Patna is one of the oldest inhabited places in the world, with a history of 3,000 years. The rich culture and heritage of the state of Bihar is evident from the innumerable ancient monuments that are dotted all over the region. Patna is home to many tourist attractions. Bihar is visited by large numbers of tourists from all over the world all the year round. Around 2.5 million tourists visit Patna every year.

The documented history of tourism in the Patna region dates back to the 300s BC. Greek geographer Megasthenes (ca. 350–290 BC) visited the region during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya. His observations were recorded in Indika.Dionysius was the son of Megasthenes, who visited Patliputra in the reign of Ashoka the Great.

Fa-Hsien (ca. 337 - ca. 422) was a Chinese tourist who traveled to acquire Buddhist scriptures and take back to China between 399 and 412.Hieun-Tsang visited the sacred Buddhist sites in Magadha and spent much time studying at the great Nalanda University between 629 and 645.

Paṭnā /ˈpʌtnə/ ( Hindi pronunciation (help·info)) is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second most populous city in Eastern India. Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world.Ancient Patna, known as Pataliputra, was the capital of the Magadha Empire under the Haryanka, Nanda, Mauryan, Sunga, Gupta, Pala and during the Islamic period the seat of power for the Suri dynasty.

Pataliputra was also a seat of learning and fine arts. Its population during the Maurya period (around 300 BCE) was about 400,000.

The modern city of Patna is situated on the southern bank of the Ganges. The city also straddles the rivers Sone, Gandak and Punpun. The city is approximately 35 km long and 16 km to 18 km wide.

In June 2009, the World Bank ranked Patna in second place in India, after Delhi, in terms of the ease of starting a business. As at 2004-2005, Patna had the highest per capita gross district domestic product in Bihar, at Rs31,441. On the basis of,assumed average annual growth,Patna has been ranked as 21st fastest growing city in the world and 5th fastest growing city in India by City Mayors Foundation.Patna registered average annual growth of 3.72%,for the period of 2006-2010.

Meira Kumar is an Indian politician and a five time Member of Parliament. She was elected unopposed as the first woman Speaker of Lok Sabha on 3 June 2009.She was born on March 31, 1945 in Bihar, India.

She is a lawyer and a former diplomat. Prior to being a member of the 15th Lok Sabha, she has been elected earlier to the 8th, 11th, 12th and 14th Lok Sabha, wherein she remained Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (2004–2009).

Meira Kumar was born in the state of Bihar District Patna to the former Deputy Prime Minister and a prominent leader, Babu Jagjivan Ram and freedom fighter, Indrani Devi.

She did her M.A., LL.B, Educated at Indraprastha College and Miranda House, Delhi University.

In 1973, she joined the Indian Foreign Service and served at embassies in Spain, United Kingdom and Mauritius. She also served as a member of the India-Mauritius Joint Commission. While serving for IFS, she also worked in Embassy of India, Madrid from 1976 to 1977. She was at the High Commission of India in London from 1977 to 1979 and at Ministry of External Affairs from 1980 to 1985.

Nitish Kumār (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been a Union Minister and is the Chief Minister of Bihar, an eastern state of India, since 2005. He belongs to the Janata Dal (United) party. As Chief Minister, he gained popularity by initiating a series of developmental and constructive activities including building of long-delayed bridges, re-laying roads that had ceased to exist, appointing over 100,000 school teachers, ensuring that doctors worked in primary health centers, and keeping crime in check.

Nitish Kumār was born in Kalyanbigha, Bihar to Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh and Parmeshwari Devi. His father was a freedom fighter and was close to the great Gandhian Bihar Vibhuti Anugrah Narayan Sinha, one of the founders of modern Bihar. His nickname is 'Munna'. He is a teetotaler, does not smoke, and is a frugal eater.

He has a degree in electrical engineering from the Bihar College of Engineering, Patna now NIT Patna. He joined the Bihar State Electricity Board, but almost halfheartedly, and later moved into politics.

Sushilkumar Shinde (Marathi: सुशीलकुमार शिंदे) (born September 4, 1941, Solapur, Maharashtra) is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He is currently the Cabinet Minister for Power in the Manmohan Singh government.

He belongs to "Kakkaya-Lingayat Samaj"(HINDU DHOR s in Maharastra ), Scheduled Caste . He is leader of Congress Party. He is the first Scheduled Caste person to have become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He served as Chief Minister from January 18, 2003.

Encouraged by Sharad Pawar, he quit his sub-inspector's job to enter politics in 1971. He contested an assembly by-election from Karmala,Reserved Constituency For SC in Solapur three years later and won by 25,000 votes. In November that year, the late V P Naik, then the chief minister, made Shinde a junior minister in his government.

Shinde rejoined the Congress Party and the congress party and became the finance minister in new Vasantrao Patil government. Later he won Maharashtra State Assembly elections in 1978, 1980, 1985 and 1990.