Patna: Jan Suraaj leader Prashant Kishor formally took the oath as the new MLA from the Bankipur Assembly constituency on Monday.

Bihar Assembly Speaker Prem Kumar administered the oath to him in his chamber, allowing Kishor to officially participate in legislative proceedings and begin his responsibilities as an elected representative.

Prashant Kishor reached the Assembly accompanied by senior leaders and supporters of the Jan Suraaj Party.

The Bankipur by-election was held on July 30, with results announced on August 3.

Prashant Kishor defeated BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha by 19,246 votes, while the RJD candidate achieved third position and lost the security deposit.

The oath was administered in the Speaker’s chamber because the Assembly is currently not in session.

The monsoon session has already concluded, while the winter session is still some time away.

In such circumstances, the Speaker can administer the oath to a newly elected member separately.

After winning Bankipur, Prashant Kishor said that residents would begin seeing visible changes within two to three months.

He outlined several priorities, particularly relating to employment, education, ration distribution and social security.

His key announcements include Private-sector employment, wherein he would make an effort to facilitate jobs for 10,000 young people.

He has also promised to make arrangements to help children access private schooling. He has also promised to improve the ration-card system within three months.

Apart from that, a proposed Rs 1,100 monthly pension for people aged 60 and above.

Prashant Kishor has also begun planning beyond his Bankipur responsibilities.

According to the information provided, his political organisation is preparing for the upcoming Teacher and Graduate constituency Legislative Council elections as well as Panchayat elections in Bihar.

He is also expected to undertake another statewide tour as Jan Suraaj continues expanding its reach.

With Monday’s oath-taking, Kishor has formally entered the Bihar Legislative Assembly as an elected representative, shifting his focus from electoral campaigning to legislative and constituency-level work.

Thiruvananthapuram: Three months into the V.D. Satheesan government, state Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala’s signature campaign is emerging as one of its biggest public-impact initiatives.

When Chennithala returned to the Home portfolio after a gap of a decade, he did not take long to identify what he believed was the most urgent battle facing Kerala, the state’s rapidly spreading drug menace.

Three months into the Satheesan government, Operation Toofan, conceived and driven by Chennithala, is beginning to provide him with numbers that underline the scale of the campaign.

As of date since the campaign began, 9,085 cases have been registered and 9,795 arrests made so far; the operation has emerged as one of the government’s most visible interventions against the drug network operating across the state.

The latest statewide crackdown on Saturday added 38 more cases and 38 arrests.

The seizures so far include 7,460.567 grams of MDMA, 961.450 kg of ganja and 4,720.909 grams of hashish oil.

But Toofan was conceived as more than a police operation. For several years, Kerala has watched with growing alarm as drug abuse moved from being a problem discussed in police stations to one being confronted inside homes.

News reports of school and college students falling prey to narcotics, youngsters becoming users and, in some cases, turning into carriers for quick money, have made the issue a deeply personal one for thousands of families.

It was against this backdrop that Chennithala chose the drug menace as one of his priorities after taking charge.

Now at 70 years of age, and with the experience of having entered the State Cabinet when he was 28 under the late K. Karunakaran, Chennithala has sought to combine political experience with a campaign designed to take the fight beyond the police force.

He travelled across the state, interacted with people from different walks of life and sought to create a community-based resistance by enrolling them as ‘Toofan Warriors’.

The idea was simple: the fight against drugs cannot be left to the police alone.

The latest figures suggest that the campaign has developed a substantial preventive and awareness component alongside enforcement.

On a single day, Kerala Police conducted 65 awareness classes across the state, taking the cumulative number to 8,994.

As many as 564 counselling sessions have also been conducted, while school and college Protection Groups have organised 6,482 awareness programmes.

The latest round of cases included 10 for possession of small quantities and one involving a medium quantity, besides 27 cases under the NDPS Act and 16 under COTPA.

Police also seized 3.343 kg of ganja from those booked.

For Chennithala, Toofan is consequently becoming more than a government programme.

It is turning into a political statement that the battle against drugs must be fought simultaneously on the streets, in educational institutions and inside homes.

Three months may be too early for victory claims. But if the numbers are any indication, the Home Minister’s first major battle under the Satheesan government has certainly begun to gather momentum.

Patna: A tragic incident occurred at Ranisarai Ganga Ghat in Patna’s Bakhtiyarpur block on Monday when seven girls from the same family got caught in the strong current while bathing in the Ganga Rive Three were rescued by locals, while four others went missing.

The incident occurred at around 7:30 a.m. According to local residents, the girls, who were cousins, had gone to the ghat to bathe. One of them reportedly moved into deeper water and began struggling. When the others attempted to help her, they too were caught in the strong current. People present at the ghat immediately launched a rescue effort. Several locals entered the river and managed to bring three girls to safety.

However, the remaining four were swept into deeper water and could not initially be located.

The missing girls have been identified as Aarti Kumari (21) and Nandani Kumari (16), daughters of Awadhesh Chandravanshi; Radhika Kumari (15), daughter of Kamlesh Chandravanshi; and Babli Kumari (6), daughter of Mantu Chandravanshi.

After being informed about the incident, police and administrative officials reached the spot.

An SDRF team was subsequently deployed to conduct a search operation in the river.

During the search, two bodies were recovered, while efforts to locate the remaining two girls are continuing.

The strong current and depth of the river are making the search operation difficult, with SDRF personnel searching different sections of the river.

As news of the incident spread, family members and villagers gathered at the ghat and demanded immediate deployment of an SDRF team.

Amid frustration over the reported delay in launching the search, villagers briefly blocked the road for around 20 minutes, disrupting traffic.

The blockade was later lifted after the rescue operation began.

A large number of relatives remain at the riverbank, anxiously waiting for updates as the SDRF continues its search.

The incident, involving several children and young women from the same family, has left the entire area deeply shaken.

The bodies have been sent to the Barh Subdivisional Hospital for the post-mortem.