With an eye on polls, Bihar Cabinet seeks to please all

In a move apparently to woo the voters ahead of the Assembly polls due later this year, Bihar government today relaxed the 75 per cent attendance norm for school students for this fiscal to avail various benefits and provided reservation for contractors of reserved categories in tender for road construction works upto Rs 15 lakh.
These decisions were taken at a cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Principal Secretary (Cabinet Secretariat) Shishir Sinha told reporters.
The relaxation in 75 per cent attendance by students of government schools upto higher secondary level, of primary and secondary madarsas and sanskrit schools will be applicable for 2015-16 only in order to enable them avail benefits like uniform, cycle, scholarships and other schemes, he said.

The cabinet has also decided to provide for 50 per cent reservation for weaker sections, including OBC women, in road construction works upto Rs 15 lakh at circle level, the Principal Secretary said.
Under the proposal, road projects upto Rs 15 lakh will go to the contractors belonging to Scheduled Castes (16 per cent), Scheduled Tribes (1 per cent), Extremely Backward Castes (18 per cent), Other Backward Castes (12 per cent) and OBC women (3 per cent).
In a major relief to government employees, the cabinet has decided to regularise days of strike by various employees bodies' members into earned leave accumulated by them, Sinha said.

Various strikes observed between September 15, 1997 and March 12, 2013 will be covered under this mechanism.
In another decision, the state government has accorded SC status to Tanti alias Tantwa caste, the members of which had been treated under OBC category so far, the Principal Secretary said, adding, that another caste Danti has been upgraded to the EBC category from SC category for job and service-related reservation.
Sinha said the state government has approved Rs 1032.03 crore to meet its share for construction of 2.80 lakh units under the Indira Awas Yojana in Bihar this year following the Centre's decision to revise its sharing ratio at 50:50 for current fiscal against the 75:25 ratio by the Centre and the state last year.