This report suggests that many budding young musicians are slogging it out despite poverty and lack of facilities. All eager to treasure the legacy passed on to them as a practice being followed through generations.

These children come from poor families where the parents are often daily-wage labourers instead of any rich family where kids enjoy learning music classes during summer vacations paying hefty fees. They come to attend their music classes religiously following family tradition of learning music.

Even if many of the parents have left the village for better prospects in cities or far off places, some have opted to send their kids to learn music from volunteers. "We are earnestly teaching these children music because music is a means to win the biggest of hearts be it a criminal or God. We treat this as a prayer.

And the children are contributing," said Dev Anand, a music teacher. "Kids are learning with devotion, but there is hardly any future for them. Good results are unlikely if one is always worried about his or her food. Students are living a life without any facility at their disposal and security about future, but still they are maintaining a tradition. But for how long can this continue?

Music is a strict discipline. It needs both dedication and time at leisure. It is learnt in a carefree not in a constant tension about livelihood," says Pandit Rameshwar Pathak, a senior musician. The village has contributed a few musicians to the national stage but Pandit says that glory is long gone. With virtually no governmental support, it would be foolhardy to expect an encore.

‘This is the first time we have received a formal offer to construct roads since Nitish Kumar became chief minister nearly five months ago,’ an official told IANS.

The government is likely to float tenders for a highway between Vaishali and Muzaffarpur districts in north Bihar in May, said an official of the state road construction department.

When a tender was floated for the Rs.4 billion project in 2004, no private bidder applied for it.Government officials admitted that private construction companies were not willing to take up the project due to a perception that Bihar was India’s most lawless state.

Jha’s offer came after Nitish Kumar invited private companies to construct roads on a ‘build, operate and transfer’ (BOT) basis.

Jha has submitted his bid to the government on behalf of a Mumbai-based private company to convert the 47 km Hajipur-Muzaffarpur highway into a four-lane super expressway.

Jha had earlier announced his plan to build several multiplexes in Patna, after the government announced a three-year tax rebate to private investors who set up multiplexes in the state. The government has already allotted land for multiplexes.

The plan under the ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Development Scheme will involve construction of many new residential subdivisions, shopping centers, hospitals, parks, schools, and playgrounds, among other things, Urban Development Minister Ashwini Kumar Chaubey said adding the Patna Regional Development Authority (PRDA) had already begun the ground work on a detailed master plan.

There are also provisions for converting the areas near Patna Junction including the existing New Market and the old Bankipore Jail into posh shopping malls and multiplexes, Chaubey said.

The minister, however, admitted that the proposed plan to build a Marine Drive type boulevard along the Ganges in Patna had hit some snags as the government was still waiting for the NRIs to step in and invest in the Rs. 500 crore project to turn the dream into a reality.

Bihar needs investment and its time industry and NRI's realise that they can play a very vital role in bridging the gap between the have's and have not's of our society by coming forward and investing in Bihar.



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Ironical though it may sound, Neetu says her USP has been the fact that she is a Bihari. "People laugh the moment you say you are from Bihar,"she says, adding she is hardly bothered. "I have studied in Delhi, but I always introduce myself as one hailing from Bihar," says the upcoming actress who, incidentally, has also been a Taekwondo champ.

"Bihar has given several renowned artistes, but unfortunately it's known more for politics and poverty," the Bihari bala laments and adds there are many an aspiring model and actor from Bihar who are struggling to make their presence felt in Bollywood, but they usually hide their identity.

Known for her fabulous folk songs and thumris, Vindhyawasini Devi was born in Sitamarhi. She did her initial schooling in Muzaffarpur and in 1944, graduated from the Bharatkhande Sangeet Vidyapeeth in Lucknow.

Her tenure as the music producer at Patna Radio Station began in 1955 and lasted till 1980.In 1954, she was honored by the coveted Sangeet Natak Academy and in 1974 she was bestowed with the envious Padmashree award.In her long musical career, Mrs. Devi sang songs depicting Indian mythology, colors and moods of changing seasons, religious and wedding songs, and bhajans including lending voice to several actresses on the silver screen.

In the wake of the town earning the UNESCO-granted distinction of being a World Heritage Site, state-run urban planner Housing and Urban Development Corporation has prepared a development plan 2031 that visualises Bodhgaya as a 'world Buddhist centre', a pilgrim destination and a green and healthy place.As per the conditions on which the World Heritage Site status has been granted to Bodhgaya, the master plan states that there will be no new construction within one kilometer radius of the Maha Bodhi Temple and this zone will be treated as a special area.

"Building by-laws applicable in other parts of the city will not be applicable here," said HUDCO Executive Director (Design and Development) R K Safaya, who is in-charge of framing the master plan.

He said the master plan also requires that all shops located outside the temple walls be shifted to an area beyond one kilometer of the over 2000-year-old monument.

"Commercial complexes are being built right outside the one kilometer radius of the temple, which have been designated as Nodes 1 and 2, where the shops near the temple will be shifted," Safaya said.

In another development "The Union tourism minister Ambika Soni's grand plans to develop the Buddhist circuit by laying world class road network, construct modern budget and higher-end hotels, facilitating direct rail links and air services to Bodh Gaya speaks of nothing, but turning of the wheel. Soni, who visited Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Nalanda along with a high-level official delegation, pressed upon the state machinery to augment the tourist infrastructure in the state.

"We must create a world class road network in Bihar linking Bodh Gaya, the seat of Buddha's enlightenment, to other historic sites related to his life. To begin with, the roads from Bodh Gaya to Rajgir to Nalanda to Vaishali must be of world class," the minister said.

While inspecting the Mahabodhi and Bodh Gaya temples, Soni said the airport has to be developed. "I will take up with the civil aviation minister the matter of the possibility of Indian airlines operating from Gaya and exploring possibilities of rail link via Chennai and Guwahati. This year, we have to expedite the work to ensure that by the next Kalchakra Parv, Gaya becomes a well planned city," she added.

Amitabh Kant, joint secretary in ministry of tourism, said most of the Buddhist circuit generated markets catering to global travellers, for which we need a world class infrastructure. "We too need to develop that to drive the state and country's tourism with value and volume," he said.

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Patna, population 2298, is a village in East Ayrshire.

It was established in 1802 by William Fullarton, to provide housing for workers on the coal-fields of his estate. Fullarton's father had worked as an employee of the British East India Company, and the town takes its name from the city of Patna in India.

Patna lies south east of Ayr on the A713 to Castle Douglas just north of Dalmellington between the villages of Polnessan and Waterside at the junction with the road to Kirkmichael and the River Doon flows through the village.

"Incidentally, both the UK and the US Patna’s have a rice connection.Patna is known for its rice in the west - patna rice is recognized farmore than Dehradoon or basmati. These towns were setup by European rice traders who after making their fortune by dealing in Patna ricereturned home.Is is a very sad commentary on our thinking and lack ofentrepreneurship that we have not been able to exploit this greatgeographic indicator.

The computers with Microsoft Windows XP as its operating system was ordered by the state Science and Technology department at the behest of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who is resolute on the use of computers in managing Bihar affairs efficiently and effectively while also promising to hold daily video-conferencing with district party leaders.

In the first phase, all the top bureaucrats at commissioner and secretary level will receive the computers. Later, the scheme would be expanded down to other officials of various departments, sources said.Works are already in progress to turn the Chief Minister's bungalow, his office, chief secretary's office and his conference hall into a high-tech command center from where Nitish Kumar would monitor developments of the entire state while hoping to maintain complete transparency at all government departments.

The state government, under the e-governance scheme, is also planning to create a number of web sites that would contain latest information on all developmental issues, NRI-related facilities and news, among other things.