Bihar

Question 1

Basic Pillars of human resource development (for human development questions)?

Answer 1

basic pillars of human development are — health, education, water supply and sanitation, social welfare and social security, all of which have profound impact on the quality of life.

Question 2

Enhanced expenditure in recent yrs by SG on social services?

Answer 2

1. The share of expenditure on social services in total expenditure of the State Government has increased from 34.4 percent in 2015-16 to 44.0 percent in 2020-21. In Contrast, the share of expenditure on social services in total expenditure of the State Governments of all other states combined decreased from 37.3% in 2015-16 to 35.3% in 2020-21.
2. The grwth rate of total expenditure for Bihar was 11.3% as compared to 14.7% for all other states combined. Thus total expenditure by all other states increased at a higher rate than Bihar’s. Despite that,

3)The growth rate of expenditure on health during this period was 16.6 percent, compared to 13.8 percent at all-India level. The correspnding figures for social services was 12.2% vs 17.3% in Bihar; for health, 13.8% vs 16.6% in Bihar; for Eductaion 10.9% vs 14.3% in Bihar

4) The expenditure on health increased from Rs. 4571 crore in 2015-16 to Rs. 10,602 crore in 2020-21. Similarly, on education, the expenditure increased from Rs. 18,980 crore in 2015-16 to Rs. 39,807 crore in 2020-21.

5) This positive trend is also reflected in the growth of the Per Capita Development Expenditure (PCDE) of Bihar during the last six years. The PCDE of Bihar has been growing at the rate of 14.5 percent, compared to 10.3 percent for national PCDE

Question 3

Population stats for Bihar?

Answer 3

1. With 104.0 million population as per 2011 census, Bihar is the third most populous state of India, after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
2. The state accounts for 8.6 percent of the India’s population, with only 2.9 percent of country’s surface area.

Question 4

demographic change in Bihar: GR of pop in Bihar?

Answer 4

1. During 1951-61 and 1961-71, India recorded a higher population growth compared to Bihar.
2. In the next two decades of 1971-81 and 1981-91, the decadal growth rate of population was almost the same for Bihar and India. 3. Subsequently, however, during 1991-2001 and 2001-11, the decadal growth of population of Bihar became higher than that of India.
3. During 2001-11, Bihar’s population growth rate was 25.4 percent, compared to 17.7 percent for India.
4. https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvN_8sA-Zf0djmrpK1e1Huv1tgLq?e=XtaG5D

Question 5

demographic change in Bihar: “the demographic scenario in Bihar is not similar to that in India”?

Answer 5

1. Bihar is yet to experience the demographic transition, as experienced by most other states.
2. the density of population (1106 persons per sq.km) in Bihar is much higher than that of India (382 persons per sq.km). This poses enormous pressure of population on natural resources of Bihar.
3. Urbanisation, another determining factor of development, is extremely low in Bihar as compared to India - 11.3 percent in Bihar against 31.2 percent for India.
4. Also, the decadal increase in urbanisation in Bihar during 2001-11 has been only 0.8 percent, against a much larger increase (3.4 percent) in India.
5. As regards sex ratio, it is lower in Bihar (918) than in India (943); but fortunately, the child sex ratio in Bihar (935) is higher in Bihar than the national average (919)
6. wide variation in indices across the districts. In terms of decadal growth of population, the best performing districts are- Arwal, Gopalganj and Darbhanga. The range of sex ratio varies from 876 (Munger) to 1021 (Gopalganj), the state average being 918. For child sex ratio, the figures are fairly uniform. The density of population also shows a wide variation. Out of the 38 districts, 10 have a population density of more than 1400 persons / sq.km.

Question 6

demographic change in Bihar: Fertility Rate?

Answer 6

TFR for India is expected to decline from 2.1 in 2016-20 to 1.7 during 2031-35. In the same period TFR for Bihar is expected to decline from 3.2 to 2.4%.

Question 7

demographic change in Bihar: age structure?

Answer 7

1. A comparative analysis of the population projection of Bihar and India shows that, by 2036, the share of working population (15-59 years) will be higher in both Bihar and India. For Bihar, the share of working age-group population is expected to be 61.4 percent in 2036, increasing from 53.5 percent in 2011. In case of India, this increase is only of 4.2 percentage points, from 60.7 percent in 2011 to 64.9 percent in 2036.
2. Regarding child population (0-14 years), it will decline for both Bihar and India. However, the share of child population to total population in Bihar will be 27.7 percent in 2036, which is 7.6 percentage points higher compared to India’s share of 20.1 percent.
3. For India, the share of elderly population in total population is projected to increase from 8.4 percent in 2011 to 15.0 percent in 2036, denoting an increase of 6.6 percentage points. Contrary to this, the growth of elderly population is slower in Bihar. Between 2011 and 2036, the share of elderly population will increase from 6.3 percent to 10.9 percent, an increase of 4.6 percentage points.

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Question 8

Four pillars of a healthacre system?

Answer 8

1. universal access to an adequate level of care
2. fair distribution of financial costs and a cnstant search for improvement in the existing system
3. training healthcare practitioners for competence and accountability
4. focussed care for vulnerable groups like children, women, disabled and the elderly

Question 9

Five types of health services for proper healthcare?

Answer 9

1. promotive
2. Preventive
3. curative
4. rehabilitative
5. Palliative

Question 10

Life expectancy at Birth in Bihar? comparisons?

Answer 10

LEB for Bihar has recorded an increase by one year, from 68.1 years in 2010-14 to 69.1 years in 2014-18.
For India, this increase was by 1.5 years, from 67.9 years in 2010-14 to 69.4 years in 2014-18.
Regarding other EAG states, this increase ranged between 0.4 and 3.5 years, with only Uttarakhand reporting a decline of 0.8 year.

When one compares the LEB for male and female, it is usually found to be higher for females, because of biological reasons. In case of India, this general pattern was observed, in both 2010-14 and 2014-18. For all EAG states, this pattern was observed in 2010-14, but not in 2014-18, when Bihar and Jharkhand reported higher LEB for males.

Question 11

Crude Birth Rate in Bihar? comparisons?

Answer 11

Betn 2016 and 2019, the figures are consistently higher for Bihar.

between 2016 and 2019, the difference between CBR of Bihar and India has remained unchanged.

The rural-urban differential also remained stagnant over these years. The birth rate has continued to be higher in rural areas, both for India and Bihar, compared to urban areas in the last four years.

In 2019, the CBR in Bihar were-overall (26), rural (27) and urban (21) and, for India, the figures were overall (20), rural (21) and urban (16).

Question 12

IMR: in Bihar? comparisons?

Answer 12

IMR has continuously declined in Bihar from 38 in 2016 to 29 in 2019. For India also, there was a decline, from 34 in 2016 to 30 in 2019.

It is interesting to note that, in spite of being an economically and socially disadvantaged state, the IMR in Bihar is less than the all-India average in 2019. The superior status of Bihar vis-à-vis India is because of superior status of rural Bihar where IMR stands at 29, compared to 34 for rural India.

Question 13

Health Infrastructure: three tiers?

Answer 13

Primary healthcare denotes the first level of contact between people and the health system. The primary healthcare is provided through a network of Sub-Centres (SC), Primary Health Centres (PHC), and Additional PHCS (APHC).

The secondary healthcare refers to a second tier of health system, where patients from primary health care are referred to specialists in bigger hospitals for treatment. The health centres for secondary healthcare include District hospitals, Sub-divisional hospitals, and Community Health Centres at block level.

The tertiary care means a third level of health system, in which specialized consultative care is provided, usually on referral from primary and secondary medical care. Tertiary care includes specialised intensive care units, advanced diagnostic support services and specialized medical personnel. The tertiary care service is provided by medical colleges and hospitals.

Presently, there are 36 district hospitals, 67 referral hospitals and 45 sub-divisional hospitals. In addition, there are 533 PHCs, 10,258 Sub centres and 1399 APHCs; the last three categories adding up to 12,190 health centres. Thus, per lakh of population, there are about 12 health centres in the state.

there is considerable variation across the districts in terms of availability of health infrastructure. The average number of health institutions per lakh of population varies from 7.8 in Sitamarhi to 18.0 in Jamui. The best three districts in terms of availability of health institutions per lakh population are- Jamui (18.0), Sheikhpura (17.3) and Sheohar (16.6). On the other end, the three most disadvantaged districts are- Sitamarhi (7.8), Darbhanga (8.3) and Patna (8.7).

Towards strengthening of the health services, the approach of the State Government has been a pragmatic one, with thrust on improving the functioning of the existing facilities, rather than extension of the infrastructure.

Question 14

Health Infrastructure: no. of patients visits?

Answer 14

1. Due to limited income of the majority of the population in Bihar, their dependence on public health services is very high.
2. The average number of patients visiting government hospitals per month was 8996 in 2016, which increased by 5.8 percent and became 9517 in 2019. In 2020, due to Covid-19 and lockdown, there was a 40 percent fall in the attendance in outpatient department and the patient footfall was 5684.

Question 15

Health Infrastructure: quality of health services?

Answer 15

can be assessed in terms of two indicators - average number of outpatients visiting hospitals per day and the in-patient bed occupancy rate

According to the data for last three years, average number of patients vising hospital per day has declined from 311 in 2018-19 to 182 in 2020-21, which can be clearly linked to Covid-19 and lockdown. Similarly, the in-patient bed occupancy rate also reduced to 42 percent in 2020-21 from 55 percent in 2018-19.

Question 16

Health Infrastructure: health personnel?

Answer 16

The health personnel in Bihar encompass Doctors, Nurses, Auxiliary Nurse-cum-Midwife (ANM), and Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA).

In 2020-21, against the sanctioned posts of 12,895 regular doctors, 6330 were working, indicating a vacancy ratio of 50.9 percent. Likewise, for the contractual post of doctors, 3030 were working against the sanctioned post of 4751, showing a vacancy ratio of 36.2 percent.

Regarding regular nurses, there were 15,613 sanctioned posts, but the number of working nurses was 10,013, indicating a vacancy ratio of 35.9 percent. Parallelly, in case of contractual nurses, against the sanctioned strength of 4942, a total of 422 were working, implying a high vacancy ratio of 91.5 percent.

In 2020-21, the strength of regular ANM was 17,655, against the sanctioned posts of 29,479, indicating a vacancy ratio of 40.1 percent. Similarly, the strength of ANMs on contractual posts is lower at 1584, against 11,204 sanctioned posts, indicating a vacancy ratio of 85.9 percent.

In contrast to the situation of doctors, nurses and ANMs, the strength of health personnel is much higher in case of ASHAS. For ASHA workers, it is found that 87.7 thousand of them are working, against a sanctioned strength of 93.7 thousand, implying a vacancy ratio of only 6.4 percent.

On comparing the district-wise positions, the variation is found to be moderate for ANM and ASHA workers, but in terms of doctors and nurses, there is substantial inter-district variation.

Question 17

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)?

Answer 17

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a safe motherhood intervention under the National Health Mission (NHM), which is being implemented with the objective of reducing maternal and neo-natal mortality by promoting institutional delivery.

The scheme was launched in April 2005, and is now being implemented in all states, with special focus on low performing states (LPS).

The low performing states are – Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, which combines cash assistance with delivery and post-delivery care.

It has identified ASHA as an effective link between the government and pregnant women.

The scheme also provides performance-based incentives to ASHAs for promoting institutional delivery.

Under this, ASHAS are required to identify pregnant women, facilitate at least four antenatal check-ups for them, and motivate them to opt for institutional delivery. They are also required to visit the mother and newborn for a post natal check-up within seven days of delivery and counsel them on early breastfeeding.

In rural areas of low-performing states, an incentive amount of Rs. 1400 to mothers and Rs. 600 to ASHAS are given under the scheme. As a financial assistance for home delivery, an amount of Rs. 500 is given to women belonging to BPL households. Similarly, in urban areas of the low-performing states, an incentive of Rs. 1000 to mothers and Rs. 400 to Anganwadi Workers (AWW) is provided. Also, for delivery at home with trained health personnel, Rs. 500 is given to women from BPL households.

The payments under JSY are made through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode, using Aadhar-linked bank accounts.

Question 18

Health Infrastructure: Institutional Delivery?

Answer 18

has been steadily improving.

The number of institutional deliveries increased from 14.98 lakh in 2014-15 to 16.47 lakh in 2019-20, indicating an increase of 10.2 percent over six years.

In 2020-21, there was a drop in institutional delivery (15.77 lakh), which is probably because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which restricted movement of people.

According to Sample Registration System of 2019, the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in Bihar is 29 deaths per 1000 live births, which is even lower than the national figure of 30.

In 2020-21, Samastipur (87 thousand), Purnea (80) thousand) and East Champaran (68 thousand) have been the three best performing districts. On the other hand, the three worst performing districts are - Arwal (10 thousand), Sheohar (13 thousand) and Jehanabad and Sheikhpura (14 thousand each).

Question 19

Health Infrastructure: Immunisation?

Answer 19

Complete eradication of polio is a landmark in the history of the state. Not only polio, a tremendous achievement has also been attained in terms of protecting children from preventable diseases like TB, diphtheria, whopping cough, tetanus, measles, etc.

The full immunisation coverage among children (aged 12-23 months) in Bihar has increased substantially from 61.7 percent in 2015-16 (NFHS-4) to 71.0 percent in 2019-20 (NFHS-5), registering an increase of 9.3 percentage points.

Bihar has made notable improvement in universal immunisation in recent years, esp in five components of immunisation-TT (Anti-tetanus), BCG, OPV, PENTA and Measles. Looking at the most recent figures for 2020-21, one observes that Bihar has achieved more than 80 percent immunisation coverage against Measles, PENTA (1&2), OPV (1&2) and BCG.

The pentavalent vaccine provides protection against five life-threatening diseases - haemophilus influenza Type B, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis and diphtheria. Even for other components of immunisation, the coverage is more than 70 percent, except for Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) Zero. This immunisation gap needs the attention of the State Government.

Question 20

Health Infrastructure: prevalence of main diseases?

Answer 20

The most common vector-borne diseases which are widespread in the state, are — diarrhoea, malaria, dysentery etc.

in 2020-21, the number of cases was the highest in respect of Fever of Unknown Origin (0.8 lakh), followed by Acute Respiratory Illness (0.6 lakh). Other important diseases as per their prevalence in 2020-21 are - Acute Diarrhoea (0.2 lakh), Viral Hepatitis (0.1 lakh), Dysentery (0.1 lakh) and Enteric Fever (0.1 lakh).

Another illness which is having a huge impact on the health system of Bihar is Rabies, caused by dog bite. In 2020-21, about 0.4 lakh patients were suffering because of dog bite. Overall, there is a decline in the number of patients in the state.

Question 21

Health Infrastructure: National Health Mission?

Answer 21

The National Health Mission (NHM), which was first launched in 2005 as National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), now encompasses two Sub-Missions NRHM and NUHM.

The main components include Health Systems Strengthening in rural and urban areas, Reproductive-Maternal-Neonatal Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) and Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases.

The NHM envisages achievement of universal access to equitable, affordable and quality health care services.

A total sum of Rs. 11,516.6 crore was disbursed under NRHM between 2013-14 and 2020-21 to different district health societies to strengthen public health services, with a focus on primary health care.

The NRHM funds have been released to districts through the health societies under seven components. They are-Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) flexi-pool. (NRHM-A), Mission flexi-pool (NRHM-B), Immunisation (including Pulse Polio) (NRHM-C), National Disease Control Programmes (NRHM-D), National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) (NRHM-E), Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) (NRHM-F) and Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) (NRHM-G).

In 2020-21, fund allocation was the highest for Mission Flexi-pool (NRHM-B) (60.0 percent), followed by RCH flexi pool (NRHM A) (34.0 percent). For all other heads together, it was about 6.0 percent.

Question 22

Health Infrastructure: Achievements of Health Department?

Answer 22

Approval has been given for purchase of 750 ambulances

To strengthen health services, a proposal has been approved under which nutrient and quality food to in-door patients in 33 district hospitals and 13 sub-divisional hospitals will be provided by JEEVIKA Didis through Didi ki Rasoi. This system will be evaluated and monitored by State Health Society and JEEVIKA.

To convert Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) into an international standard hospital with a facility of 5642 beds, an amount of Rs. 55,40.07 crore has been approved and, for this, the foundation stone has been laid on August 08, 2021 by the Honourable Chief Minister. The seats for MBBS at PMCH will be increased from 200 to 250 and, for PG course, from 146 to 200.

The proposal to start Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital in Shrikrishna Medical College Hospital, Muzaffarpur with the collaboration of Tata Memorial Hospital (Mumbai) has been approved. In the first phase, a temporary 50-bed hospital has been started, where treatments like chemotherapy, cancer surgery and palliative therapy are being provided since February, 2021.

A Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) with 100 bed facility and a hospice has been set up in Muzaffarpur to prevent the children of the district from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). Also, 100-bed trauma centre has been set up in Muzaffarpur. In 15 other districts, 10-bed PICU is ready to treat AES patients.

To convert Indra Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) into a super-specialty hospital, the number of beds will be increased from 1032 to 2732. Also, an eye hospital with 200 bed facility is under construction.

To purchase the equipment and for the establishment of an Advance Molecular Microbiology and Molecular Genomics Lab in IGIMS, an amount of Rs. 78.50 crore has been approved. The Institute has started kidney transplant, corner implant, liver transplant and heart transplant.

In 2019, 6316 ANMs and in 2020, 5189 Grade A Nurses have been appointed in different hospitals in Bihar. In 2021, 9594 ANMS and 4033 Grade A Nurses are to be recruited

Question 23

Response to COVID-19?

Answer 23

Till December 2021, there were 7.27 lakh active cases in the state. The recovery rate in Bihar is 98.3 percent, nearly the same as national average at 98.0 percent.

To control the situation, the SG had to take prompt action, starting with the lockdown, and implementing several other multi-pronged initiatives.
1) Testing: total number of tests to no less than 609.21 lakhs by December 2021. The daily testing has been consistently above the target of 5600 tests per day, as per WHO
2) vaccination
3) Isolation Centres: During the second wave of Covid-19, 537 Isolation Centres were established, at some of the government and private hospitals. There were 12 Dedicated Covid Hospitals, 116 Dedicated Covid Health Centres, 166 Covid Care Centres and 243 Private Hospitals.
4) Beds with Oxygen: There were 16,986 beds with oxygen, including some in Private Hospitals.
5) Home Isolation Tracking App: The Home Isolation Tracking (HIT) App helped the authorities to keep an eye on the condition of Covid-19 patients, recuperating at their homes. By using the App, health authorities also checked whether the Covid-19-infected patients were following the isolation guidelines or not.

Question 24

COVID vaccination?

Answer 24

2.1) In addition to the vaccine store at Nalanda Medical College and Hospital in Patna, 10 regional vaccine stores and 38 district vaccine stores were established. For appropriate vaccine management and storage, all the 679 functional cold chain units were strengthened.
2.2) Bihar State Cabinet had taken a decision in December, 2020 to provide Covid-19 vaccines free of cost in the entire state. The State Government had approved Rs. 1000 crore to provide free Covid-19 vaccines to people aged 18-44 years.
2.3) The first phase of vaccination for all the health workers (Government and Private) had started from January, 2021. The second phase of vaccination for frontline workers had started from early February, 2021. The third phase had started for the people who were either 60 years and above or persons in the age-group 45-59 years, with comorbidity, and the target was 2.00 crore. The fourth phase of vaccination for the people in the age group 18-44 years had started from early May, 2021.
2.4) Till December, 2021, a total of 10.00 crore persons were vaccinated, 5.78 crore with the first dose and 4.22 crore with the second in the state.
2.5) The campaign song for the vaccination drive was ‘Kar Dikhaega Bihar, Corona Ka Tika Lagaega Bihar’.
2.6) SG had also taken a decision to vaccinate all above 45 near their homes. For this, 121 Tika Expresses (Vaccination Vehicles) were flagged off for different districts of Bihar. Tika Express is a mobile van carrying healthcare staff to far-flung areas offering on-site free vaccination to residents. Through these Tika Expresses, 88 lakh people were estimated to be vaccinated. The mission was initiated in June, 2021 and each vehicle was allotted a target of vaccinating 200 persons per day.
2.7) 24X7 Vaccination Centres: The State Government also made arrangements for 24-hour vaccination facility at four centers. Three of them were in Patna and one in Rohtas. Also, there were 9-hour vaccination centres in all 38 districts of Bihar.

Question 25

improvements in Drinking water and sanitation?

Answer 25

1) On comparing the data from NFHS-3 (2005-06) and NFHS-5 (2019-20), it is observed that the state has achieved remarkable progress in supplying safe drinking water.
2) With regard to households with improved drinking water source, the state has recorded an improvement of 3.1 percentage points, from 96.1 percent in 2005-06 to 99.2 percent in 2019-20. In case of India, the figures were much lower at 87.6 percent in 2005-06 and 95.9 percent in 2019-20.
2) In case of sanitation facility also, Bihar recorded notable increase in the last fifteen years, from 14.6 percent in 2005-06 to 49.4 percent in 2019-20, an improvement of 34.8 percentage points. For India, these figures were 29.1 percent in 2005-06 and 70.2 percent in 2019-20 respectively.

Question 26

Har Ghar Nal ka Jal?

Answer 26

1) launched Mukhyamantri Peyjal Nishchaya Yojana ‘Har Ghar Nal Kal Jal’ programme in September 2016.
2) This aimed to provide adequate and safe potable water supply to all individual households in the state by means of tap connection through piped water.
3) primarily funded by the State Government’s own resources
4) Out of 1.15 lakh rural wards, 1.13 lakh wards were covered till January 2022, denoting an achievement of 98.5 percent against the target. The total expenditure for this was Rs. 26945.84 crore.

Question 27

schemes by Bihar SG for sanitation?

Answer 27

1. Lohiya Swachh Bihar Abhiyaan, for rural areas
2. Shauchalaya Nirman Yojana for urban areas
3. Under the ‘Swachh Gaon Hamara Gaurav’ campaign, one week per month was dedicated towards sustaining the ODF Status.

Question 28

Lohiya Swachh Bihar Abhiyaan?

Answer 28

1) LBSA is a programme in a mission mode, comprising SBM (G) of the CG and Lohiya Swachhata Yojana (LSY) of the SG. The cost sharing pattern for SBM (G) between the Central and State Government is 60:40.
2) The aim of the LSBA is to ensure universal sanitation coverage in Bihar. The programme is committed to make Bihar free from open defecation through proactive participation of the people with focus on Behavioural Change Communication (BCC).
3) In 2016, the implementation of the programme was transferred to the Rural Development Department from the Public Health Engineering Department. The Block Development Officers (BDO) have been made responsible for implementation of LSBA at the block level.
4) One of the strategies of LSBA is to ensure a beneficiary-led and demand-driven model through behavioural change, and LSBA utilizes the large SHG base of JEEVIKA to promote behavioural change.
5) For LSBA, Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS) has been introduced as a mandatory tool for behavioural change. Under this programme, focus has been on capacity building of all stakeholders through inter-departmental convergence meetings, district-level workshops and reviews, residential trainings of BDOs, CLTS trainings to Master Trainers and ‘Swachhagrahis’, and finally, large-scale trainings of masons.
6) To ensure full transparency, many technological interventions have been made under LSBA. This includes
-> introduction of Public Financial Management System (PFMS),
-> Parent Child accounting system for Aadhar-based Direct Beneficiary Transfer,
-> website on policy implementation and expenditure details, and
-> Geo-tagging authentication for incentive payment.

7) The LSBA has extended its coverage from 22.4 percent in October, 2014 to cent percent at present, through construction of 1.21 crore Individual Household Latrines (IHHLs) and 8434 Community sanitary complexes. The villages have self-declared to be Open Defecation-free (ODF), and 100 percent of them were also verified to be so.
8) 72 thousand masons have also been trained in using the twin-pit toilet technology.
9) Under LSBA, 1.3 lakh dysfunctional toilets have also been made functional and all insanitary toilets have been made sanitary.
10) A major achievement was recorded in the construction of IHHL (Individual HH Latrine) in 2017-18 and 2018-19, when the number of latrines constructed stood at 34.3 lakh and 61.3 lakh respectively.

Question 29

Achievements in sanitation?

Answer 29

1. The LSBA has extended its coverage from 22.4 percent in October, 2014 to cent percent at present, through construction of 1.21 crore Individual Household Latrines (IHHLs) and 8434 Community sanitary complexes. The villages have self-declared to be Open Defecation-free (ODF), and 100 percent of them were also verified to be so.
2. Under Ganga Action Plan (GAP), 472 villages of 307 Gram Panchayats across 12 districts of Bihar have declared and verified to be Open Defecation-free (ODF).
3. Online training on Covid-appropriate behaviour was imparted to approximately 22 thousand Swachhagrahis. Information, Education & Communication (IEC) materials on Covid-appropriate behaviour, such as Swachhata Calendar, E-pamphlets, Audio-visual materials were developed and disseminated. A total of 80 thousand Swachhata Calendars were distributed across all the schools of the state. To grow awareness among the communities about Solid and Liquid Waste Management, flipcharts and Audio-visual materials were developed.
4. A major achievement was recorded in the construction of IHHL in 2017-18 and 2018-19, when the number of latrines constructed stood at 34.3 lakh and 61.3 lakh respectively. Nearly all the needy HHs have already been covered
5. In 2020-21, three districts with relatively better performance in construction of IHHL were Muzaffarpur (8.0 percent), Darbhanga (7.6 percent), and Purnea (7:0 percent).
6. During the last six years, the total expenditure on water supply and sanitation grew at the rate of 29.1 percent. Further, the capital outlay in this period grew at the rate of 42.6 percent, which is really worth appreciation.

Question 30

Bihar SG: NEP 2020?

Answer 30

targets have been set by the State Government to achieve cent percent GER in preschool to secondary level by 2030.

The new policy expands the mandatory schooling age-group from 6-14 years to 3-18 years.

The new system will have 12 years of schooling, with three years of pre-schooling at AWCs.

Question 31

Literacy rate?

Answer 31

1) In 2011, the literacy rate in India was 72.9 percent, with male literacy at 80.9 percent and female literacy at 64.6 percent. In that year, the literacy rate in Bihar was much lower at 61.8 percent, with male literacy at 71.2 percent and female literacy at 51.5 percent.

2) However, the increase in literacy rate in Bihar was 17.9 percentage points, between 2001 and 2011, compared to 10.9 percentage points for the entire country. It is worthwhile to note that this decadal increase is not only the highest among all the decadal growth rates in Bihar since 1961, it is also the highest among all the states for decade 2001-11

3) Gender gap in literacy rate has also come down from ~30 pp to 26.7 pp in 2001 to 19.7 pp in 2011

Question 32

intra-state disparity in terms of literacy in Bihar?

Answer 32

South Bihar leads. Rohtas is at the top in terms of: rural, male, female as well as overall literacy. (Kaimur tops in urban literacy)

Eastern and NE districts are usually at the bottom, with Saharsa having the lowest overall literacy rate in Bihar