According to weathermen, Bihar is all set to see the monsoon this year between June 11 and 15.

This will give relief to the people, particularly agriculturists, of drought-prone Bihar, Met functionaries said.

Meteorological department functionaries said that monsoon clouds would hit Bihar after June 10.

An official said, "Monsoon is set to enter the state before the end of second week of June."

Mr. Animesh Chandra, Patna meteorological department director told hat unlike 2009, monsoon will not be delayed in the state.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has declared that his foundation will help the State to have better health facilities. He is currently on a visit to Bihar. He has also said that Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is just following the motto that all lives have equal value.

A complicated surgery involving the separation of conjoined twins helped in rescuing two twins in Bihar.

Sita and Gita, the conjoined twins from Bihar recently underwent a 48 hour surgery to become two different entities. It is also believed that the sisters were joined at the hip region and had a common reproductive and intestinal tracts and a fused spine.

Groundwater arsenic contamination status in more than 16 districts of Bihar resulted blindness in 18 newborn babies.

Among all 16 districts of Bihar, Bhojpur appears on the top in arsenic contamination with 1,861 parts per billion (ppb) against the World Health Organization's limit of 50 ppb.

Ahead of Bihar Day celebrations staring Monday, the state is busy researching how the Bo tree (Bodhi Tree) has come to become its official emblem.

In the early 50s, the then chief minister had declared the lion head Ashokan pillar as Bihar’s emblem, after he received a letter objecting to the use of the Bo Tree. The emblem in use even now depicts a tree rising from a socle with a text in Urdu, in between two Swastika formations.

For the 2.5 lakh Tharus and Dhangars living for centuries in an area known as the Doan --- 40-odd square kilometres of undulating topography full of knife-edged ravines formed by years of landslips and soil erosion, the Indian tiger is the lesser threat than a forest warden. The area crisscrossed by seasonal rivulets such as the Panchanad, Bhapsa and the Bhalawi, is host to 93 villages split between two panchayats, and lying in the Valmikinagar Tiger Sanctuary’s buffer zone.

Two students from Jharkhand and one from Bihar studying at Annamalai Engineering College were found dead during a student agitation inside the campus on Monday.

“The students, while being chased by the police, jumped into the canal and got drowned,” Principal Home Secretary Aamir Subhani said.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna on Tuesday, called Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi asking for protection for students from Bihar studying in deemed universities in that state and said that ‘anti-Bihari’ sentiments should be nipped in the bud.

In order to talk about various economic matters, the Reserve Bank of India's central board meeting started in Patna today.

Mr. D. Subbarao, RBI Governor as well as top functionaries of the bank were attending the conference to discuss a variety of financial issues.

Mr. Subbarao reached Patna on Wednesday afternoon to attend the conference.

During his hour-long conference with Nitish Kumar, Bihar Chief Minister, on Wednesday night, he promised every possible assistance for the growth of the state.

Patna, Jan 11 - After being neglected for decades, the memorial of India's first president Rajendra Prasad here is finally set for a makeover on the lines of Rajghat -- Mahatma Gandhi's memorial in New Delhi.

Officials at the chief minister's office Monday said that government has decided to spend Rs. 2.5 crore in the first phase for the development and beautification of Prasad's memorial this year.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had announced last year that the memorial would be developed jointly by the state and central governments on the lines of Rajghat.

Patna, Jan 11 - With an intense cold wave claiming 30 lives in Bihar so far, authorities in the state capital Monday extended closure of all public and private schools till Tuesday.

"The Patna district administration has ordered to close all schools till Tuesday to provide relief to children from the intense cold," officials said here.

The schools were originally scheduled to reopen Jan 4 after Christmas holidays but cold wave conditions compelled authorities to extend their closure twice. They are now scheduled to reopen Wednesday.

At least 30 people have been killed due to the cold so far. The weather has affected normal life in the state.

Patna, Jan 10 - Thousands of aspirants of administrative jobs are likely to submit their applications hassle-free as the Bihar government has decided to fully computerise the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC).

An official in the chief minister's office said here Sunday that the state's information technology (IT) department has initiated the process of fully computerising BPSC.

"The decision to fully computerise the BPSC was taken to take e-governance a step further in the state," the official said.

Bihar's IT minister Anil Kumar has confirmed that the IT department is working on the project of computerising the BPSC.