Happy Bihar Diwas

Wishing everyone a Very Happy Bihar Diwas

Bihar Economic Survey 2010-11

Bihar’s economic survey results for 2010-11 are out. Bihar’s GSDP at current prices in 2009-10 stood at Rs 1,68,603 crore with per capita income of Rs 17,590.
The per capita income in Bihar has increased to Rs 17,590 compared to Rs 8,528 in 2004-05.
The survey found that the contribution of agriculture sector in the GSDP has been 19%, which shows a decline from 26% in 2004-05, 17% from secondary sector, 11% from construction, 6% from transport and 30% from trade and hotels etc.
More details can be read in the article State ranks poorest despite giant strides - The Times of India

Super-30 wizard to be feted by the Dalai - The Times of India

Super-30 wizard to be feted by the Dalai - The Times of India
Another feather in Anand Kumar’s cap. He will be felicitated by Dalai Lama at the Mumbai Chapter of the Bihar Foundation for the excellent work he has been doing through Super - 30

Columbia University invites Nitish Kumar

The Columbia Business School (CBS) of Columbia University has invited chief minister Nitish Kumar at its 7th India Business Conference on April 1 to be held in New York.
The conference organizers have requested him to deliver keynote speech on "The urgency of Inclusive Growth and my vision for Bihar."


Read more: Columbia University invites Nitish Kumar - The Times of India

Is Nuclear Power an option for Bihar?

A recent news telecast just a couple of days back, that a nuclear power plant with a capacity of 10,000 MW will be setup in Maharashtra, caught my attention. This nuclear plant , will be the largest nuclear power plant globally and will be setup with the help of the Franch company Areva.

This made me wonder: Is Nuclear Power an option for Bihar? Can nuclear power plants be a viable source of electricity for Bihar? Does Bihar have that kind of land and resources required that can be used to build nuclear power plants, even if small?

We have way too much dependancy, as has been seen in the last 5 years or more, on coal for generating electricity. If Nuclear power is a viable option then why not explore it?

With the recent nuclear deal that India signed, a lot of nuclear nations are more than willing to partner with India: afterall it generates a lot of revenue for them. So getting a partner to generate nuclear power should not be a problem... The question is can nuclear power be generated in Bihar keeping not only the technology itself in mind but also the environment , people, etc.

Does anyone know if nuclear power plants are a feasible option for Bihar or has any thoughts around it?

Trade associations target 4,00,000 Crores investments over next 5 years

Buoyed by the victory of the NDA and Nitish Kumar, three trade associations have come together to target almost 4 Lakh crores worth of industrial investments into Bihar by holding 3 investmarts; one each in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

The three trade associations are

1. ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India)
2. BCC (Bihar Chamber of Commerce)
3. BIA (Bihar Industries Association)

The investments being targeted are

1. 50,000 crores in 2011
2. 1,25,000 crores in 2013
3. 1,75,000 crores in 2015

The confidence level is high because of the development focused goverment coming back to power and based on an example of Madhya Pradesh which garnered 2,53,000 crores investment commitments from a two days investors' summit.

The 3 associations have also proposed a public-private partnership to develop 14 new industrial clusters with each cluster housing 1,800 to 2,000 industrial units that will provide direct and indirect employment to 6 lakh people. The total investment on these clusters would be about Rs. 450 crores and land is expected to be provided by the state government. The clusters are proposed in Patna, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Barauni, Muzaffarpur, Katihar, Madhepura, Bhagalpur, Munger, Nawada, Supaul, Gaya, Bhojpur and Hajipur.

In my view, this is a good step if planned and executed properly with the right amount of support from the government. The biggest support that I see would be the power supply required for these industrial units. The Bihar government has already said that it will buy surplus power from other states. It remains to be seen how successful will the Bihar government be in getting the required quantum of power supply quickly.

The details in this post are courtesy of The Times of India article Trade associations to hold investmarts. The article does say that the investments will be 4 lakh crores but the sum total of the investments targeted in each of the 3 years is 3,50,000 crores. Hence there is a difference somewhere but it doesn't matter. Even if Bihar gets investments worth 3,50,000 crores, it will be well on its way to becoming a developed state and a better place to stay.

The New Bihar Cabinet

With the NDA winning the elections with a thumping majority (206 seats out of 243i.e. 84.7% of the seats) and coming back to power, the team led by Nitish was sworn in on Friday (27th November 2010).

The new ministers in Bihar and their portfolios are as follows:

#	Name	Portfolio
1	Nitish Kumar	Home, Nigrani, Nirvachan, General Administration, Department of Cabinet Secretariat and all such departments which is not assigned to any one
2	Sushil Kumar Modi	Finance, Vanijya kar, Environment and Forests
3	Vijay Kumar Choudhary	Water Resources
4	Vijender Yadav	Energy, Products and Prohibition, Terms and Legislative affairs
5	Nandkishore Yadav	Road Construction
6	Narendra Singh	Agriculture
7	Brishin Patel	Public relations & Transport
8	Rami Ram	Revenue and Land Reforms
9	Chadra Mohan Roy	Lok Shwasthya Abhiyantran
10	Ashwini Kumar Chaubey	Health
11	Hari Shah	Panchayati Raj, Peechra warg aur Ati peechcra Kalyan
12	Bhim Singh	Gramin Karya
13	Renu Kumari Kushwaha	Industry and disaster management
14	Jeetan Ram Manjhi	SC / ST Welfare
15	Damodar Rout	Construction
16	Dr. Prem Kumar	Urban Development and Housing
17	Narendra Narayan Yadav	Law, Planning & Development
18	Prashant Kumar Shahi	Human Resource Development
19	Shahid Ali Khan	Minority Welfare and Information Technology
20	Shyam Rajak	Food and Consumer Protection
21	Parveen Amanullah	Social Welfare
22	Nitish Mishra	Rural Development
23	Awadhesh Prasad Kushwaha	Sugar cane and Small water resources
24	Gautam Singh	Science & Technology
25	Janardan Singh Sigriwal	Labor Resources
26	Giriraj Singh	Animal husbandary and Fisheries
27	Satyadev Narayan Arya	Mines and Bhutatwa
28	Ramadhaar Singh	Co-operatives
29	Prof Sukhda Pandey	Arts Culture and Youth
30	Sunil Kumar aka Pintu	Tourism

These set of ministers will now drive the development in Bihar and target to make Bihar a developed state by 2015. My wishes and the wishes of everyone are with them so that they can put Bihar and Bihar's development above everything else and work towards the goal of developing Bihar.

All the best Bihar: Lets look at the dawn of a new, healthy and prosperous era.

Congratulations Nitish, JD(U) and BJP

Dear Nitishji,
Congratulations on winning the election and the mandate of the people. Hopes are running high and everyone is looking forward to you taking Bihar and all Biharis on an accelerated path of development.

All the best and look forward to the rapid growth of Bihar.

Thanks
Prashant

Online website - Bihar election results

The ongoing Bihar election results will be declared on two Election Commission websites.

http://eci.nic.in/

http://ceobihar.nic.in/

Like everyone else, I am looking forward to a positive result for Bihar.

Happy Diwali

Wishing you all and your families a Very Happy and Prosperous Diwali.
Thanks
Prashant

Bihar's big moment: An interesting article by Utpal Kumar

I came across an interesting article written by Utpal Kumar written in the Pioneer where he has touched on Bihar's sense of pride or the one that has taken a beating over the years. Worth reading....


Bihar’s big moment

October 31, 2010 12:57:32 PM

With development as poll agenda, Nitish Kumar has changed the very electoral rules of the caste-ridden State. So much so that even Lalu Prasad seems ‘progressive’ today. Utpal Kumar analyses the trend

If you seriously want to know what it means to be a Bihari, then take the first train out of Bihar. I was fortunate — one can call it a misfortune as well — to have experienced this early in my life when I insisted my father take me to Nagaland, where he worked as an academician. My father was one of the few well-placed Biharis in the State, I was told by my local friends. “The rest are filthy labourers,” they would chide me.

At least the perception was so in Nagaland. And why not! ‘Lalu-isation’ of Bihar was already in place, though the worst was yet to come. By the time the image of Bihar hit its nadir, I found myself in Delhi, wanting to pursue higher education from the University of Delhi.

“So, you are looking for a rented accommodation,” I was quizzed along with two of my Bihari friends. Before we could say anything, came a terse question: “Hope you are not a Bihari!”

I was stunned. It was my third day in the Capital. Being unaware of the ‘politics’ of house-hunting, I could have all but lost that flat. Thankfully, my friends interrupted. “We are from Allahabad,” they said.

Then began a series of Bihari-bashing from our prospective Punjabi landlord, unabashedly calling us filthy, thieves and mischief-mongers. It was an agitating moment for me. More so to see my friends listening to the non-stop anti-Bihari ranting with a smile on their faces! How could they lie in the first place? Worse, how could they listen to such comments, and smile?

Being a Bihari, that was my first lesson in the Capital. Today, when I hear the hardships being faced by Muslims — or even Northeasterners — in getting accommodation in Delhi and other metros, I just smile and say, “What’s new in that!”

As I spent some time in Delhi, I realised how my Bihari friends could smile at being rebuked. I, too, learnt to remain indifferent to such slurs being thrown, though not always I could take them hands down. But most times I kept quiet, preferring to blame the Biharis for such a sorry state of affairs — more so their political leaders for deliberately mocking at themselves through comical and at times nauseating antics.

In the past two to three years, however, there has been a perceptible change in the manner in which Bihar is being looked at in Delhi. There is a growing feeling that the State and its people have finally woken up. Even the Biharis seem more confident today. I discovered this myself a few months ago when I did not get agitated when someone shouted the term ‘Bihari’ in public. “Bihari ko Bihari nahin bolenge to kya bolenge,” I wondered.

If nothing else, one can count this sense of self-confidence as the single-most important contribution of the Nitish Kumar Government. And, this feeling is not confined to ‘Non-Resident Biharis’. During a recent visit to “the place where civilisation ends”, a Naipaulean epithet for Bihar, I was surprised not to find a single person who felt the State had not changed for the better in the past five years.

How could Nitish usher in such a turnaround, which till a few years ago seemed unfeasible? The first thing he did was to put the criminals in place. According to a report, at one time no less than 50,000 people were placed behind the bar on the pretext of one crime or the other. This had its impact. The State, which witnessed over 22,000 murders in the five years since 2000, saw a substantial decline of about 8,000 deaths between 2006 and August 2010. Likewise, there were 484 kidnappings between 2006 and 2010, down from 2,196 kidnappings from 2000 to 2005.

With most criminals behind the bar, business began to thrive as never before. This was instantly evident with the flooding of food chains and mobile service providers across the State. On a more sophistic term, Bihar, which had grown at an annual rate of 3.5 per cent between 1999 and 2004, took the highway of 11 per cent growth rate for the next five years, next only to Gujarat. Change was also perceptible in the per capita income, which soared from `8,307 in 2004-05 to `13,959 in 2008-09.

The benefits of economic growth might not have reached every Bihari, but the hope for a better future has reached them all. No one expected a miracle in five years, but the State, which witnessed not a semblance of governance for at least 15 years, saw its fundamentals getting corrected under the Nitish regime.

With economic prosperity trickling down, not only the number of Bihari migrants has come down, but also many people have begun to ponder about returning to their roots. According to a report, the number of fresh Bihari migrants in Punjab has come down by 30 per cent. This led to such an anxiety among Punjabi landowners that this harvest season many were seen waiting at railway stations for the trains pulling in from Patna!

Delhi, too, is witnessing this trend, though on a minuscule scale. And why not! Construction boom in Bihar has led to rise in the daily wages from `120 to `200 for labourers and from `150 to `250 for masons. “Why should I work here when opportunities are there in Bihar,” quipped contractor Zuber Alam, working in the National Capital Region for almost a decade. Last month he shifted his base to Patna with a dozen of his fellow labourers.

Nitish has also initiated another revolution, though unintentionally, in Bihari society by providing Bihar sub-nationalism a pride of place. Traditionally, there have been two forms of nationalism in Bihar — Indian and caste. A Bihari was always an Indian and of so-and-so caste; in contrast, a person in Bengal is an Indian, a Bengali, and then of his caste. What this means is that there is no one to vouch for the Bihar cause. For instance, when Jharkhand was carved out of it, there were only minor voices opposing it, unlike the one being witnessed in Andhra Pradesh.

It was this lack of sub-nationalism that also made Biharis indifferent towards the Centre’s erstwhile freight equalisation policy, which meant that transport was not to be considered an input cost. This enable a factory to be set up anywhere in the country and the transportation of minerals would be subsidised by the Union Government. This in turn nullified undivided Bihar’s natural advantage as factories could have been — and were — set up everywhere except in Bihar.

Arvind N Das takes up the sub-nationalism issue in his book, The Republic of Bihar, and tries to explain why Jaipurs, Jaisalmers, Udaipurs, Bahmani kingdoms or Hyderabad couldn’t arise in Bihar. “No baronial nizam-ul-mulk could carve out a territory for himself in a region whose produce was vital to the imperial existence that control through proxy could not be risked,” he writes. Bihar was too important to be left for barons!

Development, however, is no guarantee for electoral success in Bihar. And no one knows this better than Nitish, who, despite doing good work in his Lok Sabha constituency of Barh, lost the seat in 2005. No wonder while Nitish talks about development, he has openly indulged in social engineering, carving out a separate new section of ‘Mahadalits’ (Most Backward Classes) out of the existing Dalits that have traditionally supported Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan. With Mahadalits having 36 per cent vote-share, Nitish has gone all out to provide special financial and employment packages to this section. This, along with the BJP’s traditional upper caste vote-bank, can become an almost unassailable combination for the ruling alliance.

To counter this, Lalu is trying to regain his Muslim-Yadav base, whose loss had played a big role in his losing power in 2005. In the polls held in February 2005, the RJD had fielded 32 Muslim candidates, of which 21 lost. In the October-November 2005 elections, only four of the RJD’s 30 Muslim candidates won. Its ally, Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP, fared worse, losing all 29 Muslim candidates. One wonders how Muslims will vote in the wake of the Babri Masjid judgement. Lalu expects some benefits out of it. This explains why almost a third of the party’s candidates for the first phase were Muslims. Nitish, too, seems a bit wary. Thus the decision to keep Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi out of Bihar campaigning!

One hopes Bihar votes on the issue of development, and not caste and religion. Initial indications suggest that even if Nitish doesn’t succeed this time, which seems improbable at least now, he has set in motion a process for a different Bihar where a ‘feudalistic’ Lalu Prasad is forced to talk of development and the ever-indifferent Congress promising to take the State to the level of better administered federal units like Gujarat and Maharashtra. Whatever be the people’s verdict, Bihar can no longer be dismissed in Naipaulean terms; it could well become the place where a new civilisation begins.

Making of Nitish Kumar

Politician
1971 Member of Ram Manohar Lohia’s youth wing, Samajwadi Yuvajan Sabha
1974 Joined the JP movement, arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act
1975 Arrested during the Emergency
1989 Secretary-General, Janata Dal, Bihar. Elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time
Minister
1990 Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Cooperation
1999 Union Minister for Surface Transport
2000 Union Minister for Agriculture
2001 Union Minister for Railways

Chief Minister2000 Chief Minister of Bihar for the first time; resigned after seven days when he couldn’t prove his majority
2005 Elected Chief Minister of Bihar for the second time
2010 Heads NDA campaign in Assembly election, seeking another term as CM
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What's changed in Bihar

With the current elections in Bihar, multitudes of people are debating and talking about Bihar, some for Nitish, some against Nitish. I did come across one such post in one of the forums and couldn't stop myself from giving my two cents on it.

When I think of Bihar and read more and more reviews of what people are saying, I am more and more convinced that Nitish Kumar has done a lot of work of Bihar and has achieved more than what most erstwhile chief ministers have achieved in the last 60 years... He has done two major things for Bihar

1. Set the ball rolling for Development: Whatever anyone does or whoever comes to power, he will have to follow a development agenda. People in Bihar have, for the first time in many years started hoping... Hoping for a better and developing Bihar. Nitish has given people hope.
2. Got people to think beyond caste considerations: This was not easy and in the last 60 years most elections were won only along caste lines and leanings. It is after a very long time that we see people visibly talking of development cutting across caste or community lines. Many people in Bihar are now  talking about development which they were not doing before.

These are by no means easy feats to achieve in 5 years time, so much so that other important larger than life politicians are also talking of development and promising development.

But these are not the mere achievements. There are many others to quote:  like better law and order, a governance in place, better roads, more teachers, better education data, a sub-nationalism that has not existed for a long time, brought some pride to Biharis, etc. I also think, getting the whole bureaucracy to start working and thinking of development, itself, would have been a mamoth task and would have taken time and very difficult to achieve.

Hence we can all debate on what good has been done or what is still pending; what development has been done and what has not been done BUT Bihar has started rolling on a path of good: a path of development and the credit goes to Nitish Kumar and Sushil Modi. Today we all are debating and we are debating because Nitish has given us a reason to debate, a reason that was not present before.

Business Standard - Bihar needs Nitish

An interesting article published in Business Standard caught my eye. Various newspapers, magazines and journals are closely following the Bihar elections , some taking a neutral stance, some highlighting the positives of one or the other, but none of them has completely sided with anyone... until now.

The Business Standard in an article published on 24th of October, i.e. today has clearly taken a stand that Bihar needs Nitish Kumar in a similarly titled newspaper article.

Bihar needs Nitish Kumar

India deserves more chief ministers like him

Business Standard / New Delhi October 24, 2010, 0:19 IST

This newspaper has not often taken political sides. Indeed, Indian journalism has not had the western tradition of the media declaring its political preferences. In the state of Bihar, however, which has now entered a month-long election period, the choice is clear and preferences should be stated. Bihar’s voters have to choose between five more years of a government led by Nitish Kumar, or five years or less of confusion created by an uncertain and split verdict, or five years of some nameless politician serving his tenure in Patna at Delhi’s beck and call.

There are many reasons why Bihar deserves Mr Nitish Kumar. First, he is a decent chap. In the rough and tumble of Indian politics it is not easy to come across men and women of basic and simple decency. That in itself should be a good reason for his remaining at the forefront of Indian politics. Second, he has done an impressive job. While the Congress party has every right to criticise his government and question his record in the heat of an election campaign, the fact remains that Mr Kumar has done more for Bihar than any other chief minister of this hapless state in the past five decades. Consider some simple numbers.

According to the state’s economic survey published earlier this year, Bihar’s economy registered an annual growth rate of 11.35 percent over the five-year period from 2004-05 to 2008-09, covering most of the term of Mr Kumar. It was only 3.5 percent per year in the previous five years. This should rule out the idea of returning to a Lalu Yadav-Rabri Devi regime. Bihar’s per capita income rose from Rs 10,415 per year in 2008 to Rs 13,959 in 2009, compared to Rs 7,443 in 2004-05. This impressive growth comes from an across the board improvement in the state’s performance, barring the industrial sector. Bihar’s agriculture sector, construction, education, health and services sectors have all witnessed impressive growth. It is only in the industrial sector that the state’s economic survey shows low growth. The contribution of Bihar’s manufacturing sector to gross state domestic product (GSDP) was a lowly 4.69 percent. Bihar has less than 1 per cent share of India’s agro-processing industries. Despite the much improved performance of agriculture, health and education, Bihar remains a laggard and has a long way to go before it can catch up even with some of the more developed north Indian states, not to mention the states of western and southern India. 

However, if Bihar has to have a chance, if it has to finally catch up with India’s more developed regions, it needs another five years of the kind of development-oriented administration that Mr Nitish Kumar gave the state. If Bihar can move closer to the national average in terms of the various indicators of development, that national average will itself rise significantly. India cannot sustain growth rates of over 8 and 9 per cent, not to mention 10, if populous and large states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh remain stuck in the morass of backwardness, both economically and socially. While Ms Mayawati Kumari is wasting a golden opportunity in Uttar Pradesh, doing little for development and being obsessed about herself and her wealth and power, Mr Kumar has remained focussed on development. He is a model chief minister that other Indian states should also aspire for. Our vote goes out to Mr. Kumar.

Projections - 170 seats for JD(U)-BJP

The Star News - AC Nielson opinion poll conducted amongst 21640 people has thrown the following projections

1. 170 seats for JD(U)-BJP combine and 41% vote share
2. RJD - LJP combine reduced to 34 seats and 25% vote share
3. Congress to get 22 seats (9 in last assembly elections) and vote share increase to 10%

But the best thing is 90% of the people polled said that they would vote for any candidate with a development agenda irrespective of his or her caste. Bihar is now really on the development path.


The entire details are present in the Times of India article JD(U)-BJP combine to get 170 seats in Bihar: Opinion poll

Every Bihari wants respect now

I am pasting a brief interview of Nitish Kumar in an Outlook article "Every Bihari wants respect now" which I think is a good summarization of what many of us think. Infact the last answer is something very interesting and we should be able to see where it comes from.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

interview

‘Every Bihari Wants Respect Now’

On the campaign trail, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is full of confidence. He firmly believes his development plank will work with the electorate and that he will be able to take all sections of society with him. Nitish spoke to Outlook. Excerpts:
The last polls had an anti-Laloo plank. What is it this time?
The last election wasn’t fought on the anti-Laloo plank. Last time, people were sure that they wanted to vote for a clear-cut majority. This election is all about providing continuity.

Continuity to what?
Continuity to what we’ve done so far. This time there are three important factors that people will vote for: a fear-free Bihar where law and order prevails, development and Bihari pride. Every Bihari wants to be respected.

Your entire campaign is based on development. Will it work?
Yes, it will. People have seen the work happening around them. For the first time, they have realised that development can happen in Bihar and it can happen fast. A recent survey showed that 39 per cent of the total voters will vote for development. That says it all.

Don’t caste combinations play an important role in Bihar? You yourself engineered a subgroup within the Dalits called the Mahadalits....
Caste combination plays an important role all over the country. But caste is not the sole factor. Mahadalits are an important section of Bihar’s social structure. For ages no one did anything for them. Now they are confident that someone is looking after their interests.

What about the Muslims? Do you see the Muslims voting for you after the Ayodhya verdict when you have the BJP for a coalition partner?
People will vote for development. Look at what we have done in the field of education. That is for every caste and community. Secondary schools are full up. People will vote for the change that we have brought.

Have you been able to add any new groups of voters to the present set? Will it help?
This election will throw up a huge surprise. This time you will see a 25-30 per cent increase in voter turnout. That will come from the women. And this vote, this year, will be an independent vote. Our government has given them a sense of security and peace of mind from violence. We have empowered women with 50 per cent reservation in panchayats and the state education sector. Another section that will come out in huge numbers and vote for me is the new generation of Bihar. The young in Bihar has found a connect with the outside world. They are forward-looking and know that they have a glorious past and the time has come to restore it. This never happened in Laloo’s time.

Prevent the Ayodhya verdict from hampering Bihar's growth

As Biharis start voting for the assembly elections this week, I hope and pray that the Ayodhya verdict is not able to slow down or completely stop the progress of Bihar.

I was going through an Outlook India article which said "Nitish seemed well placed to retain power before the Ayodhya verdict. Now it no longer looks a cakewalk." It signifies that before the Ayodhya verdict, Development would win in Bihar... but now with the Ayodhya verdict, Development is taking a back seat with many voters giving more weightage to the Ayodhya decision.

However my belief and the belief of many people is that the Ayodhya verdict should not be allowed to make our voting decisions and determine whom we should vote for. Rather vote for the development of Bihar. Ayodhya verdict doesn't change people's situation in Bihar either ways. Ayodhya doesn't provide a livelyhood to the people of Bihar nor does it change the views of people outside Bihar in they way they look at Biharis. The only way the people who laugh at Biharis will stop doing so and respect each and every Bihari is if Bihar develops. The very same people who ill treated Biharis or raised slogals against them or even bashed hardworking Biharis will want to partner with Bihar if Bihar continues on the accelerated growth path it has been on in the last 5 years.

What we don't need is a Chief Minister who used social justice as his rallying point and presided over a kingdom of unsafe streets, endemic poverty and the kidnapping industry (The Bihar Glossary). What we need is a growth story presided over by a CEO-style chief minister in tune with the new economy, a re-made landscape where the roads are smooth and the mind is without fear (The Bihar Glossary).

Vandita Mishra has in a very matter of fact way echoed the above in the first two paragraphs of her article "The Bihar Glossary" in the Indian Express.

Can people who read this post and can influence those sections of Bihar who view the Ayodhya verdict as bigger than the development in Bihar, come forward and exert their influence and educate people to put Bihar's development ahead everything else?

What if the current ruling party looses elections

As I read various news articles on the election fever in Bihar, one thought comes to my mind... What if, what if the current ruling party looses the elections and the party that ruled for 15 years comes back.

In the next 5 years time there are various possibilities, but going by historical data this could be a highly likely outcome:

1. Roads: We will have roads that get washed away in the rain, that is , if any roads are constructed at all
2. GDP: Bihar's GDP will remain the same, if it does not contract
3. State Budget: There will be no budget prepared for Bihar. Every expense will be taken case to case by going through a Vote on account. Result - No budget for development and thus no development in Bihar.
4. Investments: Investments that have risen from 26 crores 5 years back to more than 1000 crores in Bihar, will go back to 26 crores or lesser. Industrialists who have been watching the election keenly will decide not to invest in Bihar because:
1. Fear of the law and order returning to the state it existed prior 2005
2. Criminals / Politicians with criminal backgrounds will have no checks and hence create chaos
3. The environment will not remain conducive for investments.
4. And big bucks would be required to grease the palms of these politicians to get things moving
5. Kidnapping: Instances of kidnapping will go up. Kidnapping will become the main industry again. After all it achieves multiple things, significantly the politicians make money for each kidnapping and secondly people start living in fear again thus strengthening their rule.
6. Criminals run free: Politicians and criminals who have been convicted in the last 5 years, will appeal and win those appeals and be set free. So people will again have to live with the scare and vengeance of the likes of Shahabuddin.
7. Hospitals and Primary health care centers: Will go back to same condition that existed before
1. No Doctors present in the hospital
2. If Doctors are present they will see patients privately after the patients pay their private fees
3. Medicines will evaporate and be found and sold in pharmacies privately
4. The child deliveries that had gone up multifold will be back to old levels creating more child deaths and health problems
8. Overturning of many developmental decisions: Many developmental decisions will be overturned. Afterall Lallu was the one who said that Bihar doesn't need IT.
9. Reducing spend on education: An educated Bihar will not vote for politicians who do not work for Bihar's development. So why will the politicians educate the people at all. Rather they will remove investments in schools, teachers , etc.
10. Below poverty line: 42% of Biharis live under the poverty line. This number will again start soaring.
11. Multiple Dy Chief Ministers: So all of Ram Vilas Paswan's family members will be Dy Chief Ministers and same would be the case with Lallu. But to appease the Muslim and other minority community voters, they will make an equal number of Dy. Chief Ministers from various minority communities. Thus Bihar will only have a Chief Minister and a battalion of Dy Chief Ministers. Everyone will be a Chief Minister or a Deputy.

Well the last point might just be there for giving a good laugh, but the writing on the wall is clear... the state will head southwards (negative growth, etc, etc) if the people get swayed by the commitments of the likes of Lallu, Ram Vilas Paswan and others (including Congress) which never did any thing for the upliftment of the state collectively or the minority community individually.

Politicians can be shameful. Some promise free motorbikes  and some promise 5 litres of kerosene free: Where do these politicians think they will get the money for these commitments? From their own wealth ??? or burden the people of the state by diverting money earmarked for development of Bihar to fulfilling the commitments these politicians are making now (assuming that they will really fulfill the commitments).

Hence I appeal to the people not to get swayed by caste, community, Ayodhya, promises made, etc but to keep the past performance of the politicians and the development of Bihar in their minds when casting their important votes in this most important election in Bihar.

Make Bihar a winner.

Will caste politics have a bigger say over development?

This has been the case with Bihar time and again. Most political battles in Bihar were fought on caste lines. This was probably the first time in ages that Development was to be the main plank for winning the election, but the Ayodhya verdict has a possibility of derailing "Development" from being the main poll plank.

Political parties, who would not have won the elections, if people just thought of development, will now try to make Ayodhya a main issue and divide people around caste and communal lines.

I hope people can overcome these challenging times, look above the caste and communal lines, and vote for the development of Bihar. In the past 5 years, people have seen things change and I hope the changes are enough to convince the people of Bihar to take the right decisions. May we all vote for Bihar's Development.

Bihar in Monterey Bay Aquarium, California, USA

It was a pleasant surprise to see Bihar as one of the 8 places in the world highlighted amongst the places that are creating better places to live in by cutting carbon pollution. I felt very happy to see the name appear in the Monterey Bay Aquarium and therefore wanted to share this news with all of you.

Bihar has found a mention along with San Francisco (California), San Jose (Costa Rica), New York City (New York), Ann Arbor (Michigan), Chicago (Illinois), Austin (Texas), Bogota (Columbia), Reykjavik (Ireland), London (UK), Samso (Denmark) and Paris (France). 

Infact, if we watch closely, Bihar is the only place shown in this world map from entire Asia Pacific

For those of you who want to see larger versions of these pictures, you will find them at the companion site of the blog "Bihar in the Monterey Bay Aquarium, California"

Election dates in Bihar

The elections in Bihar will start on 21st October and end on 20th November 2010. On 24th November we will all know whether Bihar's growth will leapfrog and get into accelerated mode, creating more job opportunities in Bihar, or will we start moving back to the Hagemonic era of Laluism.

The industrialists who were thinking of investing in Bihar or who committed to investing in Bihar and have not invested in Bihar will watch the developments very closely. This is the time for all the people, whether lower caste or upper caste, whether backward or forward, whether landowners or landworkers, whether Hindus or Christians or Muslims or Buddhists, or any other religion, to have some patience and invest in the future of Bihar even if the good work of the last 4.5 years has not benefitted them, yet.

After all, everyone will be better off if Industries come to Bihar thereby creating job opportunities for Biharis. All the best to Bihar for a better and brighter future.

Details of the election can be found in the Times of India article "Six-phase Bihar elections from 21st Bihar to 20th November"

Backdoor entry into the Parliament

Ram Vilas Paswan, till a year back would have never thought that he would have to use a back door entry like the Rajya Sabha to get into the Parliament. The man who created records after records in winning elections has once again managed to hoodwink the people and get back into the Parliament. This time people did not want him to represent them in the Parliament, but our political system is so politician friendly, that one way or the other people find a way to be in it again. So did Rajiv Pratap Rudy get back even after loosing elections.

Our Political system needs a revamp. Any person who looses a Lok Sabha election should not be given a chance to sneak in back doors for atleast 3 years, if not 5. I am not judging  whether a politician is good or bad: that is for the people, who vote, to decide. So we should atleast respect the decision of people.

I know, some good people would be left out, but atleast our politicians will know that without delivering on their commitments and promises, they cannot expect to come back and hoodwink the people.

Interesting article - State going the Bihar way?

Bihar in the news again... this time being quoted by a Karnataka Minister in one of his address.

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State going the Bihar way?

M B MARAMKAL, TNN, Jun 16, 2010, 10.37pm IST

MYSORE: It was a time when politicians from state and other states speaking about development used to quote the name of Karnataka and termed it a "developed state." They even used to caution people not to allow the state to go the Bihar way -- which was part of `BIMARU' (connoting sickness) states. BIMARU was the short form for Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Today, the situation is reversed and now the opinion about Bihar among the politicians has not only changed, even development there in the recent years under the leadership of Nitish Kumar seems to have caught the attention of leaders from Karnataka forcing them to quote Bihar in their speeches.

Addressing the lawyers at a seminar `Development and role of lawyers in it' organized by the BJP legal forum, minister Suresh Kumar extensively quoted the Bihar model and the development path adopted by it.

Revealing the changed law and order situation in the state and how it has paved way for the people visit and invest in the state, Suresh Kumar said: "It is amazing that Bihar has recorded a highest growth of 11.3% behind 11.5% recorded by Gujarat. Recently, I was on a visit to Bihar to participate in BJP's national executive and I was told that 47,000 cases in various courts have been ended in conviction. Of these, 5,000 have been convicted for life," he said, pointing out that the lawyers and government played a role in paving the way for development. Not only should the government strive to improve the law and order situation, the leaders in it should think over various issues related to land, investment and providing facilities to people particularly living urban agglomerations.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mysore/State-going-the-Bihar-way-/articleshow/6048079.cms

Progress reaching villages and villagers

Recently in Mumbai I happened to meet some youths in their early 20s
who work in a barber shop. The common connection between them was that
they all belonged to different villages in Darbhanga district.

I asked one of the guys as to who he thought would win the election
this time, Lallu , Paswan or Nitish. Two of them emphatically replied
"Nitish" at the same instance.

They had visited / come from their villages in the last 3 months and
were pretty impressed by the changes they found in their villages

1. Primary health care centers were functioning in their villages.
Earlier for any problem they had to travel to Darbhanga main city.

2. Roads: offcourse they spoke about the roads, the four laning of
the natonal highway and the good quality of roads that won't get
washed away in heavy rains.

3. Schools: that are functioning regularly now.

4. Government's scheme of making a fixed deposit of Rs. 7000 for
every girl child born and Rs. 1800 cash given for every boy child born
went particularly well for them.

5. Women are now being recruited into the police force which also
impressed them.

Thus these younsters were very certain that whatever tricks Lallu and
Paswan played, it is Nitish who will win.

I hope that the same sentiments are shared by other villages also and
they vote for Bihar's well being and growth.

Will people vote for development or caste?

I think this is a question in the minds of a lot of us? Some, who are externally observing the developments in the state and others who are going to be actual participants in the state upcoming elections and will decide the future of Bihar. All of us are waiting and watching what will win this time : Development or Caste system?

This is a question that also come to the mind after reading the article in the New York Times today : Turnaround of India State Could Serve as a Model

The article has highlighted some significant changes that have come to Bihar in the last 5 years. It has also pointed out the uncertainty in people's mind which has been well coined my Mr. Shailbal Gupta of the Asian Development Research Institute

Mr. Gupta has said in the article "Identity politics is strong, we hope that voters will choose development over caste. But in Bihar one never knows"

But there is also another important  area of concern which can change the course of Bihar's development. For the next stage of development besides industrialization , land reforms are required so that the poorest in the state also benefit. Will the rich landlords allow this? Will the rich landowners allow Nitish Kumar to come back as the Chief Minister again? Will they realize that they themselves will further prosper if the state develops, for which it is important that Nitish Kumar becomes the Chief Minister again. Or will they vote against Nitish Kumar and influence their people also not to vote for Nitish Kumar?

The third problem is the aspirations of many people within JD (U) itself. Will these people be ready to put their aspirations on hold for Bihar's growth. Or will they put their aspirations before anything else?  How will their actions affect the future of Bihar?

So many variables! Will Bihar continue to develop, grow and prosper?

Bihar has started becoming a role model

The Punjab government, impressed with Bihar's Super - 30 programme to train rural/economically weak aspirants for IITs, is set to replicate the model in Punjab.

While this was not so much of a government initiate, I still felt happy reading about this news as this is one of the first of the many times to come where Bihar will become a role model for other states to follow.

The detailed news can be read at Punjab to copy Bihar model for rural IIT aspirants