Bihar

Derived from Maithil practices and festivals and assumed to protect the household, the Madhubani Paintings spread since the 1960s in India and abroad. Transferred on paper in order to be commercialized, they undergo important changes. I will focus on the reception history of Mithila paintings through two Western mediators, who each declared themselves to be the discoverers of these paintings: one is British, William Archer (1907- 1979); the other French, Yves Véquaud (1938-2000). They bear witness to an international reception which underlines a particular aspect of the worldwide connected and shared histories of Bihar.
After being appointed officer of the Indian Civil Service in Bihar, Archer publishes in 1949 the article “Maithil Painting”. This is a first moment in the reception history of these paintings. His writings show a universal aesthetic, based on psychoanalyze, surrealism and an organic vision of art.
The hippie “counter-culture” renews enchanted orientalist and romantic visions of a South Asian universe presumed to be spiritual, pantheist and sensorial. Followed on the heels of the sixties, indophily appears a particularly favourable, moment - or kairos - in the reception of Maithil works. It parallels the internationalization of its actors: Erika Moser Schmitt in Germany, Tokio Hasegawa in Japan, Raymond and Naomi Owens as well as David Szanton in United States and Yves Véquaud in France. The writings of the latter mingled an aptitude to capture the “air du temps” with a real interest in India and adhered to the values of the counter-culture. He is today mostly known for his essays on Mithila paintings. The Mithila Art is published in 1976, then translated in 1977 into English and German. In 1974, he co-directed the documentary Mithila. During a period of about ten years, he exhibited his collection of Mithila paintings in France and abroad (in particular in Paris, Musée de l’Homme, Musée des arts Décoratifs...).
In 1970, Véquaud discovered the Mithila paintings in New-Delhi thanks to the museologist Ratna Fabri. He remained in India for two years, went to Madhubani and met some village painters. In his writings, the Maithil women painters are presented as charismatic figures, between holiness and genius. In 1973, Sita Devi “appears to him as a saint”, withdrawn from the world, “in a inner-peace and trust refuge which nothing could disturb". From the author’s standpoint, the talent of these painters, neo-tantric muses presumed to create only when in a yogic state, is compared with that of an exorcist. This vision of the prophetic artist, fluctuating between the christic figure of the saviour and the holy icon, also bears witness to the transformation of the status of the artist since the 19th Century in the West and to the appearance of a ”vocational regime” (Nathalie Heinich). These charismatic figures call to mind the appearance of a conception of the artist as the author of innovative works, and living a singular life. Like Braque and Rouault, the Maithil women painters would so be transformed into figures of legend, likely to guide the work of their followers in their efforts to become an artist. These prophetic artists would become a modern incarnation of holiness. In 1968, Yves Véquaud describes Mozart and Van Gogh as saints, whose example overwhelms. From his standpoint, the prophetic Maithil artists are devoid of the overwhelming heroization that affects Western artists. They would correspond to his promotion of creative spontaneity and a present freed from the burden of the past, in quest of eternal moments.
In Yves Véquaud’s conception, the women painters swing between an ideal of devout humility and religious immortality. In 1973, Sita Devi is described as the one who “knew all the honours” and yet remained “humble and loving”. From the westernized standpoint of Véquaud, the artistic success of Maithil painters may be explained by their desire for singularity and timelessness in their results. This involves both the personalization of means, namely the invention of new paths, as well as the depersonalization of the ends of the success, namely the creation of objects crystallizing values recognized beyond the author. This contingency was traditionally reserved for saints and heroes.
His admiration for these artists assumed an almost devotional character. Following the example of the canonization of Western art, Yves Véquaud established a relationship between the Maithil pictorial phenomenon and a religious phenomenon, the neo-tantrism. His behaviour was almost that of a believer. He set up his exhibitions with a nearly sacerdotal and proselytizing diligence. His hermeneutics of the works is almost theological. The conditions in which the paintings were produced has been neglected. The art of Mithila is described as a (wedding) liturgy ; the paintbrush becomes the tool of prayer. The biographies of the painters appear as a “golden legend”. Nevertheless, these exegeses underline the effective ritual dimension of these paintings. Maithil art became the sphere onto which he projected the expectations traditionally assumed by the religion. It is no longer the instrument, but the object of the sacralization. Sanctified with the admiration of Yves Véquaud, the painters were not “acknowledged by the ecclesiastical authorities”: it concords with the informal religiosity of the author. He thus put forward an essentialized vision of Mithila paintings. Perhaps it represented also an attempt to sublimate his own artistic failures by projecting onto fantasized painters an imaginary solution to a melancholy situation: giving up novelistic publications, whether due to lack of inspiration or to editorial refusals. His neo-tantric vision of Mithila paintings resulted from the kairos of the hippie phase previously evoked.
Yet in 1994 India Served and Observed, the memoirs posthumously published by William Archer and his spouse, Mildred, put forward a fanciful account about the discovery of Mithila paintings, marked with a Flower Power sensitivity : it stays in-between the construction of a storytelling and an aesthetic emotion, which is a posteriori inflamed. To seize the proclaimed strong and valued discourses of the moment on South-Asia is equivalent to a re-enchantment of Archer’s writings. This work builds itself in resonance with Véquaud’s one. Thus in this new narrative about the discovery of Mithila paintings, the meeting with the paintings and the painters is described as simultaneously exalted and distanced, but sublimated by aesthetic emotion. A narrative play takes shape wavering between desire and repression. According to their words, "in these murals we somehow electrically met".
I will analyzed in what extent these idealized works and their women heroized figures could be situated in the social context of the “counter-culture” and the hippie movement, foreseeing the globalization of Mithila paintings in the 1990s : since then some maithil artists free themselves from categories of gender, caste and local belonging. The appearance of painters men in Mithila, motivated in particular by the prospect of profits, polls gender categories associated to a practice for a long time exclusively feminine. Simultaneously some researchers deconstruct this essentialized tradition. They expound Archer’s and Vequaud's interpretations as an hegemonic discourse constituted from masculine canons.

In an economy like Bihar, dependence of population on livestock as an alternative source of income is significant. Acceleration in the availability of livestock to marginal and small farmers can offer significant opportunities for household income augmentation and employment generation in Bihar. In this context, an analysis of performance of livestock sector in Bihar has been carried out. The growth of livestock sector has been found slower in the Bihar than at the national level. The share of Bihar in India's livestock sector income has not changed significantly. Besides, low milk productivity, decline in the Bihar’s share in India's egg and meat sector income is a major factor responsible for insignificant changes in livestock sector of Bihar. Several demand and supply side factors have been identified for the above trends. Availability of health infrastructure, grazing land and immunisation are significantly affecting livestock across the districts of Bihar. The study h...

Conventionally, the economic growth of a country is appraised in form of gross domestic product (GDP). In Bihar, the per capita net state domestic product (NSDP) is the lowest among the major states in Inida, and it is only one-third of the national level of per capita GDP. The services, industry, and agricultural sectors contributed 52 per cent, 28 per cent, and 20 per cent to India’s overall GDP respectively, in 2006. However, the contribution of these major sectors to GDP at state level is not uniform. For Bihar at state level, the share of primary sector is continuously decreasing over the stated time period. For the
secondary sector, the share had decreased after bifurcation of Bihar, however, that share increased a little bit in 2009-2010. And similar to the India average, the share for Tertiary sector is continuously increasing at 60% of NDDP. The dictrics like Patna, Begusarai, Munger and Bhagalpur which are higher per capita NDDP, are very less share in primary sector. The most important part here is the very low share of industrial sector. However, the share of industrial sector has started increased during the period 2005-2010. Structure of Bihar’s economy is changing not only at state level, but at district level also. And these changes need to be more casious planning and good initiatives from Govt. And the change is already in its way.

The present work provides a detailed study of the stone images found at Kurkihar. The material has been documented from a very early period: as early as 1847, Markham Kittoe visited the place, made drawings of images seen in situ and collected some of them, which are today displayed in the Indian Museum (Kolkata), the State Museum (Lucknow) and the British Museum (London). These sculptures and those still preserved and worshipped in the temple of the village are at the heart of the research presented here; study of them helped to define the characteristics of the local stylistic idiom, and to recognize it in images recovered in various other sites of Bihar and Bangladesh and beyond in numerous images which found their way into private collections in India and abroad.
Kurkihar was a Buddhist site holding a major position in the artistic production of the ninth century, waning thereafter without completely disappearing. In fact, the local monastery continued to be inhabited but seems to have remained aloof from the development which then completely reshaped Buddhism and its iconography. The production of the stone atelier was simultaneously brought practically to an end around the beginning of the tenth century whereas the foundry still preserved its activities up to the end of the eleventh century at least. In this context, the site lost the fame which it must have had in the ninth century – considering the fact that images carved in the local stylistic idiom were exported to far-away regions – and sank into oblivion, awaiting rediscovery in the nineteenth and twentieth century.

ARTICLE DETAILS ABSTRACT Article History Published Online: 15April2019 The MSMEs sector plays a significant role in the economy of India in terms of creation self-employment, new startup innovation ideas, entrepreneurial skill, exports, Industrial production and managerial skill. The present study deals with thegrowth and performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise in the economy of Bihar. The study is based on the secondary data related to growth and performance of MSME's of State of Bihar, India. We have calculated the Compound annual growth rate (CAGR), percentage growth and graphical representation methods to analyze the performance MSME's. The result of the CAGR method indicates that the number of MSME's units in Bihar has increased during the study period but the yearly percentage growth rate has decreased continuously in the coming years while employment has achieved negative growth rate for the same period. The investment in MSME's units in Bihar has increased. Thus, it can be concluded that the rate of employment in the MSME's are not increasing as per the number of MSME's units in Bihar accordingly.

A lot has been written and discussed how India is at the point of take-off.  Economic growth is accelerating, and most believe that high growth is going to continue for many years into the future.  A generation that is less affected by colonial hang-ups, more confident, highly educated and aware, is leading all sectors of the Indian economy.  However, differences within the country remain, and may even widen if concerted efforts are not put in.  Identifying the constraints and strengths at the state and sub-state level will enable much more fine-tuned action.  This volume is designed to facilitate that objective by informing industry, students, government, NGOs, and any person interested in the progress of the states of India.

India has 6 Union Territories and 29 states (including Delhi which is now considered to be a state).  Of the 29 states, 19 have a population greater than 10 million – roughly the population of Poland.  Of the 235 countries of the world, 150 odd countries have a population below 10 million.  At 131 million UP has a population that is lower than only 8 countries including India.  A state such as Rajasthan has a land area greater than 342,000 sq. km and is larger than the United Kingdom and Ireland combined.  That there are significant differences in lifestyles, facilities, law and order, governance between different states is well known; but again, this common knowledge has come about more due to perceptions formed out of individual experiences.

Though most documents and reports bring out the salient features of the key states of India, few are able to bring out for the smaller states, Union Territories, and the north-east.  Moreover, precious few do so using data and information in an objective manner, such that anyone can decipher the strengths and weaknesses on various fronts.  Over and above that, very little is known about how states compare with each other.  Last, but not least, little is known how different parts of a state compare with each other. 

Indicus Analytics received support from PHDCCI to put together information on scores of different issues for all the states of India, including yours.  This information draws from the most credible and highly respected publications and databases brought out in recent years.  After ensuring that the information met the minimum quality specifications, it was analyzed in different ways.  Data for a state was compared over time and also with other states.   

Care has been taken that the researchers’ biases do not creep up, as is the case in many such comparisons.  The reader should for himself understand the various constraints that his or her state is facing, how well it is performing, how it compares to other states in the vicinity and with India overall.  This is all put together in such a way that the reader can draw his own conclusions. 

We hope that this profile benefits you in better understanding your state.  However, despite many crosschecks and dependence on credible information some errors might have crept in.  We accept those and would appreciate your comments for future improvements.

ARTICLE DETAILS ABSTRACT Article History Published Online: 15April2019 The MSMEs sector plays a significant role in the economy of India in terms of creation self-employment, new startup innovation ideas, entrepreneurial skill, exports, Industrial production and managerial skill. The present study deals with thegrowth and performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise in the economy of Bihar. The study is based on the secondary data related to growth and performance of MSME's of State of Bihar, India. We have calculated the Compound annual growth rate (CAGR), percentage growth and graphical representation methods to analyze the performance MSME's. The result of the CAGR method indicates that the number of MSME's units in Bihar has increased during the study period but the yearly percentage growth rate has decreased continuously in the coming years while employment has achieved negative growth rate for the same period. The investment in MSME's units in Bihar has increased. Thus, it can be concluded that the rate of employment in the MSME's are not increasing as per the number of MSME's units in Bihar accordingly.

The Archaeologist's spade at work in a North Bihar site has served to modify the contours of concurrent understanding about development of civilization in the past. Taking back the story of civilization in the region by thousands of years, the discoveries may lead to something akin to the Harappa revelations about a century ago, which then had redefined the known History of India. This Promising site with immense potential to change the regional History has inspired me to start following and analyzing sites lying on the Mahabharat trail. The otherwise sleepy and nondescript village named as 'Panr' or 'Pandavsthan' in Samastipur district, Bihar, earlier visited only by winter migratory birds has become the 'new destination' for the Historical researcher.

Higher Education in Bihar has glorious past, gloomy present and dark future. The ancient hub of knowledge is detoriating every day. The place of Nalanda, Vikramshila and other internationally famous centres of higher education is under darkness. Excellent centres of modern Indian education – Patna University, Patna College, Patna Science College, Patna Medical College, Patna Training College, etc. (the list is long), are losing their glory every day. It needs to be checked for the sound health of Higher Education of Bihar in particular and higher education of India in general. Lack of political will power, Financial Crunch, Lack of initiative of institution building, Growing bureaucratic and political interference, Teacher's passive approach, De-motivated and Self-centric students, Poor Research base, Lack of Technical Education, Unplanned and un-systematic Evaluation and Examination Pattern, Step Motherly treatment. of Successive Central Governments are the vital reasons behind this detoriation. Positive approach of Centre and State Government, proper bureaucratic and administrative support of bureaucrats and academic administrators, well directed and motivated students and active involvement of Teachers can not only save the system of higher education to collapse rather these combined and integrated efforts can also streamline the already dormant higher education of Bihar.

BODHGAYA… place of The Buddha's Enlightenment Its real story from 250 BCE to 2018 Buddha Gaya (Bodhgaya) is an important and holy place for all the Buddhists of the world. It is at this place that Siddhartha attained enlightenment and proclaimed the Four Noble Truths through the Eight Fold path leading to Nibbana. Buddha Gaya was earlier known as Uruvela during the Buddha's times. Uruvela was situated on the sandy banks of Neranjana river, now known as Falgu river. In around circa 250 BCE, Emperor Ashoka visited this place during his 11 th year of reign and donated 1,00,000 gold coins for building a vihara. He also built a 10 feet high wall for protecting the Bodhi tree (pipal) under which the Buddha meditated. During Ashoka's time, this place was known as Sambodhi or Mahabodhi. The name Buddha Gaya came into use in the 18 th century. Ashoka built a polished Vajrasana (a seat where the Buddha sat for meditation and attained enlightenment). Ashoka also recreated the cloistered walk of the Buddha with 22 pillared base each with a mark of "a" to "t" in Ashokan Dhammalipi script. The donations and the work carried out by Ashoka can be seen on the 8 th major rock edict, toranas of Sanchi Stupa 1 and on the Stupa railing at Bharhut.

§ Prof. Dr. Rana P.B. Singh (born: 15 December 1950) is researching in the fields of heritage planning, especially sacredscapes/religious places and heritagescapes, pilgrimages and settlement systems in Varanasi region since around five decades as writer, promoter, collaborator and organiser, and also did field studies in Japan, Sweden, Italy, Korea, and China. On these themes, he delivered special lectures and seminars (79 times, 1976—2020) at various institutions in countries like Australia, Austria, Belgium, China PR, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Indonesia (Bali), Italy, Japan, Rep. Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, USA (& Hawaii), USSR (Russia). His contributions include - Spatio-temporal Dimensional theory of Diffusion, Space Articulation theory in Indian villages, Literary images & Spirit of Place, Ritual Mandala & Sacrality of Space and Time, Pilgrimage Mandala, Ritual Mandala, Sacred Geography & Cosmic Order of Holy Places, Geomancy & Cultural symbolism in Hinduism, Concepts of Sacredscapes and Faithscapes, Pilgrimage systems and Self Organised Criticality theory, Cultural astronomy and Ordering of Sacredscapes and holy cities, Architectural symbolism and Heritage planning, framing the Heritage/ Sacred & Spiritual Ecology, 'faithscapes and sacredscapes', and RWYC- Reconnecting With Your Culture. His publications include over 340 papers and 43 books-anthologies on these subjects, including Banaras, Making of India’s Heritage City (2009), Sacred Geography of Goddesses in South Asia (2010), and Hindu Tradition of Pilgrimage: Sacred Space and System (2013).
[Res./ Home]: Usha Apartment- # N 9/ 87 - D 41 (Flat 101-102), Lane No. 5, Janaki Nagar Colony (near Hanuman Mandir), BLW Flyover – Badi Patia Road, PO: Bazardiha, Varanasi, UP 221106. INDIA
Mobile-WhatsApp: [+091]- 98381 19474. Tel.-LL: [+091]-542-2985281.
Email: ranapbs@gmail.com ; rana.RWYC.india@gmail.com ;
web: https://bhu-in.academia.edu/RanaPBSINGH/Papers/
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Prof_Rana_Singh/publications http://www.svabhinava.org/HinduCivilization/RanaPBSingh/ https://www.facebook.com/rana.singh.507027,
ORCID- https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6031-9086 ; rana.singh.507027@facebook.com
UPDATED: 01 February 2022.

This essay makes two arguments. First,there is a hidden politics that the name ‘riot’ performs. It institutes a false equalization that flattens the gigantic power inequality between Hindus and Muslims, and in a single stroke makes them both equally capable and responsible for riot, itself wrongly viewed as between two communities. This false equalization stands on a pervasive but incorrect idea that a ‘balanced’ approach entails condemning both minority and majority communalism, which supposedly mirror each other. Given this notion of resemblance, in The Algebra of Warfare–Welfare, I call this received wisdom the ‘ditto theory. Second, there is a prior theory of violence rooted in the composition and history ofnationalism and almost independent of incidents of violence. An academic theory about ‘communal’ or ‘Hindu–Muslim’ violence presupposes and partakesin that epistemology rather than simply collect ‘data’ about specific cases of violence as an ‘objective’ scholar or analyst. This essay explores the crucial subject of the politics of naming over longue durée. In so doing, it puts forward an original argument that seldom has much of social science made. This argument is derived from as well as extends my larger monographic work on political violence. It is not feasible to lay bare full detail of my claim here. In part, this is because the regnant doxa my argument is positioned against is not limited to a specific field of inquiry, discipline, or a set of authors. My contention instead pertains to the very ubiquitous nationalist epistemology to which almost every discipline, field, or most authors pledge their affiliation. This nationalist epistemology as a knowledge/power matrix with Hindu Orientalism as its lynchpin is, moreover, international.

The study shows there is hardly any deviations from the set pattern of the curriculum so far, except the additions of topics to the burgeoning width of sections. This study has tried to understand the scenario of curriculum reform in Bihar by studying the status of professionalism of the teacher educators who are the key players in the curriculum transaction. It focused on three key areas that relate to the teacher education: the curriculum, the process of designing curriculum and the professionalism of the curriculum transactors. The investigation had to be diversified for getting a holistic picture of the field. The study had shed light on the state of curricula of Teacher Education of Secondary level teaching and the practice of curriculum designing as well as the professional attitude of the teacher educators who impart the curriculum. The results here are an output of three different tools of research: Content analysis, Observation Schedule and questionnaire.
We have used the terms curriculum and syllabus interchangeably despite the distinction of the terms for two reasons. First is in most of the institutions on teacher education are single course institution, even in a multi-faculty department the education department is by design a self-sufficient department mostly alienated from other departments. So it has mostly only one subject in its curriculum. The second meaning in which the term is used is for a generalised objective oriented overview of courses, evaluation and activities. During the research, we perceived that practically this does not exist for the teachers. The teaching and other activities of
a teacher in practice start with the syllabus and end with it. They transact all the teaching materials as they are given to them in the syllabus, disregarding the level and status of students. All the theoretical part of the syllabus is taught by lecture method. The practical parts are conducted without any plan and mostly the submissions of reports are considered sufficient learning.
The curriculum we studied here have grown in size over two decades but they have tried to incorporate the emerging trends of teacher education to a considerable level but they mostly disregard the practical strategies to impart them. The structure of syllabus is very simple. It lists the topics and subtopics under units and papers and enlists the practical activities required to be completed. It does not suggest any strategy for transacting them and assume that as a responsibility of the teacher.Due to this, the new elements are also treated as an additional information to be delivered to the students. The additions do not bear the spirit of 21st Century,
as shown in the study these syllabi lack the basic tenets to qualify for a focussed managed and goal oriented document that guides the teaching-learning community on the path of acquiring the skills rather than just collecting information. Even with the new elements, the syllabi lack the glocal orientation. The practice of curriculum designing we found to be mostly non-participating, except for an intervention by non-university entities. In universities generally, the teachers are apathetic to the process of curriculum making. They rarely take part in it on their own. The process is mostly patronised by the senior teachers. A selected few of the teachers generally distributed in caucuses participate in the process. The process is dependent on a number of factors including the adopted syllabus of other universities, the perceived efficacy of the teachers of the university.
The latter is sometimes termed as a process of ‘localisation’ of the curriculum suggested by NCTE or any other body. The process of curriculum designing is such that the innovations and new additions are only through the choice of individual or group of teachers. There is no analysis of requirements of the learners and local conditions. For example, the teaching at plus 2 is now completely removed from the colleges. But there are no special measures for preparing teachers for XI and XII.
This study had been an illuminative journey through the time for us. We hope that it will help the larger group of researchers interested in the field at national and international level. Demographically it represents an underdeveloped state of Bihar. In several ways, it has captured the typical attitude towards education that is shared across a wide population through the Hindi belt.

In this dissertation, the author has explored various domestic embroidery traditions of Bihar, India that are diminishing day-by-day. Through this essay, the author investigates how these embroideries act as a tool of storytelling and communication for the women artisans in the region of Bihar. The aim of this essay is to give a voice to these women and their age-old practice. The dissertation was awarded a distinction by the Academic Board at the Royal College of Art, London.

India is one of the worst flood-affected countries in the world and accounts for one fifth of global death count due to floods. Bihar is India’s most flood-prone State, with 76 percent of the population, in the north Bihar living under the recurring threat of flood devastation. The Kosi River in north Bihar plains presents a challenge in terms of long and recurring flood hazard. Despite a long history of flood control management in the basin for more than 5 decades, the river continues to bring a lot of misery through extensive flooding. For this reason, it is often called “Sorrow of Bihar”. Supaul district is one of the most flood affected district of India but the disaster management facility and planning is inadequate. Out of 11 blocks, 5 blocks are affected by flood every year. The aim of present paper was to study different aspects of Kosi flood and disaster management at district level. The study is based on secondary data as well as primary data. The analysis made here follows statistical methods and cartographic techniques, interpretation of maps and diagrams, recording varying observation on temporal and spatial scale. The paper briefly discusses the dynamic nature of the Kosi River as well as trend and pattern of kosi flood. A discussion is made on disaster management facility available at district level .The paper also recommends a way forward.

This is a report on migration from three districts of Bihar - Gaya, Bhojpur and Aurangabad. The report was submitted to the European Commission as part of a project on labour rights in India. The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to understand why young men are migrating from Bihar and what are the consequences. The report also contains a discussion on the national level policy implications.

Athaddasāsim sugataṃ nagaraṃ mithilam pati
adantānaṃ dametāraṃ sambhudham akuto bhayaṃ.

[Then I saw the Sugata going toward Mithila,
Tamer of the untamed, fully awake, afraid of no one and nothing.]

The poetic and the philosophical, here, exceed the historical and the documentary. Sugata, an epithet of Buddha (lit. the well-Gone one) is going in the direction of the Mithila. By no imagination, this is to say that the poetic is not part of the historical. In fact, I celebrate precisely this coming together of the two in this verse by a theri named Vasetthi from what has been hailed as the first anthology of women’s literature in the world. These udāna or the ‘inspired utterances’ (as the sixth century Buddhist commentator recognised these poems) bring joy and euphoria to me when I too see the Buddha going toward Mithila.  However, more than the figure of the Buddha, it is the direction toward a landscape called Mithila that take precedence in my celebration. It is this space of Mithila that connects the past of theri Vasetthi with myself. In that sense, in the poem, the Buddha’s movement toward Mithila creates a visual pathway and initiates us to think about Mithila as the one that is stretched before us like a historical canvas. Like the Sugata who ‘is afraid of no one and nothing’, the discipline of history is the guide in this journey. And, when it comes down to the history of Mithila, who could be a better guide than Radhakrishna Choudhary (1921-1985).

The Bihar Development Report is a depiction of the current scenario in Bihar across different socioeconomic parameters, which will enable readers to understand the various elements crucial for growth and development in the state. It will also provide an indication to the policymakers to take constructive steps in those areas where the state is lagging behind. The present study makes an attempt to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the state, objectively using government data. Various aspects of Bihar's economy and the changes therein over time have been tracked to see the extent of progress in different indicators of growth and development. In each of these aspects, Bihar's status in comparison to other states has been discussed. Further, a comparative analysis of various districts of the state has also been presented. The study is divided into seven sections – each dealing with various issues related to development. Section I of the study takes up perspectives on Bihar. The second section of the study explores the
economic profile of Bihar. The states, which are being considered for comparison, are in one way or the other, related to Bihar. Development and social profile of Bihar are covered in the third section. A
comparative picture of the districts of Bihar across various parameters is taken up in section IV. The fifth and sixth sections are an addition this year. Section V lays out in detail the performance of Bihar in establishing capacities in higher and technical education. Capacity development in the sphere of higher education is important in order to build trained and skilled manpower in the state. The future economic growth prospects of Bihar is discussed in the last section, where a forecast is made for per
capita income of Bihar vis-a-vis other states in 2020 and compared against incomes in various countries today. This enables us to visualize where the state is headed if it continues to grow at the current pace.

This article provides a re-edition of the copper plate inscription of Rājyapāla, dated year 2, kept at Bharat Kala Bhavan, Benares Hindu University. This is so far the only one known grant of the king. It records the royal grant of two villages to a brāhmaṇa, pertaining to Dūtikā viṣaya of Tīra bhukti in northern Bihar. The
eulogy recorded in the plate is important in mentioning Mammā, the daughter of a ruler named Govindarāja, the queen of Nārāyaṇapāla and the mother of Rājyapāla, to whom no other inscriptions refer. The inscription is also important as a document, for one line with smaller characters mentioning a village name is added to the last line of the obverse and a sentence of confirmation with later date is given at the end of the inscription. This seems to have been necessitated for either the omission of the name of one village was detected or the village was given additionally, after the issue of grant.

The local and small investors, especially the farmers and the tiny entrepreneurs need credit at affordable cost. In the absence of such a credit facility, the farmers cannot take advantage of the rich natural resources such as abundant water and rich and fertile soils. The overall bank credit scenario remained dismal and unchanged in the state. The farmers in the state have very little amount of loans from the banks. The density of SHGs institutions in the state is quite low compare to national average and southern states. As on March 2011, while 53.4% of total rural households at all India level are covered in SHGs, only 15.3% total rural households in Bihar have been included in SHGs. The bank credit linkages are quite low, especially in terms of the number of SHGs getting loans from banks. Clearly there is a need for widening and deepening of the SHG movement in the state. It is heartening to note that state government is committed to widen and deepen the scope of SHGs in the state.

The concept of Teacher Education is not new to Bihar, but the Bihar of today has to do much for the development of the teacher education. Teacher education in Bihar has to undertake too many issues to revitalise Secondary Teacher Education. The main concerns that needs attention are Admission Process, Curriculum and its Transaction, Mechanism of Evaluation and Research Activities. Other related issues and concerns also have bearing on the Teacher Education in Bihar as a whole. To check unplanned growth and expansion, To establish different types of teacher education institutions, To take care of existing institutions, To establish a link among Teacher Education colleges, state education department, central agencies, etc., To take care of professional development of the teacher educators and to establish different types of cell to deal different issues, are important suggestive measures to look into to develop the Secondary Level Teacher Education in Bihar.

Present paper based on the general aspects of the Kaimurian rock art, its distribution and
description. These details are especially helpful to understand the extent to which it has decided the
archaeological and historical frameworks of the region. In the present work, it has been attempted to make
a systematic study of rock art of the Bhagwanpur block of Kaimur district based on the field exploration,
scientific documentation, analysis of artifacts related to rock art found in course of exploration of the
region. And the present attempt to make an archaeological study of the Kaimurian (those tribes and live
person who evolve and developed in this region only also they did artistic work in the caves and shelter,
which is still live). The present study includes only the Bhagwanpur block, site selection, about the earlier
excavations in this region, general features and subject matter of paintings, style notation, orientations,
chronology, comparative analyses,    the Superimposition of the paintings and the Kaimurian ancestor
made and an attempt has been done.

Identification, access to entitlements, and financial inclusion are key sites of negotiation in India’s rapidly evolving governance landscape. Following demonetization and with the proliferation of Aadhaar biometric identification, the Government of India is increasingly tracking money and populations. Amidst these shift in identification and access pathways, this research seeks to understand how access to Aadhar and voter ID for internal migrants impacts access pathways to fundamental rights and formal financial inclusion in five states in India.

The site of Lalpahari is a Buddhist monastic site and is situated on a hill-top. The two seasons of
excavations have been done successfully in the years 2017–18 and 2018–19. In these seasons of excavation,
quintals of ceramics were revealed and its detailed study was required. The ceramics/potteries discovered are
important evidences to undersand the past, therefore, a detailed scientific study of these retrieved ceramics/
potteries is essential. The study of ceramic’s typological morphology reflected the variation of pottery,
functional features, manufacturing techniques and its important impact during the time and space. This study
attempts to dwell into the detailed comparative analysis of the hill-top monastic’s ceramics with the previous
excavated sites for the analytical understanding and to develop a tentative chronology. This study suggests that
Lalpahari is an unicultural site and flourished in the early medieval time and space (700–1300 ce).

Published in the Indian online and printed journal MANUSHI, No. 19, 1983, this paper reports on fieldwork undertaken in Patna district in 1983 amongst the untouchable/dalit castes (chamars and musahars) of one village.  Amongst other things the paper explains how and why bride price has been replaced  by the dowry system as part of the upward socio-economic mobility of some dalit castes.

The capital of Bihar - Patna, is one of the holiest cities in Sikh history. Despite rich historical and religious significance, the population of Sikhs in Patna is merely 0.09% of the total population. The Sikh minority in the Bihar capital is one of the handful of minorities of India who have never "claimed" a minority status or any compensation for their community from the government. However, the community continues to preserve its
ethnic behavior and social symbols to date. This paper aims to analyze the existence of social institutions that support the formation of the Sikh community as ethnicity in Patna, Bihar. It also touches briefly on the reasons behind the lack of agency and demand for greater minority representation. Interviews were
taken from 100 respondents in January 2019 in the capital city of
Patna, Bihar in India. Age was taken as a criterion for inclusion.
The findings of the study show that minority behavior is not the same everywhere. The ethnicity of the community is maintained by the continuity of symbols of lifestyle such as dietary habits,
attire, the teaching of Gurumukhi in school and colleges, and trade activities. A reasonable explanation can allude to the very foundations of the Sikh community which upholds ideals of bravery and resilience. Begging or lobbying is a mandate prohibited by the very religion which protects them. However, the younger population shows a shift towards the general trend and is moving away from the economic setup of establishing business and of looking at the Gurudwara as an intersection of political and social rights. A change in the coming decade is inexorable.
This research can be used as a model to understand the behavior
of other minorities in India or elsewhere. It provides a
better-looking glass to understand subaltern behavior.
Additionally, it also shows variations in the status of communities.
The Sikh community, a majority religion in most of Northern
India is a minuscule minority in Patna’s Capital city with rich
Sikh history.
Keywords: Ethnicity, Gurudwara, Minority, Sikhism, Social
Institutions