Chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi speaks to residents of Balganga, a suburb near Motihari town, on Friday. Exhorting the residents to improve their standard of living through education, Manjhi said illiteracy was the main hurdle in the way of development. He announced that a primary school and water tower would soon come up in the village, mostly inhabited by Mahadalits. He also advised the people to stay away from liquor. Later, the chief minister participated in a review meeting at Radha Krishnan Bhavan. Before leaving for Patna, he inaugurated a six-bed hospital at Pakridayal. At a function in Motihari’s Panchpakri village on Thursday, Manjhi had announced that financially underprivileged people living in urban areas would get 5 decimal land like poor Mahadalits got in rural areas. Former chief minister Nitish Kumar launched a scheme for Mahadalits five years ago under which 3 decimal land was provided to them for housing. Around 2.46 lakh landless Mahadalit families have been identified as beneficiaries in the scheme. Text by RN Sinha, picture by Ajit Kumar Verma