Date:16-Jan-2011
Press Release: Launch of Daily Pilgrimage Service to The Footsteps of Buddha.
Need for such a service:
Bodhgaya is an international Tourist place and there is a big need to have a safe and comfortable pilgrimage to the footsteps of Buddha – primarily the places in Rajgir and Nalanda. Pilgrims have always looked for a complete solution, which takes care of all their needs. It is a welcome service started by Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC) to commemorate 2600th years of Buddha’s enlightenment and it is non-profit in nature.
Main Features
Pilgrimage to various places in Rajgir and Nalanda (details below)
Includes Breakfast, traditional lunch and evening snacks and tea.
Includes Ticket charges of Ropeway, Venuvan, Nalanda Ruins, Xuan Xang Memorial and Nalanda and Bodhgaya Multimedia Museum.
Includes Guide Services
Travel in Air Conditioned Bus
Screening of historical films about History of Rajgir and Nalanda during the journey
Safe and Hassle Free Trip
Relevant books on History of Rajgir and Bodhgaya would be available on the bus (for purchase)
Initial Launch Offer – Rs 750/pax.
Early Bird Advantage Offer – Rs 499/pax (5 rear seats earmarked for this)
Children below the age of 10 – Rs 499/child
Infants up to age 3 – Free
Pilgrims from countries other than Saarc and Bimstec countries would be charged Rs 200 more due to differential entry fees at Nalanda ruins, Xuan Xang Memorial and Venu Van.
Booking Contact Number: 9234876571
Ticket Counter at: Bodhgaya Multimedia Museum
Booking will also be available thru BTMC website – www.mahabodhi.com
Prachin Bharat Tourism Technologies has been engaged as a solution provider
Pilgrimage Itinerary
7AM – Departure from Bodhgaya from the parking lot opposite BTMC.
7AM to 12:30PM
Packed Breakfast will be served onboard.
Places covered: Cylopean Wall, Chariot Wheel Marks, Ropeway ground level, Shanti Stupa, Gridhkuta , Ropeway Ground level back,
Jeevak Mango Grove – Drive thru,Bimbissar Jail, Son Bhandar, Jarasandh Ka Akhara (will get added soon)
Arrive at Nalanda Multimedia Museum for lunch – 12.30 pm
Lunch – 12:30PM - 1.00 PM
1:00PM to 5:00PM
Places covered: Watch Multimedia Show,Xuang Xang Memorial, Nalanda Ruins, Shopping
Depart Nalanda 4.00 PM
Arrive Venuvan 4.30 PM
Departure from Venuvan at 5.00PM and arrive at Bodhgaya at 7:30PM.
Tea/Coffee Snacks
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Showing posts with label Patna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Patna. Show all posts
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Mad rush for Nano booking in Bihar, long queues for bank finance
PATNA: Joining the bandwagon of millions of others across the country, thousands of car lovers in Bihar too have taken part in the mad rush for purchasing the peoples' small car Nano since the booking began yesterday.
Much before the city's main car dealer Ginni Motors' showroom's door was open for public display of all the three variants of the Tata Motor's pride car in the heart of the city both yesterday and today, thousands of car lovers queued up since morning to have a glimpse of their dream car, and, if possible, book one of them on the spot.
Realising the mood of the commoners, a number of public and private sector banks, besides some other financial institutions, have lost no time and opened their counters in some selected branches as well as in the dealer's showroom to grant instant car loan for the eager customers.
The demand for the booking of Nano is so high in Patna that car enthusiasts like Ravi Kumar could not wait any longer to book one of them with the hope that his name would figure in the lottery for the first 1,00,000 cars Tata Motors promised to deliver by July this year.
Despite other pressing demands in the family he has already applied for a bank loan for his dream car, he said today.
''We expect to have similar demand till the end of the booking schedule on April 25,'' Anil Agrawal, partner, Ginni Motors, said.
Looking at the first two days demand he also hoped that more than 25,000 cars would be booked by the city's Nano lovers before the deadline
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Rehabilitation package for Patna beggars soon
Patna, Nov 24 (IANS) The Bihar government has now planned a scheme to rehabilitate Patna's beggars. The Bhikshu Welfare Scheme will provide them an opportunity to be self-reliant and to live with honour and dignity.
"The state cabinet has approved Rs.22 million for the launch of rehabilitation package for beggars," Girish Shankar, prinicipal cabinet secretary, said Friday.
According to sources, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is likely to launch the scheme Nov 24, the day his government completes two years in office.
Under the scheme, all beggars, including the disabled and minors, would be issued identity cards.
Aged beggars would be admitted to an old-age home, minors would be provided education facilities, and able-bodied beggars would be engaged in various activities to earn livelihood.
Women beggars will be trained to earn livelihood with respect, sources said.
The state government will extend the beggar welfare scheme to other Bihar cities if the scheme proves successful here. There are nearly 10,000 beggars in Patna.
Last month, the state government decided to set up an innovative school-cum-home for daughters of beggars in Patna to provide them a safe shelter and training in vocational courses.
The centre, likely to be called Balika Grih, will be set up soon, said Vijay Prakash, state welfare department secretary.
"It will be the first of its kind in Bihar with the sole aim of providing an opportunity for personality development to these girls," Prakash said.
The Bihar government has approved the project, which will cost the state exchequer Rs.2 million annually.
One of the main aims of the Balika Grih is to prevent girls from begging. A recent study on beggars revealed most of the daughters of beggars were forced into begging due to lack of job opportunities.
Apart from education, they will also be trained in dance, music, handicrafts and fine arts.
A study on street children in Bihar revealed nearly 200,000 kids, including 50,000 minor girls, were engaged in begging.
"The state cabinet has approved Rs.22 million for the launch of rehabilitation package for beggars," Girish Shankar, prinicipal cabinet secretary, said Friday.
According to sources, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is likely to launch the scheme Nov 24, the day his government completes two years in office.
Under the scheme, all beggars, including the disabled and minors, would be issued identity cards.
Aged beggars would be admitted to an old-age home, minors would be provided education facilities, and able-bodied beggars would be engaged in various activities to earn livelihood.
Women beggars will be trained to earn livelihood with respect, sources said.
The state government will extend the beggar welfare scheme to other Bihar cities if the scheme proves successful here. There are nearly 10,000 beggars in Patna.
Last month, the state government decided to set up an innovative school-cum-home for daughters of beggars in Patna to provide them a safe shelter and training in vocational courses.
The centre, likely to be called Balika Grih, will be set up soon, said Vijay Prakash, state welfare department secretary.
"It will be the first of its kind in Bihar with the sole aim of providing an opportunity for personality development to these girls," Prakash said.
The Bihar government has approved the project, which will cost the state exchequer Rs.2 million annually.
One of the main aims of the Balika Grih is to prevent girls from begging. A recent study on beggars revealed most of the daughters of beggars were forced into begging due to lack of job opportunities.
Apart from education, they will also be trained in dance, music, handicrafts and fine arts.
A study on street children in Bihar revealed nearly 200,000 kids, including 50,000 minor girls, were engaged in begging.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Patnaites pledged with a difference.
For people across society chose to be the voice of those who spend their lives in oblivion and die incognito.
The pledge, taken for cause of the poor, was: "Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger from the face of the earth and achieve 8-point millennium development goals (MDGs) by 2015". Over a thousand people raised their hands when justice Mihir Kumar Jha of Patna High Court read out the pledge at a programme organised by the Bihar branch of Art of Living (AOL) at Bharatiya Nritya Kala Mandir . Delivering the inaugural speech, state health minister Chandramohan Rai praised the participants for showing concern for the deprived and promised every possible help from the state government to achieve the desired results. "It is really good that civil society is coming forward for causes hitherto supposed to be the responsibility of government alone," he said.
The AOL and the United Nations Millennium Campaign for "Stand Up & Speak Out" is a part of the worldwide campaign for eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. Speaking to TOI on the sidelines of the programme, the AOL Bihar coordinator Ritesh Raj said the purpose of organising such programmes is to remind countries about their promises made in the UN in 2000 to build a safer, more prosperous and equitable world for all by the year 2015.
It may be recalled that AOL Founder Sri Sri Ravi Shanker has joined the UN Millennium Campaign and pledged to engage and mobilise four million people around the globe on the day in the UN Millennium Campaign to "Stand Up and Speak Out" against poverty and hunger.Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, universalisation of primary education, promoting gender equity and women's empowerment, reduction in child mortality rate, improving maternal health, to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, to ensure environmental sustainability and to develop a global partnership for development, are the eight goals which the heads of 189 countries have taken pledge to fulfil.
PMCH's dept keen to be different
PATNA: A department in the Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) which chooses to stand out is the physiology department by implementing new schemes and learning methodology. The students during their course undergo computer training after which they are assessed by computer simulated problems.
The department has a physiology museum which is one of its kind in India. "The models put up for display in the museum have been made by students of the department under the guidance of their teachers," said head of physiology department, Dr Rajiv Ranjan Prasad. The department runs four degree courses including MBBS, Bachelor of Dental Surgery, Bachelor of Physiotherapy and Bachelor of Occupational Therapy.
"Students are provided with adequate facilities in terms of classrooms, labs and equipments in the department," said Dr Prasad.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Possibilty of 2000 yr old civilisation in Bihar, artefacts discovered
Saharsa, May 14: The discovery of an ancient ringwell and some decorated broken earthen pots in digging at the house of a villager at Mahishi in the district last week, has opened up the possibility of discovering a 2000 year old ancient civilisation in the area.
The incident came to light when Manoj Choudhury, a former panchayat pradhan of Mahishi, ordered digging up of his residence's backyard fro erection of a cellphone tower on Friday last.
After digging nearly ten feet into the ground, the labourers suddenly hit something big.
Everyone present at the spot thought that they had found some underground treasure trove but following careful observation and some specialised digging, remains of about a five feet long and nearly three feet wide big earthen ringwell came to the fore, generating tremendous curiosity among the villagers.
Encouraged by the sudden discovery and hoping to find an underground treasure, further digging continued in and around the area for some more time following which several other pieces of decorated earthen pots were recovered.
Failing to understand what to do with the sudden discovery of these underground ''invaluable treasurers'', the local government officials were soon informed, who in turn contacted the ASI (ASI) in Patna for an on the spot visit to access the historial value of the findings.
Though no proper step to preserve the discovered items had yet been taken by the ASI or government, the preliminary observations have revealed that the artefacts were nearly 2000 years old, and might indicate that a thriving civilisation existed in the area.
Incidentally, the ASI had already identified at least four ancient mounds in the district including those at Kandaha and Bongaon for starting excavation of the remains of possibly the 'Maurya period'', which existed within the precints of the district long time ago.
However, with the discovery of several artifacts at Mahishi, a new chapter of Indian history might have now flung opened, signalling the existence of even an older civilisation in this part of Eastern India for long.
The incident came to light when Manoj Choudhury, a former panchayat pradhan of Mahishi, ordered digging up of his residence's backyard fro erection of a cellphone tower on Friday last.
After digging nearly ten feet into the ground, the labourers suddenly hit something big.
Everyone present at the spot thought that they had found some underground treasure trove but following careful observation and some specialised digging, remains of about a five feet long and nearly three feet wide big earthen ringwell came to the fore, generating tremendous curiosity among the villagers.
Encouraged by the sudden discovery and hoping to find an underground treasure, further digging continued in and around the area for some more time following which several other pieces of decorated earthen pots were recovered.
Failing to understand what to do with the sudden discovery of these underground ''invaluable treasurers'', the local government officials were soon informed, who in turn contacted the ASI (ASI) in Patna for an on the spot visit to access the historial value of the findings.
Though no proper step to preserve the discovered items had yet been taken by the ASI or government, the preliminary observations have revealed that the artefacts were nearly 2000 years old, and might indicate that a thriving civilisation existed in the area.
Incidentally, the ASI had already identified at least four ancient mounds in the district including those at Kandaha and Bongaon for starting excavation of the remains of possibly the 'Maurya period'', which existed within the precints of the district long time ago.
However, with the discovery of several artifacts at Mahishi, a new chapter of Indian history might have now flung opened, signalling the existence of even an older civilisation in this part of Eastern India for long.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Patna is Patliputra, not Azimabad
Patliputra reached the pinnacle of prosperity when it was the capital of the great Mauryan kings, Chandragupta and Ashoka, the great men the present-day Biharis yearn to be identified with. There is an on-going campaign of the people of Bihar to rename Patna with its original name, Patliputra.
The UPA coalition competing hard with each other to lure the minority Muslims is trying all possible gimmicks to make them believe that it is their most trust-worthy saviour.
Of the many ludicrous tricks played by various politicians, probably the most outrageous is Lalu Prasad Yadav’s demand for change in the name of the capital of Bihar from Patna to Azimabad.
The reason cited by Lalu for the proposed change is that the last wish of former Assembly Speaker and RJD minister the late Ghulam Sarwar was to see Patna being known as Azimabad and Lalu wanted to see his wish being fulfilled. It is interesting to note that during his long tenure as the Chief Minister in Bihar, when he ruled the state directly or by proxy, Lalu made no efforts for the name change.
In fact, when in the late 1990s the then Speaker of the Bihar Assembly the late Dev Narayan Yadav had submitted a memorandum to Lalu for renaming Patna as Patliputra, Lalu had turned it down saying that the change of name of a city was an irrelevant issue.
The big question here is that how did the then irrelevant issue suddenly become relevant now? And what makes the wish of Ghulam Sarwar more valuable than that of Dev Narayan Yadav? Raising an issue when in the opposition is much easier than addressing it when in power.
But discrimination between two former Speakers, who are both no longer in this world, on the grounds of their religion is unpardonable. It is obvious that Ghulam Sarwar’s wish carries more weight because he was a Muslim, a minority that is especially privileged to have the first right to the country’s resources according to the Prime Minister.
Dev Narayan Yadav, on the other hand, was a Hindu, the majority which has been relegated to secondary position in its own land by the UPA government. The demand for Azimabad is absurd considering Patna’s history. From times immemorial and for the maximum period of its existence, Patna was known as Patliputra, a name that was associated with the city during the days of its prime glory.
Patliputra reached the pinnacle of prosperity when it was the capital of the great Mauryan kings, Chandragupta and Ashoka, the great men the present-day Biharis yearn to be identified with. There is an on-going campaign of the people of Bihar to rename Patna with its original name, Patliputra. On the other hand, Azimabad was the name given by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb at the request of his favourite grandson Prince Muhammad Azimush Shah in 1704 while the latter was the governor of Patna.
The common people however continued to call it Patna and the name Azimabad did not hold for long. Aurangzeb and Azimush Shah made no significant contributions to the history or culture of Patna, which the people of Bihar would like to cherish and be reminded of.
On the contrary, Aurangzeb continues to be one of the most despised rulers in the collective memory of the Indians, abhorred for his iconoclastic zeal. None other than the fraudulent communist historians can find any merit in his tyrannical rule.
Patna’s historical identity is primarily associated with the ancient times when it was the magnificent capital of India for centuries. The people of Bihar feel honoured that their land was the home to some of the greatest souls that ever lived, namely Mahavira, Gautam Buddha, Chandragupta Maurya, Chanakya, and Ashoka.
Patna, as Patliputra, occupies a position of pride in the Bihari psyche. Azimabad, on the other hand, does not hold any relevance for an average Bihari. The proposal to change Patna’s name to Azimabad instead of Patliputra is a dirty joke played on the Bihari sentiment. There is a strong public sentiment in favour of renaming Allahabad as Prayag, Ahmedabad as Karnavati and Muzaffarnagar as Laxminagar.
The names Allahabad, Ahmedabad, Muzaffarnagar as well as Azimabad are the grim reminders of the dark oppressive periods of Indian history when the most inhuman atrocities were committed on Hindus.
Indians are under no obligation to carry the burden of the remnants of the periods of slavery. They would welcome reverting to the original nomenclature that is representative of the days of freedom. The reinstating of the ancient names of these cities indicates liberation from servitude.
The UPA coalition competing hard with each other to lure the minority Muslims is trying all possible gimmicks to make them believe that it is their most trust-worthy saviour.
Of the many ludicrous tricks played by various politicians, probably the most outrageous is Lalu Prasad Yadav’s demand for change in the name of the capital of Bihar from Patna to Azimabad.
The reason cited by Lalu for the proposed change is that the last wish of former Assembly Speaker and RJD minister the late Ghulam Sarwar was to see Patna being known as Azimabad and Lalu wanted to see his wish being fulfilled. It is interesting to note that during his long tenure as the Chief Minister in Bihar, when he ruled the state directly or by proxy, Lalu made no efforts for the name change.
In fact, when in the late 1990s the then Speaker of the Bihar Assembly the late Dev Narayan Yadav had submitted a memorandum to Lalu for renaming Patna as Patliputra, Lalu had turned it down saying that the change of name of a city was an irrelevant issue.
The big question here is that how did the then irrelevant issue suddenly become relevant now? And what makes the wish of Ghulam Sarwar more valuable than that of Dev Narayan Yadav? Raising an issue when in the opposition is much easier than addressing it when in power.
But discrimination between two former Speakers, who are both no longer in this world, on the grounds of their religion is unpardonable. It is obvious that Ghulam Sarwar’s wish carries more weight because he was a Muslim, a minority that is especially privileged to have the first right to the country’s resources according to the Prime Minister.
Dev Narayan Yadav, on the other hand, was a Hindu, the majority which has been relegated to secondary position in its own land by the UPA government. The demand for Azimabad is absurd considering Patna’s history. From times immemorial and for the maximum period of its existence, Patna was known as Patliputra, a name that was associated with the city during the days of its prime glory.
Patliputra reached the pinnacle of prosperity when it was the capital of the great Mauryan kings, Chandragupta and Ashoka, the great men the present-day Biharis yearn to be identified with. There is an on-going campaign of the people of Bihar to rename Patna with its original name, Patliputra. On the other hand, Azimabad was the name given by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb at the request of his favourite grandson Prince Muhammad Azimush Shah in 1704 while the latter was the governor of Patna.
The common people however continued to call it Patna and the name Azimabad did not hold for long. Aurangzeb and Azimush Shah made no significant contributions to the history or culture of Patna, which the people of Bihar would like to cherish and be reminded of.
On the contrary, Aurangzeb continues to be one of the most despised rulers in the collective memory of the Indians, abhorred for his iconoclastic zeal. None other than the fraudulent communist historians can find any merit in his tyrannical rule.
Patna’s historical identity is primarily associated with the ancient times when it was the magnificent capital of India for centuries. The people of Bihar feel honoured that their land was the home to some of the greatest souls that ever lived, namely Mahavira, Gautam Buddha, Chandragupta Maurya, Chanakya, and Ashoka.
Patna, as Patliputra, occupies a position of pride in the Bihari psyche. Azimabad, on the other hand, does not hold any relevance for an average Bihari. The proposal to change Patna’s name to Azimabad instead of Patliputra is a dirty joke played on the Bihari sentiment. There is a strong public sentiment in favour of renaming Allahabad as Prayag, Ahmedabad as Karnavati and Muzaffarnagar as Laxminagar.
The names Allahabad, Ahmedabad, Muzaffarnagar as well as Azimabad are the grim reminders of the dark oppressive periods of Indian history when the most inhuman atrocities were committed on Hindus.
Indians are under no obligation to carry the burden of the remnants of the periods of slavery. They would welcome reverting to the original nomenclature that is representative of the days of freedom. The reinstating of the ancient names of these cities indicates liberation from servitude.
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