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Well,
so far so good. I am still skeptical about the
development looking back into the past history
of Bihar. Though I am a very optimistic guy, but
it forced me to doubt the development of Bihar.
Nitish is a good man, he is educated and
sensible but what about the bunch of leaders he
is leading? Will they allow him to work towards
development? I read Ramashray Prashad Singh’s
news today and which has enhanced my doubts all
the more.
I remember when Lalu came into power I was in
Patna for a few days. I saw news of raids in
different Govt. departments, many reforms,
cleaning of Patna station, building demolitions,
the great foreign tour, English training of Lalu
ji blah blah. I thought for a while that "Gone
are the Days" when Bihar used to be a poor
state. But I was wrong.
I wish this doesn't happen to Nitish and he
proves to be the best CM in Bihar's history. But
to be on a safer side and not feel betrayed by
the new govt. it is better to put first year as
a trial period.
Regarding Investment, I don't think any miracle
is going to happen at present. Please don't take
me wrong. I would be the first person who would
be happy to see investments in Bihar. But
looking into the present situation of Bihar, it
seems to be very difficult. Forget about world
class, we don't have even India level city in
Bihar. I don't know if we can call Patna a city
where pigs still take an evening walk in posh
colonies. People still carry mud and stools on
their heads and still use open space for
toilets. Power cutoff still is a routine and
road jams are daily life routine. You can see
animals walking on Bailey Road and Boring road.
Bullock cart is common. MithaPur... I really
can't cross the railway 'phatak'.
So, if this is the city we are presenting as a
showcase to an investor then I doubt about
investment. What else can we have in the name of
a good city?
Talk about infrastructure, road, power etc it's
the same story. Police? They can’t understand a
common man’s language. They need to learn that
they are serving people, people not serving
them. Forget about English. Many policemen can’t
write an application in Hindi. They can’t even
write their names correctly. How can you expect
them to think about the economic development in
the world? How can you expect them to work
towards development?
Look into China for example. It never cared
about any investment and built its entire
infrastructure first, much before going to world
and people automatically started moving towards
China.
Since we do not have a very good image, we have
to prove ourselves. We have to make everything
ready and then call the people - "Look here we
are, come and dump your money". We have got to
do our homework, a loads of homework!
Talk about manpower. If someone opens a BPO
centre in Patna he will have a tough time
finding right people in the first place. People
interested in building career leave Bihar at an
early stage. They stay in big cities and learn
metro culture, speaking in right accent after
many months of struggle which you won't find in
Patna. I know there are people who study in
Convents and speak well but again those people
leave Bihar as soon as they finish studies. If
you see the number of people who stay back in
Bihar - it won't be sufficient for an industry.
So there will be a manpower crisis.
The kind of manpower we have back home in Bihar,
are engaged in preparing for LIC, Banking
services, UPSC, BPSC etc. and are very much busy
in pursuing their own goals. These people need
transformation soon to be used in the current
economic development. They need to change their
mind set to work in a cutting edge and
competitive private organization.
Again, do you think people will come back to
Bihar and wait for industries to open, after
quitting their jobs in major cities?
Even if you find some investment in Bihar, who
would like to come back to Bihar in its present
living standard? Please don't tell me all those
"deshbhakti stories"; let's be frank. Every day
kidnapping and murder scares people.
I think we have a long way to go and this is a
good start. Keep your finger crossed for at
least for one year before dreaming anything.
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Comments: |
Raj, I
disagree with your views. If we can
get investment then we will get
manpower and people will come to
Patna. Law and order is bad but once
economy start taking off slowly
everything will settled down. People
use to go to work in Punjab also
during terrorism. Mindset of people
have changed a lot in last 1-2
decade. Now they have started
understanding advantage of private
jobs.
Our capital Delhi and economic
capital Mumbai are equally dirty and
Hyderabad was as backward as Patna
at one time. I don't think it was
totally attached with Lalu. Mindset
of people have changed and that will
change Patna / Bihar same way it
changed Hyderabad and Bangalore. -
Kaushal Das - Jan. 5, 2006 |
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