Finally times are changing in the campus of Patna University and it’s a matter of great pleasure to know that students from Patna University are now being offered job opportunities from top notch companies.TOI reports that Patna University (PU) students never had it so good. In what appears to be a virtual rain of jobs on the campus, more than 500 boys and girls studying in different colleges and departments of PU have been selected for jobs during the last six months by big business houses, industrial concerns and non-governmental voluntary organisations with lucrative pay packets.

Surprisingly enough, most of the selected students have not yet passed their final graduation examination so far.

WIPRO, a reputed software company, selected as many as seven PU students for the job of process associate on the basis of campus interview held at Patna Law College on Tuesday. PU vice chancellor Y C Simhadri inaugurated the campus selection process organised by the PU Employment Information and Guidance Bureau. Bureau chief Amarendra Mishra told TOI that as many as 26 rounds of campus placements had been organised in recent months at different institutions of PU.

The process of campus selection first started at Patna Science College in the month of September 2006, when a reputed NGO, Pradan, selected a good number of boys and girls from different disciplines. "Since then, the process of campus placement is on, with more and more organisations queuing up for offering jobs to our boys and girls," he added.

Reputed organisations like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Indian Tobacco Company (ITC), IBM , Infosys and ICICI Bank, besides some other non-governmental organisations, have already visited the campus and selected a number of boys and girls for jobs.

Six to seven other reputed organisations of the country are likely to visit PU campus in very near future, said Mishra. Only recently, ITC held a campus interview at B N College and selected a good number of students for jobs.

About a month back, IBM, a reputed software company, turned up at Patna Science College and selected as many as 10 students from different institutions for jobs. TCS had also selected as many as 37 BSc final-year students for jobs on the basis of campus interviews held at Magadh Mahila College in January. TCS held another campus interview in the same college in February and selected several students from different PU colleges for jobs .

This is a great sign as it will ensure that folks who migrate to different parts of the country for admissions in various colleges and courses will get equal opportunities in Bihar as well.

Mauritian magician of Indian origin, who is in Bihar to trace his roots, dreams of “bringing” the Indian Ocean country to his state and vice versa.

“My dream is to build a mini Mauritius in Bihar and a mini Bihar in Mauritius. I will try for it soon,” said Gurudutt Singh, whose father Sudarshan Singh is a farmer in Mauritius and son Jilesh Singh is a professional magician like him. “The visit was overdue for decades, I have at last made it,” added Singh, who has plans to build a unique museum in memory of his forefathers in Bihar as well as one in Mauritius.

During his stay in Patna, Singh will meet Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Industry Minister Gautam Singh and top government officials. He has also shown keen interest to invest in development projects of the state.

Last year, a few Indian-origin people managed to trace their family roots in Bihar, thanks to the efforts of the ministry of overseas Indian affairs. A large number of people from Bihar migrated to Mauritius, Fiji, Trinidad, Suriname, South Africa and other countries in the 19th century to serve as indentured labourers on sugarcane and rubber plantations. Many descendants are now eager to locate the families of their forefathers in India.

Last year, the Bihar government launched a special tourism package called ‘Root Tourism’ aimed at helping people of Bihar origin wanting to visit their native villages. Mauritius is home to 700,000 PIOs. The state last month installed a life-size statue in Patna of former Mauritius prime minister Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, who originally hailed from Bihar.

Mahjabeen Sarwar is a lady with a difference. She was born and brought up and now lives with her husband and family in Patna, the capital of Bihar. The daughter of Abdul Hameed, a head clerk at Patna’s G.P.O., Mahjabeen studied at the Madrasa Sulaimania in Patna city, and eventually acquired a Fazil degree, equivalent to a conventional master of arts.

Sarwar says” I do social work because it gives me happiness, and a feeling of fulfillment. I aim to deliver what people need, for instance, if a woman is hungry, employment to continuously satisfy her hunger, or if a child desires an education, the means to study. Safeenah is an Urdu word denoting a boat. You could say my slogan is “besaharon ko manzil tak pahunchana” – reach the helpless to their desired destination. I achieve this via Safeenah – my platform, my boat.

In November 2006, she was conferred the Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi, Stree Shakti Puraskar for her outstanding work in the area of woman empowerment in the year 2002. She was actually singled out for fighting for justice for exploited women. Mahjabeen thus made a record – by becoming the first Muslim woman receive this award. Read here for more on how she feels about this recognition, why she was given the award and whether she has faced any difficulties along the way.