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I
did congratulate the CM of Bihar when India
Today survey put him as the best CM for the
second consecutive year. However, the 2006 State
of the States study of 'India Today' in the
latest issue has found Bihar still in the
bottommost position on most of the parameters.
It pains me and it must be painful to many
others too. Done by economists Bibek Debroy and
Laveesh Bhandari, the study offers some exciting
findings. Scores how Bihar has faired are here.
In overall rating, Bihar though has improved on
score, but in ranking it is at 20, the bottom
most with even Jharkhand better at 19. In Law
and order, Bihar is again at 20 with a
deteriorated score. Agriculture: Bihar is at 14
with slight improvement in score. Primary
education and Primary health: Bihar again is at
bottommost with very slight improvement in
score.
Infrastructure is based on factors such as % of
household with electricity, LPG, % of villages
with pucca roads, per capita road length, and
bank branches, density of post offices and tele-density.
Bihar posts a phenomenal 300% increase by moving
from 0.30 in 2005 to 1.31 in 2006. The perpetual
low ranker Bihar has posted spectacular gains in
the provision of basic infrastructure in the
past two years. It is too early to credit it to
the Nitish Kumar government, but if that is
really the case, the redemption of Bihar may
have just begun. However in rankings among the
20 states, Bihar is at the bottommost. Consumer
market: Bihar ranks 20 with slight improvement
in score. Investment environment & Budget and
prosperity: Bihar is again at the bottommost
with some deterioration. Governance rank: Bihar
is at 19
It is a sorry affair. The mention of Bihar as
the worst example has come in the study as
follows:
An average Goan is 11 times richer than an
average Bihari. Goa has the highest per capita
income in India and Bihar the lowest.
Despite the hilly terrain, 85% of the households
in Himachal Pradesh have access to tap water. In
Bihar, less than 4% of the households use tap
water for drinking- the lowest in the country.
About 84% of the households in Bihar have no
electricity, making the state an area of
darkness, literally. In contrast, in Gujarat 87%
of households have electricity.
In law and order or governance that
differentiates anarchy from organized society,
Bihar stand again at the bottommost.
Should we assume that it is something that a new
government can't change so fast? But then the
next question, how much time will be required to
affect such a study significantly in the favour
of the state? Will it be possible during the
first 4 years of the changed government, before
the election battle starts?
I personally feel that the people of Bihar are
responsible for the condition. They must demand
whatever all other states have achieved. The CM
must be more ruthless without any fear of
loosing the chair. He must not transfer but
remove those who can't go along with him. All
Sunil Pandeys must be behind bars and that also
outside Bihar. Bureaucrats must perform or
resign. Bihar must work on its strength. Bihar
must build its Brain Trust as the three states
of South India have done. And that does not
require much of FDI or capital. It is possible
to get into top five states of the country
again.
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Comments: |
I think we should not take these
rankings seriously. India Today just
needs to do something to sell one
more copy every time. We don't have
to be a rocket scientist to realise
that Bihar needs all-round
development. Bihar has been raped
and still being raped for so many
years, you need at least 10-20 years
of continuous hard work to see some
tangible development. Rome was not
built in a day. We need patience,
patience and more patience. -
Ravindra Kumar - Sept. 7, 2006
Indra ji, don't be despaired. Bihar
cannot undo what has been done in 15
years. It will take some time. At
least one full term, if not more!
I can't believe people like George
Fernandes and other Nitish opponents
like Lalu, Paswan, Digvijay Singh,
and Dipankar Bhattacharya are
already describing the NDA
government in Bihar as a failure.
They must think that Nitish has a 'jaadu
ki chhari' that he would just wave
and Bihar will turn into an utopia.
What were they doing for the last 15
years? I'll tell you what. They were
all getting their own cuts from all
the 'ghotalas' that Lalu and his
company were busy churning out.
Now that the likes of Sunil Pandey
and Sadhu Yadav are facing life in
prison, all of a sudden there is an
outcry over 'too much power to the
police'. These people were free to
commit crime and no one was there to
touch them. The fact that the police
is catching them and sending them to
jails is scaring the hell out of
these leaders and therefore all this
hubbub about 'police brutality'.
Give Nitish some time (4-5
years/full term). If things don't
look up by then, we Biharis are
doomed till eternity. But please
quit believing in India Today report
or other such 'vested interest'
reports. They all have some
political aspirations, that's all I
know. - Arun Sharma - Sept. 7,
2007
Well .. I think we don't need to be
told perpetually that Bihar is top
from bottom. We all very much know
that. All the evil done to Bihar in
so many years can't be undone in few
months. I must say that give Nitish
and his team some time as they seem
to be really serious in their
business. There are of course some
black sheep which needs to be dealt
with firm hand. All who cry that he
is not doing any thing are basically
enemy of Bihar. I think police is
doing right thing but as we know
there are some black sheep in all
organization so that should not
lower the morale of overall police
force. I congratulate every one who
does good thing for Bihar. It is
never in good interest of India as
whole to keep Bihar in dark age as
rest of India moves forward in 21st
century. God bless Bihar. -
Ranvijay Sinha - Sept. 7, 2006
India Today ranking should not be
ignored but we should not lose our
heart. Instead of expecting
everything from Nitish Jee, people
should come forward. Nitish Jee
might be a dedicated and honest
worker, but he has political
compulsions. Even their own party
MLA are not always supporting him,
but he can’t do much about it. I
have experience in other developed
state that how people are
volunteered about all public issues.
Indra Jee, if we really want fast
growth rate then people should
realize it, I am sure Nitish Jee
will give support to them. -
Rajat Roy, Pune - Sept. 7, 2006
I think the way Nitish sir is
improving the condition of our state
is excellent, but he should also
draw his attention towards the
minute area of Patna. For example,
the place where we are living, i.e.,
Jakkanpur, has been totally cut off
from the rest of Patna. So, please
try to improve of the condition of
this area also. - Vinayak
Majumdar - Sept. 7, 2006
It was a very genuine concern raised
by the author of article. And we can
also not afford to ignore the
ranking as by keeping our eyes
closed we cant assume that the eyes
of whole world is shut off. And let
us not beat the drums again that oh,
we are so great we can do this and
that. That would be utter
foolishness.
As well said, Rome was not built in
a day, it would certainly take a lot
of time to build the state. But
people have a great role to play
here and only Nitish Kumar cannot
bring the state back to development.
Most of the illiterate mass and
ignorant people would have to start
thinking on how to make the most of
the opportunities that come their
way.
The emphasis should be on education
and everything else would follow.
And I mean education without
corruption. Today, it is corrupted.
Students think that cheating is a
way of life and parents think that
getting good grades for their
children by hook or by crook is
their dharma . The only important
thing they consider is a degree.
This is what is a moral corruption ,
a societal degradation, and this has
become a part of life. This has to
stop and people have to be honest to
themselves in life at most of the
places else they would keep
deceiving themselves and No Nitish
would be able to change it whatever
he may try.
But the picture is not so gloomy
after all. People do know where they
have made mistakes and are willing
to change and improve the condition
of their lot and the progress should
be evident within 2 years which
surely is a gestation period for a
change. - Kishore Lal Das - Sept. 7, 2006
Responses to my write-up on Bihar’s
performance in the State of States
study of India Today make me feel
guilty. My objective was only to
push the drive of development to
make it more visible so that the
people of Bihar get somewhat elated.
Fortunately, I am away from Bihar. I
have no caste bias. However, as
Nitish is engineer by education, I
consider him of my caste. I love to
see Nitish succeed.
To everyone coming from Bihar to see
me at Noida, I always enquire if
there is perceptible change in
Bihar. If the answer I get is
affirmative, I get gladdened, but
when the reply is in negative I get
morose.
As an old man I am perhaps in a
hurry and wish to see things
changing very fast and Bihar
reaching the levels of development
of Southern states. I wish to see
speed and urgency along with honesty
in governing community. If not this
year, can we see the improved rank
or scores in 2009? - Indra -
Sept. 12, 2006 |
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