BIHAR has had a wonderful past. Its present is disturbing. It is seen as a failed state where caste is the most important determinant, development is zilch and education a casualty. Besides, agricultural productivity, the state’s mainstay, is perhaps the lowest in the country; floods cause enormous annual misery and few states are as bad when it comes to physical infrastructure. Over three-fourths of its total road length of 81,000 km are village roads and of these nearly 36,000 km are kutcha.

Post the creation of Jharkhand, both industry and power have suffered. Industry exists in bits and pieces and, as for power, 70% of the generation capacity is now in Jharkhand while 70% of demand is in Bihar. Clearly, existing power generating capacity has to be upgraded, new power stations built and power transmission and distribution streamlined. A solution has to be found for the perennial flood problem, farmers have to be helped with timely release of fertilizers, good quality seeds, adequate hassle-free credit, subsidized farm implements, a system of wasteland farming, cold chains and upgraded irrigation facilities. These are areas calling for visible improvement.

But the sorriest state is of law and order. The incidence of the gravest crimes is pretty disturbing. Abduction for ransom is a near industry. Of greater concern is the propensity to subvert or defy law by people who assume modern Robin Hood postures and worse. A complete absence of police professionalism further fuels this common fancy flowing out of an unfortunate perception that power vests not in the law but in personalities.

Then there is the serious threat of left-wing extremism to peace and order. Whatever its professed philosophy of social equality and equitable distribution of resources, one cannot but thoroughly disapprove of its use of violence or fear to further it. Such is this fear that a mere call halts all normal civic activity. Even when the extremists decide to mount an assault on a district central jail and free their cadre, the administration stands by helplessly. Bihar must get out of all this and be known as a safe, industry-friendly, agriculturally rich and a socially harmonious state. But first things first.

 

Bihar must restore the rule of law. The police must end the ‘herogiri’ of those with clout who defy law or subvert it. The force must be enabled to stand up to extraneous pressures through a systemic reform granting it autonomy. There must be a public process of accountability such that the police agrees to submit itself to a public audit of its targets, strategies and performance. A wonderful opportunity to reform the police through the model Police Act that was approved by the Supreme Court was unfortunately lost with the passing of the new Bihar Police Act, a hackneyed rehash of the outdated colonial Police Act and therefore unsuited for a democratic polity. The new act must go and be replaced by the spirit of the model act.

 

Police reform is important to create a situation conducive to investment, development and growth of the state. Bihar, with a nearly 90% rural population is the least urbanized state and, perhaps that is why it is so poor. Its State Domestic Product, thanks to a slowing down during the 1991-99 period, could manage a growth rate of only 5.08% in the past decade when the rest of the country grew much faster. It is our aim to achieve a national growth rate of 10% per annum by 2019-20, increase the present per capita income (PCI) of Rs 12,985 at the rate of 8% to Rs 28,405 in 2009-10 and to Rs 60,570 in 2019-20. But for this Bihar’s SDP must grow at 15% per annum till 2019-20, unlikely unless there is an estimated investment of Rs 38,550 crore per year between 2010-11 and 2019-2020. This is a tall order but will have to be met. The state must project an investor-friendly image. Happily, there is ample scope for investment in rural infrastructure, education, health care, transport, IT and, above all, agriculture and power.

In his Independence Day address this year the prime minister made an extremely farmer-friendly announcement of the provision of a massive Rs 24,000 crore for agriculture. Two-thirds of Bihar is dependent on agriculture and so should benefit from this allocation. A decent and simple way would be to provide its farmers financial assistance to meet their expenditure on cultivation, subject of course to avoiding administrative glitches through efficient monitoring of the fund disbursement at every stage. Such funding may be a grant or a grant-cum-loan – the loan being granted on the basis of kisan credit cards. These cards should be made an item of general issue, much like the voter identity cards issued by the Election Commission. And, to avoid any mix-ups, this task is best left to the district magistrate and collector who, rather than the banks, have all the relevant land records.

 

It is the central government’s ambitious objective to provide power, vital for development, to every village, and ensure at least one bulb connection in every dalit household through the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Programme. The Power Grid Corporation of Indian is making steady progress in its implementation – electricity poles are being erected, electricity wires strung up, sub-stations constructed and transformers installed. All this will, no doubt, ensure transmission and distribution arrangements but they will be of little use unless the state’s assessed power needs are fully met.

Unfortunately, the state’s power generation capability stands debilitated. The Barauni Thermal Power project produces less than a quarter of its capacity and the Kanti Thermal Power project has been lying closed since the early 1990s. The state government must attend to its reactivation as also to the ambitious NTPC-Railways joint venture 1000 mw thermal power project at Nabinagar in Aurangabad, work on which is to commence in January 2008.

The state should start land acquisition, taking care to reassure farmers of suitable financial compensation, alongside employment including training in an ITI (to be especially set up for this with the assistance of the NTPC) for skilled jobs, and allot shops on priority basis to the affected families in the proposed township. Incidentally, the Nabinagar project was originally conceived of as a 2200 mw project, though even a 1000 mw thermal power project is a major achievement. It will of course be ideal if it is upgraded. A feasibility study is therefore being conducted for a 1980 mw thermal power project to be set up in the neighbourhood and, should the study find it feasible, Bihar will soon acquire generation capability of about 30,000 mw of thermal power – adequate for its current power needs.

 

These, together with social welfare schemes funded by the central government such as the Indira Awaas Yojana and the Annapoorna Ann Yojana, can do wonders for the rural poor. As of now the state government’s performance in the execution of these projects has been less than inspiring. Even as the needy, especially the dalits and backwards, clamour for ‘colonies’ – dwelling units under the Indira Awas Yojana – only a little over 30% of the funds allocated for this programme by the central government were utilized by the state in 2006-07.

One reason could be the haphazard preparation of lists of people below the poverty line, the BPL list. Notwithstanding a sustained agitation by the Congress to persuade the state government to redraw these lists, the exercise remains incomplete. Much the same situation prevails in respect of grant of old age and widows’ pension amounts. Considering that there is no dearth of funds allocated, the failure to provide relief to the needy poor is inexcusable.

Soon we can expect the state to adopt Special Economic Zones (SEZs), since Bihar, after its bifurcation, is now almost wholly agriculture based and cannot progress without industry. There is little doubt that SEZs are a firm step towards industrialization. But, the process should avoid the Nandigram pitfalls and only allow SEZs to be set up on gair mazurwa land and on wastelands. If needed, the government should acquire private land only after allaying landowners’ fears and redressing their grievances. Ideally, however, this process should be left to private companies. The government in turn must ensure that the industry reaches an amicable understanding with the landowners by offering fair compensation, employment to a family member and, perhaps, even shares. The world has gone flat and Bihar must follow suit.

Interestingly, the state has a big role to play in inspiring its Gen Next to conceptualize and identify newer areas of production and sources of investment. I can see them putting up IT parks, doing the groundwork for e-governance, exploiting openings provided by the National Horticulture Mission, setting up franchisee auto plants, help implement the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Programme and the like.

 

And, of course, there is the great challenge of providing good education and preventing an exodus of the young from the state. Today there are schools and colleges without satisfactory buildings, buildings but no teachers, or buildings, students and teachers but no teaching – together resulting in complete disfunctionality. In part this is a result of the breakdown of discipline on the campus. Equally to blame is the policy of starving institutions of adequate funding despite some improvement in the fiscal situation. Simultaneously, the government must increase the number of government approved madrasas to help improve the educational status of minority community students.

Most crucial is the need to increase the number of primary and middle schools. Fortunately, funds for educational infrastructure are available under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA); all it requires is imagination and initiative. To cite an instance: a little over Rs 12 crore was obtained for my constituency (Aurangabad) and this amount has been fruitfully spent. The SSA is an excellent initiative that should be used to better the prospects of the young. Rural health care, however, is in a shambles and in urgent need of a drastic overhaul. Why cannot the state government ensure that primary health centres are properly staffed and made functional?

 

But let me end on a positive note. Thanks to the ambitious Bharat Nirman programme, work on rural infrastructure has received a big boost due to the generous central funds under the Prime Minister Gram Sarak Yojana (PMGSY) or the Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana (RSVY), renamed the Backward Regions Development Fund (BRDF), and the execution of these works by central agencies such as the IRCON. The most exciting scheme, however, is the Sampark Path Yojana (the Link Roads Project under the PMGSY) that seeks to connect 1,000 (or more) strong habitations with main roads, which in the process will also connect habitations with less than 1,000 population.

To cite an instance, again from my constituency, 210 such link roads have been identified, detailed project reports on 77 of these have been prepared and work is to begin shortly on 25. Once this work is completed, the countryside will be unrecognizable, giving a major boost to rural development. Hopefully this will be a national phenomenon but with Bihar too as an integral part of it.

All is not lost for Bihar. If India is to march ahead, Bihar too has to march along!