Pre-poll movements of Politicians (Are they the leaders we want?)

Think how much ever, I could not come to a conclusion on the good or bad of the pre-poll dynamics that happened in Bihar. Thinking more from the Nitish Kumar government factor, I could not determine whether it was a good move for the JD(U) to take so many politicians from different parties into JD(U) and even give them party tickets for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. Was this a right move?

Some ex-ministers or existing ministers of JD(U) were not given tickets and they defected to other parties. I am not sure about the reason behind them not getting tickets Were they a road block in the JD(U) 's (read the Bihar government's) efforts to develop Bihar? Were they non-performing ministers? Or was there some other rationale for their not being given tickets? Or was it merely to accomodate defectors?

Does anyone have a better understanding of these dynamics and whats is happening? I would love to hear about this to improve my understanding of the political environment in Bihar.

At the same time I also was wondering if the JD(U) was right in not giving a ticket to George Fernandes or was it just a difference of opinions between two main leaders of JD(U) which resulted in him not getting a ticket. Or is George Fernandes's health really a problem for his active functioning in the role of an MP. Would appreciate if anyone could explain this?

Many leaders switched over to RJD, Congress, JD(U) and LJP just to get party tickets for Lok Sabha. Apparently these leaders only think for themselves and do not have loyalty to any ideology or any party. Will these leaders even think of doing anything for Bihar if they don't see any gains for themselves? Should we even elect such leaders to represent Bihar at the National level?

Above all, are these good omens for Bihar?

Air taxi facility in Bihar and Jharkhand

Spirit Air is starting an Air Taxi service in Bihar and Jharkhand. The cities that will be connected by the Air Taxi service are are Raxaul, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Valmiki Nagar, Muzaffarpur, Purnia, Bhagalpur, Gaya and Motihari in Bihar. In case of Jharkhand, the air taxi service from Ranchi would be available for Chaibasa, Bokaro, Jamshedpur, Daltonganj, Hazaribag, Giridih and Sindri.

This would be an interesting service and improvement in infrastructure where a 3 seater (besides the pilot) aircraft is being introduced. One more additional piece of infrastructure for industry bigwigs that eases the travel in Bihar and Jharkhand.

I am however skeptical at the business model of introducing an aircraft which would cost Rs. 20,000 per hour to charter? Are there many takers already for this service in Bihar?

More details can be found in the Times of India article Bihar, Jharkhand to have air taxi facility soon

Flight between Patna and Mumbai

Kingfisher has announced a direct flight connectivity between Patna and Mumbai to start on March 25th 2009. The flight which will take off from Patna would reach Mumbai via Ranchi. On the return journey, the flight will directly go from Mumbai to Patna.

After an earlier flight between Patna and Mumbai was shelved sometime back, this is a welcome news. It is also an indicator of the growing acceptance of the growth story in Bihar.

More details about the flight can be got from the Times of India news article Daily flight on Patna-Ranchi-Mumbai route

Bihar's Super 30 - Merit knows no barriers

30 successful underprivileged budding IITians from Bihar. (Linked Youtube video)
Bihar's Super 30 provides free coaching for IIT for the underprivileged students from rural Bihar. Super 30 is the brain child of Anand Kumar and Abhay Anand and they have been highly successful in their quest for getting opportunity access to these underprivileged children. Anand Kumar was selected to the Cambridge University himself but couldn't not take up the program because he did not have the funds. Now he is involved in philanthropy along with Abhay Anand.

This time all 30 students of Super 30 have succeeded in making it to the IIT. The unique part is that 14 of these students are from the backward class quota but decided not to avail the quota and appear in the general quota. Our young brigade is proving to the world that they are very much adept at facing the challenges from anyone and everyone and coming out on the top.

As we can see, talent is plentiful in Bihar. They just need guidance and shown the right direction.


Some Thoughts

Besides competing in these exams one of the important aspects which would be useful to the students in Bihar is the command over spoken English. It is a very important area for students to be successful in every sphere of life. The Bihar government has taken initiatives that will improve the literacy rate in Bihar and we will have more students who complete their Plus 2. The next step should be improving the command over spoken English. This initiative should be taken on early in school life so that students from Bihar do not have language barriers and challenges in their career and growth prospects.

Some Suggestions

I have a thought. Maybe something can be done at the Super 30 institute itself. Maybe someone who has good spoken English skills can volunteer to coach the students at the Super 30 institute. This way at least these students can really achieve the fruits of their remarkable achievements. Other alternative could be that someone sponsors spoken English education for the students at Super 30 (anyone willing to do so should directly approach Anand Kumar and Abhay Anand who run the Super 30 coaching institute).

7 Wonders of India - Have you voted?

Have you voted for the 7 wonders of India poll being carried out by NDTV. Let your opinion count. Caste your vote. Nalanda University is also part of the list. The vote can be caste at


NDTV - The Seven Wonders of India


The final 20 nominees are

1 Ajanta – Ellora caves
2 Alchi
3 Brahmaputra
4 Charminar
5 Dholavira site
6 Fatehpur Sikri
7 Hampi
8 Jaisalmer Fort
9 Khajuraho
10 Meenakshi temple
11 Nalanda University
12 Red Fort
13 Shravanabelagola
14 Silent Valley National Park
15 Sun Temple , Konark
16 Sunderbans
17 Taj Mahal
18 Tawang Monastery
19 The Golden Temple
20 Victoria Memorial

If you do believe that Nalanda University deserves a place in this list of 7, then do vote for it. This would help in increasing tourism in Bihar if Nalanda University makes it to the list of 7 selected by Indians and others all over.

Remember to vote - The Seven Wonders of India

You can also see the Seven Wonders of Bihar selected by the NDTV poll at Seven Wonders of Bihar and Jharkhand - Shortlisted by people on NDTV's online poll.

First entrepreneurial suggestion by Amit Kumar

Friends,
I am glad to post this first entrepreneurial suggestion from Amit Kumar in response to my post on "knowledge of entrepreneurial opportunities in Bihar". - Amit has some great ideas about maize and its utility in the B2B business space. His idea can be accessed from this link

"Maize - Agri and industrial business idea".

Amit Kumar is an MBA student and has put together this idea of utilizing Maize which can be abundantly grown in Khagaria. With some mentor ship and some more guidance, it might be possible to convert this idea into a viable business opportunity. Suggest that people who could consider this opportunity to read the plan posted by Amit and see if this is the beginning of a new venture in Bihar. With the necessary guidance, it is possible that Amit himself can also start this venture after he graduates from his MBA program.

Some more information on Maize can be gathered from the Wikipedia site "Maize - Wikipedia".

Thank you Amit.

I am sure there are many more such ideas in people's mind which could help accelerate the pace of growth in Bihar. Please do come up with the ideas and post it at "Knowledge about entrepreneurial opportunities in Bihar - Important!!! "or email it to me. This could help many of our friends start entrepreneurship ventures in Bihar.

Thanks
Prashant

Agri and other businesses - News and other articles

Based on Sanjeev's suggestion I will be posting more articles on Agri business and other businesses (like Bee Keeping) which might be useful to people thinking about entrepreneurship in Bihar.

I have created a section "Knowledgebase - Agri and related Businesses" on my blog http://progressivebihar.blogspot.com/ on the right hand side. I will be posting articles as and when I come across them. For starters I have put two articles on there.

Bee Keeping - Examples from Punjab

Agri Business Investment in India

In keeping with my earlier post about Entrepreneurship opportunities in Bihar, I would ask people to post their comments and suggestions which will be useful to other people to start entrepreneurship ventures in Bihar. The blog page can be viewed at http://progressivebihar.blogspot.com/2009/02/knowledge-about-entrepreneurial.html

Thanks
Prashant

Bihar better than many leading states in RTI

It feels very good to hear that Bihar is amongst the top 3 RTI compliant states in India leaving behind a lot of advanced states. Bihar comes 3rd only after Delhi and Nagaland.

Uttarkhand and Kerala were at the bottom of the list while Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam showed zero compliance. At one point of time, not long back, Bihar would also have most likely figured in this list but not anymore.

Thus we see the beginning of the many good news to follow from Bihar. Good work Bihar government. Keep it up.


News courtsey Hindustan Times : Karnataka ranks low in RTI Act compliance: report

Happy Holi

Wishing everyone a very happy and colorful Holi.

Thanks
Prashant

image courtsey: http://masticlub.mywebdunia.com/2009/03/06/1236342026957.html, www.123greetings.com

Elections, Politicians and Education

On a another note, I don't see the government taking any specific new steps for infrastructure or any other type of growth, because of the poll code of conduct coming into effect . So for the next two months, it would be a fruitful exercise to highlight some of the possible political dimensions and impacts that can have an effect on the future of Bihar. Hence I will be posting some relevant views where ever possible relating to the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

However everyone should take my views with a pinch of salt because like every other human being my views might be biased because of the perceptions I develop based on the events that are unfolding in Bihar.

This article in Hindustan Times caught my eye "Peep into qualifications of representatives from Bihar"

As per this article, Bihar was represented in the 14th Lok Sabha by some highly educated representatives especially when you consider the state of literacy in Bihar. Out of the 40 representatives in the Lok Sabha from Bihar, there were 34 who were at least graduates. Out of these thirty four, there were nineteen representatives who were either a postgraduate or had a technical degree like Engineering or MBBS or had a Ph D. Even out of the BAs/MAs , 9 had LLB degrees too.

So if I consider the total number of representatives in Bihar who had more than a graduation, then the number would sure be greater than 20 or more than 50%. Thus 50% of the members in the parliament from Bihar were highly educated in the 14th Lok Sabha. Many of them had been part of the 13th Lok Sabha too. There were only 3 representatives who were non-matric.

I therefore have a question... With so many educated representatives from Bihar, why is it that many of them have not done enough for Bihar's development. Why did these people, some of whom have been a MP for atleast 2 terms not think about the state? We thought education brought changes but does the Bihari politician prove this wrong? Or is it us, the people of Bihar who have given these politicians the free hand for not doing anything for Bihar?

In my view, it is time for the people of Bihar to reject any politician who has not added to the development of Bihar, irrespective of whether she/he is highly educated or less educated or not educated ... Reject all politicians who have not supported the growth of Bihar. Let the political community know that the people of Bihar will not accept any non-performers in Bihar.

I know it is not going to be easy and nor will it happen just because a handful of us think this way. But then the handful of us can be instrumental in getting across this message to a lot more people in Bihar. Are we willing to do so for Bihar?

The break up of the education of Bihar MPs are as follows


Non-matric: 3
Matriculate: 3
Intermediate: 3
BA: 12
MA: 13
Engineering: 2
MBBS: 1
Ph.D. 3

I would definitely love to find out what each one of the MPs has done for Bihar. If you do have any thoughts or ideas about the work done, specially if you have some links to relevant articles, please do post it, I would like to read about them. And I guess many others would want to do so too.

Work to revive two sugar mills started

Two sugar mills, Sugauli and Lauriya mills will start working after being closed for over twelve years.HPCL is investing Rs 600 crores to revive these mills. Therefore a potential for revenue generation.

These mills have become junk and therefore HPCL will be building new factories in place of the old ones. Work of taking over the assets of the two mills has been started on 25Th February. More details can be found in the Hindustan Times article HPCL buys 2 sugar mills, eyes ethanol, power