Women achievers from Bihar are second to none when it comes drive change initiatives. They are truly inspiring, and setting notes for others to strive for more. Be it administration, social innovation, art, media or any other alternate career stream, we are seeing a major change in their contribution towards social change.

Bandana Priyadarshi achievements are exemplary ,as the is district magistrate of Siwan, Bihar she has set her eyes for conducting a fair and fearless lok sabha elections 2009 in Bihar. Known for her intrepid and fierce doggedness, she has clearly left indelible footprints in her domain. Her no nonsense has often put her on sticky wickets but every time the officer proves a point when she raises her voices.

Earlier in 2007, Preyashi's ire was felt by don-turned-ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) legislator Anant Singh. Known as Chhote Sarkar in the area, the lawmaker from Mokama found all his food grain godowns sealed by the official after the state government ordered all the godowns in the state to be shifted to market committees. She was also famous because there had not been a single violent incident during the panchayat polls in Barh and Mokama in 2006 when Preyashi was the sub divisional officer.

Preyashi has been spending hours out in the field, meeting voters, inspecting campaign vehicles herself, assessing the security at the polling booths and spreading the word that the strictest action will be taken against anyone who breaks the law on polling day.

"You have to delegate and trust. The grassroot work force has to be motivated and you have to lead by example," says the district magistrate who has built up a credible reputation in her relatively short career.

Another Bihari girl is making her mark in the tinsel town . Archana Sharma, a model based in Bihar, is all set to debut in Tamil. The film, titled ‘Thozhi’, has her paired with Prabha, who has so far played the hero in films like ‘Pirappu’ and ‘Mittaai’.

A story preaching reverence to one’s parents, ‘Thozhi’ is being directed by Ilango Lakshmanan, who has also penned the story and the screenplay. The film is said to revolve around the lives of four youngsters, and is being produced by V Pictures.

Labels: Archana Sharma, Bandana Priyadarshi, Bihari Talent, Bihari Young Turks, Bihari Youth Icon, Newsmaker from Bihar, Social Service, Women achiever from Bihar

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments

Another young Bihari turk is making his marks in the fashion world. Bihari talent is traditionally renowned for its large pool of engineers, doctors and administrative officers. In recent times we are seeing a new surge of varied talent which is earning a niche in fields of art, literature and other alternate careers.

Designer Samant Chauhan has arrived on the fashion circuit with his exquisite work of “non-violent” silk, which is not made from killing worms, traditionally woven in Bhagalpur. The young designer is not only showing at the big ticket event once more but is also using the trip to do something else closer to his heart: talk on ethical fashion at the London College of Fashion.

He spoke to BS recently about his journey from Bihar to London. Chauhan is excited and just a bit apprehensive about the presentation he will be making at the fashion institute. On the other hand, his presentations and designs do have a knack for turning out exceptional. “That’s perhaps of my communication, as you may have noticed...” says Chauhan.

Lest you think he is talking about one of his strong points — no, he isn’t. This young designer from Bhagalpur, “like all Biharis”, he acknowledges and generalises, is hardly the best speaker of the Queen’s Language. In the glamorous world that’s his calling, where everything looks so polished at least on the surface, it is therefore somewhat startling to come upon the unpretentious person and country accents of fashion designer Chauhan. Not that his exuberance is checked by any one’s perceptions. Chauhan is candid: “It is because,” he says, of his language skill “not being so good that I work extra hard … so that my work can speak for itself and I don’t need to explain it,” he tells me with a smile.

He talks about how he was always marginalized and under rated by his peers and the unsaid discrimination faced during his college days. Like many other Biharis who face this discrimination and sometimes deep humiliation when they venture out to make a mark, Sumant story is no different. However he turned these challenges into inspiring opportunity and here he is finally now on the scene.

Not being particularly inclined towards academics, he decided to give NIFT a shot, he says. His parents, he clarifies, were always supportive. Being themselves firmly middle-class, they never stopped any of their children from attempting the unusual and making unconventional professional choices. And Chauhan did exactly did. But the transition from Bhagalpur (where he wore Newport jeans, graduating only later to Levi’s, the only brands he knew of at that point in his life) to New Delhi was not as traumatic as the realisation that the “image of Biharis was very poor” with his fellow students. “When they looked at me, they assumed that I didn’t know anything, forget anything about fashion,” remembers Chauhan but without any bitterness.

Ironically, he soon realised that awareness levels in the Capital and amongst his classmates from the metros were fairly low. “I soon found out that, in fact, students from Bihar know much more… about politics or Ben Hur, many of my classmates wouldn’t know even about such things… and I used to wonder why they were assuming that I knew nothing of Jean Paul Gaultier,” he smiles.

Being feted by a glamorous world now hasn’t made Chauhan lose any of his sense of rootedness though. Having always been passionate about working on natural silk fabric that came from his native area, the designer soon discovered how to market this to his advantage as well. “People ask me if I could make the same sherwani or another design in some other fabric, but I say sorry. If I start working in other stuff, what will be my USP?” he questions.

Traditional silk weaving in Bhagalpur is a threatened enterprise — there are few families left engaging in the traditional craft; most have switched over to power looms and have been seduced by the easy availability of cheaper Chinese yarn. “What they don’t understand is that they will never be able to compete with the mills of Surat,” says Chauhan, who is working with NGOs at the grassroot level to revive the traditional weave. Thanks in part to his efforts, the fabric, preferred for furnishings, has now found a larger audience in the apparel mart too. Besides, says Chauhan, he is not worried about anyone copying his work — “if they work with the Bhagalpur fabric, it will all benefit local weavers.”

In Europe and America, at the high-end stores from where he retails, it is a good time to be an eco-friendly designer. But because of the meltdown, it is also an equally good time to be an “upcoming” fashion designer. And that’s true for the domestic market too. “In fact,” says Chauhan, “I’ve done better this year than ever, both in the domestic market and abroad.” He reasons that with people less ready to pay a premium on big names, a younger designer offering quality has a better chance of getting picked up. It’s a good theory alright.

Keep watching out for more Bihari young turks who are going to change the way the world looks at Bihar and Biharis.

Labels: Bihari Fashion, Bihari Talent, Bihari Young Turks, Bihari Youth Icon

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments

Recent Bihar flood has evoked strong and emotional response from different sections of society and NRB’s have also come forward in providing support. Many NRI groups, teams from NGO’s have really taken up the cause of destitute population and working on the ground with various agencies.

Leading contemporary artist Subodh Gupta has collaborated with his celebrity friends in the art world, and collected Rs 4.17 crore through online auction of their paintings for rehabilitation of the state's flood victims.

Gupta is among few Indian artists who have made meteoric rise during the past few years. One of his paintings sold at a whopping Rs 4.28 crore at a recent art auction at Gurgaon, where bidders from 32 countries competed with one another for 100-odd works of art by Indian contemporaries.

"We persuaded 30 leading Indian contemporary artists to donate their works for the flood-relief auction," Gupta and his wife, Bharti, informed TOI in an e-mail. Saffronart, Peter Nagi of Nature Morte Gallery and Trident Hotel at Gurgaon collaborated in the project. The auction was hosted by Saffronart on its online platform on November 11 and 12.

Gupta and his friends have selected two Bihar-based NGOs __ Gunj and Samajik Saikshanik Vikas Kendra (SSVK) -- to spend the money in the flood-hit areas. "We have already disbursed Rs 50 lakh to Gunj and Rs 34 lakh to SSVK," Gupta said.

Read more about Bihar flood relief effort here.

Join the facebook group for supporting the Bihar flood relief mission.

Labels: Bihar 2.0, Bihar Culture, Bihar Floods, Bihari Newsmakers, Bihari Youth Icon, Subodh Gupta

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 8:26 AM | Permalink | Comments

Year 2008 will go down as a significant year for Bihar for multiple reasons. We saw major changes and initiatives getting actionised on ground in the area of education, investment and development programs. The state also suffered a major setback due to the sorrow of Koshi , the worst ever floods which we have seen in recent years.

Still in a way it was a remarkable year from the viewpoint of the States overall progress in terms of setting the ball rolling. The setting up of IIT Patna , Chandragupta Institute of Management(collaboration with IIM, Ahmedabad) and Chanakya Law institute are few of the most important landmarks as it was due for the state from some time.

Our recent flood relief efforts of web based groups has been well received by different quarters and thanks to the great team work and selfless service by our teams the global community is also recognizing the efforts of virtual groups in a crisis management situation. Till now Catrina relief, Mumbai bombings and other crisis situations were supported through various web based support groups based on facebook,orkut,twitter, bloggers etc.

The flood relief team has been doing a splendid job of providing relief and rehabilitation of the grief struck flood ravaged parts of Bihar. This has been recognized as one of the biggest blogging moments of 2008 and also a great act of citizen journalism. This also got some mainstream media attention and we were interviewed by NDTV for the efforts which NRB’s have taken in this crisis situation.

Cool Bihari blog has also recognized as a one of the prominent citizen journalism blog /blogger heros and thanks to the efforts of the team we really feel that the crisis has really shown how we can make a big impact as a group.

Look forward to another exciting year ahead and continuing with the momentum which has picked over the last few years.

Labels: Bihar 08, Bihar 2.0, Bihari Blogger, Bihari Newsmakers, Bihari Youth Icon

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: Bihar 2.0, Bihar Govt., Bihari Newsmakers, Bihari Talent, Bihari Youth Icon

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments