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Reality in Bihar
by
V. Narain
Jan. 19, 2008 |
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I
belong to Patna and my age is 74 and am living
in Delhi for the past about 4 years. I am not a
political man.
I have seen changes in the city and have
witnessed the changing of very simple life
(socially, economically, culturally,
religiously) into much complicated life at
present. I have seen several chief ministers
come and go in Bihar but never felt the hard
times as it was during the predecessor of the
present chief minister Mr. Nitish Kumar.
I could feel the sigh of relief in the people of
Bihar after the coming of Mr. Nitish Kumar.
Everyone in general was happy and were having
firm belief that Nitish Kumar will bring
multifold developments in Bihar. Nitish Kumar,
being a very positive and well educated thinker,
did bring changes and things improved a lot.
Everyone was aware that he will need time to
ironing out the odds of the state so that peace
and harmony prevail. His efforts were slow
visibly but I knew that the "slow but steady
would win the race".
Last time in December '07 when I visited Patna
after several months, I saw that apparently, as
the eyes see and observe, the developments, it
seemed, were negligible. I was disheartened. I
met people and gathered their opinion. I
observed they were of the opinion that "nothing
is being done" by the present government for the
development of Bihar. They said that "roads are
still in worst condition, garbage and filth can
be seen everywhere, kidnapping continues,
bribery and other corruptions continue in
administration, Chiraiyantand overbridge is
almost at a standstill, electricity (power)
position has not improved. They all said that
two years' time passed away but still there are
many things which have not shown any remarkable
improvement etc. etc.".
I could personally observe that there are
improvements as compared to the pre-Nitish era
but on a slow progress. I quite appreciate Mr.
Nitish is doing well and he should be given more
time as he has to depend on several factors.
But, I must request Mr. Nitish to accelerate
positive developments and improvements and make
our Bihar one of the best locations on the world
map. Good wide roads, attractive marine drive
along the Ganges, parking lots, upgradation of
educational and cultural institutions. (I
remember the musical programmes during Durga
Pujas in the past in which eminent classical
singers and dancers used to participate from all
over the country. Patna was famous seat for that
and people enjoyed the festival whole night by
hearing and seeing the cultural programmes.)
I must tell Mr. Nitish that he should be bold
and over enthusiast in bringing about all-round
development in Bihar so that its image is
enhanced. For this he might have to take drastic
steps like demolishing buildings to widen the
road; demolishing of unauthorised buildings
irrespective of the status of the owners;
improving agriculture and the status of the poor
farmers and the agriculturists in general and
likewise. We had heard about a Master Plan in
50s/60s but I do not know what happened to it.
He should review that if it exists and make
changes as per the present needs for immediate
implementation.
People of Bihar are with you, Mr. Nitish Kumar
and we all hope you can do it.
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Comments: |
Sir I
totally agree with your article.
It's something which is written by a
son of soil for sake of his
motherland. It's true that the govt.
needs time but things are going so
slow that they would need another 20
years for all around development. I
agree that some tasks like power
projects will take time to improve
but what about roads, isn't two
years enough to improve roads of
state capital, forget about other
parts of state? There is no
organised public transport system in
the capital. They say that they are
taking cue from Tata, Indore etc.
These are our needs and we should
know how to deal with these issues
quickly. There are also a lot of
criminals in the ruling party who
are constantly disrupting the road
construction works for extortion. So
there is a need to focus on these
issues and take the state on the
path of rapid development such that
Biharis like us who are residing
away from home can say proudly that
we are Bihari and Jai Bihar!!
- Meraj Ahmad - Jan. 20, 2008
Most of what Mr. Narain has told
might hold true but the question is:
How people are cooperating in the
process of development? Why people
are not equally participating in the
development revolution? Aren't the
people equally to be blamed for the
present sorry state of Bihar? Does
only caste-based voting or politics
and bringing a political party to
the power end the responsibilities
of the people? In this regard I must
quote Gandhiji's views, "Be the
change you want to see in the
world." - Arvind Kumar - Jan. 21,
2008
Sir, since you are not staying here
you cannot judge the improvement and
all the work that is going on here.
You cannot ask a few people and give
in your comments for the entire
state. It is the people in the rural
as well as urban areas who can view
the work that is going on. One has
to get the feedback from everywhere
to judge as whole. I agree with you
that this government is working
hard. One can see the improvement in
government departments who are going
to go the e-governance way from
April 1st only. We should also not
forget that the bureaucracy is still
the same here in Bihar and it will
take time for the new ideas and the
implementation methods to be used. I
am still proud to be from this state
and will always be proud be say that
I am a "Bihari". - Utkarsh
Tathagath - Jan. 21, 2008 |
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Discussion on this topic is now
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