'What More?' Can Make A Different Bihar

by Dr Rajiv R. Thakur

Dec. 19, 2007

'What More?' talks of Bihar today. Definition of this ‘more’ seems endless in context of this state, which is fighting hard to make its identity felt on the national map. Talking of development in Bihar, while people are appreciative of the winds of change, skepticism prevails yet. Very much realizing, that, it would take some time before, the state catches up with the rest of the world. Modern and visionary leadership, a strong and committed political will, effective and corruption free governance, improved law and order, capacity building through infrastructure development and social empowerment, rural focus with basic level support to agriculture and industry, are few of the priorities often talked about.

On ground today, the state no doubt witnesses construction of roads, capacity generation for power, a growth model built around better agriculture and industry, efforts in building an investor friendly environment, social empowerment through health care, education and job opportunities. Activities in real estate sector, talks of investments from outside state, work seen on roads and roadsides, lesser power cuts and power connections to rural areas are few of the tangibles, which trigger hope in the minds of people.

But then, the question is, are these sufficient enough to sustain growth or development in the state? In the Indian context, it is rather a proven fact that implementation of a plan or a strategy is more difficult than formulating them. More often, it is the former, which is found the culprit for non-performance and for implementation to be successful, there are things beyond resources, plan and power which matter. Few of the not so obvious factors, critical for this state’s development came out starkly, recently, out of the experiences of the author, of a journey of less than 72 hours from the nation capital of Delhi to the state capital of Bihar, Patna and further deeper down to a village called Bhagnocha in Vaishali district, crossing through the district headquarter of Hajipur, a small township across Ganges of Patna. To the author few things appeared more critical and important for development of the state than what generally people and the experts measure and quote, while delivering their judgment. Here, one intentionally chooses to give a miss to suggestions like creations of clusters, empowering farmers and rural folks, building infrastructure, making the state corruption free etc. These have been talked elsewhere numerous times and actions are on place in one way or the other.

Of the many good options of train travel to Patna from Delhi, the author chose to travel the premium i.e. Rajdhani. Indian Railways standardizes the product and services of Rajdhani across all national routes and professes service and quality to be of world class. Yet, a difference can be created and is created, so much obvious, when you travel this route. Poor maintenance of coaches, not so trained personnel servicing your needs, presenting themselves in an unprofessional manner and communication, poorly washed linen and blankets and on top of it a shaky coach attendant distributing towels with a fear, that, he may not get them back next morning, are few, what make the difference! Many would tend to ignore these, but in this age, one certainly is hygiene conscious and would not tolerate eatables around toilets and the pavements meant to hop through coaches. This reflects poorly on the work culture and the thinking of the people who serve and those who are served. Possibly, the responsible on the top, do not realize the irreparable damage such situations create to the state’s image. Staffs may do it, due to lack of exposure and training. But, what do you do, to those responsible to show them the right way? You visit a hotel at the most central place, and what you feel missing most is, again hygiene and professionalism. A similar central place, in any other capital city of this country, normally would not lack hotels with a proper hospitality, ambience, hygiene and a professional outlook. Simple lesson but a critical one. The work culture needs to be transformed bringing it in sync with the rest of the world. It’s a reflection on work culture and efficiency levels, quality service and customer orientation which in combination build up an image of the environment. It is a question of first hand experience and there of building an image which can not be camouflaged, in any manner. People must change and those responsible for this change must change too.

Coming out of the railway station, crossing traffic can be much more organized with better planning as one reaches the heart of the city called ‘Dak Bungla Chowraha’. Another busy junction manned by minimum four of the traffic cops and two of their superiors, yet, the traffic confusion. Cops chatting at one place and seeing one of their colleagues waving helpless and mostly unrecognized. What more can be a case of mismanagement? Lesson two, issue of managing people and the quality of governance, come into fore.

Often, one feels sorry when people identify Bihar with senas, mafia, crime etc. Needless to repeat, it has a rich history to guide its future, has intellect to be proud of and has resources to capitalize on. Yet, there has been something amiss. Interpretations to the situation can be manifold, but, what is important is to see few realities of today. How successful the state has been in exploiting the worth, they are in today’s world of commerce.

For instance, Madhubani paintings have world acclamation and truly speaking, it has a market outside Bihar in India and abroad. What has been done towards that? Downstream, the value chain, there are artists mastering the arts, but then, not one counter could be found in the capital town, which effectively market them to tourists. Maner’s Laddoo, Silau ka Khazza, Jagdeeshpur ka chirua, Gaya ka tilkut and more, where do we find them? While Bikaneri sweets, Haldirams and Sarvanas make great waves in India and abroad including Middle-east and Europe, today a Bihari in Bihar also finds it difficult to find quality stuff. Slowly, they seem to forget craving about them. The experience instead, is pathetic, to say the least and brings out the third learning, the secrets of successful commercial exploitation. Creation of Value at each stage of value chain.

‘Dakbangla Chowraha’, heart of Patna town has few of the sweet shops and offer ideal opportunities to extend taste of local delicacies. However, it is horrible to find rasogollas being served out of a plastic mug often used in bathrooms or gardens! Try luck next shop which appears better equipped. The man gets rasogollas out of the freezer, but, then comes the shock. The person serving shoves his hand in the syrup to get the rasogollas out and horrible further it is to find a tiny red ant sleeping over it. Perhaps, inebriated out of the overdose of the syrup, it had managed to swallow overnight! Pathetic, I must say the least. Forget about the foreigners and the investors, how are you going to convince a human being after all! Bihar must understand the role of branding, packaging, positioning and seeking opportunities.

Silk industry in Varanasi may be in doldrums but silk in Bhagalpur is dying. Dubai can create a heaven in desert and make a tourist haven, states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and states of South can thrive on tourism and their heritage, but what happens to Bihar in exploiting, Rajgir, Raj Rappa, Patna Saheb and the beauty of the Ganges, in the state capital, itself. One can see few foreign tourists visiting Patna, enjoying ‘Gandhi Setu’ ride on a three wheeler auto, taking photographs of the bank and the picturesque scene of Banana fields, but beyond that, there is a vacuum. In the whole process, the meager benefit goes to the auto driver only, who may have managed few hundreds.

One of the co-travelers in train, hailing from Chennai had a horrible experience at Rajgir and was disturbed to see the situation. Traveling down south, even remote places like Araku in Vizag or Mahabalipuram stretch in Chennai, people and the planners have created options and opportunities for tourism. Back in Rajgir, the place doesn’t have a decent mode of transportation nor do they have a simple decent eatery, forget about the modern day entertainment options or the maintenance of heritage site, at least. Why can’t a tourist circuit be created in and around Patna and extend it to Jharkhand. Learning Four.

It may be right to energize the state with major investments and involving private players. But, the question is how you sustain them, when a private firm wins the contract of establishing power stations and in few months time, is about to ease out of the project. Reasons, political pressure to entertain contractors, lack of ethics and high corruption levels, poor manpower and skill sets available, delayed project completion time and others. One has to understand, how the same labour and the enterprise works in a different territory like Punjab, Delhi or in South or Western India and is appreciated for hard work, finesse and its skill sets.

However, within the state, one is also astonished to see, two enterprising youths supplying one bulb connection every evening, out of power-generator to nearly 300 rural households in village Bhagnocha at a rate of Rs. 2 per day, per connection. Case of contradictions co-exist. While on one hand, you have the enterprising youth, on the other, companies feel constrained out of lack of enterprise and skills. Leaning Five, create a throughput process to channelise skill pool and enterprise to the sources requiring them.

Education and awareness towards the latest in the world, be it technology, product or services is, what is required most. Entrepreneurs or businessmen have to understand the power of Information technology, telecommunication and modern technology in other fields. Barring a section of the business community, hardly, any are found using e-mails or using internet for information or business dealings. The state of business is such that amongst the top Indian companies or multinationals, Bihar is considered as a punishment posting. Why this can’t be an opportunity for the professionals to prove themselves. What the state needs is, someone who can punish the elements, found to be hurdles in the path of development. For instance, appointing the Vice Chancellor of Patna University, a no-nonsense person and carrying behind himself a strong credential of revamping Banaras Hindu University and very recently, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam is a step in the right direction. One must appreciate the positive actions being taken in the campus. In this less than 72 hours journey, one could hardly notice banners of any international conference or any exhibitions of repute or a gathering which enthuses in youth, the right energy or confidence. Instead, what one saw was, huge cut outs of political figures belonging to a political party. The occasion was termed as, ‘sankalp rally’ and whatever, this meant to the organizers, people talked only about the wastage of crores of rupees, confusion and inconvenience to citizens, unproductive use of office machinery out of this whole event and nothing more.

The problem is not of ideas or enterprise. It is the willingness and confidence which matters most. But then how do you instill confidence? In conclusion, what must be understood is that, there is more than mere investment or political will or leadership to development. It needs people to change which is possible only by appropriate dissemination of information and knowledge. A culture of enterprise, dynamism, ethics needs to be built up. Government and leadership need to touch grounds and understand the finer aspects of development and must not stop just short of signing projects and giving go ahead. Implementation needs harsh and tough treatment. People need to be aware and put pressure on the establishment. Putting pressure is different than confrontation. Former prevents one from the risk of being endangered, though it may take little longer to deliver.

[Dr. Rajiv R. Thakur is a faculty of Strategic Management and International Business at the Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad].
 

Return to previous Page