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A central team arrived in this Jharkhand capital on Wednesday to assess the drought situation in the state, an official said. All 24 districts of the state have been declared drought-hit. The eight-member team is headed by Vijay Kumar, managing director of National Horticultural Board. "We

will stay here for the next three days and assess the situation," Vijay Kumar told reporters at the Ranchi airport.
On Monday, all the districts of Jharkhand were declared drought-hit as the state has received less than 50 percent of the normal rainfall.

Within hours of killing a Congress activist, CPI (Maoist) ultras set on fire and triggered a blast in a school building at Jiyan in Ghatsila sub-division last night, police today said.

A group of Maoists last night set on fire the office of the primary school and triggered the blast, senior superintendent of police Akhilesh Kumar Jha said.

Documents, doors and furniture in the office were damaged, Mr. Jha said.

No casualty was reported in the incident, Mr. Jha said.

Gumla, Aug 17 (ANI): Jharkhand police arrested a Maoist activist, wanted in several cases including murders in Gumla on Monday.

Officials said the activist, identified as Damodar Singh, was involved in several cases of murder, besides instigating violence in the area.

A huge cache of arms and ammunition was also seized during the raid at his residence, said officials.

Besides currency notes, several arms, including a double barrel gun, revolvers and bullets were recovered from him.

Rights panel initiates probe into allegations of police excesses on alleged sexual abuse victim

Taking cognizance of a MiD DAY report 'TOP COPS MADE ME A DON' dated August 10, 2010, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has decided to send an investigation team to Jharkhand to conduct an inquiry into the allegations by Sushma Badaik, who is fighting for justice against high-ranking police officer PS Natarajan, who had allegedly sexually abused her about five years ago.

MiD DAY's page one on August 10, 2010 reported the plight of Sushma

Jarda village (Jharkhand), Aug.17 (ANI): Faced with a severe drought following a poor monsoon, many villagers in Jharkhand are finding it hard to arrange for their livelihood and support their women and children.

Buzz up!
In one such instance, villagers of the drought-affected Jarda Village have appealed to the Jharkhand Government to allow them permission to commit suicide.

In a letter addressed to the Governor M.O.H Farook, the villagers have demanded either to ensure basic facilites to live or give permission to end their lives.

KOLKATA: It's been nearly three months since the Jnaneswari Express got derailed, but night runs of trains along the Kharagpur-Rourkela and Kharagpur-Adra sections of South Eastern Railway (SER) continue to remain suspended for security reasons. While those boarding western India-bound trains from Howrah have come to know of the changed schedule by now, those who have confirmed tickets from stations falling on the route are unsure of the timings.

Ranchi, Aug. 16: Governor M..H. Farook today declared eight more districts as drought-hit, bringing the entire state in the parched bracket ahead of a central team visit.

With this, the memorandum of demands to be forwarded to the Union government, seeking financial assistance to mitigate the effects of drought, will be redesigned. It is now pegged at around Rs 3,000 crore against the earlier Rs 2,157 crore.

An eight-member central team, led by managing director of National Horticulture Board Bijay Kumar, is scheduled to arrive here on Wednesday.

The JDU's Jharkhand unit spokesman, Pramod Kumar Mishra, said "Lalu Prasad is still in the mode of day dreaming despite the people of Bihar had rejected the RJD after experiencing the worst governance in the that state." "Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has shown the country how good governance can be delivered even after taking over from the worst situation five years ago...his government had overseen the largest flood relief after Koshi disaster last year," claimed Mishra.The JDU, he claimed, had confidence in the people of Bihar 'who will retain the Nitish Kumar government in the forthcom