Bihar

• 08 Nov 2023

Durga Singh of Bihar won Gold Medal in Under - 18 Race

Why In News?

On November 7, 2023, Bihar State Sports Authority Director General and Chief Executive Officer Ravindran Sankaran informed that Durga Singh of Gopalganj district of Bihar has won the gold medal in the Under-18 race competition in the ongoing 38th National Junior Athletics Championship 2023 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

Key Points:

• The 38^th National Junior Athletics Championships 2023 will be held in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu from November 7 to 9.
• Durga Singh has opened the medal account for Bihar by winning the gold medal in the 1500 meters race competition in the Under-18 age group.
• Durga Singh won the 1500 m race 4:38. He won the gold medal in 29 minutes.
• Durga achieved this feat under the training and guidance of international coach and physical expert Rakesh Singh.

Cabinet Approves Proposal to Increase the Scope of Reservation in Bihar

Why In News?

In the cabinet meeting chaired by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on November 7, 2023, the proposal to increase the scope of reservation in the state was approved.

Key Points:

• In the meeting, it was agreed to increase the scope of reservation in the state to 75 percent. Now this Bihar Reservation Bill 2023 will be passed by the Legislature.
• In the bill passed by the Cabinet, the limit of 50 percent reservation has been increased to 65 percent. Also, economically backward people will continue to get 10 percent reservation. After this, the reservation limit will increase to 75 percent and instead of earlier 40 percent, now 25 percent seats will be for the general category.
• Extremely Backward Class (EBC) will get 25 percent reservation. Whereas Other Backward Classes (OBC) will get 18 percent reservation.
• A proposal to give 20 percent reservation to Scheduled Castes (SC) instead of 16 percent has been passed. At the same time, a proposal has been passed to give 2 percent reservation to the Scheduled Tribes (ST) instead of the 1 percent reservation they were already getting.
• Apart from this, in the Cabinet meeting, the Cabinet has approved the proposal of free sustainable livelihood earning scheme of Rs 2 lakh for self-employment to more than 94 lakh poor people.
• The cabinet also approved the proposal to now give Rs 1 lakh instead of Rs 60 thousand to landless families for purchasing land for PM Awas (Rural).