Bihar - A Southern Perspective

by T ShivRaj

December 10, 2005

I am reading about Patna and Bihar in PatnaDaily.Com. For things to change in Bihar, few changes in attitude can help.

Top of the list is how the so called college educated in Bihar view and treat other people of Bihar who did not attend school or have no college degrees. There is a wrong thinking to brand those who did not attend school or college as uneducated. I can't believe people will think that an engineer or MBA or PhD holder is educated than Nijalingappa, the leader of Congress party in 1969 or JP of Bihar. Educated people means those who understand others, who value other human beings and who take every decision after thinking if it is correct or not. A person graduated at the the top of his class or university is no way bigger than a farmer or a shop-keeper who did not attend college. Bihar or any state need to be evaluated for how a farmer who does know how to read or write gets treated by college educated people, when he walks into a bus, in a social gathering like marriage or when he approaches some one to fill up a form. I am not only talking about govt officials but also those not employed in govt.

Some of the views expressed in columns in PatnaDaily.Com differentiates how educated people can change Bihar and how uneducated people do not care or do not understand. I can guarantee you that more than 60% of college graduated citizens do not vote at all. I am conservative in this estimate for Karnataka, but I believe it is same or even more in Bihar. There is no way I can stop people from writing in PatnaDaily.Com badly about 'uneducated' people of Bihar, but suggest to readers to change their views. It has been pointed out time and again by JP and Nijalingappa about how fellow state uneducated citizens are treated by the so called educated people, but it looks like no one even complains about it now.

Another favourite to blame for the ills of Bihar are politicians. This is as if the other pillars of democracy like judiciary, press etc are pure. Where is initiative to resist offering of money by public to govt. officials and ministers? Politicians cannot steal public money if contractors stay away from offering funds from contracts. Public education will improve if the already college graduated parents willingly enlist their kids in public schools. But no, these people provide money to politicians to start private schools so that their kids can stay away from village schools and city corporation schools. Getting an arrest warrant issued by a magistrate is based on which court you register your case and if you know the magistrate or not. Politicians did not start this tradition. The so-called non-politicians played a major part in this. I don't think Bihar is any different in this than Gujarat where money to magistrates got arrest warrants to be issued against President Abdul Kalam. Don't blame politicians for everything. At least politicians visit villages once in 5 years. How many times does a doctor visit a village after he graduates? How many natives of Bihar visited any village in Bihar after he became a doctor? It is the same in Karnataka and Bihar. Where are the citizens council and initiative in Bihar? May be an Uma Bharti, RSS conducted a session and a few stunts, may be Nitish went to ask for votes, may be a Laloo talked to villagers in 1990s and a few stunts. But at least they talked to corners of Bihar and visited. So do not blame politicians for everything. JP as a politician was calling with all his might. Where are the calls and efforts from other professionals from Bihar like doctors, engineers, academicians, jurists, economists, press stalwarts? Don't tell me there are no professionals from these fields from Bihar who got their initial education in Bihar and later made money and fortune. Shame on them if they feared for only their and children's life and did not return to Bihar.

Don't expect politicians like Nitish to work miracles, like the expectations on Laloo, just because they came from camps of JP. And don't blame Nitish if he listened to Uma Bharti yesterday and listens to Vinay Katiyar, Ashok Singhal, Praveen Togadia tomorrow because of political compulsions.

Don't blame uneducated people if two castes of Bihar fight to death. It is the educated people who plan and provide logistics for these fights. Why would doctors and engineers and other professionals from BJP or Congress or RJD or JD participate in Jat or Rajput or Bhumihar gatherings in Delhi or Patna?

Except politicians and non-college educated people, who got blamed till now, rest of the people of Bihar can try this time to change Bihar. Start a movement in Bihar to not give money to get driving license for your son, no matter how long it takes. And ask that neighbourhood doctor to serve 1 day per month in a village. I could not do it in my state, let us see if the college educated people of Bihar can do it and change Bihar. No hard feelings.
 

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