Communication in Bihar
There are various means of communication in the state i.e. print media such as newspapers,magazines and mass communication such as, telecommunication, All India Radio,Doordarshan and postal service. Bihar cinema is also growing as a industry in the state. Some popular communication systems of Bihar :
Mass Communication (Bihar GK in English)
Apart from the earlier mentioned print media, other sources of mass communication are also popular in Bihar. These are described as follows
Radio Stations
➤ The first All India Radio station of Bihar was set-up in Patna on 26th January, 1948. It was inaugurated by the then Home Minister of India, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. Shri Bal Sitaram was the first Director of this station.
➤ Bihar has medium-wave radio stations in Patna, Bhagalpur and Darbhanga Vividh Bharti (Ratuha Centre).
➤ ‘Loha Singh’ is the most famous programme among all the transmitted programmes in Bihar. Other important programmes transmitted by All India Radio (Akashvani) are Chaupal, Narijogat and Shishu Mahal.
➤ There are around 8 All India Radio Stations in Bihar.
➤ There are 6 FM Radio Stations in Bihar out of which 3 are in Patna and 1 each in Muzaffarpur, Sasaram and Purnea.
Telecommunication
➤ Almost every city of Bihar is connected by telecommunication. Besides this, the telecommunication centres of Bihar are directly connected with other parts of the country. It is used extensively at different levels like for personal communication, administrative works for trade and commerce and so on.
➤ As per Economic Survey 2018-19, Bihar has witnessed a substantial increase in its tele-density from 54 in 2016 to 63 in 2018. Tele-density refers to the number of telephone per 100 population.
➤ Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) , which is a public sector body, covers all the 38 districts of Bihar. Other telecommunication service providers in Bihar are Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and so on.
➤ As per Economic Survey 2018-19, The tele-density in rural areas is very low in Bihar which is 44 and for urban areas it is 221 per 100 population in the year 2018.
Postal Service
➤ Post services are an important and cheapest mode of communication. Bihar has speed post service which connects the state capital (Patna) with the other cities of India and also with the headquarters of all districts of the state.
➤ Since 1990-91, private courier service has been providing in some selected cities in Bihar as a parallel postal service.
➤ Bihar is connected with about 166 countries through its foreign postal service.
National telex service is provided to the major cities of Bihar. With the help of this, subscribers can send messages to each other to any part of the country.
Doordarshan (DD)
➤ The first Doordarshan kendra of Bihar was set up-in Muzaffarpur in 14th August, 1978. After this, Patna Doordarshan Kendra was inaugurated on 13th October, 1980. From 1982, colour broadcasting was started from Patna.
➤ Doordarshan service is continuously expanding in many districts and cities in Bihar like Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga and many others.
➤ Bihar has 5 high capacity transmitters. Important Doordarshan Kendras of Bihar are Patna, Katihar and Muzaffarpur. Bihar has 26 low capacity transmitters.
Print Media (Bihar GK in English)
Print media consists of newpapers and magazines. They are still considered as a important means of mass communication even after advent of internet and digital technology. Some important newspapers and magazines are given below:
Newspapers
➤ The histroy of newspaper is very old in Bihar. The First Printing Press of Bihar was Mutahkobra, which was established by Kabiruddin Ahmad in 1850s in Sasaram. This printing press mainly published Urdu books.
➤ For the first time with the aim to develop newspapers in Bihar, William Taylor published Akhbar-e-Bihar, a montnly Urdu newspaper in 1856.
➤ After this, Munshi Surajmal and Ray Sohanlal published Akhbar-e-Akhiar in 1860. Chashm-e-Ilm newspaper was also published by them in 1869.
➤ Nurul Anwaar was the first daily Urdu newspaper of Bihar which was published by Mohammad Hashim in 1876 from Arrah.
Bihar publishes mainly Hindi and English newspaper, which are given below :
Hindi Newspapers
➤ Bihar Bandhu was the first weekly Hindi newspaper of Bihar which was published from Bihar Sharif in 1872. Later, in 1874 publishing of this newspaper started from Patna.
➤ Keshavram Bhatta and Madanmohan Bhatta were the publishers of ‘Bihar Bandhu’. Hasan Ali was the first Editor of this Hindi newspaper.
➤ Sarvahiteshi was the first daily Hindi newspaper of Bihar which was published in 1860.
➤ Hindi Beharee was published in 1913, Aryavrata in 1941, Searchlight in 1947 and Nav Bharat Times in 1986.
➤ Other Hindi newspapers of Bihar are Janshakti, Prabhat Khabar, Dainik Bhaskar and Sanmang and so on.
➤ Dev Vani (Munger) and Akhyakam (Arrah) are Sanskrit magazines of Bihar.
Other Important Newspapers/ Magazines in Bihar
| Name of Newspapers | Year of Establishment | Place of Publication |
| Amrit Varsha (Daily) | 1987 | Patna |
| Atma Katha (Daily) | 1970 | Patna |
| Begusarai Times (Daily) | 1981 | Begusarai |
| Dainik Bhaskar (Daily) | 2013 | Patna |
| Dainik Jagran (Daily) | 2000 | Patna |
| Maurya Bihar (Sandhya) | 1988 | Patna |
| Naveen Bharat (Daily) | 1948 | Patna |
| Patliputra Times (Daily) | 1985 | Patna |
| Pradeep (Daily) | 1947 | Patna |
| Sandhya Prahri (Daily) | 1992 | Patna |
| Vishwamitra (Daily) | 1948 | Patna |
Hindi Magazines in Bihar
| Magazines | Year/Place |
| Before Independence | |
| Aarti (Monthly) | 1940/Patna |
| Balak (Monthly) | 1926/Patna |
| Bhukhe (Monthly) | 1933/Patna |
| Kshatriya Patrika (Monthly) | 1881/Patna |
| Laxmi (Monthly) | 1903/Patna |
| Yuvak (Monthly) | 1929/Patna |
| After Independence | |
| Avantika (Monthly) | 1952/Patna |
| Avkash (Fortnightly) | 1979/Patna |
| Janmat (Monthly) | 1981/Patna |
| Jyotsana (Monthly) | 1948/Patna |
| Parijaat (Monthly) | 1946/Patna |
| Patal (Monthly) | 1952/Patna |
English Newspapers
➤ Bihar Herald was the first English newspaper of Bihar which was published in 1875 by Guru Prasad Sen. After this, Indian Chronicle was published from Patna in 1881.
➤ Earlier 20th century witness the publication of daily newspapers named as The Motherland (Mazharul Haq) and Bihar Standard by the nationalists.
➤ In 1894, Bihar Times was published from Patna by Dr Sachchidananda Sinha, Mahesh Narayan, Nand Kishore Lal and Shri Krishna Sahay. In the same period, The Beharee was published by Maheshwar Prasad. These publication played a great role in the demand to constitute Bihar as a separate state.
➤ In 1912, The Bihari was converted into a daily newspaper and later in 1927 its publication was stopped.
➤ On 15th July, 1918, The Beharee was replaced by The Searchlight. Its first editor was Sayyed Haider Ali. In 1930, it was converted into a daily newspaper.
➤ In 1924, Mohammad Yunus, the first Prime Minister of Bihar (as per 1935 Act, the Chief Minister was designated as Prime Minister), started a weekly newspaper Patna Times which became a daily newspaper in the year of 1944.
➤ The publication of The searchlight was stopped in the year of 1985 and it was replaced by Patna edition of Hindustan Times.
➤ Patna edition of Times of India was published in the year 1986.
Information Technology in Bihar (Bihar GK in English)
The State Government of Bihar has started to use information technology in Bihar (e-Governance). The State Government is working to achieve the aim of computerised information technology. The Bihar state has planned to achieve the following objectives :
➤ To use information technology.
➤ To establish information technology park.
➤ To include information technology in the syllabuses of engineering and polytechnic institutes.
➤ Common Service Centres (CSC) have been set up in all the 9 divisions of Bihar.
➤ To start english as a subject from class IIIrd in all government schools.
➤ The State Government has given direction of connect all the colleges and universities with Wifi under its ‘Saat Nishchay Policy’.
Information And Communication Technology Policy, 2011
The aim of this policy is to make Bihar state the next destination of investment in the IT industries and boost the socio-economic development of the state. The main objectives of this policy :
➤ To create worldclass IT infrastructure in the state of Bihar.
➤ To promote computer literacy at school level and provide IT training to youths and make them employable.
➤ To prepare appropriate legal and regulatory framework for efficient administration of IT/ITES/EHM units and prevent the misuse of IT and protect intellectual property rights, patents and trademarks.
➤ To attract investment from IT/ITES/EHM units in the state and create job opportunities for local youths.
Bihar Information Technology Investment Promotion Vision, 2017
Information Technology has a great role in enhancing the efficiency, accountability and transparency of the government services. To make Bihar an Information Technology (IT) Hub, the state government of Bihar is working towards this direction. To achieve this goal it has been proposed to built and IT city at Rajgir (Nalanda). In Patna, an IT tower is being set up with seamless internet connectivity and uninterrupted availability of quality power. The main objectives of IT Vision, 2017 :
➤ To reduce the digital divide between urban and rural areas in Bihar.
➤ To promote growth of knowledge based economy in Bihar and increase the share of this sector upto 15% of the GSDP.
➤ To establish good governance with technology enabled reform in Bihar.
➤ To develop ‘Brand Bihar’ as one of the top 5 investment destination for IT sector and to attract big domestic/international IT players in the state during coming 5 years.
➤ In the next 5 years, to develop IT skill and capacity building among youths (at least 20,000) of Bihar.
Cinema in Bihar (Bihar GK in English)
➤ There have been created many films in many languages like in Hindi, Bhojpuri, Maithili, Angika and Magadhi in Bihar.
➤ The first film of Bihar was Punarjanma which was created in the year 1923. It was produced by Raja Rana Jagannath Prasad Sinha ‘Kinkar’ of Aurangabad.
➤ The first Bhojpuri language film of Bihar was ‘Ganga Maiya Tohe Piyari Chhadhaibo’, which was released in the year 1963. It was produced by Vishwanath Shahabadi.
➤ The first Maithili language film of Bihar was ‘Kanyadan’ which was released in the year 1965. It was directed by Phani Majumdar.
➤ The first Hindi Language film of Bihar is ‘Kal Hamara hai’.
➤ Phani Majumdar also produced first film released in Magahi language in 1961, it was named as ‘Bhaiyaa’.
Cinema Personalities of Bihar
Important cinema personalities of Bihar are given below:
Shatrughan Sinha
➤ He was born on 15th July, 1946 in Patna. He is a film actor who turned to a politician.
➤ He received many awards for his acting career such as Bengal Film Journalists Association Awards (1973), Stardust Award for Lifetime Achievement (2003) and IIFA Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Indian Cinema (2014).
Ashok Kumar
➤ He was born on 13th October, 1911 in Bhagalpur (British India) in Bihar. He was an iconic Indian film actor who was fordly known as Dadamoni.
➤ His real name was Kumudlal Ganguly and after joining the film industry he got the name as Ashok Kumar.
➤ He started his film career with the film ‘Jeevan Naiya’ in 1936.
➤ He received many awards and honours like Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1959), Filmfare Best Actor Award (1962), National Film Awards for Best Actor (1969), Dadasaheb Phalke Award (in 1988, the Highest National Award for Cinema artists by the Government of India) and Padma Bhushan (1999). He died on 10th December, 2001.
Prakash Jha
➤ He was born on 27th February, 1952 in Bettiah (West Champaran). He is a film producer, director and screenplay writer who is mostly known for his political and socio-political films such as Damul (1984), Mrityudand (1997), Gangaajal (2003), Apaharan (2005), Raajneeti (2010), Aarakshan (2011), Chakravyuh (2012), etc.
➤ He is also the producer of National Film Award winning documentaries like, Face After The Storm (1984) and Sonal (2002).
Manoj Bajpai
➤ He was born on 23rd April, 1969 in Narkatiaganj in West Champaran.
➤ He is an actor of Hindi, Telugu and Tamil language films. He is a recipient of two National Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards and Padma Shri (2019) Award.
➤ Bajpai made his feature film debut with the one-minute role in Drohkaal (1994) and a minor role of a dacoit in Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen (1994). After few unnoticed roles, he played gangster Bhiku Mhatre in Ram Gopal Varma’s 1998 crime drama Satya, which proved to be a breakthrough.
➤ Bajpai received the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the film Satya.
Alok Nath
➤ He was born on 10th July, 1956 in Khagaria, Bihar. He is popularly Known as ‘Sanskaari Babuji’.
➤ He started his film career with the film ‘Gandhi’ in 1982 which film was won the Academy Award for Best Picture in the same year.
➤ He has also done many daily soaps like ‘Buniyad’, ‘Rishtey’, ‘Sapan Babul Ka Bidaai’, ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kahlata hai’, etc.
Manoj Tiwari
➤ He was born on 1st February, 1971 at Atarwalia village in Kaimur district (Bihar).
➤ He is a Bhojpuri film actor, singer and a politician.
➤ He started his acting career with the film ‘Sasura Bada Paisawala’ in 2003.
➤ As a politician, he contested election for the 15th Lok Sabha in 2009 from the Samajwadi Party in Gorakhpur Constituency.
➤ In 2014 and 2019 Indian General Elections, he won the North-East Delhi (a Lok Sabha Constituency) as a candidate of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).
Sonakshi Sinha
➤ She was born on 2nd June, 1987 in Patna, (Bihar). She is an Indian Film actress. She is the daughter of actor and politician Shatrughan Sinha.
➤ She started her acting career with the film ‘Dabangg’ in 2010. She won the ‘Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut’ for this film. She worked in many popular films like ‘Rowdy Rathore’ (2012), ‘Son of Sardar’ (2012), ‘Dabangg 2’ (2014), etc.
➤ She received many awards for her acting career like ‘Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut’ (2011), ‘Zee Cinema Award (2014), etc.
Sushant Singh Rajput
➤ He was born on 21st January, 1986 in Patna. His ancestral village is Maldhiha in Purnea district. He is an Indian film actor, dancer and television personality.
➤ He started his acting career with the television serials like ‘Kis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil’ and ‘Pavitra Rishta’.
➤ He started his film career with the film ‘Kai Po Che!’ in 2014.
➤ He rectified many awards for this acting career like ‘Indian Television Academy Award 2010’, ‘Indian Telly Awards 2009’, ‘Kalakar Awards 2011’, etc.
➤ In 2018, Sushant Singh Rajput was signed by NITI Ayog to promote ‘Women Entrepreneurship Platform’ (WEP).
