Patna: The state cabinet at a meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday reduced the examination fee for women candidates sitting for Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) and Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC) exams. It also created 484 posts in the Bihar administrative services, taking its total strength to 1,634.
The reduction in fee for various exams conducted by BPSC and BSSC came after a girl attended Nitish's Lok Samvad (public dialogue) programme and detailed the financial hardships women, especially those belonging to economically weaker sections, face because of high exam fees.
Providing details about the fee reduction, cabinet secretariat department's principal secretary Arun Kumar Singh said: "The fee for women candidates has been brought down to Rs 150 for preliminary examinations and Rs 200 for main examinations conducted by BPSC and BSSC. Previously it was Rs 600 for prelims and Rs 750 for mains."
Singh said the reduction in exam fee would apply to all women candidates irrespective of their category.
In another major decision the state cabinet gave its nod to a proposal by the general administration department to constitute more posts for Bihar Administrative Service (BAS) and raise its strength from 1,150 to 1,634. "All the new posts will be of senior deputy collectors. With this the strength of BAS at various levels will include 48 under secretaries, 727 sub-divisional officers, 339 deputy secretaries, 304 additional secretaries, 192 joint secretaries and 24 special secretaries," Singh said.
Another important decision taken by the cabinet was to give five salary increments to college and university teachers, with effect from September 1, 2008, if they had completed their doctorate before joining the service. Teachers, who got their doctorates after coming into service will be provided three increments with effect from the same date.
The cabinet also okayed amendment of the "affordable housing and slum rehabilitation and redevelopment policy 2017". The amendment, among other things, includes increase in floor area ratio (FAR) for builders from 2.5 to 2.875.
The cabinet also approved the finance department's proposal to take Rs 23,635 crore loan, including Rs 19,184 crore as loan from the market. It also approved Rs 1,483 crore for Bihar State Highway Project-III. The money will be spent on strengthening and rehabilitation of state highways 82, 85, 58 and 102.
The finance department proposal to increase Bihar Contingency Fund from Rs 350 crore to Rs 7,080 crore till March 30, 2019, has also been accepted by the cabinet.
